Making It Up As I Go Along #418

The Art of Movies
Movies make life interesting. At least they can. When life is about collecting flyers from the mailbox and making sure your lawn is at peak health, I think it’s safe to say a little fantasy is needed in your life.

And to speak of fantasy, isn’t necessarily to talk about the two most common elements of the term (Science Fiction and porn). Watching Tom Hanks living life as a deserted island castaway is just as much fantasy. You escape the real world and enter a pretend reality.

The problem with movies, like any other form of artistic expression, is that there is a lot of garbage out there. Music has it’s commercial fluff... worthless, forgettable, and financially successful. Fawned after expressionist paintings have turned out to be actually created by apes. TV sitcoms churn out predictable stupidity accompanied by a laugh track. And even Sarah Palin can be called an author.

Movies have their fair share of worthlessness as well. In fact, in artistic pursuits, the movie industry may have the highest ration of the forgettable vs. the masterpiece.

Few industries can boast the level of self delusional grandeur that the movie industry can. I remember watching Richard Gere, all straight faced at the Academy Awards, giving a speech proclaiming that he and his movie star brethren have the power to force China to change it’s ways and allow freedom.

But to say all movie stars are just as insignificant and silly as Richard Gere would be wrong. I recently listened to an interview with Cloris Leachman, an 84 year old actress who may be best known for work in the TV shows, The Facts of Life and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She told a story of the end of her friendship with Marlon Brando. She said how he was meeting her husband and her for a meal and that she and Brando were the first two to arrive at the restaurant. Brando looked at her in a why that she describes as “having no right to look at me that way”. She cried, became angry with him, and never spoke with him again. She said it was not a sexual look. And she was unable to fully describe it.

The story has stuck with me. Not so much from the point of view of Leachman being an overly sensitive drama queen. She didn’t appear to be that way in the interview. What got to me was the idea of the way a person can look at another and bring out such emotion. The feeling I got was that Marlon Brando was capable of looking into a person’s soul. Such abilities would make a great actor. To be able to see a person so intimately would enable you to get lost within a character. Suddenly, you aren’t acting... you’re being that person. And in this superficial world, such qualities as this can’t help but be admired and watched with great facination.

I’ve often heard people talk about movies with such low expectations. Too often I’ve heard people say “I don’t want to have to think, I’m going for a good time and just want to be entertained.” For them, movies have no substance. And because of them, such movies as Sister Act 2, Rocky 4, and anything starring Eddie Murphy after 1996 have been created. Unoriginal, overly simplistic, lazy film making to feed to the masses why “don’t want to have to think” when they go to the movies.

I liked my movies spoon fed to me for many a year. I liked watching something that followed a particular path. You knew, since that guy was the villain, he’ll be killed at the end of the movie while the hero will stand there, blood soaked from shoulder gun wounds... a half naked girl wrapped to him for protection... and a wonderfully witty one liner will be said to put the final touches on the scene.

For some movies, this is a more acceptable thing. Sean Connery as James Bond, is free to make a little quip about how the now deceased villain “lost his head” or “is just dead (tired)”.

The problem is too many movies try to make the entire dialogue of the film a set up towards witty one liners. The one liners are too forced because the film maker wants to be the next one to create a Terminator style “I’ll be Back”. Something so famous, that it seeps into our culture.

I remember watching the western, Young Guns, in 1988 and thinking that was the best western movie I’d ever seen. They shot the place up. They cracked jokes as they did it. What wasn’t to like?

Then, in 1990, came Young Guns 2. And Young Guns was topped in my books. Better jokes. Better set ups for the shoot outs. Jon Bon Jovi music. I was in western heaven.

In 1992, I remember me, my girlfriend, and another couple renting Unforgiven. I don’t even remember if the movie was in cinemas in St. John’s. I just know I didn’t see it until we rented it one Saturday night.

I went in to Unforgiven, hoping for another Young Guns 2. I think all four of us did. I came out of that movie... awakened.

I remember, at the time, being the only one of the four of us who liked the movie. Looking back, I’m a little surprised I did. Hoping for bright sun shining down on a small western town... with guns blazing and jokes flying. What we got was slow paced action. Dialogue. A hero who was once a villain and totally conflicted by his past. Rain and mud and darkness. Unforgiven was everything Young Guns 2 was not... and it amazed me.

For me, Unforgiven is one of the greatest movies of all time. Not only because it’s a great movie. But because it is the movie that changed the way I looked at movies. In moments that change our worlds... we have the assassination of JFK and September 11th for the political/ life changing moments. We have the Henderson goal of 1972 or the Gretzky to Lemieux goal of 1987 for sports. And I have Unforgiven for movies.

Of course, there were hints of my movie breakout prior to 1992. The first time I had girls, as well as boys, invited to my house would have been around 1985 or 1986. And my sister made us rent and watch Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.

I remember panic in the first five minutes of the movie. Panic at the thought that I have girls in my house... me wanting to look cool... and we’re watching an obvious man dressed up like a woman, greeting the three wise men as they come baring gifts for her new born son. It was low budget looking. No Hollywood magic... spoken in strange accents... and I was terrified that people would leave my house proclaiming I was a moron for making us watch such a movie.

After those first five minutes, I settled in to what is one of the funniest movies of all time. And became a Monty Python fan for life.

And around the same time as I was praising the Young Gun movies, I happened to watch Raising Arizona on TV one night. And I was captivated by the originality... the bizarreness, and even the yodeling throughout. Another of those movies I never heard of before watching it... and that changed the way I looked at movies afterwards.

But Unforgiven was the big one. Even though Life of Brian and Raising Arizona gave me hints of my desire to turn away from the mainstream Hollywood blockbusters, it was Unforgiven that blasted me through the door.

And ever since, I’ve cursed the dogs who play basketball, chimps who play baseball, and mall cops who bumble their way to saving the day. I wish there was a ban on anyone watching Sex in the City 2 (a movie that is sure to make western society at least 20 points stupider when it comes to IQ). And I’m thankful for that day when we rented a western that turned out not to be the next Young Guns 2.


MONDAY...
— Quiet house day. A walk around the pond with the camera. It’s sunny and hot... in the 30s. Nice.

TUESDAY...
— Back to that blasted dayshift again. Hot hot. 38 with humidity today. Liking it. Half the shift at CAFIS... boring. Half at AFIS... much better.
— Meant to get money from the bank and some groceries after work... but left my wallet at work. So, it’s an evening at home with Star Trek on Blue Ray. Fun stuff.

WEDNESDAY...
— Hotter still. Humidity gets it up to 42 by this afternoon. I’m a bit off in the morning. Something I ate the night before or tired or the humidity... or combo of it all. By the afternoon I’m alright. Physio is tough though. Sweat pouring off me by the time I hit the bike. Even with AC, the humidity just gets you.

THURSDAY...
— Got the bike back all tuned up and ready to go. Cost me some as a few parts needed replacing, but should be good. I guess no more bike left on the back deck in the summer... the elements didn’t do it kind.

FRIDAY...
— Amazon order shows up today. Two baseball books and a Blue Ray. Bullpen Gospels, Satchel Paige bio, and the movie... Run Lola Run.

SATURDAY...
— Nice night out but long. We wanted a good place to sit for the UFC so we got there at 8:30. But the fights weren’t over until 12:45. Too long a time sitting there. But still fun.
— Happy to hear Halladay threw a perfect game tonight. One of my favourites.