The Best Of Film Babble Blog (A Self Indulgent 20th Anniversary/Birthday Post)

Film Babble Blog has been AWOL since my DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE review as things have been hectically busy lately, but I’m back to make a self-indulgent post on my Birthday. I’ve been meaning to do something to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this blog (first post was March 12, 2004) all year, and I finally came up with compiling a list of my Top 10 favorite posts.

 

Among the movie reviews have been assorted articles, lists, and interviews and this what I consider the cream of the crop. By the way, the pic at the top is from Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY (I just wanted to have a lavish big screen party scene image, the movie isn’t even mentioned in any of these posts).

So let’s get right to ‘em (click on the highlighted titles to read the posts):

1. In Memorium: My Dearly Departed Cat Squiggy (September 14, 2014)

Of course, #1 would be honoring my first adoptive cat, Squiggy, who passed away 10 years ago (Sept. 12, 2014). This remembrance might be too icky for some who are not cat or pet people, but I think most folks will appreciate the sentiment. Squiggy lives!

 

2. William H. Macy Chats With Film Babble Blog About His New Film KRYSTAL (April 12, 2018)

Over the course of Film Babble Blog’s first two decades, I didn’t do many interviews, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to the great William H. Macy. He was promoting his second film as director, the odd Rosario Dawson vehicle KRYSTAL, and it was an insightful, fun phone chat with the acclaimed actor. 

3. Ingmar Bergman: The Woody Allen Angle (July 31, 2007)

 

When the iconic Swedish filmmaker Igmar Bergman passed on 2007, instead of doing a standard obit, I decided to do a deep dive on his influence on the films of Woody Allen. Now Allen is a controversial figure these days, but this film geek’s noting the many elements whether they be thematic, technical, personal, or personnel that Woody Allen has borrowed from the movie master still holds up to me.

 

4. Apocalypse Then (September 11, 2021)

My 20th Anniversary recollections of the week of the tragic events of 9/11, which started off with a Birthday viewing of the then new APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX is one of my favorite pieces as it captures my what my world felt like during that sad, shocking time when it felt like the world stopped.

 

5. That Time Orson Welles Ended His Career (And Life) On An Episode of Moonlighting (December 30, 2023)

I was reminded of the legendary filmmaker’s final moments in front of a camera when Hulu started streaming the hit ABC series, Moonlighting, late last year and I exercise-bike binged it. It’s an interesting tale of how fortunately the late, great CITIZEN KANE actor/writer/director had one last gasp meaning that his ridiculous voice turn in the 1985 animated TRANSFORMERS wasn’t his last credit. The Film Babble Blog favorite Welles was also featured in the posts, A Birthday Tribute To Orson Welles With 10 Welles Wannabes (May 5, 2008), and Classic Cinematic Cameo: Orson Welles in THE MUPPET MOVIE (MAY 6, 2022). 

 

6. That Time THE BODYGUARD Soundtrack Saved Nick Lowe’s Ass (August 12, 2021)

An amusing look back at a happy happening involving the great British singer/songwriter benefiting greatly by the use of one of his classics (albeit a cover) on the best-selling soundtrack of the Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner hit, THE BODYGUARD. 

7. The Legacy Of Mrs. James Bond 007 (September 10, 2020)

Much like the Bergman post, I was wanting to pay tribute to a legendary figure who had passed (in this case Diana Rigg), but through an specific angle that most obits mentioned but didn’t fully investigate. Another post in this same vein is: How James Bond Was Indiana Jones’ Father Long Before Sean Connery Played Indiana Jones’ Father (October 31, 2020)

 

The final posts are lists, which I’ve done a lot of over the years. A few of these were featured on the Internet Movie Database when they used to update a “Hit List” on their main webpage. That got my page a lot of action back in the day, which I miss now.

 

8. 20 Great Modern Movie Cameos (6/5/07)

9. 10 Definitive Films-Within-Films (7/4/07)

10. 10 Movie Soundtracks That Think Outside Of The Box Office (9/01/09)

So there you go. Hope you enjoyed this trip down Film Babble Blog’s memory lane.

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That Time THE BODYGUARD Soundtrack Saved Nick Lowe’s Ass

In 1992, I worked at a CD/tape store called Record Bar at a mall in Greensboro, NC. The manager of the establishment would play the soundtrack to the hit Whitney Houston movie, THE BODYGUARD, constantly. Even if I or another employee would put on something else, it seemed that THE BODYGUARD disc would be back on pretty quickly.

At one point, I hid the CD where I thought it wouldn’t be found for some time. I located a narrow spot behind a cabinet, and slid it in such a way that it couldn’t be seen. Or so I thought. The next day, I walked in and it was playing again. Nobody said anything so I moved on and tried to come to terms with my own personal hell.

 

The soundtrack wasn’t made up exclusively with Whitney Houston songs; there were also a group of tunes by other artists including Kenny G, Lisa Stanfield, and Joe Cocker. But the one that bugged me the most of the non-Whitney material was a cover of Nick Lowe’s 1974 classic “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” by an American jazz singer named Curtis Stigers.

Stigers’ cover wasn’t terrible, it was just a bland, overly poppy rendition that stripped away the wit of Lowe’s original, and ignored the passion that made Elvis Costello’s version into a foot-stomping anthem. I remember cringing every time it came up again on the countless spins I had to endure of the wretched soundtrack.

Later, when I heard that the album’s massive success – to this date, it’s the biggest selling soundtrack of all time – impacted Lowe greatly with ginormous royalties, I felt like my torturous time with the in-store selection was justified in some way. If Lowe, who had just been dropped by his label and was at a low (sorry) point, was able to score a huge payday, then my suffering through the film’s pop platter of dreck seemed a small price to pay.

 

The subject of Lowe’s lucky windfall was touched upon in many interviews. When Lowe discussed the latter-day success of the song that he had originally written for his pub rock outfit Brinsley Schwarz, Fresh Air’s Terry Gross told Lowe that she’s seen the movie but didn’t remember “where it was used.”

 

Lowe responded, “I haven’t got a clue – I haven’t even seen it,” and that “I know lots of people who have seen it, and they all tell me that my song isn’t in it at all. Even my mother, who has ears like a Mum, has sat and watched it, and she said she couldn’t hear it anywhere. But I presume that it’s on a car radio or something playing in the background.”

 

This begs the question, does “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding” actually appear at all in the movie, THE BODYGUARD? To answer this, I did something I never thought I’d do – watch THE BODYGUARD. I’ve been long familiar with the premise of the film – Kevin Costner plays Whitney Houston’s bodyguard, protecting her from imminent danger – but never thought to actually sit through it.

 

Hey, it was written by Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, several of the STAR WARS movies, and BODY HEAT, so how bad can it be?

Pretty bad it turns out. The dialogue is simplistic, the plotting obvious, and the whole production is plagued by empty MTV-style glitz at every turn.

But was Lowe’s song as covered by Stigers present in the movie? Yes, about 10 seconds (or less) of the chorus hits the screen around the 33-minute mark. It accompanies a shot of Houston’s character opening a letter that contains a death threat. It’s such a brief flash of the tune that appears amid a bunch of fussy noise that I can see how Lowe’s Mum missed it.

It’s a wonderful thing that this cover on a soundtrack added up to a big payday for Lowe. In a 2001 interview he told Jeffrey Stringer that “It was just like winning the jackpot or something. It meant that I could tour really above my station, if you know what I mean. We could have a nice bus, I could pay my guys right, we could stay in reasonable hotels. So I just sort of ‘invested the money back in the firm.’”

In the nearly 50 years since its conception, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” has become a rock standard. Along with Costello and Stigers’ versions it’s been covered by a wide range of artists including Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Yo La Tengo, Lucinda Williams, the Flaming Lips, Bon Jovi, Pretenders, Wilco, Steve Earle, Ani Difranco, and many others. Hell, even John Lennon quoted it in his last interview (though he attributed it to Costello).

On a concluding note, I’ll just put this out there – I wonder how much of a payday did Lowe get from this:

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