Originally published at: Watch this 1960's jazzy junkie flick | Boing Boing
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Just say “No” to Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I first saw this late one night on TV - it was a shitty TV with shitty reception but the film really caught me - it’s been hard to find a decent copy until recently - and it stars William Redfield (who played the designer and pilot of the Proteus in the film Fantastic Voyage) and it’s got Roscoe Lee Browne, how awesome is that?
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That’s hip happening stuff daddy’Os and cool cats.
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Seconded… I’ve had the music for a while. Sadly, the film itself is on the stack of unwatched discs that I’ll watch sometime when I have more time. It’s near the stack of unread books that I’ll read sometime when I have more time.
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This has shown up on TCM at least twice, usually on a day when they do jazz films. (Why is it so hard to find Dexter Gordon playing a guy like himself in the French film 'Round Midnight"?)
Anyway, The Connection has, as one of the junkies, alto sax wiz Jackie McLean, one of the greats. As a kid in NY, tutored by Monk, Bird, Bud Powell. Lost his cabaret card due to junk, so had to make up for it by doing a TON of sessions. Gorgeous tone, huge chops. His career spanned Hard Bop to modal stuff to “free jazz.”
Apparently the director, Shirley Clarke, used mostly “found footage”. And the musicians - most of them really were junkies, kept saying “shit” when they referred to heroin, which got the film in hot water, but eventually it was ruled not obscene.
My advice to anyone watching this for the first time, smoke a ton of reefer and be glad you’re not hooked on junk, and “enjoy” this little verite slice of life.
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