[close] Robert de Niro cruising into a Little Italy bar to the sound of the Stones in Mean Streets; Vietnam 'copter blades swirling to The Doors' "The End" in Apocalypse Now; Public Enemy booming out the inner city soundtrack of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. From Bill Haley to gangsta rap, through Elvis, the Beatles and blaxploitation, cinema's affair with popular music has provided nearly 50 years' worth of movies and music stored up on celluloid, video, vinyl, and CD, giving us access to a collective jukebox of sounds and visions.
In Celluloid Jukebox, leading critics, filmmakers and musicians examine the state of the pop cinema past, present, and future. Biopics, British pop movies, blaxploitation and rap, underground movies, backstage moments, and the records that think they're movies--all come under scrutiny in a wide-ranging and provocative set of essays. Interviews with Quentin Tarantino, David Byrne, Penelope Spheeris, Ry Cooder, and Wim Wenders complete this essential study of popular music on film. [close]