Edward Zwick and I were born on the same day…

I discovered a possible granfalloon* over Thanksgiving. I randomly discovered that one of my favorite movie directors, Edward Zwick, and I were born on the very same day.

Here is a partial list of my all time favorite movies:

Legends of the Fall (1994)

Glory (1999)

The Last Samurai (2003)

Blood Diamond (2006)

All of these movies were directed by Edward Zwick, who also produced Shakespeare in Love (1998), which is in my top 5 favorite films of all time. Oddly enough he and I were born on the same day. I find this to be an interesting granfalloon, and I am so glad he is still hard at his craft. Thank you Edward Zwick for making these movies!

Thoughts and Reflections on Steve McQueen

And just for symmetry, I will start the Dramatis Personae category with thoughts and reflections on Steve McQueen who makes it into the top 5 actors of all time from my perspective. No one before or since has ever been quite as existential.

Steve McQueen. In 1958 when I was 5 years old, I remember watching him in Wanted Dead or Alive (in black and white of course…we only got 3 channels back then…but somehow there was more stuff to watch then there is now. Why is that I wonder?…but I digress). So McQueen as a bounty hunter is one of my earliest memories of any heroic figure.  And as he developed as an actor, I developed as a person. He was a touchstone of aloof honesty and at the same time aware of the complexities of life, all of the ambiguity that we all must somehow sort our way through. Reminds me of the line Val Kilmer says in The Ghost and the Darkness…”I’m going to sort it out!” (firing and reloading his .303 Lee Speed Rifle).

Who could ever forget McQueen in The Great Escape (1963) as Captain Hilts “The Cooler King?”  His run on the motorcycle trying to get across the border into Switzerland? Great stunts, and oh so close…”He’s dead, I’m crippled, and you’re lost. I suppose it’s always like this, I mean war.”

The aforementioned The Sand Pebbles is about a sailor who joined the Navy out of economic necessity. He is stationed on a gunboat in China. His job is to keep the engines running on the USS San Pablo. He would rather be in the engine room then be with people. Gradually we see him become more involved with the world around him. This world is China in the early 1940s particularly the city of Shanghai.  The forces of revolution as well as the invasion of the Japanese are manifested at various points throughout the film and though McQueen’s character (Jake Holman) tries to hold himself apart and remain neutral,  he is inevitably forced to become involved. They have to rescue U.S. citizens who are threatend by the Japanese and the Chinese, this leads to confrontation and the consequences of making hard choices. At the time of its release, the movie was seen by many as a metaphor for the war in Viet Nam, but I took it at face value as a story that stands on its’ own two legs and documents a period of time that my uncle John was intimately familair with. He actually owned a bar in Shanghai! Of McQueen’s performance, the New York Times critic (Bosley Crowther…that his real name I am not kidding) said the following:…”this non-hero, performed by Steve McQueen with the most restrained, honest, heartfelt acting he has ever done, that we see the ultimate reward for the kind of service he ruefully performs”…He was nominated for the academy award for Best Actor but lost to Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons. McQueen was robbed.

Then there’s Bullitt (1968)…a whole lot has been written about that movie, pro and con but everyone agrees the 1968 Mustang GT Fastback became an icon as a result. The number of movies that have copied or paid tribute to that chase scene probably includes nearly ever chase scene done after its’ 1968 release.