dual personalities

Tag: movies

September 26, 2023

How’s it goin’?

by chuckofish

It is the last week of September…soon we will enter that long slide to Christmas which will zoom by in a flash. We have got to get organized!

Well, I am sticking to my routine and keeping up with my Bible reading plan. I also signed up for another free Hillsdale College course: “Supply-Side Economics and American Prosperity with Arthur Laffer.” I know you’re impressed, right? I passed the first quiz, so I am hopeful I can keep up. I have to do something to keep my brain cells from mutinying.

It is now that time of year when the Halloween displays pop up in people’s yards. It is quite a competition in my neck of the woods. The OM and I drove by one such yard display that looks like a pumpkin patch–do they really want people coming to their door hoping to buy a pumpkin? Because that’s what it looks like. I guess that growing “ginormous” pumpkins has become a thing as well. It takes a lot of effort.

This article reminded me of the bad experience we had at our Episcopal church years ago. “So, while no one denies that there are bad pastors, almost no one is discussing the fact that there are bad churches. Where are the documentaries and podcasts discussing pastor-destroying churches? There is precious little discussion about the fact that there is hardly a pastor out there who has not been wounded, slandered, bullied, or run off from a church by bad associate pastors and ungodly church members.” Amen to that.

Meanwhile everyone is sick in daughter #2’s family…

…but three-year old Katie is still on top of her game.

I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) the other night on TCM. I had not seen it in a very long time. I am not a big fan of Frank Capra, but I have to say, this movie is good!

Jimmy Stewart is not too gangly and aw-shucks, but just right as the idealistic new senator and Jean Arthur does not whine, but takes charge as needed. It still resonates today with its message of governmental corruption–the swamp. The press comes off very badly. Its patriotic message needs to ring out anew–it should be required viewing for all fourth graders. And it’s a good lesson in basic civics, something about which most Americans are woefully ignorant.

By the way, daughter #1’s Mr. Smith was not named after the Mr. Smith who went to Washington, but the Mr. Smith who was a dog in The Awful Truth (1937).

Enjoy your Tuesday! Watch an old movie, learn something new, pet a nice dog.

4 Comments
September 21, 2023

“Charles, if the goal was to offer a more interesting anecdote, we’re headed in the wrong direction.”*

by chuckofish

Yesterday I went to my friend’s house to watch I Am So Not Inviting You to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) on her big screen tv.

It stars Adam Sandler, his wife, and two daughters. It is Mean Girls for Jewish girls. I enjoyed it and understood most of the jokes. But it is a lot of seventh grade girls being girls. I lived through those years myself and through my daughters’ early adolescences as well. It was not easy. Now from the perspective of old ladyhood, it is still amusing, but I am glad I am through with all that drama.

I have also been watching season three of Only Murders In the Building with Steve, Marty and Selena.

It started off very slowly, but it is picking up steam and I am enjoying it. I always watch each episode twice so I won’t miss anything, but there are people out there who clearly are really obsessed.

Meanwhile daughter #1 flew to Maryland to spend a few days with daughter #2 and her delightful little family.

Let the good times roll!

*Oliver (Martin Short) on OMITB.

3 Comments
September 20, 2023

Living the sermon

by chuckofish

The other night I watched 42 (2013) starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League Baseball, and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. I had seen it before and liked it, but I was really struck by it this time around.

Obviously Jackie Robinson is the heroic figure at the center of the film. He blazed an amazing and courageous trail. But I have to say, I found the character of Branch Rickey, co-owner, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to be equally fascinating. Why did he do what he did? Why did he take it upon himself to integrate the Dodgers and thereby professional baseball? At one point in the film Rickey explains that his inspiration for bringing Robinson on to the team was the ill-treatment he saw received by his black catcher Charles Thomas on the Ohio Wesleyan baseball team, which he coached in 1903 and 1904, and feeling that he hadn’t done enough to help him. Granted, but the movie also seems to suggest that a large part of what motivated him was his Christian faith.

When Rickey decides that Robinson is the man to do the job, one of his main reasons is “He’s a Methodist, I’m a Methodist… And God’s a Methodist; We can’t go wrong.” He is not kidding.

He also tells Robinson after one of many altercations, “I want a player who’s got the guts not to fight back. People aren’t gonna like this. They’re gonna do anything to get you to react. Echo a curse with a curse and, uh, they’ll hear only yours. Follow a blow with a blow and they’ll say, ‘The Negro lost his temper.’ That ‘The Negro does not belong.’ Your enemy will be out in force… and you cannot meet him on his own low ground. We win with hitting, running, fielding. Only that. We win if the world is convinced of two things: That you are a fine gentleman and a great baseball player. Like our Savior… you gotta have the guts… to turn the other cheek. Can you do it?”

I think Martin Luther King would have agreed.

And there is this exchange after the racist manager of the Phillies has bated Robinson mercilessly:

  • Robinson: Do you know what it’s like, having someone do this to you?
  • Rickey: No. No. You do. You’re the one living the sermon. In the wilderness. Forty days. All of it. Only you.
  • Robinson: And not a damn thing I can do about it.
  • Rickey: Of course there is! You can stand up and hit! You can get on base and you can score! You can win this game for us! We need you! Everyone needs you.

Anyway, I salute Branch Rickey: preach!

Bonus: This movie also stars Lucas Black as Robinson’s teammate Pee Wee Reese. “Maybe tomorrow, we’ll all wear 42, so nobody could tell us apart.”

Amen.

1 Comment
September 12, 2023

Things of minor consequence

by chuckofish

There is a lot going on in the yard these days…sometimes right on your front doorstep. And there are pumpkins at Trader Joe’s.

In other news, baby Ida is on the verge of crawling. She is highly motivated.

Her style is mostly reminiscent of this:

You go, girl!

This is interesting. “”There is no half-mile anywhere on Earth which means more to more people — not to millions, but to billions — than the half-mile that is the City of David.”

And happy birthday to Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972) who, when I was growing up, was considered the quintessential Frenchman. Unfortunately, I don’t think they make Frenchmen like him anymore.

We also remember John Qualen (1899-1987) who died on this day. He was a character actor who made over 100 films, many of them as a member of John Ford’s famous “stock company.” You remember him, playing Scandinavian immigrants and the like in such movies as The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), or as the Norwegian resistance fighter in Casablanca (1940). He’s probably best known for playing Muley in The Grapes of Wrath (1940).

He made a lot of good movies. The mark of a really excellent movie, don’t you think, is when the minor characters are allowed to shine and you remember not just John Wayne or Henry Fonda, but John Qualen and Russell Simpson and Ward Bond and Jane Darwell.

So pay attention to the little guy. And look around your yard. C’est magnifique. Have a good Tuesday.

3 Comments
August 22, 2023

“Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

by chuckofish

Today we toast screenwriter Julius J. Epstein (1909-2000) on his birthday. After graduating from Penn State where he became an NCAA Bantamweight Champion, he and his twin brother went to Hollywood where they hoped to work in the movies. They were successful, and he is most fondly remembered for having written (along with his brother Philip and Howard Koch) the screenplay to Casablanca (1940) for which the writers won an Academy Award. Indeed, they wrote some very good movies, but it should also be noted that the Epsteins were also responsible for the adaption of the J.D. Salinger’s short story which became My Foolish Heart (1949)–a movie so bad that it turned Salinger off Hollywood forever. After his brother died, Julius continued to write screenplays, including one of my favorites, Send Me No Flowers (1964) starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

Thinking of Casablanca made me think of a text discussion I had with the boy where we were talking about the best final shots in a movie. The Twitter trail he had been following posited movie endings I could not even identify…

I mean, I saw The Shining once back in like 1983 but…

Here are some much better ones. Can you name these famous final shots?

Ring, ring…

Look, Marguerite–England!

So let’s toast Julius Epstein and watch an old movie with a great ending! (I’ll put the answers in the Comments section later today.)

9 Comments
August 21, 2023

Come ye sinners, poor and needy

by chuckofish

We are really in the dog days of summer now, but on Friday it was still nice enough to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine. Mr. Smith sat like a good dog with us and was not too distracted by the flora and fauna. As little Katie would say, “Mr. Smith is growin’ up!”

Earlier on Friday I met the boy down at the Link Auction Galleries and he picked up a glass-front bookcase for me and a large oriental rug for daughter #1 before rushing off to open his store. He came back on Sunday afternoon and moved the bookcase inside from the garage and the rug over to her house.

What would I do without him and his truck?

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023) on my friend’s very large television and I enjoyed it, although it was much too long–2 hours and 30 minutes! It could easily have been edited to an hour and a half, but today’s moviemakers are so self-indulgent, they have no idea how to edit a movie.

It was very good to be back at church after missing for two weeks when I was out of town and then sick. We even sang my new favorite hymn:

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
lost and ruined by the fall;
if you tarry till you’re better,
you will never come at all.

And is this baby too cute or what?

Life is full of blessings. Be sure to count yours every day!

4 Comments
August 15, 2023

What have you learned, Dorothy?

by chuckofish

Today we toast The Wizard of Oz (1939) which debuted on this date 84 years ago!

I have written many times of how I love this movie and consider it one of my top 5 faves of all time and, indeed, one of the best movies ever made.

In reading up on it I found the answer to a question I have asked for all my years of viewing. I had always wondered about the leader of the Witch’s band of flying monkeys, the one who is always by her side. He seemed so monkey-like–was he an actual monkey or was he a man playing a monkey?

Answer: He was played by a man, Pat Walshe.

What an amazing performance! Like all the details in this perfect movie, he is perfect.

Walshe was sought after for the role due to his extensive vaudeville and circus experience and his acclaimed ape imitations. While the other monkeys wore simple rubber masks, Walshe needed to appear in closeups, so multi-piece prosthetic makeup was produced for him, moulded to his features and glued to his face. He also wore a full fur body suit, with a short open tunic as well as a tail and wings. (Unlike the other monkeys, Nikko’s wings are clipped to prevent him from flying. As a result, he is confined mostly to the Witch’s castle and does not take part in the forest capture of Dorothy.)

Though he had no spoken lines, performing only through physical movement, he received on-screen credit, which was rare, indeed.

Although Walshe is listed in the film’s credits as “Nikko”, and despite his frequent appearances, the name “Nikko” is never spoken. As a result, fans of the movie have been confused about the identity of Nikko–wondering if he is the head of the Witch’s guards or, like me, thinking perhaps he was the doorman to the Wizard of Oz, who seemed to be Frank Morgan, or was he?

Well, now we know. Nikko was the leader of the flying monkeys, who was played by a tiny man, Pat Walshe.

You’re welcome.

5 Comments
July 31, 2023

“He wasn’t shot with no fawty-one Colt.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Hope you managed to keep cool. We had more storms and this time the electricity at our house went out for an hour and a half! I was just packing a bag to go to daughter #1’s house, when it came back on. Such drama–these days we are lost without our precious electricity.

Poor daughter #2 and famille had their air conditioning go out on Saturday and had to wait all day to get it fixed. I am sympathetic, but back in my day, we didn’t have central air conditioning at all and we had to wait all summer for relief. We are very spoiled now, that’s for sure. We would go to the movies to sit for a few hours in the AC. Grocery shopping was also a diversion!

Anyway, c’est la vie. Saturday morning I went to a flower arranging workshop at church led by the floral director at Schnucks Markets. I learned a lot!

I like the fact that the flowers at our church are always done by volunteers. There is no “the flowers are given (i.e. paid for) to the glory of God and in thanksgiving for/in memory of by so-and-so” announcement in the bulletin. It is just an anonymous gift. But we in the flower guild do our best (for the glory of God) and every week the arrangements are very different.

After church on Sunday there was a reception for a lady who is retiring after working there for 24 years–one of those unsung women who make everything run smoothly in the office and, if they are lucky, are appreciated for being “hard-working” and “organized”. Lois was also lauded for her sincere faith. Well, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

I watched a really good movie–Intruder in the Dust (1949) based on William Faulkner’s novel, which is basically a mystery story set in the deep South. It is the story of Lucas Beauchamp, an independent, land-owning black man, who is unjustly accused of the murder of a white man, Vinson Gowrie. Through the help of two teenage boys, the town lawyer and an elderly white lady, who figure out who the real murderer is, he is able to prove his innocence.

I had not seen this movie in many years. It held up. Shot entirely on location in Oxford, Mississippi, it has an air of authenticity that the backlot never would have achieved. The actors are all solid. The screenplay by Ben Maddow sticks to Faulkner’s book. The Director Clarence Brown, who grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and apparently knew something about the South, was not even nominated for an Oscar for this movie, but he won the British Academy Film Award for it. (Brown holds the record for the most Academy Award for direction nominations–6–without a win.)

Not surprisingly, the film failed at the box office, not even earning back its negative costs according to studio records. There is, after all, no romance in this movie; there are no pretty girls. There is no real action to speak of–only the threat of action (a lynching). There are tense moments, to be sure, for our heroes as they ride around at night and dig up a dead body and, when they get the sheriff on board with their plan, dig the body up again. But American audiences were not interested.

It is said, however, that William Faulkner himself was pleased with the film and Ralph Ellison wrote that of the whole cycle of race-based movies released in 1949, Intruder in the Dust was “the only film that could be shown in Harlem without arousing unintended laughter, for it is the only one of the four in which Negroes can make complete identification with their screen image.”

Check it out. It’s worth a viewing. Then read the book!

“Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash: your picture in the paper nor money in the bank either. Just refuse to bear them.”

*William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust

4 Comments
July 28, 2023

Just slip on a banana peel, the world’s at your feet*

by chuckofish

Well, the first sleepover at Mamu and Pappy’s house is in the books.

Since the wee twins are not quite old enough to be introduced to our classic film favorites in their entirety, daughter #1 and I had the genius idea that we would introduce them to some favorite movie dance/song sequences from movie musicals. Their favorite was “Make ‘Em Laugh” from Singin’ in the Rain (1952):

Who can blame them?

We also watched the square dance/barn-raising scene from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954), “Everything’s Up-to-Date in Kansas City” from Oklahoma! (1955), “Getting to Know You” from The King and I (1956), and the rehearsal scene from Viva Las Vegas (1964). When we watched “Do Re Mi” from The Sound of Music (1965) Lottie said, “They keep saying my name!”–Do re mi fa so la ti do! She was not wrong.

We also showed them the Moses parting the Red Sea sequence from The Ten Commandments (1956) because they love The Prince of Egypt (1998). They thought it was pretty cool, but were non-plussed to see the Pharaoh was also the King of Siam. Somehow this does not compute.

Anyway, all parties lived through the night.

*”Make ‘Em Laugh” by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown

3 Comments
July 25, 2023

How does it feel?

by chuckofish

Well, it’s the last week of July and the summer continues to rush by in a blur.

If you want to feel really old, I’ll remind you that today is the 58th anniversary of the day Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He was 24 years old. Dylan was said to have “electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the other”. He didn’t return to the festival for 37 years.

Dylan took exception with the people who called him a traitor. He later said: “These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you’ve been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equatable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil m-f-ckers can rot in hell.”

Today is also the birthday of the artist Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) who lived a long, productive and successful life. He was married once and had four children. He was a Quaker. During his career, he produced almost 900 pieces of art. 

He lived in New Hampshire where he belonged to the Cornish Art Colony…

His painting Daybreak became the most popular art print of the 20th century. Supposedly one in four U.S. households owned a print of the neoclassical landscape with two nymphs in the foreground.

We also toast Walter Brennan (1894-1974) on his birthday. Brennan played more than 230 film and television roles during a career that spanned nearly five decades. He won three Academy Awards for best supporting actor and deserved several more for movies like To Have and Have Not (1944), Red River 1948)…

and My Darling Clementine (1946) which I recently watched again. He is the definitive Old Man Clanton, playing against type, menacing and scary.

So join me in toasting these three great American artists. Put down your phone. Listen to some Bob. Look at some art. Watch an old movie. You’ll be glad you did.

5 Comments