I don’t normally write about actors but Harry not your normal actor, maybe he’s the one of the only I’ve ever write about here on my blog. It’s a music blog and not a movie blog but I do love my soundtrack albums and I’ve been listening to some of his movie soundtracks so I figure some others might like to now as well, do you?
Did you know he did one album too? Here it is to start with, not your normal record too. It’s just Harry sitting around his living room playing his acoustic guitar recorded 12 tracks in less that 40 mins. yeah, no one could drag him into to a recording studio to do real recordings so in 2014 this was released.
My fave song from it is Everybody’s Talkin’ so here’s that one on youtube now if you don’t want the whole album or whatever? Back story to the album was Harry did played small and low profile gigs for years but never recorded anything until then, sold as the soundtrack to the doco called Partly Fiction on the man himself. BTW Nick Cave got him to perform at his Meltdown fest in 1999 opening for Lee Hazlewood, what a great gig that would have been!
I can’t find any footage of that gig but here’s Harry talking the place of the other guy in the hippie duo singing with Art Garfunkel at a Jack Nicholson award something, it’s the old The Everly Brothers’ track All I Have To Do Is Dream in the mid-90’s.
So to the soundtracks now, the year I was born with The Love Theme from The Missouri Breaks co-starring with Nicholson and Marlon Brando and with the music composed by John Williams.
Starring as the Tramp in Cool Hand Luke in the late 60’s and singing pretty much the whole of the old traditional gospel song called Just A Closer Walk With Thee in the background of this scene.
Starring as Asa Hawks in late 70’s/early 80’s the Wise Blood movie based on the epic Flannery O’Connor novel of the same name can’t be forget here with the opening credits music by Alex North. One of my fave books ever, if you want to know?
Most likely the most well known soundtrack song he’s starred in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid as Luke in 1973 and here’s Dylan’s classic Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.
After all these western type movies above in 1979 Harry when into Sci-Fi with Alien, right. The first and the best by far of all those movies which just turned into a wasted of time after this one, right. Stanton as the Brett, right and here’s Jerry Goldsmith’s The Main Theme, right.
I’m jumping all over the place but, oh well. As Jack in the teenage rom-com movie Pretty In Pink in 1986 and my fave from the soundtrack songs is off course is Aussie’s Inxs with Do Wot You Do.
In 1988 as Saul/Paul in The Last Temptation Of Christ with one the greatest things Peter Gabriel ever did in that decade, the album/soundtrack was called Passion for some reason and here’s A Different Drum from it.
The disaster called the movie for Hunter S. Thompson’s book Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas in 1998 did starred Harry as the Judge. Out of all the cool music on the soundtrack I have to pick Booker T’s Time Is Tight.
Back to the start of the 80’s now with One From The Heart staring as Moe with a Tom Waits soundtrack this time and my fave track just got to be your You Can’t Unring A Bell.
Yet another one of his early 80’s film was Escape From New York staring as Brain and the directer also did the soundtrack so here’s John Carpenter the man doing The Main Theme too.
His two most well known 80’s movies he did back to back. He was Bud in Repo Man and I can’t just pick one song only so first is, has to be the wicked Suicidal Tendencies’ Institutionalized.
Now I could included the whole soundtrack to Repo Man really but limited myself to just two tracks so next has the be TV Party by Black Flag.
Both that and then Paris, Texas as Travis Henderson came in 1984 for him. The epic music by Ry Cooder, could just be one of the greatest soundtrack of all-time and sooner or later the whole thing will end up on my fave albums list.
Before finishing up the eighty’s here I’m going to have to say something about the under rated and misunderstand film from 1989 called Twister. Stanton starring as Cleveland and also did co-star Crispin Glover, the pure genius of Harry and Crispin together in the same film is unparalleled in casting. Two of the most under rated actors of our time and pretty much no one seen this movie is so unfair. Anyway Glover sung a song in it and here it is just for you now!
The first time Harry and David Lynch worked together was in the rarely seen short The Cowboy And The Frenchman in 1988 as the Cowboy and in it Harry sung again, the old song called Home On The Range.
The second time Harry and David came together was in 1990’s Wild At Heart as Johnnie Farragut which was movie Lynch making while TV show Twin Peaks had it’s second season pretty much without David. Here’s Wicked Game by Chris Isaak with earlier video clip directed Lynch himself too.
The Straight Story was the fourth time Harry and David worked together making one of Lynch’s craziest movies ever but most missed that fact because it was rated G and had been made with Disney money behind it, most fans and critics dismissed it as non really his movie or some such rubbish. I would say it’s one of his best and Harry plays Lyle. Here’s the beautiful track called Sprinkler by Angelo Badalamenti.
The fifth time these two worked together was on Lynch last film way back 2006 in Inland Empire playing Freddie Howard. Once again the film was passed over because it was too long, boring, crazy etc. and it seems David taking that hard and only returning to behind the camera for the third season of Twin Peaks in 2017. I say watch it again or for the first time because it’s a total masterpiece. Final credits has the great song Sinnerman by Nina Simone.
The third time Lynch and Stanton worked together was on Fire Walk With Me in 1992 and creating Carl Rodd which could be the untimely be his greatest character he ever did because he reprises him just this year in The Return from the sixth time plus he would had starred in one of the most shocking scenes in the early episodes. Anyway Jimmy Scott’s sung Sycamore Trees would be my fave from that pre-sequel.
Harry as Carl sung yet another old song Red River Valley in episode ten too.
Might be a good place to stop now, he did star in something like 200+ things and I can’t go on and on forever or can I? He was 91 years old and seems to died of natural causes on Friday September 15, 2017. I’m going to miss you Harry but I’ll keep watching you forever!
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