Bad (Martin Scorsese, 1987)

"But they say the skys the limit/And to me thats really true/And my friends you have seen nothin/Just wait til I get through . . ."

Introduction

This is a really serious video. Personally, my lack of knowledge when I was younger led me to believe that the kids dancing in Moonwalker to Bad was in fact the video to Bad. Of course, its not. So this is the final music-video analysis on the blog 'in memory' of Michael Jackson. We had David Fincher and Spike Lee. We could have had John 'Boyz in the Hood' Singleton's Remember The Time, or John 'American Werewolf in...' Landis Thriller or even the short introduction to the Dangerous film directed by David 'Twin Peaks' Lynch. I am sure we could go back to these if we get a chance. Nevertheless, Bad has a full version of the video spanning 14 minutes and is directed by Martin Scorsese Pre-Goodfellas (he must have been discussing it though with Nic Pillegi at this point) but Post-Mean Streets, Raging Bull and his most recent film at this point was The Color of Money so he was hardly an unknown or director-in-need-of-attention. He was well established and, to top if off, for the writer of the music video (obviously not the song itself - that was Michael Jackson, but for the script that precedes the video) was no other than the writer of Sea of Love Richard Price. Price also managed to write many episodes alongside a man called David Simon recently, in a TV series called The Wire. Thats Sarcasm. I am a huge Wire fan.





What I reckon ...

You know Scorsese was hardly going to be able to bring the amount of depth and meaning to a Michael Jackson music video as he does in his own films - so you are not going to get any religious symbolism and Catholic iconography here - but you do get a little masculine-identity issues and some technicial correlations that could be discussed. First and foremost the sequence the precedes and follows is shot in black and white, similar to Raging Bull, I assume - if we were going to look 'deep' into the video, because the dream-like sequence shot in full colour with the dancing and completely-different 'bad' look of Jacksons is not what actually happens. Black and white is the real world, while the colour is - possibly mentally - what Jackson wants to express but until the last act, does not manage to explain.

Its an incredibly dark video too - we have references to theft, vandalism, drug dealing - and taking - and the constant problem of breaking free from poverty. Justified, we get no idea as to how 'Darryl' (Jackson) broke free from the 'dodgy' end of NYC, simply that his mother (Roberta Flack interestingly enough) clearly works exceptionally hard to support him (so she is not home when he gets back for the summer) and that he acknowledges this. He has begun to appreciate his life. He's not racist towards his classmates in the private school he attends, while they clearly are not racist towards him (then again, his skin by this point was so bleached maybe this is a difficult issue to discuss when talking about race and MJ...). They are proud of him, and accept his friendship - as we see on the train, while the shifty guy on the train who appears to be someone to fear, in fact only asks him about his pride - something that, I assume, can be detroyed in any area of society and, yet both agree in the sentiment: "Be the man". The question is, what is it to 'be the man'?

Its so upsetting to imagine how only a year - possibly within a year - after this was made, Jackson makes Moonwalker. Such a shame. Nevertheless, its not long before we meet friends of Darryl who clearly - without stating it directly - has issues about Darryls circumstances. He's in private education - there is no indication these men have even gone to school ("no school tomorrow? ha ha ha") and so you can see the conflict. Darryl is more intelligent, he has morals - he has a caring family who will do whatever they can to get him out of poverty - while his friends, including a young Wesley Snipes, clearly have very little of anything. They refer to him as 'joe-college', making sexual references, mocking his school friends and manipulating him when he makes any comment that implies his intelligence. You can feel how awkward it is. This is when it gets even more sinister as we see a drug deal - the four guys attempt to threaten the dealer who carries his own protection. We pan across their faces and Darryl despises what he is doing - but we see the other guys expressions too. While Darryl is out of his element, they are clearly in their element.

In leads to the obvious confrontation - Snipes reacts. All his friends turn on him - the pressure is physically and emotionally claustrophobic as the guys grab and challenge him, knocking down everything he and his family have worked for: "Are you bad? hm? or is that what they teach you up in that little sissy school of yours? How to forget who your friends are?". Darryl knows them, he cares - and he caves. Building himself up for one last 'bad' act. He plans to mug a civilian - but as soon as he see's that the civilian doesnt understand him at all, that this man is completely innocent, alarm bells ring. This whole sequence reminds me of The Godfather the pressure mounting parrallel with the train sounds getting louder - except instead of Michael Corleone shooting Solozzo, Darryl can't do it letting the man go. Snipes and co. get angry - Darryl tells him his thoughts: "If I ain't bad, you ain't nothin' - you ain't nothin!"

The music video itself is what it is - flawless dancing and choreography, dancers from a diverse background representing the range of cultures that are affected by poverty and, inevitably, crime. It is interesting to note that, as soon as this finishes, Snipes and Co. decide to back down on Darryl and as the camera pans back, he is alone again in his usual clothes. Clearly, Snipes' gang don't change their ways themselves - there is no indication that they even agree with Darryl as they walk away. Darryl is just on his own and they respect him for taking the opportunity he was given - fact is, Snipes' gang have not been given that opportunity and they clearly cannot stay friends with Darryl, hence their decision to walk away. Darryl is not 'one of them' anymore.

It is great that such dark themes are brought to the forefront, Jackson never shy's away from these society and worldwide issues, utilising his fame and influence to highlight them to the mass market. So many people claim MJ as inspirational - and people in horrendous domestic circumstances state how Jackson specifically is what got them out of crime and depression - seriously this is true. I would not be suprised that it was videos like this, like Man in the Mirror, like Stranger in Moscow and other inspirational videos that created such a personal link with fans. As fans we can look at his stories and understand - at a very young age - what opportunity is, what 'to-dream' is and how, ultimately, it is down to us (and not down to our parents or our circumstances) to dictate what to achieve.

Interesting info - If you listen to the lyric of the song, you can imagine it as a duet - apparently that was the original intention, whereby Jackson was to duet with Prince! How would that have sounded?

King Of New York (Abel Ferrara, 1990)

"You think ambushing me in some nightclub's gonna stop what makes people take drugs? This country spends $100 billion a year on getting high, and it's not because of me. All that time I was wasting in jail, it just got worse. I'm not your problem. I'm just a businessman"

Introduction

It is worth noting in this section that Christopher Walken is a legend. His simple prescence in a film puts it automatically into 'classic' status: Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Pulp Fiction and, I would even include True Romance in there. Thing is, this is - by far - his best film. I knew about this film a while ago after it was mentioned in one of those 'Rough Guides to Gangster films' and it was a shot of Walken in King of New York that was on the sleeve. The minute I saw that sleeve I thought - "my god, Walken as a boss... incredible". It really is. But, over the past few weeks I have been attempting to perfect a Christopher Walken impression myself ... I am failing magnificently, thought I can do one word well: Dad. So, I guess that leads to any word whereby the 'a' is pronounced the same so, Fad, Bad, Sad, etc. I'm getting there, one word at a time. Nevertheless, this is not a blog about my Walken impression (and my god, what a blog that would be) it is a film blog and thus, I discuss Walken's best film: King of New York.

What I reckon ...

Well, it begins as Frank White (Christopher Walken) is released from prison and observes the slums of NYC (Just like Travis Bickle does at the start of Taxi Driver) sitting in the car with two women - one black, one white - who, we soon find out, he has relationships with (Good times for Walken in the hotel room). So, without him speaking we understand he has power and has the women and - having recently watched Scarface - it is as if the first two hours of Scarface is erased. Frank White has got everything Tony Camonte wanted as he steps out of prison - except he is high on coke. This entire opening sequence with Walken is juxtaposed with a drug dealer who goes by the name of Jimmy Jump ('Larry' Fishburne), who is crazy. You often find this cliche black drug criminal who laughs like a maniac and wears expressive clothes and, I always think is to some extent, like Robert De Niro's character in Mean Streets - except without any sympathy. Jimmy kills some Columbian dealers (those Columbians got a raw deal in Scarface and King of New York) in this introduction (Steve Buscemi lurks in the background too!) and then meets Walken in The Plaza - are they friends? is Jimmy going to 'jump' Walken? Alas no - Jimmy works for Walken. It is quite strange because the whole of Jimmy's crew are lower-end drug dealers who take the drugs they deal also - bar Buscemi - they are African-American also so suited-and-booted Christopher Walken with his calm attitude is the last person whacko-Jimmy to respect but, we have a group hug and even some impromptu dancing from Walken (no doubt the reason for FatboySlims 'Weapon of Choice') to establish their strong bond.

Having a gander on the IMDB message boards the comparisons to Scarface are immense (Don't get me wrong, I saw the comparison especially having watched Scarface the day before but its just striking that everyone else could see it too!) - and I think that is just, but there is something so much more gritty and, not so-much realistic, more as closer to realism as a style in King of New York. So many roaming shots of New York to establish the setting - we are dealing with the underworld here and so the gutters and dodgy crack houses and muddy under-the-motorway sections are so key to the realism of the film. It doesn't take long in Scarface before we are in Miami - and although we thrown into the 'gritty-ness' of Scarface pretty soon (having a guy sawn apart and all), the fact is they all wear Hawaiian shirts and Pacino shoots the Colombian in the middle of the street and gets away with a certain 'edge'. When Jimmy Jump kills the-only-black-cop, Wesley Snipes, and is in turn himself, killed by the-Irish-cop-from-CSI (David Caruso), it is dirty, it is messy and is anything but classy. The cinematography is by Alex Tavoularis - a relation to Dean 'The Godfather' Tavoularis perhaps? (Alex worked on Godfather Part III with Dean ...) - who creates and uses shadows that look absolutely stunning - very dark sequences whereby very few colours are used - I swear the crack-house is just different shades of black and blue and this does remind me of the huge use of shadows and black in The Godfather.

Moving back to the story, the police are portrayed as weak, powerless, suicidal di*kheads. They have hot heads and are always ready to blow a gasket whenever anything goes wrong - opposed to the calm and controlled manner Walken and his two-faced consigliere, Dalesio (Paul Calderon - in Michael Jackson's Bad music video and Pacino's Sea of Love all watched in the last month by me - how weird) are. Calm, controlled and professional.

I mentioned Wesley Snipes role - its quite funny really, because his role is incredibly small but, in my opinion, is pivotal. His character is Thomas Flanigan and - as mentioned in the cops wedding sequence - he is one of very few (if any) African American cops and this is mocked by both Jimmy Jump and his cronies. One sequence when Jump manages to squeeze his way out of any arrest -an arrest that was humiliating and overblown managed to be squashed very quickly by Walkens top-end lawyers. CSI-cop spits in Jimmy's face. He wipes it off. But Snipes just stares at him - you question how much Jimmy cares but you can see the anger and frustration in Snipes face. Something that spitting-Caruso will never understand. It nevertheless evens the score - as humiliating as Jimmys arrest was and being spat in the face, Jimmy completely mocking the justice system and mocking Snipes position in the force was far more humiliating for Snipes himself. While discussing the race representation in the film, Walken himself is one of the very few white criminals - within a gangs of African-americans, Chinese, Columbians, Italians, etc. This racial divide gives Walken - by far the worst criminal of them all - the opportunity to not only mix within the underground groups but also the upper-class politicians and congressmen and women (to the point that a top-class female lawyer he goes out with represents him and his clients - wilfully, he even reduces her up-class status, as he has a quick fondle of her on the train, in the subway. Could she get more underground?), therefore gaining a political prescence in the city.

The irony is in the finale - his 'gang' and business is not wiped out. In fact, it is quite clear that they inevitably continued. Hence my choice of rank's words at the top of this overview. The unit deovted to catching Frank White are all wiped out. Two killed in a failed ambush that, in itself, was illegal and showed how corrupt the NYC police were, another killed at the funeral for the previously mentioned dead cops. (Frank pulls up in a limo, shotgun out, bang - killed). The last one is the only one with some sort of dignity. Frank has the power to get into his apartment and tell him his stance - as a businessman - then leaves under the assumption that he will stay out of his way. But he decides not to - appearing on the train Frank has got on for a showdown. Remember the cops are portrayed as di*kheads and, consequently, rank sprays him up with bullets and, in response, the cop manages to squeeze out one bullet.

We see Frank stumble away - was he shot? he see's the commotion of the streets and gets into a taxi. We see he's been shot in the belly. The music starts up as we see brilliant crane shots over all the New York cars residing around this one taxi ... the police surround the taxi. He drops his gun. He's dead. Alone in a taxi. I assume the point is that this one last cop - a decent man who was in no part of the failed attack on Franks crack-house - was the one that succeeded in their mission to catch him. Bishop (Victor Argo) is the cops name and he clearly is aware of the problem in the city and, to some extent, doesnt care anymore - its gone to far. The film lacks any hope for the future and this is merely pointing out the flaws in the legal system and the power of criminals and in this way, on a much smaller scale, it has themes which are similar to The Wire. A programme which, ultimately, is superior to King of New York, showing every side to the very complex story of crime, law and justice. If anything, it is this in comparison to The Wire that shows how TV is a better medium to present stories through.

Quickly - in Michael Jacksons music video to You Rock My World, Marlon Brando shows up as some Godfather-esque bad guy. When MJ first see's him, he says "bang bang" in a very similar tone to Walken as he leaves Bishops house. Maybe all of Brando's lines in that music video are taken form kick-ass Gangster films ... it would make sense whether this was referenced or whether, more likely, it is simply coincidence.