Today’s motion picture is a war movie with a scene that happens on December 7. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.
FLYING TIGERS
Jim Gordon commands the AVG, a group of American mercenaries who fly P-40 fighters against the Japanese on behalf of the Chinese government. His friend “Woody” Jason joins the group, but Jason’s freewheeling flying style eventually causes the death of two other AVG pilots. On December 7, 1941 [1:13:20 to 1:22:49] Woody is bawled out by Gordon. However, the US is now in the war and orders come down to destroy a vital bridge that is so heavily defended it is a suicide mission. Gordon flies the mission, but Woody goes along as co-pilot. The bridge is destroyed but the plane is hit. Gordon bails out. Woody, who has been wounded crashes the damaged plane into an important Japanese supply train.
Today’s motion picture is a science fiction film with scenes that happens on December 6. Watch and enjoy this movie tonight. .
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
In 1980, the U,S, S, Nimitz a takes on a passenger Warren Laskey at the request of his boss, Mr. Tideman, who designed the ship. The ship encounters a strange storm at sea and passes through it to emerge at the same spot, but on December 6, 1941 [18:31 to 1:12:49]. After Japanese Zeros destroy a civilian yacht, planes from the carrier shoot down the Zeroes and the Nimitz takes the survivors, Senator Samuel Chapman, his secretary, Laurel Scott and a captured Japanese pilot on board.The Japanese pilot temporarily holds hostages and demands that he be allowed to contact his fleet, before he is killed. The captain of the Nimitz decides to stop the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chapman’s attempts to warn the army and navy of the attack aren’t believed. The captain sends his CAG Owens to take Chapman and Scott to an isolated island. Chapman tries to divert the helicopter to Pearl Harbor but accidentally destroys the helicopter, stranding Owens and Scott.The Nimitz launches a strike to take out the Japanese fleet, but the time storm returns, so the strike is recalled and the ship returns to 1980, where they find “Mr. Tideman” is actually an older CAG Owens, who has married Miss Scott.
The date is given in the film at 38:23
Producer – Peter Douglas
Director - Don Taylor
Screenwriters - Thomas Hunter, Peter Powell, David Ambrose and Gerry Davis
Released - August 1, 1980
Runtime – 1 hour 43 minutes
Starring –
Kirk Douglas as Captain Matthew Yelland
Martin Sheen as Warren Lasky
Katharine Ross as Laurel Scott
James Farentino as Richard T. "Dick" Owens / Richard Tideman
Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene that happens on December 5. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.
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 FDR 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.
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 29th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Runtime – 3 hours
Released – March 13, 1977
Starring –
Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt
Priscilla Pointer as Marguerite Missy LeHand
Walter McGinn as Louis Howe
Rosemary Murphy as Sara Delano Roosevelt
Blair Brown as Anna Roosevelt Halsted
David Healy as Theodore Roosevelt
Peggy McCay as Grace Tully
Donald Moffat as Harry Hopkins
Toni Darnay as Malvina Thompson
Barbara Conrad as Marian Anderson
Morgan Farley as William Plog
Mark Harmon as Robert Dunlap
Anna Lee as Laura Delano
Linda Kelsey as Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd
Colin Hamilton as Irwin "Ike" H. Hoover
Ray Baker as James Roosevelt
Brian Patrick Clarke as John Aspinwall Roosevelt
Don Howard as Elliot Roosevelt
Joseph Hacker as Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.
Charles Lampkin as Irvin McDuffie
Arthur Gould-Porter as Sir Winston Churchill
Robert Karnes as United States Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes
David Lewis as United States Supreme Court Justice Melville Weston Fuller
Today’s motion picture is a science fiction film with a scene that happens on December 4, Watch and enjoy this film tonight.
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.
Producers - Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Iain Smith , Hilary Shor, Tony Smith, Thomas Bliss and Armyan Bernstein
Screenwriters - 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 79th Academy Awards.
Today’s motion picture is a courtroom drama with a scene that happens on December 3. Watch and
enjoy this film tonight.
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 ofMeredith 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 ofRudy 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.
Today’s motion picture is a science fiction film with a scene that happens on December 2. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.
METEOR
On December 2, 1985[3:02 to 16:56] retired NASA scientist Dr. Paul Bradley is forced to drop out of a yacht race. He learns that after a comet hit an asteroid, a five-mile wide meteor is headed for Earth. The only way to stop it is to use a secret and illegal nuclear weapons platform in space to blast it. However it does not have enough firepower to do so and it is only in combination with an equally secret and equally illegal Soviet space weapons platform that enough firepower can be brought to bear.Other fragments of the asteroid hit the Earth causing devastation in the Alps, Hong Kong and New York City. However both sets of missiles are launched and destroy the meteor, saving the Earth.
In the film at 36:44 a screen shows Day 3 of tracked course as December 4. So day 1 of the tracked course must be the Monday referenced at 4:55 and December 2. In 1985 December 2 was on a Monday.
Producers - Arnold Orgolini, Theodore R. Parvin and Sir Run Run ShawDirector - Ronald Neame
Screenwriters - Stanley Mann and Edmund H. North
Awards – The film was nominated for Best Sound at the 52nd Academy Awards
Today’s movie is a period drama with a scene that happens on December 1. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.
THE GREAT GATSBY
On December 1, 1929 [1:34-3:19] Nick Carraway has his first therapy session in the psychiatric hospital where he is getting treated for alcoholism. He thinks back to seven years ago to when he moved to Long Island, next door the reclusive, mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby. Nick’s cousin Daisy and her husband Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker. Nick learns Tom has a mistress named Myrtle Wilson. He also learns that Gatsby and Daisy previously had a fling before she married Tom and that Gatsby still loves Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair, but Gatsby won’t run away with her and wants Daisy to divorce Tom and marry him. After a huge fight about this Myrtle is killed in a hit and run accident. Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George that it was Gatsby who was Myrtle’s lover and killer.Ultimately George kills Gatsby, then himself, even though Daisy was actually the driver of the car. Daisy and Tom leave New York, as does Nick.
