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Owlwise's Replies
There's no way to limit it to just three roles.
That is an inspired casting choice!
This is a wonderful assessment of the movie, insightful & heartfelt. You did it justice.
Because on some deeper level, he didn't want to know more, Dorothy was partly a real person, but also partly an ideal to him as he was struggling to cope with the intensity of so many new & conflicting emotions all at once. And on that same deeper level, he understood that nothing could come of tracking her down, except the diminishing & dissolving of a rich & powerful memory that changed his life. Of course, it would take him many years to work this out consciously, and it would carry pain with it ... but the sort of pain that's also sweet & beautiful in retrospect. It was a defining moment in his young life, one that shaped the rest of his life. Whatever his mixed feelings as he grew older, he didn't want to tarnish or lose that.
Academy Award nominee for his role in <i>Sounder</i>. And deservedly so.
Agreed. That first story was unconvincing & didn't fit BJ's character. Now, if he had been tempted & had to talk it out with Hawkeye first, that could have made for an interesting story. Hawkeye might have understood BJ's loneliness, but then might have told him, "Don't do it, BJ, because you'll regret it." It could have a been a story that got a little more serious about being away from a loved one & being trapped in the midst of chaos, desperate for some certainty of warmth & comfort & safety.
Soon-Yi was not his daughter. Nor was she his step-daughter. And they have been happily married for more than two decades now, raising two adopted daughters who are proud of them being their parents. And the 1980s showed how easily small children could be convinced of something that never actually happened, i.e., the McMartin School case & many other cases of alleged molestation that put innocent people in jail for things they never did & that never happened.
It's an allegory about any authoritarian system that oppresses, controls, and crushes those under its powerful thumb. And authoritarian systems can run the gamut from far right to far left, religious or secular. As O'Brien says in <i>1984</i>, power exists for the sole purpose of perpetuating itself. It can profess all the good intentions in the world, and its adherents can often even consciously believe that what they're doing is for some greater good—but in the end, it's all about power over others.
Agree with you 100%, SandyR.
Yet all too many do, sad to say. They're addicted to their phones, in fact. If Wally ever had another dinner with Andre, I'm sure that's one of the topics that could (and should) come up in their discussion.
Very much so. Thanks for making that point.
Quite right! I'd almost forgotten that.
This brief discussion makes me want to watch the movie again. It has been awhile ... :)
Absolutely agree. I know some viewers dislike Wally's near-silence in that first hour, but he <i>does</i> need that time to listen & absorb all that Andre is saying. Also, just because he doesn't speak, doesn't mean he's not reacting—he is! Just watch the play of expressions on his face during Andre's tales—intrigued, curious, dubious, dumbfounded, even outraged—until at last he <i>has</i> to respond & actually say what's been building up inside of him. It's a wonderful example of non-verbal acting on his part.
And Andre isn't angry or upset. He clearly <i>wants</i> to hear what Wally's thinking. I feel that he genuinely wants his ideas to be challenged & wrestled with by another person that he likes & respects.
A longtime favorite of mine as well -- wonderfully disturbing & unsettling!
Couldn't have said it any better!
That's Mrs. O'Leary's cow, alleged by folklore to have started the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871 by kicking over a lantern in the O'Leary barn.
I don't know ... Murray & Lou have known each other for some time, and they both know that Murray is married & has kids. They both know what's at stake, and perhaps there's no need for them to talk about it. Or maybe they're both a bit uneasy about venturing that far into the potential disaster of cold reality? Or maybe it's just that a half-hour episode can only include so many things. After all, when Murray became infatuated with Barbara Barrie in the piano episode, Mary didn't hesitate to remind Murray that he has a family & that she's very fond of Marie. Perhaps that episode was different because there was a very real chance of Murray cheating on Marie, whereas Lou & Murray probably knew on some level that nothing could ever come of Murray's feelings for Mary.
Everyone's offered excellent choices that I completely agree with, so let me just add one more, <i>Point Blank</i>.
It's sadly the fate of many fine films that weren't popular successes at the time & were unjustly forgotten after that. And I agree, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, engrossing story with an impressive cast that should be better known.
For many of us, those final two episodes are what lift an already superb series to even greater heights, by refusing to provide neat & tidy answers & explanations, and instead inviting each viewer to engage fully with all of the ideas, surrealism, worldviews, psychology, etc., presented in that explosive finale. It's the reason <i>The Prisoner</i> is still avidly discussed today, over half a century later.