RAMBLES Part II

[movieman1957]

>I much prefer this movie.

 

As do I. If I remember right Dom DeLuise running around too. It figures with Sidney Lumet and Fonda together again they would have a pretty powerful film. Matthau is even a bit of a revelation.

[fxreyman]

*********SPOILERS*********

 

Well, I think you are going to be a little disappointed MissG......

 

New York did not get it, but the plane made a mistake a bombed Martha's Vineyard instead.

 

Ha ha ha ha...

 

No, actually General Black flew his Vindicator bomber to New York City with the Empire State Building as ground zero. Just as he released the bomb, he took one of those pills and killed himself.

 

As he was drifting away, we can hear him and his dream of the bullfighter again.

 

Of course, not only was the president's wife in New York, but also General Black's wife was there as well.

 

The last few images were of children playing, traffic, people walking around and then all of a sudden an image of birds taking off and then......black screen.

[MissGoddess]

SPOILERS!!!

 

>

> As do I. If I remember right Dom DeLuise running around too. It figures with Sidney Lumet and Fonda together again they would have a pretty powerful film. Matthau is even a bit of a revelation.

 

Ha! I was that surprised to see Matthau, but I figured he had to be playing

an unpleasant sort of character, and he was. But wow, the biggest surprise

was seeing Dom DeLuise as the sergeant who had to spill the beans to the

Russians after the Colonel went berserk.

[MissGoddess]

HA! You had me going there, Rey.

 

What a heavy ending, I'm almost glad I didn't see it. Well, it

suits the cautionary nature of the film.

[OllieTSB]

MissG, you haven't seen these mega-hit gag-fests?!! What are you doing with all this free time?!! Jiminy! I didn't even mention Danny Glover in 2012, who FINALLY gets flattened by an aircraft carrier while he's strollin' around what's-left-of Pennsylvania Avenue. So much for "White House on high ground"! (I hafta admit - I probably would never step outside onto the White House lawn and ponder, "Is this the day a giant nuclear aircraft carrier gets dropped on my punkin' head?")

 

And President Beau in that LA-Earthquake film where some giant chasm forms - and it's probably near my place on Hermosa Beach. Jeepers... I'm really disappointed you didn't see that one! "Come on out for a visit - now I've got BOTH sides of the house as beach-front property. Signed, Your best friend in Atlantis" There were several of these TV-films, and I've effectively repressed their exact titles from my memory, hoping to save those gray-cells for soup recipes instead. Seems a far better use.

 

How can you POSSIBLY talk about "believability" when it comes to Prez Bill Pullman flying around with Randy Quaid, Will Smith and Harry Connick Jr, defeating those evil alien slimeballs?!! C'mon - that looked SOOO real. Well... OK. "Randy Quaid, down and out, drunk, drugged, hallucinating, etc." Ya can't argue with THAT portrait, can ya?

[MissGoddess]

Hahahaaaaaaa!! You're killing me, Ollie!

 

I really have been wasting my time watching TCM nonsense. :0

[OllieTSB]

Well, since TCM put up VOLCANO, MEN IN BLACK and RUSH HOUR twice each during Oscar season, anything can happen. Boy. VOLCANO. I tell ya - oatmeal and food coloring, rolling down a model-street under Arby's heat lamps. Jiminy. I've never quite understood the Oscars for nominating a lit-up RECIPE but Harryhausen's never been nominated. Sheesh.

 

In reality, though, Morgan Freeman did a great job in his (and T?a Leone's vignette) on DEEP IMPACT. "We tried, we failed, the Earth won't survive as we know it. Goodbye and good luck." I really did like his portrait of a president in that situation. That's probably why I'd nominate him for God, if that position is ever left vacant. MORGAN ALMIGHTY could be an interesting film.

 

He did a pretty interesting little film called 10 ITEMS OR LESS and turns in an even better performance. But he's been doing that in a lot of films - "Interesting film but he's even better."

[CineMaven]

> "How can you POSSIBLY talk about "believability" when it comes to Prez Bill Pullman flying around with Randy Quaid, Will Smith and Harry Connick Jr, defeating those evil alien slimeballs?!! C'mon - that looked SOOO real. Well... OK. "Randy Quaid, down and out, drunk, drugged, hallucinating, etc." Ya can't argue with THAT portrait, can ya?"

Ha! Wow. I have a little time before I jump off the Brooklyn Bridge (see filmlover's Kim Novak thread) and the strangest thing occurred to me with this movie. I saw it in the theatre. LOVED it. Went to a three a.m. show with a bunch of people (or was it seven a.m.). Bought the hype and loved the film.

 

When I saw it on cable a few years ago...I HATED the film. I hated that Will Smith actually punched an alien in the face. I hated drunk Randy. And Bill (No Lips) Pullman as Mr. President? I wanted to give up my American citizenship. (I did like him in "The Last Seduction" and "Malice." (Anne Ban-

croft's ten minutes of screen time was worth the whole movie. In fact the whole cast was great in "Malice").

 

Was "Independence Day" always yucky crap? Why did I like it in the theatre and then on tv hated it? These are rhetorical questions that I can't figure out. That's never happened to me before or since. I don't like earthlings besting aliens (* "War of the Worlds" "The Thing" "Signs"). What's wrong with me.

 

Edited by: CineMaven on Aug 11, 2010 4:00 PM P.S. * That's Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" NOT the original.

[OllieTSB]

I enjoy these films in theaters routinely. And I step exactly into your parallel universe with TV viewings of them. They sit on our shelves and none of us have ever voluntarily plopped them into the DVD player.

 

The Big Screen experience is great, no doubt about it. The crowd's enthusiasm helps so much, or the shared viewing experience rather - not just enthusiasm, but the tension, or a crowd collectively jumping and screaming at just the right moment.

 

If you get a chance to see these films in some theater again, I hope you do it just to see if the magic is rekindled.

 

Four years ago, two of our megaplexes showed HELP and HARD DAYS NIGHT for some anniversary, for 3 days and nights, 28 hours a day (oops, wrong song). Just yesterday, our paper carried a story about "death of cinemas" and that megaplex manager was commenting that the only time he's seen multiple-screen sell-outs in a month was that one Beatles weekend when every screen was sold out all three full days and nights. Hint, hint...

 

We always get routine sell-outs for our local retrospective film festivals at the old palace theaters. Part of this is definitely because of the shared-big-screen experience - seeing so many classics on the big screen, often for the first time. Another part is the Certainty Of A Classic Film's Quality. I doubt if anyone sees our twice-a-year showings of CASABLANCA for 'the first time ever', but a lot see it on the big screen for the first time. And more generations will continue to do that as long as some big-screen theaters give us a chance.

 

But if they collapse because patrons refuse to pay $20 for popcorn, well, that's all the theater chains are asking for!

[MissGoddess]

Oh, I did see Independence Day on television. Blah.

 

CineMave, I'll jump with you off that bridge. My inferiority complex

should be heavy enough to sink us both.

[JackFavell]

Oh, CM, Ollie, I did see *Independence Day* in the theater and had much the same experience. I thought it was one of the better ones of these world disaster flicks, but on the small screen I hated it, and realized I had been played by the media moguls.

 

*Volcano?* meh. That one IS a disaster, anywhere you watch it.

 

I was forced to watch *Deep Impact* the other night because my hubby was watching it when I finally sat down on the couch after a hard day's work. Once was OK, but the second time? It was agony, like pulling teeth. Until..... Robert Duvall's scene with the guy who got blinded by the sun. Oh, my goodness, it was such a *joy* to watch and hear Duvall read the beginning of Moby Dick after all that crap. And then, Maximilian Schell had a moment...... right before The Big Swim......in which he really made me cry.

 

Those guys made it almost worthwhile sitting through all the dreck. And it just goes to show you.... a classic movie actor can't help being good, even when he is just taking the paycheck.

 

Molo - those words about Patricia Neal were just wonderful.

[CineMaven]

> "CineMave, I'll jump with you off that bridge. My inferiority complex should be heavy enough to sink us both."

Et tu Brutus? Say it ain't so. Not you Miss G. Why, Robert Osborne said you were adorable. Don't jump. The board needs ya.

[MissGoddess]

Well, Robert said just as wonderful things about YOU and you are the Maven we can't do without.

So I guess we'll grab a cocktail instead.

[movieman1957]

Robert was right both times.

[MissGoddess]

Prince MovieMan.

[fxreyman]

Actually Ollie, it was the USS John F. Kennedy, CV-67.

 

She was a conventionally powered aircraft carrier (oil-fired) not nuclear like the Nimitz class (CVN-68- 77) and the one and only Enterprise, CVN-65.

[CineMaven]

Thank you Movieman.

 

You got it Ms. G.

 

:-)

[OllieTSB]

FX, I didn't realize that the Navy had any non-nukey carriers left. Well - in 2012, we can see they'll have at least one less!

 

Oh well... if Kirk Douglas is still around, maybe he can teach 'em how to poke holes in the sides and learn to row those suckers up and down the Med. 1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3...

 

Too bad Whimore's gone... Maybe he coulda helped Danny do some fancy-foot work and whistle his way back. "Ya had a good home but ya left (YER RIGHT), ya had a good girl but ya left (YER RIGHT), sound off...(1 2) sound off (3 4)..."

[Bronxgirl48]

molo, your Patricia Neal tribute is so beautiful and eloquent.

[CineMaven]

A good quote is worth repeating:

 

"It was so sad to here of Patricia Neal's passing. I first became aware of Neal through her

personal battles. I finally started watching her films and I came to think of her as quite an interesting actress. She was unconventional. Her features were hard yet delicate and grew more so with time. It was all the more fascinating when she softened up emotionally.

 

She was regal by nature and had an imperious voice, yet she reveled in complex, even sor-

did situations. She was deft at maintaining control and emotional distance and when she did

break the pathos could be all the more overwhelming. She simmered in soft fires. I'll miss her." - Molo14.

[SueSueApplegate]

Molo, a great tribute, and Cinemaven, thanks for repeating it.

 

Miss G, I also missed the last few minutes of *Failsafe*, and am so glad to find out

about the ending. Thank you, fxreyman!

[CineMaven]

Going to Fire Island for the weekend. Since I'm using such an antiquated method of recording movies from television (VHS/VCR) I only have six hours to squeeze in some movies I want to

see when I get back. Looked at a tiny bit of "Trail Street" this morning and Robert Ryan looks

so adorable; that deep gash in his cheeks when he smiles and his eyes all squinty and every-

thing. A far cry from him in "Billy Budd." (I had an old college classmate stay with me at "the villa" this week and his ex-girlfriend told him that Robert Ryan lived up in her neck of the woods years ago in Bronxville. She was a little girl at the time and didn't know why all the Moms were ga-ga

over "nice Mr. Ryan." Then when she got older, she finally saw him in films. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.")

 

And then there's Gene Tierney feted on Saturday...whose beauty was truly blinding.

 

Many of both of their movies I have seen before...but since a VHS tape only has six hours on it...

I decided to have these movies waiting for me when I get back:

 

* "Men In War"

* "The Shanghai Gesture"

* "Sundown" (where I get two for one: Tierney and Woody...no matter how small

a part he has)

 

I know...I know, I've got to catch up with the times like you guys and go the DVR/NETFLIX route. What can I tell ya? A Maven's clock turns stubbornly slowly. (And my learning curve ain't that

great either!)

[OllieTSB]

CM, I've got ya covered with SHANGHAI GESTURE and THE SUNDOWNERS. If you want to record two others, I'll make sure you can see these two.

 

Fire Island, eh? Listen - if I see ONE news report about radioactive monsters from prehistoric times rising up, I'll know it's ALL BECAUSE OF YOU. Teeny weeny itsy bitsy... darned beauties - they're always stirrin' up things!

[fxreyman]

Hi there Ollie,

 

Actually the last non-nuclear carrier was decommissioned in 2009. That was the USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63. The JFK was decommissioned in 2007.

 

The first nuclear carrier to be decommissioned will be the famous USS Enterprise in 2013, when she will be just over 52 years of age.

 

Just a little info here:

 

After the Enterprise decommissions there will be 10 active carriers in the US fleet, eight more than any other navy currently has in commission.

 

A comparison..... During WWII, the US Navy had over 100 aircraft carriers in commission including over 25 large fleet carriers.

 

Also, the US Navy operates 10 Amphibious Assault ships. These ships are smaller carriers and are intended to offload Marines and often fly mainly helicopters and vstol aircraft like the Harrier.

 

The US Navy aircraft carriers currently in commission are:

 

Enterprise, CVN-65

One ship class commissioned in 1961. 1,123 feet long, 94,000 tons fully loaded. 75+ aircraft.

8 nuclear reactors. Top speed: 30+ knots (35-40 mph). Over 5,000 crew.

 

Nimitz, CVN-68

First ship of 10 unit class. Nimitz commissioned in 1975. 1,092 feet long. 106,000 tons fully loaded. 75 aircraft. 2 nuclear reactors. Top speed: 30 knots (35-40 mph). Over 5,000 crew.

 

Eisenhower, CVN-69

Carl Vinson, CVN-70

Theodore Roosevelt, CVN-71

Abraham Lincoln, CVN-72

George Washington, CVN-73

John Stennis, CVN-74

Harry Truman, CVN-75

Ronald Reagan, CVN-76

George H.W. Bush, CVN-77

 

The newest class of super carriers have just recently been started with the keel being laid down for the Gerald R. Ford, CVN-78. A petition has been started to name the next carrier after the Ford, CVN-79, the Enterprise. If that happens, CVN-79 will be the ninth Enterprise that has served in the US Navy.

 

The Amphibious ships in commission are:

 

Nassau, LHA-4

Peleliu, LHA-5

Wasp, LHD-1

Essex, LHD-2

Kearsarge, LHD-3

Boxer, LHD-4

Bataan, LHD-5

Bonhomme Richard, LHD-6

Iwo Jima, LHD-7

Makin Island, LHD-8

 

Most of these ships are from between 820 and 850 feet long and displace between 40,000 and 46,000 tons. A mix type of aircraft are carried, with most having between 20 and 40 helicopters, including attack, assault and cargo copters. Some of the ships carry Harrier Vstol aircraft. And the newer ships are equipped with the new tilt-rotor aircraft called the Osprey.

 

The next class of Amphibs have also been started with the recent keel being laid for the USS America, LHA-6. These ships will have in their aircraft inventory the newest fighter jet in the arsenal known as the F-35 Vstol.

[OllieTSB]

FX, so you're saying the JFK (CV67) must get re-commissioned sometime before Danny Glover's presidency in *2012*, and THEN is out, cruisin' around (like on a shakedown voyage or sea trials) and just HAPPENS to get dropped on Danny's head?!! WOW. Talk about REALLY bad luck!

 

Y'know, when he discovers this, he might not take that presidency after all.

 

Or maybe he'll pull a Daffy and be shouting "Stunt Man! Stunt Man!"

 

Now... who does Hollywood have that can pass for Danny Glover? Hmmm... he'd better start lookin' - he's got a couple of years to go but he might want to get to the Short List purdy qwik.