DEAD MAN'S CURVE The Jan and Dean Story

This is the type of movie that you would normally see after someone has died and other people get to tell their story. The story will tell how the person wasn't very nice and since they're no longer alive to disagree, they can't repudiate it. The strange thing is that Jan Berry was alive when this TV movie was made in 1978. It's interesting to read what Jan has to say about his own personality: CLICK HERE. I was surprised to find that he readily admits that he was a Type-A, Control Freak, Asshole.

Below is the story of Jan and Dean as shown in Deadman's Curve: The Jan and Dean Story (DMC). I emphasize shown since, as with any biopic, some facts are condensed for the movie and other facts are put into the movie for dramatic reasons. When I know something is obviously wrong, even for a casual fan like me, I have made a note of the real fact(s).


DMC opens with Jan (Richard Hatch) and Dean (Bruce Davison) hanging out and this is a shorthand way to let us know that they are friends. The puzzling fact that is never shown in DMC is WHY Dean would remain friends with someone who belittled and mistreated him over so many years. I've even read the biographical chapters that Dean has written on The Jan and Dean website and I cannot quite get a grasp on why they remained friends. My only guess is that Dean is the type of person that once he's your friend, he'll be your friend for life.


Up next we find Jan and Dean and another friend harmonizing in the showers after high school football practice . DMC immediately cuts to Jan recording the three of them in his garage. The friend drops out, but Dean stays on. The friend's name in the movie is Billy, I assume this was supposed to be Arnie Ginsburg (even though they do mention the name Arnie a couple of times in the movie) who originally recorded with Jan as the duo Jan and Arnie. When Dean asks Jan "what about football?", Jan says football season is over and he's going to create "the sounds of summer" ....I kid you not, that line was actually in the movie, I even backed it up several times to be sure I heard it correct. Now Jan was smart (his IQ was supposedly 181 before the accident), but I don't think he was smart enough to have thought that far ahead or to have been a prophet. This is just an example of DMC making up its own history for the sake of a good story, as I mentioned above.

Dean joins the army and Jan releases their song with ONLY his name on the label, according to the scene we see in DMC. Actually "Jennie Lee" was a song released by Jan and Arnie. Needless to say Dean's not real happy about this; but, after Dean gets out of the army, the pair hook up again and start their successful recording career.


It just happens that one time while they are touring, they get lost in a town somewhere in Texas....right in front of a radio station! The DJ at this station is Bob Smith: The Jackal (who is played by Wolfman Jack, whose real name was Bob Smith!). The actual truth is that Jan and Dean continued their college careers and recorded and performed on weekends or during college breaks. It is very doubtful that they would have been driving from California to Texas. Jan and Dean get The Jackal to play "Sidewalk Surfin'" from one of their albums and at the end of this scene, Dean gets on his skateboard and Jan pulls him with his car as they leave town with the song playing on the radio.

Jan is going to get drafted and he goes to the induction station and tells them they can't draft him "He's Jan and Dean". The Sergeant tells him "We took in Elvis and he was a lot bigger star than you are Boy!". Jan huffs out of the office and according to the movie, this is when he had his wreck on Dead Man's Curve. This scene is all fabrication and you can read the real story HERE


This is about the half-way point of the movie and the latter half is about Jan and his recovery. Jan finally gets to the point where he wants to perform again and grudgingly asks Dean to help him. Jan decides he will have to lip synch his part. The crowd catches on and tries to boo him off stage. After an emotional address to the audience, Jan sings live and the audience gives him a standing ovation. At the start of this scene look for Bruce Johnston and Mike Love (in one of his sartorial disasters) of The Beach Boys. If you look carefully at the audience you can see the real Jan Berry watching his movie self performing on stage.

DMC began with Dick Clark introducing Jan and Dean in 1966, after which the movie flashed back to 1957 carrying us from that year until the early 1970s. I have read that DMC was supposed to have been a mini-series, instead 15 years of the lives of Jan and Dean were condensed into approximately 100 minutes. Thankfully the director Richard Compton was used to working in TV and should be given credit for being able to make such a coherent story in the time frame he was given. The only real problem with DMC was that I felt it skewed more toward Jan and could have easily been called: Dead Man's Curve: The Jan Berry Story featuring Dean Torrence. I would have liked to have seen a little more about Dean, but then that would have probably required another 100 minutes!

A special Thanks to skippercollector who sent me the photo of the the rare vhs Video Gems release.

JAMBOREE

There's just a little bit of plot in Jamboree that holds the musical performances together. The story centers on a girl, Honey Wynn (Freda Holloway), and a boy, Pete Porter (Paul Carr), trying to break into the music business as solo acts. Their managers, Grace (Kay Medford - think Penny Marshall crossed with Eve Arden) and Lew (Bob Pastine), used to be married to each other. The managers come up with a plan to make them a duo and they're a big success. Pete's manager Grace conspires to break them up and make him a solo star. Through some underhanded dealings she succeeds, but he's not happy without his girl, who by the way hasn't had any success as a solo act. Eventually Pete's manager realizes that she has made a mistake and with the help of her ex-husband they reunite the couple for a happy ending.


The plot is used to wrap around the musical performances. First up is Carl Perkins. He's doing a recording session and since he never uses all of his studio time, Honey and Pete get their first tryout in the recording studio after Carl has finished. It should be noted that Connie Stevens voice is dubbed in for Honey's singing. The duo record a hit song and we don't get another musical act until we find Honey's manager auditioning Frankie Avalon in the studio.


Next up is a device the movie makers obviously thought up in order to give them a lot of free publicity. They use DJ's from across the U.S. and Canada, and a few international ones, to introduce acts at a big telethon hosted by Dick Clark. Dick says my favorite head scratching line in the movie: "they have raised $70,000 to help in the fight against this terrible disease".....WHAT DISEASE....no one ever says! Most of the DJs are pretty run-of-the-mill, except for Jocko Henderson who appears in a spaceman's suit! The marathon includes performances by Jodie Sanders, Jerry Lee Lewis or The Jerry Lee Lewis Trio as they are introduced in this movie, Louis Lymon (Frankie's brother) and The Teenchords, and Ron Coby.


Pete goes on his solo tour to England and we get performances by Slim Whitman (with that mustache, he always reminds me of a used car salesman) and The Four Coins. After Pete's tour, we then return to the U.S. and get the final offering of musical stars at the Music Operator's Convention. Here we get to see Count Basie, Joe Williams, Buddy Knox, Jimmy Bowen, and Fats Domino. The fake duo of Honey and Pete close the show and are joined on stage with their managers singing along.

The main reason for this movie being made was to showcase the musical talent and it was great seeing SOME of the stars in this movie, others could have been left out completely, in my opinion; but I guess everyone would have their own favorites when viewing Jamboree. My favorites in the film were Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Louis Lymon, and of course, Fats Domino. I was in New Orleans once when Fats was performing at a free show outside The Riverwalk Mall. I had never seen Fats live in concert, but the closest I could get was a view from the side of the stage, and then all I could see was Fats' leg pumping his piano.....That was still a thrill for me!!