I almost wish the video had no lyrics so I can just watch the homage to old 70s crime dramas.
The video begins with an interview with the Beastie Boys. They're dressed like cops and wear cheesy mustaches. An off-camera interviewer asks them if they do their own stunts. We zoom in on one of the boys and he proudly declares that at least he does his own. He also wears a gold chain. Because 70s styles were terrible. He goes on and demonstrates a bit of his cop stunts, which involves punching an invisible guy in the head and then kicking a second attacker. Interviewer is impressed at his training.
The music video proper begins with a siren on top of a cop car. I'm sure this was a trope in 70s shows but now I can't help but think of Police Squad! when I see this. We see several more images like low angles during tight turns and a car crashing through some empty cardboard boxes. YES! That's what a chase needs! You have to hit something. It builds tension. We see a couple quick establishing shots but don't ask me where. Somewhere in New York or California? Not like there's that many other states where American shows take place.
The song starts while one of the Beastie Boys kicks down a fence. YEAH! That's the kind of action we need more of in these videos! I can't really understand the words to this song without looking them up but eh, who cares. The video is fun already. Singer is upset about something. He sings to the bad guy telling him that he knows the crook did something and he'll bring the crook down somehow. He compares the crimes to Watergate, so this video needs a plumber at some point.
We get several quick cuts of the Boys doing police stuff. One of them runs up to a corner and kicks it for no reason. We see a guy with big sideburns carrying groceries and the Boys are suddenly interested in him. The Boys tell the criminal that while he may be distracted by the Boys intensity, that's just a set up to get the criminal. They refer to it as Sabotage. A big red and yellow caption helps us out here on the song title.
We get many dramatic scenes of cars being turned and people jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Suddenly the Boys are in disguises. You have to have a good disguise in a crime drama show. We see a man with white hair and a briefcase leave a motel room. It's Stewart Wallace. YEAH, whoever he is! He's chased by one of the Beastie Boys disguised as a bell boy. It ends with the special guest star pushed in a pool. Now I wish I had a TV cop job. The song tells us that the singer can't be held back easily. The Beastie Boys are already several steps in front of their soon to be arrestee.
My mistake, Stewart Wallace is just a made up name. He's played by MCA, whichever Beastie Boy is that. I just looked that up. Also played by MCA is Nathan Wind, one of the actors who play one of the cops. Ad-Rock plays a police officer getting rough on a suspect. Finally Mike D plays the actor who portrays the inevitable chief. I bet that jerk character demands that his men plays things by the book while sitting behind his desk.
The video takes a sudden break as the guys eat donuts.
Next we see the Nathan Wind character in a knife fight. His victory is so absolute that the knife wielder suddenly falls off the bridge they were on. It happens. OW! We see the criminal land. What did that mannequin do to you guys?! Next one of the Boys chase a man in overalls. We see the final cast member of the show played by Fred Kelly, but I bet he didn't last past the pilot.
The video just gives us what we want at this point: plenty of action! We get cars driving up hills quickly, tied-up people staring at bombs, doors broken down by axes...beautiful. The Boy with the worst mustache gets blown up. The final part of the song is much like the first. We see one man get handcuffed and then dumped on a road in San Francisco. The chief yells, probably because it was against the book. I knew it! The song ends with the Boys posing. Hey, they do have style, despite the styles of the time.
We end with the interview with the same guy now telling us that it's very macho.
Great video, fun song. Do I need to say more?
The awesome part is the entire video. But that's cheating. How about we narrow it down to the knife fight and it's conclusion.
3 comments:
Wait wait wait..
It took us *this* long to get to Sabotage? Lita, I am very disappointed in you.
Yeah yeah it's Nathan Wind! Cochise!
I love the Beastie Boys. The awesome part is them!
We've done Beastie Boys in July Challenge before, just not this song.
And I like the song a lot, but I have to admit, the video? It's good. Not my favorite Beastie Boys video, but it's ok. Looks like it was a lot of fun to make, and I always like when it looks like everybody had a blast making a video.
The awesome part is the song. It's an awesome song.
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