I have so much to say about the following movie that it deserves a post all on it's own.
The year was 1978 and this movie was inspired by the
Beatles’ classic album of the same name. I love this movie but its poor run at the box office had many people scratching their heads wondering "What the hell were they thinking?"
But to me, this movie is just pure gold with a cast of many. George
Burns, Steve Martin, Aerosmith, and Alice Cooper just to name a few.
The IMDB rating for it is a measly 3.5 out of 10 stars. That's ridiculous. How can anyone not love this movie or at least find the greatness in it?
The movie goes like this...George Burns played Mr. Kite, the Mayor of Heartland, U.S.A. He was also the movie's narrator. The Bee Gees (Barry Gibb and his late brothers Maurice and Robin) played the Henderson brothers, who are also a musical group, which okay not a big stretch. And Frampton played Billy Shears, who added the 'pretty' to the
group. They were a newer version of the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The original members had left their magical musical instruments to Heartland and to the current members of the group. The town embodied peace and love. (But you know all that sugary goodness can't last)
The band was perfectly content playing in Heartland until they received a too good to be true offer by sleazy record producer B.D. Hoffler played by Donald Pleasance, who would later go on to shoot Michael Myers. But I digress. Before the Hendersons and Billy headed to Hollywood, Billy had to bid farewell to his girlfriend, who was named....ready for this....Strawberry Fields (played by Sandy Farina).
Of course once the band met with Hoffler, the were instantly seduced by gorgeous women, booze, drugs, and boatloads of money. While poor Strawberry was left back in Heartland to pine for her beloved Billy. That was until Mean Mr. Mustard (played by Frankie Howerd) arrived in town and stole the magical instruments. And that dastardly act turned the once warm and fuzzy Heartland into a dark and desolate place. So Strawberry hightailed it to Hollywood to find Billy and the brothers to tell them what had happened. Except Miss Fields was utterly shocked and dismayed upon finding that Billy had been lured to the dark side and was canoodling with a seductress named Lucy (played by Dianne Steinberg).
But things got much worse for Strawberry, when she was kidnapped by Mean Mr. Mustard then tied to a giant aquamarine neon light (okay I'll admit that was cheesy) while the evil Future Villain Band aka Aerosmith performed "Come Together" which is a nice cover in my opinion. But anyway, Billy tried desperately to save Strawberry by fighting the nameless evil character played by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Billy won the fight but sadly lost Strawberry, who plunged to her death. I was only 7 years-old when this movie came out, but I'm pretty sure the moment she died I was seriously asking WTF??
Billy, the brothers, and a deceased Strawberry returned to Heartland for her funeral. Where she was buried in a glass encased casket, which was kind of strange but she looked positively ethereal, so the scene was quite effective. And this is when we were treated to Frampton's version of "Golden Slumbers" along with the Bee Gee's rendition of "Carry That Weight." Both songs were from the Beatles' Abbey Road album. And I am sure some are gonna yell blasphemy when I say this, but I preferred their two versions better than the Beatles. *Ducking from tomatoes*
But even with those awesome songs, I was completely bummed when afterward the funeral Billy almost attempted suicide. Talk about a shitty ending. But...not so fast. The town hall weather vane aka Billy Preston had something to say (sing) about that. And he told everyone to "Get Back" and with his laser shooting trumpet, he miraculously turned back time. Meaning Strawberry was no longer dead and was reunited with Billy...making my little 7 year-old heart very happy! And once again all was copacetic in Heartland.
The soundtrack was all kinds of fantastic. My mom had the vinyl and I played it on my little red record player all the time. I
tried to buy the soundtrack on iTunes but sadly it's not available.
I grew up listening to the Bee Gees as my mom was a huge fan of theirs, she even saw them in concert back in the day. I proudly house Bee Gees songs in my iTunes library and my heart was deeply saddened by the loss of both Maurice and Robin. Gone way before their time. *sigh*
RIP Maurice and Robin.
- Heather
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