Ask 411 Movies for 1.01.06: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 01.01.2007
James Brown, Christmas swag, a dead pool, Rocky Balboa, Pryor's Place and the World’s Fastest Indian
I was reading through a few old columns recently and found that I used to be much funnier. To distract you from that here is a picture of the world's luckiest dog.
For Christmas swag I got on DVD Ocean's 12, some compilation DVDs of horror and gangster movies and television Christmas specials, "St. Elsewhere" season one, "Quantum Leap" season five, Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell III CD, John Wayne commemorative playing cards, new house slippers, some clothes, a new DVD rack, a new CD rack and I got a new computer as an early Christmas present from my parents back in the summer. My old computer was a Furbee with a lawnmower cord.
I also sojourned to Best Buy. They were having a two for one on selected television DVD box sets. You know I couldn't resist. I picked up "The Boondocks" season 1 and "News Radio" seasons 1 and 2. Plus, Richard Donner's cut of Superman II. I haven't watched it yet, but all I ask is that it takes out the Super Kiss at the end. Then from Wal-Mart I bought The Best of the Match Game DVD box set. I hope to get DVD reviews done for most of the above coming up. I also have three more volumes of Disney's nature documentaries to work one. Volume One I have up now.
The Godfather of Soul James Brown passed away on Christmas Day of pneumonia. He was 73. Some of his seminal hits include "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World," "Super Bad," "Sex Machine," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Living in America," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "Papa Don't Take No Mess," "Get Up Offa That Thing," "Cold Sweat," "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" and "The Payback." Brown made a few notable television and film appearances over the years, most particularly as the Reverend Cleophus Jones in The Blues Brothers.
Former President Gerald Ford died last Tuesday at the age of 93. He had recently suffered from heart problems and pneumonia. Ford is the only man never elected to the Presidency, having been picked to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice President when he was forced from office due to scandal and then took over for Richard Nixon when he resigned due to the Watergate scandal. While Ford was often depicted as dumb and bumbling, he was a simple and honest blue-collar politician who made a perfect successor to Nixon in helping to heal the country from the turmoil of the mid-seventies. It might be morbid to mention, but I did a dead pool online Christmas Eve and had Ford on it. I also took Saddam Hussein who was executed last week, but that was kind of a gimme. It's like taking LaDainian Tomlinson with the first pick in fantasy football.
My friend Brad said he knew a guy that was getting a dead pool going for 2007 and wanted to know if I wanted in on it. I said sure, but haven't heard back anything yet. In doing some research I came upon rotten.com and made out a dead pool as a primer just in case. I had ten picks and Ford and Hussein have already bought it. I apologize if you are disgusted or offended by this notion. Know that I do not wish ill will or death on any of these individuals. I would consider myself an admirer of them all. They are great individuals who have had long lives and careers. I wish them all the best and would love to see them live for many more years, but I do know that once they leave this earth they will be in a much better place to achieve their everlasting reward. I already have two out of ten in less than a week. Call me the Black Widow. My picks are:
Betty Ford (88): Former first lady as wife of Gerald Ford. You're allowed to tweak your list up to a month after starting it. I added her as the longtime spouse of someone often follows their beloved into death.
Dolores Hope (97): However, the wife of Bob Hope keeps clinging on for some reason.
Bruce Bennet (100): The actor once known as Herman Brix played Tarzan in some serials in the thirties and went on to have a decent career once receiving some more acting training. I just wanted the oldest, obscurest actor I could find.
Whitey Ford (78): Guys named Ford have come through for me already and I wanted an athlete. Don't say I told you so if he buys it buried under a mountain of pretzels.
Van Johnson (90): It was a coin toss between him and Richard Widmark.
Kevin McCarthy (92): I think he's actually older than Rotten.com has him listed as. This is a sentimental pick, which seems odd since I'm banking on him to kick off, since I've met the guy. Hell, I've driven him to the airport with my buddy Shawn. He's scheduled to be at the Monster Bash I work at every year again this June. Usually some guest dies before the show, but that's what you get as a classic horror film convention honoring films over fifty years old. If I can find the sac, I will tell him he's on my dead pool. I guess that's not as cool as telling an athlete you have him on your fantasy team.
George McGovern (84): The former Democratic nominee for President is a constant punch line I use on my friend Dan who is a staunch conservative. This is for you buddy.
Roddy Piper (52): Aging wrestlers make for good picks that other people might not think of. Piper's recent cancer issues make him a prime candidate to shuffle off this mortal coil.
I saw Rocky Balboa with my friend Brian. I really liked it. It went back to the heart and themes of the first film. Stallone gives a fantastic performance as you can trace the Rocky character throughout all the films to this one and who Rocky is now. I loved the subtle references to the first film by bringing back some real minor characters, but that all plays into how Rocky is trapped in the past. Yet he realizes it doesn't mean he can't bring these elements into the future. The film might be a little speech heavy in getting the concepts of pursuing your dreams over, but overall the script is well written in the dialogue and tightly paced in the action. Stallone as director too also builds the film well to the climatic final fight, which as in the other films is a masterpiece of editing and camerawork. Maybe it didn't have the epic feel of other Rocky films, but it was the film it needed to be for the fans and for Stallone. In the movie Rocky says that he has to go out the way he has to go out and this film makes a great sendoff, much better than Rocky V, which I actually like ok. I can only hope to be in this good of shape when I'm sixty. Hell, I'd like to be in this good of shape now.
NETFLIX MOVIE OF THE WEEK: THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN
No it's not a biopic of Jim Thorpe. Rather a biopic of a New Zealand man who broke a land speed record in 1967 that still stands today on his ancient, yet heavily modified Indian motorcycle. Anthony Hopkins, best known to modern audiences as Hannibal Lecter, gives a charming and warm performance as Burt Munro. A documentary of the actual Munro on the DVD that was the first work of writer/director Roger Donaldson reveals that Hopkins did a good job in capturing his personality and eccentric quarks. The real story of the movie is Munro relying on the kindness of strangers and winning people over with his humor and dogged determinedness as he travels to the salt flats of Utah for speed week. In this way it reminds of The Straight Story. The film is sluggish to start, but picks up once Munro hits the states. It's a quaint old fashioned film that is fun and funny while being inspiring. The lesson I draw from this past week is that old people can overcome the odds and defy age to do great things…and then they die.
It's a new year and time for a new feature. As I continue to learn the glorious possibilities of the internet we will feature an obscure pop culture video oddity from YouTube every week. We start with the opening credits to the CBS children's show "Pryor's Place." What executive said "let's give a guy who set himself on fire by smoking crack a children's show?" It ran from one season from 1984-1985. Pryor hosted and played various characters. Akili Prince played Pryor as a child and learned life lessons in his small neighborhood. This bore little real resemblance to Pryor's own upbringing as his mother was a prostitute who gave him up to his grandmother when he was ten. The series was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and featured puppets from them. Ray Parker, Jr. of "Ghostbusters" and "I'm in Love With the Other Woman" sings the theme.
No questions this week. So this means that you need to send some. Since I have to get drunk and play poker for New Year's Eve this is all you get this week. Don't like it, send questions. Grow old, but don't die.
"Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, James Brown loves ya'."
