Gene Pitney - Town Without Pity (1961-62), Film Tribute
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Possibly the most famous song recorded by the great Gene Pitney and one of the most memorable and haunting themes from a film in the history of cinema.
May 29, 2019: Three years ago when I last made a music video set to the immortal classic, "Town Without Pity," the film itself was not available for download. A few trailers and film clips from the movie were available, most in poor quality or else seriously deficient in scenes. But the song, as a hit single, had a life of its own in America, and I adapted the song for a video I made about the problems of young people growing up in a small community in the United States during the early 1960's.
Now, at last, I have been able to make a video using scenes from the actual film Town Without Pity in which Gene Pitney's famous vocal originally appeared. I have watched the film again in its entirety, probably for the first time in twenty or twenty-five years. As wonderfully acted and topically relevant as it has remained these last 58 years, it has always been a difficult movie to find and watch, broadcasts on VHF, UHF, and eventually cable TV having been few and far between.
I was 8 years old when I first saw the film at the drive-in with my parents in December 1961. There was some snow on the ground, and it was cold. Car heaters were in use along with the old sound speakers. That's when I heard the hit single, "Town Without Pity," as the opening part of the film score composed by another great of the time, Dimitri Tiomkin. It had been playing on the radio for a few months, but now I was hearing it in its intended setting and for its intended audience.
Directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, the film stars Kirk Douglas, Barbara Rütting, Christine Kaufmann, and E. G. Marshall. Set in occupied West Germany, it is a frank and ugly account of the reaction of members of a small community to the gang rape of a somewhat promiscuous 16-year-old local girl by four American GIs put on public court martial for their lives. It is one of the first films dealing with the right of an actual rape victim, regardless of reputation, to not be raped all over again when forced to confront her attacker(s) in an open court. A precarious right, however, if the charges happen to be false. In the case of this film, for example, one of the four GIs turned out to be innocent.
The film, of course, was a bit too abstract for an 8-year-old in the early 60's to fully comprehend. That opportunity would come some 16 years later when I happened to catch it on late night TV in one of those rare occasions it was broadcast by a local television affiliate of one of the three major networks. Some parts I remembered, although they had been scattered about in childhood memory, otherwise it was a new viewing experience. After watching I came away with the belief I had seen one of the best films ever produced. It would be another twenty years before I would see the film again. A reminder that there are many classic films rarely ever shown. Sometimes they are deliberately held from public screening after their theatrical release for decades as was the case with The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Vertigo (1958). In other cases the reasons are more mysterious or perhaps simply due to bad timing. Aside from a handful of film clips on the Internet, I have not seen Walk On The Wild Side (1962) televised in its entirety since I saw it broadcast on ABC in 1968 (when I was 14).
I never forgot the theme song for Town Without Pity and it became one of my favorite oldies. Gene Pitney's classic was among the earliest oldies acquisitions I purchased on vinyl. Along with a few others like Bobby Rydell, Del Shannon, Lou Christie, and Bobby Vee, Gene was a giant. His singing personified the romantic music of youth during the Kennedy and early Johnson years in America like few other male vocalists could ever accomplish. He was also extremely versatile and sang in many other genres besides pop and rock n' roll. He had many hits, all great like "Town Without Pity." When I was a disk jockey, that song got played at the club every oldies night. You could count on it. It was also one of the most frequently requested oldies in my collection.
So here is one of Gene Pitney's most famous hit songs along with a tribute to the film it appeared in as well. The song reached #10 in Canada and #13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and #11 on Cash Box on January 27, 1962.
Пікірлер: 53
Gene Pitney. Unique. A true SuperStar. Thanks for posting
Such a great song by Gene Pitney.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
4 ай бұрын
It's my favorite by him, but that in no way means I don't like some of the others he did as well.
I saw the movie when I was probably around 12 or 13. Loved Gene Pitney. Every song he sung was good; very few performers can say that.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
7 ай бұрын
I agree! I have heard many of Gene Pitney's hits, and love all of them. Still, for some reason, this song has always stood taller than rest for me, I guess the movie helped!
@mimapa1104
3 күн бұрын
@@mikemunrowsretro8973 For me it's the "sadness" behind the minor key. Love that song! 💝🎶🎙👏🏻
La mia giovinezza...ballato ...con l'amore ... ricordo struggente!!!
This is still very much real right now in this era. This tune was a big hit when I was a kid, I remember it very well. I was blessed to have witnessed the 50s and 60s, and I will forever love God, and Yeshua The Son Of Man.
@annettesupira9085
5 ай бұрын
Bless Yeshua our God❤ Loved and grew up in the 60s and 70s❤
The late Christine Kaufmann was drop dead gorgeous. She passed away in 2017.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
Жыл бұрын
She was beautiful. Even as a kid when I saw the film she was in for the first time, at age 8, I thought she was very pretty. I never saw her in anything else, but I was sorry to learn she had died. Can't remember now if I read about it in 2017 or after I did the video in 2019.
@leightonfarms4962
Жыл бұрын
Amen!
@jonowens460
8 ай бұрын
She was Very Pretty ❤
The movie was sad.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
Ай бұрын
I could not agree more!
Ah that's great thanks. Great film, great song
@mikemunrowsretro8973
2 жыл бұрын
You're welcome David. It is a great film, frank handling of sensitive subject matter (especially sensitive back then) and true to the times during which it was made ... wonderful acting and location set, and sad that it is not aired very often.
Great song! Never saw the movie.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
8 ай бұрын
One of the best songs of the early 60's, I think. Thanks!
That movie was super sad 🤧🤧
@mikemunrowsretro8973
10 ай бұрын
I couldn't agree more. Also sad, it rarely is ever is shown on cable TV. One of the best films ever made.
@chrisclark5204
8 ай бұрын
I have the movie on DVD.
@rosasoto4915
Ай бұрын
How is the movie name ?
Brilliant montage matching the song. Thank you.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
8 ай бұрын
You're so welcome. I still believe this was possibly the best video I did in 2019.
Your terrific liner notes made this for me. How amazing that you remember seeing this at a drive in with your folks in ’61 (with heaters, no less!). I don’t remember going to drive ins with my parents, but I’ve been to a few (the concept was supposedly invented in my old South Jersey stomping grounds). I wasn’t familiar with the film or its story, but I see how historic it was. And, yeah, a “bit too abstract for an 8 year old” indeed! Another one for the Munrow’s Movies folder. Thanks for sharing. PS - You chose amazing footage that match the lyrics to a T, but damn, that slap scene could have used a few pointers from Chris Rock. 😂
@mikemunrowsretro8973
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Kent! The one thing people are not aware of unless they have seen the film is that Pitney's recording, which is exactly the same as the hit single, is different in one way ... instead of ending in a clashing of big band instruments, the Tiomkin instrumental refrain keeps repeating in a gradual fade as we watch the four drunken GIs leave the bar in the film's introduction (where one of them put the song on on the jukebox) making their way out of town towards their unplanned but fateful destination, credits appearing casually on the screen. Normally I hate the overused fade out ending in pop songs preferring a more definitive ending, but here it works better than the ending on the single, I think. Wish I could have used the fade out version. It is an amazing and realistic film which unintentionally captures a bit of Cold War history in the process.
@57highland
Жыл бұрын
@@mikemunrowsretro8973 Yes, the fade-out ending of this song was better than the alternative ending, for the opening scene. The narration by the lady magazine writer also worked pretty well in the scenes where it was used, especially the opening, where it almost seemed to add to the sense that something terrible was soon to happen.
@57highland
Жыл бұрын
Yes, I recall the words that accompanied the slaps: "And *you. You* let it happen. Just because there were four of them? I would have let them kill me first!"
Kool Tune, very sad movie...
Buen montaje,gracias
@mikemunrowsretro8973
6 ай бұрын
Me alegra que te haya gustado. Pensé que era una gran película y merecía ser mucho más popular de lo que fue. Tampoco se muestra muy a menudo en la televisión. Me alegro de haberlo descargado en 2019. ¡Gracias!
The town really had no pity for the young woman. Very upsetting.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
Ай бұрын
The townspeople were pathetic, bullying, and should have all had to experience what she did before passing judgment on anybody!!
John Travolta and Kirstie Alley in Look Who's Talking!
Reminds me Berlin 1963 guard duty in the snow🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🪖
@mikemunrowsretro8973
11 ай бұрын
That's really going back for you. I never knew this film when it came out other than from an 8-year old's perspective. Had to watch it later when I got older to really fully appreciate it. Sadly, it is NEVER shown on cable TV. Not even on a pay-per-view basis. And it was one of the best films of the 60's, better than The Manchurian Candidate which Sinatra sat on for so many years and refused to be seen, and one of Kirk Douglas's best acting roles. All star cast too, from the US and West Germany.
This film might have seemed melodramatic at certain points, yet these situations really do happen. Whether it's art imitating life or life imitating art, I don't know. But these things really do happen.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
Жыл бұрын
It was pretty realistic and accurate for the events, although fictional, that could have taken place in West Germany in 1961. A rather controversial film at the time due to the rape scene. The trauma the young woman is put through meant nothing to the heartless community that felt she must have provoked the four American GIs put on trial, leading to two tragedies. A dynamic performance by all the actors and actresses involved, including Kirk Douglas.
@57highland
Жыл бұрын
@@mikemunrowsretro8973 Yes, the girl, Karin, was tragically victimized. But remember that defense counsel wanted to get a plea bargain from the prosecution in which three of the soldiers probably would have still gotten fairly long sentences and "Larkin" (Robert Blake) may have been acquitted, due to Garrett's perception that he didn't participate. But the prosecution and the girl's father declined the plea bargain, and also sought the death penalty, so defense counsel had to go rough on Karin when she took the stand.
@mikemunrowsretro8973
Жыл бұрын
@@57highland Yes, that is true. That is why I said there were TWO tragedies. One indeed was Robert Blake's character, who ended up committing suicide (just as Karin would later do). Nevertheless, there were many townspeople who thought Karin was a "loose" girl who got what was coming when she was raped. It was the other story ... and the reason for the title "Town Without Pity." They were the real life equivalent of today's internet trolls. Defense counsel was as appalled at the townspeople as anyone, but as you say, Kirk Douglas was forced to go hard on Karin. After all, America was on trial in West Germany. The townspeople themselves were evil, calculating busybodies.
@marshaterry3130
11 ай бұрын
Robert Blake's character didn't commit suicide. He attempted it,but he was stopped.
@57highland
11 ай бұрын
@@marshaterry3130 Yes, that's true. When they cut him down (from his lame attempt at hanging himself), Major Garrett said, "I'm beating my brains out for you, and you try to sneak out the back door!" "I'm sorry, sir. I promise I won't try it again." "I promise that you won't get the chance again! Put a 24-hour guard on him!" "Yes, sir!"
Great song by Gene but this is a cruel, cruel movie!
@mikemunrowsretro8973
6 ай бұрын
Very cruel. The film opens with the four GIs playing this song on a jukebox in a West German bar. Instead of the big band ending it gets on the single, it fades away slowly as the four walk down the road into the film's destination. Great song, great opening, sad movie.
I find your prose as enjoyable as your video work! The film was available for a while on Amazon Prime but I missed it...
@mikemunrowsretro8973
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Bill! Still have this on hard drive, downloaded it back in May 2019 (when this video was also done) ... can't recall from where, maybe Internet Archives. You'd be surprised what great films are on there for free download or viewing. Still consider this as being among the best films ever made, maybe not as high as Vertigo though!
@williamruyle
2 жыл бұрын
@@mikemunrowsretro8973 I'll be looking for this film, Mike, thanks for the heads-up!
@davidfaulkner7805
2 жыл бұрын
It's on youtube kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZKaVx8lpXbzedpM.html
Yo tenía 5 años cuando escuché por primera vez esta canción en el año 1961
@mikemunrowsretro8973
9 ай бұрын
Yo tenía 8 años.
@funmanlo5373
Ай бұрын
I was 10. I felt that Christine Kaufmann was a knockout.