Most movie-goers have their favorite actors and actresses. As a young boy I looked up to Spencer Tracy. To me, he was the very symbol of manhood. Over the years I have seen many great actors. Within the past several decades I have been very impressed by the work of Tom Hanks. I consider him […]
It is interesting to consider the impact of American cinema on our culture – indeed on the world’s culture. At times, when reading a British novel or watching a British film, I’m surprised to see allusions to certain Hollywood film stars or movies. The influence of our cinema is undeniable. Many young people in other […]
One of my favorite movies of Christmas time, indeed, of all time, is Scrooge with Albert Finney It is not only a visual and musical feast, it is a tale of a man’s life gone wrong followed by an amazing redemption. The story plays your emotions like a violin. You move from a sweet romance, […]
During the coronavirus shutdown people are watching lots of movies and old TV shows.. Most people love a good western. They admire the soft-speaking, hard-fisted hero epitomized by actors like John Wayne and James Arness. The television show Gunsmoke starring Arness was a prime-time staple for many years, and millions of Americans watched the […]
On April 10th I wrote about icons. As we all know, the cinematic and television industry is in the business of producing icons. Some of them are good. Some are bad. Many of them are larger than life superheroes or supervillains who bear very little resemblance to real persons. Much of what we see […]
I remember my first movie. I can still call to mind images from that movie some eighty-five years after seeing it. I was five years old, and my parents took to me to a theater in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, to see a recently released film, Treasure Island, starring Wallace Berry, Lionel Barrymore, and the […]
Today is my 90th birthday. I’m a bit surprised to still be walking and talking. No one else in my immediate family lived so long. I was born during the first year of Herbert Hoover’s term as President and less than two months before the stock market crash that began the great depression. Of course, […]
In medieval Europe the troubadours sang of the peerless Roland and of King Arthur and his table round, fearless warriors for truth and justice. Next to them stood beauteous maidens, virtuous virgins without flaw or blemish. In the early days of our republic an author named Parson Weems published readers for young children. In them […]
Jordans-Journey 