Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Seduction of the Gullible

The closest thing to TCM on broadcast TV is the Movies! TV Network. Here in Boston it’s found on standard definition sub-channel 17-2 [later 38-5]. The station recently showed While the City Sleeps (1956), directed by Fritz Lang. On TCM the movie comes without commercials and with Eddie Muller’s always inciteful and enlightening commentary.

Estes Kefauver was a politician with Presidential aspirations, whose Senate committee on organized crime was depicted in The Godfather Part II.

Kefauver saw a connection between organized crime and juvenile delinquency, which the notorious Dr. Frederick Wertham insisted had a direct correlation to kids reading comic books. Which of course it didn’t. This clip is from a TV show that was directed by Irvin Kershner, the director of the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back.

By the way, the comic book killer in the movie was played by Drew Barrymore’s dad.

Back to Albuquerque

Better Call Saul is even better than its highly praised predecessor, Breaking Bad. The final season of 13 episodes begins on April 18.

https://youtu.be/meb8ksPgJ5M

My cable DVR says it’s going to record a preview this coming Saturday. After the final episode has appeared, TCM really will be the only reason for me to keep cable TV. The live channel is available with a Hulu subscription, but the Watch TCM streaming service requires a cable or satellite subscription.

Bob Odenkirk suffered a heart attack while he was on the set. He talked about it with Colbert a couple of weeks ago. I first started watching Breaking Bad after Colbert made references to it on his old Comedy Central show.

Duplicitous, Barr None

I am incredulous at what William Barr said on today’s Meet the Press, to promote his book that I will not read. The entire interview with Chuck Todd is worth watching, but this video starts at the point where I realized I was reflexively shaking my head at Barr’s twisted illogic.

Barr says, “I believe the progressive wing of the Democratc party is dangerous for the United States.” Todd almost seemed to stop himself from asking, “more dangerous than an outgoing President inciting a riot to prevent the Constitutionally-mandated transfer of power?”

re: Floridaze

Some Kind of Heaven is quite different from what I expected. Unlike the NY Times article, it ignores the conservative politics held by most residents of The Villages. After some very brief historical background, with no axes to grind, the documentary is a focused character study of a few residents.

One of them is a homeless con man, pretending to be a resident and searching for “a nice looking lady with some money” to take him in. Another is the long-suffering wife of a self-medicating, mentally ill man. Then there is the lonely widow from Boston who is having trouble finding her place among the fun-loving retirees.

The Villages in Florida may be America’s biggest retirement community, but it is not unique. I am very familiar with Sun City West in Arizona, and while watching the documentary I felt much of it could have been produced there. Here’s a conversation between the director and a couple living in The Villages.