Happy Birthday Grace Jones
Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 6:00PM Kieran, here wishing the happiest of birthdays to one of our most talented, specific, peculiar and mysterious pop culture icons--the great Grace Jones.
There are countless pop music mainstays today who owe a great debt to the trails blazed by Grace Jones and many have gone to great pains to cite her as a predecessor. Her signature, striking style, her unique music, her fascinating, inimitable look are incredibly influential. Make no mistake--a lot of your favs (and I take nothing away from them by saying this for it's the best artist that borrow from other artists) can be traced back to Grace Jones.
Jones has made forrays into film here and there, though she's arguably most known for her appearances in Boomerang where her character brashly declared...
1985's A View to A Kill where she played a Bond girl the likes of which we've never seen...
And (my personal favorite Grace Jones film appearance) the 1986 comedy/horror cult-classic Vamp.
Other than appearance in fringe and arthouse pictures, Grace Jones' film career has slowed down considerably (it was never truly her first love anyway). Even on this, her 68th birthday, one wonders what Grace Jones and could add to the world of cinema today if utilized by the right director. Wouldn't Jones fit so perfectly into the bright, colorful, woman-centric world of Almodóvar or the glitzy, glamorous landscape of Velvet Goldmine-mode Todd Haynes?
What's Your Favorite Grace Jones Film Appearance?
Reader Comments (8)
Jones is a mainstay of my early childhood because of Conan the Destroyer and A View to a Kill. Her best work in the movies is playing a parody of herself in Boomerang. Wish you hadn't brought up Almodovar and his inability to incorporate black characters into his work. The first black person I ever spotted in one of his movies is a singer in The Skin I Live In.
I don't want to hear from any Spaniards that there is no such thing as black Spaniards.
A View to a Kill, by a landslide. I'm still waiting for a Bond girl to possess half of Mayday's strength, metaphorical or otherwise.
I also love the exchange from Angels in America where Prior confesses he's been dreaming about a woman (the angel) to Belize.
B: You're not turning straight on me now?
P: An unconventional woman.
B: (pause) Grace Jones?
Coincidentally, Grace Jones shares her birthday with another Bond girl. May Day was scary/awesome, but poor Severine was mostly just a very sad story.
That BOOMERANG gif is my new sun, moon, and stars.
Grace Jones is just so stunning at every turn. I wish she'd get more recognition as the icon she is, because the younger generation has no damn clue who she is and it's insane.
At 67 and still fucking awesome. She was great in A View to a Kill which isn't one of my favorite Bond films. Yet, whenever I think of Grace Jones. I think of Kim Wayans' impression of her on In Living Color:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQopdEwzRj0
One of the funniest sketches I had ever seen. Slave.... to.... the... rhythm! Slave.... to the song!!!!!
She's so great. My favourite film-related thing she's done is record the best Bond theme song that never was. "Storm" from THE AVENGERS (the British TV adaptation, not the Marvel ensemble).
Her autobiography is a great read.
And Grace, like several other icons, cites David Bowie as a major influence.
Ah, Boomerang. Eartha & Grace...