October 31 - Monster House

Today’s movie is a fantasy adventure with scenes that happen on October 31. Watch it tonight and enjoy. 

MONSTER HOUSE                 

         

 Horace Nebbercracker takes any toys that get on his lawn. On the day before Halloween, the parents of DJ, who lives across the street go on a trip, leaving him in the care of a punk babysitter nicknamed Zee. DJ thinks Nebbercracker’s house is possessed and while trying to recover his best friend Chowder’s basketball from the lawn, is grabbed by Nebbercracker. Nebbercracker has an attack and is taken to the hospital. DJ later gets phone calls from the empty house and Zee’s boyfriend Bones is eaten by the house. Later Chowder is almost eaten. On October 31, 2006 [26:32 to 1:25:02] the boys save Jenny Bennet from being eaten by the house while trying to sell Halloween candy door-to-door. The police don’t believe their story about the house.  Skull Skulinski, a video gamer tells them a soul can possess a house and to get rid of it they must kill the heart. The boys and Jenny decide to use a dummy to drug the house with cold medicine. They are stopped by the cops, who get swallowed by the house. The kids, who were locked into the squad car end up inside the house. They learn Nebbercracker was a demolitions expert in the Army and had a very large wife named Constance. They find her skeleton encased in cement in the basement. They are almost captured by the house, but Jenny grabs the foyer chandelier, which is the house’s uvula, and it spits them out. Nebbercracker comes home and they learn how he met Constance at a circus. The couple started to build their house, but in a scuffle with some kids on Halloween, Constance accidentally fell into some fresh cement and died. Her soul merged with the house, which now hates kids and Halloween. The house becomes mobile and chases after them. They lure it to a construction site. Nebbercracker gives DJ some dynamite. Chowder uses a bulldozer to lure the house closer. DJ climbs a very tall crane and after a kiss from Jenny for luck, drops the dynamite down the chimney. The explosion destroys the house and frees Constance’s spirit. The kids and Nebbercracker give all the toys he had taken to the trick-or-treaters.

A funny and just scary enough film. The 3d animation is fantastic. Good characters and a good plot make this a special movie.      

In the film at 4:31 DJ gives the date as October 30.  

Awards – Nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 79^th Academy Awards

Screenplay - Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler

Producers - Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey

Director - Gil Kenan                         

Runtime – 1 hour 31 minutes   

Released – July 21, 2006     
                                                        

Starring –

Mitchel Musso as DJ

Sam Lerner as Charles "Chowder

Spencer Locke as Jenny Bennett

Steve Buscemi as Horace Nebbercracker

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Zee

Catherine O'Hara as DJ’s mom

Fred Willard as DJ' s dad

Jason Lee as Bones

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 30 - The Night That Panicked America

Today’s movie is a drama with a scene that happens on October 30. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE NIGHT THAT PANICKED AMERICA       

On October 30, 1938 [the entire film] Orson Welles’s Mercury Theater radio show prepares to broadcast an adaptation of H.G. Wells’s “The War of the Worlds”.  They pick the small town of Grover’s Mills, New Jersey as the site of the fictional invasion. In Grover’s Mills Walter Wingate is milking his cows, but he wants to get into the fight against Hitler by joining the Canadian armed forces if necessary. His father Jess is opposed to this.  In Newark, Hank Muldoon is preparing to leave his wife. In Oak Park Illinois, the minister father of Linda Davis refuses to give her permission to marry Stefan Grubowski, a Catholic. On Nob Hill the Matlocks are having a party.  Orson Welles arrives at the studio and the broadcast begins. On Nob Hill they change the station just in time to hear the first simulated news broadcast. The Nob Hill party guests and the Wingates hear report of Martians landing in Grover’s Mills. The Muldoons also hear this broadcast and while the servants on Nob Hill know it is just a radio broadcast don’t tell their bosses. The radio reports the Martians attack the crowd. The Wingates grab their shotguns and go Martian hunting. The show reports the Martians have killed 7,000 troops. Some people start to panic and flee.   Stefan returns and gets Linda, but her father refuses to go. People start calling the station in panic. They broadcast a disclaimer, but many people don’t hear it. Jess Wingate and his neighbors mistake a water tower for a Martian. Orson Welles goes on air and announces it is just a radio program. Rev. Davis, still believing the invasion is real marries Stefan and his daughter.   Mr. Muldoon decides to stay with his family.

An amusing, if over hyped film. It’s interesting enough to keep you entertained for an hour and a half. It will never be a classic, but it does serve as a warning about the gullibility of some people.

Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu by Simon Callow (Viking, New York, 1995) at page 401 and the film at 01:50 to 01:51 give the date of the broadcast

Awards – The film won the Outstanding Acievement in Film Sound Editing for a Special Program Emmy. It was also nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Entertainment Programming for a Special and Outstanding Writing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Original Teleplay Emmys at the 28th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Screenplay - Nicholas Meyer and Anthony Wilson

Producer - Joseph Sargent                        

Director - Joseph Sargent                                          

Runtime – 1 hour 32 minutes                                    

Released - October 31, 1975                                     

Starring –

Vic Morrow as Hank Muldoon

Eileen Brennan as Ann Muldoon

Meredith Baxter as Linda Davis

Tom Bosley as Norman Smith

Will Geer as Reverend Davis

Paul Shenar as Orson Welles

John Ritter as Walter Wingate

Michael Constantine as Jess Wingate

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014

October 29 - True Lies

Today’s movie is an action adventure film with a scene that happens on October 29. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

TRUE LIES                                

On October 29, 1994 [1:14 to 16:16] Henry Tasker, an agent for the US government’s counter-terrorism agency, the Omega Sector,  crashes a party in Switzerland and uploads secret files that point to Crimson Jihad. The agency is concerned because four Russian atomic bombs are missing. Henry’s wife, Helen and daughter Dana think he is just a boring salesman for a computer company who travels a lot.  Henry meets with Juno Skinner, an antiquities dealer he was introduced to at the Swiss party. Omega Sector thinks she has ties to Crimson Jihad and its leader Aziz.   On the way home he is chased by, and then chases Crimson Jihad agents, which causes him to miss the birthday party his wife and daughter have prepared. The next day when he stops at Helen’s office to take her to lunch, he overhears her talking to a man named Simon, who pretends to be a spy to seduce women. Helen is grabbed by the agency. When Harry, using a voice distorter, questions her about why she was meeting with Simon, Helen tells him she wanted an adventure. Harry offers her a choice: pose as a prostitute and plant a bug on an illegal arms dealer or jail. She chooses the mission and meets Harry, posing as the dealer. Then Crimson Jihad breaks in and kidnaps both of them. They are flown to Crimson Jihad’s base in the Florida Keys. Aziz reveals he has smuggled nuclear warheads into the US inside statutes procured by Juno. Harry reveals to Helen that he is a real spy. Harry escapes, but Helen remains Aziz’s prisoner. As Juno takes Helen back towards Miami, Marine Hawker Harriers take out the bridge and Harry rescues Helen using a helicopter. A nuke left on the base explodes, and Harry learns Aziz has kidnapped his daughter and taken her to a Miami skyscraper where he has the other atomic bomb. Dana steals the bomb’s arming key and Aziz pursues her to a crane on the roof. She jumps down onto the Harrier jet Harry has flown to the site. Aziz jumps also, but he is tossed off and killed.   A year later Helen is now working as an agent alongside Harry.

A fairly good movie. Both funny and full of action. A mindless entertainment guilty pleasure.       

Date given in film on invitation at 1:29

Awards – It was nominated for Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 67^th Academy Awards.

Producer - James Cameron and Stephanie Austin

Director - James Cameron                   

Screenplay - James Cameron                               

Runtime – 2 hours 21 minutes                             

Released – July 15, 1994                                      

Starring –

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker

Jamie Lee Curtis as Helen Tasker

Tom Arnold as Albert Mike Gibson

Bill Paxton as Simon

Tia Carrere as Juno Skinner

Art Malik as Salim Abu Aziz

Eliza Dushku as Dana Tasker

Grant Heslov as Faisal

Charlton Heston as Spencer Trilby

Marshall Manesh as Jamal Khaled

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014

October 28 - The Perfect Storm

Today’s movie is an adventure drama with a scene that happens on October 28. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE PERFECT STORM                    

Gloucester sword fishing boat Capt Bill Tyne persuades the crew of the Andrea Gail to head out for a late season expedition. They have some success, but then their ice machine breaks, meaning they have to return to port at once to sell their catch before it spoils.  The bad news is that two weather fronts and a hurricane have combined in their path to create the “perfect storm” of huge waves and strong winds. A mayday is called in and a Coast Guard helicopter tries to rescue them, but it eventually crashes. Tyne reverses course to get out of the storm, but they encounter a huge rogue wave that capsizes the ship and they all drown on October 28, 1991. [1:50:08 to 1:57:00] On shore their families hold a memorial service.

A tragic story of courage. Unusual weather conditions create a storm like no other the crew had ever seen. This leads to underestimation and bad luck leads to death.

Junger, Sebastian.  The Perfect Storm.  New York; W.W. Norton & Co., 1997. This book at  page 135 gives the date.

Director - Wolfgang Petersen

Awards - The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Oscars at the 73^rd Academy Awards.

Running Time - 2 hours 10 minutes

Released - June 30, 2000

Starring -

           

George Clooney as William "Billy" Tyne

Mark Wahlberg as Robert "Bobby" Shatford

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Linda Greenlaw

Diane Lane as Christina 'Chris' Cotter

John C. Reilly as Dale "Murph" Murphy

Karen Allen as Melissa Brown

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 27 - The Deer Hunter

Today’s movie is a drama with a scene that happens on October 27. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE DEER HUNTER                         

It’s October 27, 1968 [2:00 to 52:30]. In Clairton, a steel town in western Pennsylvania, Russian American steel workers Michael "Mike" Vronsky, the leader, Steven Pushkov, the innocent one and Nikonar "Nick" Chevotarevich, the quiet one prepare for Steven’s wedding to his girlfriend Angela who is pregnant by another man. Mike loves Nick's girlfriend Linda, but keeps his distance from her. At the wedding reception held at the VFW, the guys notice a soldier in a Special Forces uniform. Mike buys him a drink and tries to pump him about the war in Vietnam, as all three of the friends have joined the Army and are going there soon, but the soldier ignores him, except with two toasts of "fuck it". This almost causes a fight, but Mike returns the toast with “fuck it", getting a grin. Steven and Angela drink wine from conjoined goblets, believing that if they drink without spilling any, they will have good luck. However, they don’t notice that one drop of wine spills on her wedding gown. Linda catches the bouquet, so Nick proposes to her and she accepts. A drunk Mike runs through town later that night, and strips naked while Nick begs him not to leave him "over there" if anything happens. The next day, Mike, Nick, Stanley, John and Axel go deer hunting one last time, with Michael killing a deer with "one shot".  We then jump to the war in Vietnam, where both sides attack civilians. Steven, Mike and Nick are captured together. The guards force prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the results. All three friends are forced to play. Steven plays against Mike, grazing himself with a bullet. As punishment, the guards put Steven into an underwater cage with rats and dead bodies. Mike and Nick play each other, but they kill the guards and escape. They rescue Steven and float downriver.  An American helicopter finds them, but only Nick is able to climb aboard.  Mike helps Steven to reach the riverbank, and carries him to friendly lines. He places the wounded Steven on a South Vietnamese truck. Nick recovers in a military hospital in Saigon with no knowledge of what happened to Mike and Steve. After release, he encounters Julien Grinda, outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money. Grinda talks the hesitant Nick into participating.  Mike is there, but can’t get Nick’s attention.  Nick grabs the gun, fires it at the current contestant, and then again at his own temple, causing a riot. Grinda and Nick leave and Mike loses them in the crowd. Back at home Mike gets closer to Linda. Angela is almost in a zombie like state and gives Mike a phone number of the VA hospital where Steve is a patient. Steven, has lost both his legs and is partially paralyzed, but tells Mike somebody has been mailing him cash from Saigon and Mike is convinced it’s Nick. Mike brings Steven home to Angela and then travels to Saigon. He uses Grinda to find Nick in a roulette club, but Nick has amnesia, since he thinks Mike and Steve are dead.  Mike enters a game of Russian roulette against Nick to try and jog Nick's memory. Mike reminds him of their hunting trips together and Nick recognizes him. Nick then raises the gun to his temple, and pulls the trigger, killing himself. They have a funeral for Nick.

 This is a very strange and muddied film. This is one those films that was hailed at the time of its release, but on later retrospection, is revealed to be a jumbled mess. It does have some powerful scenes and imagery, but overall it’s just not that good.

The production notes give the year as 1968. In his comments about the football game they are watching at 10:45 Michael mentions the Eagles and at 10:48, the Steelers. In 1968 this game was on this date as per The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia ed by Pete Palmer, Ken Pullis and Sean Lahman (Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 2006) at page 920

Producer - Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino and John Peverall

Director - Michael Cimino

Screenplay - Deric Washburn

Awards - The movie won the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor (Walken), and Best Sound Oscars. The film was also nominated for the Best Actor(De Niro), Best Supporting Actress(Streep), Best Cinematography, and Best  Original Screenplay at the 51^st Academy Awards.

Runtime – 3 hours 2 minutes

Released – December 8, 1978

Starring -

Robert De Niro as S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Vronsky

Christopher Walken as Cpl. Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich

John Savage as Cpl. Steven Pushkov

John Cazale as Stanley 

Meryl Streep as Linda. 

George Dzundza as John Welsh

Shirley Stoler as Steven's mother

Chuck Aspegren as Peter "Axel" Axelrod

Rutanya Alda as Angela Ludhjduravic-Pushkov

Amy Wright as Bridesmaid

Joe Grifasi as Bandleader

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 26 - A Girl of the Limberlost (1990)

Today’s movie is a period drama with a scene that happens on October 26. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST (1990)     

In 1908 Indiana Elnora Comstock loves nature as she finds it in the Limberlost Swamp, but lives on a farm with her widowed mother, Kate. Elnora also wants to go to high school, but her mother thinks that’s a waste of time, as she wants Elnora to help her on the farm. On her three mile walk to school Elnora meets a hobo child, Billy. At school she does not fit in and can’t afford her textbooks. Then she meets a lady, Gene Stratton-Porter who takes photographs of the natural world. Billy goes to the Comstock farm telling Mrs. Comstock the Elnora sent him and is taken on as a farm hand. Elnora develops a friendship with one student named Sally Brownlee. When Sally’s music teacher learns who Elnora is, he gives her free violin lessons, for which she has natural ability. Elnora sells enough moths and butterflies to Mrs. Porter to buy her textbooks. Then the tax assessor tells Kate. Comstock that the taxes on her farm will double, due to the increasing value of the timber on her land. Mrs. Comstock does not have the money, but refuses any suggestion to sell some of the timber. She forces Elnora to leave school, so they can double the size of their corn crop. After she’s been gone for two weeks Sally comes to tell her if she doesn’t come back soon she’ll be expelled. A hobo brings the coat of Billy’s dad for him, as Billy’s father has been killed in a railway accident. The corn crop is destroyed in a storm, but Elnora finds a female imperial moth and sells it to Mrs. Porter for enough to make up the shortage. Her mother is reluctant about accepting the money, but finally does. On October 26, 1908 Kate Comstock pays her taxes. She stops for the first time at the high school. When she finds Elnora playing the violin, she becomes enraged. We learn that the night Elnora was born he father had gone to town to play at a dance and drowned in a flash flood in the Limbelost on his way back home. Kate blamed Elnora, since because of Elnora’s birth Kate was not there to save her husband. Elnora runs off. [1:32:49; 1:30:15 to 1:44:37] However, the next day Kate gets Billy to guide her to Elnora’s secret hut in the Limberlost. She gives Elnora her father’s violin and they are reconciled.

                       

An interesting coming of age story. Unusual in that it is about a girl. However it does have a deus ex machina ending in that Gene Stratton-Porter saves the day. 

Producers – Tony Bishop and Ann Eldridge

Director – Burt Brinckerhoff                

Screenplay – Pamela Douglas                                

Runtime – 1 hour 45 minutes                                

Released – 1990

Starring –

Heather Fairfield as Elnora Comstock

Annette O’Toole as Kate Comstock

Joanna Cassidy as Gene Stratton-Porter

Chaunsey Leopardi as Billy

Devon Odessa as Sally Brownlee

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 25 - 84 Charing Cross Road

Today’s movie is a period drama with a scene that happens on October 25. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

84 CHARING CROSS ROAD                 

In 1971 Helene Hanff visits London and goes to a closed bookshop. She thinks back on how in post- world War II New York, she had in her search for certain out of print books written to Marks & Co., booksellers, in London. On October 25, 1949 [6:34 to 7:59] Frank Doel the manager writes her back. They begin a conversation in letters about books and life. When she learns of the still continuing rationing in Britain, Helene sends them gifts of food. One day Helene meets and becomes friends with a young engaged couple, Ed and Ginny, and later attends their wedding.  Helene becomes a scriptwriter for the “Ellery Queen” TV show, while Frank spends his time traveling the country attending estate sales, buying old books. Maxine, an actress friend, of Helene goes to London to appear in a play and visits the store but does not tell anyone who she is. Frank and his wife vote in the 1951 general British election and Helene baby-sits for Ed and Ginny. The staff sent Helene a beautiful embroidered tablecloth as a present and George Martin, one of the staff gets sick. When Helene learns that stockings are very hard to get in Britain, she buys some and sends them to Maxine. She takes them to the store and leaves them, again without telling anyone whom she is. Both George Martin and King George VI die. Frank and his family go on holiday, but Helene’s plan to go to Britain are derailed by the huge expense of some unexpected dental work. Both Helene and Frank’s friends watch the coronation of Elizabeth II on TV. They trade their favorite sports loyalties for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Tottenham Hotspurs. Helene gets evicted and has to move to a new apartment building, while everyone at Mark and Co except Frank has moved on. Helene becomes involved in the 1968 Columbia University School protests. She is devastated to learn that Frank Doel has died. She finally makes a trip to London to find the store closed.

This film has very little action. It is all character development. However, it does a very good job at character development and it thus worth watching.       

Date given in the film on a letter at 7:58 and 10:40

Producers - Mel Brooks and Geoffrey Helman

Director - David Jones                                

Screenplay - Hugh Whitemore                                      

Runtime – 1 hour 40 minutes                                        

Released – February 13, 1987                                      

Starring –

Anne Bancroft as Helene Hanff

Anthony Hopkins as Frank Doel

Judi Dench as Nora Doel

Maurice Denham as George Martin

Eleanor David as Cecily Farr

Mercedes Ruehl as Kay

Daniel Gerroll as Brian

Wendy Morgan as Megan Wells

Ian McNeice as Bill Humphries

J. Smith-Cameron as Ginny

     

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014

October 24 - D.C. Sniper:Twenty-Three Days of Fear

Today’s movie is a crime drama with a scene that happens on October 24.  Watch it tonight and enjoy.

D.C. SNIPER: 23 DAYS OF FEAR               

One morning in Montgomery County, Maryland a man cutting grass is shot by a sniper. A very short time later a taxicab driver is shot while pumping gas. A woman is shot on a bench outside a post office. Police get a first incorrect report of a white box van being involved. Next a woman is shot while vacuuming her car. The media suggest the shootings may be terrorist in origin. Later that night another man is shot. The FBI gets onto a militia group member. Then a woman is shot in a parking lot. The militia member is arrested but he has nothing to do with the shootings. A 13 year old student is shot at a school and the police find a tarot card. This is reported by the media, even though card warned police not to release it to the media.  The shooters are questioned in their car but released. Then a person is shot at a gas station. The head of the investigation, Chief Charles Moose blasts the press. Yet another person is shot at a gas station. Then a woman who worked for the FBI is shot at a Home Depot. A guy lies and says he saw the shooter.  John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo call the police for a third time, but get nowhere. They shoot a man at a restaurant and the police find a letter. Moose asks them to call police again.  Muhammad and Malvo call a priest and tell police to investigate a liquor store shooting in Montgomery Alabama. Moose calls Alabama and from that gets a fingerprint and car description. Then a bus driver is shot. The print is matched to Malvo. Moose releases a threat made by Muhammad and Malvo against children. Interviewing people abut Malvo, the police get onto Muhammad, who realizes the police are onto him. The police barely save Muhammad’s ex-wife from being killed by him. Info about the car gets out and it is spotted. On October 24, 2002 [1:14:40 to 1:21:07] John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo are arrested.

A very good police procedural. Sticks very close to the actual facts of the case. Also highlights the irresponsible attitude of the media in this case.

Serial Killers by William Murray (Canary Press, New York, 2007) at page 167 gives the date of their arrest

Producer - Orly Adelson, Jonathan Eskenas and Tracey Jeffrey

Director - Tom McLoughlin

Screenplay - Dave Erickson

Runtime -  1 hour 25 minutes

Released – October 17, 2003

Starring – Charles S. Dutton as Chief Charles Moose

Jay O. Sanders s Douglas Duncan

Bobby Hosea as John Muhammed

Trent Cameron as John Lee Malvo

Helen Shaver as Sandy Moore

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 23 - Lust for Life

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene that happens on October 23. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

LUST FOR LIFE                                 

After being refused a regular appointment as a minister, Vincent van Gogh goes to a mining area as a pastor. After a rough start he gains the respect of the inhabitants because he lives like they do, but church leaders think he’s insulting the dignity of the church. His brother, Theo takes him home and Vincent starts painting. He fall in love with his cousin Kay, but she refuses him. Vincent goes to Amsterdam and starts living with a prostutite who leaves him because he does not make enough money as a painter. His cousin Anton Mauve teaches him about painting. Vincent goes to Paris and meets the major painters of the day. Vincent moves to Arles, where on October 23, 1888 [1:12:35 to 1:16:55] the artist Paul Gauguin arrives to stay with him. They argue about painting and everything else. Vincent tries to cut his ear off and checks himself into a mental sanitarium. He starts painting again, but later shoots himself.

                       

A very good biopic. Tries to really get inside van Gogh’s head and show his theory of art. A well acted film that for the most part sticks to the real story. 

Van Gough: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (Random House, New York, 2011) at page 664 gives the date of Gauguin’s arrival

Producer - John Houseman

Director - Vincente Minnelli

Awards - The movie won the Best Supporting Actor(Quinn) Oscar. It was also nominated for the Best Actor(Douglas), Best Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 29^th Academy Awards. 

Screenplay - Norman Corwin

Runtime – 1 hour 22 minutes

Released - September 17, 1956

Starring –

Kirk Douglas as Vincent van Gogh

Anthony Quinn as Paul Gauguin

James Donald as Theo van Gogh

Pamela Brown as Christine

Everett Sloane as Dr. Gachet

Henry Daniell as Theodorus van Gogh

Madge Kennedy as Anna Cornelia van Gogh

Noel Purcell as Anton Mauve

Niall MacGinnis as Roulin

Jill Bennett as Willemien

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 22 - Blast From the Past

Today’s movie is a comedy with a scene that happens on October 22. Watch it tonight and enjoy.  

BLAST FROM THE PAST                      

Calvin Webber is a wealthy eccentric inventor,  passionate anti-communist and former Cal Tech professor who has built a self-contained fallout shelter beneath his house. At a party he and his pregnant wife hold on October 22, 1962 [1:36 to 8:06] they see JFK’s Cuba Missile Crisis speech. The guests go home and the Webbers descend into the shelter. An Air Force plane has mechanical problems and the pilot declares an emergency. The Webbers think this means a Russian nuclear attack is underway. When the plane crashes into their house and destroys it, Calvin seals them in the self-contained world of the bunker for 35 years. Everyone on the surface thinks they were killed in the fire caused by the crash. A few days later Helen Webber gives birth to a boy, who they name Adam. On the surface a malt shop is built and it later becomes a bar. Adam is raised as a polymath by Calvin, but he is socially naïve. His father gives him some stock certificates and his baseball card collection. When the locks open Calvin goes up, but he emerges in a ghetto, which he thinks is post-apocalyptic America. Adam’s mother sends him to get supplies. When a shop owner tries to cheat Adam when he wants to sell his baseball cards,  Eve Vrustikoff, the clerk who works there stops him from cheating Adam and she is fired. Adam eventually hires Eve to help him get supplies and find a wife. Eve and her gay housemate Troy try to integrate Adam into society, but he impresses them with his common decency. When Adam tells Eve his story she thinks he’s crazy and calls a mental health agency, but then helps Adam escape from them. She learns Adam’s stock certificates make him incredibly wealthy. Eve makes up with Adam and realizes she loved him even before she knew he was rich. Adam takes Eve to meet his parents and then builds a house for them above ground, but only tells his dad there was no nuclear war.

                       

A very funny movie. It’s a fish out of water as Adam’s 1960’s values make him stand out in the LA of the nineties. Brendan Fraser’s portrayal of Adam as genius mixed with naiveté is fantastic.      

One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008) p. 49

Producer - Amanda Stern, Hugh Wilson and Renny Harlin

Screenplay - Hugh Wilson and Bill Kelly

Director - Hugh Wilson                           

Runtime – 1 hour 52 minutes                                  

Released – February 12, 1999                                 

Starring –

Brendan Fraser as Adam Webber

Alicia Silverstone as Eve Vrustikoff

Christopher Walken as Calvin Webber

Sissy Spacek as Helen Webber

Dave Foley as Troy

Joey Slotnick as Soda Jerk

Dale Raoul as Mom

Rex Linn as Dave

Cynthia Mace as Betty

Harry S. Murphy as Bob

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014. 

October 21 - That Hamilton Woman

Today’s movie is a period drama with a scene that happens on October 21.

THAT HAMILTON WOMAN              

        

An older Emma Hamilton is arrested in Calais for theft and causing a riot. In jail she tells the fellow prisoners her story. Emma Hart, the mistress of Charles Greville,  goes to Naples,  where she learns he has sold her to his Uncle Sir William Hamilton in exchange for paying off his debts.  Hamilton soon marries her. She then meets Capt. Horatio Nelson. She uses her friendship with the Queen of Naples to get the Neapolitan troops needed for a campaign  against France. Five years later Nelson is promoted to Admiral and knighted.  She again persuades the Queen to order that the British fleet be supplied. When he returns after the Battle of The Nile, Nelson is ill. Emma nurses him back to health. He leaves with the fleet. After a revolution, Nelson rescues the Neapolitan royal family, Emma and her husband. Emma becomes Nelson’s mistress. In England Fanny, Lady Nelson and Nelson’s own father tell Lord Nelson off.  Emma bears Nelson’s child and Nelson defeats the Danes at Copenhagen. Sir William dies. Emma and Nelson start living together. Then Lord Nelson and the fleet go to sea to fight the French. On October 21, 1805 [1:43:40 to 1:54:44] Lord Nelson dies in the Battle of Trafalgar. Captain Hardy tells Emma what happened to Nelson.

                 

This is a disturbing movie. It is the story of nothing but an expensive prostitute and a libertine who can’t keep his wedding vows. The first in a line of movies that try to promote the idea that adultery is allright. The admirable characters in this film are Lady Nelson and Nelson’s father who refuse to concede that adultery is ever an acceptable practice.     

The Line Upon a Wind: The Great War at Sea 1793-1815 by Noel Mostert (W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 2007) at page 483 and the film at 1:43:47 give the battle’s date.

Awards – The film won the Best Sound Oscar. It was also nominated for the Best Art

Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Special Effects at the 14^th Academy Awards.

Screenplay - Walter Reisch and R. C. Sherriff

Producer - Alexander Korda

Director - Alexander Korda

Runtime – 2 hours 8 minutes

Released – April 30, 1941

Starring –

Vivien Leigh as Emma, Lady Hamilton

Laurence Olivier as Admiral Horatio Nelson

Alan Mowbray as Sir William Hamilton

Gladys Cooper as Lady Frances Nelson

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014

October 20 - The Game

Today’s movie is a suspense thriller with a scene that happens on October 20. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE GAME                                

Nicholas van Orton is an investment banker. He is haunted by the fact that his father committed suicide on his 48^th birthday. Nicholas is divorced and estranged from his younger brother, Conrad. On his 48^th birthday Conrad gives him a card and tells Nicholas he has purchased Nicholas’s participation in  Consumer Recreation Service’s Game as a present. Nicholas goes to CRS, fills out many forms, but is later told his application has been rejected. When he goes home he finds a clown dummy in the driveway with a key in it’s mouth. Then his TV starts talking to him. At a restaurant a waitress, Christine spills drinks on him and after insulting Nicholas, is fired. Then he gets a note saying “ don’t let her get away.” Nicholas races after her and tries to tell her about the Game. Then a homeless man collapses and they ride in the ambulance with him, but end up in a deserted parking garage. They get in an elevator to ride out, but it does not work until Nicholas uses the key. The elevator stops, but they get out, set off an alarm and are chased by the cops. They go back to his office. The next day he goes to a hotel that has his American Express card. In ‘his’ room he finds signs of a wild party and photos that look like Christine in his briefcase, which he had lost the night before. In the briefcase he finds a gadget. His house has been vandalized with fluorescent paint. Conrad shows up, claiming to be on the run from CRS. They argue and Conrad flees. The cab Nicholas takes home instead crashes into the bay and it is only by using the gadget, which is the handle for the window that he escapes. He takes the police to the CRS office, but no one is there. He goes to Christine’s house. She works for CRS and they are shot at. He’s told all his accounts have been drained, then he’s drugged. He wakes up in a cemetery in Mexico. He returns to the US. On October 20, 1997 [1:41:38 to 2:02:55] Nicholas learns the guy who signed him up at CRS is a TV commercial actor. Nicholas forces the guy to get him into the CRS building. He sees Christine and pushes her to the roof at gunpoint and shots Conrad, whom he mistakenly thinks is a CRS security guard. Nicholas jumps off the roof … … and crashes into his own birthday party. Conrad is ok, it was part of the game. Conrad did it to get Nicholas to embrace life and not end up like their father. Nicholas follows Christine to have coffee at the airport on the way to her next assignment for CRS.

                   

Wow! A very unusual film. Sort of like The Sixth Sense in that after it’s over you want to go back and watch it again to see how much you missed or assumed.    

Date given in film at 1:58:57 on invitation

Screenplay - John Brancato and Michael Ferris

                                                                                                     

Producer - Ceán Chaffin and Steve Golin

                                                                              

Director - David Fincher   

                                   

Runtime – 2 hours 9 minutes                                 

Released - September 12, 1997                            

Starring –

Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton

Sean Penn as Conrad Van Orton

Deborah Kara Unger as Christine

James Rebhorn as Jim Feingold

Peter Donat as Samuel Sutherland

Carroll Baker as Ilsa

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.      

October 19 - Barbarians at the Gate

Today’s movie is a drama with a scene that happens on October 19. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

        

BARBARIANS AT THE GATE                      

Henry Kraviz introduces Ross Johnson, president of RJRNabisco to the idea of him doing a leveraged buyout of the company. Johnson is hoping a new smokeless cigarette, the Premier will make the company’s stock go up, but people hate them. Johnson goes to Jim Robinson of American Express, who gets Peter Cohen of Shearson, Lehman to finance the buyout. At a board meeting on October 19, 1988, Johnson announces to the board of directors his intent to buy the company at $75.000 per share.  [37:11 to 39:24] Kraviz is annoyed that he wasn’t selected to finance this but negotiations to partner with him fail. Kravitz makes his own bid at $90.00 per share and further negotiations to include him in the deal fail.  The director of Nabisco leaks info to Kraviz so he can prep his bid. All the details of Ross’s bid, including what he will get personally are leaked. Ross says he wants to run the company, not just own it. Three final bids are submitted, Johnson’s at $100.00 per share, Kraviz at $94.00 and First Bank of Boston at $118.00. First Boston has to drop out. The board considers the other two offers during a marathon meeting during which the chairman pays Kraviz $45 million to stay in the running for one hour. Finally the board accepts Kraviz’s offer, in part because of personal animosity towards Johnson over what is seen as excessive greed in what he would have gotten personally. Johnson is fired but walks way with $53 million dollars.

                    

A great satirical film. Exposes the egos and greed that destroyed Wall Street in the 1980’s. Tries to teach a lesson that I don’t think was learned. 

Burroughs, Bryan and Helyar, John. Barbarians at the Gate. New York; HarperCollins,  1990. This book at page 169 in talking about the meeting says “leading up to October 19”. At page 181 in talking about the day of meeting it says “Wednesday morning “. In 1988 October 19 was on a Wednesday.

Awards - The film won the Outstanding Made for Television Movie Emmy It was also nominated for the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special; Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special; Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Miniseries or a Special - Single Camera Production; Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Miniseries or a Special; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special (Garner); Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special; Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special (Pryce) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special(Riegert) Emmys.

Director - Glenn Jordan                           

Runtime - 1 hour 47 minutes                                         

Released - March 20, 1993         

Starring –

Joanna Cassidy as Linda Robinson

James Garner as F. Ross Johnson

Jonathan Pryce as Henry Kravis

Peter Riegert as Peter Cohen

Leilani Sarelle as Laurie Johnson

Fred Thompson as Jim Robinson

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014

October 18 - Santa Fe Trail

Today’s movie is a period drama with a scene that happens on October 18. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

SANTA FE TRAIL                  

JEB Stuart, George Custer and abolitionist Carl Rader are cadets at West Point. After a brawl between Stuart and Rader, Rader is expelled and Stuart and Custer are sent to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. On the way they meet Kit Carson Holliday, daughter of Cyrus K. Holliday, who wants to build a railroad from Kansas to New Mexico. Both Stuart and Custer fall in love with her. Stuart and Custer escort a wagon train to Santa Fe. John Brown, using a false name comes to collect Bibles shipped to him. However, when a case is dropped, thy turn out to be rifles, not Bibles and Brown’s men hold the outnumbered troops at gunpoint. Stuart and Custer give chase when Brown leaves. They recapture the rifles  and take one of Brown’s sons prisoner. Brown then attacks a group of Free-Staters who  aren’t militantly anti-slavery enough for him.  Stuart goes to the town that is John Brown’s headquarters, but he is recognized by Rader. Rader takes Stuart to Brown, who condemns him to be hung. However at the last second Stuart breaks free and into a barn. The barn is set on fire, but Custer arrives with a troop of cavalry to save him. Brown escapes. When Rader is not paid by Brown, he betrays Brown’s plan to attack Harper’s Ferry to Stuart. Stuart and Custer lead troops to surround Brown’s men. On October 18, 1859 [1:37:44 to 1:45:33] Stuart offers Brown a chance to surrender, but he refuses. The army attacks and Brown is captured. He is later hung. Stuart and Kit are married.

A mangled view of American history. Can’t decide if it’s pro-South or pro-north. Has some good action sequences though.

Lee ed by Richard Harwell by Douglas Southall Freeman (Charles Scribners Sons, New York, 1961) p. 100-1

Producer - Hal B. Wallis

Director - Michael Curtiz

Screenplay - Robert Buckner

Runtime – 1 hour 50 minutes

Released – December 28, 1940

Starring –

Errol Flynn as J.E.B. Stuart

Olivia de Havilland as Kit Carson Holliday

Raymond Massey as John Brown

Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer

Alan Hale, Sr. as Tex Bell

William Lundigan as Bob Holliday

Van Heflin as Carl Rader

Gene Reynolds as Jason Brown

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014. 

October 17 - Fever Pitch

Today’s movie is a romantic comedy with a scene that happens on October 17. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

FEVER PITCH                             

Ben Wrightman is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan who is a junior high math teacher. One day on a field trip with his class he meets Lindsey Meeks, a workaholic executive. When he asks her out, she says no but later changes her mind. They start dating, including going to Red Sox games. At a game where Lindsey is working on her laptop to catch up on her job, she is hit by a foul ball and stops going to the games. Lindsey gets upset with Ben when he will not accompany her on a work trip to Paris because Ben does not want to miss any Red Sox games. He does miss a game against the Yankees to go to a friend of Lindsey’s birthday party. However when Ben grumbles after he learns he missed an epic game in which the Sox came from behind to win, Lindsey says he has broken her heart and they separate. Ben later unsuccessful tries to reconcile with Lindsey and misses her so much he decides to sell his Red Sox season tickets. On October 17, 2004 Lindsey gets a big promotion at work and learns of Ben’s plan to sell his tickets. She races to Fenway Park and climbs out onto the field and gets to Ben. Lindsey tells him that if he loves her enough to sell his tickets, she loves him enough not to let him do it. They reconcile with a kiss as the Red Sox go on to beat the Yankees. [1:25:00 to 1:34:29] Ben and Lindsey go to the World Series and watch the Red Sox win. They later get married.

A decent romantic comedy. It is somewhat predictable, but it’s still good. Manages to be interesting to both men and woman, which is a rarely accomplished feat.

Producers - Amanda Posey, Alan Greenspan, Gil Netter, Drew Barrymore, Nancy Juvonen and Bradley Thomas

Directors - Peter Farrelly and Robert Farrelly

Screenplay - Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel

Runtime – 1 hour 43 minutes

Released – April 8, 2005

Starring –

Drew Barrymore as Lindsey Meeks

Jimmy Fallon as Ben Wrightman

Jason Spevack as Ben in 1980

Jack Kehler as Al

Scott Severance as Artie

Jessamy Finet as Theresa

Maureen Keiller as Viv

Lenny Clarke as Uncle Carl

Ione Skye as Molly

Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Lana

KaDee Strickland as Robin

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 16 - When Harry Met Sally

Today’s movie is a romantic comedy with a scene that happens on October 16. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY      

In 1977 Harry Burns and Sally Albright, a friend of his girlfriend Amanda drive from Chicago to New York. In their discussions Harry says men and women can’t be friends. She later accuses him of making a pass at her and they part on bad terms. Five years later they meet on a plane. Sally is dating Joe, a former friend of Harry’s. Harry is now engaged to Helen. They again decide not to be friends. Five years later Joe and Sally have broken up. On October 16, 1988 [25:46 to 28:32] Harry discusses his divorce from Helen at the Giants-Lions NFL football game with his friend Jess. Sally and Harry meet in a bookstore. They decide to be friends and talk a lot, but date others. Harry tells Sally she is “high maintenance, but thinks she’s low maintenance.” Sally convinces Harry that women fake it. They set each other up with his friend Jess and her friend Marie. They go on a double date, but Jess and Marie hit it off. They later get engaged. While shopping with Sally for a wedding present for Jess and Marie they meet Harry’s ex Helen and her new husband, Ira. Late one night Sally calls Harry and asks him to come over because she has found out that Joe, her former boyfriend, is getting married to his assistant. They have sex, but Harry quickly leaves the next morning as he usually does after sex. They have a huge fight at Marie and Jess’s wedding. Harry immediately regrets this and keeps trying to apologize to Sally. On New Year Eve he crashes a party she’s at with Marie and Jess and tells Sally that he loves her. They make up and three months later get married.

One of the better romantic comedies. We can see from the beginning that Harry and Sally belong together, but of course they can’t. We still don’t know the answer to Harry’s question of whether men and woman can ever be just friends. 

 The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia ed by Pete Palmer, Ken Pullis and Sean Lahman (Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 2006) at page 968 gives the game date. At 29:46 Sally says she last saw Harry six years ago, so 1977+5+6 = 1988. [Continuity error – at 1:21:18 it says 16^th Rockin New Year’s eve – that was Dec.31, 1987. The game referenced is the only one it could be since the Giants and Lions had not played for several years before 1988]

Awards – The film was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar at the 62^nd

                 Academy Awards.

Producers - Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman and Nora Ephron

Director - Rob Reiner                               

Screenplay - Nora Ephron                                         

Runtime – 1 hour 36 minutes                                      

Released – July 14, 1989                                            

Starring –

Billy Crystal as Harry Burns

Meg Ryan as Sally Albright

Carrie Fisher as Marie

Bruno Kirby as Jess

Steven Ford as Joe

Lisa Jane Persky as Alice

Michelle Nicastro as Amanda Reese

Kevin Rooney as Ira Stone

Harley Jane Kozak as Helen Hillson

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

October 15 - The Woman in White

Today’s movie is a mystery film with a scene that happens on October 15. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE WOMAN IN WHITE        

Walter Hartright arrives at Limridge Court to teach drawing to Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie, her half-sister. Laura has inherited a fortune from her mother, while Marian is poor. Walking from the station to the house he sees a mysterious woman in white. Their guardian, Frederick Fairlie is a hypochondriac. The woman in white, who resembles Laura re-appears and screams, but Hartright can’t catch her. Walter falls in love with Laura, but Marian warns him off , as Laura is engaged to marry Sir Percival Glyde.  The sister’s lawyer Mr. Gilmore does not like the terms of Laura’s marriage settlement, but Frederick Fairlie is too indolent to protest. The woman in white is identified as Anne Catherick, the daughter of a servant of the Glyde family, who was put in an asylum. Hartright is accused of accosting a female servant and fired. Laura marries Sir Percival and after their honeymoon Marian goes to live with the couple at their estate, Blackwater Park. Laura tells Marian she is sure Percival wants her money and will do anything to get it. Count Fosco, a friend of Glyde’s arrives. Glyde tries to bully Laura into signing over her money to him. The sisters meet Anne, but before she can tell them her secret, she is caught by Glyde and returned to the asylum. The sister’s attempt to leave Blackwater Park is thwarted by armed guards. Marian’s attempt to eavesdrop on the Count and Glyde cooking up a scheme to get Laura’s money results in a twisted ankle and a feverish illness. When Marian comes out of her delirium, she is told that Laura fell from the church tower and is dead. Marian goes to stay with Count Fosco and his wife, but can’t find out anything about her sister’s death. She tracks down Hartright, who agrees to help her. Marian blackmails the doctor who committed Anne Catherick into telling her where Anne is locked up and that Anne is Marian’s half sister. Anne’s mother was a servant on their estate. Marian and Hartright go to the asylum on  October 15, 1870 [1:33:27 to 1:37:35] and discover the patient is Laura, not Anne, who was thrown from the tower. Glyde and Fosco drugged Laura and substituted her for Anne. Marian figures out Anne hid her father’s will that disclosed that Glyde was illegitimate and could not inherit. Marian gets the will, but Glyde shows up and burns it. In a struggle with Marian, the church catches on fire and Glyde is killed. Laura slowly recovers and she and Hartright get married.

A good Victorian mystery melodrama. Does a god job of creating the appropriate Gothic atmosphere for this film. The costumes and set decoration are very good.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (Bantam Books, New York, 1985) at page 382 gives the date Hartright and Marian go to the asylum.

Producer -  Gareth Neame                 

Director – Tim Fywell                                        

Runtime – 2 hours 5 minutes  

          

Released – April 5, 1998                                     

                

Starring

Tara FitzGerald as Marian Halcombe

Justine Waddell as Laura Fairlie

Andrew Lincoln as Walter Hartright

Susan Vidler as Anne Catherick

James Wilby as Sir Percival Glyde

Simon Callow as Count Fosco

John Standing as Mr. Gilmore

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.