December 7 - Donovan's Reef

Today’s movie is a comedy with a scene that happens on December 7. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

DONOVAN”S REEF              

On December 7, 1963 [1:15 to 18:41]"Boats" Gilhooley jumps overboard and swims to the Polynesian island of Haleakaloha. When “Guns” Donovan, who lives on the island hears he is coming, the three children of his good friend Dr. Dedham make him promise not to fight Gilhooley and he agrees. However once Gilhooley arrives, they have a fight until Dr. Dedham stops it. It seems that since the two men have the same birthday, December 7, they have had a brawl for the last 22 years on their birthday. In Boston, Amelia Dedham learns that her father, Dr. William Dedham, whom she has never met, has inherited control of the families shipping business. However, if she can prove that he has been living an immoral life his inheritance will be set aside. She decides to go to Haleakaloha, prove that he is immoral and regain control of the company.  When word of her arrival reaches the island, the doctor is on a tour of the outer islands. Donovan, Gilhooley and the governor Marquis Andre de Lage decide that Dedham’s three kids by his second Polynesian wife must pretend to be Donavan’s children until the doc can return and explain things to Amelia. Donovan and Amelia get off on the wrong foot, but after some water skiing and swimming they declare pax and seem to be moving towards a romantic relationship. She learns that her father, Donovan and Gilhooley were trapped on the island during World War II and conducted a guerilla war against the Japanese.  The doctor returns and tells Amelia he stayed on the island after the war because while he felt he was not needed in Boston, he was needed on the island. He signs his stock over to her. Then Lage,  who has been trying to court Amelia for her money tells her Donovan’s three “kids” were all born out of wedlock, dimming her feelings towards Donovan. Amelia finally figures out the real story and she and the children acknowledge each other as siblings.   Amelia and Donovan make up and get engaged.

This is a morality tale disguised as a comedy. Not Wayne’s best effort or even his best comedy, but it’s still an engaging film.  

Date of the seventh given at 1:44. The events of this film occur just before Christmas.

Screenplay - James Edward Grant and Frank S. Nugent

Producer - John Ford

Director - John Ford

Runtime – 1 hour 49 minutes

Released – June 12, 1963

Starring –        

John Wayne as Michael Patrick "Guns" Donovan

Elizabeth Allen as Amelia Dedham

Lee Marvin as Thomas Aloysius "Boats" Gilhooley

Jack Warden as Dr. William Dedham

Cesar Romero as Marquis Andre de Lage, the French governor

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

December 6 - The Lovely Bones

Today’s movie is a drama with a scene that happens on December 6.  Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE LOVELY BONES                   

Susie Salmon lives a relatively normal suburban childhood with photography, crushes and saving her brother’s life. Then on December 6, 1973 [15:28 to 38:08], while cutting through a cornfield on her way home from school, she makes the mistake of climbing down into an underground room at the behest of her neighbor, George Harvey. When she becomes uncomfortable she tries to leave and the scene fades. Her parents look for her, in spite of the police thinking she has run away. Susie returns to her house, but no one is there. She walks through a door into a white limbo where she sees Harvey taking a bath. When she sees her charm bracelet hanging on his sink, Susie realizes Harvey murdered her and she is pulled into the ‘in-between’, nether Earth or Heaven. Harvey disposes of all the evidence at his house before the police talked to him. Ruth Connors talks to Ray Singh at the mall where he was to meet Susie and she sees Susie, earning Susie the criticism of Holly, who is also in the “in-between” and who urges her to move on to Heaven. Susie instead goes back.  She exists in the “in-between” while her parents try to cope, with her father, Jack investigating Susie’s disappearance, using suspects gathered from the rolls of film left by Susie, which he develops at the rate of one per month. Their dog barks at Harvey. Their Mom leaves, because of Jack’s refusal to stop investigating has left her feeling alienated. Harvey starts spying on Lindsey, Susie’s younger sister. Jack starts to suspect Harvey, especially after Susie makes a dead flower from Harvey’s yard bloom. Jack follows Harvey to the cornfield one night, but instead gets beaten up by a teen couple who were using it as a make–out spot. In the ‘in-between’ Susie sees all of Harvey’s other victims, one of who was Holly. Lindsey breaks into Harvey’s house and finds a notebook with a lock of Susie’s hair, but upon returning home and finding her mother has returned she gives it to her grandmother instead. Harvey knows she took the notebook and flees. Susie returns to Earth and enters Ruth Connor’s body allowing her to have her last wish and kiss Ray Singh. She then departs for Heaven with Harvey’s other victims. Harvey dumps the safe with Susie’s body into a sinkhole. Later Harvey offers a young girl outside a diner a lift, but she refuses. An icicle falls, hits him in the shoulder and knocks him over a cliff, killing him. Susie’s family finally achieves peace and healing after her death.

A very powerful film. There are some disturbing images here, so this film is definitely not for children.  Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci both give outstanding performances.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown & Co., New York, 2002) at page 5 and the film at 7:15 to 7:17 give the date she was killed

Producers - Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Carolynne Cunningham and Aimée Peyronnet

Director - Peter Jackson

Screenplay - Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens

Awards – This movie was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor (Tucci) Oscar at the 82^nd Academy Awards

Runtime – 2 hours 15 minutes

Released – November 24, 2009

Starring –

Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who is killed by her neighbor

Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon, Susie's father

Rachel Weisz as Abigail Salmon, Susie's mother

Rose McIver as Lindsey Salmon, Susie's younger sister

Stanley Tucci as George Harvey, a serial killer who murders Susie

Susan Sarandon as Grandma Lynn, Susie's grandmother

Michael Imperioli as Len Fenerman, the detective who investigates Susie's death

Reece Ritchie as Ray Singh, Susie's love interest and friend

Charlie Saxton as Ronald Drake, one of the murder suspects

Amanda Michalka as Clarissa, Susie's best friend

Carolyn Dando as Ruth Connors, a classmate of Susie's

Nikki SooHoo as Denise "Holly" Le Ang, Susie's best friend in Heaven

Jake Abel as Brian Nelson

Thomas McCarthy as Principal Caden

Andrew James Allen as Samuel Heckler

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

December 5 - Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene that happens on December 5. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

ELEANOR AND FRANKLIN: THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS

Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt visit the White House on the day before her uncle Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration for his second term. We jump ahead to FDR’s first inauguration where he gives his famous “Fear Itself” speech. In his first Hundred Days FDR pushes an extraordinary amount of progressive legislation through Congress, while Eleanor is his eyes and ears touring the country to gauge public opinion. On December 5, 1933 [30:28 to 36:43] the President and his staff celebrate the end of Prohibition. FDR creates Social Security and is elected to a second term, but has to drop his court-packing plan to circumvent Supreme Court opposition to his agenda. His son James has to undergo major surgery, which causes Eleanor to think back to the death of her infant son Franklin, Jr. When the DAR refuses to let African-American Marian Anderson sing in their Constitution Hall, Eleanor resigns from the organization and arranges for Anderson to give a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. When the war breaks out in Europe FDR decides to run for an unprecedented third term in office and wins. FDR’s personal secretary, Missy LeHand has a stroke. FDR meets Winston Churchill and together they issue the Atlantic Charter. The FDR’s mother who had been living in the White House with them dies. After Pearl Harbor FDR asks Congress to declare war on Japan in his famous “Day of Infamy” speech. He is a tireless war leader, including traveling to the Casablanca Conference where a policy of unconditional surrender was decided on in regards to the Axis powers. Eleanor often visited wounded troops and FDER runs for and wins a fourth term as President. Only three months into it, FDR dies of a stroke. After his death Eleanor learns her own daughter betrayed her by allowing FDR’s mistress to dine at the White House while her mother was away. FDR is buried at Hyde Park.

FDR was a great President. However his adultery made him a despicable person. This is a movie that tells a story with great historical accuracy.

FDR by Jean Edward Smith (Random House, New York, 2007) at page 316 gives the date Prohibition ended

Producers - Harry R. Sherman and David Susskind

Director - Daniel Petrie

Screenplay - James Costigan and Joseph P. Lash

Awards – The film won the Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for a Drama Special, Outstanding Achievement in Make-Up, Outstanding Art Direction or Scenic Design for a Dramatic Special, Outstanding Directing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy, Outstanding Film Editing for a Special, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts and Outstanding Special - Drama or Comedy Emmys. It was also nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing for a Special, Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Mixing, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore), Outstanding Cinematography in Entertainment Programming for a Special, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama or Comedy Special (Herrmann), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special (Alexander), Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special (Harmon), Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special (McGinn), Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special (Murphy) and Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special Emmys at the 29^th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Runtime – 3 hours

Released – March 13, 1977

Starring –

Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), 32nd President of the United States

Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt, 34th First Lady of the United States

Priscilla Pointer as Marguerite Missy LeHand. Long-time secretary to Franklin

Walter McGinn as Louis Howe, intimate friend to both Roosevelts and political advisor

Rosemary Murphy as Sara Delano Roosevelt, Franklin's mother

Blair Brown as Anna Roosevelt Halsted, Eleanor and Franklin's eldest child

David Healy as Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, uncle to Eleanor

Peggy McCay as Grace Tully, long-time friend/secretary to Eleanor

Donald Moffat as Harry Hopkins, one of Franklin's closest advisors

Toni Darnay as Malvina Thompson, Eleanor's personal secretary

Barbara Conrad as Marian Anderson, an American contralto singer.

Morgan Farley as William Plog, managed the Roosevelts' Hyde Park estate

Mark Harmon as Robert Dunlap, a soldier

Anna Lee as Laura Delano, FDR's cousin

Linda Kelsey as Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd, mistress of FDR

Colin Hamilton as Irwin "Ike" H. Hoover, Chief Usher of the White House

Ray Baker as James Roosevelt, oldest son of the Roosevelts

Brian Patrick Clarke as John Aspinwall Roosevelt, youngest child of the Roosevelts

Don Howard as Elliot Roosevelt, son of the Roosevelts who served in World War II

Joseph Hacker as Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of the Roosevelts

Charles Lampkin as Irvin McDuffie, FDR's African-American valet

Arthur Gould-Porter as Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Robert Karnes as United States Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes

David Lewis as United States Supreme Court Justice Melville Weston Fuller

Gregory Koontz as Curtis Roosevelt, eldest grandson of the Roosevelts

Davy Muxlow as John Roosevelt Boettiger, Roosevelt's grandson

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

December 4 - The Children of Men

Today’s movie is a science fiction film with a scene that happens on December 4. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE CHILDREN OF MEN                      

Theo, who works at the British Dept. of Energy and hangs out with recluse Jasper learns the youngest person on Earth was killed in a bar brawl. An outbreak of worldwide infertility twenty years ago led to the collapse of civilization and Britain sealing itself off from the world, with all illegal immigrants being expelled. Theo is kidnapped by “the Fishes” an anti-government group, one of whom is Julia, his ex-wife. She asks him to get transit papers out of the country for an illegal African immigrant girl, Kee. Theo gets them. Julia leads him to the girl and they head for the coast, but are ambushed on December 4, 2027 and Julia is killed. [21:50 to 40:13] The Fishers meet and Theo learns somehow Kee is pregnant.  Kee says she wants to stay in Britain and not go overseas to “the Human Project” a scientific lab which is trying to learn how to reverse the infertility. Theo learns that “the Fishes” betrayed Julia and he flees with Kee to stay with Jasper. Sid, a policeman that Jasper sells pot to agrees to arrange for a boat to get Kee out of the country. Jasper volunteers to stay behind and try to put the police on the wrong track, but they kill him. Sid smuggles them into Bexhill detention camp where illegals are held before being deported and they meet Mariko. Kee has her baby. Sid tries to seize Kee for his own purposes. They escape, but the camp is bombed and the army attacks.  The Fishes seize Kee, but Theo rescues her and they get in a boat and row out to the Human Project’s ship. Theo has been fatally shot, but Kee and her baby live and escape.

Creates a believable picture of a dystopian world. Maintains a sense of mystery and suspense till the end. You care about these characters.    

Date given in film at 37:40 in news broadcast as 4/12/2027.

Producer - Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Iain Smith , Hilary Shor, Tony Smith, Thomas Bliss and Armyan Bernstein

Screenplay - Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby

Awards - The film was nominated in the category of Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing at the 79^th Academy Awards.

Director  - Alfonso Cuarón                     

Runtime – 1 hour 49 minutes                                  

Released - September 3, 2006                                 

Starring –

Clive Owen as Theo Faron

Julianne Moore as Julian Taylor

Michael Caine as Jasper Palmer

Claire-Hope Ashitey as Kee

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Luke

Pam Ferris as Miriam

Danny Huston as Nigel, Theo's cousin

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014. 

December 3 - Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy

Today’s movie is a courtroom/crime drama with a scene that happens on December 3. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

AMANDA KNOX: MURDER ON TRIAL IN ITALY                  

The postal police arrive at a house in Perugia, Italy and after talking with Amana Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, enter the apartment and find the body of  Meredith Kercher. Amanda Knox was a student at the Univeristy of Washington who lived in Seattle and moved to Perugia to study abroad for a year. Soon after arriving she moves into an apartment with Meredith Kercher and two Italian girls. She also soon begins a sexual relationship with Raffaele Sollecito. After the murder, when Amanda calls her Mom, she tells her to return to Seattle, but Amanda does not. The police question both Amanda and Raffaele. After her arrival Amanda got a job at a café working for an African immigrant, Patrick Lumumba. The police keep quizzing her about what she did before and after the murder. Police forensic specialists find footprints at the scene consistant with Amanda and both Raffaele and a witness says that Amanda bought cleaning supplies the day after the murder, which is suspicious to the police as evidence seems to indicate someone tried to clean up after the crime. The police question Raffaele about apparent inconsistencies in his statements and he says that contrary to what he said earlier Amanda was not with him when the murder was committed. The police question Amanda about a text message she sent to her boss,  Patrick Lumumba and give her the third degrre. They ask her to imagine what happened and she says Patrick killed Meredith. Patrick, Raffaele and Amanda are arrested. Patrick is released when police learn he has an unshakable alibi.  Amanda’s parents arrive in Italy to help her. After police find a fingerprint of  Rudy Guede in Merdith’s room, he’s arrested and charged with her murder. Ruby blames Amanda and Raffaele for the killing. The case becomes and international media frenzy and the court says there is enough evidence for Amanda and Raffaele to be tried for the killing. Amanda is grilled during questioning and there is conflicting testimony about the forensic evidence. On December 3, 2009. [1:21:14 to 1:23:09] Amanda makes her final plea to the tribunal in her murder trial. She and Raffaele are convicted.

A fascinating courtroom drama/police procedural. The film does not take a side on the question of Amanda Knox’s guilt or innocence. I think she’s innocent.   

In A Death in Italy: The Definitive Account of the Amanda Knox Case by John Follain (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2011) at page 359 it gives the date of Amanda’s last address to the court.  

Producers - Roberto Manni and Randy Sutter

                                                                       

Director - Robert Dornhelm                      

Screenplay - Wendy Battles                                     

Runtime – 1 hour 31 minutes                                   

Released – February 21, 2011                                 

Staring –

Hayden Panettiere as Amanda Knox

Marcia Gay Harden as Edda Mellas

Vincent Riotta as Giuliano Mignini

Amanda Stevens as Meredith Kercher

Djibril Kébé as Rudy Guede

Timothy Martin as Patrick Lumumba

Paolo Romio as Raffaele Sollecito

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

December 2 - Into the Wild

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene that happens on December 2. Watch it tonight and enjoy.  

INTO THE WILD                                  

Alex McCandless hikes in the Alaska wilderness to the abandoned bus that had been his home. Two years ago he had graduated with honors from Emory, but refuses to accept the gift of a new car from his parents. He then went nuts and donated all his money to Oxfam. He drove west until losing his car in a flash flood in Arizona. His parents finally learn he’s disappeared. Alex meets a hippie couple, Rainey and Jan and stays with them for a while. He works at a grain harvesting company in South Dakota, until the FBI arrests the owner.  Even though he doesn’t have a permit he paddles down the Colorado River and on December 2, 1990 [1:06:42 to 1:07:09] McCandless reaches the Sea of Cortez. He re-crosses the border and lives for a time as a homeless person in LA. He meets Rainey and Jan again, but refuses a dalliance with Tracy, because she’s underage. While camping he meets Ron Franz, who becomes very attached to Alex and offers to adopt him. He hitchhikes all the way to Alaska. He lives in the bus and during summer he does okay. When winter comes he realizes he wants to be with people but can’t get out because a river he has to cross is now at flood stage due to the spring thaw. Out of food he forages for plants, but accidentally eats a poisonous one. He dies.

I’m sorry, but I think Alex was nuts. He had a lot of skills that could have helped the world. Instead all he accomplished was dying alone in an abandoned bus in Alaska.

  

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (Anchor Books, New York, 1997) at page 34 and the film at 1:06:48 give the date

Producers - Sean Penn, Art Linson and William Pohlad

Director - Sean Penn

Awards – The film was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor (Holbrook) and Best Film Editing Oscars at the 80^th Academy Awards.

Screenplay - Sean Penn

Runtime – 2 hours 28 minutes

Released – September 21, 2007

Starring –

Emile Hirsch as Christopher "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless

Marcia Gay Harden as Billie McCandless

William Hurt as Walt McCandless

Jena Malone as Carine McCandless

Vince Vaughn as Wayne Westerberg

Kristen Stewart as Tracy Tatro

Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.

December 1 - The Rosa Parks Story

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene that happens on December 1. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE ROSA PARKS STORY          

After the victory in the Montgomery bus boycott Rosa Parks rides the bus and thinks back over her life. She had gone to school at the Quaker run Montgomery Industrial School. She later meets Raymond Parks, a barber and civil rights advocate. After a determined pursuit by him they are finally wed.  She works as a seamstress in a Montgomery Department Store and joins the NAACP. She tries to register to vote. On December 1, 1955 [57:37 to 1:08:53] Rosa refuses to give up her seat to a white man on the bus and gets arrested. A boycott of the bus system is organized and even though both she and her husband lose their jobs, eventually the boycott succeeds.

                    

A good biopic. Effectively tells a political story without losing sight of the people involved. It does present a version of the story that is not exactly correct. 

Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement that Changed America by Frye Gaillard (The University of Alabama Pres, Tuscaloosa, AL, 2004) at page 6 and the film at 1:02:24 give her arrest date

Producer – Pearl Devers

Director – Julie Dash

Awards – Nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Bassett) at the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards

Screenplay – Paris Qualles

Runtime – 1 hour 37 minutes

Released  - February 24, 2002

Starring –

Angela Bassett as Rosa Parks

Peter Francis James as Raymond Parks

Dexter King as Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cicely Tyson as Leona McCauley

Von Coulter as E.D. Nixon

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.