dual personalities

Category: Movies

August 29, 2014

When the light is changing

by chuckofish

I deserved a treat, so I ordered Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 2010 CD The Age of Miracles.

Mary_Chapin_Carpenter-The_Age_of_Miracles

I am one of her oldest fans (and I mean that both ways)–although we are contemporaries after all, so never mind. Anyway, she never disappoints. It is a very good album and there is one song which really spoke to me. Listen, fellow introverts, and enjoy!

 

And, oh boy, the weekend is upon us once again! The painting in my bathroom is finished (thank you, Gary!) and so my project is to put the room back together.

I will also be readying the house for daughter # 1 who arrives home in a week for a birthday visit. Lots to do–but all fun stuff.

Hope your weekend is full of fun stuff too!

P.S. Today is Joseph Cotton day on TCM–so nothing thrilling to report there. He was in some classic movies, including Citizen Kane and The Third Man, but I am not a big fan of his. With a few notable exceptions like Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), he made a career of playing the second lead, the good guy who is kind of boring and makes the lead look sexy and dangerous in comparison. In that genre, TCM will be showing Duel in the Sun (1947) which, even though it stars a hot young Gregory Peck playing Cotton’s bad younger brother, is a pretty terrible movie. I liked it as a child though, mostly because of the ethereal Lillian Gish who plays  the aging southern belle who had a thing a long time ago for her reckless creole cousin and so takes in his half-breed daughter, played by the terrible actress Jennifer Jones.  Whenever Gish is in a scene,  “Beautiful Dreamer” plays in the background and follows her around eerily. I’m sure I had no idea what was actually going on, i.e. rape, wreckage and ruin. King Vidor directed it all with a heavy hand, but it does have a rousing musical score by Dimitri Tiomkin.

OSCARS 1946

So watch it if you’re in the mood for a bad melodramatic western–and I’ll admit, sometimes I am. But I really don’t like Gregory Peck as a bad guy.

5 Comments
August 22, 2014

“You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? “*

by chuckofish

Today is Audrey Hepburn day on TCM. Here is the schedule. I can’t say they are showing my absolute favorites, but there are actually a few I haven’t seen. So the DVR will be doing its job today.

MBDBRAT EC032

I must say I have loved old Audrey for a long, long time–long before she was a pop culture “icon” and her face was all over everything. Our mother was a fan and loved Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). It really surprised me to find out that it was not a big hit when it came out in 1961 and it wasn’t nominated for many Oscars. It has “Best Picture” written all over it, if you ask me. It is definitely one of my Top Five of all time movies.

Audrey is the real deal: beautiful, smart, brunette. And she can act.

Anyway, an Audrey Hepburn movie fest seems like a terrific idea for this Friday. Which movie(s) will you pick?

John Huston's "The Unforgiven" (1960)

John Huston’s “The Unforgiven” (1960) with Burt Lancaster

William Wyler's "Roman Holiday" (1951) with Gregory Peck

William Wyler’s “Roman Holiday” (1953) with Gregory Peck

"Wait Until Dark" (1967)

“Wait Until Dark” (1967)

Billy Wilder's "Sabrina" (1954) with Bogart and Holden

Billy Wilder’s “Sabrina” (1954) with Bogart and Holden

Stanley Donen's "Charade" (1963) with Cary Grant

Stanley Donen’s “Charade” (1963) with Cary Grant

So many good/great ones to choose from!

*Paul Varjak

5 Comments
August 18, 2014

“In Naomi’s Eyes we were about as Jewish as Episcopalians.”*

by chuckofish

"Barrow Farm" by William Stott of Oldham (1857--1900)

“Barrow Farm” by William Stott of Oldham (1857–1900)

“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumour of sadness and change.”

–E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

As I have mentioned before, summer in our flyover state is hot and muggy and generally pretty terrible. But this summer has been just lovely and I am loathe to see it end. Sigh.

End it shall…but not yet.

This weekend, which followed a long, stressful, sad week, I decided to throw in the towel and leave the rest of my bathroom to the professional who is coming to paint this week. If there’s one thing I know, it’s my limits. I cleaned up the mess I made.

I watched Out of Africa (1985) which is a pretty wonderful movie and one of the few which deserved its Best Picture Oscar.

Out_of_africa_poster

I hadn’t seen it for many years and I think it has certainly held up. Although some may think it over-rated and slow, I think its pace is perfect. It has a smart script and it is beautifully directed and the cinematography is sublime. Good grief, Meryl Streep is perfect. It is very romantic. And who doesn’t love Isak Dinesen? Granted there are no car chases or explosions, but there is a great sequence in a bi-plane.

I re-read The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank, which is the follow-up to her best-selling The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Bank’s writing, you recall, was one of the first to be labeled “Chick Lit”–so unfortunate. When the Girl’s Guide was published to such acclaim in 1999, I spurned it because it sounded stupid and it was so popular–it couldn’t be good, right?  Then ten years later when I was having a very bad week, I saw it at a rummage sale and thought, “What the heck? I’ll give it a whirl.” (This was one of those shoulder taps from my guardian angel that I have learned to listen to.) When I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. It was so good–genuinely funny without being vulgar, heart-felt and remarkably kind.

The Wonder Spot was not the giant best-seller of its predecessor, but I like it, and I enjoyed re-reading it. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions. It is both funny and sad–a combination of which I approve.

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“The women are young, young, young, liquidy and sweet-looking; they are batter, and I am the sponge cake they don’t know they’ll become. I stand here, a lone loaf, stuck to the pan. ” (“The Wonder Spot”)

Have a good week!

* “2oth Century Typing”, Melissa Bank

 

3 Comments
August 15, 2014

“Was you ever been bit by a dead bee?”*

by chuckofish

"The Shootist" (1976)

Bacall and the Duke in “The Shootist” (1976)

Well, now Lauren Bacall has died. She was 89 and lived in the Dakota on Central Park West. She liked Bissinger’s chocolate from St. Louis, speaking her mind and being Mrs. Humphrey Bogart. She made some good movies with him, notably To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and Key Largo (1948).

She also made two good movies with John Wayne: Blood Alley (1955) and The Shootist (1976). She liked the Duke–they had good chemistry together she said.

I’m going to watch The Shootist tonight, because I’m in the mood for a sad western with music by Elmer Bernstein, but any of the aforementioned films would be appropriate.

Rest in peace, Betty Bacall. Into paradise may the angels lead thee; and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
–BCP, Burial of the Dead, Rite I

*Eddie (and Slim) in To Have and Have Not

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August 13, 2014

“Fame you’ll be famous, as famous as can be, with everyone watching you win on TV, Except when they don’t because sometimes they won’t…”*

by chuckofish

Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad. It’s all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They’ve forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!

Leonard Lowe, Awakenings (1990)

Well, I am very sad about the suicide of Robin Williams earlier in the week. He seems to have succumbed to despair.

Robin and I go a long way back–all the way to “Mork and Mindy” which I watched when I was a graduate student in 1979. I thought he was hilarious.

I have written before about the kinship I always felt with him, of how he was my brother’s doppelganger, born weeks apart in 1951. Years would go by when I wouldn’t see my own brother, but I would see Robin. And then he played “Mrs. Doubtfire” and reminded me of my mother! It was that inner Scotsman, I guess, full of melancholy and sweetness. Indeed, he was like kin and so his death seems not so much like the death of a movie star, but like a brother. Perhaps you think that is silly, but it is how I feel. It is possible to feel very close to writers, poets, and yes, even movie stars.

I watched Awakenings last night–this movie is pure gold–and it is all about appreciating Life and reminding oneself often of the great gift that it is. So it is doubly heart-breaking to know that Robin Williams had lost sight of this.

 

“Does anything in nature despair except man? An animal with a foot caught in a trap does not seem to despair. It is too busy trying to survive. It is all closed in, to a kind of still, intense waiting. Is this a key? Keep busy with survival. Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.”

–May Sarton, Journal of Solitude

May Sarton is right. Hang in there.

*Dr. Seuss

4 Comments
August 12, 2014

“We bring you…a tinsel and spun-candy world of reckless beauty and mounting laughter and whirling thrills”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Cecil B. DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959)–American film director and film producer in both silent and sound movies, Academy Award winner and Episcopalian.

demille

Only a fourth of his movies were talkies, but they include some mighty good ones.

I recently watched The Plainsman (1936) with Gary Cooper as Wild Bill Hickok and Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane. (I blogged about Calamity Jane back on May 1 and it took three months to get the DVD from Netflix–harumph.)

It is a very enjoyable movie, mostly because of its two stars. However, James Ellison, who plays the important role of Buffalo Bill, is kind of weak–good looking but no spark.

01b_1936 Plainsman, The (Ellison)

Gary Cooper, Helen Burgess and James Ellison

The difference between him and Gary Cooper is an object lesson in why some people become movie stars and others don’t.

DeMille doesn’t fool around with political correctness in this film: the Indians are the bad guys and they are scary. There is a lot of tension in the fast-paced, but historically incorrect plot. And the cinema technology is impressive. Although mostly shot on a sound stage, the impression of depth and three-dimensional action is suggested by the use of a screen, where previously filmed activity is projected, behind the primary shot. It is very clever and effective. Indeed, I was impressed by this 1936 film–so much more engaging than our computer-generated “action” pictures of today.

Anyway…join me, won’t you, in toasting old Cecil B. tonight! And if you can get your hands on a copy of The Plainsman, take a look.

I’ll also lift a glass to Robin Williams who died on Monday. I’ll blog about him later. Rest in peace.

Into paradise may the angels lead thee; and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
–BCP, Burial of the Dead, Rite I

*The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

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August 8, 2014

Happy birthday, Dustin Hoffman, or “Mrs. Krabappel, are you trying to seduce me?”

by chuckofish

simpsons-07-dustin-hoffman

Happy birthday to Dustin Hoffman, born August 8, 1937, who has had a long and illustrious career in film, stage and television. Known for his versatile portrayals of “antiheroes and vulnerable characters”, he has been nominated seven times and won two Oscars–for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988).

My favorite Hoffman role is Mr. Bergstrom in The Simpsons (Season 2, episode 19). It’s the one where Lisa has a crush on her substitute teacher (Hoffman), who seemingly represents everything that Homer is not. Meanwhile, Bart decides to run for class president, and becomes the overwhelming favorite. Mr. Bergstrom teaches Lisa that LIFE is indeed worth living and that “for the record, there were a few Jewish cowboys. Big guys, who were great shots, and spent money freely.” Anyway, Mr. Bergstrom is a wonderful character and it is a great episode–one that nearly brought me to tears the first time I saw it. It is definitely one of my all-time favorite top 5 episodes. (Yes, I have a top 5.) Maybe even top two.

Here’s a clip with all Dustin’s parts in the episode:

http://www.simplydustinhoffman.com/apps/videos/videos/show/15221415

Yes, you can see that Mr. Bergstrom holds a special place in my heart:

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Obviously my movie pick for this Friday is any one of Dustin Hoffman’s movies. Since Tootsie is the only one we own (The OM is a big fan of Toot-see), I will probably be watching it. (I may have Papillon–since it co-stars Steve McQueen–but I’ll have to check.)

You were waiting for this, I know...

You were waiting for this, I know…

Have a great weekend!

9 Comments
August 1, 2014

“To amuse oneself in order that one may exert oneself…seems right; for amusement is a sort of relaxation, and we need relaxation because we cannot work continuously.” *

by chuckofish

Winslow Homer's "The Nooning"

Winslow Homer’s “The Nooning”

It is August. The year is more than half over!  The goals I have set for my summer are looming.

All that said, I still try to take each day as it comes and enjoy the moment. I suggest you do the same.

Here are a few things to think about this weekend:

“Part of the inner world of everyone is this sense of emptiness, unease, incompleteness, and I believe that this in itself is a word from God, that this is the sound that God’s voice makes in a world that has explained him away. In such a world, I suspect that maybe God speaks to us most clearly through his silence, his absence, so that we know him best through our missing him.”

(Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons)

“If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.”

(Julian of Norwich)

“I have found that I even have to pray for the willingness to give up the stuff I hate most about myself. I have to ask for help, and sometimes beg. That’s the human condition. I just love my own guck so much. Help. Then I try to be a good person, a better person than I was yesterday, or an hour ago. In general, the Ten Command­ments are not a bad place to start, nor is the Golden Rule. We try not to lie so much or kill anyone that day. We do the footwork, which comes down mostly to paying attention and try­ing not to be such a jerk. We try not to feel and act so entitled. We let others go first.

How can something so simple be so pro­found, letting others go first, in traffic or in line at Starbucks, and even if no one cares or notices? Because for the most part, people won’t care—they’re late, they haven’t heard back from their new boyfriend, or they’re fixated on the stock market. And they won’t notice that you let them go ahead of you.

They take it as their due.

But you’ll know. And it can change your whole day, which could be a way to change your whole life. There really is only today, al­though luckily that is also the eternal now. And maybe one person in the car in the lane next to you or in line at the bank or at your kid’s baseball game will notice your casual generos­ity and will be touched, lifted, encouraged—in other words, slightly changed for the better— and later will let someone else go first. And this will be quantum.”

(Anne Lamott, Help, Thanks, Wow)

Clay Boone: I think we’ll go to St. Louis.

Cat: St. Louis?

Clay Boone: Yeah, St. Louis! City on the Missouri, railhead of the Santa Fe, jump off for the Oregon Trail – producers of beef, beer, shoes and, ah, good times.

(Cat Ballou, 1965)

Cat_Ballou_Poster

Cat Ballou will be shown on TCM tonight as part of their all-Jane Fonda-all day program. I remember going to see it at the movies back in 1965 and I thought it was pretty great. Of course, I was nine. It is not a great movie, but I am kind of in the mood for such silliness. Lee Marvin, of course, won an Oscar for his portrayal of Kid Shelleen/Tim Strawn.  I’m sure Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Rod Steiger, and Oskar Werner–who were also nominated that year–weren’t laughing. If you look at the nominees/winners, you’ll see it was a really weak year.

Anyway, it’s been a busy week and I am ready for my weekend! Have a good one.

*Aristotle

 

9 Comments
July 30, 2014

“He will my shield and portion be”*

by chuckofish

Today on the Episcopal Church calendar is the feast day of the worthy William Wilberforce, English politician, philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade.

Unfinished portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Unfinished portrait of Wilberforce by Sir Thomas Lawrence

He was born in 1759 and served in Parliament from 1780 to 1825. A turning point in his religious life came while on a tour of Europe. In the luggage of a travelling companion he saw a copy of William Law’s book, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. He asked his friend, “What is this?” and received the answer, “One of the best books ever written.” The two of them agreed to read it together on the journey, and Wilberforce embarked on a lifelong program of setting aside Sundays and an interval each morning on arising for prayer and religious reading. He considered his options, including the clergy, and was persuaded by Christian friends that his calling was to serve God through politics.

He was a major supporter of programs for popular education, overseas missions, parliamentary reform, and religious liberty. He is best known, however, for his untiring commitment to the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. He introduced his first anti-slavery motion in the House of Commons in 1788, in a three-and-a-half hour oration that concluded: “Sir, when we think of eternity and the future consequence of all human conduct, what is there in this life that shall make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice and the law of God!”

The motion was defeated. Wilberforce brought it up again every year for eighteen years, until the slave trade was finally abolished on 25 March 1806. He continued the campaign against slavery itself, and the bill for the abolition of all slavery in British territories passed its crucial vote just four days before his death on July 29, 1833. A year later, on July 31, 1834, 800,000 slaves, chiefly in the British West Indies, were set free.

A movie of the life of William Wilberforce, Amazing Grace, was released in 2006. It stars Ioan Gruffudd as Wilberforce.

wilberAlso featured are Albert Finney as John Newton, Rufus Sewell as Thomas Clarkson and Benedict Cumberbatch as William Pitt. It is definitely worth watching for many reasons, not the least of which is that Mr. Gruffudd is so darn cute.

*Amazing Grace by John Newton

Information about Wilberforce from Christianitytoday.com.

 

3 Comments
July 22, 2014

“This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and message, I’ll get back to you.”

by chuckofish

When I talked to daughter #1 on Sunday, she told me that James Garner had died.

james-garner-300

“You’ll have to break it to dad gently,” she said. Then we chuckled because it has been a family joke for years that the OM has a bit of a thing for old James Garner. I always thought this man-crush was odd because JG always reminded me a lot of the OM’s pater and their relationship was, shall we say, less than familial. But let’s not get too Freudian about it all…

James Garner, you will recall, was the star of the hit TV series The Rockford Files and Maverick and some good films including The Great Escape (1963), The Thrill of it All (1963) and The Children’s Hour (1961). He was only nominated once for an Oscar–for Murphy’s Romance (1985)–and, of course, he didn’t win. (William Hurt won that year for Kiss of the Spider Woman! Remember that one? Me neither.) He was miscast a lot–he played Philip Marlowe in Marlowe (1965) and Ira Moran in Breathing Lessons (1994). Frequently you had the feeling he was the second or third choice for a role.

But you had to hand it to him for being a working actor for all those years–1956-2010–that’s impressive. He didn’t seem to care if he had top billing; he just wanted the work. He gave the impression that he didn’t take his profession too seriously–he knew he was no Olivier–but it paid well and, despite the physical trauma of stunt-work, it wasn’t too hard.

“I’m a Methodist but not as an actor,” he wrote in his autobiography The Garner Files. “I’m from the Spencer Tracy school: Be on time, know your words, hit your marks, and tell the truth. I don’t have any theories about acting, and I don’t think about how to do it, except that an actor shouldn’t take himself too seriously, and shouldn’t try to make acting something it isn’t. Acting is just common sense. It isn’t hard if you put yourself aside and just do what the writer wrote.”

A refreshing attitude, to be sure. He had “exasperated” down to a “T”. You can read all about his career here.

My mother was a fan of those Polaroid commercials he did with Mariette Hartley in the ’70s. Remember those classic commercials? (Remember those cameras?!) She thought they were great and I’m sure she bought at least one Polaroid because of them.

 

Anyway, I settled in and watched several episodes of The Rockford Files–Season One on Sunday night.

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Rockford in all his Sansabelt, poly-wool glory

I find it very comforting to watch The Rockford Files with its car chases through the banal southern California scenery and the really bad ’70s apparel, home decor and hairdos, because I can imagine my parents watching it. It was one of their favorite shows. The 1970s (worst decade ever!) was the decade of my youth after all–when I graduated from high school and went to college. So The Rockford Files is nothing if not familiar.

So rest in peace, James Garner. We’ll miss you. And the walk down memory lane with the The Rockford Files just may continue tonight…I highly recommend it.

Into paradise may the angels lead thee; and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem. 
–BCP, Burial of the Dead, Rite I

6 Comments