Great Wilton Reservoir Binoculars Incident

by

Sometime in ’75 or ’76 a dispute about character and responsibility arose between myself and cartoonist-musician Chance Browne. It stemmed from an accident that happened on a wooded hillside near the Wilton reservoir. Here’s an account that I believe to be honest and reasonably thorough:

Chance, myself and a likable, somewhat eccentric fellow named Mike Connors (currently living in Michigan) were hiking around the reservoir for some reason. Our nature-tripping motive may have had something to do with Chance having recently bought (or been gifted with) an expensive pair of big binoculars, or nothing to do with this — I can’t recall. But he definitely had them looped around his neck.

[Click through to full story on HE-plus]

Poor Planning, Bad People

by

Remember when Warner Home Entertainment pushed back the release date of the 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K Bluray, from 10.30 to 11.20? Which Digital Bits editor Bill Hunt said was probably “just an issue of replication under capacity causing delays in getting enough product finished for street date”? Well, I ordered the damn thing a while back, fully expecting a delivery sometime yesterday.

Forget it. Not only did I not find the package on my doorstep but Amazon hasn’t even shipped it yet, due to WHE not keeping up with demand, etc. WHE has now dropped the ball twice with this disc. Thanks, fellas, much obliged, etc.

Read more

True Colors

by

For what it’s worth (probably not much), I agree with Michelle Wolf that the recent decision by the White House Correspondents’ Association to not invite a comedian to next April’s event is craven and cowardly. Author Ron Chernow has been invited to be the featured speaker. The WHCA honchos are plainly sucking up to the Trump administration, and probably hoping to persuade the President, who hasn’t attended since assuming office, to drop by. Which will increase ratings and drive sales.

If You Meaningfully Crossed Paths…

by

The family of the late William Goldman is hosting a celebration of his life a week and a half from now. In midtown Manhattan. I’m mentioning this because the invite reads “please let us know if you would like us to share this invitation with anyone else who should receive it.” Meaning that their roster of Bill’s soulmates, respected colleagues and fond acquaintances is less than complete. If you and he had some kind of profound give-and-take at one point or another, write me and I’ll pass your information along.

Oliver Stone’s Largely Untold History

by

Late last night Paul Schrader described the traditional role of the U.S. President as a “global puncher…we make things happen.” His follow-up was “what happens when an insecure someone who sees himself as a counter-puncher rather then a puncher is put in this position?”

In response Jon Jost wrote that the U.S. role “has been that of empire builder, extortionist and military monster getting its way. After WW2 we were left standing while everyone else was wasted, so we rigged the global economy to run on U.S. [spending and investments], and enjoyed military dominance. Ever since we have used economic blackmail backed with military force to get our way, which seldom was in the locals’ interest, although we had a major propaganda system (including Hollywood) to convince the world that we wore the white hat.

“In reality we were just plain greedy and evil, and a survey of, oh, Central America, South America, Africa and much of Asia proves the point. We are rapists and murderers.”

Edward Havens reply: “So no other civilization in the history world ever conquered the known world and used their power to get their way? America simply perfected what Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, Genghis Khan and King James I could only dream of doing. And like every other empire, the American empire will fall…if the descent hasn’t started already.”

Don McLaren reply: “As diabolical as the U.S. has been at times, we were still probably the most benevolent hegemon in history.”

Must To Avoid

by

I’ve long felt that people who use exclamation points in any context (letters, essays, reviews, policy statements) are to be regarded askance. Exclamation points should be used very sparingly, if at all. Their prominent use tends to indicate a lack of education and refinement. The only time it’s cool to use exclamation points is when you’re leaving post-it notes for your spouse or kids or cohabitants, telling them not to forget this or that (“gas up before leaving!”) or not to eat this or that. A post-it note on a carton of eggs, for instance, that you don’t want them to break open and scramble because you bought them and they’re yours — “No!”

“You Have To Be Hard, Eddie”

by

I hate to admit this, but I’m not so sure that President Obama, if he was currently serving, would jettison the alleged $400 billion in Saudi revenue on moral grounds, based on the CIA’s belief that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, ordered the murder of Jamal Kashoggi.

Obama would of course talk a different game in public. He would condemn the Saudis with righteous indignation, as any decent head of state would. He would certainly rattle his moral sabre. But I’m not sure that he would reject Saudi investments and/or diplomatically cut ties, certainly in a back-channel sense.

Kay Adams: “Michael, Senators don’t have people killed!” Michael Corleone: “Really? Now who’s being naive, Kay?”

What Happened To Poor “Widows”?

by

So Steve McQueen’s Widows underperformed last weekend. On 11.15 The Hollywood Reporter‘s Pamela McClintock wrote that Widows was “tracking to bring in between $12 million and $18 million in its domestic launch.” It wound up making $12.3 million in 2803 theatres for a per-screen average of $4388, or something close to that. If it earns triple that amount in domestic theatres it’ll wind up with $37 million and change. It cost $42 million to make, not to mention the marketing.

I’ve said a few times that Widows is one of the best heist films I’ve ever seen and that Viola Davis delivers an award-calibre performance. But those numbers are disappointing. Who saw it last weekend, and what was the takeaway?

Down To The Wire

by

World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy and I spoke for roughly an hour earlier today. Otto Bathurst‘s Robin Hood. (That’s what we’re talking about as the mp3 begins.) The attack upon poor Green Book by p.c. assassins (i.e., “How dare Peter Farrelly make a compassionate, racially-themed period film about a road saga that actually happened! He’s allowed to make racial-commentary films that reflect the politically correct current of 2018, and that’s all! 1962 is out!”). We also discussed the death of Steve McQueen‘s Widows, the views about Netflix and Roma, Ben Stiller‘s Escape at Dannemora, the Best Actress race (Ruimy thinks it’s basically Lady Gaga vs. Glenn Close) and Melissa McCarthy in particular. Again, the mp3.

Sugar Pain

by

In an 11.19 Criterion essay on Some Like It Hot, Sam Wasson writes that director-cowriter Billy Wilder had relatively simple things on his mind. “[He] thought cross-dressing was funny. He thought Americans, dizzy in the rat race, were funny.” Like when Tony Curtis says to Jack Lemmon, “You’re a guy, and why would a guy want to marry a guy? and Lemmon answers “Security.”

“That’s Wilder capitalism speaking,” says Wasson. “Not love or lust or even man or woman.”

But then Wasson screws up. “Some Like It Hot isn’t Tootsie,” he declares. “It’s not interested in how the experience of being a woman can make men better men.” Nope — exactly wrong.

Curtis’s Joe is a rake and a cad — a “love ’em and leave ’em” type, a nookie hound, literally the kind of guy who might borrow money from a girlfriend in order to bet on horses.

Then, dressed as “Josephine”, he meets Marilyn Monroe‘s Sugar Kowalczyk on the train, and she tells him about her run of bad boyfriends, and how one threw cole slaw in her face and left her with a squeezed-out tube of toothpaste.

Undaunted, a couple of days later Joe cons Sugar into falling for him by pretending to be an oil millionaire (i.e., “Junior”). Another notch on the bedpost.

But when Joe and Jack Lemmon‘s Jerry are forced to lam it (Spats Columbo!), Joe feels badly about lowering the boom. He gives Sugar the diamond bracelet that Joe E. Browne‘s Osgood had given to “Daphne.” A couple of hours later Joe (dressed as Josephine) sees Sugar singing “I’m Through With Love” on the bandstand, and the guilt sinks in. Wilder’s camera holds a very long shot of Curtis feeling quite badly about breaking Sugar’s heart. So badly that he risks his life by walking up on stage and kissing her goodbye.

Saxophone Joe would’ve never risked his neck for a dame, but “Josephine” does. After playing the field and treating women like shit he’s seen “how the other half lives,” and becomes, you’d better believe, a better man for that.

HE to Wasson: Sydney Pollack got the above-referenced idea for Tootsie from Some Like It Hot.