Film: "King Creole"

/TITLE: King Creole / GENRE: Drama / FORMAT: DVD /

There is plenty of bs going on concerning films starring Elvis Presley. They're bad. He can't act. He sings all the time. I haven't seen many Elvis films, but I think the criticism is a bit unfair.

Sure, there's a lot of singing going on, but who sists down to watch an Elvis film without expecting him to sing? And as for his acting, hardly any oscar-winning skills, but he ain't THAT bad either and as for the film's qualities, I think there are some. It's a good story, actually, far better than many modern Hollywood flicks.

The story takes place in New Orleans. Elvis plays a guy called Danny Fisher, who lives with his sister and father, a father who can't seem to keep a job, which means Danny has to work as a bus boy in gents clubs owned by a guy called "Maxi", who owns every club in the red light district cept a place called King Creole.

One morning, Danny saves one of the girls from a beating by a drunk customer and comes too late to the last day in school which means he can't get his diploma. Instead of studying yet another semester, he drops out of school and ends up working with petty criminals led by a geezer called "Shark". They start shoplifting in a warehouse where Danny is the decoy, he goes into the shop singing, while the other lot nick jewlery. In this shop he meets a young girl called Nellie, whom he starts to date.

Through out the film, Danny is torn between the two women, the good christian girl Nellie and the girl he saved from a beating in Maxi's club, "Ronnie".

Anyway, words gets out that Danny can sing and he lands a job at King Creole. He is an instant smash and Maxi wants Danny back to one of his clubs, where he wants him to sing. Meanwhile, Shark has started to work for Maxi and when the two of them plan a robbery involving someone dear to Danny, the stage is set for conflict...

I liked this movie and I would recommend it to all Elvis fans. If for no other reason, then for the fact that it's full of classic Elvis tunes. And, as I said, the acting isn't really that bad and the storyline is good.

All in all, a good movie with good music, it gets a definite 82,7% in rate of satisfaction!

Willie Nelson, "Heroes"

/ARTIST: Willie Nelson / TITLE: Heroes / GENRE: Country music / LABEL: Legacy / FORMAT: CD /

This is Willie Nelsons latest CD and the fact that it's full of interesting collaborations, including the fact that the three big names of old school country, that is Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard, are present on this disc is reason enough to buy it.

However, it's hardly groundbreaking. Willie is like Cock Sparrer, you get what you get on album after album. There are plenty of good tunes on this one, but no On the road again and no You were always on my mind. There are, however, songs with a message and songs about broken hearts, something Willie does good, cos, remember that he was a short haired singer of romantic songs once, before he turned out to be a long haired rebel.

If this record is like most other stuff he's turned out over the last few years, I would still recommend everyone to buy it and support one of the last greats of country music. I compared him to Cock Sparrer before and another trait he shares with oi! is the fact that he combines staunch patriotism with criticism of the system. He shows you can love your country and it's traditions and still be mad as hell about what the leaders of men get up to. The next last tune on the disc, Come back Jesus, shows that clearly.

I really liked Willie's reggae album and his collaboration with Toots Hibbert of the Maytals fame. When I picked this record up, I noticed on the back that he was going to collaborate with rapper Snoop Dogg. For a minute, I feared there would be some dreadful nu country, where Willie would rap. Fortunately, that didn't happen. If he went reggae on his other album, this is Snoop going country. Gangsta rap meets outlaw country. The tune itself is one of the worst tunes on the album and one can clearly hear why Snoop raps and doesn't sing normally.

Well, what could Willie and Snoop have in common? Duh!

Unfortunately, there are a few drug-glorifying tunes on this album that I, as a straight edge guy and as someone with mates that have died from overdoses, simply can't endorse. I see no reason to glorify that shit and those who do so through music should be held accountable for all the drug-related deaths there is.

Fortunately, Willie doesn't only sing about drugs. Best songs on this album are, as usual, his songs about broken hearts, whereof The sound of your memory and Just breathe stand out as the finest.

I think this is an okayish album that delivers the goods, but hardly anything groundbreaking. It gets 58,3% in rate of satisfaction!

Hank Snow, "The essential Hank Snow"

/ ARTIST: Hank Snow / TITLE: The Essential Hank Snow / GENRE: Country / LABEL: RCA / FORMAT: CD /

The title of this record says it all, it's the essential Hank Snow. Essential to one extent cos what you get is the best stuff he's done, but also cos a Hank Snow record is essential to any country music lover's collection.

Most of the stuff on this one is from the time rockabilly and rock & roll saw the light of day. I'm sure this what the squares could have a ball to in Muskogee, Oklahoma. It's not that it's bad music, it's just that it came out in a time when country music needed a kick up the arse and start to notice what was happening, something Johnny Cash did very well, by the way.

But simply saying that it's bad music, cos it was traditional, it just won't do. Hank Snow was a great singer. He had a great voice and seemed to have been able to pick the right tunes to record. What more can one ask for?

What you get on this album is a few ballads, some waltzy stuff, as well as some more uptempo numbers like the brilliant I've been everywhere, which sound at times a bit like the latest hit of young R&B star Rihanna's.

This a very good record and I would recommend it to any fan of traditional country.

I'll give it 82,5% in rate of satisfaction!

Film: "True grit"

TITLE: "True grit" / GENRE: Western movie / FORMAT: DVD /

The title to this blog is "A Swede on American Culture" and few things are as American when it comes to culture as movies are. I for one loathe modern Hollywood productions, but I think old movies like this one, the original with John Wayne in the lead, embodies Americana like Merle Haggard does.

Therefore, I have decided to branch out from just writing on music to write a bit on films as well.

The story is simple, classical western stuff, someone gets murdered and his family, in this case a young and angry daughter, seeks out revenge. The daughter, Mattie, is angry, but sympathetic all way through the movie. It's girl power decades before The Spice Girls. A bit of Loretta Lynn's Fist city embodied, though she remains a Christian young girl who refuse to accept her accomplices drinking habit.

The other lead part is played by the legend himself, mr John Wayne. Wayne plays "Rooster", a hard federal marshal and gun fighter, who drinks too much and shoots before he talks.

Rooster, Mattie and Labeef ( a Texas ranger) goes out on a manhunt to catch or kill a geezer called "Chaney", who was employed by Mattie's old man, whom he killed under the influence of alcohol. Labeef plays a slick, but deadly Texas ranger, who starts out courting Mattie, but she will have none of his antics and after a few conflicts, the three decide to hunt Chaney down together. Throughout the film, there a refreshing feeling of underlying conflict between the three.

I think this is one of John Wayne's better movies, cos it dives into controversial issues and "Rooster" is portrayed unsentimentally, when it comes to his drinking, as well as his habit of shooting first and asking questions later. Central to the film is the question of justice. You may point finger at me and criticise me, cos I am a pro-lifer and pro-death penalty kind of man. However, I think there should be justice done when someone has killed someone. True, the film is stereotyped and the bad guys are classical bad guys, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that this a film with a message of justice and that message never goes out of date.

This is not just one of the better John Wayne flicks I've seen, but also one of the best Western movies I've seen. Bleedin love it.

Therefore, a good, almost perfect flick gets 91,3% in rate of satisfaction!