This month I bring you the most memorable scene from what is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. In this scene, our underdog hero, Jim, attempts to win the girl by winning her father’s approval…by winning a challenge to round-up the herd of brumbies (aka Australian mustangs) who have been terrorizing ranchers and trampling people because they’re led by a reckless stallion (see face-off at the end of the video: that’s him. p.s. he killed Jim’s dad! sort of). The hoarde of dudes in this video are all trying to round up the brumbies because they want the monetary reward, but JIM IS DOING IT FOR LOVE. At 2:27 you will encounter one of the best moments in all of horse film, as Jim and his horse show the slimy mob who’s really got the heart and hooves of gold. Cue the French horns!
Update: I cannot believe the coincidence of this. After I wrote about John Cage’s ASLSP, I picked up a City Paper and saw that Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church is launching its Lenten Concert Series with a five-hour performance of the piece, by organist Robert Morehead. What are the odds of me learning about the existence of this composition in the morning and then reading about it in the paper later the same day?!?!?! My head is exploding. It’s not like this is common fare, right? The planets must be aligning…
I think I want: Joanna Newsom’s new 3-part album, Have One on Me. Her sound is really different now, a lot gentler. I think I might like this. Amazon has previews.
NPR All Songs Considered: Guest DJ Bonnie Prince Billy (March 23, 2009). Interesting discussion and some great songs – especially “The Girl in Me”, about the feminine aspects of a man and the manly aspects of a woman and enacting/appreciating them with one’s lover. There are a few songs from his (then) new album, “Beware”, which was not up my alley. I got it from CLP and just couldn’t get into it. But the other songs in this show are pretty great. Among them is a Susanna song that reminded me I’ve been meaning to get some of their/her music.
I’m going to try to do a series of posts featuring clips from movies with serious underdogs, and serious inspirational pump-up scenes involving said underdogs…and, preferably, music. They might all be sports related, but maybe not.
The first is a song from the Bollywood movie Lagaan. Now before you Bollywood-haters dismiss it, I suggest you just watch the video and appreciate the craftsmanship of some of the shots. It’s cheesy, but in that undeniably heartwarming way that only musicals are.
This version has English subtitles but the song doesn’t start right away. The one below is better quality, but has no subtitles. The background story is that these underdogs have been coerced/tricked into playing a cricket match against their stinky British overlords. If the villagers win, they don’t have to pay tax (lagaan) for two years; if they lose, they have to pay double. They don’t know how to play cricket, and they’re out of shape. Hence, the pump-up sesh (led by the inspiring and ripped Aamir Khan *swoon*):
Lesson from this scene: all an underdog needs is some homies to beat the Imperial powers that hold you down.
Next week: all an underdog needs is a brave and dependable horse to overcome cheating goldiggers who wanna steal your girl.
All I’m sayin’ is it’s weird how they have TVs and radios EVERYWHERE in doctor’s offices and hospitals. Like… I will never be able to think of the song “Brick House” in the same way again.
