Tag: Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman’s Connection to McCartney’s “Picasso’s Last Words”

Picasso's Last Words One of the wonderful songs on the classic 1973 album Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings is “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me).” Having heard the song many times, I was not too surprised to learn that the song was based on Picasso’s actual last words. But I was amazed to discover that Dustin Hoffman gave McCartney the topic of the song and encouraged the songwriter to write a song about the painter’s last words.

In the video below, both McCartney explain how “Picasso’s Last Words” arose out of Hoffman’s curiosity about the song-writing process. During a dinner party held by Paul and Linda McCartney in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Hoffman asked McCartney how he wrote songs. Then, Hoffman asked McCartney to write a song.

As the two men discussed topics, Hoffman remembered reading about painter Pablo Picasso’s last words in a recent Time magazine. The April 23, 1973 issue featured an article entitled “Pablo Picasso’s Last Days and Final Journey,” wherein it was reported that Picasso had said to his friends, “Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink anymore.” Then, Picasso went to bed and died in his sleep.

Hoffman, remembering the story, asked McCartney to base a song on those words. And McCartney came up with an excellent song. Below, both Hoffman and McCartney explain how “Picasso’s Last Words” was created.

Below is a video of McCartney and Wings performing “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me),” with lead vocals from both McCartney and Denny Laine, before the group follows up with the song “Richard Cory.”

And that is the story behind the song. For more on “Picasso’s Last Words,” check out the Beatles Bible.

Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo of Pablo Picasso (1904, Paris) by Ricard Canals i Llambí via public domain.

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    Little Big Horn and “Little Big Man”

    Little Big Horn

    On June 25, 1876, Sioux, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wiped out Lt. Colonel George Custer and a large part of his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Almost 100 years later, the event would provide a key moment in a great American film.

    Custer’s Last Stand

    In 1876, the 7th Calvary was scouting on behalf of two columns of U.S. soldiers.  The soldiers were trying to force the Native Americans onto reservations.  Another column had already lost a battle, unbeknownst to the other two groups.

    Custer’s scouts warned him about a large Native American village nearby.  But Custer thought the numbers were exaggerated and forged ahead instead of waiting for reinforcements.

    Custer divided his regiment and proceeded with around 215 men.  They were soon cut off by thousands of braves. All of the soldiers, including Custer, were killed at Little Big Horn in what became known as “Custer’s Last Stand.”

    “Little Big Man”

    My favorite movie with a fictionalized account of the incident is Little Big Man (1970).  The movie has a 96% critics rating and 86% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

    The movie is based on a revisionist comic Western novel by Thomas Berger.  In the film, Dustin Hoffman gives one of his greatest performances as Jack Crabb.

    The film follows Crabb, who recounts his life of adventure.  He was raised by Native Americans, and he later served as a scout for an inept and somewhat crazy Custer, played brilliantly by Richard Mulligan.

    This scene from the film captures Crabb simultaneously warning and daring Custer about what awaits.

    Arthur Penn directed Little Big Man, which also starred Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam, and Chief Dan George. The movie is fictional satire that has moments of great humor.  But it also realistically reflects the victory and the tragedy of Little Big Horn and the plight of the Native Americans. If you have never seen the movie, you should.

    Although the Native Americans won the day, “Little Big Horn” became a rallying cry for the whites as more soldiers came to eventually track down Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the other Native Americans. In less than fifteen years in 1889, the area around Little Big Horn became part of the new state of Montana.

    “The Custer Fight” painting by Charles Marion Russell via public domain.
    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Super Bowl Songs: “Save Me, San Francisco”

    San Francisco 49ers Fleece It was not that long ago when for our World Series songs we featured “San Francisco Bay Blues.” Now, we find ourselves again having to come up with a song for a San Francisco team. With the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl this year, we feature a song with a title that fans in the city by the Bay will be screaming come Sunday. “Save Me, San Francisco” is the title track off of the 2009 Train album that also featured their huge hit “Hey, Soul Sister,” thus setting the record for songs on an album with unnecessary commas.

    I have a love-hate relationship with Train. Some of their songs get overplayed on the radio, so I end up with them stuck in my head. But I cannot deny they can produce some excellent pop songs with great hooks. And lead singer Pat Monahan — who co-wrote the catchy “Save Me, San Francisco” — has a great voice.

    The video for “Save Me, San Francisco” is a play on the Dustin Hoffman classic movie, The Graduate (1967). But in the Train video, when the man chasing his beloved gets to the alter, he finds a twist ending that plays on a political issue that has been in the news in California and elsewhere. And in case you were wondering, the members of Train have been outspoken in support of the type of marriage that occurs at the end of the video.

    You can check out the ending to The Graduate on YouTube. Or check out the funny Wayne’s World 2 (1993) spoof on the same race-to-the-church segment. But this Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers hope they will not be left standing at the alter of victory.

    What is your favorite song about San Francisco or your favorite nod to “The Graduate” ending? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Eddie Valiant Is Off the Case

    who framed roger rabbit bob hoskins There was sad news today that 69-year-old British actor Bob Hoskins announced he is retiring from acting because — like Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox — he has Parkinson’s Disease. When I think of Hoskins a number of great roles rush through my mind, including his wonderful performances in Mermaids (1990) with Cher and in Hook (1991) with Dustin Hoffman. Even his smaller roles stood out, such as when he played Spoor in Brazil (1985) and Nikita Khrushchev in Enemy at the Gates (2001). His most recent movie was this year’s Snow White & the Huntsman.

    But for me, the first thing I think about when I think of Hoskins is his wonderful performance as Eddie Valient in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Although Steven Spielberg’s first choice for the role was Harrison Ford, the movie would not have been as good if it were not for Hoskin’s funny performance as the hard detective with a heart. His performance in that role made us believe a film noir character in a cartoon world. We thank Mr. Hoskins for the joy he gave us and wish him well in in his retirement.

    What is your favorite Bob Hoskins film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    John Carter & How Ishtar Cost Me a Job

    John Carter The $250-million-film John Carter (2012) has made news recently as being a big bomb. The Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure film about a Civil War veteran who ends up on Mars in the middle of a war there and falls in love with a princess reportedly will lose an estimated $200 million on its U.S. release. Commentators note a number of reasons the film did not do will, with a lot of blame going to poor marketing and a generic title. Unfortunately, sometimes the fact that a film is expensive and called “the $250-million John Carter” leads to bad press when the film is not making back the money spent. The bashing of such films is okay if you are talking about bad business decisions, but if you are talking about the quality of the film, the fact that a movie lost a lot of money should not scare you away.

    There are a number of famous bombs that are decent movies and of equal if not better quality than other similar films that got better press. As Kevin Costner’s post-apocalypse Waterworld (1995) became more costly in production the bad press started even before the film was released. Then it did not do well. But it is a decent science fiction film. Director Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980) is famous for costing so much money it brought down United Artists. But if you give the movie a chance and go into it with modest expectations, it is an entertaining, albeit long, film about Wyoming’s Johnson County War with excellent actors and nice cinematography. Are these movies great? No, not by a long shot. But they are as good or better than a lot of decent movies.

    Ishtar Warren Beatty Dustin Hoffman One such bomb cost me a job years ago when I was on a job interview. The job had nothing to do with film, but during the interview the subject of favorite movies came up. I asked the person in charge what his favorite film was, and with a smile on his face he said, “Ishtar.” They asked me what I thought of the 1987 movie starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, and I answered honestly that despite all of the bad press because it was so expensive, the movie entertained me when I saw it in the theater and was not as bad as a lot of other comedies. The interview continued, and the next week I found out I did not get the job.

    The rejection letter made me realize that when the boss brought up Ishtar, he was testing me to see if I had the guts to disagree with him. To test me, he picked the most ridiculous favorite movie he could think of. So from his viewpoint, I failed the test because I did not stand up to him and tell him that Ishtar was a horrible movie. Little did he know though, that while he really believed Ishtar was one of the worst movies of all time, I did disagree with him on that point. But because he said the opposite of what he thought, he missed the real chance to test me. So I will disagree with him here. I was right. Wherever you are, you were wrong.

    So now I will conclude this review of John Carter that does not talk about John Carter with my point: John Carter, starring Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins, is a fun movie if you are only paying the price of a ticket and not the $250 million production costs.

    What did you think of John Carter? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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