Be Seeing You, Number Six
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| Patrick McGoohan, star, writer, director, progenitor, auteur, dammit of the classic series The Prisoner died today at age 80. Although that series will inevitably be the locus of the discussion of his career, I’d like to take a moment to consider one of his films, one that shows what a broad talent McGoohan was.
The film is All Night Long, 1961, directed by Basil Dearden. The story is an updating of Othello (no Shakespearean dialogue), regarding a black London jazzman and his white singer wife. McGoohan plays their ambitious drummer, Johnny Cousin,the Iago character. The film is/was notable in jazz circles for the appearance and performances of quite a few jazzmen of the time, some giants – Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Dankworth. |
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| Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Mingus. The thing that startled me is that McGoohan played the drums himself for this. He manages to convince that he belongs with these people. |
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| This is a 2 or 3 minute solo. Now, maybe the soundtrack was actually done a second time in post, but either way I think he’s really doing this. Impressed, I am. |
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| Godspeed, Pat. Thanks for everything. |
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