Category: Movies

Good Ole Boys Like Me

Good Old BoysWhile recently re-watching the movie Primary Colors (1998) for the umpteenth time, I noticed a song I had never really noticed before.  It occurs after John Travolta’s character Gov. Jack Stanton meets with Larry Hagman’s Gov. Fred Picker.  In a key scene near the end of the movie that was directed by Mike Nichols, Stanton walks away from Picker’s southern mansion singing a song.

Stanton then says how he loves the song, in particular a line about the Williams boys, Hank and Tennessee.   He expounds, “The picture ain’t never complete without old Tennessee.”  The song is “Good Ole Boys Like Me.”

I can still hear the soft southern winds in the live oak trees
And those Williams boys, they still mean a lot to me
Hank and Tennessee
I guess we’re all gonna be what we’re gonna be
So, what do you do with good ole boys like me?

The song captures the charm of Travolta’s character, who is based upon Bill Clinton during his race for the presidency.  It also shows the politician’s embrace of Southern culture.

The Song

Bob McDill wrote “Good Ole Boys Like Me,” a song that stacks together images of Southern culture.  The images range from a Civil War general to great American novelists like Thomas Wolfe.

McDill initially offered the song to Kenny Rogers, who found it too literary.  So, Don Williams recorded the song and created a classic.

Other people mentioned in the song are DJ’s like Wolfman Jack and John R., the latter of whom McDill listened to as a kid on WLAC radio out of Nashville.  McDill found inspiration to write the song with images of Southern culture while reading the novel A Place to Come To, by Robert Penn Warren.

McDill tells more about the story behind the song in the video below.  Check it out.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “First Reformed” Is a Movie For Our Time

    Ethan Hawke MovieI became intrigued when I saw First Reformed (2018), starring Ethan Hawke, appearing on many lists of the best movies of the year. The movie rightfully belongs on such lists. Fifty years from now when someone wonders what it was like to live during our current decade, one would do well to advise them to watch First Reformed.

    The movie says nothing about our current president.  But it says a lot about the angst of our modern age. During a time when our historic foundations have been shattered, for good or for ill, we face a world with new anxieties, uncertain about our future, overwhelmed to inaction.

    First Reformed tells the story of a priest played by Ethan Hawke in one of his best performances. The priest serves at a small historic church in upstate New York that is attended by few people. The small church, though, is connected to a more popular mega-church. The priest considers what humans are doing to the environment, even as his own body is failing.  He contemplates the meaning of faith and the responsibilities of good people in a world coming apart.

    Part of the crisis of faith arises when a parishioner played by Amanda Seyfried approaches the priest and asks him to counsel her husband. Her husband is involved with environmental activists.  Her husband faces an existential crisis, wondering how he and his pregnant wife can bring a child into such a horrible world.

    The exchange between the husband and the priest is one of the best philosophical discussions on screen in awhile.  And the scene sets up many of the questions the priest struggles with throughout the film.

    The acting is powerful.  In addition to Hawke’s wonderful performance, Amanda Seyfried and Cedric the Entertainer (Cedric Kyles), among others, do a great job in supporting roles.  Kyles brings nuance to a character in charge of the mega-church.  Such a character might otherwise have been a caricature.  And Seyfried provides a strong grounded balance to the men coming unhinged in the face of existential dread.

    I will not give away more about the plot.  But I will warn viewers that the movie does contain two surreal scenes that may have you scratching your head. This film is directed and written by Paul Schrader, who also wrote such films as Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980). So he knows how to push his viewers to confront bleak and uncomfortable issues in a beautiful way. The movie is challenging, which may account for the high critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (93%) and mediocre audience score (69%).

    And, while the ending may puzzle you for awhile, some contemplation may make you appreciate the whole film even more. It did for me.

    First Reformed is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

    What did you think of First Reformed? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” (Short Review)

    Buster Scruggs ReviewWhen it was announced that the Coen Brothers were releasing a new movie Western on Netflix called The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), I was quite excited as I love both Westerns and Coen Brothers films. The movie, which is really an anthology of six stories, creates an experience like reading a book of entertaining and thoughtful short stories.

    Short stories do not have the benefit of substantial character development, as does a novel. Some of the tales in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs may leave you wishing for more. And, like a book of short stories, some of the stories are stronger than others.  But the whole seems to get stronger the longer you watch.

    Six Tales

    Without spoiling any of the stories, I would note that even if you do not love the first two stories — “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and “Near Algodones” — you should continue. The segment that gives the movie its title features a happy singing gunslinger played by Tim Blake Nelson. “Near Algodones,” which features James Franco, is good but goes by too fast, like eating a small bag of potato chips. But you are likely to get drawn into the odd story of the third segment, “Meal Ticket,” featuring Liam Neeson.

    The fourth and fifth tales may be the strongest. “All Gold Canyon” features singer-songwriter Tom Waits doing a great acting job as a grizzled gold prospector in what may be the happiest of all the stories. And “The Gal Who Got Rattled” features many elements of a traditional wagon train epic.  It focuses on the plight of a woman whose companion on the trip, her brother, dies. Of all the segments, it is “The Gal Who Got Rattled” that appears most like it could have been developed into a feature film on its own.

    The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ends with a story set mainly in a stagecoach, “The Mortal Remains.” This segment plays more like a coda that connects again to issues about death and the frontier that echo throughout all of the segments.

    Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the movie a 91% critics rating and a 74% audience rating. In short, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a worthwhile trip through various Western tropes, such as gunslingers, con men, outlaws, wagon trains, gold prospectors, stagecoaches, and death. Partly because of the anthology nature, you likely will not find it to be your favorite Coen Brothers film.  But it is extremely enjoyable and worthwhile nonetheless.

    Which tale in “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is your favorite? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Aretha Franklin 1972 Performance Will Be Released: “Amazing Grace”

    Aretha Franklin Amazing During two nights at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972, Aretha Franklin gave what many consider among her greatest performances. Director Sydney Pollack filmed Franklin over January 13 and 14 as she worked on creating her great live album Amazing Grace.

    Fans have long hoped for the movie’s release. Now, the documentary, Amazing Grace is finally hitting theaters.

    After the initial recording of the performances, audio problems prevented the film’s release. But producer Alan Elliott eventually finished the film. The movie originally was scheduled to hit theaters in 2015.  But then an issue about rights prevented the release.

    Franklin’s estate, however, has made an agreement that will allow fans to see the film. Amazing Grace will have a limited theatrical release in November and December 2018 to qualify for the Best Documentary Oscar category. Check out the trailer below featuring the great Aretha Franklin.

    The album Amazing Grace sold more than two million copies.  It became what was the best-selling gospel album of all time.

    What is your favorite Aretha Franklin performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Final Film By The Three Stooges: “Kook’s Tour”

    Three Stooges Final FilmIn 1969, the Three Stooges began preparing for a run on television with production of a TV pilot.  The planned series featured Moe Howard, Larry Fine and “Curly” Joe DeRita as the retired Stooges taking a trip around the world with their dog, Moose.  Eventually, due to an unfortunate circumstance, the footage was made into what would be the final film featuring the Three Stooges, “Kook’s Tour.”

    The unfortunate event was that Larry Fine had a severe stroke on January 9, 1970 while the pilot was still being made.  The stroke paralyzed the left side of Fine’s body. Fine’s condition meant that they had to drop any plans for a TV series.

    Director Norman Maurer, however, cut the footage into a 52-minute film.  Producers marked the film in 1975 in Super 8 Sound home movie format.

    Below is Maurer’s edit of the film, “Kook’s Tour.” Check out the last film from the Three Stooges.

    Fine survived the stroke for several years, eventually dying on January 24, 1975. The original Curly, Curly Howard, had also had a stroke many years earlier, dying on January 18, 1952. Moe died less than four months after Larry on May 4, 1975 of lung cancer. Curly Joe lived until 1993.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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