CollegeHumor has released a video of tryouts for the Cantina Band from Star Wars. The segment takes place on the actual Star Wars cantina set thanks to Disney and Lucasfilm.
The video features Chris Daughtry, Ben Folds, Liz Phair, Reggie Watts, Mark McGrath, Jordin Sparks, Rick Springfield, Weird Al Yankovic, Lisa Loeb, and mc chris. And everyone’s favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett makes an appearance too. Make sure to look closely at Lisa Loeb’s famous glasses. Check it out.
If the video leaves you wanting more, CollegeHumor has some bonus footage on its website. Who would you like to see in the Star Wars Cantina Band? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Sheb Wooley, who is famous for writing and recording his 1958 chart-topping song “Purple People Eater” and for much more, was born April 10 in 1921. His website captures the range of Wooley’s talents by saying he has been a “cowhand, rodeo rider, country and western singer, Hollywood actor, writer, and comedian.”
Over many decades Wooley appeared in classic films like High Noon (1952) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). And he was on TV’s Rawhide.
Wooley in Hoosiers
I was most surprised to discover that I already knew the singer of “Purple People Eater” as an actor for his role in Hoosiers (1986), a movie I have seen many times. In Hoosiers, Wooley played Cletus, the school’s principal who hires Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman.
Later in Hoosiers, Cletus (Wooley) helps Dale as an assistant coach before Cletus’s health prevents him from continuing. Then, Dale recruits Shooter (Dennis Hopper) to take Cletus’s place.
There was not a good scene with Wooley available on YouTube, but you can catch a little bit of him sitting on the bench in a suit with Gene Hackman (around the 30-second mark).
“Purple People Eater”
Below is Sheb Wooley in June 1958 singing about the “Purple People Eater,” who ate people but came to earth because “I wanna get a job in a rock ‘n roll band.” The song got its inspiration when Wooley heard a joke from a neighborhood kid.
The song “Purple People Eater” later inspired a 1988 movie of the same name. Of course, the film also had a role for Wooley.
Like most depictions of the song’s subject, the movie showed the monster as being purple. But the song’s lyrics reveal that purple is the color of the people that the monster likes to eat, not the color of the creature: “I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what’s your line / He said it’s eatin’ purple people and it sure is fine.” Check out Wooley singing his hit song.
Wooley also wrote the Hee Haw theme (“Hee-hee, hee-haw-haw . . “). And he often appeared on the country music-comedy show too.
For his acting roles in Westerns, check out this post on some of his classic movie lines. Below is a short bio film about Wooley and his diverse talents.
Wooley and “The Wilhelm Scream”
Finally, Wooley’s voice possibly may be heard in many more classic films, including Star Wars. This connection and “The Wilhelm Scream” takes some explaining. . . .
Wooley’s connection to more than a hundred other films goes back to the early 1950s. Wooley played Private Wilhelm in the 1953 western The Charge at Feather River. In a scene where Wilhelm is shot, he lets out a scream that has been used as stock scream footage in numerous films.
The scream has become known as “The Wilhelm Scream,” although Wikipedia reports that the scream had actually appeared in an earlier movie, Distant Drums (1951). Wooley played an uncredited role (Private Jessup) in Distant Drums, and he is listed as a voice extra for that film.
Thus, Wooley “is considered by many to be the most likely voice actor” for the scream, according to various sources, including Wooley’s website. The scream is so well-known that sometimes filmmakers add it because they think it is funny.
If it is correct that the scream originally came from Wooley, he has indirectly appeared in numerous movies. The films cross a broad spectrum, including Them! (1954), Star Wars (1977), Return of the Jedi (1983), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Batman Returns (1992), Reservoir Dogs (1992), and Toy Story (1995). This video collage collects a number of uses of the Wilhelm Scream, beginning with Wooley’s famous scream in The Charge at Feather River.
Wooley passed away on September 16, 2003, but his humor, his movies, and his other work lives on. And his scream will probably continue to appear in more new movies to the delight of filmmakers and audience members alike.
Author J.W. Rinzler, who has written books on the making of the original Star Wars trilogy of films including The Making of Star Wars, screened an unseen blooper reel from the original film for an audience at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Now, you may check out the short blooper reel in the comfort of your own home. Note that some of the clips at the beginning did not include sound. Check it out.
What is your favorite movie blooper? Leave your two cents in the comments.
1A4 Studio recently created a condensed animated version of The Big Lebowski (1998), boiled down to one minute. So, grab a White Russian and sit back and enjoy the next sixty seconds of your life.
1A4 Studio previously made similar short films condensing other movies like The Matrix (1999), Back to the Future (1985), and Star Wars (1977). Here is Blade Runner (1982) in 60 seconds.
What is your favorite second in the videos? Leave your two cents in the comments.
There are various legends about things going on in movies that go by too fast at normal speed to verify, like the legend that there is a hanging munchkin in the background of a scene of The Wizard of Oz (1939). And what about that Stormtrooper banging his head in Star Wars (1977)? The advent of VCRs and DVDs helped add to the myths, as people paused the scenes to see them in more detail. Sometimes the pausing confirms the legends, sometimes it rebuts the legends, and sometimes the pausing just gives us more to argue about. WatchMojo recently compiled some of the most famous paused movie moments and put them together in this interesting video. Check it out.
What is your favorite paused movie moment? Leave your two cents in the comments.
, screened an unseen blooper reel from the original film for an audience at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Now, you may check out the short blooper reel in the comfort of your own home. Note that some of the clips at the beginning did not include sound. Check it out.
