While reading about Machu Picchu, I learned of an American movie that was shot there in 1954. It looked to me like any other of the flood of exotic adventure pictures that poured out of the 50s. This one's stayed just above the brim of obscurity because it became the template for Raiders of the…
A podcast I listen to recently discussed Arrival, then added a spoiler-ridden section at the end of the episode for listeners who had seen the movie and wanted to hear more. I saw it, rolled it around in my head a few days, and wrote one of the hosts with my ideas about it. It…
(This is a copy of a Goodreads review.) An encouraging bit of Pride Month reading of the "Nice to know we've always been here" variety. "Openly gay" in the context of the 1920s held a different meaning than today, not an affirmation, but a refusal to lie, evading direct questions with clever evasions (making Haines…
While moving our father out of his apartment, we found a DVD labeled “Angevine Video”, which turned out to be more home movies from the 1960s. It must have been a gift to him from my Aunt Pearline’s family. I don’t know whether he’s seen them; I’ll show them to him the next time I’m…
When I saw Little Big Man years ago, I had mixed feelings. I almost wished Dustin Hoffman wasn’t in it. I thought it was one of his worse performances, bouncing between clownish and Capital-A Actory, and his character took up most of the time while being the least interesting part of the story. When you…
