[Western Movie Rambles]

Guys, as you've noticed I'm slow to get going on technology, lol, and so it is now with the new Quotes feature.  I want to be able to reference and address each issue you answer/explore, so, bear with me on this.  Plus, I'm going to see the film yet again on YouTube tonight to, er, tie up any loose ends I have with my understanding of certain plot points and character development.

 

Ro, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect German chocolate cake!  Oh, my goodness!  I've got a pitcher of milk at the ready.  I know you made it just for me, but I do feel obliged to share, so everybody, get a plate!  It looks so moist and heavenly, I can't stand it!  Now I've got a list of  other goodies, ha!

 

I love what you say about Gerald being a "prisoner" of Tetley.  I never would have made that perceptive analogy.  Everything and everybody was grist for his militaristic mill, seen through a narcissistic prism of over-compensation. 

 

Lafitte, you're right, I think there was madness to Tetley's method.  What makes him so frightening to me, more than the bullying, crude, piggy-eyed deputy sheriff Mapes, is Tetley's outward appearance of disciplined but fair-minded judicial procedure and regulation,  cloaked over with dignified gentlemanly grace, but then we discover that underneath he's a seething cesspool of rage and violence.

 

Oh, "The Letter" is actually what I think is an aspect of the "stagy-arty" part of the movie, not the "movie-movie" part, which for me would include mainly of character bits (Alva trying to go back to sleep, some of Anthony Quinn's "business", the dog at beginning and end, a few other things I'll try to catch when viewing it again tonight....)

[Western Movie Rambles]

Thanks, ro! Woo-hoo to you, too!

 

Hey, if you're not too busy, I'm craving a German chocolate cake.  (I don't cook, and our Boca bakeries are not the best; I can't find a good one!)  Could you whip one up?  I promise to share it with everyone, lol.

 

Don't send it by stagecoach.

[Western Movie Rambles]

Lafitte, thanks for the compliment, but I can't come close to your eloquence!  I love that photo of Leigh.  Lamar Trotti's screenplay did make it seem believable for Sparks and even Don Martin to wax poetic.

 

Your insight into Fonda's character is fantastic.  I found myself nodding in agreement with your every word.  I think Carter was blindsided by Rose's actions -- his manhood wounded -- and probably brooded that life was not worth the living, so being swept up in the mob fury wasn't something he initially struggled against (just another aggressive "outlet" for frustrated libidos?) and then his essential decency was awakened.  But I don't want to get overly Freudian, lol. 

 

I have to say I did laugh at Alva but in the scene where "Dad" is harshly routed out of his knapsack with an accusing gun to the face.   Ford does an Alastair Sim-as-Scrooge response, pulling up the covers and trying to get back to sleep, as though it were all a bad dream he could shake off and replace with pleasant ones.

 

I think you're right about how Tetley tried to rationalize his martinet actions.  But he was just competent and intelligent enough (notice how razor-sharp he probes, interrogates, comes to what seem like logical conclusions) to make it seem like he had all the correct and proper authoritative "moves" as a commander-in-chief (of his own "skirmish" I guess) to coordinate and carry out what I assumed he thought was moral as well as military "justice".

 

Just from her performance in this film, I now feel the urge to see all of Mary Beth's work.  You might have a different urge, though, ha! 

[Western Movie Rambles]

Hi, guys -- well, I guess I'll tie my horse to an old hitching post here and tell you that for years I had avoided THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, and I'm not exactly sure why.  Perhaps if I had known when I was much younger that Wild Bill was considered a "man's man" director (after all, wasn't he behind WINGS and THE PUBLIC ENEMY? -- a sort of rough-and-tumble sort (but not realizing he had done a lot of early "outsider" pre-code Depression era "social conscious" types of films I suppose you could say? It's obvious I'm no Wellman expert), I wouldn't have put off this viewing experience thinking it was something one "had" to see -- a dry, lifeless, "professorial" textbook on tolerance, etc.) So when I finally caught up to OX-BOW, it was a revelation for me in that I think it's an irresistible blend of "message", "movie-movie", and theatrical Greek tragedy or Shakespearean kind of presentation -- "The Letter" giving us the message (and I guess some would argue it was unnecessary and a bit preachy, since everything that came before was an unspoken message; how could a simple cowboy like Donald Martin write something so philosophical to his wife moments before the realization of his death, etc.) The "movie-movie" aspects might be all the great character actors and the little bits of business they utilize; then the almost Expressionistic
"arty" stage setting with the nightmarish gnarled tree standing out grimly in the noirish night.  It reminds me of John Ford (and I'm also no Pappy authority; that's Miss G.) in the seamless blending of all these aspects -- great filmmaking in its purest 'movie-movie" visual and character actor sense, combined with thematic integrity, and "gussied up" a bit with flourishes of stylization.

 

Now granted that probably we won't ever know about how much remained on the cutting room floor -- Carter and Croft are described as "strangers", but they seem to know many of the townsfolk and vice-versa.  How long were they away? The backstory on Rose and Gil seems equally confusing.

 

Here is what I love: -- the shy smiles of two people trying to make a human connection in a distressing situation that pass between the so-called weakling son and  Don Martin.  Also:

 

Francis Ford's Alva, the pathetic senile old coot who is still wily (our baser "human" instincts?) enough to immediately put the blame on Anthony Quinn's Morez. (I adore Tony here -- hard, cynical, stoic, sardonic, a terrific "minor" piece of acting) Yet the scene in which Major Tetley is trying to glean whether "Dad" has been in the miltary by calling out "Attention!" is very poignant, since a dottering Alva is unable to even stand straight and respond in any meaningful way.  I just love the shadings and complexities of the "mob" -- Ma Grier, the great Jane Darwell, looking almost appreciatively at the macho way Quinn removes his own bullet; the slobby, drunken, grotesque, rope-swinging Smith, nevertheless he seemed to understand and have some sympathy for the plight Rose Mapen had brought upon herself in marrying into that rich, uptight Swanson family; Major Tetley, a fascinating performance by Frank Conroy -- gentlemanly, soft-spoken, competent on the surface, but cruel and sadistic to his stepson Gerald. (William Eythe; I could have done with just a hair's breath less of those sensitivity "poses"); Jeff Farnley (Marc Lawrence (I always remember him as "Charlie Smith" from HOLD THAT GHOST), who at the beginning of the story tells Hank, "I think it's best not to think";  Leigh Whipper (wonderful) as the gentle, compassionate preacher Sparks; Henry Fonda, surly, morose, combative, forlorn, not as "simplistic" as he looks; pal Art Croft, a fine Harry Morgan -- faithful friend, plain-spoken, not the brightest bulb but someone you'd want to have around in all sorts of circumstances; the amazing Dana Andrews -- l agree with FrankGrimes in finding it hard to believe how much genuine emotion spilled out of this actor!  His performance really brings home in a heart-and-soul way, the harrowing, painfully slow, torturous nature of this horrible event.  You really feel for him and want to escape, too, from the claustrophobia in mind, spirit, and atmosphere, of the mob mentality.  And Mary Beth Hughes as Rose Mapen!  Oh, my gosh, lol, you know, she dominates what little screen time is allotted her in the final print.  At first primly stepping out of the carriage, then she almost struts -- she won't be intimidated, and, despite her obvious feminine, sensual and sexual charms, has a "masculine" air about her -- somewhat predatory, but in the silent face-to-face with Gil, a whole range of emotions wash over that baby-doll face -- regret, lust, grief, longing, only to compose itself again with a mask of hardened self-possession.  Her wink, to "the town" -- blink  and you'll miss it -- is mostly bravado -- there seems to be a bit of insecurity behind it.  She knows what people think of her, -- an "uncontrollable" female, able to get what she wants from a man, probably too impatient to wait for Fonda, a so-called "simple" cowpoke confused about women, and I think scared of them, unsure of how to "handle" her, concerned about his own masculinity (which I think underlines the violence of the men).  It's easy to see that Smith's prediction will come true -- lots of problems down the road for her and Swanson, and I don't see that marriage lasting longer than perhaps a week!

 

I was beginning to think that winking was a motif throughout the movie, lol.  Bar owner Darby gives one to Gil as they're talking about "strangers" and cattle;  then of course there's Rose's "here I am, boys!" nod to her "audience", and -- I almost missed it the first time around -- Anthony Quinn shoots one at Farnley as Morez   blithely throws the knife back.   All this "casual" winking.

 

So many terrific camera shots -- We first see Tetley in the foreground in front of his "Southern" mansion, then as he rides into town, the camera shoots upward so that he seems to lord it over Harry Davenport's level-headed Davies -- these shots emphasize, of course, Tetley's so-called authority and tyrannical nature.  Then there's Swanson's lizard eyes framed over the coach door, staring out at rival Fonda.  And the true minority, Sparks, we see him from behind, "separate" from the men as he's sitting alone whittling.

 

The film seems remarkably ahead of its time, I can't specifically put my finger on why, but it almost anticipates those 1950's movie and even television dramas dealing with these issues.  There's a "modernity" to the entire production.

 

I felt a distinct lack of "feminine", constructive life-force in the town --the men were at the mercy of their own "masculine", biological tendencies towards destruction.  All the women -- Rose, Jenny "Ma" Grier, even Margaret Hamilton as the Judge's housekeeper, seemed to be the antithesis of the nurturing female, and I think the men felt this.  As moira said, Jenny was more bloodthirsty than almost all of them!

 

I love the canine bookending.  Still trying to figure out what that painting meant and the dialogue along with it.   Hank's words to Art at the finale reminded me of Tim Holt in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE -- some form of redemption and continuation of a memory, being born again, a renewal of hope after going through the shadows of guilt, destruction, and death, moving consciously and confidentally as a man (in the best sense of the word) towards the one (offscreen) woman -- Martin's widow -- who maybe symbolically represents a return to hearth, home, peace, and eternal love.

[The Annual FrankGrimes Torture Thread]

Chris, congratulations on 30 years with your lovely Bride.  How wonderful! Yabba-dabba-dooo!

 

 

[Western Movie Rambles]

Thanks, Goddess.  Everybody in the town seemed to "know" about Rose, lol.  (I think her best bet is to flee as far as she can from that control-freak husband and his Ghost & Mrs. Muir-ish sister, then make it up with Carter and the two of them could settle down in a little vine-covered cottage somewhere out East)

 

We could discuss the film either here or on your Rambles thread, where ro sent me the link to discussions on it.  Either one is fine with me.  

 

See you later!

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

ro, if it's okay with everyone, we might meet in Darby's Saloon over at Western Rambles. (although the link you gave me to those prior discussions on TOBI were in Miss G.'s Rambles; perhaps we should go there?) Either yours or hers.   I saw it again (successfully!) on YouTube last night, and can't wait to chew the fat with y'all later this evening, after I get home from the crazy house, er, I mean, work.

 

So if the QT is "The Man" and Hannah is "The Kid", what's your nickname, lol?

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Hi, ro and moira!  Just got home from a bizarre evening at work -- a few of the students were complaining about a teacher and how they were going to walk out of her class; our somewhat volatile and eccentric program director asked them: "Have you ever heard of a movie called MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY?  Do you know what a mutiny is?  Is there a dictionary in Portugese around so I can explain?"  I couldn't leave fast enough, lol.  I'm exhausted and am about to make myself about ten cups of Taster's Choice and then watch a little Jewelry Television to unwind before TOBI on YouTube tonight. 

 

ro, I'm in love with your Famous Amos! (used to LOVE those cookies -- I think there was a shop in Los Angeles back in the '70's when I lived there.  But like everything else, they just don't have that same taste I remember.  Maybe it's for the best, lol)  Oh my gosh, he's adorable for sure. I can't stand it!  That photo brings out all his personality and BIG FEET.  What a sweetheart!  Does he plop in your lap when you're watching television?  (better than having an alpaca in the living room)

 

moira, I can't tell you how fascinated I was with Mary Beth Hughes' performance as Rose Mapen.  And it was all of -- what? five minutes?  At one point, she winks -- but not just any wink -- and I was instantly saying to myself, "I need to find out about this actress. She's got to be more than some dime-a-dozen starlet who I vaguely remember from THE GREAT FLAMARION and other B pictures."  Mary Beth OWNED her scenes, and I was so impressed! But I loved all the performances in this great film.  I'll talk more about her when I see it again this evening, and I'll probably write my thoughts up tomorrow. 

 

So where should we meet for THE OX-BOW INCIDENT?  You guys tell me, and I'll follow!

 

Harry Morgan's nostrils were somewhat distracting.

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Double post.

 

Time to make the coffee....

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

First things first -- I saw THE OX-BOW INCIDENT last night, but on Retroplex!  Completely unexpected -- was channel surfing and there it was.  This was before I was going to try and see if the YouTube version was working properly. (and I now want to immediately "revisit" the film there this evening before scribbling my comments about it at our Western round-up)  I've got one thing to say  about Mary Beth Hughes -- I have a feeling young Norma Jean watched her more than Betty Grable in order to develop an intriguing and sexy screen image.  Tell me I'm crazy, or not, lol.

 

As for Dana Andrews, I'm loving this:

 

 

 

lafitte, I'm just too darned lazy to cook beans.  The only things I buy at Whole Foods are their pumpernickel bagels and some other baked goods; occasionally I'll pick up something from take-out.  You've got coyotes?  That's romantic to me!  I love those iconic images of them putting their heads back and howling at the moon.  As for SUSPIRIA, don't go by me -- I get queasy at the weirdest things.  I know what you mean about the emoticons.

 

Swithin -- you know, I think I've had that dish in Chicago!  It's fabulous, one of the most delicious Middle Eastern dishes! They put small pieces of toasted pita bread in it, don't they?  Very unusual. As I remember, it was served at a restaurant in Evanston; wish I could remember the name....

 

Sans, I would eat your stuffed beets. The addition of sour cream and bacon makes  it even better.

I love your photo of the squirrel, lol. 

 

Ro, I used to watch Dinner and a Movie and loved that song, too!  Yes, cornbread makes beans taste better, definitely.  Glad to hear you're a cabbage-head as well, lol.  I always have a PLETHORA, ha! of brussel sprouts sitting in my freezer.  I used to think they were just for "the holidays" but I eat them more now because of the health benefits as well as their taste.  Could you post a photo of Amos?  He sounds so loveable.  It sometimes seems to me that Boca has more lizards than people, but for me, that's a good thing!

 

Goddess, Pappy was certainly a piece of work, lol, but I really think he was just a big old mush-bear inside, and didn't want people to know how much he really cared.

[Western Movie Rambles]

I guess phrases like "hang in there" "let's all hang together", "oh, hang it all!" take on new meaning after one sees this film, lol.  I shouldn't be laughing, though....

 

I was all over the place too, backwards and forwards, trying to find "cohesive" discussion on it -- you should have seen me, like a madwoman -- "Where is it?  What are they talking about now?" "One minute  Major Tetley, now it's Ava Gardner?"  LOL  I was going nuts, but don't worry, I'll figure it out, hopefully by this century.   I think you

mentioned something to Frank that Miss G. commented she thought the confusion about Rose Mapen was because some scenes ended up on the cutting room floor?  So I was trying to find her thoughts on this but couldn't, and that also had me wishing for some sangria by my side. (all I have in my refrigerator is Arizona diet peach tea, strawberry seltzer, and chocolate soy milk)

 

Thanks, partner, talk to you later when hopefully I'll have the seen the whole shabang!

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

But lima beans have their own song!

 

 

 

And they're so adorable you could practically draw little faces on them, put them in dresses or jeans, and pretend they're Thumbelina.  Can't you see Danny Kaye making lima beans dance?

 

You cannot do this with garbanzos, for instance.  Now, I used to enjoy them, but, and I hope I don't gross anyone out, but after seeing SUSPIRIA several years ago I could never look at them the same way again, except in hummus, which I do eat on occasion lapped up with good pita bread.  I generally enjoy all kinds of beans, but they don't love me, if you know what I mean.  Even a certain product designed to deal with this problem doesn't really help, lol.  And though I'm not from Dixie, I crave lots of Southern food -- which usually include butter beans and other legumes. 

 

ro, beans (for the most part) are your friends!  They want companionship.  And baked beans -- ah!  I fondly remember those frankfurter-and-baked bean plates from our Bronx deli back in the day.  So delicious, and I could eat them when I was younger with fewer, er, repercussions.

 

I love black-eyed peas!  The mushier, the better! 

 

lafitte, if there's a good deli in your area, call them up and ask if they include lima bean soup in their rotating menu.  The little beggars also have to be cooked so they're nice and soft -- nothing worse than a hard bean.  I've never eaten kale but apparently it's the "hip" green-du-jour for the Hollywood set who like to eat "clean".   I often think about picking it up at my supermarket but then always change my mind, don't know why. 

 

Sans, I'm so relieved about the cabbage, lol!  They don't often get enough respect, however; how many times have we seen movies about people who are desperate to move up in the world and get away "from the smell of cabbage".   I like brussel sprouts, especially "dressed up" with bacon.  Canned or fresh beets are anathema to me.  Ugh!  Slimy, nauseating things!  But liquidate them to make borscht, add some sour cream -- and that's food for the gods!

 

I had two interesting Boca animal situations the other day.  I was at my hair salon, at a mall which is notorious for harboring the larger species of lizards around town.  They're not geckos; perhaps chameleons, not sure, but these "babies" are huge -- and apparently "tame".  I was waiting outside on a little bench for my appointment munching a bagel (plain) when one of them skittered near my feet and looked up with beady little eyes.  There seemed to be an imploring, searching gaze leveled AT MY BAGEL.  Instinctively, I cut off a piece and crumbled it up, then threw it at the ground.  Suddenly FIVE LIZARDS CAME DARTING OUT OF THE BRUSH AND GOBBLED UP THE BAGEL.  Then they hung around presumably hoping I'd throw out more crumbs, which I did.  Then I walked inside for my color-and-cut.  The lizards then made a hasty departure, back to their reptilian condos.

 

Later on, I was back home gathering two plastic bags to dispose of my garbage    I got out of the elevator with this load propped up on a shopping cart (('m on the third floor) and was walking toward the downstairs bin when from a distance I saw a squirrel, who we very rarely see in this complex, start running toward me with what I felt was somehow more than just innocent scampering.  He looked like one of those series of "Dramatic" animals you see on YouTube, but I wasn't sticking around to find out.  Now normally I love the furry little things, but something told me to RUN.   This squirrel wanted SOMETHING -- not food -- but MY SOUL.  You should have seen me high-tail it, so to speak, back to the elevator, my shopping cart with the two plastic bags of garbage tottering from the alacrity of my leave-taking, trying to avoid this demonic squirrel.  He didn't want nuts.  He didn't want whatever he smelled in those bags.  He WANTED ME.  I managed to get back safely into my apartment, but miffed that I still had my garbage -- I just hate leaving it around longer than a day, but was afraid to walk out again, thinking that rodent was somehow waiting for me.  I called up my girlfriend later on and she couldn't stop laughing.  "Did it ring your doorbell?"  She said she would have paid to see the spectacle of me running for my life from this apparent garden-variety squirrel.

 

 

[Western Movie Rambles]

Thanks, Ma Stone!  (glad you're not Ma Grier, oh, my stars! The cackling chilled my blood....) I got halfway through THE OX-BOW INCIDENT on YouTube when the video malfunctioned and all I could get was just sound, so I'll try again this evening and hope for the best.  I went back to those early posts you gave the link for, but the discussions on the film seemed to stop after a few pages (or, I just couldn't locate them; for instance, was trying to find out something about the Rose Mapen "romantic" subplot, and I'm wondering if more posters joined in)  My gosh, Dana Andrews is knocking my socks off with his completely unexpected heartfelt, beautifully emotional performance.  This is not the taciturn (but subtle and underrated iconic) actor we've come to know and appreciate from LAURA and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES.  He brings new dimensions to his talent!

[Western Movie Rambles]

How-dee!!  Thank you kindly, ma'am!!  Ro, your comments are a wonderfully thoughtful springboard for me and I'm going to check out the back-and-forth with the rest of the gang -- so appreciate the link --.I want to get a general "lay of the land" on the film before diving into it myself on YouTube, and then I definitely will throw in my two cents; that is, if anyone is interested in "reviving" the discussions.  I don't want to take your thread in any wayward directions, lol, especially if people who had previously participated feel the topic has already been exhausted.

[RAMBLES Part II]

Hi, guys!  Anybody remember where past discussion on THE OX-BOW INCIDENT might be?  I also left a query on the Western side of town!

[Western Movie Rambles]

Desperately Seeking Past Discussions of THE OX-BOW INCIDENT!

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Good day to you, Swithin!

 

Sans, I can't wait to hear about cabbage taunting.  Already I'm feeling very sorry for that vegetable.  Thanks for the help with my avatar!  I'll try....

 

lafitte, I'm fond of lima beans -- they're cute! I like the taste, too, nice and starchy, lol.  Good in soups, making them hearty and "home-style".

 

Gee, I didn't even realize THE FURY is a Brian De Palma movie.  Obviously this is one that escaped me over the years.  But it still looked pretty schlocky, lol.

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

I'm still tweaking my avatar because I didn't crop it properly (leave it to moi to screw things up) -- you can see the "full" photo at my Profile page.  I'm still learning the basics of computer 101, so I thank everyone for putting up with my incompetence.  I left out the bottom of the sarcophagus, lol.

However, I'm reasonably certain that Ann Sheridan is not inside.

 

 

ro, one of the main reasons I love the speech is Hank's particular "Midwestern cadence" that Peter talks about.  It just seems to reinforce the honesty and poignancy of those beautiful, important words.

 

Sans, oh my gosh, the extent of your knowledge is breathtaking -- I love it!  Thank you for validating my memories of ramp and vetch.  I was at the point of believing that maybe they only existed in my imagination.

 

Miss G., is the Frank you talk about in that wonderful Pappy anecdote Hawks' brother or Ford's?  (I see Francis is in the cast of THE OX-BOX INCIDENT)  Actually I think Mom only saw Fonda's very early screen work, and during one of those films with perhaps Sylvia Sidney.  It was then that she "perceived"  some undefined future hirsuiteness, lol.

 

lafitte -- I also saw that THE OX-BOW INCIDENT is on YouTube!  I'm so excited!   I'm recording RED RIVER now.  Later on I'll settle in with a big mug of coffee and get my Jerry Orbach "Law & Order" fix on Sundance Channel.   I'm very familiar with "kvetch" too, lol.  It's funny, but the older I get, certain foods repel me and/or just don't hold any interest like they used to.  Spinach is one of them; tomatoes are another.  And lately just the thought of mushrooms makes me queasy. 

 

Oh, if Hansel & Gretel disturbs you, I wouldn't recommend WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO?.  Shelley Winters is naturally terrifying, but in that movie you don't wanna know about it, lol.

 

So last night, tossing and turning, I put on cable and there is Amy Irving, in typical ugly '70's garb, squeezing blood out of a relatively thin Charles Durning's hand on a Gothic staircase in THE FURY.  I've got to look for this on YouTube.  It's a Bad Movie You Love in the making, I'm sure.  I wanted to continue watching, because it was so wonderfully awful, but fell asleep during a scene at an amusement park where a couple of visiting sheiks were joyfully getting ready to go on one of the rides but then were waylaid along with other tourists by a telekinetic teenager's apparent sexual rage.  I know: whaaaa?  I can't believe Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes are in this.

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

At long last......!  THANK YOU MOIRA, LYNN, MISS G., AND EVERYBODY!!!

 

I'll see you guys later this evening!

 

Me and my mummy, lol.

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Oh, no, lol, do we have to start all over again?  And I've always been the kind of person who'll walk right past the mailbox with a letter in my hand.  But I'm getting generally worse overall memory-wise as age creeps up.  I used to think it was "cool" and "hip" to be a Baby Boomer but now I'm not so sure, ha!  My poor Woodstock generation -- now we're considered practically codgers.  Or what's even more embarrassing -- television commercials that play the Stones or Dylan, thinking our demographic will buy more toilet paper or something if we hear that music.  I just cringe and get another brand, mostly out of spite.

 

I think THE OX-BOW INCIDENT was Dana Andrews' first film, not sure.  I've seen bits and pieces of this movie over the years, and from Jane and Peter Fonda's TCM tribute to their father of him reading that letter.  I've always loved Henry's voice.

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Hey, ro,  if I get lucky  I can find  THE OX-BOW INCIDENT on YouTube and then wouldn't mind moseying on over thatta way myself to chime in.  I don't think it was that long ago, was it?

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

oooh, lafitte, swiss chard!! I've never actually eaten it, but it always sounds so posh to me, lol.  Does it taste anything like spinach?  Looks delish, even in that primordial ooze, ha!  What a pretty garden you have.  Hey, your finished  omelette, omlette, omelet, etc. looks like a yummy piece of poached salmon.  And it would definitely pair well with a cream puff. Another vote for alien and flat, yay!  What is that vegetable always mentioned in fairy tales -- ramp?  I vaguely recall reading about this in either Rapunzel or maybe it's another story.  But the name (if correct) was always so strange to me.  The heroine was continually harvesting it or something, or pulling it out of the earth.  It took a lot out of her.  Or maybe it's "vetch"? Is vetch a vegetable? (say that five times fast)  These fairy tale foods were very odd.

 

For some reason I always think of THE OX-BOW INCIDENT as a John Ford film and not William Wellman. Maybe because of the atmospheric set-pieces?  Obviously I haven't seen it in quite some time.  I like Hank with Western-style whiskers -- the more grizzled, the better.  His dear friend Jimmy Stewart also looks good with some stubble, lol.  I think Mom was remembering an older hirsuite Fonda.  She might have alluded to his knuckles or possibly even back hair.

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Ro, you should see the way I make my omelettes -- I don't do it the 60 second French way (although I think Julia took about two seconds) but instead  let it get almost burnt because I like it sweet, so I sprinkle on raw/brown sugar and a drizzle of fresh lemon and it all gets caramelized on both sides.  Not rubbery, though.  Just to the point of chewiness.  But I'm strange, lol.  I hate those big puffy soft ones.  Mine look sort of alien and flat.

 

Normally I don't order meatloaf in restaurants because they never have that home-made taste but maybe we could tackle The Jackie Gleason!  And away we go......!

 

Hank should have gotten an Oscar for THE GRAPES OF WRATH....

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Ah, THE OX-BOW INCIDENT....I thought that was the title but just couldn't bring it forward.  My brain was going: "It's the something-something-something".   I sounded to myself like one of the party guests in ROPE.

 

lol, hey, it'll soon be summertime, and I hope we can both find our Renatos. (unmarried, of course)

 

Oh, Goddess, thanks so much -- I'll PM you!

[BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.]

Miss G.! Ha! Grazie mille!   Rudy is so sheik-chic, and Hank looks pensively handsome in that beard!  It really suits him there. (what movie is that publicity still from, per favore?)