Over the weekend, we did a fair amount of movie watching. It's blazing hot out, and we do our best to enjoy daylight and whatnot, but I can only take so much before I require air conditioning and a cold beverage.
Anyway - the other night, we watched one I had not seen before - from 1971 - called Carnal Knowledge. It's got Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen, and Ann-Margret. Basically, two college roommates are both involved with Candice - she chooses Art, Jack goes on to ruin the life of Ann-Margret, and Carol Kane appears briefly. She is supposed to be 19, but let's get real - Carole Kane has always looked like a middle aged woman to me.
The fact is, Candice should have run screaming from both Art and Jack, but that would be the end of the movie. And that's short, even for a short film.
It was interesting. For starters, I love Candice Bergen. I was such a fan of hers that when I went through sorority rush, I wanted to be a Kappa Kappa Gamma, just like she had been. Truth be told, I wouldn't have been a great Kappa - at my school, they use "summer" as a verb. As in, "Where did you summer?"
I did like them, though. I went to two parties there. Which is more than I can say about the majority of houses at UGA. Their skit had some sort of outer space theme. Like aliens came to earth to find the best specimen of sorority girl, and thank heavens, they landed at KKG.
Look, this was a long time ago - things are hazy.
Anyway - the moral of that movie is that sometimes, the lesser of two evils is still evil.
Last night, we watched Thelma and Louise. I saw it when it first came out, and remembered it fondly. Now, nearly 35 years later, it's showing its age a little.
Louise is incredibly forgiving of Thelma. Thelma shoots them in the foot multiple times over the course of the movie, and each time, Louise is understandably furious. And then five minutes later, it's like it never happened.
Now, it's true - for a lot of the movie, Thelma is portrayed as not too bright, but when it hits the fan, she's a feral beast. Maybe she was under the thumb of Darryl for too long and lost her confidence, but the trip brings it back. But it's also just a little too convenient.
Harvey Keitel cannot maintain a southern accent. He'll get into the rhythm, but every sixth word or so betrays him (words with certain types of e seem to be a challenge). He's a great character - he's definitely a little in love with Louise, and his character is interesting, but it's just barely off, and that makes me remember, well, he's Harvey Keitel.
Christopher McDonald is pitch perfect - no notes. What a bastard!
And to prove that all men are pretty much reprehensible, they hammer the point home with the leering truck driver. Subtle. Like a jackhammer.
One think that's interesting to me is that had the movie taken place 20 years later, the cellphone would have been omnipresent, and they'd be lucky to find a pay phone anywhere. I think about that a lot, with TV and movies. That just a simple cellphone would have rendered the plot completely impossible.
I noted that to me, they both got prettier the more feral they got. At the start of the film, they are both wound tight. By the end of it, there's no lipstick, they're both tan and freckled and relaxed. My husband likes the way they look the whole way through, but I appreciate the transformation, definitely.
All of that to say, it's a great movie. It's probably better if you just remember seeing it that first time and not re-watching. That's my take.
We also watched a few westerns. They are all pretty similar to me. The one I saw the most of was a Randolph Scott/Claude Akins piece with an improbably pretty woman who gets taken along on a bounty ride with murdered, two reformed petty criminals, and a righteous bounty hunter. They battle Indians, the terrain, and each other, but it ends mostly happily ever after, except for the murderer, who is turned in and hanged. The nicest bit is that the lady doesn't end up with any of them. The two petty criminals end up going into business together, and that is very sweet - they have been friends for a long time. The bounty hunter leaves for his next adventure, having successfully avenged the death of his wife by killing her murdered, who turns out to be the brother of the other murderer. Family business, perhaps?
Anyway, the female lead had huge breasts and the costumer made sure we knew it. I mean, it was the era of the bullet bra, yes - but even without help. I looked her up - Karen Steele. She did a handful of movies - a lot of westerns, and then she did some TV:
But it's certainly not her marksmanship that got her the role. No shade, just - let's be realistic, here.
Anyway, it was a good weekend for movies. Our other big event was celebrating my husband's birthday. We went to a restaurant we've been wanting to try since we moved here. It's a Nashville (Belle Meade) institution - a steakhouse called Sperry's. It was exceptional. I love a good steak, especially when someone else cooks it. It was a nice way to celebrate. Sperry's, like the both of us, was established in 1974 - so, we celebrated 51 years together.
There are a few other celebrations coming up. My sister-in-law and a bunch of others are coming to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday at a Sounds game. Matt and I have a 20th wedding anniversary next month, and then Labor Day, which includes a trip to the cabin with my sister and nephew at the end of August. Time flies, y'all.
Stay hydrated, watch movies, and stay cool.
ae
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