Saturday, July 30, 2005

The High and the Mighty

[WARNING--CONTAINS MOVIE ENDING SPOILER--PROCEED WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE]

Turner Classic Movies has been playing a resurrected John Wayne film, just recently released to DVD and apparently seen on TV for the first time: "The High and the Mighty."

I enjoyed it--from the soapy melodramas among the passengers, to scenes that were obvious sources* for the "Airplane" parodies, right down to Robert Stack thanking John Wayne for slapping him when he lost his cool: "I needed that."

I half expected to see Lloyd Bridges declaring it a bad week to give up sniffing glue, or Stack warning "That's just what they'll be expecting!" when the control tower ordered the runway lights turned on.

But what really struck me were the assumptions of the time: A stewardess (before the pc days of "flight attendant") lighting a passenger's cigarette--indeed, the pilots smoking in the cockpit. Not that I miss that, but you know what?--that choice ought to be determined by the market rather than dictated by the fedgov.

And then there was the handgun--carried by a passenger who was stalking a man he believed to be his wife's lover. He carried it right in his coat pocket.

He got on a plane without going through metal detectors. TSA didn't grope him or wand him down or make him take off his shoes. The other passengers took it away from him. One kept it in his pocket for safekeeping, and gave it back when the guy promised to be good! And because there was no harm/no foul, no SWAT team was waiting to take the guy out when he got off the plane--he disembarked down the stairs and walked across the tarmac to the terminal. In San Francisco!

I was two years old when this movie came out. I see the changes in assumptions that have happened in my lifetime, and wonder what assumptions will change when my sons are my age.

I guess that all depends on what we as a culture will tolerate and allow, doesn't it?

And the sad thing--a real letdown for me--is knowing guys like John Wayne and Charlton Heston paved the way for this to happen by supporting GCA '68.

* The main plot and inspiration for many scenes was from "Zero Hour!" which is now a hoot to watch.

UPDATE: To my knowledge, Wayne did not come out and publicly support the bill. But Heston, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck, Hugh O'Brien and Kirk Douglas did.  High and mighty, indeed.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Dave, did you get to see the show Over There, last wednesday?

    I thought it was pretty good. A little melodramatic, but I guess thats what people want to see on their shows.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Almost forgot to comment on the topic at hand.

    I did see that the movie was playing on AMC, and I wanted to see it, but never got the chance.

    I wish I could have been apart of those "good ol' days". It's depressing looking back at the state of society then, and the state of it now.

    And the part that kills is it's only gonna get worse. Eventually, even with all the fighting done by the NRA, eventually our rights and freedoms will be corroded as politicians, and leaders of the pro-gun lobby get weaker and weaker in their support, and resolve.

    It's scary.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No--saw a commercial for it. I'll keep an eye out for it, but will probably have to fight to the death with sons Uday and Qusay to pry the remote out of their evil little clutches and get the TV switched from anime...

    ReplyDelete

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