dual personalities

Tag: movies

October 26, 2021

“If the thunder don’t get you then the lightning will”*

by chuckofish

We had some crazy midwestern weather the other night, tornadoes et al, but we are okay and no one died. We are once again reminded that with all our scientific advancements, they still can’t control the weather, try as they might. They’re not even that good at predicting it.

While daughter #1 was home this past weekend, we watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), which, as you know, is one of my top-five American movies of all time. I have recently re-read the Truman Capote novella…

…and it was good to see the movie and how great Audrey Hepburn was (as opposed to Marilyn Monroe, whom TC imagined in the part.) We enjoyed it and it lifted our spirits, as all favorite movies do.

Anyway, it got me thinking–in the middle of the night when all great thinking is done–about my top-five movies of all time and how they haven’t changed over the years.

They are (in order by year of production): The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) directed by Michael Curtiz; Stagecoach (1939) directed by John Ford; The Wizard of Oz (1939) directed by Victor Fleming; Shane (1953) directed by George Stevens; and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) directed by Blake Edwards.

These movies are in my opinion perfect and I would not change a thing about them. I guess it’s sad that there is no movie on my list after 1961!

It got me thinking about what movies would round out my top 10 and I came up with these: To Have and Have Not (1943) directed by Howard Hawks; The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) directed by William Wyler; My Darling Clementine (1948) directed by John Ford; The Searchers (1956) directed by John Ford; Ben Hur directed by William Wyler (1959).

Those are 10 great movies!

Do you have a top-ten list? You might try making one. And then buy the DVDs. They’ll be canceling them soon. I mean did you ever see the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode (2020) where they do the take-off of Toy Story? At the end Ben Mankiewicz starts to introduce what’s coming up next on TCM–some movie with Debbie Reynolds saying something ethnically offensive about the Irish–and then he says, “And next on TCM…Nothing.” Blank screen. I’m not the only one that worries about this.

Speaking of movies, here’s an article by Paul Zahl about Hammer horror films, just in time for Halloween. He even comments on private baptisms–“let’s hear it again for private baptisms on Saturday afternoons — public baptisms on Sunday morning are starting to get old.”  Amen, brother.

And this is a great article about the importance of actually going to church on Sunday morning and the inanity of “self-care Sunday.”

Where is that big eye freaked out emoji? Decorate “some” pumpkins? How many? With what? But seriously, if that freaks you out as it does me, keep scrolling to discover that “loving yourself first” is one of the key ingredients of self-care Sunday, as well as taking a hot bath and “loving yourself instead of loving the idea of other people loving you.”

I saw this quote from Jeremiah 10:23 in a daily devotional I follow: “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
    it is not for them to direct their steps.” True, true, true.

Curious, I looked up the rest of the prayer, which in typical Episcopalian fashion, the author of the devotional had left out. Oh golly, always look for the context:

Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
    it is not for them to direct their steps.
24 Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
    not in your anger,
    or you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations
    that do not acknowledge you,
    on the peoples who do not call on your name.
For they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him completely
    and destroyed his homeland.

Have a good day!

*The Grateful Dead

4 Comments
October 21, 2021

Living in the land of Nod

by chuckofish

Our internet was out for about 36 hours and, boy, did that throw a monkey wrench into my day! Thankfully, I had already written my post for Tuesday, so daughter #1 was able to schedule it for me. But without the internet I was limited in my activities as you can imagine.

I did buckle down and finish reading The Lincoln Highway, which I really enjoyed. (I thought the ending was fine.) For me, the narrative bogged down in the middle and some of the characters annoyed me a little, but on the whole it is a very good read and a welcome look back at life before television, the internet, iPhones, etc took over everyone’s life. The character of Billy, eight years old and an avid reader, is definitely not someone you would meet today–although I’m sure there are exceptions. In fact, it would be a good book for a lot of eight year olds to read (or to have read to them by a parent). They might learn something about “Heroes, Adventurers, and other Intrepid Travelers” who are not included in the Marvel Comic universe. You know, Achilles, Daniel Boone, Julius Caesar, Edmund Dantes, Thomas Edison…

This book will win no prizes, because its lessons are unpopular and old-fashioned, some are even canceled, but it is worth reading and probably re-reading.

I am of the opinion, Professor, that everything of value in this life must be earned. That it should be earned. Because those who are given anything of value without having to earn it are bound to squander it. I believe that one should earn respect. One should earn trust. One should earn the love of a woman, and the right to call oneself a man. And one should also earn the right to hope. At one time I had a wellspring of hope–a wellspring that I had not earned. And not knowing what it was worth, on the day I left my wife and child, I squandered it. So over the last eight and a half years, I have learned to live without hope, just as surely as Cain lived without it once he entered the land of Nod…That is, said Ulysses, until I met this boy.

There is an abundance of references–classical, literary, biblical–throughout the book. If you are like me, and you enjoy that, this book is for you. If you do not know your elbow from a hot rock, never mind.

Here’s an interview with Amor Towles. The first few paragraphs are off-putting–all the talk of bestsellers and falling in love–but you can just read the parts where AT is talking and ignore the insipid interviewer.

In other news, this is a good article about Ben Johnson. You will recall that he is the only Academy Award winner to have also been a Rodeo National Champion. Our mother was always a fan of Ben. I remember clearly her pointing him out to me the first time I saw Shane (1953). He played a cowboy named Chris who comes through in the end and does the right thing.

Reading this article inspired us to watch Junior Bonner (1972) which stars Steve McQueen along with Ben Johnson and Robert Preston.

I have always liked this movie because Steve seems very “real” in it. He has very few lines, but his character comes across in the same way Ben Johnson always does–as the genuine article.

We were able to watch this, because we could still use our DVD player even though our internet was down. Thanks be to God! I also watched several episodes of Miami Vice from season one (1984). This show is not so great as, say, NYPD Blue, but I still really enjoyed watching it. Such a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s! Those clothes and that hair! And Bruce Willis in a breakthrough role… (those pants!)

…Gina and Trudy, when not dressed as undercover prostitutes, wearing dirndl skirts and polo shirts…I looked just like Gina in 1984!

Yes, back when everyone had a waist. And, of course, there’s Don Johnson, the pride of Flat Creek, Missouri…

Give me an amen.

6 Comments
October 4, 2021

“There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life”*

by chuckofish

Can you believe it’s October already! Zut alors–We are on the downward slide to Christmas. I am a little discombobulated by the alacrity with which the year is speeding by. And my weekend, which I thought would be a quiet one, turned out to be busier than I anticipated and it flew by.

Not that I did anything particularly noteworthy…The OM is trying to put the complicated audio/visual system back together in our new built-in “entertainment unit” and that has been very stressful. The boy came over for awhile and helped. We are 90% there.

We also hauled a bunch of electronics (old computers/printers/monitors etc) to an electronic recycling event and felt that we had really accomplished something. I also moved some books around to make room for other books…the usual stuff.

The wee twins and their parents came over for dinner Sunday night. We had not seen them in three weeks!

They ran around merrily outside for awhile after dinner. They are getting to be such big kids. (Well, not really.)

After they went home we celebrated having our DVD player working again by watching My Darling Clementine (1946)–a movie that is literally perfect (except for Linda Darnell’s hairdo.) I had been meaning to watch it ever since watching the heinous Tombstone (1993). It did not disappoint and I highly recommend it. The minor characters are all wonderful John Ford regulars. The wildcard is Victor Mature and, boy howdy, he pays off.

The movie was filmed in Monument Valley, which is next on my travel wish list (after Oklahoma City).

Meanwhile back in Maryland baby Katie et famille did the pumpkin photo op thing and we texted our appreciation back and forth.

Fall is just about here and that’s okay with me, although I still feel like I am lagging behind in August somewhere. Well, I’ll catch up.

*Hamlet (III.I.66-70)

6 Comments
September 16, 2021

“Speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world”*

by chuckofish

We have had some great weather this week. Sunny, warm and breezy, with low humidity–just great and much appreciated.

Our house has been in total disarray because we had some built-ins installed in our den this week. We had to take apart the audio/visual system so the guys could do it (2 days) and now we have to put it all back. The boy is coming over this morning before work to assist the OM. So. Many. Wires. Remember back in the day when you just plugged in the old television set? Now there is so much more to deal with. Surround sound. Oy.

This is a really good article contrasting two people who died this week (John Shelby Spong and comedian Norm MacDonald) and their different takes on Christianity.

I watched a movie recently (on Amazon Prime) which I can recommend: Mr. Church (2016) starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Bruce Beresford. It’s kind of a tear-jerker, but I enjoyed it.

The really amazing thing about this movie is the fact that, even though it’s about a black man bringing up a white girl, there is no racial conflict in the story. Never once does a white person sneer, look down on or insult Mr. Church. This probably explains why the film didn’t get good reviews. But Eddie Murphy plays it straight and the cast is excellent. (BTW, the trailer includes spoilers.)

And here’s another really good song from Mac Powell’s upcoming album:

Can’t wait til it drops on October 15.

One more thing: I could watch this amazing 3-year old 100 times:

Just a reminder:

The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.

–Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

*Billy Collins, “Litany”

4 Comments
September 9, 2021

“A tinsel and spun-candy world”*

by chuckofish

I have been thinking about terrible computer-generated action movies and how basically this technology has ruined the story-telling art of movies. In particular I have been thinking about the old days when actors did a lot of their own stunts and about the stunt men who stepped in to attempt the really dangerous stuff.

Remember Buster Keaton who made silent movies almost 100 years ago?

Nothing was faked here!

Remember Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, who did all their own sword fighting?

What about Stagecoach (1939) where John Wayne does his own stunts up until the point where Yakima Canutt takes over in the classic retrieving the reins maneuver. (This stunt comes right after Canutt has played the Indian falling under the stagecoach.) Eight of the most exciting (and best edited) minutes in film history.

Then, of course, there’s Ben Hur (1959) with some of the greatest action scenes ever filmed that do not, however, eclipse the basic drama of the movie. Charlton Heston learned how to drive a chariot and his prowess is important to the integrity of the film. Joe Canutt, son of the great Yakima, takes over when the action gets too dangerous.

Compare that to this clip from the 2016 CGI version of Ben Hur…

And who can forget The Great Escape (1962) with Steve McQueen’s iconic motorcycle jump. Bud Ekins did the actual jump–insurance issues again–but the scene is great, as is the editing by Ferris Webster.

Here’s an interesting interview with Bud Ekins about how it all fell into place.

And remember when there was actually a real “cast of thousands” in movies like Lawrence of Arabia (1962)?

I could go on and on…remember the buffalo stampede in How The West Was Won (1962) and the car chase in The French Connection (1971)? Jumping Mulberry Bridge in Smokey and the Bandit (1977)?

What are your favorite non-CGI stunts in movies?

Well, CGI is here to stay and in my opinion that is sad. Even a well done CGI movie is like watching a cartoon–think Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote–there’s no risk involved, so there’s no tension. It’s just like one big amusement park ride and I never liked amusement parks.

Side note: I also read that George Lucas updated the puppet Yoda (puppeteered by Frank Oz) in The Phantom Menace (1999), digitizing him in the 2011 Blue-ray version. That is definitely not kosher.

Whatever.

P.S. Yesterday was the birthday of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, one of our favorite non-ancestors, so a shout out and a belated toast to him.

And Saturday is the birthday of daughter #1 so we have Big Plans for some fun.

However, it is also the 20th anniversary of the most heinous act of terrorism in my lifetime and we will remember it.

*Narrator, The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

5 Comments
September 7, 2021

With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go

by chuckofish

After daughter #1 headed back to mid-MO yesterday, I sat down to do some “desk work.” I got nothing much accomplished and I came up with very little to blog about.

The OM and I went to Ted Drewes for some frozen custard and later we watched a really worthless movie. I mean, I like Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson and Idris Elba, but Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbes and Shaw (2019) went beyond ridiculous to just plain stupid.

Who does non-stop computer-generated violence appeal to anyway? Fourteen-year old boys? Good God Almighty, I need a mental cleansing after that whatever you call it.

So here are Josh and Carson covering one of my favorite songs from the olden days.

P.S. Sweet Baby James was released as the first single from the James Taylor’s second album but it did not chart. Typical.

3 Comments
August 31, 2021

The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye

by chuckofish

It is the last day of August! Zut alors–the year continues to fly by.

Today is the birthday of the great actor Fredric March (1897-1975) who won two Oscars for Best Actor and two Tonys for Best Actor. I suppose he is all but forgotten these days, but he was highly thought of for decades and I always liked him.

(March is on the right in The Best Years of Our Lives.)

March also made several spoken word recordings, including a version of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant in 1945. Here it is. (You might want to get your Kleenex out.)

The boy turned me on to the old What’s My Line show (1950-1967), which you can watch on Youtube. It is a rather sophisticated show, especially by today’s standards. Here is the episode with Fredric March:

Daughter #1 gave me the sad news that Ed Asner has died at 91. Asner is the most decorated male performer in Emmy history and received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2001. He is also the recipient of five Golden Globe Awards and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We remember him, of course, as the lovable Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as the bad guy Bart Jason in one of our favorite westerns El Dorado (1966).

I cannot say what he was like in real life, but I knew and liked his cousin Herschel Asner who took classes at my flyover institute. Herschel was a paratrooper in WWII who jumped into France on D-Day. Unlike his cousin, he led a relatively quiet life after the war. He was a really good guy.

Today we also remember the Puritan John Bunyan who died on this day in 1688.

“All states are full of Noise and Confusion, only the Valley of Humiliation is that empty and solitary place. Here a man shall not be so let and hindered in his Contemplation, as in other places he is apt to be. This is a Valley that nobody walks in, but those that love a Pilgrim’s life. And tho’ Christian had the hard hap to meet here with Apollyon, and to enter with him a brisk encounter, yet I must tell you, that in former times men have met with Angels here, have found Pearls here, and have in this place found the words of Life.”

The Pilgrim’s Progress

And isn’t this an interesting story? A Pixar artist who made beautiful maps of Christian’s journey to the Celestial City.

The world is more than we know.

5 Comments
August 26, 2021

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

I have several books going right now. I just can’t get into any of them, but I will keep plugging away.

I am almost finished with The Only Woman in the Room, which hardly does justice to the remarkable Hedy Lamarr. It is as shallow as a movie of the week. It is not enough to say, this was a beautiful woman who was also smart. You need to show it. Good grief, writing 101. The main character has no personality and moves through the book like a face in a movie stilI.

It’s not enough to say she disguised herself and escaped to London and met Louis B. Mayer there and he got her to Hollywood. You can read that on the back of the book jacket. Sigh. Clearly the author was not up to the subject.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek has potential, but it is a novel with obvious hooks and gimmicks and I have to just get over that and read. It is better written than the Hedy Lamarr book.

For Old Crime’s Sake is standard Jane and Dagobert Brown fare, which I really enjoy, but I need to read it during the day when I still have some mental energy.

The Patriot was written in 1960 and is about a teenage WWII recruit learning to be a fighter pilot. We’ll see. I think he is not a patriot. Lots of irony.

Maybe I’ll just re-read Busy, Busy Farm (see above).

Anyway, here’s a good post about reading TLOTR for the first time as a 45-year old: “If [Tolkien] had to do it all over again, I bet he would make Mark Zuckerberg into Sauron…” I bet you’re right.

In other news, daughter #1 went back to JC yesterday after a fun few days spent taking it easy and indulging ourselves. We watched a couple of movies. After discussing the End Times while drinking margaritas, we thought it only appropriate to watch Ghostbusters (1984). “Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.”

Somehow it resonates today.

We also watched Wonder Man (1945), a truly bizarre Danny Kaye vehicle, also starring Virginia Mayo and Vera-Ellen in her first movie.

BTW, Amazon Prime has a whole bunch of Danny Kaye movies available to watch for free if you are so inclined.

Last night the OM and I went to an event at the Eugene Field House/Museum featuring the Missouri Bicentennial Quilt. It was pretty cool. Each county in the sate had a quilt square. I must say, however, that St Louis had a mighty disappointing block.

It’s the one on the right with the braille inscription, representing the Missouri School for the Blind. All very well and good, but really, what about the Gateway to the West and the Arch and all that? St. Louis County has Grant’s Farm–appropriate. Jefferson County has Mastodon State Park–appropriate.

Jackson County (where my ancestors settled) has that cool covered wagon and the jumping off place for the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail.

C’est la vie.

Well, today I start my Bible Study at my new church. We are reading Leviticus. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, have a fine day! Try to “slander no one…be peaceable and considerate, and always gentle toward everyone. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us…” (Titus 3:2-5)

3 Comments
August 19, 2021

“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits…”*

by chuckofish

It’s been quite a week with some scary stuff happening in the world.

The best antidote for anxiety is frequent meditation upon God’s goodness, power and sufficiency…Nothing is too big and nothing is too little to spread before and cast upon the Lord.

A.W. Pink

This article articulates what a lot of us are thinking. “We had better wake up to the real world in which we live. There are realities in North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran (the list goes on and on) that would leave you terrified every single day of your life. The sad reality is that while many potificate over fabricated evils on social media in the Western world, the better part of those enduring extreme suffering in the Middle East, North Korea, and Africa never get a voice on social media. Most of what we rant about in our bubble is child’s play compared to the real evils of a fallen world.”

I liked this post from Duo Dickinson. We are not in exactly the same place, but I hear him. God has likewise always been with me since I was a small child.

“A raw and scary childhood meant God was there, with me, since I knew my parents were not. I never felt like a victim; I never blamed my parents — they were human, like me. There was no mistaking them for God (or the reverse). Jesus was not an invented coping mechanism, he was just there. I could not have constructed him; he was just with me. My atheist friends all assume that a genetically triggered survival response of religious rationalization made an alcoholic family less painful. That could be true except even my young adult coping was fully inadequate for twenty years. An adult rationalization is simply impossible for a five-year-old, it was the reality of God that made faith real.”

Once again, let’s concentrate on being thankful for those 10,000 things God is doing for us. For instance, on Tuesday I had to go in for my 6-month check-up at the Cancer Center at MOBAP. On the way there, the Christian radio station played Lauren Daigle’s “Look Up Child” and I calmed right down. Thank you.

Here are Paul Zahl’s TCM movie picks for the rest of August. I am definitely going to DVR The Rainmaker (1956) which I have not seen in a long time. Back in the 1960s I saw 110 in the Shade at the Muny Opera which starred, I believe, Robert Horton. By the way, I watched The Natural (1984) yesterday on Robert Redford day on TCM and it was great. They wouldn’t know how to make a movie like that today and where would they find actors who could actually hit a ball? They’d have to CG it. Great supporting cast–there’s no one like Richard Farnsworth, Wilford Brimley, Darren McGavin, Robert Prosky around anymore. And great music, of course. If you missed it, you can watch it on Amazon Prime.

And here are more prayers for our children from my old schoolmate Kathleen Neilson.

And, finally, just a reminder that beauty is everywhere. Don’t stop looking for it. The boy sent this picture of his drive home last night. (Don’t text and drive!)

In the midst of our bustling days,

O Lord who knows and sees our bustle,

May we not forget the presence of our Savior.

*A.A. Milne

2 Comments
August 12, 2021

De choses et d’autres

by chuckofish

One of the nice side effects of having a party, is all the leftover flowers…

(We also have a lot of leftover food!) But we miss seeing our loved ones and that “and then we were all in one place” feeling. Sigh.

Well, moving along, I read Redhead by the Side of the Road, Anne Tyler’s latest novel. NPR said that it “is heartwarming balm for jangled nerves.” Well, maybe. It is an easy read, but there just isn’t much there. Tyler wrote a few masterful books back in the 1980s and some good ones followed, but she is yet another example of someone whose editor keeps goading her to write one more novel because the publisher knows it will make some money. Anne, you’re 79 years old, it’s okay to retire.

Now I am reading The Only Woman in the Room, a fictionalized telling of real life “glamour icon and scientist” Hedy Lamarr’s escape from Nazi Austria and transformation in Hollywood. She was, no doubt, quite a woman, but in the hands of this author, it’s all pretty dull, re-hashed material. The book was a gift, so I will read the whole thing and hope that it picks up.

To celebrate the 200th birthday of the state of Missouri, I watched Across the Wide Missouri (1951).

(This photo must be of lunch break on the set, because look at that cowboy in the background!)

Directed by William Wellman, the film stars Clark Gable as a fur trapper and mountain man in the 1830s. Gable is a bit old for his part (typical for Hollywood) but I enjoyed it. Beautifully shot in Technicolor in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, there is a lot of action and nary a dull moment in this movie. Gable’s stunt double Jack N. Young was particularly impressive. The final action scene where our hero’s baby son, attached as a papoose to a horse that bolts, is quite exciting. The supporting cast is excellent and includes the usually suave Adolphe Menjou playing against type as a French trapper as well as Russell Simpson and James Whittemore.

Although romanticized, the plot and the depiction of the Blackfeet Indians seem fair. There are plenty of “good” Indians to balance Ricardo Montalban’s “bad” Indian. According to Wikipedia, the 31-year old Montalban was seriously injured during the making of this movie and had back problems for the rest of his life. I don’t doubt it. (You can rent it on Amazon Prime.)

Well, I hope everyone is keeping cool. We are experiencing a typical August heat wave.

Things could be worse.

I was happy to see this. You go, Isaac. You were always a favorite of mine.

Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy name, and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

–BCP, 1662

5 Comments