Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

The Last Family Member from Ozzie & Harriett Passes

David Nelson, of the TV series Ozzie and Harriett, passed away yesterday at the age of 74. The Ozzie and Harriett show ran on ABC from 1952 to 1966, and it had started as a radio show in 1944, although the radio children were played by other actors for the first four years.

For those of us who only have seen the show in syndication, it may seem old-fashioned. We see it like the TV series in the movie Pleasantville, a world waiting to be changed by our modern views, liberations, and freedoms. Yes, the show was the product of its time, but it was not such a bad thing to show family love in the relatively new medium of TV. And the show was a landmark TV series, setting the stage for family comedies ranging from The Cosby Show to Modern Family.

Although he is less famous than his late brother Rick Nelson — who had a successful rock and roll career and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — David Nelson was well-regarded on the show and went on to be in other TV roles and to own his own production company. Most importantly, David and Ricky were the ones who convinced their parents to do the TV show. So without their childhood nagging, TV viewers would have been much poorer. It is a good lesson that sometimes we should listen to the kids. Rest in peace, David.

Beware of Black Swan Hype (Short Review)

One of the main purposes of Chimesfreedom is to write about things we enjoy and to spread the word about good movies and music and their connections to our history.  I do not want to waste time writing about things that are not enjoyable.  But because Black Swan is getting such raves from most critics, it seems worthwhile to sound a brief dissent.  Yes, there are positive aspects of the film, such as that Natalie Portman does an excellent job in the ballet scenes.  And maybe we are not the target audience for this film or maybe our expectations were too high because of the positive reviews.  You may love the film . . . but how do we keep our general positive spin while still sounding a warning that some may not enjoy Black Swan ?  Here’s our attempt.

Review of Black Swan:  If you:  (1) like movies with cutting, blood, and disturbing scenes; (2) think that a one-note performance of looking confused all of the time is great acting; and (3) enjoy predictable stories that feature caricatures instead of portrayals of real human beings. . . you will love Black Swan. 

End of review.

True Grit ’10 vs. True Grit ’69

True Grit 2010

I first learned that there was going to be a remake of True Grit when I saw the preview for the new movie. My initial reaction was, “Why would anyone remake a classic John Wayne western?” As the preview rolled on, I noticed that Jeff Bridges was in the movie, and he is one of my favorite actors. Then, in the preview, there was Matt Damon playing the Glenn Campbell role, which looked good. Finally, at the end of the preview it said that the movie was created by the Coen Brothers. I was on board.

True Grit 1969The movie lives up to expectations. The new True Grit (TG2010) is a faithful tribute to the John Wayne classic from 1969 (TG1969) as well as to the novel upon which both movies are based. The acting is excellent. Although the stars Bridges and Damon do a great job as always, the movie depends on the role of Mattie, played by 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld. Steinfeld carries much of the movie on her shoulders well. The original role of 14-year-old Mattie was played by the 21-year-old Kim Darby, who did a good job but is not quite believable as a child for today’s viewers.

Unfortunately, movies often portray the bad guys as brilliant pure evil characters. Such portrayals are unrealistic, as real-life criminals are generally less intelligent than movie portrayals, and instead of pure evil spirits, they are human beings (and often mentally disturbed as appears in the recent Arizona shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others by Jared Lee Loughner). Although the villains in TG2010 have little screen time, the Coen brothers add some complexity to roles that others may have portrayed as caricatures. Here, the villains are played as characters with limited intelligence or with realistic conflicting qualities. Barry Pepper does an excellent job in the role originally portrayed by Robert DuVall. TG2010 is a little more violent than TG1969, but the Coen Brothers used violence in a realistic way without raising the violence to a level they have done in some of their other movies like No Country for Old Men and Fargo.

The Coen Brothers also give some complexity to the three main heroes. Although I like the final scene from the original True Grit, the Coens ended the movie in a way that was both faithful to their vision and more faithful to the novel, both in changing the coda as well as changing the fates, to varying degrees, of the three main characters.

Westerns, by their nature, are often elegiac in nature, and True Grit 2010 is no exception. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “elegiac” as “of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past.” The movie seems elegiac for both its portrayal of a western past and for its version of how we saw movies in the past.

One of the haunting elements of the movie is its use of a limited musical score, often allowing us to hear the silence and the wind blowing on the plains. Throughout the movie, the ongoing musical theme is the spiritual “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” which also played a key part in the movie, Night of the Hunter (addressed in a previous post). The musical connection is appropriate, as True Grit and the Robert Mitchum movie both feature the fellowship of good people triumphing over outside threats. When True Grit ends and the credits role, we are given the song once again, this time with Iris DeMent providing the vocals. The words from a specially written song would not fit True Grit’s portrayal of the three-person fellowship better: “Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,/Leaning on the everlasting arms.”

Conclusion? True Grit 2010 is a worthwhile remake of a good movie, tweaking the original without obliterating the memory of the first movie. The character studies, the sparkling dialogue, the scenery, and the action make it an entertaining adventure. How does it compare to the 1969 movie? I missed John Wayne’s charm, but overall the 2010 movie has a more believable cast with some nice realistic story twists. Watch and enjoy both.

Bonus “Listen to this Song Instead of Watching the Trailer Advice”(above):  Although I loved the preview for True Grit 2010, if you are going to see the movie, you do not need to see the trailer (or you may find it easily on YouTube). The trailer’s focus on retribution is misleading, and it shows a few good lines and scenes that are better left to your movie viewing, especially if you have never seen the 1969 movie. What might help you enjoy the movie is familiarity with the beautiful musical theme of the movie, so instead of the preview, above is Iris DeMent’s version of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

Bonus Reviews (1/13/11 update): If you would like to read more about the plot, check out this review from Cinema Viewfinder, which reminded me that the Coens had echoed Night of the Hunter in Raising Arizona too (with the “Hate” and “Love” tattoos on the outlaw biker).  Here is another review that is much more critical of the original True Grit, but it has a nice discussion of Night of the Hunter, noting that the line, “The Dude abides” from The Big Lebowski was also inspired by the Robert Mitchum movie.

What did you think of the movie? Leave a comment.

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    Happy Birthday Elvis!

    Elvis Birthday On January 8 in 1935, the king of rock and roll was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.  The child was born to Gladys Love Presley and named after the middle name of his father, Vernon Elvis Presley.

    Thirty-five minutes before Elvis Presley was born, an identical twin brother named Jesse Garon Presley was delivered, stillborn. The deliveries took place in a small two-room house that Vernon had built in preparation for the anticipated births.

    Ten years later, Elvis gave his first public performance, standing on a chair at a fair to reach the microphone and dressed as a cowboy. He sang, “Old Shep.”

    In those pre-YouTube days, he made his first recording eight years later when he was eighteen. He went to Sun Records in Memphis to pay to record a couple of songs, with the first recorded sounds of that voice singing, “My Happiness.”

    There are varying stories about whether he simply wanted to record a song for his mother or whether he thought the recording might lead to his discovery. Either way, you can hear the start of something there.

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    Homeless Man from Viral Video May Land Job

    The last few days a video has been going around the Internet of a homeless man named Ted Williams who has a great announcer’s voice. USA Today is now reporting that the man has been offered a job by the Cleveland Cavaliers and NFL Films. Meanwhile, the talk show hosts are trying to get him on their shows. Hopefully things will work out for Williams, who has training in announcing but got sidetracked by alcoholism and drugs.

    More than six million people have viewed the video of Mr. Williams after it was posted on YouTube Monday. In case you have not seen it yet, here is the Internet video that may change a man’s life for the better. And you thought YouTube was just for funny kittens. [October 2013 Update: The original video appears to be no longer available.]

    Update for Thursday, Jan. 6: Today, CNN has an interesting story about the man who made the video of Ted Williams, Doral Chenoweth III, and what made him stop to make the video. According to the story, Chenoweth is an interesting person, who actually had the video for five weeks before posting it. Also, as noted in a comment, Ted Williams has now appeared on the Today Show.