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thatcrazycajunIt's all ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shelleybear's fault, really. No, seriously. She's embedded some YouTube videos from this deeply strange old movie called The Return of Captain Invincible in her LJ page over the past few months. It's a satiric movie musical that was (somehow) made in 1983 about a former 1940s superhero gone to seed who comes out of retirement (not to mention exile in Russia and serious alcoholism rehab) when his old arch-enemy steals a top-secret "Hypno-Ray" from the US government. The flick has songs written by Richard O'Brien—yes, ole Riff Raff himself, the guy who gave us The Rocky Horror Show and its legendary filmed offspring—and features Alan Arkin as the title character and the villain played by none other than Hammer Films horror legend (and future Lord of the Rings and Star Wars prequel star) Christopher Lee.
Well, I took a look at the vids...and was rewarded with the singularly disturbing sight of Count Dooku (or Count Dracula, depending on your age and tastes in movies) dancing and singing the bejeezus out of a little number celebrating the delights of strong drink, "Name Your Poison." Now I can't get the silly damn thing out of my head or stop watching the stream. Then there's the one where the President of the United States (Michael Pate, looking and sounding rather like a slightly saner Gilbert Gottfried), in council with his military chiefs of staff and advisers, gets fed up with their ludicrously warmongering proposals for retrieving the stolen secret weapon and belts out a song whose lyrics consist, in their entirety, of just two words...two rather coarse Anglo-Saxon curse words, that is. And then there's Arkin and Lee duetting on the big number that introduces Lee's character, "Mr. Evil Midnight."
And now I find myself trying to figure out how to lay hands on a copy of the DVD or VHS recordings of this thing from somewhere local so I can watch it without having to wait days or weeks to have it shipped via Amazon. (Gods, I miss living near TLA Video in Philly just now.) And I've found that Chris has not only sung in a movie, but done a whole album of opera and Broadway standards which is now available on iTunes and Amazon. It's titled Revelation (doubtless because he knew very few of his fans would have ever imagined him as a singer) and features his renditions of everything from "O Sole Mio" to "My Way" and "Silent Night." Saruman the White doing Sinatra? Yeah, I know, I can't believe it either...and what's more, he actually can carry a tune; he's by no means as bad as Shatner (who could be?), but he'll never make anyone forget Pavarotti.
So thanks ever so, Shel, for adding just that extra touch of weird-ass to my week...and probably to the week of some others reading this, as well.
shelleybear's fault, really. No, seriously. She's embedded some YouTube videos from this deeply strange old movie called The Return of Captain Invincible in her LJ page over the past few months. It's a satiric movie musical that was (somehow) made in 1983 about a former 1940s superhero gone to seed who comes out of retirement (not to mention exile in Russia and serious alcoholism rehab) when his old arch-enemy steals a top-secret "Hypno-Ray" from the US government. The flick has songs written by Richard O'Brien—yes, ole Riff Raff himself, the guy who gave us The Rocky Horror Show and its legendary filmed offspring—and features Alan Arkin as the title character and the villain played by none other than Hammer Films horror legend (and future Lord of the Rings and Star Wars prequel star) Christopher Lee.Well, I took a look at the vids...and was rewarded with the singularly disturbing sight of Count Dooku (or Count Dracula, depending on your age and tastes in movies) dancing and singing the bejeezus out of a little number celebrating the delights of strong drink, "Name Your Poison." Now I can't get the silly damn thing out of my head or stop watching the stream. Then there's the one where the President of the United States (Michael Pate, looking and sounding rather like a slightly saner Gilbert Gottfried), in council with his military chiefs of staff and advisers, gets fed up with their ludicrously warmongering proposals for retrieving the stolen secret weapon and belts out a song whose lyrics consist, in their entirety, of just two words...two rather coarse Anglo-Saxon curse words, that is. And then there's Arkin and Lee duetting on the big number that introduces Lee's character, "Mr. Evil Midnight."
And now I find myself trying to figure out how to lay hands on a copy of the DVD or VHS recordings of this thing from somewhere local so I can watch it without having to wait days or weeks to have it shipped via Amazon. (Gods, I miss living near TLA Video in Philly just now.) And I've found that Chris has not only sung in a movie, but done a whole album of opera and Broadway standards which is now available on iTunes and Amazon. It's titled Revelation (doubtless because he knew very few of his fans would have ever imagined him as a singer) and features his renditions of everything from "O Sole Mio" to "My Way" and "Silent Night." Saruman the White doing Sinatra? Yeah, I know, I can't believe it either...and what's more, he actually can carry a tune; he's by no means as bad as Shatner (who could be?), but he'll never make anyone forget Pavarotti.
So thanks ever so, Shel, for adding just that extra touch of weird-ass to my week...and probably to the week of some others reading this, as well.
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Date: 2009-02-14 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 12:37 am (UTC)Christopher Lee singing
Date: 2009-02-14 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 04:52 am (UTC)