There’s never been a shortage of bad movie dads, or for that matter bad movie dad lists.

The top contenders for the ultimate bad-dad prize are Jack Nicholson in The Shining (abuser of wife and young son), John Huston in Chinatown (father-daughter rape), Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (emotional abuser of son), Robert Duvall in The Great Santini (ditto), John Cassavetes in Rosemary’s Baby (wife abuser by way of arranging for her to become pregnant by Satan himself), etc.

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Daryl Duke and Curtis Hanson‘s The Silent Partner (’78), which I saw brand-new but haven’t re-watched since, was an excellent variation on Strangers on a Train. It was actually a remake of Think of a Number, a 1969 Danish film written and directed by Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt, and based on a novel by Danish writer Anders Bodelsen.

It delivered Elliott Gould‘s last alluring, well-written lead role before he downshifted into character parts, and Chris Plummer played a deliciously demonic bank robber and extortionist. A new Kino Lorber Bluray pops on 6.18.19.

Here’s an enjoyable Sunset Gun appreciation (12.24.16), or more precisely a discussion of the film by Goyld and Kim Morgan.

I’m also a big fan of Duke’s Payday (’72), the drama about a country-music star shitheel (Rip Torn). No Bluray or HD streaming as we speak.

When I think of Cry Tough (’59), which is screening tonight at the American Cinematheque Egyptian, I think of this erotic moment between John Saxon and the Argentine-born Linda Cristal. What I really mean is that I think of Cristal’s see-through negligee. Admitting this makes me a sexist dog who should be hunted down, clubbed to death and hung upside down like Mussolini.

I’ve never made an effort to see this 1959 Spanish Harlem-set gang flick start to finish, largely because I’ve always felt that Saxon lacked intrigue and range — he’s a good actor but lacking X-factor magnetism. It isn’t streaming as we speak. Not on Amazon, anyway

Joe Biden’s popularity is all about name recognition and vague feelings of pre-Trump comfort — nothing more. Poll respondents are lazy as fuck. It’ll take most of them months to even become vaguely familiar with Beto O’Rourke and Mayor Pete. Biden is a decent, compassionate handsy guy and in solid with fair-minded, 60-plus, old-school, rank-and-file slowboats, but he can’t become the Democratic nominee. Not in this atmosphere. He’s out of time, yesterday’s news. In a 1960 election context, Biden is like an older Stuart Symington or, you know, a holdover from the Truman or Roosevelt administrations. Beto, Buttigieg and Kamala Harris are the JFK-like figures. Be here now.

Posted by yours truly at the tail end of yesterday’s comment thread about Pete Buttigieg: “An NBC News poll says 68% of Americans are cool with a gay presidential candidate — a big change since 2006. 14% enthusiastic, 54% comfortable. Under 35s are overwhelmingly supportive — 75%. 56% of seniors are cool with the idea — up from 31% in 2006.

“The 32% of the general populace that doesn’t like the idea represents your bedrock Trumpster base — deep-red Bumblefucks, ultra-staunch conservative Christians, old-realm types who long for a Frank Capra-Jimmy Stewart-Bedford Falls world plus alpha-male homophobes and racists.

The irony, of course, is that if the old-realmers would open their eyes they’d realize that the left-Christian Pete Buttigieg is Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart and Bedford Falls. He just has a husband at home rather than Donna Reed. Plus his campaign bio says he’s never succumbed to thoughts of suicide.

“You can say it’s worrying that 32% are opposed to a gay Prez, but then again only a relatively small percentage of Americans have even given Mayor Pete a cursory once-over. It takes the Average Joe months to catch up. Plus that 32% of naysayers could very possibly diminish over the course of the next 12 to 15 months.”

In response to this Spicerpalooza said, “The people who won’t vote for Pete because he’s gay would never vote for a Democrat anyway.”

I shared an Indian dinner last night with an old friend. He looked good due to (a) having just gotten a $150 haircut and (b) having dropped a few pounds. He told me he’s been on a very limited fat diet, and I decided in a flash that I need to double down on the HE cockatoo and follow his spartan regimen.

Which means (a) no meats, (b) no dairy whatsoever (c) no oils (only balsamic vinaigrette on salads), (d) back to carrots, celery and apples during work hours (e) steamed vegetables, (f) steamed potatoes with lemon juice, (g) no Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, (h) only whole-grain breads and no sandwiches whatsoever, (i) salmon, (j) no pizza, (k) no gelato or yogurt desserts, (l) no buttered popcorn and (m) next to no pasta.

Why the concern? Cholestoral and high-blood pressure, to name two concerns. Plus I’m tallish (6′ 1/2″) and broad shouldered and have always been on the slender side, but the truth is that I’ve been looking (and more importantly feeling) a bit gutty and even paunchy over the last couple of years, especially while sitting down. The upside is that I’m 98% out of the woods with the bruised-rib-cage thing. It’s wonderful to be free of that awful, debilitating pain.

The above rules and regulations are close to what I’ve been eating anyway, so it’s not like I’m about to experience severe sticker shock. Plus I have a famous Woody Allen line to comfort me: “You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.”