#1044 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday December 27)
Good morning,
Some light-hearted stuff for the holiday weekend…
BEST MOVIES TO WATCH MULTIPLE TIMES
I did a Musing a year ago about movies I have watched at least twice and I would watch a third time at the drop of a hat. This got a lot response, which I shared last week. This, in turn, got more response. Here we go:
David Lash: “My favorite re-watches are not necessarily the best movies (I will always rewatch The Godfather and it is one of my all-time favorites, but I can’t seem to re-watch Schindler’s List, just too hard, and it is also one of the all-time great films, so quality doesn’t necessarily equate with multiple viewings). But I will never pass up Field of Dreams when I come across it (and I will cry every time) or My Cousin Vinny (I laugh through the whole thing, Marisa Tomei is fantastic). I can re-watch any Bond movie, anytime, although I am apt to pass on the Roger Moore versions. I also love to watch The Italian Job multiple times, it is so much fun. I’ve seen The Wizard of Oz umpteen times, can’t go wrong with that.”
Frank Maas: “I would add to the comedy list A New Leaf. A comedy that I suspect most have not seen. Elaine May and Walter Matthau at their best with a short appearance by Mike Nichols trying to explain to Walter Matthau why he's broke. Reading your Musings for today makes me think I'll go home and watch it tonight.”
Michael Maas is right in pointing out that Some Like it Hot should be on the list. While we’re at it, from the same period, I can still watch It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World over again (if only for the many cameos of comedy greats). Michael, however, misguidedly can’t understand the absence of Blazing Saddles. It’s simple. When it came out, I saw it with my father and we laughed hysterically (particularly when the sheriff came to town, the campfire scene, and “Hedley Lamarr”), but it doesn’t stand the test of time. On the Mel Brooks silliness scale, it isn’t as ridiculous as Space Balls, but it doesn’t achieve the greatness of his masterpieces, The Producers and Young Frankenstein.
Hillary Hartman: “Hot Tub Time Machine!”
I agree with all of these choices.
BEST MOVIE MUSICALS
Joyce Anderson wants to know why there’s no list of best movie musicals. Never wanting to disappoint Joyce, here’s my eclectic list. It’s not for everyone and includes some surprises… The criterion is movie musicals I’d watch again. Here’s a beginning list
La La Land (starting with an outlier that will engender strong reactions…I’m still am hooked on the cinematography, the love letter to Los Angeles, and the “what if” story)
Damn Yankees (the quintessential story of dreams maybe not topping what one has…and it’s baseball!)
Chicago (a great translation of the stage play. Richard Gere gives it the old razzle-dazzle)
Cabaret (Joel Grey and Liza Minelli kill it in the movie version of the Kander & Ebb classic)
Paint Your Wagon (come on—Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Ray Walston, and Jean Seberg all in song!)
The King and I (perhaps a bit dated but marvelous)
The Music Man (memorizing “Trouble in River City” was one of the great accomplishments of my youth)
Little Shop of Horrors (classic…period…)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Early Sondheim with Mostel, Silver, and other comics)
Scrooge (this doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Really a delight)
The Sound of Music (notwithstanding the cloyishly cute VonTrapp family, it’s a classic)
Mary Poppins (it’s more than a spoonful of sugar)
Fiddler on the Roof (seen it on stage more times than I can count; the movie is great too)
Funny Girl (Barbra Streisand is a singular talent and this is the ultimate star vehicle)
Singin’ In the Rain (the singing, the dancing…Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds!)
Oliver (Dickens done right)
A Chorus Line (a seminal musical in the canon)
Moulin Rouge (the music wasn’t written for the show, but it melds brilliantly)
Yesterday (what if there were no Beatles? All Beatles tunes in a clever “what if” fantasy)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (before Andrew Lloyd Webber became ubiquitous)
The Little Mermaid (the earliest and best of the current generation of Disney musicals)
West Side Story (either one; although I’ll take the 1961 version by a hair)
Across the Universe (more Beatles…and one of Brad’s favorites!)
My Fair Lady and Hello Dolly, while they have their moments, seem past their prime. I don’t count the three seminal dance musicals of Footloose, Dirty Dancing, and Flashdance, nor the “juke box musical” genre.
CIVILITY, REDUX, AND MODELING FOR KIDS
I have been commenting a fair bit about the decline in manners, respect, patience, and civility in our every-day social interactions, not to mention in the public square. People cutting in line, people ignoring road signs, people not saying please or thank you are just a few examples. But bad behavior goes beyond merely common decency and extends to an arena that should be fun and serve to model behavior for our children. David Rochkind recently wrote about the sense of entitlement that pervades our institutions and our civic organizations. He said we are in a “me versus we” culture.
David’s example is the hand-to-hand combat among parents at youth sports events. “Look, for instance, at parents fighting each other and the minimum wage umpires at T-ball games.” Sometimes, he says, it seems we are a society of luddites that has not evolved much beyond wild animals.
David is right, as I saw a lot of this, as well, in Little League baseball and in AYSO Soccer. That being said, I encountered precious little in the way of parental overreach and bad behavior in my 15 years coaching middle school debate at Curtis School and Harvard Westlake. Other than being fingerprinted for FBI clearance, I was not otherwise working in any official capacity. I was an unpaid volunteer. Parents were kind and appreciative. They would rarely interfere. They often would stay after a round to get some helpful tips to guide their children.
And yet… There were the occasional moments of parental behaviors that were outside the norm:
On more than one occasion, parents had to be admonished not to use sign language to communicate with the debaters (as I would often politely note, “When your kid is playing third base, you can’t run onto the field to field that high chopper. The same is true here…”
Despite putting parent judges through training that highlighted the need to come without preconceptions or opinions, there would be the occasional judge that would say something like, “I really am against capital punishment, so I couldn’t vote in favor of it” or “I am an immigrant and have been discriminated against, so I favor the plan to open the border.” Once they do this, of course, it’s no longer a debate among 13 year-olds.
There were the occasional parents who would call me at night to argue about their child’s position on the team. I would have to politely explain to them my reasoning. I’m told by the legendary Coach Mark Nott that these occasional calls were nothing compared to the advice/demands he would receive from parents regarding their kids’ positions on sports teams…!
AND THEN THESE WONDERFUL MOMENTS
The great anecdotes could fill a book. Here are a few:
Parents watching a Little League game shouting “good hit, Bobby” when their kid lined out to the shortshop. Hey, it’s certainly solid contact, Mrs. Jones, but it isn’t a hit.
Parents who would quietly wander over during a soccer game, suggesting their kid be taken out because their child was up late or because they saw that their kid wasn’t really engaged in the game (“He needs to understand that he’s part of a team and has to try hard for his teammates”)
Parents advising their kids after a debate round that they lost and should have won (I saw this not infrequently). Rather than saying, “that judge is an idiot,” instead explaining to their kids that life sometimes is unfair and that, even though you may think you did your best, others may not agree.
Parents after a debate round telling their kids that they (the parent) learned something new while watching the debate.
Have a great day,
Glenn