BEFORE: Elton John carries over from "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman". Elton doesn't really do much here, his voice is heard commenting on one Donna Summer song, "I Feel Love", and he's seen in archive footage dancing at Studio 54. But that's enough - it counts, the chain is still good and I don't have to re-arrange any plans. (I could have, if needed, just moved on to the next film via a different connection, and re-located today's film to later in the Doc Block. But I don't think I have to.)
This doc has been on my DVR for over a year, I recorded it last June - but my Doc Block came earlier last year, that's where it fit, so it looks like I just had to table this one and sit on it for over a year until the linking came back around. That's what I'm doing now with docs like "Brats" and the ones about Tom Hanks and Brooke Shields and Faye Dunaway and Blood, Sweat & Tears, I'm just going to have to try again next summer.
What I should be doing now is putting together my horror chain, even if I'll only have room for 20 horror films this October, because of NYCC and maybe another trip to North Carolina, the time to figure out what those 20 films are going to be is approaching fast, I kind of need to know where I want to be on October 1, because the road there is going to start on August 1 - right now I only have 1 end of that chain, and that's no bueno. Can I work in "Godzilla x Kong" or "The Meg" or the "Saw" films? I'd better start working that out.
THE PLOT: Follows the life of iconic singer Donna Summer.
AFTER: I'm over the hump now, 23 docs into the chain, and now thanks to two last recent adds, there are 20 films to go. Hey, I can probably think of worse ways to spend the hottest days of July than to be inside with the A/C on, watching movies and counting how many times I've seen Elton John. I'll check the scores tomorrow for talk show hosts and Beatles. It's hard to believe right now, but the road eventually leads to Katharine Hepburn - it's a pretty twisty road, though.
Again, I'm here to learn, so what did I learn tonight? I learned that Boston-born Donna Gaines worked early in her career in a touring production of "Hair", and if you think it's tough to sing "The Age of Aquarius", well, try singing it in German. Actually, don't do that. Then Donna married an Austrian guy, and his last name was "Sommer", so that's how she got her stage name? She spent a few years in Germany and Austria working as a model and back-up singer, where she started working with producer Giorgio Moroder. Her first his was "Love to Love You, Baby", which was not so much a song but a collection of sensual moans and groans, and for some reason that was a hit with men in the clubs, I'm not sure why. JK.
Her second single with Moroder producing, "I Feel Love", was a huge hit on the disco circuit, all the clubs were playing the 8 minute version over and over again - it just really had the FEEL of going to the club, with this big driving beat in the background, repetitive lyrics and a bunch of catchy hooks I guess, and really this was the start of electronic music taking over in the late 1970's, then everything in the 1980's was Moog synths and drum machines, no actual instruments being harmed in the making of those records.
The connection with Casablanca Records and the disco hits got her involved with the movie "Thank God It's Friday", which is now regarded as one of the worst films ever made, but it's where Donna Summer sang the song "Last Dance", so really, how would every wedding reception you've ever been to end, if not for that song and that movie? But damn if that isn't an Oscar-winning song from what is technically an Oscar-winning movie.
More hits followed - her version of "MacArthur Park" went to #1, and then came "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff", and the duet with Barbra Streisand "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". But from her POV, her record label didn't release her singles properly, they didn't wait for one single to peak before releasing the next, which meant that her songs were competing against each other on the singles chart, you'd have to be the Beatles or Elton John to have multiple singles in the Top 10, but maybe that's what Casablanca Records was shooting for. Anyway, this led to her leaving Casablanca for Geffen, and a couple records in to the Geffen contract, Casablanca claimed that she still owed them one more record, and it had better be a hit, and that's what led to "She Works Hard For the Money", which of course was a big hit.
Her personal life seems to have had a fair amount of tragedy in it, but the film couldn't really make it clear (to me, anyway), I know she got divorced in 1976 and then married Bruce Sudano in 1980, but I had to look up the abuse claims online to learn that she was molested by a church pastor when she was younger and then later in life she was drawn to men who were very creative but also abusive, particularly one boyfriend (not Sudano). Privately, she also compared working in the music industry to being "raped over and over". But she also got really religious in the late 1980's, and there were allegations of anti-gay remarks, quoting the old "Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve" line. Considering how much of her early fan base was gay men in clubs, this was probably a terrible stance to take. However, Summer denied making anti-gay comments and semi-apologized to the group ACT-UP in 1989.
Donna Summer passed in 2012, due to lung cancer, even though she was a non-smoker, but it's possible that she was affected by the toxic fumes and dust from the 9/11 attacks, as she lived in an apartment near Ground Zero. Or maybe she was a secret smoker, I don't know. Anyway this week seems to have taken on a theme of its own, from John Lennon's alcoholism to Elton John's drug abuse and now Donna Summer's addiction to unhealthy relationships. This theme should continue, at least through the weekend.
Also starring Pete Bellotte, Dana Bernard, Mary Ellen Bernard, Bob Conti, Mimi Dohler, Ric Gaines, David M, Giorgio Moroder (last seen in "The Sparks Brothers"), Peter Muhldorfer, Susan Munao, Helmuth Sommer, Bobby Stewart, Amanda Sudano, Brooklyn Sudano, Bruce Sudano, Joyce Bogart Trabulus, Jack Waddell,
with archive footage of Donna Summer (last seen in "The Sparks Brothers"), Josephine Baker, Neil Bogart, Johnny Carson (last seen in "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over"), Andrew Gaines, Merv Griffin (last seen in "I Am Burt Reynolds"), Peter Guber, Arsenio Hall (last seen in "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only"), Mahalia Jackson (last seen in "Beauty"), Onetta Johnson, Quincy Jones (last seen in "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool"), Janis Joplin (last seen in "Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood"), David L. Lander, Michael McKean (last seen in "Teaching Mrs. Tingle"), Dinah Shore (last seen in "Being Mary Tyler Moore"), Tom Snyder (last seen in "Belushi"), Barbra Streisand (last seen in "Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind"), Jimmie Walker (last seen in "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You"), Dionne Warwick (last seen in "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over),
RATING: 5 out of 10 12-inch remixes
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