Movie Quote of the Week

We better get out of here before I start talking politics!
--John Wayne, Big Jim McLain (1952)

Hey, I Remember This Show: Gunsmoke

In honor of the late James Arness, actor John Wayne's famous introduction to the first episode of Mr. Arness's most famous TV series.

Movie Quote of the Week

He can’t help it —- he’s just ignorant. He doesn’t know any better than to tell the truth.
--John Wayne, McLintock! (1963)

Trailer of the Week: El Dorado (1966)

This was one of the first movies my late father recorded on his VCR. I am not sure why he did so given his frequently expressed disdain for John Wayne, but he did it. And I cannot say I am sorry that he did so given that I found this to be one of John Wayne's better -- if less well-known -- movies.

It does not hurt that the same movie gives us a glimpse of the early James Caan before he became much more famous for playing -- ahem -- other stuff. And of course, Robert Mitchum is always a welcome sight.

Happy Father's Day


My late father was never much of a John Wayne fan but he did like Pedro Armendáriz. So I like to think he would have liked this movie.

If not, he'll find a way to let me know.

In the meantime, here's hoping that all my readers out there who either have fathers or are fathers have a happy Father's Day.

Random Thoughts

I never was much of a John Wayne fan but I did admire his taste in women.

If love is the answer, what is the question?

Just exactly where is Suffragette City located?

If a sensitive, intelligent person like Jane Austen couldn’t find love within her lifetime, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

Were they really that prudish in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s day or are the kissing scenes in The Other Side of Paradise an euphemism for acts that the censors of his era would not allow him to describe in detail?

If everything is art, then ultimately nothing is art.

If drag is taken from Shakespeare’s “dressed as girl,” then drab must mean “dressed as boy.”

Love that does not endure in the face of adversity ultimately means nothing.

Living with someone you love is way better than living alone, but even living alone beats living with someone you don’t like.

The most dangerous prejudices of a society are inevitably those that are most fashionable. Why? Because those are the ones which are least likely to be either questioned or opposed.

It is all too often easier to question someone else's prejudices than it is to question one's own.

All groups have their bullies and bigots. The problem is that they’re not always recognized as such.

It doesn’t take a great act of courage to demand a sacrifice from someone else.

The mentality required to get out of poverty is rarely possessed by those who never had to worry about poverty. And if it is, it is all too often actively discouraged.

The strongest efforts towards reform inevitably come from those who are most likely to benefit from such reform. Unfortunately, those who are least likely to benefit from a change in the status quo are inevitably the same ones who have the most power to change it.