Movie Moments: #34

King Ralph (1991)

Comment:

Journo and writer Walter Bagehot wrote in 1867 of the British monarchy "The monarchy's mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic." There has of course been a lot of daylight let in since 1867 but this film gives an interesting insight into royal life and the monarchy. Those who like John Goodman and those who like a quirky comedy with a feel good story will like this movie. I did.

Synopsis:

When the entire Royal Family is wiped out by being electrocuted in a photo shoot, the only living descendant is found to be an American slob named Ralph Jones (John Goodman). As the new King of England, he is aided by Sir Cedric Willingham (Peter O’Toole) and Phipps (Richard Griffiths).

Quote:

Phipps: Sir Cedric! Sir Cedric! Good news. We've finally found an heir!

Sir Cedric Willingham: That's wonderful, Duncan. Who is he?

Phipps: His name is Jones. Ralph Jones.

Sir Cedric Willingham: A good man?

Phipps: [embarrassed] Well. He has his strengths and his weaknesses. You see, he's

[uncomfortable pause]

Phipps: American.

Sir Cedric Willingham: Quickly, Duncan! The strengths!

Trivia:

John Goodman does his own singing in the movie.

Heaven, Hell and Teresa

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

- Stephen Hawking, interviewed in The Guardian, quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald at http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/heaven-is-a-fairy-story-says-stephen-hawking-20110517-1eq8f.html#ixzz1MZEAHd9d

If there is no Heaven, then where is John Malkovich coming from when he reverses time and stops the piano falling on George Clooney, in return for George’s Nespresso machine? And where do Bill and Ted go on their bogus journey? And what is my woman’s name, if it isn’t Heaven?

If there is no Heaven, then it must follow that there is no Hell, which is a perfect segue for this item (and another tomorrow). . .

Movie Moments: #33

42nd Street (1933)

Comment:

I have always loved this movie, from when I first saw it on the Teev as a youngster. Great story, Busby Berkley choreography, songs such as “You’re Getting to be a Habit with Me” with its drug references from a more innocent age, and of course the delightful Ruby Keeler in the main role – what more could anyone want in a musical?

Synopsis:

• Broadway director who is in ill health and broke as a result of the stock market crash agrees to direct a new Broadway show.

• Leading lady has a sugar daddy but is in love with her unemployed ex-Vaudeville partner.

• Innocent newcomer secures a spot in the chorus and forms a friendship with the juvenile lead.

• Director drives them hard to get the show ready.

• Leading lady sprains ankle and decides to be with her true love.

• Newcomer takes the leading lady’s part, is ruthlessly drilled by director and is a smash hit.

Reader Comment

Note from Byter Gino:

Enjoyed your byte on "Wings"  Did it not win 2 academy awards 2 years in a row or is that wrong?

Reply:

From the Internet Movie Database:

The only movie to ever win an Academy Award for Best Production. In the Oscars' first year of existence, two "Best Picture"-type awards were given: This film was awarded Best Production and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) was awarded Best Artistic Quality of Production. Both awards were discontinued the following year and replaced by the modern Best Picture Oscar; Best Production is usually thought of as that award's equivalent.

The only movie to win an Academy Award for Engineering Effects.

As told to me...

The following stories have been told to me over the years and have remained in my memory. They are worth passing on.

The following anecdote was told to me by my friend Arthur…

Years ago his colleague, Frank, regularly used the services of an elderly solicitor. Whenever the solicitor sent out a bill setting out his costs and disbursements, the final balance was incorrect. As an example, if a bill was for $990.00, the balance would be shown as something like $890.00. Frank always paid the balances shown and that finalised the accounts. One day Frank said to the solicitor “Do you know that every bill you send out has a mistake as to what is due?” He replied “They’re not mistakes, nor do I have any outstanding accounts.”

Back in my Uni days, I was sitting on the railway station one night waiting for my train when an intoxicated Scot started speaking with me. The following is one of the stories he told me, using his words. I had heard the first part of the story before but this was the first time I heard the additional part. You will see what I mean when you read it..

“I was with my friend Jock tonight and I said to him ‘Jock, there are two types of people in the world: those that are Scots and those that want to be.” Jock said to me “Nay laddie, there are three types: those that are Scots, those that want to be and those with nay fuckin’ ambition.’ “

The last item also harks back to my uni days, being something told to me by an elderly gentleman.

He said that in his youth he worked for a man known for his coldness and miserliness and who also had one glass eye. The old man said that everyone could readily tell which eye was the glass one in that it was the more compassionate of the two.

Movie Moments: #32

Comment:

There have been a couple of Movie Moments recently that have mentioned silent movies (The Jazz Singer, Wings). It is therefore appropriate to now feature a movie from 1976 that is called Silent Movie but which is technically not a silent film in that it contains one spoken word, plus sound effects. The rest of the dialogue is shown on screen cards, as for original silent movies.

Synopsis:

Noted film director Mel Funn (Mel Brooks), a recovering alcoholic, wants to make the first silent film in Hollywood in forty years. He is told that if he can recruit big name stars he will be allowed to make the movie. He and his sidekicks Dom Bell (Dom Deluise) and Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) set out to obtain the stars, at the same time fighting the bad guys who want to take over the studio.

Quote:

“Non.”

- Meaning “no” in French, it is the only spoken word in the film and is a response to a request to appear in the new movie, the proposed silent film.  It is spoken by famed French mime artist Marcel Marceau.

Trivia:

Because of the inclusion of the word “Non”, the movie has been listed in the Guinesss Book Of World Records as having the fewest spoken lines of any sound movie.

Proverb

“Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it.”

- Swedish Proverb

Movie Moments: #31

(Click on images to enlarge)

Wings  (1927)

Synopsis:

Two men, friends but both in love with the same girl, enlist in the US Air Force during World War 1 and are sent to France for combat. Famed “It Girl” Clara Bow plays another girl, the neighbour of one of the men, who is deeply in love with him, notwithstanding that he is unaware of her love.

Quote:

British Soldier: Hello Yank, welcome to a very merry little war. And now how about a wee drop for the King and Uncle Sam?

Trivia:

The reason that this film is the subject of today’s Movie Moments is that it chalked up a memorable number of awards and firsts:

• first film to win Best Picture Academy Award

• the only silent film to win Best Picture

• the first movie to depict an onscreen kiss between two men (on the cheek, in a death scene)

• one of the first widely released films to show nudity – Clara Bow’s breasts can be seen for a second during a bedroom scene in which she has put one of the men, who is drunk and incapacitated, to bed, then changes clothes. There is no sexual activity. There is also a scene in which men undergoing physical exams can be seen nude from behind through an open door. The movie came out just before the 1927 Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America “List of Dont’s and Be Carefuls” was released, one of the Don’ts being not to show licentious or suggestive nudity

Clara Bow in Wings

Australian Iconic Moments

(Click on images to enlarge)

"I don't see what was wrong with the way I looked, I wouldn't have dressed differently for a race meeting anywhere in the world.”

- Jean Shrimpton, following her Victorian Derby appearance

Whilst I was looking through the online Daily Mail, an English newspaper, I came across a pic (above) and story about Jean Shrimpton. It mentioned that she is now 68 and was photographed in Cornwall, where she and her husband run a hotel. Apparently she is now a recluse after turning her back on the fashion industry 30 years ago. The Daily Mail’s interest in her is that a BBC movie, We’ll Take Manhattan, depicting the story of her relationship with famous 1960's photographer David Bailey, is to go into production for screening later this year.  Ms Shrimpton met Bailey when she was 18 and he was 23, leaving his wife for her and eventually becoming engaged to her. He is credited with turning her into the first supermodel and the Face of the Sixties, but his heart was broken when she left him for actor Terence Stamp. Those who have seen The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert will know Terence Stamp as the actor who played Bernadette. In 1979 Ms Shrimpton married photographer Michael Cox and shortly afterwards they bought the Cornwall pub.

Jean Shrimpton and Terence Stamp
(They are believed to be the inspiration for the lyrics "terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station, every Friday night" in The Kinks' Waterloo Sunset)

My point in printing the above pic showing Ms Shrimpton aged 68 is not to point to the aging process or to compare her with her youthful photographs, although comparisons are inevitable.  The purpose instead is to mention an iconic moment in Australian history, one which features Ms Shrimpton.  There are people srill around today who helped make the Sixties what they were,  some still performing:  Bob Dylan, The Stones, Carlos Santana, Simon and Garfunkel.  But the Sixties Revolution sios not consist of a simple change in the style of music. 

London and San Francisco  in the 1960’s were the hubs of social change, being at the forefront of such cultural and social developments as long hair,  hippies, free love, drugs, miniskirts, rock music, psychedelic lighting, posters. The Pill…  Not every young person had long hair, promoted free love or used drugs but that decade saw a casting off of 1950's conservatism.  As Dylan said, the times they were a-changin’.

The visit of Jean Shrimpton, the symbol of that change, to Australia, a country still steeped in traditional attitudes and traditions, and the resultant fallout is now part of Australian history.   

Movie Moments: #30

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

(1997)

Synopsis:

Austin Powers (Mike Myers), a 1960’s funky secret agent, has himself cryogenically frozen in respone to the freezing of arch villain Dr Evil (also played by Mike Myers).  In that way, Austin can be revived to battle Dr Evil should he ever reappear and threaten the world.  When Austin is thawed to oppose Dr Evil, he finds that the 1990’s and the social attitudes of that time are quite different from the world that he knew.

Quote:
Vanessa Kensington: Mr. Powers, my job is to acclimatise you to the nineties. You know, a lot's changed since 1967.

Austin Powers: No doubt, love, but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound!

Trivia:

According to Mike Myers, Austin Powers developed from his flirting with his wife in an English accent one night after coming home from hockey practice. She found it funny and laughed, telling him to write the routine down,so that he could do it again. Writing the routine down led to the script for the movie.

Under Repair

If anyone is experiencing difficulties accessing this blog or receiving the email updates, it is because the people who provide the blogger site have been experiencing outages because of glitches during maintenance.  If you are a subscriber and have not received your daily Bytes by email, that will probably be the cause.

For the same reason I may need to repost yesterday's items in that they are missing from the blog.  The error message received from Blogger, the blog provider, is that all posts after a certain time yesterday had to be removed and are being put back.  If not restored, I will repost later.

People: Russ Hinze

For the younger generation, the name Hinze probably brings to mind images of model Kristy Hinze. Older Byters will recall the name as that of Russ Hinze (1919-1991), a Queensland politician who was a member of the Queensland State Government between 1966 and 1988. Between 1974 and 1987, he was Minister for Local Government and Main Roads, from 1980 to 1987, he was Minister for Racing and between 1980 and 1982, he was Minister for Police, a portfolio allocation which earned him the commonly known title of 'Minister for Everything'. Hinze resigned from State Parliament in 1988 due to his being mentioned in the Fitzgerald Inquiry conducted into the corruption scandal of the Bjelke-Petersen era of politics.

He was a large man and was dubbed the Colossus of Roads after he was made Minister for Roads. He was also unashamedly politically incorrect and bogan. It was not uncommon for him to stir his coffee with his finger, saying why get a perfectly good teaspoon wet when God gave each of us 10 fingers.

Asked about his conflict of interest in owning racehorses while acting as Minister of Racing, he replied "It's not a conflict of interests, it's a convergence of interests."

Movie Moments: #29

Life Stinks (1991)

Synopsis:

One of the world’s richest men, Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks) bets a corporate rival that he can live on the streets of L.A. without the comforts of home or money and without disclosing who he is. This proves to be tougher than he thought. In the process he is befriended by street people, including baglady Molly (Lesley Anne Downey), learning about both his own world and that of the other half.

Movie quote:

[Bolt is in an over-medicated coma]

Molly: I know you wanna give up, but you're wrong. Even without money, life is good.

[Bolt shakes his head; he can hear her]

Molly: No? What about when-when you didn't eat for two days and then you had your first big meal at the

mission? Wasn't that good?

[Bolt shakes his head]

Molly: Remember the other night? When we drank champagne and danced... and rolled around in rags?

[Bolt raises his eyebrows]

Molly: I know they're only moments, but that's all life is: Just a bunch of moments. Most of them are lousy...

but once in a while, you steal a good one.

Molly: [holding back tears] Come on. Come on back to me. Don't be such a selfish bastard. You're the only person I can stand.

Molly: [now crying] Don't leave me. I love you. Please. Don't leave me.

[Bolt's heart rate increases. He finally comes to]

Goddard Bolt: Molly, you're crying. What happened? Somebody die?

Molly: Somebody lived.

Trivia:

The film's original title, "Life Sucks", was changed at the studio's insistence.

Funny Friday

My God! What happened to you?" the bartender asked Kelly as he hobbled in on a crutch, one arm in a cast.

"I got in a tiff with Riley."

"Riley? He's just a wee fellow," the barkeep said surprised.

"He must have had something in his hand."

"That he did," Kelly said. "A shovel it was."

"Dear Lord. Didn't you have anything in your hand?"

"Aye, that I did--Mrs. Riley's left breast." Kelly said. "And a beautiful thing it was, but not much use in a fight!"

Movie Moments: #28

Synopsis:

To give the firm its full title, Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, is a 1963 black comedy directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It satirises the nuclear scare by depicting a rogue general sending a flight of B52’s into Russia for a first strike nuclear attack. With the assistance of the US President and military, most of the bomb carrying planes are shot down.  The rest are brought back when the recall code is obtained, except for one. That plane, commanded by Major T J “King” Kong, is severely damaged and has had its communications and electronics knocked out but manages to stay airborne until it reaches its target. Finding that the bomb is unable to be released, Major Kong straddles it and releases it manually, riding it down whilst whooping and waving his cowboy hat, the biggest phallic symbol in all of moviedom. The movie closes with film of multiple nuclear explosions as Vera Lynn sings “We’ll Meet Again”.

Quote:

Major T. J. "King" Kong: “Well, boys, I reckon this is it - nuclear combat toe to toe with the Roosskies . . . Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find:

one forty-five calibre automatic;

two boxes of ammunition;

four days' concentrated emergency rations;

one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquiliser pills;

one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible;

one hundred dollars in rubles;

one hundred dollars in gold;

nine packs of chewing gum;

one issue of prophylactics;

three lipsticks;

three pair of nylon stockings.

Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”

Trivia:

There are some production associations with the death of President John F Kennedy:

• The film was produced and filmed during the spring and summer of 1963 with the first test screening scheduled for November 22, 1963, the day that John F Kennedy was assassinated. Because the movie is a black comedy involving the American President, the premiere was rescheduled for late January 1964.

• Major Kong's above comment about the survival kit was originally "A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff". "Dallas" was overdubbed with "Vegas" after President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Although it is heard as“Vegas”, Kong still mouths the word "Dallas".

• There is a deleted pie-fight scene in the War Room during which US President Muffley took a pie in the face and fell down, prompting General Turgidson to cry, "Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has just been struck down in his prime!" Stanley Kubrick had already decided to cut the pie fight, and the line about the President, by the time President John F Kennedy was assassinated.

Ducks, Communists and Lawyers...

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck."

- Senator Joseph McCarthy,

in a 1952 speech, suggesting a method for identifying communists and communist sympathizers.

We lawyers like to use the above phrase. I have used it myself in court.

Joseph McCarthy, quoted above, himself was a lawyer and a judge before serving in World War 2 as a marine. On completion of his war service he became a politician and hunter of communists, both real and imagined. He was not, however, the originator of the saying or the first to use it.

The phrase is often referred to as the “duck test”” and is a crude, but often effective, form of reasoning that eliminates alternative, unlikely possibilities and identifies a most likely or most correct assessment.

The saying is sometimes confused with the following:

1. Occam’s Razor: “When there are two competing explanations for an event, the simpler is the more likely.”

See: http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/search?q=occam%27s

2. Skeptic’s Test: “Where there are two competing explanations for an event, one explanation is consistent with laws of science, reason and logic and the other requires suspension of belief in such laws and principles, then the former should prevail until the latter is proven.

Although there is some overlap, they are separate and distinct laws and principles.

Movie Moments: #27

Synopsis:

The Blind Side depicts the true story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless, traumatised and oversized African-American youngster from a broken home. Michael is taken in by Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) and their two children, a well-off white family who help him to achieve his academic and sporting potential and to meet his challenges, enabling him to eventually become an All-American footballer. In the process, the Tuohy family make self-discoveries of their own.

Quote:

Sean Tuohy: You really expect Michael to lay down on a couch and talk about his childhood like he's Woody Allen or something? I mean, Michael's gift is his ability to forget. He's mad at no one and he really doesn't care happened in the past.

Leigh Anne Tuohy: You're right.

Sean Tuohy: Excuse me? “You're right”?  How'd those words taste coming out of your mouth?

Leigh Anne Tuohy: Like vinegar.

Trivia:

When Quinton Aaron auditioned for the film, he was working as a security guard between acting gigs. After his audition, he left a card with his contact information and offered to work as a security guard on the set in case he wasn't selected to play Michael Oher.

The real Tuohy family and Michael Oher.

Problem Fixed

The problem with the blog server that prevented not only me, but also many in Asia and Australia, posting content, has been fixed by the host of the blogs, Google.  As a result Bytes is back on track. 

Those parts of the system that you can hit with a hammer (not advised) are called hardware; those program instructions that you can only curse at are called software.

~Author Unknown

Poster

(Click on image  to enlarge).

Movie Moments: #26

The Castle (1997)

Synopsis:

Tow-truck driver Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton) is the head of a close and loving family which lives in a house on the edge of the airport, under power lines and built over toxic waste. Nonetheless to them it is home. When their home is sought to be compulsorily acquired to expand the airport, Darryl and his neighbours fight back.

Quote:

(Darry tells a meeting of the neighbours that he has made enquiries and that they can engage the local lawyer to fight the matter in court for them).

Darryl Kerrigan:   All up it’s going to cost fifteen hundred, that’s seven fifty now and seven fifty in six months’ time, so a hundred and fifty each. Now Jack, I know that you can’t do it so I’m kicking in for you.

Jack (a pensioner): Good on you Darryl, I’ll pay you back.

Darryl:   Yvonne?

Yvonne:  Yeah, fine.

Darryl:   Farouk?

Farouk:  I pay cash now (peeling off notes).

Darryl:   No, no, no, hold your horses. What is it with wogs and cash?

Trivia:

The film was shot on a limited budget of $19,000. The family was named Kerrigan so the filmmakers could borrow trucks from an actual Melbourne tow-truck company, Kerrigan's Towing.

Problem

People in Asia and Australia who use Google Blogger, as I do for this blog, are experiencing problems in adding material, editing it and posting it. I am as well. Hopefully it will be rectified within the next few days. Until then, Bytes may be delayed or not appear. Sorry.

Quotes: Helen Keller

Pictured above:  Helen Keller (seated) with her teacher and friend Anne Sullivan (later Anne Sullivan Macy, although the marriage did not last), c 1910.  Click on the photograph to enlarge.

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”

- Helen Keller

Helen Keller (1880-1968) contracted what is believed to have been scarlet fever or meningitis at the age of 19 months, which left her deaf and blind. On the recommendation of Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children, enquiries were made for a tutor when Helen was aged 6. The person appointed, Anne Sullivan, was aged 20 and was herself visually impaired. This was the beginning of a 49 year relationship that evolved into a governess role and eventually companion. The story of how Anne Sullivan taught Helen to comprehend the spelling of words, thereby identifying objects, by touches on her hand is told in the movie The Miracle Worker. Helen Keller went on to become a world famous speaker, author, a spokesperson for people with disabilities, a suffragist, pacifist, radical socialist, birth control supporter and advocate for workers’ rights. In 1964 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Johnson, one of the two highest US civilian honours.

Movie Moments: #25

Runaway Train (1985)

Stars:  Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, John P Ryan, Rebecca De Mornay.

Synopsis: Two convicts escape from a maximum security prison in winter in Alaska, pursued by the vindictive prison warden. They board a train that becomes an out-of-control runaway when the driver has a heart attack, the only other person on board being a frightened female train worker. 

Movie Quote:

Sara: You're an animal!

Manny: No, worse! Human. Human!

Trivia: Jon Voight was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for his role as “Manny” Mannheim but lost to John Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman.  Eric Roberts, Julia Roberts brother, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor but the award went to Don Ameche  for Cocoon.