Interesting tidbit found on Grappelli

TimmyHawken

I recently acquired a small collection of '78s (with about 8 Djangos in great condition) and with it came a few random jazz magazines from the late 70's. In "Jazz Journal" dated Nov. 1978, I came across a picture of Stephane Grappelli with a small article below. It's in a section called "From the Jazz Corners of the World" and next his picture it says "Gypsy Grappelli"

The article reads exactly like this:

LOS ANGELES -- Celebrating his 50th anniversary as a professional jazz violinst, Stephane Grappelli, now 70, was here to make his first feature film appearance in King Of The Gypsies, a Frederico de Laurentiis production set in the 1950s about two tribes of American gypsies.

Grappelli appears in gypsy costume and apart from acting plays a David Grisman score. He says: "Through my long association with Django Reinhardt, I was often taken for a gypsy, though I am not one. But I knew gypsies well through Django and know how clever they can be with instruments. I don't think the gypsies will be much pleased by the film, but fact is fact and it is a true reflection of their private lives."


Has anyone seen or heard of this film? I wonder which Grisman tune is played.

Anyways, I thought it interesting enough to share.

Tim

redblues

Well roger me with a plastic jesus, it appears you've unearthed something here Tim.

First of all the director of the movie, Frank Pierson, wrote the screenplay to Dog Day Afternoon (pure class..Attica Attica), but he was also responsible for the Ugla Streisand vehicle, A Star is Born with Kris Kristofferson (which is a remake of a remake of a remake).

What makes King of the Gypsies particularly interesting is it appears to be a fore runner for the New York gang movies of the late 70's namely The Warriors and The Wanderers. Both were released a full year after this picture, and although both dealt with inter-gang encounters and violence, King of the Gypsies was certainly a year ahead of it's time (and more outside the US) in establishing the raison d'être and distribution of power in the gangs depicted.

Good find, excellent cast too, Stirling Hayden, Shelly Winters, Susan Sarandon, Eric Roberts..

Now to find it myself

Closest i could find to the OST http://www.amazon.com/Live-Stephane-Gra ... B000002KMA

Archtop Eddy

It's available via Netflix, but you have a subscription of course... AE

redblues

via Netflix

I'm about 6000 miles from a US postcode...ingenuity required

crookedpinky

Here's the trailer with SG playing right at the start

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/king_of ... s/10903951

klaatu

The big name actors are a bit distracting, but Wow, Susan Sarandon is so hot! (still is)

I was curious as to whether there was anything to this "King of the Gypsies" business. Here's the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Gypsies

scot

This movie is not so great IMO. It's typical cheesy and over-dramatic Hollywood, and it's not exactly friendly to gypsies. Much better is "Angelo My Love", which is also about NYC gypsies. "Angelo..." had gypsies playing all the main roles, the story is funny and sweet but also not lacking in pathos. The main character Angelo Evans has more charisma in his pinky than the dour Eric Roberts ever had. Robert Duvall wrote, produced and directed, and it's clearly a labor of love for him.

NYT review here: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review? ... A965948260

Mr Canby sums it up pretty well.

Russell Letson

I don't know of a commercial soundtrack, but Grappelli and Grisman (who also appears in the film) included a medley of tunes used in the movie on their 1981 "Live" album. Here's the Amazon link--note the third customer review.

http://www.amazon.com/Live-Stephane-Gra ... B000002KMA

I looked for a soundtrack album for years and finally recorded a TV broadcast on VHS and dubbed the relevant sections (with voice-overs and segues) onto a cassette. (It was a while ago. . . .) You could certainly do better these days from the DVD, which is available from Amazon or CD Universe.

[brief pause for more Googling]

There are some photos of the musicians who played in the film at John Carlini's site (and what a band that is!)--

http://www.johncarlini.com/Gallery.htm

Scroll down almost to the bottom. Carlini writes that they recorded Grisman's score but it was "never released." So it is still probably in some vault, controlled by whatever entity managed the various properties associated with the movie.