A Time to Die... or Maybe Not

 

 

 

 The future is uncertain... or is it?  What if we could know what the future holds? 

The trope of time travel in science fiction has at least two well-known themes.  One is that of the narrator who actually does the time traveling himself and relates his or her experiences for the audience.  Think  The Time Machine in which the protagonist has journeyed (in this case the future) and returned to let his friends (and us) know what the future holds. 

Another is that in which a mysterious stranger appears on the scene and claims to be from some distant future. In this case, most often anyway, this stranger is considered to be crazy, because, after all, time travel is not really possible, therefore the stranger must be delusional. Think 12 Monkeys as a good example of this theme.

Of course, as we know it now, time travel, at least in terms of the way it is accomplished in the science fiction trope, is impossible. We have the story of John Titor, a man who appeared on the scene in the late 90's, who claimed to be from the future, but whether or not he really was is debatable. Reading the link above will be more instructive, but in essence, his pronunciations of future events were not entirely accurate. He claimed that there would be a civil war in the U.S. in 2015, for example.

Of course, even he himself gave himself an out in case his predictions were proved untrue.  He said that we could change the future by changing whatever actions we took to another track. But did he really come from the future and we created an alternate timeline by our actions or was he just full of so much malarkey?

Time travel theory has so many rabbit holes one could go down.  The classic grandfather paradox, for example. If you could go back in time and somehow accidentally kill your own grandfather before he ever met your grandmother, you obviously would not have been born.  Therefore how could you have gone back in time to commit the act?  Theoretically any action you took on your travel back in time could seriously affect your present.  

But time travel theorists get around that by claiming your actions created an alternate timeline. One in which you actually did commit the act.  But the world you came back to would be altered, maybe for the better, but also maybe for he worst.  Ray Bradbury once wrote an excellent short story in which a character went back to the prehistoric era and accidentally killed a butterfly.  The world he came back to in the present was so seriously altered that it was unrecognizable.

I don't really want to get in to the possibilities of time travel here. I just wanted to prepare you for some musings that will happen in this blog entry as I discuss the story lines of the entries.

To get down to the meat of this entry, in 1984 we were treated to one of the best time travel movies ever made, The Terminator.. The story arc involves more than just the first movie (there have been as of this date 5 movies involving the story arc, of varying degrees of quality).  But the first one, which I saw in the theater, was my favorite. Note: Many lists say Terminator 2 is a better movie. But this is my blog, and therefore my opinion... 

After it came out, an author named Harlan Ellison claimed that the movie was WAY similar to two stories he had written, both of which became episodes of the classic TV series from the 60's, The Outer Limits. He sued. (He was a very litigious man., by all accounts.  He would apparently sue people at the drop of a hat).

The ultimate outcome was that James Cameron had to add a reference to Ellison in the credits when it was released on video.  But was his claim valid?  I wondered.  So I found both episodes and watched them to see how much similarity there was in the movie to his original stories.  Below are the two episodes, followed by a detailed review of the movie.  You can decide for yourself.

The Outer Limits "Soldier" (Broadcast date: Sept. 19, 1964):

In the far distant future two soldiers battle.  They are given instructions through their headsets to kill "The Enemy". They come to a final clash on a barren landscape.  

During the battle they are hit with what appears to be bolts of lightning and sent into a vortex.  One of the soldiers, Qarlo (Michael Ansara) ends up in modern day (1964) United States.

Because he is dressed oddly and because he seems to have a violent demeanor, he is immediately captured and confined to a prison / mental institution.  Since his language is unfamiliar, an expert in languages is brought in to try to figure out who he is and what he is saying. Eventually the expert (Lloyd Nolan) figures out that what he is speaking is a form of English, and that he is from the future.  He tries his best to "civilize" the man, since basically all he knows is his mission: to kill the Enemy.

In the end the expert removes Qarlo from his captivity and brings him into the normal world.

Meanwhile, Qarlo's "Enemy" finally escapes the vortex and finds his own way into the present, and he, too, is programmed to kill the Enemy, in this case Qarlo. The ultimate end is the two battle.  And destroy each other. 

The only real connection between this episode and The Terminator, as far as I can tell, is that the soldiers are from the future.  If that is the only connection, Ellison was full of shit.  I mean there must be dozens of stories about soldiers from the future traveling back in time, some that even predate his story.

 The Outer Limits "Demon with a Glass Hand" (Broadcast date:  Oct. 17, 1964):

In this episode we have yet another soldier. This one, Tent (played by Robert Culp), is one who awakes with no memory of who he was past "10 days ago". He only knows that someone (or some people are trying to kill him, and his only "friend" is a glass hand.  His hand, which has apparently replaced his real hand is only a partial one. It is missing fingers. He can communicate with the hand and asks it questions constantly.

When he asks it, at the beginning, who these people are and what to do, the hand tells him that the only way to defeat his pursuers is to remove a gold medallion that each carries. And that, to stay alive, his destiny is in his "whole hand".  Cryptic to say the least at this point. And staying alive is :easier said than done."

Immediately Trent captures one of the people and interrogates him.  Thus he discovers that his potential assassins are the Kyba and they come from the future. They are after him to get his hand, which supposedly holds all knowledge. And that he, Trent, is the last man on Earth. Well, obviously he is not the "last man" since this is taking place in the present. So maybe Trent isn't actually from the present time.

The captive reveals that the gold medallion is a device that keeps each assassin in the present, and when it is removed, that person actually doesn't die; he just returns to the future.  And Trent also wears a medallion, so Trent also comes from the future.  As the hand explains this to him, it reveals that the Kyba invaded Earth and had plans to annihilate the human race, but inexplicably, the entire human race vanished.

The secret is that the hand does have all the answers, but it can only function when it is entirely complete.  And the Kyben have the three missing appendages.  They in turn want the rest of his hand because, after all, it holds the key to finding those millions of future humans that disappeared. And to help them get to Trent they have put up a force field around the building from which there is no escape.  So he is all alone.

Well, not quite.  He finds a woman, Consuelo (Arlene Martel),  a human from the present in one of the offices.  So now he has an ally (or at the very least a hostage) to help him defeat the Kyba in the building. 

 

But he has to find and destroy the machine, called a "time mirror" that is a gateway for the Kyba to send back more assassins from the future. (Just a thought, though.  If these Kyba can send back soldiers to hunt Trent, and they have sealed off that one building so there is no escape, why couldn't they just send back 100, or even 1000 soldiers and just have done with it?)

The aliens kill Trent and capture him and Consuelo, and attach one of the fingers.  Thinking there is no threat they leave him and Consuelo alone, and go to await aliens who are coming through the time machine with the other two fingers.  Meanwhile the computer in Trent's hand tells Consuelo how to revive him.  You just THOUGHT he was dead.  As he gradually gets more of the missing appendages the computer in his hand becomes more able to help him find out exactly what he is doing here.  Which turns out to be finding a cure for a plague, one of the reasons the aliens need his hand. 

You see, the humans had created a plague that would destroy all life. Then they transcribed the human race into electronic circuits and put themselves on a thin wire.  Which is how they escaped the plague that is killing off the Kyba in the future.  And ultimately, Trent finds out that he is not a man, but a robot, with that wire imbedded in his body.

OK, at least this episode has some elements that are somewhat similar to the film.  But instead of a robot sent back to eliminate the leader of the rebellion, this robot was sent back to keep the strand of human life alive until that future date when the plague will have dissipated. The only question not really answered is why 1000 years in the past.  Why not just a 100 or so. Trent will have to live through not only the 1000 years, but another 200 beyond that before the Earth will be safe for the return of the humans.

And now we have the plagiarizing culprit...

The Terminator (1984):

The story begins in the future. A vast landscape in the middle of an ongoing battle.  In a brief prologue, before the title and credits run, we find out that, circa 2029 (that's only 4 years from this writing...), "the machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind has raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here, in our present. Tonight..."  With just that brief synopsis to introduce to the concept, and the credits and title we segue to present day.

You probably know the drill already. A terminator, an indestructible android (played by the indestructible Arnold Schwarzenegger), appears in a flash of lightning. Nude. 

If you thought I was going to post the nude Arnie, sorry...

Apparently even androids can't use the time machine with clothes, since a little later a human comes through the same type of time transport and he too is nude.

The human is on the run from the cops from the get go.  He and the terminator are both seeking one Sarah Connor.  The terminator is systematically looking for Sarah, but apparently does not know the exact Sarah it is seeking, since it dispatches two of the three listed in the phone book. Luckily for her, (and us as the viewers of the film), the Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) whom it is seeking are listed third of the three people named "Sarah Connor" in the phone book.

Apparently the human, whose name is Reese (Michael Biehn), knows which one is the real target since he tracks her down without bothering to look for the other two. Meanwhile, back at Sarah's apartment, the terminator busts in and wastes Sarah's roommate and her boyfriend.  Mission accomplished as far as the terminator is concerned... right?

Wrong.  At that moment Sarah, panicked because of the two dead Sarah Connors and believing some nutcase is whacking off anyone named Sarah Connor, calls her roommate and leaves a message on the answering machine.  Now the terminator is not only aware that there is still one Sarah to deal with, and by virtue of Sarah telling the roommate where she is, it has it's next destination.  Meanwhile, at the club where Sarah is hiding, she is staying because a Lt. Traxler (Paul Winfield) has told her to stay put, because after all, she is in a public place and no one is going to try anything in a public place. (Yeah, right.)

Both of the future boys end up at the club where Sarah Connor is and Reese blows away the terminator and tells her "come with me if you want to live". 

While on the run Reese tells Sarah what the situation is. Both he and the terminator are from the future.  He was sent back to protect her from the terminator, which is a cybernetic organism (cyborg) which had been sent back to kill her.  Eventually Reese will tell her why. Her unborn son, John Connor, is the leader of the resistance movement against the machines that are trying to take over in the future.  The machines figure if they can eliminate her before she has the son the resistance will be eliminated.

But not only does Reese have to deal with the terminator, he also has to deal with the present day cops, who eventually capture him and Sarah.  Of course, no one ca really be from the future so Kyle must be mentally deranged.  But the terminator (who probably would be also considered mentally deranged, if they could talk to him) stages a raid on the police headquarters, still trying to complete his mission.  Reese manages to use the chaotic distraction to free himself from his handcuffs and escape with Sarah.

While in hiding Reese tells Sarah a little about the future.  Although it is pretty bleak, there is still some hope, and most of it relies on the  tenacity of their leader, her as yet unborn son.  (I should point out that at this point she isn't even pregnant.  Remember that...)  The two hide out a a motel, and Reese leaves, instructing Sarah to let "no one know" where she is.  But she calls her mom and tells her.  Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, her mom is no longer in the picture.  She just told the terminator who, since he is all machine, has the ability to mimic her voice.

Meanwhile things develop back at the motel and Sarah and Reese develop a relationship that gets a bit intimate.  And thus, guess who the father of John is.  You get three guesses, but the first two don't count... So, ultimately we find out why John picked Reese as the man to go back in time to protect her.  (Ignore that time paradox that just came in to your head or the rest of the movie and the rest of the franchise will have no point.

No nude pictures here, either...

The terminator shows up at the motel and. of course, there is an obligatory car chase. The explosives that Reese rigged up have no affect on the pursuing terminator.  But just when things start to look bleak, Reese sets off a bomb that explodes the gas truck that the terminator was using to chase them and he and it go up in flames.

Movie over?  Yeah, right.  Keep thinking optimistically...

The terminator rises from the ashes.  (And this being before CGI, that skeleton of it's makeup is pretty impressive...)

The terminator follows Reese and Sarah into an automated factory where all that machinery is somewhat distracting to the terminator, but it is relentless. And once again Reese is able to seemingly defeat it.  But that's just an illusion... Reese unfortunately dies, but not that relentless S.O.B. 

Of course, Sarah finally finds that drive she needs and lures the terminator into a hydraulic press. And finally! Success!

OK, so the verdict is... The Terminator does have some parts of it that could be construed as somewhat inspiring of the story, but not much.  And yet, the director, rather than have a long drawn out legal battle, chose to capitulate.  I must admit it hurts some to watch this film and see that tag at the end "Acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison".  If it had been me, being the combative personality that I am, I would have told Ellison "Go ahead.  Make my day." (Another movie that has no relationship to Ellison's work, but I bet if he could have found a sliver of opportunity, he wouldn't have hesitated...).

Note: I like Ellison as an author.  He wrote some fantastic stories.  But if he was as much an a-hole as history has made him out to be, I wouldn't have sat down and had a drink with him.

Well, time to fire up the old Plymouth and see if I can dodge those AI robots and make it home.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

Got People?

 

 

The best horror movies, in my opinion, are the ones that were "horror" in essence, but also involved some science-fiction aspect (or you might think of them as vice versa; "science fiction movies that had a horror aspect).  Think the Alien series as the benchmark for this idea.  The Alien franchise built on the foundation of the concept of mixing horror and science fiction, although it most definitely wasn't the first to do so.  But who among us has NEVER heard that memorable and unnerving tagline from the first movie in the saga?

"In space no one can hear you scream!"

I'm not sure where the first horror/sci-fi (as opposed to just horror, or just science fiction) story originated. Probably long before Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, although I think many scholars put that novel as the first to do so. That original novel was published long before the invention of film, of course, although many people reading this blog are probably more familiar with the plethora of films that feature Dr. Frankenstein and/or his creation than with the original novel.  

But when it comes to film versions of the blended concept of horror and science-fiction, I think that most people would probably agree that it's first heyday was in the 50's, that era when the drive-in was just as popular as the indoor theater, and many studios had at least a sideline of stuff they cranked out that was specifically geared to the drive-in crowd.

Now, not all of the movies that came out during that decade were low budget schlock that might be normally associated with the drive-in fare.  Some were actually rather well made and well-received. And many are memorable even to those people who might not normally watch such fare.  I doubt I would be mistaken if I said that at least some of you, who would naturally gravitate towards Gone with the Wind or Citizen Kane, have at least a passing knowledge of such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers or The Thing from Another World or Them!, all of which rate highly on the Tomato Meter scale.

 

The two movies reviewed today were indeed originally paired together as a double feature. According to an article I read on Wikipedia, the studio originally planned to release them with I Married a Monster from Outer Space as the lead movie, with The Blob as the second feature. But because of circumstances  they decided that the color movie, The Blob, would be a better choice as the lead-in feature and to make I Married a Monster from Outer Space the second feature. Both were fairly well received by the public, and in retrospect, the critics deemed the second movie the better of the two.

The Blob had the better cast, whether or not it was a better movie, however, simply because it was the first feature film to star Steve McQueen (credited as "Steven" McQueen). Most of the cast of I Married a Monster from Outer Space had no real impact on the screen, either before or after this film. At least in the acting sense. Tom Tryon made a bigger impact as an author, having written two novels that were later made into films, The Other and Harvest Home (published under his full name Thomas Tryon),

 

The Blob (1958):

Two young lovers, Steve (Steven McQueen) and Janie (Aneta Corseaut) are out at a remote place, ostensibly, according to Steve's insistence, to check out shooting stars (yeah, right) when they see a meteor hit the Earth.  

 

Meanwhile, an old man, (Olin Howland) who lives in a nearby cabin has also heard the meteor and decides to investigate. (Bad idea!) What he finds is what looks like a small rock, but it cracks open and a gooey substance comes out, which immediately attaches itself to him. He runs away and into the road where Steve and Janie almost hit him. They rescue him and take him to the doctor.

 

That's Dr. Hallen (Stephen Chase), who was just about to leave his office for the night. (I guess doctors in those days were more accommodating to possible patients coming in at odd hours...) After checking out the old man, Doc tells Steve to go back up the road and see if he can find out if anybody else knows what happened. 

 

Of course, there's an obligatory confrontation with the cops. For some reason, Steve decides to take time out to race another car.  After he has a nice conversation with the cop (Earl Rowe), he convinces the guys in the other car, Tony (Robert Fields), Mooch (James Bonnett) and Al (Anthony Franke) in the other car to accompany him in his errand.  They get to the site and find the remains of the meteor.

But back at the Doc's office, things are starting to get a little weird, as that gooey substance (hereafter referred to by it's name, The Blob) has expanded as is now covering more of the old man's body. This is curious indeed, and he calls another doctor, but that doctor has gone, So he gets his nurse to come in because he is thinking he may have to amputate the arm to save the old man. The nurse, Kate (Lee Payton), ever faithful, shows up, but disaster which has only been biding it's time, strikes, and not only is the old man subsumed by The Blob, but so are Doc and Kate. Part of the attack on Doc is witnessed by Steve through a window.

 

 

The kids try to tell the police about what Steve saw at the Doc's office, and despite the fact that the police think it's all hooey, two of them go to the Doc's office, but neither the Doc, nor his nurse, nor even The Blob are there, so of course they think it's all a prank.  This despite the fact that both Steve's and Janie's fathers show up and tell the police that pranks aren't a part of their kids' repertoire. 

Both Steve and Janie sneak out of their respective houses and gather a few friends to try to warn the town, but nobody believes them.  When Steve and Janie realize that Steve's father's grocery store is still open they investigate and are trapped by The Blob. They hide in the freezer.  The Blob tries to get at them, but retreats from the cold. The kids do everything they can to call attention to the threat, including setting off the town's air raid siren and going to the center of town and blowing their car horns.

Meanwhile back at the theater, The Blob has come and is munching on the smorgasbord of people.  The theater evacuates in a panic and the police show up.  

 

The police finally see The Blob and realize that Steve was telling the truth.  Their plan to electrocute The Blob proves fruitless, however. But then Steve remembers what happened in the freezer and realizes The Blob doesn't like it cold. So now it's just a matter of trying to isolate The Blob by freezing it. 

It was a great plan by The Blob and it would have worked... if it hadn't been for those meddling kids... and they did it without the help of a talking Great Dane...

Much like the end of The Thing from Another World, the movie ends with a classic ending...

 

One question that occurs to some who watch this movie is: Is The Blob a metaphor for the Red Menace (the fear that the Russians might be infiltrating American society and assimilating them?  I guess you COULD make a case for that, since The Blob is RED., and it does assimilate the people in it's own world, so to speak. AI says that it can be construed as such, but I couldn't find anything that stated that was the makers' intentions. 

The Blob was filmed in the Philadelphia area.   One neat little tidbit: the theater where the theater invasion scene was filmed is a real theater, The Colonial, that still exists today in a town called Phoenixville. Since 2000, the town has had an annual Blobfest, events include recreating the mob scene evacuation of the theater, and the screening of the original movie. (Google "Blobfest". There is a current upcoming one as of this writing,)

According to what I read, McQueen was not a big fan of the movie.  But it was popular enough to make a decent profit ($4 million against a production cost of only about $100 thousand).  Is The Blob a good movie?  I say yes. 

It had a sequel (just to prove that ? at the end of the first film wasn't just a tease, I guess).  It was directed by Larry "J. R. Ewing" Hagman, and had the frozen creature unearthed in the Arctic and brought back to a warmer climate. Not as good as the first, by any shot, but... Warning! Don't bother with the remake from the 80's.  It stars Kevin Dillon who, although I don't dislike him, as an actor he leaves a lot to be desired...

I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958):

Bill (Tom Tryon) and several friends are at a bachelor party for Bill, who is the bachelor in question. Bill leaves early to go home, having had a few drinks.  On the way he sees a body in the road.  When he gets out to investigate, the body is gone.  It turns out to be a ruse to get him to stop, and an alien appears.  In short order his body is encompassed by a fog. (Gotta love these 50's sci-fi movies. It only takes 4 minutes of running time to get to the point.)

 

Segue to the wedding where the bride-to-be, Marge (Gloria Talbott) is getting a little flustered because her enamorata is late to his own wedding.  

 

She just got married, but already there is a problem, because Bill snaps at her when she points out that he is driving without headlights at night. Odd things continue to happen that don't seem right with Bill.  Such as his confusion when he hears thunder in the distance and asks what it is.

Of course, we as the audience are privy right away.  Barely ten minutes into the movie lightning flashes across Bill's face, revealing that it is not Bill, but an alien in disguise (thus from here on out I will refer to the alien as "Bill", since it is obvious that an alien has taken over Bill's place).

 

Flash forward a year.  Marge is beginning to feel that "Bill" is not the same man she fell in love with, although she isn't quite sure why, and even some of his friends notice the change in their buddy. At a bar two of them discuss the change in their friend.  Pretty much plastered one of them leaves and encounters another alien with a fog machine. (Seems to be a pattern.  Message clear: Don't get drunk... you'll be assimilated by aliens...)

Marge buys a dog as a surprise for "Bill", but the dog obviously doesn't like "Bill", or maybe it's just the the dog doesn't like aliens. Not too much later "Bill" kills the dog, and makes himself the enemy of every member of the film audience, even if he hasn't made an enemy of Marge yet. Marge tries to approach "Bill' about the fact that she had been to the doctor and the doctor had informed her that there was no reason why they couldn't have babies.  But she stops short of suggesting "Bill" have himself checked out because Bill has a visitor.

It's his buddy Sam, but as it turns out Sam is not Sam, but "Sam"... Yes, that means "Sam" is another alien who has taken over a human male.  "Sam" reveals himself to "Bill" and tells him he is due to show up at headquarters, which later is revealed to be a spaceship in the woods. We don't actually find this part out until a bit later, when Marge, who is becoming increasingly suspicious about her husband follows him one night,

Before that however, we are witness to a couple more assimilations.  It appears they are only after men, however. When Marge sees an alien come out of "Bill" in the woods, quite naturally she wants to report it.  Unfortunately many men in town are no longer themselves, and the ones that still are are convinced she is overreacting to something quite normal, since during this era there have been a lot of so-called sightings of flying saucers, aliens and the like. So like, the kid in Invaders from Mars and the small town doctor in Invasion of the Body Snatchers the ones who have not been taken over by the invading aliens are not inclined to accept her story. 

Then again, maybe those we think are normal humans telling Marge she is "overreacting" have  ulterior motives...

Gradually it becomes evident that aliens have taken over nearly every man in town, and we only know how to find out which ones are aliens and which ones are still human by a few things: they don't deal well with dogs and cats, they don't drink and they don't have children with their human wives.

 

That last part is significant. Because as it turns out, the aliens have come to Earth to try to repopulate their planet because all the female aliens have died off.  (This concept would be revisited several times in coming years with movies like Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster and Mars Needs Women, both of which featured Martians seeking women of Earth to take to the home world because the female population has died off. {coming to The Midnite Drive-In some time soon...}).

The aliens are having a bit of trouble figuring out how to use their female companions to repopulate their species however, which is why "Bill" has been unable to get Marge pregnant. (Have to admit I kind of thought up to this point that the problem was they hadn't figured out yet how the process works...)

But before she learns all that, Marge is still trying to get help through regular means.  But the phone lines are down to Washington D.C.... and the telegram she tries to send to the F.B.I. is torn up by the alien posing as the telegraph operator... and the bridge out of town is washed out... It seems that Marge is pure out of luck.

 

But there is hope in how to find unassimilated men because the men who aren't alien have been able to father children. Marge gets to one of them, the town gynecologist, and convinces him of her story.  And he gathers some real human men to lead an attack on the ship.  Finally the aliens are defeated, but not by the men.  The real heroes are a pair of German Shepherds that one of the guys has brought along.  And just before the last of them die, one alien radios the rest of the aliens on the planet that their plans have been foiled.

 

I think that I Married a Monster from outer Space is a much more intense film.  It reminds me a lot of the previously mentioned invasion movies (Invaders... and Invasion of... from the 50's that used a subtle Red Menace.  It's a shame that Gloria Talbott never really made much of an impact in Hollywood.  I would have liked to see her down the road in other films, but she opted to retire and become a family woman by 1966.

There are no other stand out acting roles here besides her. But that doesn't detract from the well plotted film.  The film was directed by Gene Fowler, Jr. whose name might not be familiar, but he did direct another film that has been previously reviewed on The Midnite Drive-In, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, which was the first starring vehicle for one Michael Landon.

Well, folks, time to fire up the rockets and head home.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

 

  

Hey! I Know That Guy! Episode #5

 

Hey! I know that guy!

Once again, we delve into the Hey! I Know That Guy! series.

This one has been a long time coming.  There are a few reasons for the delay of this entry. One being that most of my favorite movies that the featured actor has been in have already been covered elsewhere on The Midnite Drive-In.  

But in browsing the movies I have covered over the years, I found one film that I have been remiss in covering, even though I really liked it.  So without further ado, I present to you the featured actor for this entry in the series...

Robert Redford!

Robert Redford has become an icon in cinema over the past 65 years.  From simple beginnings as a bit player in several Tv episodes, he has carved a legacy in Hollywood.  Getting his start in the early 60's on such TV shows as Maverick and Perry Mason he burst onto the big screen inroles that would cement him as a powerful actor. 

His first real role in cinema was as a guy who has an affair with the titular character in Inside Daisy Clover and from there was the star of Barefoot in the Park. Just two years later he paired up with Paul Newman as the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and from there he never had to look back. Once he had made The Sting, once again with Paul Newman, he had a string of great roles, including The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby, Out of Africa and Sneakers (and there's a movie I highly recommend...)

The amazing thing about his career is that, despite having numerous great acting performances, he has been nominated in the Best Actor category for an Oscar only once (for his role in The Sting), and he didn't even win.  His one Oscar came as a director, that for Ordinary People. He did win a Golden Globe award for his role in Inside Daisy Clover and garnered a couple of other noms in other awards ceremonies over the years. But it seems a shame that he, like John Wayne, has had such a storied career onscreen but failed to get the accolades I think he deserves.

One of his first roles on TV was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, where he was not just a "blink and you'll miss him" character.  He played a policeman named Harold Belden, who appears in the episode "Nothing in the Dark". 

In that episode, a woman named Wanda (Gladys Cooper) lives alone in a condemned building.  She has stayed inside, away from everybody and everything, fearing that if she goes out she will encounter "Mr. Death". She is an old woman, but is afraid of dying, and thus she refuses to step out into the world beyond her door.

But when Belden is shot while performing his duties she reluctantly brings him inside her home. She is wary at first, but comes to believe that Belden can't possibly be "Mr. Death" because she touched him, and is sure that if he were Death she would have died.  Only one other person appears in this episode, a contractor (R. G. Armstrong) who was sent to try to coax her out so that he can demolish the building.

She thinks maybe the contractor is Mr. Death, but it eventually turns out that he can't see Belden, and she eventually realizes that her rescuee is actually "Mr. Death".

This episode of The Twilight Zone is that rare one that is a heartfelt and sentimental episode. Redford, as Belden, is a sympathetic character and you end up thinking that when Death actually comes for you, he will be a lot like Belden.

So, in searching for a film to pair with this episode, I tried to find a character that was like someone I could find at least somewhat sympathetic. While Bob Woodward might be just a tad on the obsessive side, especially in his determination to get to the bottom of the story, and his initial desire to work alone rather than with the partner that is forced on him, Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman). I could easily sit down with the Woodward and have a rapport with him.

The basic story is that Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) is a reporter with the Washington Post.  As one of his duties early on, he is a police reporter sent to cover a break-in of the Watergate Hotel and the arraignment of the 5 men involved in the break-in.  It turns out there is something screwy in the whole set up, however. It seems that the burglars have arranged for their own defense, rather than relying on court appointed defense lawyers.  This in itself is a new twist.

In his investigation behind the scenes, Woodward gradually finds out there is a connection between the burglars and some higher-ups in the Nixon White House.  Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) is working on a different angle, but both of their stories seem to be meshed together.

Initial interaction with each other gets off to a rocky start when Bernstein tries to edit Woodward's article, but immediately after this brief kerfuffle they are both assigned to the same story.  And thus begins an investigation of "who knew what, and when, and where". The investigation uncovers some serious money switching hands and bugging of enemies of the Nixon administration, and well, you know all the rest if you have even the remotest knowledge of the history.

The movie is an intense thriller. The film ends with the inauguration of Richard Nixon in his second term in the Oval Office. The ultimate end of the historical story is reduced to a brief montage of newspaper teletypes to detail the aftermath, ultimately that Nixon resigned.

Redford shows some intensity here, sometimes struggling with the bosses at the Post over his stories and worry that some other news outlet may scoop him and get the information first.  The initial confrontation between Woodward and Bernstein gets better, especially after both of them become certain they are on the right track.

The movie garnered 8 nominations for Oscars (although neither Redford no co-star Hoffman were nominated). It won four, and was probably a close second in 2, for Best Picture and Best Director (both of which were lost to Rocky.)  All the President's Men was not the apotheosis of Redford's career, I don't think, but it is one of the highlights.

Well, that's it for this time.

Quiggy

 

Biblical Myths and Legends

 

This is my entry in the Once Upon A Time Blogathon hosted by Hometowns to Hollywood.

Some people are "literalists" when it comes to the Bible.  God created the universe and the Earth in seven days. It says seven days in the Bible, so it means seven days. It also says that Noah and his wife and his children built an ark and loaded up 2* of every animal on Earth and survived the holocaust of a world-wide flood that destroyed the rest of the living creatures on Earth. No question about it.  The Bible says it, so it must be true.

(*Note: The Bible actually says at one point that Noah was to take 7 of every clean animal and 2 of every unclean animal.) 

Of course, by taking this view, they have to ignore the fact that scientific evidence takes a different tach on the history of the Earth.  Instead of being 6000 some odd years old, science seems to indicate that it is millions of years old. If that is true, does it negate any spiritual significance of the essence of the Bible? My personal opinion is that you can take the first part of Genesis (everything leading up to the introduction of Abraham) as allegorical and still not diminish the spiritual message. 

For it's part, the In Search Of... episodes covered here do not dispute that those events did not happen. In fact, in two of them, the focus is that the producers of the series are actually trying to find the location of the places mentioned in the Biblical passages (The Garden of Eden and Sodom and Gomorrah). In the third episode the theme is trying to determine whether or not a worldwide flood actually happened.

As the prologue of the series states: This series presents information in part in theory and conjecture. The producers purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine.  In essence, it meant that they were approaching each subject with an open mind, not giving credence to or disparaging any viewpoint. 

In Search Of... was a regular part of my life back in the late '70's.  As a young man in my late teens and early twenties I was fascinated by such things as cryptozoological creatures (Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster) and the possibility of extraterrestrials either coming to Earth or already here. (Still am, to some extent, although 40 to 50 years of not having been presented with incontrovertible evidence to prove such stuff has made me a bit more skeptical.)

In case you are interested, each section below includes the episode covered. 

In Search Of...

The Garden of Eden- (original airdate June 1, 1978):

Two people who got along pretty well until there came someone else to break up the relationship.

The episode opens with host Leonard Nimoy giving the standard background of the Biblical story of God casting out Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, then gives a teaser about a remote island that has one solitary tree growing on it.  The tree is called "The Tree of Life" by the natives.  Is this the tree of the Biblical legend?

For those of you not familiar with the Biblical Garden of Eden and it's supposed location, not to worry.  Host Lenard Nimoy gives a brief description.  There was a river flowing out of the Garden that created other rivers and these were the Tigris, the Euphrathes, the Pishon and the Gihon. The problem is, although we know today where the Tigris and the Euphrates are, the locations of the other two are not known: at least by the names listed in the narrative.

But scholars think the Gihon may have been the ancient name for the Nile. There are some ancient beliefs concerning the Nile.  According to history, the Egyptians thought of the Nile as a god.  If the Nile is indeed the Gihon in the Biblical legend, then it remains to be found only the Pishon.

Thus, the producers introduce the island nation of Bahrain.  Bahrain has been an oasis in a desert in more ways than one.  It is a land where pearls re as plentiful as dates, and an underground river provides water where for most of the area it is a rarity.  Could that underground river be the lost river Pishon?

As usual with In Search Of ..., the producers make no concrete statements, only suggestions of the possibilities.  And, of course, no trace of the Biblical Garden of Eden is presented at the end.  But that is the essence of the popularity in my mind of the series; just to get you thinking about those possibilities.

Noah's Flood- (original airdate February 8, 1979):

Noah has many other "contemporaries, but he got all the press.

Did the flood of the Bible actually happen?  And if it did where is the remains of this fantastic ship that did the trick of keeping the Earth populated after that? The Bible claims that God destroyed the Earth in order to wipe out the offending citizenry and start all over with one family.

The episode delves into scientific evidence that a flood may have happened. As Nimoy states in the opening sequence "no legend has survived as much skepticism". as such, there are interviews with detractors who are certain that the Earth is much older than Biblical historians would have you believe.

But there also so-called "Christian scientists", like Dr. Henry Morris, who believe that evidence exists that a worldwide Flood happened relatively recently (recently as in with the last 10,000 years).  Also delved into is an 1870 discovery of some old Cuneiform tablets that mention a man named Utnashpitim, who some believe may be another name for Noah.

In defense of the theory that the flood actually happened, the producers present the fact that nearly every culture in the world has it's own world wide flood narrative. Of course, as in the case of one Native American legend, the hero that saved mankind to repopulate the Earth did it with a canoe.  (That must've been one BIG canoe...)

The producers also present the fact that some wood was found at the top of Mount Ararat (the supposed resting place of the Ark, according to the Biblical legend) that was carbon dated to about 10,000 years ago, and it is wood not normally found in that region.

The episode ends with Nimoy stating that if the Ark were found tomorrow, believers would say I told you so, but skeptics would still dismiss it.  It remains a rather touchy subject, obviously...

Sodom & Gomorrah- (original airdate May 10, 1979):

And after that, Lot never asked anyone to "please pass the salt"...

The Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah is typical of the sometimes vindictive God as He is portrayed in the Old Testament. As previously noted in the second episode of this blog entry, He destroyed the entire world and started from scratch because the people would not live according to His precepts.  In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the wrath of the Creator once again reared it's ugly side and rained down fire and brimstone on two cities that were so morally corrupt they make Las Vegas look like a Bible camp.

There was an archaeological dig that went on for 12 years in a region near the Dead Sea that produced no real results, that is until the 13th year of the dig when a piece of the puzzle was unearthed that confirmed that Sodom and Gomorrah did indeed exist at one time.  But it's location remained a mystery.

One of the things that came out in the episode was a theory that a monumental earthquake could have produced the results that ended up with the dual cities' destruction.  And one of the theories presented was that maybe they were located very near the Dead Sea, but the evidence is now underwater.

Another legend among the bedouin tribes is that there is a pillar of salt near the region that locals believe is actually Lot's wife. According to the Biblical legend, God told Lot and his family to leave, and to not look back, but Lot's wife disobeyed and was turned into a pillar of salt for her indiscretion.

As usual the episode ends with no clear cut possibility to the solution, but then, that's what made In Search Of... so appealing. No answers one way or another, just speculations, leaving the viewer to make their own conclusions.

So I hope you enjoyed this look into potential solutions to mysteries that remain shrouded by the depths of history.  And maybe, just maybe, I piqued your interest enough to check out other episodes.

Quiggy  

 

Talladega Knights in a Daytona Daze

 

I gotta say, I am NOT a NASCAR fan.  Next to tennis I find car racing the most boring thing to watch in sports.  I mean, it's just a bunch of guys making left turns... sure, left turns at well over 150 mph, but still... Which makes me probably the only man in the south that changes the channel when NASCAR comes on the TV. So, Stroker Ace, should be something I would avoid... right?

Well, without Burt in the lead role, that might be true.  I still have never watched Days of Thunder or Talladega Nights (of course, the fact that I don't like Tom Cruise or Will Farrell movies is a factor there..) But that also means I have never watched any number of movies that centered on NASCAR as it's basis, including the ones that came out eulogizing Dale Earnhardt.

Stroker Ace has a lot going for it besides the racing however.  I mean... Burt... what can I say?

Despite Reynolds' popularity, especially among those of us who like he-man type heroes with a healthy dose of humor, I have to admit his movies have never been Oscar material. Of course, he did get a nomination for his role in Boogie Nights, but that wasn't a Burt Reynolds movie.

Stroker Ace came along in the early days of the Razzies awards.  If it had been around in the 70's I have no doubt that Burt Reynolds movies would have been in contention for the award.  I am enough of a realist to admit that they aren't exactly the best movies of the year.  But they did often manage to make money, and that is one of the main points for movies in the first place, isn't it?

As far as the Razzies, Stroker Ace got 5 nominations for the award: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Hal Needham), Worst Actress (Loni Anderson), Worst Supporting Actor (Jim Nabors) and Worst New Star (Loni again). It won only one of those (Jim Nabors), and somehow Burt missed out on getting nominated for Worst Actor... I guess John Wilson et. al. doesn't hate Reynolds as much as they hate Sylvester Stallone (who somehow gets on the Worst Actor list every year he puts out a movie,,,)

Besides the headlining stars of the movie, Reynolds along with Loni Anderson, Jim Nabors and Ned Beatty, there is a plethora of cameos by real NASCAR drivers (circa 1983) that you might recognize if you are a NASCAR fan from the time, or you might at least recognize their cars. Even me, as an avowed non-fan recognized Harry Gant's Skoal Bandit car (I did watch sports coverage on the news, after all, even if I never watched a race...)

Among those famous drivers who appear are Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte and Kyle and Richard Petty. And those are just the ones I could recognize.  There are quite a few others, including Benny Parsons, Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd, all playing themselves. In addition there are a few well known announcers who guest cameo as themselves.

Stroker Ace (1985):

Some background is given at the beginning of the film. We see a young Stroker (Cary Guffey) and his childhood buddy, Doc (Hunter Bruce), coming back from play where Stroker has pretty much wrecked a bicycle trying to some stunts with it that one probably shouldn't do with a bicycle. The boys are picked up by Doc's dad, (Frank O. Hill), who is a moonshine runner.  Dad is chased by Feds and thus inspires Stroker to develop a love for racing.

Fast forward to present day. Stroker (Burt Reynolds) is racing to make the start time at a race (in a car with only three wheels...), with his mechanic, Lugs (Jim Nabors). Stroker is a free spirit who doesn't like following the rules, which puts him at odds with his current sponsor, Catty (Warren Stevens).  He ends up crashing early in the race and Catty, tired of Stroker's irrepressible attitude, fires him.

Stroker needs a sponsor to finance his racing, so he ends up taking on a sponsor who is pretty much as irresponsible as he is: Clyde Torkle (Ned Beatty), the owner of a fried chicken chain. the Chicken Pit. Signing a huge contract, without even reading it (it's big enough to give War and Peace a run for it's money in length),Stroker now has his sponsor.

But the contract requires Stoker to do a lot of stuff that he isn't entirely willing to do, including having his car decked out with the slogan  "Fastest Chicken in the South" and making commercials where he has to dress up as a giant chicken. 

Needless to say, Stroker is not entirely happy with his situation, but his contract is iron-clad and he has no legal out for the deal.

Stroker has one nemesis that rivals even his animosity towards his new boss: Aubrey James (Parker Stevenson). Often the race comes down to either Stroker or Aubrey winning a race. (And this despite the fact that there are some real-life NASCAR racers in the race...)

Aubrey drives the #10 car, and one of the best lines in the movie, for me,  is when Stroker is being interviewed by a sportscaster. When asked to sum up NASCAR in a few words, Stroker says:

"Go down to the end of the straightaway and turn left.  Unless you're #10. Then you turn right."

(Needless to say, Aubrey was not amused...)

But Stroker, if anything, is not one to just give up and go along with the flow. He starts doing things that are designed to embarrass Torkle enough to fire him. But Torkle is also not one to give up, and he takes everything that Stroker dishes out, because, after all, Stroker is his meal ticket to the big time; I.e. a nationwide status instead of just a regional chain.

Pembrook Feeny (Loni Anderson) is Torkle's marketing assistant and she tells Stroker he basically has to follow the rules.  Initially she is just interested in Stroker as a client.  She is a goody-goody, doesn't drink and is a virgin Sunday School teacher. so at the outset, Stroker, a ladies man, is at a loss as to how to get her to be another conquest in his side interest: that of bedding the next beautiful girl.

Stroker continues to race for Torkle while trying to figure out how to get out of his contract. Enter Doc (John Byner) who shows up with dad. Doc is now a wannabe actor. Thus Stroker and Doc and dad come up with a plan. Doc poses as an executive for Miller Brewing and makes an offer to buy out the Chicken Pit franchise, but with the stipulation that the deal will only go through if Torkle fires Stroker.

Torkle falls for the ruse hook, line and sinker.  But he tells Stroker that he will back out of the deal if Stroker becomes this year's NASCAR champion.  Stroker, whose ego is bigger than the national debt, has to make a choice: either win and be committed to stay with Torkle for the rest of the contract, or throw the race and lose.

There is only one problem with losing... if he loses it is likely that Aubrey will win. So the only way that he can win and still get out of the contract is if, somehow, he can get Torkle to officially fire him before the end of the race...

Hey, if you don't like Reynolds' typical character in comedies (and let's face, to be honest, his comedic roles were virtually the same), then this one is not going to be a top 10 movie.  Even Reynolds fans, for the most part, couldn't get on board.  It currently holds a 4.9 rating on IMDb, and if you know IMDb you know the fans can skew those ratings much higher than would normally be accorded it.  They certainly didn't come out in droves for it.  It only grossed a little les than $12 million on a $14 million budget... ouch.

The movie, needless to say was not a hit with the critics. It currently stands at 19% on the Tomato-meter, which to the uninitiated, only 19% of the reviews were favorable.  Roger Ebert, who may be one of the least likely people to like this kind of movie has one of the more humorous takes: "To call the movie a lightweight, bubble-headed summer entertainment is not criticism, but simply description".  Phhht, Roger!

I would not rank it in the top 20 of Reynolds movies, and I would probably go with Smokey and the Bandit or The Longest Yard before I would watch it, given the choice.  As far as racing movies, either Cannonball Run or Cannonball Run II are miles ahead of it.  But it is miles ahead of that corker Cop and a Half. And it's a bit better than City Heat (another target of Roger's snarky reviews..) 

This is one of those many movies I saw at a drive-in as opposed to in a walk-in theater, and, personally, when it comes to movies involving cars or motorcycles, I think a drive-in is the best venue. 

Well, folks, the old Plymouth is nowhere near in shape enough to compete in NASCAR.  Hell, it would probably break down if I even tried to get it up to 80, much less 180... But it is time to head home.  Drive safely. (Meaning don't try to pretend you are in a NASCAR race).

Quiggy