SOUL POWER

Defined as a significant 20th Century event, “a myth”—the black Woodstock (1969) or a kinder, gentler Gimme Shelter (1970)—the film is one part R&B concert that in fact went on for hours; one part behind-the-scenes vérité documentary, including excitement on the plane, prep scenes with organizers' difficulties with radios and walkie-talkies transmissions, worrying over flights, hotels, equipment, transportation; and one part cultural phenomena with the tension that brings context and depth to every performance.

This unseen, precious footage documents those heady days initially conceived as a run up to "The Rumble in the Jungle"—that renown 1974 boxing match between Muhammad Ali (age 32) and George Foreman (age 24); the prizefight intended to follow a weekend-long carnival of singers and musicians in Kinshasa, Zaire, hosting the historic match, mixing promoter Don King's moneymaking interests in a deal with totalitarian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko to create a once in a lifetime gathering of athletic and artistic talents.

But when Foreman cut his eye while training, the match got rolled back. The unfortunate thing…the festival couldn’t be as flexible, dependent as it were upon scores of artists and technicians already on site.

Thus unable to roll the show several weeks ahead prior to the fight, on 24 September the klieg lights were turned on to an incredible feat of artistic achievement, three nights, 12 hours of shared music and an expression of cultural re-connection among black American artists who had converged upon the Motherland to boogie down.

Soul Power

profiles the legendary assembly and odd assortment of singers/musicians, showcasing James Brown, the self-proclaimed Godfather of Soul who opens and closes the show with those feverish chants; The Spinners who really get things started, tearing up the stage with some pretty fancy footwork; BB King laying down the blues with his guitar, Lucille; Bill Withers’ acoustical performance ringing with emotional clarity and musical simplicity; the late Miriam Makeba, almost otherworldly in performing that extraordinary “Click Song”; salsa singer Celia Cruz leads the Fania All-Stars in a rousing jam session, and Sister Sledge, the Jazz Crusaders, Orchestre Afrisa, OK Jazz with many others filling the bill.

After a couple of killings in Las Vegas, Johnny gets on a package tour bus and sits down next to a guy counting his winnings. The guy wants to talk:

   “Boy, I murdered them here,” he said. “How did you do?”
  

   “I did all right,” said Johnny.

—from The Kingdom of Johnny Cool

by John McPartland.

Seeing Johnny Cool is next to impossible because the film has never been made available on video and there is no DVD release.

Filmed in January of 1963 and featuring a notable cast of character actors as victims and associates of Johnny Cool, crime’s seedy underbelly never seemed more faux-antique with the moderne décor of gangster luxury found in big cars, and beautiful women wearing those fabulously stylish sunglasses; smart service at chic restaurants, button men with guns up their sleeves, hoods posing as paramedics carrying “the mark” to a private hospital...to be tortured. 

A cross between The Godfather and Ocean's Eleven, a curious time capsule from 1963, this offbeat cult oddity of a movie is rough and brutal...and it's one that hardly anybody has ever seen.

The 160-page potboiler, The Kingdom of Johnny Cool (1959) published posthumously was John McPartland’s last novel, adapted into the feature film produced by actor Peter Lawford.

The story involves a gangster—a demolition machine undertaking a vendetta to eliminate five men in a single day with unquestionable zeal. How he does it and what becomes of him is more than enough to make readers cringe and the Mafia blink. Were it not for restrictions imposed by the 1950’s publishing convention, McPartland could have been as detailed as Mario Puzo was in The Godfather. Still, his hardboiled account of gangsters living outside real life hits hard, and where it hurts.

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

directed by Elia Kazan features Andy Griffith as an Arkansas “traveler” who becomes an overnight media sensation. This is during a time in the late 1950s when Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a rustic hobo is discovered by a small-town radio personality in an Arkansas jail. After his radio debut, a persuasive con-artist charms the listeners with his on-air down-home charisma, when Rhodes is invited by a talent scout to appear on television in Memphis, Tennessee, where he makes his “bones” by insulting the sponsor to the absolute delight of his adoring fans—and increase sales. And quickly lands a contract in New York City to become the national TV pitchman for some innocuous product while exploiting the gullibility of the public that he privately despises. Coarse and abusive, he possesses a colloquial charm that immediately endears the American viewing audience, until the dark side of his amiable personality is inadvertently exposed on-camera as cruel and cold, clearly someone far less lovable.

Lonesome Rhodes is a classic American demagogue, obtaining his power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions, even prejudices of the populace.  But it's what he benignly represents in the movie that we find malignant in real life.

Demagogues don't concern themselves with being cutting-edge or groundbreaking; rather they tell their stories simply, flowing freely from the heart while employing look-at-me gestures and gimmicks to do truly "radical" things. They depend upon dissension for their very political survival. Wherever there is underlying tension and hostility, they exploit it; and in its absence, they create it. They have a vested interest in creating discontent, and they are most creative when society is in turmoil, because a demagogue’s agenda is always fundamentally at odds with what’s in the best interest of the people. So the only way that they can get the people’s support is to appeal to individuals prone to act without taking the time to think about their actions.   This allows them to not have to deal with the nuisance of common sense.                        

By 2012 maybe Hollywood could remake "A Face in the Crowd" with a gender switch, featuring Angelina Jolie in the title role. But this time the character is running for the U.S. presidency. You simply can't make this stuff up.

Frederick@dreamerchant.com