Mark Metcalf, the actor who played Niedermeyer in Animal House, plays the angry dad at the beginning of Twisted Sister‘s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” video. To me, that’s one of the best big screen feature film-to-music video crossover roles ever. Metcalf carries the crowd-pleasing asshole qualities of his best-known movie role over to the small screen, adding some mainstream credibility to this then-upstart band’s breakout video. Not all established film actors are able to bring so much to their music video work. Take Johnny Depp, for instance.
Surely you remember Depp’s work in Tom Petty‘s “Into the Great Wide Open” video. You do, right? It’s the video in which an already-acclaimed Depp, still years away from believing he was actually his pirate/Keith Richards character, revisits themes from his underappreciated work on 21 Jump Street while playing out scenes from Petty’s version of Bad Company’s “Shooting Star.” Blame it on the script, if you must, but I think Johnny was more interested in going along for the ride, playing the rock star he always wanted to be, and test-driving a Wide Bandana Look that his hairline-challenged rocker friend had been considering, than focusing on his acting chops. In the pantheon of big screen actors appearing in rock music videos Depp’s performance is among the least effective.
So what are the most memorable big screen feature film-to-music video crossover roles ever? What are the flops? Pre-stardom appearances, especially pre-small screen stardom appearances, such as Courtney Cox‘s unparalleled career turn as the cute girl plucked from the audience to dance with Bruce Springsteen, do not count.
Milton Berle as the put-upon dinner guest was the best part of Ratt’s first video. I think his nephew was their manager or something.
I recently read a book called I Want My MTV: An Oral History of MTV which had the stories about Mark Metcalf & Milton Berle appearing in those videos.
Here’s a good one, maybe as good as Metcalf’s performance: Christopher Walken dancing around in that Fatboy Slim video. Whereas Metcalf brought his big screen image to the small screen, Walken used the rock video medium to extend his game.
Faye Dunaway also appears in the Tom Petty video as Depp’s manager.
Of course, but as a cameo I didn’t feel her work in this video was open to analysis. Feel free to contradict me, if you think otherwise.
Vincent Price in Thriller if you just count his voice.
Keanu Reeves in the 1991 Paula Abdul video “Rush, Rush”.
Re: Price and Reeves
Do you consider these memorable, successful examples of this crossover or duds?
As a college student I thought Chevy Chase’s turn in “You Can Call Me Al” brilliant. Now, all that mugging…eh, not so much.
aloha
LD
I think Vincent was a good fit. Not too cringe-worthy. They guy hadn’t had a gig in a while. I imagine that was a bigger pay-day than he thought.
At the time, the best thing about Aerosmith’s Crazy was Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone.
http://youtu.be/NMNgbISmF4I
Leslie Ann Warren in “Janie’s Got a Gun”
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LD
Eddie Murphy as a pharaoh in Micheal Jackson’s “Remember the Time” video. Flashy for the time but a relative dud.
I didn’t think Johnny Depp was all that bad in the Tom Petty video. After all, he was supposed to play a surly rock star and he wasn’t too unbelievable.
That MJ song is such a turd. Ugh. One lousy hook, over and over again. He tried the same trick with “Black & White” — the video from which featured John Goodman. If that video played any role in transforming JG from lovable TV sitcom slob into the fine character actor he has since become, then I forgive JG for associating with that similarly turdular number.
Another movie star relative appearing in a video was Ashley Judd dancing in Wynonna’s When Love Starts Talking video.
http://youtu.be/tFIotsXqQsI
The best bits of Ashley (who appears to be about half the size of big sis) dancing are at the end. Wynonna appears to be having fun with her Medusa-like hair and appearance, while Ashley certainly had it going on in the 1990s.
Surely they still are! It’s certainly not the song.
That wasn’t John Goodman in “Black or White” – it was George Wendt.
That Elton video with Robert Downey was, I think, a kindness extended to a recovering addict trying to get his career back on track. Too bad I can’t remember the song!
Oh my lord, that’s the first time I ever regretted missing out on the early ’90s country revival! Thank you for pointing that video out to me. There was a “drop the cat” moment toward the end, indeed.
I remembered some stale Stones product video with Angelina Jolie playing kind of a tired club slut. Looked it up and here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufp0RANigro
She inhabits that role; maybe she was still married to Tommy Lee Miller at the time.
DiskoJoe mentioned the “I Want My MTV” oral history, which I read and loved. Gave it to several friends as a Xmas gift. If you grew up watching MTV, the book is a real delight, and will take you back to your youth.
http://www.amazon.com/Want-My-MTV-Uncensored-Revolution/dp/0525952306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328574279&sr=8-1
Welcome aboard!
Best thing about the Big Man & JBrowne’s “You’re a Friend of Mine”? Daryl Hannah
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LD
I remember the buzz at that time was, “Hey! She’s Jon Voight’s daughter!”
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LD
Could we eliminate videos that are basically promotional vehicles for said star’s movie? I really don’t want to re-visit a soul goddess’s re-make of a Stones tune featuring the star of the movie by the same name.
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LD
Speaking of excessive mugging, Robin Williams in “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
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LD
Yes, it’s always good to eliminate “layups.” Along the same lines, a video in which an artists attempts to crossover as a musical artist does not count – so hold your Eddie Murphy music videos, kids.
Man, that’s a forgotten turd! There’s a move a skinny woman does at the 1:30 mark, an exaggerated lean-back with arm flourish. Does that have a name? It seems it was first used in that “dirty” Madonna video, the one that was banned for nudity so androgynous as to not possibly appeal to anyone.
Also, the initial melody of that song is really familiar. At first I was thinking it sounded like Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal,” but there’s another song even more like it. Can anyone help me place it? It’s really bugging me. Thanks.
Mahalo. The Eddie-angle had also crossed my mind, quickly followed by Bruno. I’m still reeling and out of sorts.
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LD
That’s funny!
Mod, I may be way off and influenced by a record I was just listening to, but the bass at the beginning of that (weak) Stones song kinda reminds me of the (great) Sly song “Let Me Have It All” from Fresh.
Ashley. Ruby in Paradise. Sigh.
Are you talking about the bass line? Sort of has a reverse-“Thriller” feel. You knew that they either paid k.d. lang or gave her a writing credit for the “Constant Craving” similarity in the chorus, right?
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LD
Michelle Pfeiffer in Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”.
Juliette Lewis in Mellisa Ethridge’s “Come To My Window”. Good performance, she really made me think that bitch is crazy. Oh wait, that bitch IS crazy!
Was that video a tie-in to the movie in which she played an inner-city teacher who kept order in the class through kung fu? If so, that may not be eligible, according to RaoulG’s edict.
You’re gonna pay for making me remember that song!
You guys raise some good comparisons, but that’s not what I’m thinking about. Right track, though. For some reason I’m thinking it’s a more modern song with a white-boy approach to funk. I just realized the bass line/opening melody is also like the “let me hear your body talk” part of Olivia Newton-John’s “Let’s Get Physical,” but that can’t be what I’m thinking about.
Oh, I suppose it is. Spoilsport.
Bonnie Raitt’s “Thing Called Love,” starring Dennis Quaid.
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LD
I liked Depp as a Shane MacGowan-type character in the video (also directed by Depp) for this Shane MacGowan song: http://youtu.be/gDAQOZP_IQk
Also, Matt Dillon as a cop in The Pogues “Fairytale of New York”.
Winona Ryder made an appearance in Westerberg’s “World Class Fad”.
The video for The Ramones not very memorable version of “Substitute” is one of my faves, if only for being crammed full of exploitation/grindhouse movie actors (and other musician/artist friends of the band). Unless your a fan of genre pics, you probably wouldn’t know a lot of the names…I am, so it was fun for me to see ’em. I’m sure it was Johnny’s doing, as he was way into that stuff. Anyway, he ’tis, in all its goofy glory: http://youtu.be/wIWpfS_MFHw
Mod – Any chance what you’re hearing is the bass line from Rick James’ “Give It To Me Baby”? Because that’s sure what I’m hearing when I listen to it now.
Another close call, but not what I had in mind. Who would have thought this awkward run of notes would be so prevalent? The song that’s been at the tip of my eardrum is so much like the opening lines of that Stones song that it’s driving me crazy. I’m also being driven crazy by not knowing whether this is a song I own and like or a song I only know from its popularity out there in the world. I was briefly thinking it was Spoon’s “Camera” song, which I want to like but inevitably hate. I keep thinking it’s that kind of song that I have in mind. We’ll see…
And Walken’s a great dancer.
One of the best movies ever!
No, it was “Norm!”
I was quite taken with it at the time. I don’t think I have seen it since the mid-90s. But it is so low-key that I’d like to think it holds up well.
The Ramones also had a video in the mid-late 80s that spoofed LiveAid (“Ramones Aid”) that had plenty of celebrities in it, although the only one I can remember right now was Weird Al
I think it was for “Something to Believe In.” John and Exene were in it too.
“Hands Across Your Face” – Yeah, that had a lot of other rockers, and some film people in it, too.
The video to “Pet Semetary” had some NY rock people in it, too…can’t remember if there were any movie folk, though.