As a footnote , An American Dream was filmed , in 1966 , by Robert Gist . It ’ s also known as See You in Hell , Darling , which perhaps better captures its air of B-movie schlock . A critical disaster , it starred Stuart Whitman as Stephen Rojack and , with delicious synchronicity , Janet Leigh , who had played Marion Crane in Psycho , not this time as the murdered wife , but as the renamed Cherry McMahon . Her singing voice was dubbed by one-hit wonder Jackie Ward , who ’ d topped the charts a couple of years before with “ Wonderful Summer ”, and who tended to be heard rather than seen on screen . Needless to say , the movie version was stripped of most of Mailer ’ s philosophizing and social theory . What was left wasn ’ t much more than an obscure pulp thriller . Oddly , the Shago Martin character was played by light-skinned Paul Mantee , who is , we believe , of Italian rather than African-American descent , so a further layer of social significance was stripped out of the plot .
Unlike the rent-a-quote Mailer , Miles Davis rarely made an overtly political comment . Later records bore names like Tutu and Amandla , in honour of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa , and “ Calypso Frelimo ” on Get Up with It seems dedicated to the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique , but that is as far as the trumpeter ’ s overt engagement with politics seemed to stretch . His notorious autobiography , ghosted by Quincy Troupe , avoids such questions almost entirely . And yet , it is certain that , like every other American , Miles Davis was influenced by the threatening political culture of his time . There ’ s tension , too , surely , behind every line and phrase of Kind of Blue . Even if no-one , ever , has used the word “ apocalyptic ” to describe its unique sound-world , there ’ s something of that , too , in its throbbing containment and icy calm .
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