Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Nov 11, 2019 10:03:53 GMT -8
I’ve been watching a bit of the free over-the-air channel called “ Grit.” It’s almost unwatchable because of the abundance of commercial breaks. But I just switch to a book I’m reading when that happens. Not perfect, but it can work. They were running some Glenn Ford movies the other day. I ran into one that I rather liked: The Last Challenge. If you read the reviews at IMDB, many have cast this off as hardly worth watching — at least not compared to such “greats” as Bonnie & Clyde (which I thought was awful). Some disliked it because a young gunslinger trying to prove himself against an old one never happened in the real West. And if it did, it was probably a rarity. They do understand it’s a movie, right, and not a documentary? The reason this movie works is that it keeps moving along. And despite the (agreed) somewhat tired theme of the yute facing off against the old-hand, most of the movie does not unfold in a predictable way. It is somewhat complex. Angie Dickinson (a whore? I guess) plays the love interest of Marshal Dan Blaine (Glenn Ford). Her behavior is most comples. As his his. Blaine has spent some time in prison. The yute looking to prove that he is the fastest and comes looking for the renowned Blaine is a young fellow I honestly did not recognize at the very first. But then it occurred to me: That’s gotta be a young Chad Everett. And it was. It’s got a good cast including Jack Elam as an old bad-guy ex-partner of Blaine who comes to town to blackmail him. And an uncredited Len Lesser (Uncle Leo) plays the bartender. I won’t give the plot away because this is good enough to rent if you can find it. But a movie you will appreciate steering clear of is the truly awful Welcome to Hard Times. I won’t relive the painful memories with you. Suffice it to say: Steer clear. This is awful. But it’s got a good cast: Henry Fonda, Keenan Wynn, Warren Oates, Lon Chaney Jr., Edgar Buchanan (Uncle Joe), John Anderson, and Denver Pyle, many of whom are good, classic Western character actors. But this is definitely not a case of the sum being great than the parts. |
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Post by timothylane on Nov 11, 2019 10:55:12 GMT -8
I've seen some Grit TV. It helped that at times when we had virtually no cable access even to local channels, we somehow got Grit. The problem is that they stopped showing their full daily schedule. Without knowing what would be on, I'm not going to bother. But I've seen a few things there. That's where I finally saw Two Mules for Sister Sara.
I don't know how often you actually had a gunslinger on the rise challenging an old legend, but it's certainly a common enough Western motif. The Twilight Zone tonight, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday", is based on it. Mike Resnick used it in his Inner Frontier future history series, The Widowmaker.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Nov 11, 2019 18:43:20 GMT -8
I loved how (spoilers galore coming up) Angie Dickenson’s character did not lead into a de rigueur happy ending with Glenn Ford. First off, Ford did not appreciate that she had hired a killer to take care of Chad Everett. (He failed.) Second, he didn’t like her bloodthirsty attitude that came up later on a point. There was a third point that happened at the end and I forgot exactly what that was.
But basically by the end of this, Ford doesn’t want any part of this woman. And it’s a good choice. He rides off into the proverbial sunset. The end. But not before he easily beats Chad Everett in a gunfight. Ford gets winged a bit but it’s nothing serious. Near the end, he walks by the gravesite of Chad Everett where the casket is just being lowered in. Ford unstraps his gun belt and chucks it on the top of the coffin and walks away.
There have been movies with similar themes. Sometimes the Old Guard survives. Sometimes not. But usually the challenger (even if he wins) is left with the certainty that his life isn’t worth a plug nickel. A challenger will soon be after them as well. There’s always somebody faster. Or, as with Wild Bill, someone who isn’t going to wait for a fair fight.
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Post by timothylane on Nov 11, 2019 19:19:55 GMT -8
That ending sounds a bit like the Lorne Greene song "Ringo", in which the narrator implicitly placed his "tarnished star" on the villain's grave.
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Post by kungfuzu on Nov 11, 2019 21:36:08 GMT -8
Your movie has similarities with another Glenn Ford western named
It is not the greatest movie in the world, but I like Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford, so it was worth the two hours.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Nov 12, 2019 11:47:41 GMT -8
I'm guessing that Broderick Crawford plays one of the bad guys in that. I'm going to see if I can find that somewhere for free.
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Post by kungfuzu on Nov 12, 2019 11:56:12 GMT -8
Your guess would be correct.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Feb 16, 2020 9:25:05 GMT -8
On the "Decades" over-the-air channel they're running The Wild Wild West. I hadn't remembered any episode with Robert Duvall as the villain. But he is in The Night of the Falcon:  |
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Post by timothylane on Feb 16, 2020 9:55:26 GMT -8
I don't remember Duvall specifically, but I saw that episode long ago. I suspect playing the villain on The Wild West was as popular as playing the villain on Batman. Some people did it on both shows, including Burgess Meredith and Victor Buono (indeed, some remember Buono as much as Count Manzeppi as they do as King Tut, though he played the latter role a lot more often).
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Feb 16, 2020 10:10:09 GMT -8
If I ever got a chance to meet Robert Duvall, I would get ahold of one of those helmets and have him sign it.
Here's a better look for Duvall:
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Post by timothylane on Feb 16, 2020 10:56:15 GMT -8
So what's that from? Duvall has probably done just about everything, though that looks like something from a Western.
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Post by kungfuzu on Feb 16, 2020 11:09:43 GMT -8
That photo looks like it might be from either "Broken Trail" or "Open Range," both good films. It might be "Lonesome Dove," but I thought he was younger in that series.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Feb 16, 2020 11:45:21 GMT -8
That's Gus McCrae from Lonesome Dove.
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Post by artraveler on Jul 2, 2020 17:40:47 GMT -8
There is a charity that seems to spend more money asking for more money then they actually spend in their announced goals. This is the Alliance of Christians and Jews. Every night, especially during Jewish holidays, they are constantly showing pictures of elderly Jews in Israel and Russia in horrendous conditions who the ACJ claim are on the brink of starvation.
I'm sure that there must be some who are suffering, however, are they same ones year after year? The actuary tables suggest the numbers of Holocaust survivors has to be shrinking very quickly, yet these same people appear every year. I do not know about Russia, conditions for the elderly can not be a good as in the West. However, I do know about Israel, and yes there are poor jews in Israel but as an American and an Israeli I resent the implication that Israel is so poor, war torn, and uncaring that the few survivors of the Holocaust are not cared for except by some condescending and overbearing phony charity.
I believe the ACJ is just another faux charity seeking to milk the pockets of caring Americans for only, $19.00 month.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 2, 2020 18:54:00 GMT -8
Some months ago, I tried to look into this charity because I had similar concerns to those you expressed. I could not find much out about the charity, and since I was not going to make any contributions, I left it at that. But the remaining number of Eastern European Jews who were in concentration camps or death camps, must be vanishingly small. I met a few and that was already 40 years back. Those people are long dead.
Out of curiosity, I looked the charity of on Charity Navigator. At least this is the charity I believe you are referring to.
Actually, it appears to be a real charity doing good work. It could probably improve the percentage of funds used for the stated purpose of the charity, but overall it looks to be ok.
I admit I am now inclined to like it because of the following info I just read on Wikipedia.
In 2009, six months before his death, the Lithuanian-Haredi Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv issued a ruling banning Haredi Jews from taking funds from the Fellowship, citing worries of Christian missionary activity and idol worship.[27][28] In response to the ruling, Eckstein said he would "expose his organization's list of Haredi-religious beneficiaries in order "to make sure everything is transparent."[27]
The Fellowship's interfaith work has generated criticism from some in the Jewish community. In 2001, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, a rabbi of Zionism and Orthodox Judaism, issued a ruling against accepting funds from the Fellowship.[27] In 2002 the Edah HaChareidis Ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbinical court issued a ruling against accepting funds from the Fellowship, and, in 2007, the new Chief Rabbi of the said Edah HaChareidis, Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss added his signature.[29]
In 2014, many Religious Zionist rabbis reiterated their position that it is forbidden to take money from the IFCJ. Religious Zionist rabbis claim the enrollment of many Israeli children in summer camps problematic, as the Israeli Ministry of Education utilizes IFCJ money to partially fund their camps.[30]
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Post by artraveler on Jul 2, 2020 19:36:52 GMT -8
As a Zionist but not singularly observant Jew and a citizen of Israel I find this group patronizing and would never give them money. Perhaps, I don't know their whole story and I probably never will. I find their advertising to be offensive. Maybe they actually do the work they claim. I will have to ask my son as he is closer. So, I find myself in the complex position of agreeing with the Haredi on at least one issue. As Ben Gurion told Begin in 1948. I don't like your reasons for being here and you don't like mine, but we both agree this is where we should be.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 2, 2020 20:09:05 GMT -8
I have to say I agree with you on this. I found the advertising to be somewhat offensive and, probably, not completely honest. That is why I looked them up in the first place. The advertising just didn't pass the smell test for me. Where are we, in 1870s Tsarist Russia or something?
Having read more about the group, I think there is no doubt that the ads I have seen on TV are not honest. I find this silly as I am convinced those who contribute to the charity would continue doing so without these ads. I can't help but sometimes wonder, why people seem to go out of their way to make things complicated.
I would be interested in your son's thoughts about the group.
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Post by artraveler on Jul 2, 2020 21:05:45 GMT -8
I will let you know the next time I chat with him.
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Post by timothylane on Sept 4, 2020 15:20:18 GMT -8
My nursing home now uses a satellite TV system (which unfortunately doesn't include MeTV or Grit). One channel they include is the Game Show Network, and my current roommate (who runs his TV 24/7) watches it most of the time. It runs game shows from the 70s to current times.
One of the current ones is called America Says, which involves two teams trying to guess the top 7 answers people gave to various questions. One, which they had just a short while ago, involved the top 7 things people would like to see "the next time they visit Alaska", such as polar bears or the Northern Lights. The answers are given initials and word lengths, and one in that case was "S---- P----"). The answer, which one team got, was . . . Sarah Palin. Can't disagree with that.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 7, 2020 7:49:13 GMT -8
America Says sounds a little like Family Feud. And that latter show can be a hoot.
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