I Wanna Hold Your Jazz Hands!

Mizz Liza M may be all about the Jazz hands in movies, but ma man Clint Eastwood is all about the Jazz Hands-on approach in his flicks. Well before he was master at the helm of the great Jazz bio pick "Bird", Clint-o-rama directed a way-nifty flick called "Play Misty for Me". Those rough and tumble hands that had previously steered horses' reins for those incredible spaghetti westerns, were put to use most majestically in "Misty", a flick that he guided so tightly that it was finished under budget, and four days ahead of schedule. But like many great, well sculpted Jazz pieces, the end result plays loose, fast, improv-ish, and supremely hip. Eastwood waived his usual acting fee in exchange for the go-ahead to direct the film, and as a result this tale of obsession gone wrong became stamped with Clint's jazz-love flava. Which is awesome. He threw in a scene of the Monterey Jazz Festival which may come across as a personal indulgence and may seem entirely out of context, but to me it simply fleshes out the coolness and desirability of the main protagonist (Clint, as hip-as-fuck late nite DJ Dave), who, like his favourite jazz music, is full of the free and full of the flow, muthafuckah (as Miles would say).

Even the love montage(I usually loathe LM's), is decent. Clint and his gal(who sports a saaa-weeet two-tier shag cut)get it on backed by a pastoral landscape and some melodramatic, shed-a-single tear Roberta Flack.

Check out the trailer. It's "Supermurgitroid"! Which is Jazz slang for really cool. For more funky Jazz slang go here.

Can someone please tell me if that dude from Magnum P.I. did the voice over for this trailer? Help, its gonna hang around, annoy,and bug me like a Murray the K around the Beatles until I find out.

One last thing while we are doing the slo-hang and rappin' about Jazz flicks. Make sure you watch the Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond. It is super boss. It's not really about Jazz, but whatevs. Watch the flick that almost caused Sir Larry Olivier's knighthood to be revoked, and where Mr. Diamond completely choked.

Catch ya on the flipside, hepcats!

currently listening to: Coltrane, A Love Supreme