Aldous Huxley was born on July 26, 1894. 38 years later, in 1932, he published his landmark dystopian science fiction novel, Brave New World — the book is celebrating its 85th birthday this year. In 1980 NBC brought the book to life for television audiences via a 3-hour miniseries that featured Harold and Maude star, Bud Cort in the role of Bernard Marx. Here’s ZeusDVDs with the skinny on this lost gem…

This 3-hour TV adaptation of the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel is set 600 years in the future. In this “well- ordered” society, the citizens are required to take mind-controlling drugs, sex without love is compulsory, and test-tube babies are commonplace because of a ban on pregnancy. Keir Dullea heads the cast as Thomas Grahmbell, “director of hatcheries”. Not everybody is satisfied with society’s lack of humanity and feeling; the loudest dissidents are free-thinking poet Heimholtz Watson (Dick Anthony Williams) and brilliant oddball Bernard Marx (Bud Cort). An injection of new “old” ideas are brought in by “primitive” John Savage (Kristoffer Tabori), who lives on an Indian reservation which still honors 20th century values. Meanwhile, Linda Lysenko (Julie Cobb) becomes a natural mother–and in so doing becomes a criminal. In keeping with the style of the original book, the script’s newly-minted characters are given names of pop-culture icons (Disney, Maoina, Stalina, and so on). Brave New World was first telecast March 7, 1980.

Here’s NBC’s Brave New World from 1980…

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On December 8, 1980 John Lennon was shot dead in New York.

Here’s The Day John Lennon Died…

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Pink Floyd has finally released the details of their oft-rumored upcoming new project — a mostly instrumental affair that will serve as a memorial of sorts for late keyboard player Rick Wright. The album will be called The Endless River.

I’m not super excited by the announcement, though I’d be more interested if the project marked a return of Roger Waters to the fold, but it seems that’s wishing too much — the band parted ways in 1980 while touring their final album together, The Wall.

While some fans lose interest in the band after the Syd Barrett era comes to an end, many might suggest that The Wall was the group’s last great hurrah. River‘s timing is interesting as The Wall — which was released in 1979 — is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

Here’s the band with Waters, performing The Wall in its entirety at the Earl’s Court Exhibition Center in 1980…

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Continuing to remember the 20th anniversary of the death of Charles Bukowski in 1994, here is a video of the poet’s last reading in 1980. While he continued to write for the last 14 years of his life, he never read his work in public again. Here’s the story behind this document from the Wiki…

In March 1980, Takoma Records was about to re-release an audio recording on vinyl of a Charles Bukowski live poetry reading given in San Francisco years earlier. As part of the promotion of the album release, Bukowski agreed to give a new live reading, even though he hated doing them. Jon Monday, then General Manager of Takoma Records, video taped the event.[1]
But by later that year Bukowski’s book royalties and movie advances provided him enough of a living that he no longer had to do readings.

The Redondo Beach reading turned out to be the very last poetry reading Bukowski ever gave. The video recording of that night stayed in an archive until 2008 when mondayMEDIA entered into an agreement with Bukowski’s widow Linda to release it on DVD.

Bukowski’s readings were known for their riotous back and forth with the audience and this recording shows this in full color. Each poem is set between a tense dialog – with Bukowski giving and taking insults and threats with members of the audience. It ends with the prophetic words “This reading is over”.

Here’s the flick…

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1980 wasn’t a great year for Alejandro Jodorowsky. Having just barely survived the end of the 1970′s when the film that was to be his magnum opus — an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic Dune — fell apart for the final time, Jodo was anxious to get back to work. He agreed to make a children’s film.

At first, the idea of the anarchist auteur making a movie for kids might sound odd, but Tusk (Poo Lorn L’Elephant) told a tale about the shared fate of an English girl and an Indian elephant. The story had the kind of spiritual overtones that Jodo had marshaled so furiously in The Holy Mountain and the coming of age tale shared some similarities with El Topo — even the Indian locations promised exotic settings that surely inspired the director.

Alas, a classic it was not meant to be. Tusk is roundly criticized by those who’ve been able to see it — the only home release is an un-subtitled French language version on VHS. Even Jodo has disowned the movie.

But is it really that bad? Isn’t the parallel birth scene at the beginning of the film remarkable? Doesn’t the fact that you can follow the film without knowing French say something about the master’s mastery of visual storytelling? Don’t you want to run out and find this prog/raga soundtrack on vinyl?

Here’s what the Cue Dot Confessions blog has to say:

If Jodorowsky’s mark is seen anywhere it is in the strong anti-colonial sentiment that runs through the film and in the scattered inconsistency of the message. Tusk is a film for children and viewed side by side with other slapstick-centric “ethnographic” films of that period (The Gods Must Be Crazy springs to mind), it could possibly be viewed as quite unremarkable, and yet the way that Jodorowsky handles the Indian landscape and its people still seems fresh and surprisingly natural. There are sweeping, long take crane shots that literally drink up all the vibrancy of country. The Indian extras act quite unselfconciously in the face of the stiff “acting” of the English and the bald, over-drawn comedy of the film’s villains.

Jodorowsky has an obvious affinity with India and an affection for the people and the animals. The elephant scenes, and there are many, are impressive in their National Geographic-ness even if they add little to the momentum of the film. These scenes make Tusk’s first half a joy to watch. Unfortunately, all of this freshness is squandered as the on again, off again romance, machinations, and motivations of the cast twist, overlap, lie dormant and then snap to life. By the time everything has fallen into a jumbled heap…

Regardless of its ultimate value in Jodorowsky’s oeuvre, Tusk is required viewing for any completist. Here is the film in its entirety:

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