Ep #41 - Jazz Anxiety Films in the 60s

Charles Mingus once said: “Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.” Jenna wasn’t thinking about this quote when she coined the term “Jazz Anxiety Movie” but it certainly fits. What she was thinking about was how many brilliant 1960s films about anxiety-inducing situations seem to have memorable jazz scores. But it was more than that–beyond just utilizing jazz to get across a mood, all of these movies seemed to actively reflect their scores in their filmmaking, resulting in punches of abstract visuals or non-linear plots. What indeed was this intrinsic connection between the sound of jazz and the visual representation of anxiousness?

In this episode, Bart and Jenna set out to define what exactly this genre is that they made up. While they have a solid handle on digging deep into the anxiety aspect, they call upon guest Kyle Eagle, host of The Major Scale jazz program and previous Cinema60 guest episode, to help fill in some much-needed music knowledge.

The following films are discussed:

• The Connection (1961)
Directed by Shirley Clarke
Starring Warren Finnerty, William Redfield, Roscoe Lee Browne
Soundtrack by Freddie Redd, feat. Jackie McLean, Michael Mattos, & Larry Ritchie.

• All Night Long (1962)
Directed by Basil Dearden
Starring Patrick McGoohan, Richard Attenborough, Marti Stevens
Soundtrack by Philip Green, feat. Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck

• Pressure Point (1962)
Directed by Hubert Cornfield
Starring Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk
Soundtrack by Ernest Gold

• Repulsion (1965)
Directed by Roman Polanski
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser
Soundtrack by Chico Hamilton

• Mickey One (1965)
Directed by Arthur Penn
Starring Warren Beatty, Alexandra Stewart, Franchot Tone
Soundtrack by Eddie Sauter feat. Stan Getz

• Mister Buddwing (1966)
Directed by Delbert Mann
Starring James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette
Soundtrack by Kenyon Hopkins