I would like to make a compilation with all of Prince’s references to classic movies. Off the top of my head I think of these. Can anyone find more?

"Like Frank and Ava (Gardner) we paint the town" – “Lolita”

"Back when Dick was fuckin' Liz (Taylor)" – “Days of Wild”

“I wanna be a movie star just like Greta Garbo” – “3x2=6”

"She made funny faces just like Clara Bow" – “Condition of The Heart”

I suspect it was Vanity that influenced his interest in these movies. Her Skin on Skin album artwork recalls a different time. She also makes references to a lot of movies including A Fool There Was (starring Theda Bara).

P also turned me on to Barbarella (now a favorite). I think Carmen Electra's (Paisley Park) look was modeled after her.

"I'll strangle Valentino"--Private Joy

And Valentino is mentioned again in Manic Monday

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[Edited 11/7/10 11:34am]

Thanks! I knew he had been mentioned, and I forgot where!

marcello mastroianni and the film la dolce vita are mentioned in "the good life"

and fcuz "barbarella" seems to have been a movie he was very much into during and

shortly after the whole diamonds and pearls era

'the style that we're sportin' the ladies and the fellas, godfather III meets barbarella"

altho he doesn't mention jane fonda anywhere iirc.

ea1313 said:

I would like to make a compilation with all of Prince’s references to classic movies. Off the top of my head I think of these. Can anyone find more?

"Like Frank and Ava (Gardner) we paint the town" – “Lolita”

"Back when Dick was fuckin' Liz (Taylor)" – “Days of Wild”

“I wanna be a movie star just like Greta Garbo” – “3x2=6”

"She made funny faces just like Clara Bow" – “Condition of The Heart”

I suspect it was Vanity that influenced his interest in these movies. Her Skin on Skin album artwork recalls a different time. She also makes references to a lot of movies including A Fool There Was (starring Theda Bara).

P also turned me on to Barbarella (now a favorite). I think Carmen Electra's (Paisley Park) look was modeled after her.

It might have been Susannah Melvoin who was the influence?

then there's the outtake "girl of my dreams"

Here we go, 2 .. 1, 2, 3!

I want a woman like Marilyn Monroe
The kind of woman that'd never say no
The kind of woman that'd make U scream
"That's the girl o' my dreams!"

I want a woman that'll treat me right
Give me good lovin' all through the night
Take her on a date, she's my machine
That's the girl o' my dreams

CHORUS:
Oh, the girl o' my dreams
Oh, listen people, that's the girl o' my dreams

I want a woman like Lauren Bacall
Old and wrinkled but knows it all
Got all the little tricks that'll make me cream
That's the girl o' my dreams

I want a woman that'll wash my hair
Even wash my underwear
Always smilin', never mean
That's the girl o' my dreams

CHORUS

I would say that you're a chauvinist

No, I just got a lot of things that are on my list!

Yeah if she couldn't hang, would U give her the fist?

No man, I'd sit her right down and give her a little kiss!

Oh, I need a woman like Lena Horne
Knowed she was funky since the day she was born
Lena's mama say "Doc, is it a girl?"
Doc say "And how!"
Lena smiled, slapped the doctor and said
"Sucker I'm runnin' things now!"

" I was kissing Valentino by a crystal blue italian stream" Manic Monday

" And god created woman" is a Roger Vadim (director of Barbarella) movie.

yankem said:

" And god created woman" is a Roger Vadim (director of Barbarella) movie.

Yes! I watched this last week. That is one of my favorite songs too!

IstenSzek said:

and fcuz "barbarella" seems to have been a movie he was very much into during and

shortly after the whole diamonds and pearls era

'the style that we're sportin' the ladies and the fellas, godfather III meets barbarella"

altho he doesn't mention jane fonda anywhere iirc.

Yeah, those are good ones. I even like the references to the movies themselves.

I also read somewhere that Wendy & Lisa were self decribed cinephiles. They could have influenced this as well.

Genesia said:

It's rather commonly known that Prince is a film buff.

Well, he would have to be by the looks of all these songs.

He named Apollonia after the Godfather...

Whos Andre Crabtree the Third?