A blurb about The Night Of The Iguana

    For some reason, I imagine that Tennessee Williams pictured himself in the role of Ava Gardner as Maxine Faulk. I mean, who wouldn't want to be in a cabana boy sandwich, with those gyrating pelvises that sound like rattle snakes?  We all fight off the Blue Devil in our own way, and this is how Maxine chose to fight off hers, and can you blame her?  Richard Burton's Shannon is like, 'What?!' Ava Gardner's Maxine is like, 'You're an idiot Shannon if you think I wouldn't do that in a heartbeat.'
     Who is the Blue Devil you ask? Why it's depression and anxiety, of course. Before Paxil, before Prozac, there was alcohol, and barbituates, and sex, and marijuana, and the occasional cabana boy.  If there's one thing you can't do, it's play dumb with Tennessee Williams. There is something painful about watching another person have a nervous breakdown. It makes me want to lie down on the couch and drawl,'I have a nervous condition,' as I sip mint juleps. 

 

     I never thought I'd see Richard Burton's junk in wet tighty whities. Ever. But here you go. Proud as a peacock. Maybe this is where the expression Liz and Dick came from. I don't know.  Sue Lyon is like, "Help me, save me from this creepy middle age guy."

    I remember one time when I was in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I was walking across the bridge to Old San Juan to catch the ferry to the Bacardi factory. A boy on a bicycle was riding toward me with an iguana in his arms. He held it up towards me an shouted, "Meester, Meester". After he passed me, he stopped and tossed the iguana over the railing and it swam away. True story.  This must be some kind of game boys in the Caribbean play.  It was just like the scene in Houston's movie where the boys hold an iguana up to the passing bus of tourists.

 Preston Sinclair

The Film Experience 

A Blurb about 127 Hours

One of those 'Oh crap' moments

    

    I liked this movie. I think it appealed to the single male outdoorsy gear head loner in me. It makes me stop and think, 'there but for the grace of God go I'.  There have been numerous times I've gotten in the car and gone for a day trip hiking at the beach, or in the mountains by myself without actually telling someone where I was going. However, the difference between myself and Aron Ralston, played by James Franco, is that I usually shoot off a quick e-mail, or a cryptic text to a friend to give someone a clue as to my whereabouts. 
     I remember one time I broke the cardinal rule while hiking a local nature trail, and I stepped off the path to get closer to Eel Bay in The Thousand Islands.  It was early spring and the ground was water logged and a rock I used as a stepping stone went out from under me. In a heart beat I was at the bottom of a small ravine, flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me. It was sobering to think that I could have hit the back of my head on one of those rocks on the way down, and stayed there a lot longer than I did. As it was I went home with a tear in the bottom of my jeans to remind me of my foolhardiness.
     In 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle takes a Man vs Nature story and turns it into a Man vs Himself story. At first I was a little skeptical because I had recently seen James Franco in The Great and Powerful Oz. I was afraid he was going to be too charming and charismatic. Thankfully, Franco showed us his goofy awkward side, especially in the scenes when he meets up with the two female hikers. You could really see that they didn't know how to take him at first. 
     Franco is at his best as he slowly he realizes that he really could die out there, a fact that he remains in denial about even for a while after he becomes trapped by the boulder. We can see the fatigue and fear creeping in from the shadows and crevices of the rocks. His complexion becomes pale, and then more ashen as his time with the boulder clicks by.  Boyle does a great job of showing us the mental toll the ordeal is taking on Ralston, and the lengths to which Ralston was willing to go in order to save his own life. 
     Lesson learned. Below is a video clip I recently took when I went mountain climbing in the Catskills.

 
Preston Sinclair

Marilyn Monroe: during The Misfits

 (c) Eve Arnold

One of my favorite pictures of Marilyn Monroe. It looks like it could have been taken yesterday.