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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.
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Sunday, July 10, 2005
ONE-EYED JACKS - The Only Movie Marlon Brando Directed
We bought our DVD of One-Eyed Jacks for a buck at Wal-Mart, without knowing anything about it. I was amazed to find out that Brando had only directed one film.
This is an action/adventure with romance, suspense, and plenty of double-crossing. It’s not much like the formulaic westerns that were made earlier, and although some say it’s ‘way too long, we didn’t find it so.
One big surprise was the performance of Karl Malden who was apparently a much better actor than what is remembered from The Streets of San Francisco
The material with the DVD said that this was a breakthrough for westerns because it didn’t have the black and white morality of ‘50s westerns, but involved a considerable ambiguity about the ID of the good guys and the bad at different times in the movie, and it wasn’t always clear just what would be the “right thing to do” at this point or that. But, I grew up watching Richard Boone, (a genuine descendant of Dan’l Boone, of Kentucky fame) in Have Gun, Will Travel, always one of my favorite shows. And one of the hallmarks of the show was the ambiguous ethical situations that so often faced Paladin…...on numerous occasions, this high-priced gun for hire turned on his employers when it became clear that he’d been working on the wrong side. We recently bought a DVD with some of the shows, including the first one, and it’s astounding how well that one (at least) holds up.
One-Eyed Jacks is recommended, but it seems to me that it was following a trail blazed by Have Gun, Will Travel. Enjoy them both!
Saturday, July 09, 2005
HAS RON HOWARD READ “WILD AT HEART”?
Gail and I went to see Cinderella Man a few weeks ago—I’ve been SUCH a slug at keeping up with the blog, but having mentioned this movie and promised a review ELSEWHERE (keep reading and scrolling down through the comments), I’m feeling pressure to get something done. Maybe tomorrow I can update with some more stuff—another movie review, a book review, some Iraq stuff, etc.
Anyhow, CM is the story of James J. Braddock, a successful boxer in the ‘20s, living the good life with his wife and babies. And then he’s injured, and then the Depression hits and his money (foolishly invested totally in the stock market bubble) disappears. They are destitute. The story is dark here, but see if you don’t think it is presented in a way that is true to John Eldredge’s VISION of man- and woman-hood in God’s economy….... We see each playing their part in this adventure. We see the strength on both sides. We see how tragedy is handled, as well as miscommunications, terrible errors, the war between pride and duty, and so on and an on. I love movies where I’m moved to tears one moment and then want to cheer the next!!
I knew the end, but I won’t tell you. It didn’t spoil it for me, because I was reveling in learning the story of a Man and a Woman working together to be what God intended them to be. That isn’t made explicit in the film by means of a speech or something as lame as that - but GO WATCH THIS FILM, and see if you don’t agree…....
My post on camacho.tv said that bad moral lessons are taught by films and can be absorbed without our conscious awareness. The good news is that so are good moral lessons—I’m weeping that more people won’t go see this movie…..American culture NEEDS these lessons! I wish there were some way to spread the word more effectively!
Go see it! Tell everyone you know to ignore the critics and don’t miss this GREAT film—don’t tell them it will teach them moral lessons they need to learn, or they’ll stay away. It’s a fabulous story well told, and you (and they) are going to love it. Becoming a better person is a freebie! Thank you, Ron Howard.
P.S. Ignore the dummies who say it’s badly cast—it WORKS!
Reading
- BlogsForDummies :)
Web resources
- Arts & Letters Daily
- Ravi Zacharias
- Southern Adventist University
- The SAU Biology Deptartment - where I work with a bunch of very neat people.
- Venezuelan news—FROM Venezuela