Hilarious. Painful to watch, but worth it. The singing gives real depth to the lyric "that awful sound."
The dancing... well, if you can't hang around for the mercifully singing-free James-Bond inspired segment that begins at 2:43, at least check out the action at 1:28. I think it's where Prince got the idea for his Super Bowl performance.
Now, to get that out of your head, here's the Nancy Sinatra rendition. Unlike Raquel, she does not go all boots-were-made-for-walking. She's wearing boots, but she never gets up off her ass. In fact, when the song ends, she rolls off the stage.
For simultaneous singing and walking in boots, here's the 80s Cher version.
November 17, 2011
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"Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"
Shirley Bassey putting lyrics to the tune from "Thunderball."
Hideous rhymes.
Bang, bang you're dead. The song was well done, especially be Cher.
The idea that one's adultery amounts to a shooting down of the other one is valid.
Back then, most actors just spoke the words, although they didn't emote them the way Shatner did with "Mr Tambourine Man".
Trying to sing when you knew you couldn't came into vogue about 10 years later.
Painful to watch? Sez you.
She may not be able to dance, but she certainly can move.
Though the choreographic premise--that Raquel could cause boners in gay men--seems laughable at first, I found it believable by mid-vid.
Good heavens, she lumbers, she doesn't dance. The singing was really bad, too. Oh, well, what was it, the 70s? A very bad decade.
Raquel Welch was a breast man's dream. A leg man? Not so much.
I've loved the Nancy Sinatra version ever since I first encountered it in "Kill Bill".
"She may not be able to dance, but she certainly can move."
I did say while watching it that she dances better than she sings. And I imply in the post the singing-free dance part is kind of amusing.
I think she's extremely awkward, and the physical appearance that was so magnificent at the time is matched and overmatched by many female celebrities today. You have to remember how you felt at the time to really understand what she was.
I find it painful to watch because I felt sorry for her, like... oh, they're making her do this. Maybe she was enthusiastic, but I'm not seeing it. Cher seems enthusiastic, but supposedly she suffered from stage fright. And I'm not convinced Nancy Sinatra enjoyed performing.
ricpic said...
Raquel Welch was a breast man's dream. A leg man? Not so much.
Even in terms of bazooms, Welch was only so-so.
She was the body of the Boomer generation, but most girls were into skinny, if not scrawny, so she stood out.
But there were better-built actresses.
She's gotta a little cho-cho show-show skirt working for her
I find it painful to watch because I felt sorry for her, like... oh, they're making her do this.
That's fair. But I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that her segment wasn't much cheesier than whatever else was featured on whatever show that clip was from.
It did have the virtue that as I watched it my pistol BECAME my rifle...
someone had to say it,right?
"Swinging sounds of the '67 on my TV late at night/
Wish I had a time machine, she's stone cold out of sight"
That's a tribute to Nancy S, not Raquel; you can watch it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCGoFfJwTHg
Whether she was acting, singing, or dancing, emotional range or expressiveness was never Raquel Welch's strong suit. Nancy Sinatra's version of "Bang Bang" smokes Raquel's because she is a real performer, not just eye candy.
Raquel Welch always had more guts than good sense about the different things she has tried to do, but I think Cher's performance is the more painful - especially to watch.
Let's face it...they tried to get you to believe with a little plastic surgery Raquel and Rex Reed could be interchangable...twice! (Myra Breckenridge!)
No prob, Chip! Takin' one for the team!
to put it in 60's lingo - "Stone cold foxes" the both of them... Especially Frank's daughter. She can roll right of my stage boots and all!
But there were better-built actresses.
I checked my well-worn copy of Swingin' Chicks of the '60s and haven't been able to figure out who you're talking about.
It doesn't include porn actresses, though, so there's always that possibility I suppose.
@LarryK - The Bottle Rockets! Their BEST song ever.
I've been watching this video of Joni Mithcell playing the dulcimer and singing California on the Johnny Cash show a lot lately. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMc_Q0bBRjg
Is she lip-syncing? I guess I could go find Blue among my CDs and compare. I've certainly listened to that album many times, but when her "will you take me as I am?" refrain kicks in after 3:00, it feels like I'm hearing the song for the first time. Funny to think this was pop music once!
One of the YouTube commenters wrote, "Too bad years of smoking have eliminated her ability to sing like this anymore." Well, her voice might have faded without smoking, but, yeah. Noone really sings like that anymore. Tori Amos? Is she Joni Mitchell with a history of rape?
@chuck That sounds so close to the original, but I have the "Blue" version right here on my computer. Side to side, they are definitely not the same. In the YouTube clip, she throws in the word "no" at one point: "No, it's too old and cold."
Someone should start a RaquelRolling craze.
Listening to Leonard Cohen on Spotify just now.
Leonard Cohen should do a medley with one of these ladies.
Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
Suddenly, we're having a great time listening to Bob Dylan singing "Big Yellow Taxi.
This is from the days when every celebrity was expected to be able to sing and dance. Nowadays we don't pretend that they can all sing and dance. We don't expect celebrities to be able to sing, dance, act, or think. I'm not sure it was worse back then.
This is my favorite Leonard Cohen song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WXwbRPTxEQ Harrowing!
Poor Raquel. Born before Melodyne. (Autotune that works.)
Nice M1 Garands.
Raquel Welch is not about singing or dancing.
...the physical appearance that was so magnificent at the time is matched and overmatched by many female celebrities today.
Oh, yeah? Please provide pictorial evidence.
Women, without the presence of men, have no idea of what is beautiful and true. Please note how Raquel flashes her white panties at the men. The men raise their phallic rifles, not so much to aim at the white panties, but as a form of self defense. Futile. They continually lie slain at the flash of those panties.......I watched Raquel's video in full and just sampled that of Nancy and Cher. I recognize that Raquel has no great talent as a singer or dancer, but she's the one you want to watch. The pen is mightier than the sword, but the pantie flash rules the world.
Chip S. said...
But there were better-built actresses.
I checked my well-worn copy of Swingin' Chicks of the '60s and haven't been able to figure out who you're talking about.
Oh, but there were. Lisa Seagram was one - she's in the Doris Day movie with Richard Harris in it; gorgeous hourglass curves.
There was also Francesca Bellini, the luscious Senta Berger, Elke Sommer was more endowed below the waist but still...
Can you tell I was 16 in 1964?
WV "bumstew" What some of the Occupiers were about to enjoy.
She was extraordinary in the days before breast implants. Today, you can take tall, healthy-looking women, improve their faces, and give them breasts as big as you like. You don't have to hit the jackpot naturally the way she did.
When I was a kid, in the 1940's, I had cap guns. The caps came in rolls. And, I'm sure I got the dime, or the quarter to buy rolls of caps, from my parents.
I remember "bang bang" as a tune. But not Racquel Welsh singing it.
Today, I guess, we get the feminists on one side. But playing with guns is definitely out for girls, anyway, huh?
Raquel Welsh, like Sophia Loren, kept her looks.
It's an amazing thing. Beautiful women who also had outstanding hips.
Beauties like that can't make it in Hollywood, anymore. (Industry got taken over by homosexuals. What's a beautiful woman to them, anyway?)
Nancy Sinatra recorded a duet with her dad: "These boots were made for walking."
Do you remember that one?
I came across this video a month or so ago and I thought: WTF?
"I find it painful to watch because I felt sorry for her, like... oh, they're making her do this."
That's exactly how it looks to me. I kept thinking more about what her contract was like and her talks with her agent.
That's weird to think about while watching such a beautiful woman. which is proof of how bad the choreography was.
And I don't think her beauty is matched any more today than it was then. She was/is exceptional.
If given the choice to have Raquel at 28 or some modern beauty show up in your hotel room naked, I think most men would choose Raquel. I can't even explain why, but she has something uncommonly sexy about her. Even in this terrible performance, I don't want to criticize her for fear of blowing my chances. I'd do zombie Raquel, even if she ate my brain during it.
Carol_Herman said...
Nancy Sinatra recorded a duet with her dad: "These boots were made for walking."
Do you remember that one?
No, I don't because it was "Something Stupid".
PS Another girl who put Raquel to shame was Nancy Kovack.
She really "was a breast man's dream".
PPS Damn, I miss Troop. This is his kind of thread.
@edutcher--See if this helps get you through the rest of the thread:
Wasn't Nancy Kovack that babe married to that dead comic who was always smokin cigars?
............
Nancy Kovack never posed in a fur bikini.
.............
"Somthing stupid" oughta be Carol Herman's theme song
.............
ARod will never be a True Yankee™
Just sayn'
With a rack like that she can sing as shitty as she wants. I loved her in Fantastic Voyage. She should have won an Oscar.
Where's Titus?
I think it's adorable.
And much happier when we Raquel sings it, versus Nancy. Rocky's gonna bounce back fast. Nancy, maybe never.
Chip S. said...
@edutcher--See if this helps get you through the rest of the thread:
Wasn't Nancy Kovack that babe married to that dead comic who was always smokin cigars?
............
No, that was Edie Adams, who was married to Ernie Kovacs.
Nancy Kovack never posed in a fur bikini.
Don't be too sure of that.
So was the term 'phallic symbol' unknown to choreographers in the 60s?
Or did they just think the slopeheaded flyover straights wouldn't get the joke, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood's song "Relax"?
"Nancy Sinatra recorded a duet with her dad: "These boots were made for walking." Do you remember that one?"
There's only one response to that question: Something Stupid.
How about Janis Martin's Bang Bang (different song, just as great).
Love Janis Martin and Wanda Jackson: awesome 50's rockabilly queens. Speaking of which, here's my favorite Wanda Jackson song, Funnel of Love.
Given the transgender law in MA, and seeing this video, I am beginning to suspect that the old squares bitching about Elvis Presley's hips on The Ed Sullivan Show were in fact correct.
That is, soon we will face the fate now scarring Greece, Italy, and France.
One would think the decline and fall would be a lot more fun than this, though.
I want a refund.
@edutcher--I'm sure you understand that the factual errors and the unsubstantiated speculation are part of the TY persona.
They're essential to being a Yankees fan.
You don't have to hit the jackpot naturally the way she did.
Which is kind of a huge point in her favor, no? Matched an overmatched - though I'd disagree with this - with what kind of help.
Gorgeous, gorgeous woman. And so sexy, even today.
Thanks for the dance, Raquel. (Oh, and her name! Rowwrrr.)
Yes. Rackedwell, indeed.
One million BC. I watched it 12 times before 12 yo
Checking out Raquel's IMDb page, I couldn't help but notice a pattern in the posters for her first six movies (for which posters were posted):
wetsuit
one-piece swimsuit
fur bikini
cleavage (cropped photo)
bikini
bikini
This splendid run of posters ended when she started getting "serious" roles.
Seriousness is seriously overrated.
Chip S. said...
@edutcher--I'm sure you understand that the factual errors and the unsubstantiated speculation are part of the TY persona.
They're essential to being a Yankees fan.
You don't have to remind me of the failings of Yankees fans.
You're talking to a fan of the Brooklyn, not LA, Dodgers and the Phillies.
@edutcher--I always thought of the Red Sox as the Brooklyn Dodgers w/o the redeeming social value. Same appeal to the literati, same late-season woes, same aversion to that team in the Bronx.
Sadly I can't think of a way to tie this to Raquel.
My favorite Raquel movie was the one with Tony Franciosa. (I thought he was kind of a hottie, too.) "Fathom"
Also, I don't get this "leg man" thing. What is wrong with Raquel's legs here?
Darcy--
Yeah! She was teh hawtness in that one!
I'll take your word about Tony.
vw: allymoni
What Rocky never had to collect, I'm thinking?
What is wrong with Raquel's legs here?
The same thing that's wrong with the rest of her:
Absolutely nothing.
Oh, and that skank Nancy Sinatra couldn't sing for shit. According to John Barry, they had to pick through 25 takes of her singing "You Only Live Twice" to get a usable recording.
Chip, your crush is adorbs!
Darcy, Like you, I fight for what's right. And dissin' Raquel is just not right.
OK, so yeah, maybe a bit of a crush, too...
What a nice thing to say. Thank you, Chip.
Darcy, You're welcome.
Looks like this thread is ending on an unusually pleasant note for Althouse. The usual suspects must be arguing over whether that Ortega y Gasset guy is Tea Party or OWS.
So why did those guys use M1 Garands?
I mean the song alluded to when they played cowboys and Indians!
M1 rifles?
Still Rocky was hot!
My puberty was filled with visions of American wholesomeness tarted up to tittilate the summer of love movie goers. Raquel, Kim Novak, Barbara Eden, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells, Joey Heatherton, Ann Margret, Elizabeth, etc...
I used to watch Bob Hopes' USO tours lying on my stomach (for obvious reasons), nose inches from the tv. Hoping and praying for a wardrobe malfunction. Too callow to understand what taped before a live audience really meant.
Todays classic beauties are different from those I grew up with. Halle Barry, Beyonce, Angelina Jolie, Mariah Carrie, Anna Nicole, etc...
The beauties of today reflect our changing society. Much more variety, and some imperfections that can add to the hotness. A sense of accessability stemming from the lack of perfection, a gritty earthiness. The earlier women were almost Barbie like in their perfections. And perfection, while desired, is often not achievable.
I loved the earlier beauties with eyes that saw the world as a ideal place. With my maturity I came to appreciate the full figure of a Queen Latifah, the smolder of Ellen Barkin, the cafe au lait of Halle. And so I find more and more women attractive. (win-win).
I prefer the fullness and variety we can see in todays world. But every now and then, we get full of pate de fois gras, and just want meat and potatoes.
Now I'm gonna go google more Raquel, and maybe, if I'm lucky, rub one out-lol.
Nancy Kovack married Zubin Mehta.
She got involved with Clinton family member Susan McDougal over embezzlement charges. Raquel Welch should have won an Oscar for her portrayal of Lust in Bedazzled.
Sadly, there is no video for this, but I like the cover by Domina Noctus, an Italian Gothic-Rock band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI0BLLYMYYw
I see nothing hilarious about it. I just see hotness. Lots and lots of hotness.
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