#1042 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday December 23)

Good morning,

Another potpourri…

MOVIES WORTH WATCHING MULTIPLE TIMES

A Lot of people agreed with my list of movies that one can watch multiple times. Many agreed, but a few thought a favorite was missing. Here are a few selections:

Bill Barnett: “You forgot my two favorite comedies of all time. Blazing Saddles and the original Heartbreak Kid with Charles Grodin.” I agree that both great movies; although I recently rewatched Blazing Saddles and, while there are a number of great scenes, I really didn’t think it stands the test of time.

Mark DiMaria agrees with Iron Giant, recounting a great line spoken by the Iron Giant, when he says, “I am not a gun.”

Debbee Klein asks why there aren’t more Woody Allen films. I thought Midnight in Paris is a great one I’d see over. So is Sleeper. I agree there are a few others (Annie Hall and Manhattan, to name only two) and I admit that I’m probably biased against him. I think the exclusion of more of Woody is that I probably wouldn’t watch them over and over (which is the primary criterion for this list).

Skip Kessler likes the list and poses the question “What’s your all time favorite.” He has two favorites (with notes on each): “For me it is a tie between The Godfather (‘Now listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he's the traitor. Don't forget that’) and Casablanca (every time I see Humphrey Bogart in his white dinner jacket I wonder why I don’t own one).”

Hillary Hartman can’t imagine how Dirty Rotten Scoundrels isn’t on my list. Hey, it’s my list and it’s not one of my favorites. Sorry…

Skip Kessler (again…) suggests the following, by category, for re-watching:

World War II:

South Pacific

Caine Mutiny

To Hell and Back

The Pianist

Patton

Saving Private Ryan

Spy Stuff:

Three Days of the Condor

RomCom:

Sleepless in Seattle

When Harry Met Sally

Bye Bye Birdie [I had a crush on Ann Margaret until I met Joan]

Sci-Fi, Caper, and Drama (I’ve combined these):

ET

Sting

Topkapi

Thelma and Louise

Séance on a Wet Afternoon

Dog Day Afternoon

While there are many good movies in this list, only The Sting and Three Days of the Condor would I go out of my way to watch again…

FROM THE ORIGINAL LIST

Just the comedies:

· The Big Lebowski

· Animal House

· Naked Gun (the first is the best)

· Caddyshack

· Airplane!

· Dodgeball

· Zoolander

· Tommy Boy

· Trading Places

· Coming to America

· Monty Python and the Holy Grail

· Wedding Crashers

· Young Frankenstein

· Best in Show

· Life of Brian

· Galaxy Quest

· The Producers

· M*A*S*H

· The Truman Show

· My Cousin Vinny

· American Pie

· Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (“that’s not a pillow”)

· Back to School

BAD ACTING, SEXISM OR JUST BAD SCRIPTS?

Doctor Who is a phenomenon of British television that has “crossed the pond” to success in the United States since a 2005 “reboot,” available on Disney+. This staple of camp science fiction recently celebrated its 60^th anniversary.

The similarly long James Bond franchise has survived numerous different actors, each of whom plays a different version of the Ian Fleming character. They don’t really connect to each other. The primary conceit of Dr. Who, however (other than time travel!), is that each time a different actor takes the role, the doctor “regenerates” and he (or she) is still the same Doctor, possessing the same memory, while incorporating different quirks and personalities. This show is now on the 15^th incarnation of the Doctor, who is the first one played by an openly gay actor, bringing a unique aesthetic and unique personality to the role. Since the 9^th Doctor came on the scene in 2005 (the “modern” version), there also have been (a) the youngest actor to play the role, (b) the oldest actor to play the role, and (c) the first female Doctor.

The other day, I read an article assessing the different Doctors of the new era. The first female Doctor came in dead last. When I noted this to a friend, her response was “well, it hardly is a coincidence that the one actor panned happens to be a woman.” Perhaps, she opined, this is yet another example of sexism in our society. Another explanation, held by a number of critics, is that her episodes simply weren’t as good. The show was slightly off in large measure because the scripts weren’t as good, but perhaps the actor really wasn’t that great. It is generally acknowledged that the writing wasn’t strong, necessitating a new writing team that has resulted in far better storytelling. Sometimes it’s not sexism.

Have a good day,

Glenn