Love, As Always, Pete

The Weekly Letters, by A. Pedersen Wood

October 9, 2002

Dear Everyone:

Last week’s touching story about Lee Marvin and Captain Kangaroo turned out to be complete bunk, thus proving that the Internet is just as good at disseminating misinformation as it is at correct (i.e., factual) information.  Lee Marvin did join the Marines and was wounded in the line of duty, but not at Iwo Jima.  Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo, did join the Marines, but look at the dates:

Keeshan was born June 27, 1927.  Iwo Jima happened in February, 1947.  Bob was too young to join before Iwo Jima, unless he had the foresight of our own dear mother to fabricate a different date of birth, which, by his own admission, he didn’t.  So the information was, by definition, wrong.

But as a correspondent with a San Francisco columnist was quoted in this morning’s paper:  “’Wrong’ is such a harsh judgment.  I prefer to think that your solution was…underconstrained.”

That’s about all I’ve had a chance to read in the paper this week.  I have just survived Day Two of a Three-Day course in Project Management.  And that’s three full days, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm; and no, they don’t let us out for lunch.  Food is provided, be back in 30 minutes.  We are right in the middle of creating a time line for our fictitious project and those parts of my brain that aren’t completely fried are currently frizzled.  Not to mention, under constrained.

In other news…

I forgot a movie last week.  Right before I took off for Chicago, “Jeannie” and I went to see The Banger Sisters, a title conferred upon a couple of groupies by Jim Morrison.  This should give you an idea how long ago that was.  (However, the time line seems to have been trifled with.  Morrison died in the late ‘60’s.  The movie makes several references to “about 20 years ago”.  This suggests either that the screenplay was written 10 years ago and wasn’t upgraded, or that someone was trying to be kind to the two leading ladies.)

Goldie Hawn plays Suzette, a free spirit who has never grown up.  She still frequents rock clubs and tries to pick up musicians.  More or less on a whim, she decides to pay a visit to her “sister”, Livinia, played by Susan Sarandon.  “Vinny” has taken a different road:  Married to a successful lawyer, she has hidden all references to her scandalous past until Suzette shows up.

Both women have an opportunity to look at the decisions made, and not made, by each other; and they see both the good and the bad in those decisions.  The movie raises a lot of questions about “the road not taken”, but wisely refrains from trying to answer any of those questions.

Add Geoffrey Rush, as an uptight has-been screenwriter that Suzette “adopts” rather like a stray dog.  Rush is wonderful as Harry, who at first cannot imagine anyone like Suzette, and later tries to assign her to the pedestal marked “Muse”.  But Suzette is too down-to-earth to accept the assignment.

All three, Hawn, Sarandon and Rush, work beautifully together, although it is unfortunate that the producers felt the need to provide Hawn with a body double in one scene.  There aren’t enough good roles for “middle-aged” actresses to waste any scenes on a younger stand-in.

The only caveat is that no one, ever, in the history of the world, could ever look good in the pants that Sarandon wears during the latter half of the film.  Apart from that, and some scandalous snapshots from a bygone era, anyone would enjoy it.  Let the Oscar sweepstakes begin.

Love, as always,

 

Pete

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