Phantom of the Paradise

So, the insanity of the poster above just scratches the surface of the excellent weirdo factor of Brian DePalma’s Phantom of the Paradise (1974).  In the midst of my Paul Williams kick a couple weeks ago I put this movie on my queue, and it was pretty mind blowing.  The story goes like this …

Swan, played by Paul Williams, is the ultimate super villain record producer and owner of Death Records; he is so evil, and so into his badass behavior that he actually sold his soul to the devil in order to never become old.  In his attempts at pop world domination, Swan decides to open The Paradise, a venue that will offer the greatest in rock-horror-drama entertainment.

While looking for a fresh new face and sound to open the theatre with, Swan hears a Faustian cantata composed by super nerd Winslow Leach (William Finley).  The villain steals the music and has the musician framed, arrested, and sent to Sing Sing where he has all his teeth pulled out and replaced by shiny silver fangs.  Pretty gnarly.

And when Leach returns to have his revenge, he is disfigured even more, and becomes a total monster …

… so, he dons a mask that looks kind of like Hawkman from The Justice League and becomes the Phantom of the Paradise – an anti-hero whose soul purpose is to destroy Swan and his awesome new theatre.

There is also a girl named Phoenix, a few more deals with Satan, a bunch of music and dance numbers, Swan’s super evil security gang that look like bikers and wear pretty rad “death” patches, and a flamboyant rock star named Beef.  In short, all sorts of amazingness that combine to create a pretty excellent and wholly entertaining movie.

Put it on the queue!

Paul Williams Still Alive

Paul Williams seemed to be just about everywhere in the 70s.  Seriously, his resume is insane (just check out his Wikipedia page).  To briefly summarize I will name just a few of his more major accomplishments … He sang with Kermit and the Muppets, he wrote countless pop hits for the likes of Three Dog Night, the Carpenters, David Bowie, and Barbara Streisand, and he also had a few hits of his own including We’ve Only Just Begun, and Waking Up Alone.  Williams wrote the theme song for “The Love Boat,” acted in The Loved One, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and Phantom of the Paradise, and made a guest appearance (at least once) on just about every 70s TV show you can think of.  And in every appearance, the 5’2″ dynamo sported his trademark Jan Brady do with a pair of aviators and a too-tight suit.

But then, he just sort of disappeared; though, I guess since his presence was so ubiquitous, it would be more appropriate to say that Williams went under the radar.  Either way, if you didn’t look you couldn’t find him.  But one day a filmmaker named Stephen Kessler, who loved Paul Williams as a boy, rediscovered his fallen, forgotten idol on YouTube and decided to make a movie about him.  Paul Williams Still Alive is a pretty perfect documentary – it’s beyond interesting but it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and tells a truly incredible story about life after superstardom.  Go see it!