Maul of America

What Color Is Your Parachute?

One of the storylines developed in The Phantom involves the partners' plans for SCDP to finally get that second floor office space Pete Campbell lied about to clients in last season's Public Relations. A quick elevator conversation between Joan and Harry (although Joan denies it) reveals that space has become available on the 38th floor because a parachute company is vacating the premises.

Therefore, Season 5 of Mad Men, a series which uses the image of a falling man as one of its major motifs, comes to a close establishing that there are NO parachutes left in the building. This could be foreshadowing of bad things in Season 6. To wit: The Phantom ends with a montage accompanied by the titular theme song from the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice. Dick Whitman/Don Draper, who has already lived his two lives, seems to be attempting to embark on a third just before the abrupt and ominous final cut to black.

Also posted at Basket of Kisses...

Just Desserts

Released in 1967, The Dirty Dozen is a now classic war movie and the antithesis of what would later be called "the chick flick." There's an hilarious scene in Sleepless in Seattle that demonstrates this when Tom Hanks pretends to tear up while discussing the final battle in The Dirty Dozen as his humorous response to Rita Wilson's earnestly tearful summary of the ending for An Affair to Remember.

While the novel by E.M. Nathanson was predominately a character study, director Robert Aldrich stresses the action in this World War II yarn. In it, Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin) reluctantly accepts an assignment to command twelve army convicts who are given the chance to avoid facing the death penalty or long prisons sentences by taking part in an extremely risky mission. Their orders are to go behind German lines on the eve D-Day and infiltrate a chateau hosting a number of high ranking German officers with the goal of killing as many of them as possible.

...Full Post  at Basket of Kisses

 

 

It's a Jungle Out There

Two 1966 movie reference are allegories for the domestic tribulations experienced by Don/Megan and Roger/Jane in in Far Away Places.  One film, The Naked Prey, is a study in savagery that takes place in Africa.  Born Free, set on the same continent, takes a much softer view of surviving in the wild.  Abe mentions The Naked Prey before getting into a heated argument with Peggy at the opening of  the episode.  Later, Peggy has a drug induced encounter with another man while watching a screening of Born Free.

That both of these films are part of Peggy's storyline establish her as a focal point for the relationship struggles of the respective married couples depicted in the episode.

...Full Post at Basket of Kisses

Star Trek's Maiden Voyage

As the original Star Trek was referenced in Deborah's post, "Key Demographics," I think it's worth mentioning that Thursday, September 8, 1966 marked the launch of Star Trek on NBC. Two pilots had been produced for NBC before executives gave creator Gene Roddenberry the green light. The first pilot was "The Cage" starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Majel Barrett playing his female first officer, "Number One." Complaining that it was too "cerebral" (NBC basically wanted a Western set in space) a second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," was made which introduced William Shatner as "Captain James R. Kirk" (the "R" later becoming "T"). It did the trick.

In the first episode to actually air, The Man Trap, the crew of the the Enterprise is threatened by a shape-shifting alien salt vampire.

However, this was not the first regular episode to be filmed. NBC probably ran this one first because it wanted to launch the show with an outing featuring a garden-variety sci-fi creature.Thus, The Man Trap is not about either of the two leads, Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock. Instead the story centers on Dr. McCoy, played by DeForest Kelly, whose name would not be displayed on the opening credits until the following season.

...Full Post at Basket of Kisses

You Only Live Twice

Author’s Note: This is a reworking of a piece I wrote a few years ago which seemed relevant for Season 5 of Mad Men.

Released in October of 1966, John Frankenheimer’s Seconds has an intriguing premise that Don Draper could certainly identify with. In fact, it would probably strike too close to home.

Wealthy, bored and middle aged, Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) is coerced by a secret organization to start a new life. A sort of witness relocation program on steroids, this organization, referred to as “the Company” (no relation to the CIA), sells its well-to-do clients the process of “rebirth” as a different person. This includes staging their death (complete with a corpse) and extensive physical alterations performed by a master plastic surgeon. The customer ends up with a new identity and the dream job of their choice. Thus, with the Company’s help, banker Arthur Hamilton “dies” in a hotel fire and becomes artist Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson).

Though not perfect, Seconds is a powerful film that was underrated (if not ignored) when first released. In fact, it got booed at a Cannes screening. The story is very bleak. And James Wong Howe’s innovative and unusual visual style may have been too off-putting for the masses. Also, moviegoers probably found it hard to accept Rock Hudson, best known for light, romantic Doris Day comedies, in a dark and depressing thriller. Even Frankenheimer did not want to cast Hudson as Wilson.

In retrospect, Hudson was the perfect choice... (Full Post At Basket of Kisses)

Safety First

A really neat moment from A Little Kiss occurs in Don's car as drops the children off with Betty and Henry. Bringing his vehicle to a stop, he reaches out an arm to keep the kids (ALL THREE crammed in the front seat) from flying into the dashboard   If you grew up in the 60's and 70's like me, you probably remember your parents doing this all the time even though it wouldn't be effective in a really serious accident.

This nostalgic moment also dovetails (intentionally, I think) with another quick piece of dialog delivered later at SDCP...Full Post at Basket of Kisses

The Right to Remain Silent

Even casual viewers of Law and Order know that the half-way point of virtually every episode has been reached when one of the police leads informs the "perp" of their "rights" (often accompanied by a sarcastic quip):

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present now and during any future questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you free of charge if you wish.

This staple, even boilerplate, scene common from police procedurals is a result of the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona made on June 13, 1966.

...Full Post at Basket of Kisses (including a very ironic historical twist!)

"Niche"

In A Little Kiss, while trying to calm down an extremely distressed Pete Campbell (his nose bloodied after a run-in with that damn support beam), the always unflappable Ken Cosgrove tries to put things in perspective for his colleague. Cosgrove quickly charts out the optimistic business course he expects their careers to follow: "piddly" accounts, then mid-sized ones before moving on to "niche companies." Niche companies are those that deliberately specialize in a very specific and narrow line of business.

However, Ken pronounces the word "niche" as it's commonly said today: "neesh." It struck me as a possible anachronism.

...Full Post at Basket of Kisses

Politics As Usual

I've been critical of HBO and the makers of Game Change since it became clear that the film would focus solely on the McCain/Palin campaign which accounts for only the last twenty-five percent of the book upon which it is based.  I felt that it would be almost like cynically doing a remake of Jaws from Mrs. Kintner’s perspective. For what it’s worth, I wasn’t a fan of the controversial 2009 book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.  The authors don’t take sides.  But, in my opinion, their journalism was sloppy.  For instance, they refer to  Barack Obama doing the opening of the “December 11 ABC broadcast of Monday Night Football.”  However, when Obama made his appearance,  Monday Night Football had switched networks to ESPN (other examples in my review here).

That director Jay Roach and company choose to center a film version of the book exclusively on the LOSING side seemed driven more by personal and political agendas than a desire to craft an engaging historical drama. It’s been claimed that the production team ultimately choose to focus on McCain and Palin both out of  discomfort with the idea of depicting a sitting President in a TV movie and the fact that a Hillary Clinton character had already been portrayed in another HBO film, The Special Relationship.  Fair enough. Nonetheless, Game Change, the book, was about the nomination and election of the first African American President who had to defeat the first truly viable female candidate (and presumptive nominee) in a contentious Democratic primary process. I cannot imagine a story more historic, compelling, or fascinating than that.

I’d also offer this sentence taken from the book’s afterword: “It was Obama who was at the heart of Game Change.” Yet, Obama isn’t a character in the HBO movie. Res ipsa loquitur.

That said, the film deserves to be judged its own merits.  So, I took a deep breath, cleared my head, and watched Game Change with an open mind (or as open as one can have). And, as political drama, it was only slightly better than the melodramatic mini-series on The Kennedys  which came out in 2011. I repeat: only slightly.

...Full Post At Basket of Kisses.

Special Easter Movie Review: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

I've always had a genuine interest in ostensibly "non-religious" films that evoke Christian imagery and yet tell a conventional story. Often, these are more insightful and less melodramatic than movies specifically about Jesus.

One of the most obvious examples is The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Klautu, the alien visitor with an important message for humanity, takes on the name of "Carpenter" while on earth. After being killed by soldiers, he is literally brought back to life amidst a flash of light. Both Hombre (1967) and Cool Hand Luke (1967) feature Christ-like anti-establishment title characters. Likewise, the grandfather (Alan Arkin) in 2006's Little Miss Sunshine is a sort of savior. Sure, he's a heroin-dealing, cocaine-using, porn fan. But his life and death function to guide the main characters out of their nihilistic Hell. After the events surrounding the cathartically chaotic beauty contest, the family returns to their van and ponders an empty linen bed sheet (shroud) which had formerly covered Arkin's corpse.

Films like those listed above perform a tricky balancing act that incorporates, to varying degrees, symbolic elements from the New Testament, such as the Resurrection (a tricky thing in real life too), while retaining a story that stands on its own.

Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966) is an another example of such a film. Loaded with Christian imagery, it still holds up as a traditional Western.

...Full Post at Basket of Kisses.