Movie Review: "Night On Earth" with Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Rosie Perez and Roberto Benigni

This film was first released in 1991. It takes place at the same time in 5 different cities around the world. The stories all concerns taxi cabs.

Beginning with Gena Rowlands and Winona Ryder as passenger and driver in Los Angeles and continuing on to New York, Rome, Paris and Helsinki the film is divided into five 20 minute segments which all take place in the same hour. Five clock faces on the wall illustrate this as they are set back after each of the stories.

The 2 American cities are done in English. The New York segment is the wildest and also most poignant. The Paris story is a cutting statement about people. But my favorite is the Rome sequence with Roberto Begnini as the zany midnight cabbie who roams the streets of Rome. His insights and adventures are well worth the subtitles.

Newly released on DVD this is a movie everyone should see. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch it is a delight.

"A/K/A Tommy Chong" A Documentary by Josh Gilbert

In 2003, as the George Bush Administration was invading Iraq, an even more sinister scenario was taking place, largely unnoticed, here at home.

Thomas B. Kin Chong, aka Tommy Chong, half of the legendary comedy duo Cheech and Chong, was arrested and charged with selling "bongs" through the mail. On September 12th, 2003 Mr. Chong was sentenced to 9 months in Federal Prison and forfeited over $103,000 in cash and all of the merchandise that had been taken during the February 24th, 2003 raid.

The United States government had targeted him with an operation named "Pipe Dreams" which was aimed at Mr. Chongs mail order business Nice Dreams. US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan prosecuted the case against the actor-director-comedian. Part of her argument against Mr. Chong was based on his "career of glamorizing pot smoking." When asked if Community Service would be an option for sentencing, Mr. Chong, who had no prior convictions, and his defense team were met with a perfunctory "No." The same answer applied to detention at a halfway house. Dangerous criminals such as Mr. Chong clearly need to be incarcerated.

Josh Gilbert, an associate of Mr. Chong, has made a documentary about the arrest,trial and sentencing in this case. It is about 80 minutes long and features many luminary personalities such as Lou Adler, Jay Leno, Bill Maher and Cheech Marin.

The movie is not shown in too many theaters. If you are wondering why, then you do not know, as I did not, that as late as May 13th, 2008 in Newport, Kentucky the FBI was raiding a warehouse and confiscating 10,000 copies of the completed film "A/K/A Tommy Chong." The movie that the Government didn't want you to see has become the movie that the government doesn't want you to buy. I have just watched the trailer and I have to agree with Roger Ebert who said of the film, "You don't have to approve of drug use to be offended."

Tommy Chong was placed under a Federal "gag" order to keep silent about the arrest. Too many complicated First Amendment and Ninth Amendment issues to deal with. Too much light on this subject might expose the "man behind the curtain." At a time when we are supposedly fighting for freedom in 2 wars, do we really want too much examination of our own policies here at home?

John Ashcroft and Mary Beth Buchanan spent over $12 million of YOUR tax dollars to keep you from seeing this film. For a look at this film and more information about it go to the following link;

http://akatommychong.com/

The site will introduce you to the facts of the case and filmmaker Josh Gilbert. You can also order a copy for your private viewing. I wish to thank Mr. Gilbert for his "heads up" on this film. It is important to remember that this country was founded on certain principles. Artistic and political freedom are paramount to our continued existance as a free society. At a time when we are battling the enemies outside of our borders, we should not have to be concerned with fighting "the enemies within."

"Cheech and Chong-The Unauthorized Autobiography" by Tommy Chong

I never thought I would even read this book. It has stared at me from the shelves of several libraries for almost 2 years now and I have kept on passing it over. Couldn't be good. Couldn't be worth reading. Boy, was I wrong!

This is one of the most well written and entertaining autobiographies that I have read in quite awhile. If you are expecting, as I did, a rehashing of old Cheech and Chong bits, with not too much substance in between, forget this book. It's not for you.

But if you are looking for a true life story that spans the 1950's through the 1980's and takes you from Calgary, Vancouver to Detroit and the Second City Comedy days and then on to the rest of the world- this is your book.

Whatever preconceived notions you might have about Cheech and Chong need to be checked at the door before you begin to read. This is the story of Tommy Chong, a Chinese-Canadian-Black Man who plays jazz guitar. Turned on by a Chinese jazz musician to marijuana he begins a musical journey that leads him to the world wide fame he imagined while growing up.

Along the way he performs and tours with the Supremes, T. Bone Walker (the Blind Man Chittlin' skit comes from a memorable night when Mr. Chong shared a bill with him), The Temptations and Berry Gordy himself. He even mentors Joe Jackson when The Jackson Five receive their first contract from Motown. Along the way he jams in London with Jimi Hendrix on bass. This guy has really been around.

In 1967 he was a member of Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers. They recorded for Gordy Records, a subsidiary of Motown. They had several minor hits, among them "Malinda" and "Does Your Mama Know About Me?" The latter was written by Tommy Chong.

By 1969 when he met Richard Cheech Marin, Tommy was on his third marraige. Rae Dawn Chong is his oldest daughter. Although some of the stories here do end up as the basis for the comedy duos sketches, the book is more a history of the changes taking place in show business during the early 1960's. Mr. Chong does an incredible job of relating the Canadian club scene of the era and how it came to cross with the American entertainment of the time.

Influenced by comedians such as Lenny Bruce and especially Redd Foxx, he begins to veer away from music and is drawn toward the comedy of Second City in Detroit and the comedy clubs of Los Angeles.

Tommy Chong was a Canadian trying to get into the United States and obtain a "Green Card" at the same time Richard Marin was trying to get into Canada to avoid the draft. Through a series of misadventures they meet in Canada in 1969. Mr. Chong is by this time an accomplished musician and an Improvisational Comedian. He is looking for someone to play off of when he meets Cheech.

After a few false starts things really take off for them. A meeting with Lou Adler at A&M Records lands them $1,000 apiece and a tape recorder to make demos with. Before the day was over they had recorded the first sketch of the album that would make them famous. By the next morning Lou Adler had the "Dave's Not Here" bit sent to every major radio station in the country. The phones were ringing off the hook with requests to play it again and again. "Big Bamboo" had arrived.

There is also a little mystery being played out in this book. In the beginning Mr. Chong recounts sitting in an airport with his wife Shelby when Cheech passes by. Mr. Chong makes no effort to greet him, wondering instead why he does not "have the urge to reach up and grab him, as I would have a few years before..... why did I just watch as he passed by? ...What caused the rift that has seperated us for more than 20 years?"

I'm no spoiler so you will have to read the book to find out the answer. As for me,this was such a good read that I'm going out to get a copy of Mr. Chongs first book, "The I Chong."

Cold War Duo- "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" by John LeCarre

I am a big fan of the Cold war. It had all the necessary elements for a good spy story on a daily basis. And they were true.


Growing up during the some of the hottest times in the Cold War was kind of exciting. The Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall. All of these real life dramas made interesting fodder for the writers of spy novels and the stories they spun. "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" is one of my all time favorites.

John LeCarre takes a man, a broken and tired man, Alec Leamus, and turns him into a political anti-hero. Here is a man who has been engaged in espionage against the Russians for a decade or more, who knows all the ropes, and yet finds himself caught in a web he inadvertently helps to create.
The book and the movie are almost identical. It is helpful to have read the book first, but not necessary. Alec Leamus is asked by MI5 to leave the agency on the pretext of not having gained promotion due to his drinking. Richard Burton plays the part in the movie and his own public struggles with alcoholism make this role very believable.
As he skids down the path of his affliction he takes a job as a research librarian, filing books in a private collection. There he meets a woman named Liz, played in the movie by Claire Bloom, with whom he forms an instant connection. Two lonely people trapped in their own gray and dreary lives. The film is in black and white. It is an accurate depiction of England at that time, still reeling from the ravages of World War Two. Rationing didn't formally end until 1965. Both the novel and the movie capture this aspect with perfection.
When Alec defects to the Russian side for a price, at the direction of his superiors, a chain of events ensues that brings sharply into focus both the differences and the similarities of what we call Freedom and the other side calls Communism. Both sides have agendas. Both sides resort to unthinkable means in order to obtain their respective goals.
Caught in a struggle between a principled Communist Party member who tries Leamus for espionage, and a ruthless ex-Nazi who may be a British double agent, Leamus finds himself in the grips of a plot that will either reinforce his beliefs or tear them apart, revealing them as the other side of the same coin.
The book is riveting, as is the movie. Richard Burton gives one of his finest performances as the troubled spy. And Claire Bloom is exceptional as a woman torn between her beliefs and the reality with which she finds herself confronted.
Stark and intense writing give the book the feel of the gray and colorless world of Communism in Eastern Europe at the time. Stark and intense direction by Martin Pitt transfer these elements to the screen with perfection.

Looking Back? A Musing.

It's been a lazy kind of day, didn't get much of anything done. Watching the rain has made me a bit reflective and I find myself looking back. That's me on the left, 35 years ago, looking forward, I suppose. I never did see anything there, but I was looking.

Life is strange, with twists and turns that take you down paths you didn't expect to find, let alone wander down. And then suddenly it's too late to turn around and do it over. You can find a new path, or alter the way you navigate the one that you're on, but for the most part, at this point- you're committed.

I spent a good part of the day speaking with old friends. Really old friends. Talking to them helps me gauge my own life. I know that sounds mercenary or self serving, but I think we all do it to some degree. And I came out with mixed feelings.

I haven't missed anything I wanted to do. I've sailed far and wide on 4 oceans to 3 continents. I've tasted all the things that came my way and enjoyed what I liked best when I could. And settled for less when I had to.

But now I'm at rest and time is winding down. I used to feel like the Hartley Coleridge poem "Long Time A Child."

Long time a child, and still a child,when years,
Had painted manhood on my cheek, was I,
For yet I lived like one not born to die;
A thriftless prodigal of smiles and tears,
No hope I needed, and I knew no fears.

But sleep, though sweet, is only sleep, and waking,
I waked to sleep no more, at once o'ertaking
The vanguard of my age, with all arrears
Of duty on my back.

Nor child, nor man, Nor youth, nor sage,
I find my head is gray,
For I have lost the race I never ran
A rathe December blights my lagging May
And still I am a child, though I be old,
Time is the debtor for my years untold.

But now I'm more inclined to feel like Emily Dickinson's "I'm Nobody."

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Good there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Strange - I started looking back and now I find myself looking forward like the young man in the picture. I'm searching for that "next thing." I'm sure there's an unexpected path here somewhere.... It's all so, well, a musing.

Happy Birthday to The Ghost Singer- Marni Nixon

This is not Julie Andrews. This is Marni Nixon, known as the "Ghost Singer of Hollywood" for all of the films in which she sang for the stars.
And there were alot of them!

Incredibly talented, Ms. Nixon did the voice overs for Audrey Hepurn in "My Fair Lady", as well as Deborah Kerr in both "The King and I" and "An Affair to Remember."

In "West Side Story" she did all of Natalie Woods' singing and in the song "Tonight" she even sings duet with herself!

In "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" she is the voice on all the high notes that Ms. Monroe could not reach. Along the way she has been the sound of the angels heard by Ingrid Bergman in "Joan of Arc" and also the sound of the geese in "Mary Poppins."

It's rare for me to post twice in one day- but today is Ms. Nixons 80th birthday. She is still performing and I just wanted to wish her many Happy Returns! She has given us all great joy with the magic of her voice.

"Boyhood Photos of J.H. Lartigue- The Family Album of a Gilded Age"

This is a most unusual and rare book. I found it in circulation at The Mooresville Library yesterday. I have been looking at it ever since I picked it up. Sue and I sat in the car turning the pages and laughing with the Lartigue family and their antics.

It is bound and arranged exactly as a family album would be, the photos are seperate from the pages and pasted in. The captions are descriptions of the who, what, when, where and why of each photo.

Jaques Lartigue first began to take these photos in 1901 with a camera given to him by his Dad. He was seven years old. By April 1904, only 4 months after the Wright Brothers had launched their first plane at Kitty Hawk, N.C., Jacques was in Berck and photographing the first sucessful French aero flight. He was barely 10 years old.

The times in which these photos were taken, in France, were times of invention for the whole world. Marconi and the Wright Brothers, the automobile, balloning, these were all the rage and the Lartigue family was trying it all. And photographing themselves as they crashed go-carts, motorbikes, gliders and even contrived various watercraft.

The "Belle Epouque" was a gifted time in the history of France and the Lartigue family managed to chronicle that golden period in this wonderful collection. These photos of the family engaged in tennis, swimming, bicycling, and just having fun together are priceless peeks into the past. The weekend promenades were the rage and gentleman were expected to tip their hats to aquantinces no matter how many times they passed during the days walk.

Some of the photos are historical in nature. They include early car races, sports, fashion and even swimming. But the best photos are the ones of the family engaged in so many different and bizarre activities.

The book was published in Switzerland in 1966 and is a collectible today. I looked it up on Amazon and it goes for up to $475 in used condition. There are not too many copies of this unique and beautifully crafted book available. Clearly this needs to be placed in Special Collections.

This is what I love best about our Public Libraries - that you can walk in empty handed and walk out with a treasure like this is a truly wonderful thing. That we can so easily look back on the more innocent times experienced by the family Lartigue is an absolute treasure. My special thanks to Mooresville Public Library for the loan of this most unusual book.