First, I finally realized what my ideal job would be. I want Robert Osborne's job. He's the white-haired gentleman who introduces the classic films on the Turner Classic Movie channel. I want to explain arcane movie trivia to people. I believe that this is my true calling. (And of course, I could do TV, too. Popular media culture/history is my life.)I did not just watch movies today; I was out in the world for most of it. I did put The Adventures of Robin Hood onto a DVD, but I wasn't home watching it. This is the FIL's all-time favorite flick; I remember once wanting to get it for him for Christmas but it cost $79.95! Such was once the cost of a recorded VHS tape. After I got home from what I was doing -- I'll get to that in a minute -- I watched the end of Sergeant York, which I was also going to put on DVD and keep, but I've decided not to. I had remembered the fine performances, a story of a conflicted, yet genuine, American hero. But today it just looked like a jingoistic piece of crap. Maybe the film is a fairly accurate representation of the real Alvin York -- he participated in the making of it -- but that just makes it worse. It's the story of a backwoods guy, a drinker and carouser, who finds god and is subsequently drafted into the Army for World War I. He declares himself to be a conscientious objector and asks to be trained as a medic, but they find out that he's an unbelievably skilled sharpshooter, and manage to turn his god-loving refusal to kill another human being into a patriotic sense of duty to kill as many of the enemy as possible. Which he later does. Yes, his actions were heroic, in military way, but the fact that he was talked out of his religious convictions was a pretty lousy thing. So, no need to keep this one. But Gary Cooper was good.
After my normal Saturday morning running around, I fell asleep on the couch at about 11:00 and napped until R came home, about an hour later. And then, we were off! I don't even know how many places we went, but I have vague memories of the Apple store -- they transferred all the files from her PC for her her -- and IKEA. Both were mobbed. There is also some misty recollection of K-Mart. Then we packed up my car and hers and made a trip to her new apartment. It's shaping up very nicely, and the two roommates who are already living there are very, very nice.
At some point in the running around, we heard a song on the store music: For All We Know, by the Carpenters. (It's the "Love, look at the two of us ... " song) and I said to R, Oh, I'd like to see this movie! I meant Lovers and Other Strangers, which is the movie that song came from. And then, when Sergeant York went off, guess what came on? Have you ever seen this one?
Lovers was made in 1970, based on a hit play, and with a wonderful cast. It's a series of vignettes, really, surrounding a wedding. There's the bride's father who's having an affair with his sister-in-law, the bride's sister whose husband is withholding sex, the groom's traditional Italian parents who don't understand this weird need of their children to be happy, the groom's brother and his impending divorce. And that ain't the half of it. It's a very funny and poignant film. It's dated, certainly, but still very much worth watching.
