September 28, 2005
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WEDNESDAY MOVIE(S)It’s been two weeks since I posted anything on movies and I’m glad to report I have several to hubbub about. I’ll start with the two I’ve actually watched all the way through already. Fever Pitch is the only mainstream Hollywood film in this group, and if you want a sweet, charming, upbeat sports romance enjoyable by all the family, this is it. Personally, I’ve always liked Jiimmy Fallon on SNL and it’s nifty to see him get some film roles he can bring his particular brand of comedy to. Drew Barrymore has been in the film-charm business since kindergarten and is a comfy fit to this story too. With the backdrop of baseball obsession, it’s really a story about compromise – what are two people willing to give up to be together, OR how can they do
it all. Find out. Winter Solstice stars the veteran character actor, Anthony LaPaglia, who is also coming into his own as a romantic lead. This film is quiet, sad, happy, and it just grows on you the way sunlight moves across your yard. People act like they do in real life, endings become beginnings, relationships morph into something else than they were last year. And the main thing I can say is that when it ended I was disappointed. I wanted it to go on and on. The basic dynamic is a father and two grown sons who have lost their wife/mother to an accident some years before. All are still grieving in their own ways, and all find their own solutions. Allison Janney plays the new woman in the father’s life. And now for the two I haven’t finished 
yet. Guerilla: the taking of Patty Hearst is a brand-new documentary on this fascinating subject with wonderful archival footage of the mid-70’s when Vietnam and the civil rights movement provided a backdrop to the formation of the Symbionese Liberation Front, a tiny terrorist group that completely flummoxed Hearst’s wealthy family, the FBI, the police, the journalists, and everybody who tried to figure them out for a time. Hearst herself was a classic example of the Stockholm syndrome – kidnap victims beginning to identify with their captors more each day they are allowed to live. We all know the outcome, but for me it’s especially fascinating to watch, having lived in the Bay Area at the exact time it was happening. And finally, I’d been hearing about Martin Scorsese’s 4-hour 
documentary on Bob Dylan, No Direction Home for awhile now without quite noting when it was out and in what form. Well, as of 9/20 it was out on DVD and as of Monday it’s being shown on PBS which is where I found it when I had one of those really early morning wake up and worry episodes today. There just couldn’t have been any better medicine. You know, I grew up with this guy. I was just hitting vagabond stride in my own life when his first record came out, and talk about a long and large career. I mean, how many levels has he gone to, this genius of our generation. How much did we get from him in our daily lives over the years – reinforcement to protest injustice and war and all those wrong things, music to make love to, music to laugh and cry to, and all from this little wisp with a mouth harp and a guitar and hair that still won’t stay combed thank god. I got to see about 30 minutes of the early years with lots of wonderful clips of other musicians from that time and comments from The Bob himself speaking today. Oh jeez, I can’t wait to watch it all. So it was a good couple of weeks on the home screen. Roger over and out.
Deep Thought: “One bad thing about Lassie, she was always warning you about something. Let me be surprised for a change.”
Today I am grateful for: Zoom lenses
Guess the Movie: “ It’s very hard to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth. Well, I don’t think any real damage has been done here. Because I don’t really know what the truth is. No one ever will, I suppose. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we’re just gambling on probabilities. We may be wrong. We may be trying to return a guilty man to the community. No one can really know. But we have a reasonable doubt, and this is a safeguard which has enormous value to our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it’s SURE. We nine can’t understand how you three are still so sure. Maybe you can tell us.” Answer: 12 Angry Men, 1957.
Winner: soobee72.
DeLay Indicted on Conspiracy Charges
House majority leader’s position in jeopardy
by Laylan Copelin
A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, jeopardizing the Sugar Land Republican’s leadership role as the second most powerful Texan in Washington, D.C. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:07 pm
+ = Did some good Recovery service work today.
- = Rain starting up, probably the turning point into the dark season for good.
Comments (16)
awhhh thanks now i know what movies to rent
~brittany
I have Fever Pitch on my TBR list as well as queued.
As for DeLay? Well, he’s done nothing wrong you understand. Or at least, nothing unprecedented. The last part? His words.
Oh, and 12 Angry Men? Because it doesn’t sound like John Grisham, and I can almost hear Spencer Tracy saying those words.
Sure nuff. 12 Angry Men.
You had mentioned Fever Pitch to me; I just have a thing about the Red Sox, being an Angels fan…Stupid, I know, but it’s there. I love Bob Dylan. If every generation throws a hero off the pop charts, why did you get Dylan and I get Boy George? Huh?
Delay’s indictment was way overdue…
The Taking of Patty Hearst and No Direction Home sound fantastic. I was unaware of either. Thanks for informing me.
Four hours is pretty long but I can certainly understand why. I will add that to my DVD collection. Can’t wait to see it.
We waited entirely too long for this Delay indictment. But, will he be convicted? I don’t think he will. He’ll get away with it like they all do. Looks like Frist is next.
Yay! 12 Angry Men is a GREAT film – actually both are good. Although the original is better. I’m a fan of LaPaglia ever since his stint on Frasier. Peed in my pants every time he was on. I caught a film of his a few years ago called Lantana (Barbara Hershey is in it, too). FANTASTIC film. It’s Australian and not that easy to find in Blockbuster-type places. Good mystery and FANTASTIC character film (his acting is superb).
Winter Solstice is one of my favorite books — a story about ordinary people struggling through the trials of life and finding each other. I didn’t know it had been made into a movie — I’ll watch for it.
I watched the two parts of the Bob Dylan presentation. I liked it very much because I’ve always been a big fan of both his lyrics and his harmonica. However, don’t expect to learn much about his personal life. I couldn’t help but wonder about the family he left behind when he left his childhood home.
I’ve seen three filmed productions of Twelve Angry Men. I don’t remember Spencer Tracy in any of them. But I could be wrong. Gulp. I typed this before googling. Just call me a risk-taker
I haven’t been able to find out who the foreman was in any of the three productions, but it definitely wasn’t Spencer Tracy. I think those were the words of the foreman. The character who started off being the sole not-guilty voter was Robert Cummings in the 1954 Studio One production, Henry Fonda in the 1957 film, and Jack Lemmon in the 1994 remake.
From 1954: cast members included Cummings, Franchot Tone, Edward Arnold, Paul Hartman, John Beal, and Walter Abel. That’s all I’ve found so far.
From 1957: Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, and Fonda.
From 1997: Courtney B. Vance, Ossie Davis, George C. Scott, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Dorian Harewood, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Lemmon, Hume Cronyn, Mykelti Williamson, Edward James Olmos, William Petersen
Here’s last year’s Broadway cast: Mark Blum (Juror #1), Kevin Geer (#2), Philip Bosco (#3), James Rebhorn (#4), Michael Mastro (#5), Robert Clohessy (#6), John Pankow (#7), Boyd Gaines (#8), Tom Aldredge (#9), Peter Friedman (#10), Larry Bryggman (#11), Adam Trese (#12).
I think it was Bryggman who played the slimeball lawyer in “And Justice for All” who was late for court filling in for the Al Pacino character and thereby was responsible for the client being returned to jail. Rebhorn has been in another Pacino movie — “Scent of a Woman.” He was the dean who had been mocked by the students, if I remember correctly.
I’m still searching for more cast members of the 1954 Studio One production. For those who would like a blast from the past, go here. Among other things, you’ll find that George Gobel won the Emmy for “new personality.”
RYC: Stephen Levitt, the economist who wrote Freakonomics has this theory that the crime rate drop is due more to Roe v. Wade than any other factor. The thinking being that women who didn’t want to bring children into a bad situation didn’t and therefore children who would have grown up in terrible surroundings weren’t born. The theory did not say that if all black children were aborted that crime would then go down. That’s apparently Bill Bennett’s own twist on Levitt’s theory. He’s a lovely man.
These sound like movies I would want to see, unlike what I have been watching recently. And just a heads up, Transporter 2 and Cry_Wolf are of questionable quality. Though that might be stating the obvious.
Lovin your words on Bob Dylan
I caught some of the same show and I learned
much about the man but we know the greatest experience
is definately his music