What a busy weekend! In fact, it was so busy that I did not have time to write a blogpost. All I have for today is this photo of the wee laddie wearing the new onesie I gave him for Valentine’s Day.
And it is Monday once again. The week begins anew. Have a good one, pilgrim!
Another big weekend ahead! The OM and I will be driving to Columbia with daughter #1 in her new car and the boy in his new truck–both packed to the gills with her stuff.
Life in the fast lane, right?
Meanwhile, it is the “Summer Under the Stars” month on TCM, so each day the schedule is devoted to a different star. Tomorrow is John Wayne day, so set your DVRs!
Check it out if you feel so inclined.
Happy belated birthday to Snoopy whose birthday was yesterday. Perhaps you will recall that this was revealed in a comic strip on 8/10/1968. I did not remember that, even though I was a huge fan of Peanuts back in the day.
Speaking of birthdays, tomorrow is the birthday of one of our favorites, Mark Knopfler. He’s turning 68!
Mark has played with all the greats from Bob Dylan to Chet Atkins and Eric Clapton. He’s the greatest and we love him.
Have a good weekend! Listen to some good music, watch a good movie, read a good book, enjoy the great outdoors! Smell the pine in your nostrils.
I read yesterday that Elsa Martinelli, Italian fashion model turned actress, had died. Coincidentally I have just recently watched Hatari (1962) in which Ms. Martinelli starred with John Wayne.
Hatari is one of those easy-going travelogue-cum-romance movies of the early sixties that is very entertaining and a good stress-reducer when you need one. Add wine and you are all set. The ensemble cast appears to be having a good time too.
Anyway, a toast to the beautiful, skinny, chain-smoking Elsa Martinelli, who got to kiss John Wayne and play with baby elephants. It doesn’t get much better than that.
*Dallas (Elsa Martinelli) in Hatari
Today is John Wayne’s birthday. It has been a long, stressful week at work and I plan to hunker down and watch some classic JW movies this weekend. This is a favorite way to chillax.
I think I will start with Stagecoach (1939), the movie that made Wayne an “overnight” star. I like to think of my mother going to see it for the first time at the age of 13. She was a fan for the rest of her life. People always think of John Wayne as a man’s actor, an action star, and he was to be sure. But people tend to forget how handsome and sexy he was and how women loved him for his whole long career.
Think of Joan Didion, who wrote in John Wayne, a Love Song:
We went three and four afternoons a week, sat on folding chairs in the darkened hut which served as a theatre, and it was there, that summer of 1943 while the hot wind blew outside, that I first saw John Wayne. Saw the walk, heard the voice. Heard him tell the girl in a picture called War of the Wildcats that he would build her a house, ‘at the bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow’. As it happened I did not grow up to be the kind of woman who is the heroine in a Western, and although the men I have known have had many virtues and have taken me to live in many places I have come to love, they have never been John Wayne, and they have never taken me to that bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow. Deep in that part of my heart where the artificial rain forever falls, that is still the line I wait to hear.
Anyway, a toast to the Duke on his 110th birthday.
BTW, where is my copy of The Searchers?
Recently I discovered that Brenda Ueland, author of If You Want to Write, wrote an autobiography. I found a used copy online and ordered it.
Brenda Ueland was a wonderful free-spirited girl growing up in Minnesota, and she seems to have always managed to keep that inner light. Many women lose it for various reasons: anxiety, depression, responsibility…but Brenda remained true to herself and honest. I find her fascinating. Although we are very different, we see eye-to-eye on most important things.
In other news, did you know that yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? Please note that this was the first occasion of John Wayne calling someone “Pilgrim” in a film.
Tonight would be a good occasion to watch this great, great movie. I like to think of my parents going to see it in 1962. Did my brother go? He was 11. I remember going to see it at the movies, but it must have been when it was re-released at some point. I think I was about 8 or 9 or 10, because I was really still too young. I mean I was quite traumatized by Lee Marvin who was so scary.
There is real violence in this movie–too bad beatings of James Stewart and Edmund O’Brien, you will recall. Martin Scorsese, who is a big fan of director John Ford, never learned that it’s what you don’t see that is so scary.
Anyway, it also makes for good Holy Week fare, since this movie is about personal sacrifice and all that. John Wayne gives up everything for love, (spoiler alert) shooting Liberty Valance and burning down his house.
I will also note the passing of Don Rickles the other day. He appeared in one of my favorite WWII submarine movies early in his career in a straight part. Can you spot him in this German-dubbed scene from Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)?
This would be another good movie to watch–while toasting old Don, alias Mr. Potato Head.
And, finally, here’s a good word from Joyce Meyer.
God has blessed me, and I am happy!
Here are a few examples I found recently of movie posters that bear no relation whatsoever to the film they are allegedly marketing.
I mean seriously. Fort Apache (1948) takes place in the desert and was filmed in Monument Valley, Arizona. There are no Indians in canoes. And if there were canoes, John Wayne would know better than to stand up in one.
Are you kidding me? Words fail. “Men and women on the last frontier of wickedness”–if that’s what you were expecting, you were in for a big disappointment!
I wonder if this marketing method–i.e. blatantly wrong illustrations–ever worked.
Weird.
Have a good Thursday, or Friday eve, as we say in flyover land.
Can it be January 19th already? Zut alors! Readers of this blog may remember that this is the birthday of our dear mother, as well as Dolly Parton and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Truly a day to celebrate!
Here is a photo of our little mother holding one DP who is one-year old.
I think my older brother (age 6) took the picture because 1) the look on our mother’s face and 2) the artful set-up of the snapshot, the empty garage taking a prime part of the photo.
There are other snaps in this series taken by my mother of the baby in the stroller and of Cowboy Chris. But I’m betting my brother picked up the camera and said, “Let ME take a picture of YOU!”
Anyway, I’m glad he did.
Well, I plan to toast Mary, Dolly and Buffy tonight. (Drynuary turned out not to be a thing.) In their honor, I may watch one our mother’s favorite movies. Possibilities would be:
Decisions, decisions…
In the meantime, here’s a little Bruce Spingsteen to brighten your day: O, Mary, don’t you weep no more…a rockin’ rendition of an old favorite.
Have a blessed day and never forget that pharaoh’s army got drowned.
Today is the 75 anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that “date that will live in infamy.”
At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into WWII. (History.com)
The battleships West Virginia and Tennessee burning
Wheeler Army Air Field under attack
Here are more pictures.
Our parents were, of course, deeply affected by this horrific attack. Our mother was 15 and in high school. She never quite forgave the Japanese for their part in this event and she would be shocked, I know, that we own a Japanese car. Our 19-year-old father dropped out of college and joined the army just like scores of other young men.
ANC III in 1942, Miami Beach
He served throughout the war. I have no doubt that my 41-year old grandfather Bunker would have joined up if the powers that be had let him. Our other grandfather, the newspaper man, spent a good part of the war in London during the Blitz. (My DP probably knows more about what he was actually doing there.)
It was a long and traumatizing war that left its mark on several generations of Americans. Everyone I knew growing up had a father in the war (and a few mothers). As small children we would proudly compare branches of the service in which our fathers served. And, of course, we watched Combat! on television with a certain amount of sophistication.
My favorite character was PFC Kirby who carried the BAR. Yes, I was seven.
Today TCM is honoring the anniversary with a 24-hour tribute. I plan to watch Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), which I saw with my father when it was first released.
He, of course, found many mistakes in the film, as he always did, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. Among its stars is Jason Robards, who was a radioman, 3rd class, on the USS Northampton, which was about 100 miles off Hawaii at the time of the attack.
TCM is also showing They Were Expendable (1945) starring John Wayne, Donna Reed and Robert Montgomery, which is about American PT Boats (“those high powered canoes”) defending the Philippines in World War II. Directed by “John Ford, Captain U.S.N.R.”, it is blatantly propagandistic, but who cares?
This film is also noteworthy because John Wayne uncharacteristically wears a baseball cap through most of it (and he looks adorable.)
So pick a movie and toast the brave men and women who fought and died on December 7, 1941 and toast again for the rest who joined up shortly after.
Call him a stick-in-the-mud, a dinosaur, a fusty throwback, but indeed, jumping into the fray the day after Halloween was akin to hitting, and holding, high C for a couple of months, while a bit of patience saved Christmas for Christmas morning and kept the holy day fresh and new.
I re-read Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon over the weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly. Although I agree with Father Tim about getting ahead of ourselves in regards to the Christmas season, we did go ahead as usual and buy our trees. They’re not up yet–they’re in the garage for now. I’ll try to get the little one up in the dining room this week, but I’m not going to stress about it. At least I don’t have a bad cat to deal with like the boy does.
In between getting organized for Christmas, doing laundry and sundry household tasks, and going to a baby shower for daughter #3,
I watched Donovan’s Reef (1963)–a film which the New York Times described at the time as “sheer contrivance effected in hearty, fun-loving, truly infectious style.” I would agree with that assessment whole-heartedly.
It takes place at Christmas and includes an amusing Polynesian Christmas pageant, so I count it as a Christmas movie.
Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Lee Marvin, it is heavy-handed in the Irish humor department, but if you’re in the right mood, it can really hit the spot. (Shot in Hawaii, the scenery is beautiful as well.) I was in the mood.
I also went to our Advent Service of Lessons and Carols on Sunday night at church. I read lesson five, from Baruch:
Look toward the east, O Jerusalem, and see the joy that is coming to you from God…
We sang quite a few of my favorite Advent hymns and the choir sang and the bell choir played. Then I went home and ate chili, which the OM had made, and we watched Gregory Peck as King David in the technicolor extravaganza David and Bathsheba (1951).
Despite GP’s awesome presence, it was pretty bad and not surprisingly, as it is based on one of the Bible’s more sordid stories.
So back to Christmas movies already.
*Baruch 4:36
Apartment Therapy had a post about 15 Autumnal Movies to Get You in the Mood for Fall. Of course I hadn’t seen a lot of the movies (i.e. all the Harry Potter films) but I thought it was a good idea. I tried to come up with my own list, but my interest flagged and I failed.
However, I am also seeing lists of the twenty best westerns, probably due to the release of the new The Magnificent Seven. This subject interests me, but most of these lists include movies I loathe. This, of course, is just my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own. But it got me to thinking of what my list of the 20 best westerns would actually include. (By this I mean movies that take place west of the Mississippi and therefore do not include Civil War movies such as The Horse Soldiers.)
My list does not include The Wild Bunch or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or anything with Clint Eastwood. I watched Hang ’em High (1968) recently and the only thing in it that I liked was Clint himself,
who is very attractive and worth watching, but the movie itself was terrible and a perfect example of why the genre was ruined. The only Clint Eastwood western I might include would be The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), but, as you will see, I did not.
Well, here is my list of the 18 best westerns. You won’t be surprised–I have blogged about most of them. They are distinguished by great screenplays that feature outstanding characters, excellent direction and fine acting. Most also boast wonderful cinematography, although a few do not.
Shane (1953) George Stephens
Stagecoach (1939) John Ford
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) John Ford
The Searchers (1956) John Ford
My Darling Clementine (1946) John Ford
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) John Ford
3 Godfathers (1948) John Ford
How the West Was Won (1962) various
Rio Bravo (1957) Howard Hawks
Rio Grande (1950) John Ford
Hombre (1967) Martin Ritt
The Professionals (1966) Richard Brooks
El Dorado (1966) Howard Hawks
The Plainsman (1936) Cecil B. DeMille
The Magnificent Seven (1960) John Sturges
Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Sydney Pollack
Red River (1948) Howard Hawks
Santa Fe Trail (1940) Michael Curtiz
As you can see, I have nothing on my list after 1972. The only western I can think of from those latter days is Silverado (1985), which I enjoyed very much at the time. However, it is an extremely derivative movie. There is nothing original in it. Even the performances seem to me to be impersonations of other actors.
If you ask me, I think television caused the western genre to go downhill fast. Characters became caricatures, plots were repetitive and violence took the place of plot. The genre was further degraded in the fifties when screenwriters tried to address 20th century problems–racial prejudice, McCarthyism, etc–by making them issues in westerns to dreary effect. Nobody seemed to care about authenticity anymore–they just wanted to make a point. Heaven’s Gate (1980)–one of the worst movies ever and the biggest financial debacle in Hollywood history–dealt the final death blow.
What did I forget? There are plenty of westerns which I find highly enjoyable and that deserve some special call-out, but do not rank as “the best”. These would include: Rocky Mountain (1950), Johnny Guitar (1954), The Furies (1950), True Grit (1969), The Cowboys (1972), The Shootist (1976), The Big Country (1958), Monte Walsh (1970), Hondo (1953), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), The Long Riders (1980). And I did not include Lonesome Dove because it is a miniseries made for television and not, therefore, constrained to the 2-3 hour time limit of the others. But it ranks up there as a great western.
Anyway…there are two spots left in my “top 20”, so convince me!
Discuss among yourselves.
dual personalities 