Starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Michael J. Pollard, Gayle Hunnicutt, Norman Alden, Buck Taylor, and Joan Shawlee. Directed by Roger Corman. The Hells Angels motorcycle gang ride out to Mecca, California, in the desert to look for the Loser's stolen motorcycle. They blame a group of Mexicans in a repair shop and the two groups brawl. The police arrive, chase the Angels on foot, and the Loser escapes on a parked police motorcycle. After a chase on mountain roads, one of the officers shoots the Loser in the back, putting him in the hospital. Heavenly Blues leads a small group of Angels that sneaks him out of the hospital. Without proper medical care, the Loser goes into shock and dies. His cohorts forge a death certificate and arrange a church funeral in the Loser’s rural hometown. Blues interrupts the service and, the Angels have a party.
Starring James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, Edward Mulhare, James Brolin, Benson Fong, and Gila Golan. Directed by Daniel Mann. Spy extraordinaire Derek Flint, ex-agent of Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage), is brought out of retirement to deal with the threat of Galaxy, a world-wide organization led by a trio of mad scientists: Doctor Krupov, Doctor Wu, and Doctor Schneider. Impatient that the world's governments will never improve, the scientists demand that all nations capitulate to Galaxy. To enforce their demands, they initiate earthquakes, volcanoes, storms and other natural disasters with their climate-control apparatus. Flint decides to take them on after a preemptive assassination attempt by Galaxy's section head Gila, who replaces a restaurant's harpist while Flint is dining with his four live-in "playmates".
Starring Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Diane McBain, Carl Betz, Cecil Kelaway, Deborah Walley, Will Hutchins, Warren Berlinger, Jimmy Hawkins, and Una Merkel. Directed by Norman Taurog. Race car driver Mike McCoy fronts a popular singing group and he is also the defending champion on the racing circuit. Fast cars are not nearly as dangerous for Mike as beautiful women, all of whom want to race him down the aisle to marriage. Les works as the drummer in Mike's band and she is extremely jealous of his attention toward other women. Also vying for his affection is sophisticated Cynthia Foxhugh, the daughter of a wealthy auto magnate. Finally, representing the intellectual type is writer Diana St. Clairwho falls in love with Mike while finishing her book The Perfect American Male.
Miss August 1966 was the lovely and talented Susan Denberg, a cult hottie of yesteryear who is somewhat obscure today but still beloved by vintage sci-fi and Hammer horror film fans. She was born Dietlinde Zechner in Bad Polzin, Germany, (now Poland) on August 2, 1944. Susan Denberg made her motion picture debut in the 1966 film "An American Dream". Ms. Denberg subsequently appeared on the then-fledgling sci-fi series "Star Trek" as Magda Kovacs, one of the three mail-order bride hopefuls voyaging to Ophiucus III with honey-tongued con man and Venus drug purveyor Harcourt Fenton in episode #3, “Mudd’s Women”, which originally aired October 13, 1966. She next appeared in the 1967 horror film "Frankenstein Created Woman" alongside perennial Hammer favorite Peter Cushing.
Ronald Reagan endorsed the campaign of conservative presidential contender Barry Goldwater in 1964. Speaking for Goldwater, Reagan stressed his belief in the importance of smaller government. He revealed his ideological motivation in a famed speech delivered on October 27, 1964: "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing." This "Time for Choosing" speech raised $1 million for Goldwater's campaign and is considered the event that launched Reagan's political career. California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech and nominated him for Governor of California in 1966. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." Reagan was elected in November 1966, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and was sworn in on January 2, 1967.
As of January 1, 1966, all cigarette packages in the United States must carry a warning message to smokers. The Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 required the following health warning, prescribed by Congress, to be placed on all cigarette packages sold in the United States:
CAUTION: CIGARETTE SMOKING MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.
This warning appeared on cigarette packs from January 1, 1966, through October 31, 1970.
"I Want You" was written and recorded by Bob Dylan. It was issued as a single in June 1966, shortly before the release of its accompanying album, Blonde on Blonde. A live version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" was included as the B-side. Billboard magazine noted the release of "I Want You" in its June 25 issue and predicted it would reach the Top 20. "I Want You" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 2, 1966 at #90. It peaked at #20 on July 30, 1966.
Tommy Roe continued his string of pop hits in the fall of 1966 with this follow-up to Sweet Pea. Hooray for Hazel peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late October 1966.
The More I See You, written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Mack Gordon, was published in 1945 and originally sung by Dick Haymes in the film Diamond Horseshoe. The song has been subsequently recorded by many artists over the years. Chris Montez produced the most commercially successful and well known version of the song; it peaked at #16 in June 1966. It is this version that has been used many times in movies, notably at the beginning of the famous club scene in Roman Polanski's film Frantic, starring Harrison Ford.
Listen People reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1966. The song can be heard in the film When the Boys Meet the Girls starring Connie Francis.
Gerry & The Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool and were managed by Brian Epstein. According to Billboard Magazine, the group is the second most successful band to originate from Liverpool after the Beatles. Girl on a Swing was the final single release for Gerry &The Pacemakers. The song reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966, shortly after the group disbanded.
The Pozo-Seco Singers was an American folk band. Group members Don Williams and Lofton Kline were playing together under the name The Strangers Two in Corpus Christi, Texas, when Susan Taylor heard them at a Circle K hootenanny held at Del Mar College. She asked the two if they'd like to form a trio, which became the Pozo-Seco Singers. Taylor, a student at W.B. Ray High School at the time and charter member of the local folk music society, introduced them to Paul Butts, their first manager. "Time" was the group's first recording for local label Edmark Records and it was an instant regional hit. Columbia Records then signed the three and nationally released the song which became the title of their first album. Two more albums followed on Columbia, they signed with Albert Grossman management, and Kline was replaced by veteran folk singer Ron Shaw. When the group disbanded in 1970, Taylor focused on songwriting for JMI Music and had songs recorded by artists such as Tanya Tucker, The Lewis Family, John Conlee, The Forester Sisters, and Mickey Gilley. Shaw joined the popular commercial folk group, The Hillside Singers, and Don Williams went on to a highly successful solo career in country music. I Can Make It With You, written by Chip Taylor, was the group's third single release. It peaked at #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966.
Shapes of Things was written by Paul Samwell-Smith, Keith Relf, and Jim McCarty, originally recorded by The Yardbirds and released as a single in March 1966 on Epic Records. In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Shapes of Things" at number 61 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song is considered to be one of the first psychedelic songs and features a psychedelic-style guitar solo by Jeff Beck using his Fender Esquire guitar. A live version recorded in 1968 with the Jimmy Page line-up was released on the 1971 album Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page. Beck re-worked the song two years later with his own group, appearing as the lead-off track to his band's first album, Truth in 1968, with vocals by Rod Stewart. Shapes of Things reached #11 in April 1966 on the Billboard Hot 100.
My Little Red Book from the debut album by the Los Angeles-based rock band Love is a radical reworking of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song, the title of which is likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to Mao Zedong's Little Red Book which was first published by the Communist Party of China in April 1964. My Little Red Book peaked at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1966. The song was first introduced by Manfred Mann in the 1965 film What's New Pussycat and was featured over the final credits of the movie High Fidelity in 2000, and the Beverly Hills 90210 episode "Alone at the Top" in 1995.
