Helen Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan was born on this day back in 1866. I didn’t realize it, but Keller outlived Sullivan by 32 years, but I suppose she was more critical at the beginning than the end. The great Shakespearean actor John Gielgud was born in 1904. And you thought he was just the butler in Arthur. Rod Steiger, actor in On the Waterfront and my favorite Sergio Leone film Duck, You Sucker! was born in 1925. Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson was born in 1929. And Richard Jeni was born in 1957.
Game theory economist Thomas Schelling is 92 today. Loretta Lynn is 81. Honest cop Frank Serpico is 77. Julie Christie is 72 (I loved her is McCabe & Mrs. Miller). And baseball great Pete Rose is also 72. Science fiction writer Bruce Sterling is 59. And actor Robert Carlyle is 52.
But the day belongs to the creator (more or less) of the wave theory of light. On this day back in 1629, Christiaan Huygens was born. But like many of that day, he did a lot more. I don’t feel like going into it, but click over. He was a very interesting guy.
Happy birthday Christiaan Huygens!
I thought I’d seen every cheesy Sergio Leone movie, so I looked up "Duck, You Sucker" at my library. It’s listed under "AKA A Fistful Of Dynamite." That, I’ve seen, and it’s a hoot. I don’t remember much about it except the spooky Morricone music that plays whenever a murdered plot device’s watch fob is opened; at the end of the spooky watch-fob music, the antagonists have a shoot-out. Waiting for the music to end (and it did so slowly) was pure Morricone/Leone magic.
Tarantino thinks "The Good The Bad" is the greatest movie ever made, because Tarantino is half-insane, but I like "Once Upon A Time In The West." Evil Henry Fonda is so much cooler than noble Henry Fonda. Also: Jason Robards.
@JMF – I remember your fondness for [i]Once Upon a Time in the West[/i]. And I’ve been thinking back on it a lot since you mentioned it. I think I will rent it. (I’ve only ever seen it once in the theater–not when it first ran; I’m not [i]that[/i] old!) What I especially like about [i]A Fistful of Dynamite[/i] (a better title, but "Sucker" is the official title) is that it takes place during the Mexican revolution. Plus it is anti-war and cynical in a way that I am. My only complaint is that I wish that Rod Steiger weren’t in it. It was supposed to be Eli Wallach and that would have been so much better. It isn’t that Steiger is bad, in fact he’s great. But I love Wallach.
I’ll let you know when I watch [i]Once Upon a Time…[/i]
@JMF – There is much to say for GBU. And I can definitely see why Tarantino would say that. I think the reason I like "dynamite" so much is that it has the most heart.
Not to pick on GBU, or needlessly pimp "West" — they’re both Leone, both silly/terrific, and both are the type of movie QT desperately wants to make but somehow can’t. But GBU as greatest movie ever made? From a guy who’s seen most everything ever made? That’s a stretch, son.
@JMF – Good point. I think that Tarantino’s problem is that he doesn’t really have a sense of humor. He’s clever, but not funny. And he laughs, but not because something is funny.
I’d never thought of that, but it’s true. There aren’t really any jokes in QT’s movies — when we laugh, we’re laughing at the absurdity of a situation played out to the max. Which is usually a very unfunny situation made funny by QT’s ironic presentation of it. (Like Pei Mei’s over-the-top sexism in "Kill Bill.") We never laugh just because a person does or says something amusing, like we do all the time in, say, Tom McCarthy’s movies.
Which leads me to think — I’ve never pimped Tom McCarthy here! And I can’t imagine why not. He’s like the kinder, gentler Alexander Payne (not as visual a moviemaker, more of a script-first director.) But seeing as you’re working on a project about the value of community, McCarthy’s whole theme (in all of his movies) is how being unconnected damages people, even if they have perfectly good reasons for shutting themselves off — and how giving a piss about your neighbor is a way back to a better life.
"Up" and "Win Win" are both quite likeable, but McCarthy’s best are "The Station Agent" and "The Visitor." In those two the depression that drives the protagonists into isolation is really empathetically imagined — you get into their heads, and it’s painful. One thing about McCarthy’s scripts — he always sets up the cheesy melodramatic moment that lazier writers would use, and never delivers it. So whenever you smell a "I so don’t want to see what happens because of this" moment, it doesn’t happen. Not that "The Station Agent" (or especially "The Visitor," about our treatment of immigrants) have happy endings, per se. But they’re not glum for the sake of being glum. I’m not surprised nobody saw them, but they’re excellent, excellent movies, and he’s someone I really pay attention to.
@JMF – I can remember one really funny thing in [i]Pulp Fiction[/i], and it isn’t in the script. When Winston Wolfe takes a sip of coffee, he raises his eyebrows to say, "Wow! Good coffee!" This is funny because of how Jimmie went on about how he didn’t want to hear about how good his coffee was. But of course, he would never insult "the wolf." I assume that Harvey Keitel improvised the bit.
I’ve only seen [i]The Station Agent[/i], which I loved. It is also a favorite of Andrea’s. I think it has a happy ending, although perhaps not a Hollywood happy ending. In particular, Dinklage’s character seems to have found peace. The film is pretty deep, I think. It deals with issues that relate to my life right now. That’s pretty rare for any piece of art. I’ve requested [i]The Visitor[/i].
I’m not that interested in Payne. I find films like [i]Election[/i] kind of hard to take and not edifying. Too much like Wes Anderson. (Although I love [i]The Royal Tenenbaums[/i].)