On Turner Classics Movies right now is Border Incident, about illegal immigration along the Mexican border 75 years ago. If you don’t mind the Japanese subtitles over the movie, here is another simulated TCM Noir Alley presentation, with Eddie Muller’s informative commentary.
https://youtu.be/-Gaq6qqsdHM
Someone who I know checks this site every so often might remember me liking Going in Style, when it came out in the memorable month of December, 1979. I haven’t seen the 2017 remake.
The premise of three average, old, law-abiding men robbing a bank is silly, but a lot of what happens in the story is at least plausible. The point of the movie isn’t the robbery, but the lives of the three retired friends who share a low-rent New York apartment to save on expenses.
Last night I watched Going in Style with an old man’s appreciation. Checking on their ages, George Burns, 83, was old enough to be Art Carney’s father. At 61, Carney was younger than I am now. With that in mind, Carney’s interest in women is established early in the movie. It’s one of the plausible parts. 😉
Carney’s character is tempted to take advantage of an opportunity with an obviously top-dollar “working girl” at a casino. Burns spoils it by indicating there’s no point in offering. Some friend he is!
I have no big point to make about the movie other than remembering how young I was when first seeing it, and realizing I’m now in the age group of the characters.
P.S. How plausible is it that all three men were widowers? Not very. A hidden subplot must be that at least one of them was a murderer before turning to robbery.
January, 2004 I became a Netflix customer.
Three years later, Netflix gave me access to its brand-new streaming service.
With streaming barely out of the starting gate, that August The Boston Globe profiled the expansive Netflix disc distribution center that serviced the area.
In February, 2009, exactly two years after having my first taste of Netflix streaming, the service had expanded enough to justify buying a first generation Roku player. Half a dozen streamers have come and gone from the house since then, with two Rokus and a Fire TV stick remaining.
In September, 2011 Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced Qwikster, a premature move away from discs.
In April, 2017, one month after retiring, I ended my Netflix disc subscription.
The final few days of Netflix’s physical media service, ending what it began, are here. Slate has a good opinion piece about it.
https://slate.com/culture/2023/09/netflix-dvd-rental-service-ending-movies-queue.html
A copyrighted film that I expect won’t be on YouTube forever is Black Narcissus, a sort of pessimistic answer to Lost Horizon. Like many Powell and Pressburger productions it’s unusual and not to everyone’s taste. The climatic scene where Deborah Kerr confronts Kathleen Byron, who is going mad with sexual desire, is truly remarkable, being both hilarious and terrifying. The influence of Powell on Hitchcock is apparent here, especially in Vertigo.
https://youtu.be/iL8FpRgLeu0
What the heck, here’s another favorite that’s even stranger. A Matter of Life and Death is known in America as Stairway to Heaven. It starts with an emotionally devastating radio chat between David Niven and Kim Hunter. He quotes Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” indicating his dying words are intended to seduce the girl he can hear but not see. Which he succeeds in doing.
Joe Pera doesn’t scream at his audiences and, as far as we know, he doesn’t jerk off in front of other comedians.
Here I am in a high school class play. If Elaine looked like she could have been captain of the cheerleading squad, that’s because she was. Such great acting, “pretending” to not be interested in me! 😉
Tonight I will be attending my — ulp! — 50th high school reunion. I just realized I’m dressed exactly the same way as in the picture, so I’ve made no progress at all in half a century. I’ll probably be wearing a party hat before the evening ends. Wish me luck.
