ZMan summarizes the progression of misinformation and outright lies that continues to be the government’s response to an ugly reality. His conclusion is accurate. The whole thing has been handled badly and is now just an unnecessary government intrusion into the lives and livelihood of its citizens.
Category: Reviews
Reviews of books, movies, tv shows and other items
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) – A Movie Review
(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)
“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is a crime drama that takes place in and around Boston. Robert Mitchum is Eddie Coyle, a small-time member of an Irish gang who is about to be sentenced for a truck hijacking that he did for another gangster named Dillon who is played by Peter Boyle. Because Eddie doesn’t want to do anymore time he agrees to act as an informant to ATF agent Dave Foley. He informs on the gun runner Jackie Brown who has been providing Eddie with pistols for use by a bank robbing gang being run by Eddie’s friend Jimmy Scalise.
At the same time, we discover that Eddie’s associate Dillon is also providing information to Foley too. Eventually Dillon provides information on Scalise’s operation and the gang gets busted. When both Jackie Brown and Scalise both get taken down by ATF the head of the gang decides that Eddie is responsible for the leaks and sends his hitman to kill Eddie. And ironically the hitman is Dillon.
The movie consists of the various crimes, the gun-running and the bank robberies along with Eddie’s and Dillon’s meetings with Dave Foley. The movie’s strengths are the dialog and the portrayal of these characters. Listening to them justify the various and contradictory actions they take rings true. Even Eddie’s relationship with his wife and family demonstrates what a hopeless mess his life is. And the ending where Dillon takes Eddie to a Bruins hockey game and gets him black out drunk before executing him in a car ride into the suburbs is completely believable and emblematic of the faithless fraternity that these men inhabit.
Living in New England I asked a friend of mine what he thought about the somewhat recent Boston mob movie, “The Departed.” He said that the legitimate quintessential New England mob movie was the “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” And I agree with him completely. This movie feels about right as a representation of Boston corruption. Whether it’s gangsters or crooked politicians this is what that world looks and feels like. It’s petty and disloyal and penny-ante and very, very local. There’s nothing grandiose and nothing heroic. It’s gritty and believable.
If you like crime movies that reek of small-timer sweat, this is it.
The ZMan Doesn’t Hate J. D. Vance!
I suspect the FBI has swatted the ZMan, spirited him away to an underground, under-volcano lair for torture and replaced him with a robotic imposter. How else to explain this post where he more or less declares that J. D. Vance might just not be an establishment fink. Be still my beating heart.
Well, good for the ZMan. Being a protege of Peter Thiel I imagine Vance is a very smart guy who has one foot in the cloud world but with still one foot dragging wistfully on the dirt side. Let’s call him an ally for now.
14JUL2021 – City Journal – Why Cops Are Quitting by Charles Fain Lehman
Here’s an article where the writer interviewed policemen who had either just resigned or were preparing to. He gets their read on why policing the blue cities is no longer worth the personal risk.
A newly retired Minneapolis officer said, “And the fundamental conclusion that I reached was that following Derek Chauvin, it no longer matters if what you were doing was legal, trained, the morally right thing to do, reasonable under the circumstances, the best effort of a reasonable human being in a marginal circumstance, which is basically what cops do. None of that matters. What matters is the outcome, and if you become the next spark in a viral firestorm.”
Basically the officers know the mayors and the police commissioners don’t have their backs, “There’s not a single leader that steps up for the regular cop, the regular street cop,” a now-resigned Chicago officer said. “They have the power, they have the ability to get up there and say why this was justified, and then they can sit there and explain it if they want, but they don’t know how to, or they don’t want to, or they don’t care.”
Reading the comments I found several readers who have my opinion. Let the voters of Minneapolis and Portland and Chicago stay in their cities and defend themselves once the police are no longer there to protect them from the mob they’ve created.
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) – A Movie Review
“The Bad and the Beautiful” is a film about Hollywood. Kirk Douglas plays Jonathan Shields, the son of a famous Hollywood producer who has his sights set on following in his father’s footsteps. Starting out as the producer of B movies for a friend of his father’s, Harry Pebbel (played by Walter Pidgeon), Jonathan finds, befriends and ultimately betrays the best director, actress and author that fate sends his way. The movie is about this destructive mode of living that Jonathan inhabits. Along the way we see that Jonathan is both tremendously talented and possessed of enormous personal magnetism. But these positive traits are set against his staggering disregard for the welfare of the people around him. Basically, he’s a narcissist. He also suffers from bouts of clinical depression when he finishes each of his film projects.
The set up for the plot is the actress (Lana Turner playing Georgia Lorrison), the director (Barry Sullivan as Fred Amiel) and the author (Dick Powell as James Lee Bartlow) arriving at the office of Harry Pebbel who is trying to get the three of them to agree to star, direct and write Jonathan’s next project. His last film was a financial disaster and the only way he can get funding is to have a team of celebrated professionals like them involved.
Harry is the narrator introducing the three vignettes that chronicle Jonathan’s disastrous relationships with Georgia, Fred and James Lee. Each of the stories features Jonathan catalyzing the creative success that each is capable of but also betraying each of them in a way that is unforgivable.
Fred hands Jonathan the script of a great movie with the understanding that Fred will direct it. Jonathan manages successfully to get the studio to provide a lavish million-dollar budget for the project but then decides to hand the direction to a more experienced man. This ends Fred’s friendship and partnership with Jonathan but allows Fred to pursue his own career which ends in him becoming a highly successful director for other studios.
Georgia’s story features Jonathan saving this fragile young daughter of a famous actor who has fallen into a self-destructive cycle of drunkenness and loveless affairs. He realizes that in order to give Georgia the confidence she needs to succeed he will have to pretend to be her great love. With Jonathan’s help she finds her acting skills and makes the part and the movie a great success. But after the film wrap Jonathan goes into his typical depression and when Jonathan isn’t at the opening party Georgia returns to Jonathan’s home to cheer him up. Instead, she finds him entertaining a starlet in a negligee. But instead of being embarrassed he becomes enraged that she thinks she can own his affections. She flees into the night in a torrential rainstorm and we see her driving wildly and almost crashing into the oncoming traffic. This is the weakest scene in the movie. Her hysterical screaming while braking the car into a spin strikes me as absurdly comical. The next day she quits her job and even though she was bound by contract Jonathan lets her out of it. She goes on to become the most acclaimed, in demand and highest paid actress of her time.
James Lee’s story finds him recruited by Jonathan to write the script for a movie being made from his own best-selling book. It’s actually James Lee’s wife Rosemary (played by Gloria Grahame with an awful Southern accent) who wants him to stay in Hollywood for the movie work. But at the same time Rosemary is the greatest impediment to James Lee accomplishing much writing. She interrupted him at every turn and distracts him with chaperoning her to Hollywood parties.
Jonathan is frustrated by this lack of progress so he arranges for James Lee to accompany him to a cabin in the woods where they can work undisturbed. But to make sure that Rosemary doesn’t intrude Jonathan arranges for his handsome friend “Gaucho” to keep Rosemary company. Of course, Jonathan knows Gaucho will make a pass at Rosemary and he also believes she will welcome it.
Sure enough, James Lee and Jonathan make enormous progress and finish the script. But in the meantime, Gaucho and Rosemary take the opportunity to fly to Acapulco for a love tryst. They are both killed in a plane crash and James Lee is devastated by his wife’s death and by the knowledge of her infidelity. Jonathan convinces him to stay on in Hollywood to assist in the production of the movie and this lifts James Lee out of his despair. But Jonathan inadvertently says something that reveals that he knew about Gaucho’s affair with Rosemary. But instead of apologizing Jonathan goes on the attack and tells James Lee that Rosemary’s death was her own fault and that she was a hindrance to James Lee’s career. And the outraged widower punches Jonathan in the face and walks out. Afterward James Lee writes a book about a woman like Rosemary and the book wins the Pulitzer Prize. We are led to understand by Harry’s remarks that James Lee’s new understanding of his wife’s hidden desires was what made the book the success it became.
After finishing the reminiscences Harry is going to call Jonathan in Paris and tell him whether Fred, Georgia and James Lee will be willing to work with him on his new project. As the call is connected the three of them tell Harry they refuse and begin to leave the office. As they walk into the anteroom, we hear Harry talking on his phone to Jonathan as he begins to hear the details of the new movie.
In the last scene Georgia carefully picks up the receiver of an extension phone in the anteroom and starts listening very interestedly in what Jonathan is saying. Quickly Fred and James Lee huddle around her eavesdropping with her. Obviously as much as they despise Jonathan for his selfishness they are fascinated by his talent.
This movie is a narcissist’s love letter to itself. Hollywood almost prided itself on destroying the people it used up to make its products. Vincent Minelli was the director and his wife Judy Garland could have been the model for the character Georgia. And any number of other Hollywood actors, producers, directors and writers could probably have been templates for the characters in this movie. The only difference would be that the betrayals were worse in real life and the talent of the producer would have been much less impressive.
I’m of two minds about this movie. It is very well made. It captures the spirit of the industry it portrays. But the shabbiness of the people on display revolts me. Jonathan is never apologetic. He always attacks his victims. He always justifies his betrayal. He is a sociopath. I guess taken as a cautionary tale it would have value. Maybe it speaks to the selfishness in all of us.
The Four Feathers (1939) – A Classic Movie Review
This 1939 British version of the story stars John Clements as Harry Faversham a young Englishman whose family has a centuries old tradition of military service but who himself fears the reality of war. He is engaged to Ethne Burroughs daughter of retired General Burroughs and sister to Peter Burroughs his best friend and comrade in the Royal North Surrey Regiment of the British Army. Ralph Richardson plays Captain John Durrance, Faversham’s rival for Ethne’s love and the main cast is rounded out by Jack Allen as Lieutenant Willoughby.
As the marriage approaches the British Army is about to send an expedition from Egypt to Sudan to reconquer Khartoum ten years after the Mahdi had captured it from General Gordon. The Royal North Surrey Regiment is called up for service but Faversham resigns his commission to avoid fighting. His three friends send him a package that consists of a box with three white feathers attached to cards with each of their names. When he arrives at Ethne’s home her father will not even speak to him and because of Ethne’s sorrowful reaction to his actions he takes a white feather from her fan and tells her he will add it as her contribution to his collection of white feathers.
Now feeling himself to be the coward that his friends have declared him he visits his father’s old friend Dr Sutton and works through his feelings with this mentor and decides that he must restore his honor by going to Sudan and proving himself. But of course, he’s no longer in the British Army so he goes to Egypt and recruits the help of an Egyptian friend of Dr. Sutton who disguises him as a native. But to hide his lack of knowledge of Arabic he is branded on the forehead to appear as one of the mute Sangali tribe. In this guise he travels to Sudan and joins the work gang that is helping to transport the British Army under Kitchener to Khartoum. And he is just in time to save Captain John Durrance from death when his company is surrounded by the Mahdi’s army during a diversionary action that the British planned to allow the bulk of their army to escape a battle at the enemy’s stronghold.
Durrance has suffered a heat stroke and is now blind. When his position is being overrun Faversham is able to save his life although both of them are wounded and left for dead by the Mahdi’s men. Burroughs and Willoughby are captured and taken back to Khartoum for imprisonment or worse.
Faversham continues the impersonation of a mute while he transports Durrance across the desert back to the British territory and medical help. Before escaping from the British Faversham manages to place the feather that Durrance gave him back in Durrance’s wallet.
Now Faversham travels to Khartoum and manages to give his two friends a file that they can use to saw through their shackles in prison. He ends up being discovered as an Englishman by the Mahdi and tortured for information. He is thrown into the prison with his friends. He reveals himself to his friends and tells them his plan. If the Mahdi is beaten by Kitchener in battle, he is likely to retreat back to Khartoum and kill his prisoners before the British can take the town and free them. So, Faversham’s plan is to use the file to free as many of the prisoners as possible and wait until the Mahdi’s army sets out for battle then overwhelm the few guards and take possession of the arsenal building that will provide them with the weapons and walls they need to survive until the British take the town.
Things work as Faversham expects until the British army follows the Mahdi’s army and begins bombarding the arsenal. To save themselves from being blown to bits they manage to find an old British flag from the former regime and raise it over the arsenal just in time to save their lives.
Returning to England with his comrades Faversham finds himself forgiven his former cowardice and indeed a hero. But most importantly his fiancée revives her plan to marry him.
The movie has several things going for it. It was filmed on location in the places depicted in the story. The cinematography is impressive and the production was able to enlist British soldiers in period costumes to film the battle scenes. Large forces of men on camels and horses also adds drama to these scenes. The story is highly improbable but the action is enjoyable and the characters are interesting. One standout is C. Aubrey Smith’s portrayal of General Burroughs. In several scenes Burrough’s laments the present-day army’s lack of toughness. In each case he uses food found on a banquet table to reenact the Crimean War, Battle of Balaclava. By the end of the movie, to the relief of the audience, Faversham is in a position to finally shut up his prospective father-in-law by correcting his mistaken narrative of how Burroughs’s actually began the famous charge. I like these old tales from the British Empire. They are filled with adventure and the ethos of the time. Highly recommended for fans of high adventure.
The Cincinnati Kid (1965) – A Movie Review
Here’s a movie that I can’t decide if I love or hate. Steve McQueen is the too cool to have any facial expression Cincinnati Kid. He’s a stud poker player in in New Orleans. His girlfriend is too cute for words farm girl Christian (played by Tuesday Weld) and his mentor is Shooter played by Karl Malden. Shooter is the man who arranges all the high-end poker matches and acts as the professional dealer. He’s married to Melba, played way over the top by Ann Margaret as she slinks around in her underwear waiting for the Kid to betray his girlfriend and her husband and join her in bed.
The climax of the movie is a high stakes poker match between the Kid and Lancey Howard played by Edward G. Robinson. Lancey is “The Man.” If the Kid can beat him, he becomes the foremost stud poker player in his world and his future becomes assured. But a rich New Orleans gambler named Slade (played by Rip Torn) is stinging from a poker beating he took from Lancey and he extorts Shooter to throw the game to the Kid. Halfway through Cincinnati figures out he’s being fed cards and because he wants to win the game himself, he forces Shooter out of the deal. And for good measure, during one of the breaks from poker, he beds Melba. Unfortunately, Christian picks exactly that moment to return from a visit to her parents and discovers Melba even less dressed than usual in Cincinnati’s room.
The end of the game comes in a hand that includes an ace high full house and a straight flush. Oh, come on! I’ll let you watch the movie to see who ends up on top but I’ll add that the Kid ends up getting the girl back (at least in one version of the movie).
So why can’t I figure out how I feel about the movie? Well, it’s a construct. It’s like they put it together by recipe. Ultra-cool young gambler, Steve McQueen, check. Impossibly sweet, pretty blonde girl, Tuesday Weld, check. Cast of familiar, stereotyped character actors, check, check, check. Voluptuous, half naked girl throwing herself at star, Ann Margaret, check. Classy, golden age actor to lend some gravitas, Edward G. Robinson, checkmate. It’s all by the numbers. They even lay on the New Orleans atmosphere with old time jazz players and even throw Cab Calloway in as one of the gamblers. It’s just too much.
But for whatever reason if I’m in the mood to watch a spectacle I end up enjoying the movie. Edward G. Robinson is just too much fun to watch and listen to. He doesn’t have that much to work with but he fills out the roll with style. We feel the aches and pains of the old man sitting hour after hour at the table playing against the younger man. His banter with Joan Blondell as the alternate dealer “Lady Fingers” is amusing. Even the scene where the Kid meets Christian’s back country family and shows them some card tricks is charming. What can I say? I like it. I know it’s a set up and I’m the mark but it works. The critics said this was a copycat movie of Paul Newman’s pool room film, “The Hustler.” They’re probably right. But this is the less serious, less fraught version and I think it’s more enjoyable. I’ll recommend it with my remarks above as the qualifier. It’s a contrived spectacle but that’s what Hollywood makes.
Libel (1959) – A Movie Review
Libel is a British courtroom drama. The legal case is a libel charge against a man, Jeffrey Buckenham, who claims that an imposter stole the identity of an English baronet. Buckenham claims that during WWII in a German POW camp, a fellow POW who looked remarkably similar to Sir Mark Loddon stole his identity during an escape from the camp. Buckenham claims that during their escape the imposter, Frank Welney, escaped but Lodden perished. Dirk Bogarde plays both Loddon and Welney. Olivia de Havilland plays Lodden’s wife, Lady Margaret Loddon. Paul Massie plays Buckenham. And finally, familiar character actors Robert Morley and Wilfrid Hyde-White play, respectively, the prosecuting and defense attorneys.
The story develops with us seeing that the man assumed to be Mark Lodden suffers from extreme amnesia of his pre-war life and is also haunted by recurring nightmares that include a snatch of song and an image of a face in a mirror. His wife provides patient support during all his agony but as the trial progresses the story told by Buckenham begins to eat away at her belief in her husband and his identity. Buckenham relates details about Welney’s behavior that makes it plausible that he might have pulled off the impersonation. He was a professional actor. He had pumped Lodden for details of his private life. Welney had a missing finger that the present Sir Lodden also claimed to have lost to a bullet wound during his escape. Buckenham even testified that he overheard Welney talking to himself about impersonating Lodden if he ever returned but Lodden didn’t. Before the end of the trial Lady Margaret Loddon becomes convinced that she’s married to an imposter that did away with her actual fiancé.
The testimony by Buckenham and Lodden are portrayed with flashbacks of the wartime interaction of the protagonists in the POW camp. The acting is good. The script is relatively taut for such a convoluted story and the tension is well maintained. The finale is a bit of a twist and is as plausible or implausible as the rest of this slightly unlikely story. I recommend it.
7JUL2021 – American Greatness Post of the Day – Codevilla Talks About Trump
Angelo Codevilla has an article that analyzes Trump’s invaluable action as a catalyst but also the failures of his administration to drain the swamp. It’s a good analysis of the 2016 election and its consequences. Codevilla claims that Trump’s awakening of the country against the Elites is what triggered them to drop the mask and tighten the oligarchic controls that they already possessed.
He then talks about the failed chances to rein in the Deep State and goes on to discuss what future leaders must do to restore our freedom. Even if you do not agree with every interpretation of the events or conclusion it is a very thought provoking read.
This article feeds into my own process of trying to figure out how we move forward from the awful place we currently find ourselves in. If there is to be any hope of pushing back against the forces that are actively working to destroy our society competent leaders will have to step forward with workable plans and a gigantic dose of audacity.
Culture Wars are Long Wars – An Essay by Tanner Greer
This fellow provides supporting evidence for his thesis that the culture war has permanently captured the millennial generation and the people we need to convince and convert are Gen Z. So his theory is that as the millennials take over the running of the country their belief in socialism and woke morality will be the orthodoxy of this society and it will take another generation to escape from it. That’s a pretty sobering thought. If you’re interested in theories on how orthodoxies become established and then overthrown take a look.