From Time: March 23, 1970, and Flickr

I am in the middle of reading the book Johnny Cash: The Autobiography and I’ve been inspired to look up some of his old television show recordings. Johnny Cash has always been one of my favorite artists, but I’ve never really explored the music from the Johnny Cash Show which ran from 1969 to 1971. Capitalizing on Cash’s success after his 1968 Live at Folsom Prison album, the weekly program was essentially a variety show including members of his own band, as well as guests such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Merle Haggard and Joni Mitchell.

The following segment features Louis Armstrong in one of his last performances:

I have a cold.  Bleh.

I feel like the guy in this commercial.

“Mom - why don’t you ever write about cars on your blog?” RollerBoy asked me over the weekend. Now that he is twelve automobiles suddenly hold a new fascination for him.

“Um… well… I did write about an El Camino once,” I answered lamely. Cars have never been a big interest of mine.

“But there are so many other cool cars from the seventies you could write about on your blog!” he continued, undeterred. “What about the Thing? Or Volkswagen bugs or buses?”

“Don’t forget about Gremlins and Cougars,” interjected RollerReggie. “And then there’s Trans Ams and Mustangs…”

So now I find myself writing a blog post about cars. The only seventies car that I am even vaguely familiar with is the VW Bus, and that is because we used to own one. So I am limiting this post to ye olde bus, and RollerBoy has promised to help me write additional posts in the future on different seventies vehicles.

So. The Bus.

Back when I first met RollerReggie, going on ten years ago, he drove a 1970 powder blue VW Bus. After we moved in together, The Bus was our only vehicle for a few years. I have many fond memories associated with this old car.

But it wasn’t all roses with The Bus. The heater did not work and the radio was broken. It wasn’t exactly the most reliable vehicle.

As the years rolled by, RollerReggie drove the van less and less. It sat outside in the rain and got rusty. Eventually it got to the point that we had to install a new battery into The Bus just to get it started. That’s when I figured it was time to say good bye to The Bus, and to get something a little more reliable.

And so, after much urging on my part (ok, I’ll admit it, nagging is probably closer to the truth), we donated The Bus to charity. These days I drive a Toyota Corolla and RollerReggie drives a Honda Civic Wagon.

But it’s just not the same.

RollerKaty and RollerReggie with The Bus… long, long ago

For those of you that can’t get the song “Muscles” by Diana Ross out of your head (namely Jillian), I bring to you We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters. Just thinking about this song yesterday had it going through my head all day.

As an added bonus, the video features Karen Carpenter drumming. I’ve always liked to see female drummers. I’ve feebly dabbled in drumming myself and am happy to see women that can actually pull it off.

When I announced to my husband Adam that I was going to only watch movies from the seventies for the rest of the summer, Adam did not weep, gnash his teeth, or immediately enter his name into one of those wife-swap reality TV shows. Rather, the first thing out of his mouth was: “We have to get the movie THX 1138! I totally remember watching that movie when I was a kid - it is sooo cheesy!”

So, I put my name on the waiting list at the library, and oh joy!, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy after only 3 days of waiting. (Not so with Abba’s greatest hits. The waiting list on that one is so long that I’m afraid I won’t be listening to that one until next spring). Originally released in 1970, we got a copy of the director’s cut version which was re-released in 2004. This is George Lucas’s first movie and it is based on a school project that he completed while in film school.

I didn’t know anything about the movie before we started watching it, and as we progressed into the movie I kept experiencing flashbacks to the subject of my last blog post, Half Past Human. Futuristic dystopian societies, group think, robots, big brother watching your every move… apparently I am on a roll here.

THX 1138 Directed by George Lucas

In the futuristic society depicted in THX 1138, humans are required to take drugs in order to suppress any undesired emotions. As the film begins, humans are reminded “If you feel you are not properly sedated, call 348 844 immediately. Failure to do so my result in prosecution for criminal drug evasion.” It is a bland, emotionless world, where everyone is bald and herded from home to work and back again. Consumerism is a major part of this society and everyone is encouraged to buy, buy, buy. There is no privacy; all activity is closely monitored by robots and humans alike. (Incidentally, the robots are AWESOME. They look like metallic cops. I think that I have to be one next Halloween.)

Enter our reluctant hero, THX 1138 (played by Robert Duvall). His roommate, LUH 3417, is an attractive female who falls in love with THX after she resists taking the emotion-suppressing drugs. So she swaps out his drugs behind his back, and, after a period of disorienting drug withdrawal, THX falls in love with her. To further complicate matters, SEN 5241 (played by Donald Pleasence) decides that he wants THX for his own roommate so he hacks into the computer to get rid of LUH. This puts SEN and THX at odds, and soon all three of them are in prison for their misdeeds. The rest of the movie documents their time in prison, and their attempts to escape (with the help of a hungry hologram and an exciting car chase at the end of the movie).

THX 1138 is a very stylized film; the visuals and sounds are stark and discordant in order to bring you directly into THX’s futuristic world. Hardly any dialog is used in the movie. George Lucas explains in the film’s commentary that the movie is not meant to be a film about the future, but rather a film from the future. Each scene has a distinct pacing so as to bring the viewer into the same frame of mind as the characters - sometimes jarring and frenetic and at other times hazy and disorienting, and yet at other times cold and emotionless.

My favorite scene of the movie takes place after THX is imprisoned and put through a battery of medical tests. Sensors are implanted onto his body and he is placed in a white, seemingly endless void. The scene then cuts to the perspective of two technicians as they perform tests on THX and carry on a conversation with one another. We do not see the technicians, but we do see THX through the monitors. The technicians dispassionately converse with one another as THX writhes and contorts on the screen. The whole scene underscores the inhumanity of the society, and THX’s powerlessness in the face of such a dystopia.

So, not nearly as cheesy as I had expected. I think I need to watch it again. In fact, I think we need to own this movie.

Tags THX 1138 . George Lucas