Movie Review - The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch - (1969) - The days of the "Old West" are coming to an end as World War I approaches.  A gang of aging outlaws goes for one final score as they are pursued by bounty hunters sent by the railroad company.

This is another movie around which legend gathers.  John Wayne claimed that this movie killed the "myth of the Old West" (which might not have been a bad thing).  Most people will remember the violence and the blood (it's Sam Peckinpah, so there's blood by the gallon) or that it nearly earned an X rating for violence twice.  It certainly changed the way stories were told in the movies.  With more edits coming more quickly, intermixing slow motion sequences "The Wild Bunch" was something new in its time.  Peckinpah allowed the actors to find their own way through the story which resulted in some absolutely classic and brilliant film moments (like the one in the picture.  It was unscripted and pretty much made up on the spot by director and cast)

Beyond the film making what really makes this movie is the cast.  Given a script that allows them more depth of character than you might expect up front they bring some amazing subtlety to the story.  William Holden and Robert Ryan lead the way as former partners now on opposite sides of the conflict.  Supported by a fabulous group of character actors (Ernest Borgnine, Edmund O'Brien, Warren Oates, Strother Martin and Dub Taylor among others) they create something that is truly epic and iconic.  It's easy to think that the movie begins and ends with the blood and violence.  That seriously undersells "The Wild Bunch".  This is the story of men facing age and the change of everything they have known and held dear.  I found myself thinking of George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" a lot while I watched this.  There are some amazing parallels between the two, both of which were released just months apart in 1969.

I went into this viewing thinking that I had a pretty good idea what I was about to see.  "The Wild Bunch" managed to surprise me several times by being much more than I expected.

Rating - **** Recommended

Tracking the Top 100

This is the American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the top 100 American movies; I’ve put the ones I’ve seen in bold. I've included only those movies that I've seen the whole way through.  I had checked it a couple years ago and had scored about 60% of them.  Just updated it and now I'm at 70%.  10 of the top 10 and 18 of the top 20.

1. Citizen Kane, 1941.

2. The Godfather, 1972.

3. Casablanca, 1942.

4. Raging Bull, 1980.

5. Singin’ in the Rain, 1952.

6. Gone With the Wind, 1939.

7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.

8. Schindler’s List, 1993.

9. Vertigo, 1958.

10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939.

11. City Lights, 1931.

12. The Searchers, 1956.

13. Star Wars, 1977.

14. Psycho, 1960.

15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.

16. Sunset Blvd., 1950.

17. The Graduate, 1967.

18. The General, 1927.

19. On the Waterfront, 1954.

20. It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.

21. Chinatown, 1974.

22. Some Like It Hot, 1959.

23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.

24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982.

25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.

26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.

27. High Noon, 1952.

28. All About Eve, 1950.

29. Double Indemnity, 1944.

30. Apocalypse Now, 1979.

31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941.

32. The Godfather Part II, 1974.

33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.

35. Annie Hall, 1977.

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.

37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.

38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.

39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964.

40. The Sound of Music, 1965.

41. King Kong, 1933.

42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.

43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969.

44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940.

45. Shane, 1953.

46. It Happened One Night, 1934.

47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.

48. Rear Window, 1954.

49. Intolerance, 1916.

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.

51. West Side Story, 1961.

52. Taxi Driver, 1976.

53. The Deer Hunter, 1978.

54. M-A-S-H, 1970.

55. North by Northwest, 1959.

56. Jaws, 1975.

57. Rocky, 1976.

58. The Gold Rush, 1925.

59. Nashville, 1975.

60. Duck Soup, 1933.

61. Sullivan’s Travels, 1941.

62. American Graffiti, 1973.

63. Cabaret, 1972.

64. Network, 1976.

65. The African Queen, 1951.

66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.

67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966.

68. Unforgiven, 1992.

69. Tootsie, 1982.

70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971.

71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.

73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.

74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.

75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967.

76. Forrest Gump, 1994.

77. All the President’s Men, 1976.

78. Modern Times, 1936.

79. The Wild Bunch, 1969.

80. The Apartment, 1960.

81. Spartacus, 1960.

82. Sunrise, 1927.

83. Titanic, 1997.

84. Easy Rider, 1969.

85. A Night at the Opera, 1935.

86. Platoon, 1986.

87. 12 Angry Men, 1957.

88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938.

89. The Sixth Sense, 1999.

90. Swing Time, 1936.

91. Sophie’s Choice, 1982.

92. Goodfellas, 1990.

93. The French Connection, 1971.

94. Pulp Fiction, 1994.

95. The Last Picture Show, 1971.

96. Do the Right Thing, 1989.

97. Blade Runner, 1982.

98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.

99. Toy Story, 1995.

100. Ben-Hur, 1959.

From My Shelves - The Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers - It was sometime in either very late high school or early college that I got into the Marx Brothers.  You'll find no less than 12 titles on my shelves (listed at the end).  If memory serves a friend in high school (who bore a more than passing resemblance to Groucho when he put his mind to it) first put them on my radar.  In birth order they are Leonard (Chico), Arthur (Harpo), Julius (Groucho), Milton (Gummo) and Herbert (Zeppo).  The brothers began as vaudeville performers then made the transition to Broadway.  Performing was a family business in more ways than one.  Their uncle was Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean, vaudeville and Broadway stars in their own right.  Shean helped the boys write some of their early material.

Their comedy is based on set characters and the natural abilities of the brothers themselves.  Groucho had a legendary ability to ad lib through anything.  His side comments and sly innuendo are still astounding all these years later.  Groucho is the godfather of snark.  The smartest and most talented of the group may have been Harpo who is supposed to have been able to play no less than 6 instruments. Including, of course, the harp.  The Marx Brothers were outrageous, unpredictable and bizarre.  At the same time they were brilliant, witty and sarcastic.  Nothing was safe from their mockery.

The early movies ("Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers") are film versions of their hit Broadway shows.  While the material is quite good it suffers from being very "stagy".  Neither the brothers nor their studio(Paramount) really knew how to bring that Marxian madness fully to the screen.  Things are a better fit to the movies as they move into "Monkey Business" and "Horse Feathers".  "Duck Soup" is generally acclaimed as the greatest Marx Brothers movie of them all.  It was not one of their more successful ones (the political overtones probably put people off) and I'll admit that while I admire the movie it isn't my favorite of them all. (Interesting local note on "Duck Soup" - the fictional country in the movie is "Freedonia" and the leadership of Fredonia, New York asked Paramount to take out the reference claiming it was hurting their town.  Groucho responded by asking them to change their name because it was hurting his movie)

For me the greatest Marx Brothers movies come when they move to MGM and begin working with Irving Thalberg.  "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" are better plotted, more disciplined scripts that really show off the brothers to their best effect.  Thalberg was the "Boy Wonder" with a magic touch and it shows in these two movies.  The downside is that he also insisted on including musical numbers and a romantic story line that really doesn't help the overall movie.  They look especially dated now.  Nevertheless, I believe these two movies are the Marx Brothers at their peak (Groucho would agree in interviews later in his life).  Sadly Thalberg died before filming was complete on "Races" and the MGM brain trust had no idea what to do with the act (plus the brothers could be a bit, um, disruptive when they put their minds to it.  MGM liked order and the Marx Brothers are about anarchy).  The rest of their movies are lesser lights.  They would make "Room Service" at RKO, return to MGM for "At the Circus", "Go West" and "The Big Store".  At that point they announced their retirement from the movies.  To help Chico pay off gambling debts the brothers would reunite for "A Night in Casablanca" and "Love Happy".  By the end the brothers were showing their age.

After the movies were behind them the brothers dabbled in a variety of things.  Chico had his own band for a while (with Mel Torme as singer!), Groucho had some additional fame and success on television with "You Bet Your Life".  They made the occasional guest star appearances as well.  The two youngest brothers (who had only limited or no roles in the movies) Gummo and Zeppo actually founded a very successful talent agency.

Chico went first in 1961.  He was followed by Harpo in '64, Groucho and Gummo in '77 and Zeppo in '79.

Modern viewers may have a little trouble connecting with the rhythm of the comedy of the '20s and '30s that is the bread and butter for the Marxes, especially in their earlier movies.  I think that's one of the reasons that the two Thalberg films do so well.  If you can make that internal shift you will be amply rewarded.

The Marx Brothers are truly special and unique talents.  No one else has ever come close to the level of genius that they brought to the screen.  If a lot of their act seems familiar it's because they've had such a profound effect on so many performers that followed them.

On the shelf -

• The Cocoanuts
• Animal Crackers
• Monkey Business
• Horse Feathers
• Duck Soup
• A Day at the Races
• A Night at the Opera
• Go West
• The Big Store
• Room Service (featuring Lucille Ball)
• At the Circus
• A Night in Casablanca

(The only "major" title I'm missing is "Love Happy" which features a walk on by Marilyn Monroe)

Net Neutrality, Adult Monster and RIP Russell Johnson

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of January 20, 2014


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

RIP Russell Johnson                                                                                            

For an actor there’s always the question of whether you really want a role that will stay with you for the rest of your career.  That Captain Kirk or Doctor Who role that will make your name familiar to virtually everyone but might just limit your future roles because they will always see as THAT character.

If you’re leading actor it can probably be survived.  I mean Bill Shatner has had several more big time character since the original Star Trek went off the air.  If you’re a character actor it can be more of a problem.  Your bread and butter is disappearing into supporting roles and it can be tough if everyone says “Wait, it’s so and so!”

So when I saw that Russell Johnson had passed away last week I wondered how he’d done after his iconic role.  Johnson played the Professor on the ‘60s classic TV show “Gilligan’s Island” (Do you know the character’s real name?  I had to look it up.  Roy Hinkley).  A quick check showed me that Johnson had a solid career before becoming a castaway and an equally solid one after.

Johnson was born in northeastern Pennsylvania, served in World War II as a B-24 crew member and was awarded a variety of medals including the Purple Heart.  By 1952 he had begun his Hollywood career and it was a career where he worked with a lot of interesting people including Audie Murphy, George Raft, Ronald Reagan and Robert Redford.  He also appeared in a lot of popular TV shows through the years including “The Twilight Zone”, “Lassie”, “Lou Grant”, “Dallas”, “McGyver”, “Dynasty” and “Alf” among many, many others.

There was always a big question surrounding his best known character.  If the Professor could make almost anything out of bamboo and coconuts why couldn’t he fix the boat and get them off the island?  Johnson was asked that question for years.  His answer was simple.  Boat building was not among the Professor’s skills.

With Johnson’s death only two members of the original cast still survive.  Curiously they are the two at the center of the longest running discussion concerning the show - Ginger or Mary Ann?

While I’m a Mary Ann guy all the way I can’t tell you who was the Professor’s favorite.

Russell Johnson was 89 years old.


Adult Monster                                                                                                    

Today’s show comes with a little bit of a warning upfront.  I will be extremely discreet but it’s still a topic you probably won’t want to have to explain to small children.  In fact I am relying on the intelligence of the WRFA listenership to fill in a LOT in the set up of this story.  Because quite simply, this story is weird.

We are discussing a certain genre of adult literature normally referred to by a four letter word that begins with the letter “P”.  Now maybe you’re thinking I’m being overly cautious.  This kind of material has even gone mainstream through titles like “50 Shades of Gray”.  But that’s pretty tame compared to the topic at hand.  Take the “P word” and put the word “monster” in front of it.  As in it involves Bigfoot or Pterodactyls.

The bad news is I’m not kidding.  The good news is we’re going to talk about something else from now on.

The upside of the brave new digital publishing world is that it’s allowing many more authors to get their work before an audience and, hopefully, make some money.  Titles that won’t generate enough sales to interest a major publisher can actually be quite successful at the self-published level because so much of even a modest sales price goes to profit.  The overhead can be virtually zero.

Of course the artistic value of a lot of these books can be virtually zero as well.  But that’s fine, there’s very little money on the line for anyone.

The amazing thing about the books in question here is that they’re actually selling pretty well.  Well enough that one author brings in anywhere from six thousand to thirty thousand dollars a month in sales.  Enough that she has funded her daughter’s college education with the proceeds.  At least she was until folks like Amazon were shocked, shocked do you hear to discover they were selling this sort of thing.  They began pulling the books from the listings claiming they somehow violated their extremely vague content guidelines.

You couldn’t pay me to read these books.  But I think the folks at the major online outlets that handle self published books are kidding themselves if they think this is going to go away. 

They may want to call this kind of publishing a monster.  But it’s a monster they’ve helped to create.

Net Neutrality                                                                                                                           

You may have recently heard that the Internet as we have come to know and love it is coming to an end.  All delivered in properly apocalyptic prose certain Chicken Littles are declaring that the sky is falling.

The truth is somewhat more complicated than that.  The discussion revolves around a concept called “Net Neutrality” and it was the subject of a court decision a week or so ago.

First, let’s define “net neutrality” in case you’re not clear on the concept.  It means that everybody gets treated the same on the World Wide Web.  So you, the consumer, can access my blog just the same as you access your streaming videos on Netflix.  Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can’t charge you more to visit certain sites over other sites.  It’s all “neutral”.

The problem comes up that treating all web sites equally isn’t really fair because, well, they’re not all equal.  My blog has a small but dedicated readership.  At peak hours Netflix accounts for 32% of total traffic according to some studies.  Believe it or not there are limitations to how much traffic the Internet can bear.  So the ISPs would like the big bandwidth users, like Netflix, to pay a little more.

A lot of the furor has to do with how much more and who would pay it.

But that’s not the only issue.  If net neutrality goes bye bye it actually opens up all kinds of potential issues that would make life on the Internet less pleasant.  We’ve seen the kind of stupid games that get played between cable channels and the service providers.  Channels being blacked out and endless finger pointing.  Well without net neutrality the same thing could happen with services on the Internet.  Suddenly there’s some kind of argument and service to those sites suddenly slooooooows down.

In reality the final word is a long way from being spoken on this subject.  The FCC can still appeal the current court decision including taking it eventually to the Supreme Court.  Or they could re-write the regulations to suit the current ruling or get around the current ruling.  Or Congress could decide to change the law.

But what I can say without any great fear of contradiction is that stories of the Internet’s demise are decidedly premature.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Best of the Web - The Hunt for Gollum

The Hunt for Gollum - (2009) - This is a low budget, independent and unofficial prequel to the Lord of the Rings movies.  It tells the story of Aragorn's pursuit and capture of Gollum.  This story is told primarily in the appendices of the Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books.

No, that's not Viggo.
And yes, it looks a LOT like him!

Made by a group of fans on a budget of about $5,000 (US).  Writer/Producer/Director Chris Bouchard acknowledges the inspiration of the Peter Jackson major motion pictures.  This is really an astounding piece of fan video.  The production crew consisted of 160 volunteers as they shot in parts of England and Wales.  The final version debuted in 2009 and is well past 12 million views.  An awful lot of fan produced media is simply awful.  This shows the potential of work created by people who truly love the original material.

What's really astounding is the quality of the cinematography and the direction.  With all the tacky, poorly shot video out there it's wonderful to run into something that has some quality to it.  It's not perfect but it stands head and shoulders above most.  Bouchard has a feel not only for the material but also the medium in which he is creating.

The movie runs 38 minutes long and can be viewed for free on YouTube.  View it HERE
Take a look at the production home page HERE

Movie Review - Detour

Detour - (1945) - Piano play Al Roberts decides to follow his singer girlfriend to Hollywood.  With virtually empty pockets he hitchhikes across the country from New York City.  Along the way he meets a bookie and a dangerous young woman named Vera (Ann Savage).  Between the two of them they will destroy Al Roberts life.

Here's film noir stripped down to its bare essence.  It's dark and cynical with a strong sexual undertone.  People die mysteriously and there's money to be made.  Al Roberts will be offered several choices and he'll muff all of them.  Vera thinks she's got the world on a string and all she has to do is pull.  When the string does get pulled she won't like the outcome.  Sadly the meddling of the Hollywood Production Code of the day doesn't let this movie end the way it should have ended.  The sets are cheap, the acting is spotty and periodically the movie flips (literally.  After shooting several scenes during the hitchhiking section they realized that all the travel was moving left to right on the screen.  By tradition westward movement is done right to left.  With only a limited budget they just flipped the negative.  So periodically cars suddenly have right hand drive steering wheels!).  Yet somehow this movie works.  The actors had little to no experience but there's a chemistry between them and the dialogue that works.  Vera is the dangerous but attractive woman, Al is the weak man.  In just 68 minutes the movie managed to become a classic.

I had never heard of "Detour" before reading Roger Ebert's "The Great Movies".  The legend is that the movie was made for $20,000 in 6 days (later scholarship says probably $100,000 in about a month but still a cheap, fast movie).  It comes at the very dawn of the film noir age in the United States.  You could spend a week noting all the things that could have been done better but why not take a little time and enjoy all that it does well?

Rating - **** Recommended

Beyonce, A Deal Nobody Wants, Never Sell Short

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of January 13, 2014


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

Never Sell Short                                                                                             

I think this just might be the funniest media story I’ve heard in a long time.  It’s all about selling yourself short and then paying for it in the long run.  There’s also an interesting commentary here on predicting the future.

If you’re a sports fan you may have already heard this one.  Once upon a time there were two brothers, Ozzie and Daniel Silna.  The Brothers Silna owned a team in the old American Basketball Association or ABA.  The ABA was a big league rival to the better known NBA.  After just 9 years of fun but not particularly successful play the ABA agreed to merge with the NBA.  One team was such a financial disaster that they were allowed to fold, one was bought off to fold and four others (the New Jersey Nets, the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs) were allowed to merge.  That only left the Silna’s team, the Spirits of St. Louis out in the cold.  The Silnas wanted to merge but the league didn’t want them.  They also rejected a buyout offer like the other team and settled for the most amazing windfall deal of all time.

The NBA agreed to pay one seventh of the TV rights for the four remaining ABA teams to the Silnas, wait for it, in perpetuity.  That lawyer talk for forever.

In 1976 that wasn’t that big a deal.  Their first check was for just over a half a million dollars.  Since then the NBA has become huge.  The Silnas have earned around 300 million dollars and to be honest the NBA has been trying to get out of this deal for years.  Who can blame them?

After years of negotiations it appears that the Silnas will agree to be bought out.  Rumors say the settlement will be around an additional five hundred million dollars.  Not bad for essentially doing nothing.
And all of this happened because the NBA (and to be honest, probably the Silnas too) didn’t know what they were negotiating over.

Have you ever noticed that often when someone sells off a company or product they will keep a very small share?  Did you ever wonder why?  Because there’s always the chance that it could become the next big thing.  And who wouldn’t want a piece of that?

Who wouldn’t want to be the next Daniel and Ozzie Silna?

Deal Nobody Wants                                                                                              

You have to be careful sometimes.  It’s easy to fall in love with a concept or a technology and believe that everyone loves it as much as you do.  Making your business decision based on anything other than the fact that lots of people like your product is almost always a bad idea.  In the end it’s not about quality, people buy lots of stuff that is just junk.  It’s like advertising.  Everyone thinks that advertising (or promotion in the larger sense) is about selling stuff.  Wrong.   The function of advertising is to create a desire for a product or service.  You need this, it’ll make your life better, it will make you more attractive, it will make you cool.  Without that desire there’s no reason to spend the money.

So I’m a little perplexed by the decision at ABC.  They have just announced that if you want to see the latest episodes of their shows (think “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Modern Family”, “Once Upon A Time”, “Scandal” or “Castle”) you had best a customer on the ABC approved provider list.  Those are the service providers that have signed a TV Everywhere deal with ABC.  What that means is that if you get your service from Time-Warner Cable, Dish or Direct TV you will be blacked out for at least a week before you can see those show.

I always wonder about these kinds of decisions.  It’s not like I’m likely to leave my provider over an issue like this.

In fact it’s not likely anyone will leave their providers over this issue.  You know why?  Let’s jump back for a moment.

When I mentioned TV Everywhere before, be honest, did you have any idea what that was?  Don’t feel bad if the answer was no.  According to a recent survey something like 82% of Americans have no idea what it is.

So here’s that customer has to want it moment.  If you have no idea what it is how much leverage does ABC really have?  For all intents and purposes the answer is “Zero”.

Instead why not make a big deal out of letting those folks have access to TV Everywhere for, say, a month.  Then once they’ve come to enjoy it remind them that their provider still needs to make a deal.

Now you have leverage.

Because now you have something I want.

Beyonce                                                                                                                            

When I left commercial radio almost 14 years ago (yeah, it’s been that long) I pretty much gave up listening to current popular music.  There are still some times when something newer pops up and grabs my attention but by and large the current Top 40 is a blank for me.

Then you get something like the current flap surrounding Beyonce and I have to pay attention again.  The problem is I don’t know what to do with it all.

Beyonce’s new song “XO” features a clip from NASA’s mission control immediately following the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986.  In a classic non-apology the singer claims that the songwriters used the clip as a tribute to the 7 astronauts who died.  It’s there to make sure that the shuttle crew, quoting now, “...will never be forgotten.”

The only problem is that the song isn’t about them.  It’s not about brave people putting their lives on the line for the greater good or to advance science.  The song is about a failed romance.

Artistic decisions are hard.  You have to be willing to take a risk and we as the audience need to be open to exposure to what comes from that risk taking.  Done well it is an amazing event and can broaden our understanding of the world.

Or it can be a cheap grandstand stunt.  I’m afraid I put this song in that category.

I will admit to not being able to enter this discussion wholly objectively.  I grew up in the heyday of the space program.  Mercury, Gemini, Apollo.  John Glenn, Neil Armstrong.  The tragedy of Apollo 1 and the victory of “One small step for man...”

There are places you just shouldn’t go.  I know that plenty of folks in the arts world will be uncomfortable with that concept.  I accept that.

There are ways to pay tribute to great losses.  Then there are just ways to push an emotional button for no good purpose other than cheap publicity.

Real people died that day.  Real people with real families.  Real people trying to do something dangerous and important.

A lot more important than just one more pop song about a screwed up love life.

In a lot of ways I don’t miss all that pop music in my life.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Movie Review - Singing In The Rain

Singin' in the Rain - (1952) - Silent movie stars Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are faced with the end of their careers as the age of the talkie dawns.  Lockwood's acting style doesn't work in the new age and Lamont's voice was made for silents (and silence).  With the help of Lockwood's boyhood pal Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) and ingenue Kathy Selden (Debby Reynolds) they find a way to turn a silent turkey into a musical smash.

This is arguably the greatest movie musical of all time.  This is a movie that was actually built around the singing and dancing.  The story is just an add on to tie all the important bits together.  This show carries it's own store of legend.  Kelly's tyrannical direction, the iconic "Singin' in the Rain" sequence was done in a single take with Kelly suffering from a 100+ degree temperature, Reynolds dancing so hard she burst a blood vessel, O'Connor having to rest for three days following the "Make 'Em Laugh" routine only to be told that it had to be re-shot in its entirety.

Great songs, great dancing, just enough story.  For me the greatest joy out of this show is the performance of song and dance great Donald O'Connor.  I first ran across him watching old movies on Saturday and Sunday afternoons as a kid.  For me he will always be linked with Francis the Talking Mule.  Which is really an awful legacy for such a great performer.  Kelly is his usual athletic self dancing, Reynolds holds her own (which is impressive for a 19 year old with so little dance experience that Kelly criticized to the point of tears.  It was Fred Astaire who helped her make the grade in the movie as a favor to the youngster) plus there's Cyd Charisse in the obligatory "high art" dance section.  Makes me think of the "Choreography" bit in "White Christmas". In the end the singing and dancing is more than enough. This was a movie that is so much more than it's legend. Given how high that legend stands, that's saying quite a bit. Rating - ***** Must See

No Kids Rule, RIP James Avery, Woe to Predictions

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of January 6, 2014


My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

Woe to Predictions                                                                                              

It’s the beginning of the year which means that it’s prediction time.  I’m not just talking about who will make it to and then win the Super Bowl or this year’s World Series/Stanley Cup/NBA championship etc.  This time of year everybody and their brother is cranking out some kind of prediction on what’s going to happen next in technology, politics, religion, economics, you name it.

There’s one thing that all the predictions have in common.  They’re guesses and many,many, many of them will turn out to be wrong.  It’s like weather forecasts.  If everything keeps doing just what it’s doing now with no more than minimal adjustments then this will happen.  Probably.  There’s a good chance.  It could happen.

But that’s just the point.  Things don’t stay the same.  There are factors that the prophets and prognosticators will overlook, undervalue or just not know about.  Things that look like sure bets will suddenly develop fatal flaws and everything that we expected to grow out of that simply stops.

Here’s what got me thinking about this.  You may have heard over the last couple days that the economy of China may be poised to overtake the U.S. economy as the biggest in the world in the next couple years.  The folks in the world of big economics starting touting that spring.  And I saw someone going on about it on CNN last week.  On the other hand just in the last month a new study from another economics big brain says well, the U.S. is doing pretty well and China is struggling so maybe it won’t happen for a while yet.

I have no idea which one of these super brains is right.  I just know that, as always, the prediction business proves to be harder than it looks.
So in the end why do we spend so much time listening?  I think it’s because we want to believe that someone out there knows what’s going to happen next.  Despite the repeated failure to actually pull it off.

The other advantage is that predictions in January about what’s coming in 2014 will be completely forgotten by December.

At which point it will all begin again.

At least that’s my prediction.

RIP James Avery                                                                                               

There are two ways to a successful career in Hollywood.  Mind you, not just get a little work but to have a career.  The first way is to become a big star.  Every young actor thinks this is the way to go.  It looks easy and it certainly looks like fun.  The problem is that while it may or may not be fun (opinions diverge on that subject) there is no way that it’s easy.  First you have to be the right person in the right place at the right time who makes the right connections.  You have to make sure you select the right scripts time after time (1930’s film star George Raft couldn’t do that and paid the price.  He turned down Humphrey Bogart’s role in “The Maltese Falcon” and may have turned down Bogie’s role in “Casablanca” as well).  Plus you have to rely on the changing tastes of the audience.  When American G.I.’s marched off to World War II five million copies of Betty Grable and her “million dollar legs” went with them.  Just a decade later Grable had trouble getting work in Hollywood.

The other way is to be a character actor.  That’s the actor who specializes in smaller, supporting characters.  It’s not as flashy and you’ll probably never become fabulously wealthy but a quality character actor can work for years beyond the span of a star.

Last week we lost one of this generations quality character actors with the passing of James Avery.  For most people Avery will always be associated with the character of Uncle Phil from the television series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.  He was the perfect foil to Will Smith’s streetwise character.  That’s the classic function for a character actor.

Avery was more than just that one role.  If you’re a child of the ‘90s then you know him as the voice of Shredder from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.  His full list of credits would run for pages covering both film and television.
But even that is only scratching the surface.  Avery was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Viet Nam.  In addition to his acting work he wrote screenplays and poetry. Curiously his real life mirrored his most famous role where he was stepfather to his wife’s son.  TV Guide listed his character as one of the top 50 TV Dads of all time.

“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” launched the rapper Will Smith into TV and movie stardom.  But it might not have ever happened without the support of an outstanding character actor.

James Avery was 68 years old.

No Kids Rule                                                                                                                             

I’d have to go back and look but it strikes me that it was a couple years ago that I got properly hot and bothered here when someone decided to make the Obama daughters Sasha and Malia into political footballs.  I believed then as I believe now that there is and should be a “No Kids Rule” when it comes to political commentary.  We need to remember that we elected just one member of the family.  That member is open to scrutiny, question and comment.  The line on adult members of the family can be a little more blurred.  If they choose to be actively involved in the political life of their elected member (think Hilary Clinton while she was First Lady) then they become fair game as well.

But not the kids.  And by kids I mean young people below the legal age of majority, call it 18 and under.  They are off limits, out of bounds and to be left alone.  Short of treason or murder in the first degree there is simply no reason to go there.  It’s hard enough growing up most days, I can’t even imagine what it must be like growing up under the microscope that comes with your parent being a high profile politician.

Having said that I have to take note of the stupidity shown on MSNBC’s “Melissa Harris Perry Show” a couple of weekends ago.  The panelists took great delight in sticking it to Mitt Romney’s family and the Republican party in general because in the family Christmas photo was the latest Romney grandchild.  Keiran James Romney was adopted this past year by Ben and Andelynne Romney, Mitt’s son and daughter-in-law in the fall.  The subject of all this “commentary” is that fact that Keiran is African-American child.  In fact Keiran is an baby and a pretty cute one too.

Yet somehow through the planning stage for the show, review by the producer and by the host somehow it was decided that making this kid the pivot for some snarky commentary was a good idea.

It wasn’t and kudos to Harris Perry for offering a real apology for the stupidity of it all.

Which brings us back to where we started.  It’s simple really.  We just don’t go there.  Ever.

It’s the “No Kids Rule”.  Period.

Call that the View From the Phlipside