Category Archives: Music Video Film References

Classic movies in music videos: Boots by The Killers

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This is December’s edition of Comet Over Hollywood’s classic film references in music videos.

The song's single cover channels "Citizen Kane"

Right on the heels of watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) in Mount Airy, I want to share a reference of the film in The Killer’s 2010 Christmas single “Boots.”  It was the fifth Christmas single the band wrote to help raise money for AIDS.

The video starts off with George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) praying for help in “It’s a Wonderful Life” right after the $8,000 is lost and he thinks he is going to jail. The song also mentions the movie title in the chorus.

The cover of the single also references “Citizen Kane.” The snow globe with the boots inside is similar to the snow globe Charles Foster Kane is holding when he dies.

“Boots” was directed by “Napoleon Dynamite” director Jared Hess and the homeless man in the video is street performer Brad “Super Bad Brad” Prowley- I had no idea he was anyone well-known until a today.

Most of the band’s Christmas songs are silly and fun, such as “Don’t Shoot Me Santa Claus”, “Great Big Sleigh” and “The Cowboy Christmas Ball.” However, this video is about home, memories and is a bit more serious and sentimental. I believe this might be, because Flowers’ mother passed away in February 2010 and he was dedicating it to her and childhood memories, though this is just an assumption.

As most of you know The Killers are my favorite band. In past classic film in music video posts I have shared their videos “All the Things I Have Done” and “Bones.”  From what I have heard in interviews and read in articles, I feel like lead singer Brandon Flowers appreciates the old times and classic film. He was raised in Las Vegas and tries to channels the Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis days of 1960s Las Vegas in his performances and music.

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Actor in Music Video: “Round and Round” by Ratt

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We have November’s installment of classic film referenced or shown in music videos.

Milton Berle in the 1940s.

Milton Berle makes a short cameo in the heavy metal song “Round and Round” by Ratt in 1984. You can see him at :23 and also dressed as a woman at :43.

Berle started out in films in 1914, but really made his mark in comedy in 1940s and 1950s films and television.

The video is pretty weird, if not stupid. I don’t understand why the girl looks like Frankenstein’s Bride by the time she crawls up into the attic. Weird.

Check back for December’s classic film reference in music videos.

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Classic movies in Music Videos: Backstreet’s Back

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We have October’s installment of classic film referenced or shown in music videos.

This month I’m spot lighting the 1997 Backstreet Boy’s video “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).

Now before you stop reading I’ll admit this one is a bit of a stretch. However the information on the music video says the video “plays a parody on every horror film genre in the same light as Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.'”

The boy band gets stranded in a haunted house and each one dances around like a different monster in the video:

– Brain is a werewolf-think Lon Chaney Jr. in ‘The Wolf Man” (1941)

-Howie is Dracula-maybe he was channeling his inner Bela Lugosi

-Nick is a mummy-possibly referencing the 1932 film The Mummy

-Erik is dressed as the Phatom of the Opera- I’d like to think he was thinking of Lon Chaney or Claude Rains

-Kevin is Two-Faced which is supposed to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Frederic March or Spencer Tracey anyone?

It’s highly possible the Backstreet Boys are not familiar with any of the classic films I mentioned above but those are the films I thought of while watching the video-probably because classic film is pretty much on my mind all the time.

Hopefully you just don’t ban Comet Over Hollywood if you were more of an N’Sync fan!

This is also just a cheesy little video just in time for Halloween.  And hey, maybe it will remind you of your youth (I was in third grade when this came out).  Enjoy!

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Classic movies in Music Videos: Alright by Janet Jackson

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You thought that I forgot September’s installment of music videos that feature either classic movie stars, movies or reference classic movies-well you would be correct.  But I have it squeezed in just before the month ends!

This Janet Jackson’s 1990 song “Alright” is getting featured. This video doesn’t have just one star-but FOUR! It features Cyd Charisse (2:52), dancing brothers Fayard and Harold Nicholas (4:58), and Cab Calloway(4:27 and 6:48).  The video is supposed to be in a sort of 1930s style (complete with Janet in a zoot suit) and it follows Jackson going to the premiere of Calloway’s film.

As you may recall, Cyd Charisse-star of Band Wagon and Brigadoon- was also in the Blue Mercedes video “I Want to Be Your Property” around this time. Charisse was 69 at this time and still looks amazing.  She recently died in 2008.

The Nicholas brothers can be spotted dancing and doing painful to watch acrobatic splits in films like “Down Argentine Way” and “Stormy Weather.” I often think “Man didn’t that hurt” while I’m watching a film where they jump off a balcony and land in a split. According to Fayard Nicholas it did, “We can’t do those routines anymore; we don’t want to, and I’ll tell you why — it hurts!”  Fayard died in 2006 and Harold died in 2000. At the time of this video the brothers were 76 and 69 years old (respectively).

This video was one of Cab Calloway’s last appearances. He died in 1994 and was 83 years old here. Though not as well known for his acting career, I think most of us are familiar with his great song “Minnie the Moocher” and his cameo appearance in “The Blues Brothers.”

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Classic Movies in Music Videos: Thriller by Michael Jackson

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We have another installment of music videos that feature either classic movie stars, movies or reference classic movies.

I’m not sure how during I forgot about “Thriller” relating to classic film.  This one is so obvious and I forgot about it until my sister and I were listening to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits in the car.

Vincent Price, known for his horror roles in the 1960s, talks in the middle of the song around 6:30 in the video.

You can see Vincent Price’s name on the movie marque and movie posters of his films around the movie theater at the beginning of the video.

Vincent Price in the horror film "The Bat" (1959)

Price started in Hollywood in the late 1930s and can be seen in “Elizabeth and Essex” (1939) and “Song of Bernadette” (1943). Audiences started to notice him more in film noir movies like “Laura” (1944) and “His Kind of Woman” (1951) as the suspicious man who started out likable but ends up being bad.

But Price made his mark when he starred in “The House of Wax” (1953) and “House on Haunted Hill” (1959). Price found his niche in horror movies and continued to capitalize off of creepy characters until his last on screen film appearance in “Edward Scissor Hand” (1991).

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Classic Movies in Music Videos: “Llyod, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” by Camera Obscura

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Here we have another installment of music videos that feature either classic movie stars, movies or reference classic movies.

This month’s music video is “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” by Camera Obscura from their 2006 album “Let’s Get Out of This Country.”

The video is of a very 1960s looking couple dancing around the city. During part of the video, we see June Allyson and Ray MacDonald dancing around to “Till the Clouds Roll By” from the 1946 film of the same name.

I have to admit, the video also makes me think of a GAP commercial, but it’s still fun.

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Classic Movies in Music Videos: “Bones” by The Killers

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Here we have another installment of music videos that feature either classic movie stars, movies or reference classic movies.

This month’s music video is “Bones” by The Killers from their album “Sam’s Town.”

The video is of a guy and a girl in a drive in movie and we see several classic films on-screen as well as being acted out by the couple.

Some movie references are:
•”Jason and the Argonauts” (Very first shot, the fact that the band members are skeletons
•”From Here to Eternity” (1953)- :30 seconds, 1:00, 1:30
•”Easy to Love” (1953)-  2:12
•”Lolita” (1962)- 2:39
•”Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954)- 3:16

Enjoy and let me know if I missed any!

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Classic Movies in Music Videos: “Dark of the Matinee”

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I’m starting yet another new feature on “Comet” about actors and actresses, or anything classic film related, in music videos.

The video featured today is Franz Ferdinand’s 2004 song “The Dark of the Matinee” from their self titled first album.

The video doesn’t have a classic actor in it, but there are several old movie clips.

If I can tell correctly from the quick flashes of the videos, I think I spotted Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. it what looks like “Sinbad the Sailor” along with an old western and silent movie that I couldn’t determine. I think it may have been a Pearl White movie.

What movies did you pick out?

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Classic film in music videos: “Rush Rush”

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“Rebel Without a Cause” is one of the quintessential tough guy, nice girl romances mixed in with lots of angsty, misunderstood teens. So Paula Abdul figured it would be a perfect topic for her music video  “Rush Rush” from 1991.

Interestingly enough, actor Keanu Reeves is in the video as the James Dean character, though he seems rather wimpy and passive compared to the James Dean’s Jim Stark.  Paula is of course the Natalie Wood character.

The video is sort of corny, but semi interesting since they do go through several of the famous scenes of “Rebel Without a Cause” such as the planetarium and the car race off the cliff.  The talking part towards the end is pretty funny. The beginning of this version of the video is supposed to be like the beginning of “Rebel Without a Cause.”

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Classic movies in music videos: “All These Things That I’ve Done”-The Killers

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I’m starting yet another new feature on “Comet” about actors and actresses, or anything classic film related, in music videos. The last video I posted featured Cyd Charisse in the Blue Mercedes video “I Want to Be Your Property.”

The video featured today is The Killer’s 2004 song “All These Things I Have Done” from their first album “Hot Fuss.”  The song has two videos; the other is the band playing a concert and walking down the street hugging people-not as interesting as this one. This video was made in 2005 and seems to have a more “Sam’s Town” album feel.

Dangerous go-go dancers in “Faster Pussycat Kill Kill”

The video doesn’t have a classic actor in it, but references the movie “Faster Pussycat… Kill! Kill!” (1965). Complete with desert setting and deadly, buxom women.  The Asian character in the music video with the braids, seems to be channeling the late Tura Santana’s character, Vula.

The music video story is out of order, but you can understand the sequence by paying attention to the numbers each girl holds up.

Side Note: I recently saw the cult film “Faster Pussycat… Kill! Kill!” and have to admit, it was hard to find anything to like about it.  I wasn’t really sure why they killed the girl’s boyfriend and and her bogus karate move that supposedly killed him more than likely would have just dislocated his shoulder.

This isn’t the only time the Killer’s reference class film in lyrics or videos. The lead singer of The Killer’s, Brandon Flowers, is mormon and has very traditional values. Lyrics like “red white and blue upon a birthday cake,” “Some kind of slick, chrome American prince” and “A southern drawl, a world unseen” give a feeling of Americana.  In other songs Flowers sings about old actors like Marlon Brandon, James Dean and Greta Garbo as I discussed in a post back in June.

Here is the amusing and fun video for “All These Things That I Have Done” (I apologize that you will have to open it in a new window):

This won’t be the last time you hear about The Killer’s on here. They are my favorite band, but they have more classic movie references. Check back for the next classic movies and actors in music videos!

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