Dad better get home soon.
Pop Culture Ephemera
- All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023) (Directed by Raven Jackson): “Water. All these drops might be a river someday. Might be snow. Might be in you.” – Mack. There’s a scene that starts the film where Mack pulls a catfish out of the river on her pole, and while it is in the cage, she rubs her hands over the scales of the fish before releasing it back into the river. This is symbolic of Mack’s character through the film. It’s that feeling of being pulled out of your environment, longing to return, and then allowed back into the flow of the river’s current. This isn’t a film with a story. That’s important for anyone about to watch the film. It’s a series of nonlinear glimpses into the life of Mack. It’s full of natural sound more than dialog. The theme of change is ever present through her life. Water can be rain, a river, inside of a person, or even snow. Life is how you adapt to the different stages of water. The pacing is deliberate. Back in that first scene, Mack’s father tells her, “Take it slow.” That’s a good illustration of this whole film, not just good fishing advice.
- Barney Miller – “Ramon” (1975) (S.1 E.1) (ABC): “I’m a Puerto Rican junkie, in a police station, with a gun in my hand! What am I gonna do with a fair trial?” – Ramon Santos. “The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller” aired as part of the anthology show Just for Laughs (ABC) before getting the green light for a series that would eventually air for eight seasons. The first episode feels like a different show with half of the episode taking place at Barney’s apartment with his wife and two children. The series would end up airing almost exclusively in the squad room at the precinct. The cast is quickly introduced as they will be portrayed for the rest of the series. We meet Fish, Wojo, Harris, Chano, and Yemana. The portion of the episode in the precinct illustrates how the series will easily role between broad comedy and social issues. A good start, and there’s that bassline over the skyline of Manhattan.
- Leon Russell – “Lady Blue” (1975) (from Will O’ the Wisp): “I want to get it straight right now, oh baby / ‘Cause I love you more and more and more.” I don’t have much to say about this song other than I’ve always thought it an underrated love song. It’s hard to nail down Leon. He’s a boogie woogie player with country and rock influences. This song has a wonderful arrangement that doesn’t fit with the more rock feel of the rest of this album, which may be why it’s the last song on the album. When a song like this isn’t in heavy rotation and I hear it again, the memories of listening to AM radio as a seven-year-old come flooding back. Just let Leon’s voice envelop you.
- The Anderson Tapes (1971) (Directed by Sidney Lumet): “You want what you can’t have. I mean you’re always hammering on that locked door.” – Ingrid. Sidney Lumet tries his hand at the heist film. This isn’t a character study. The main actors like Sean Connery, Martin Balsam, Alan King, and a very young Christopher Walken play versions of the characters we know of them from past films. The story is really about the plot to rob an entire apartment building. Fresh out of prison, Connery puts together his team, develops the scheme, and then things don’t go as planned as the plan is executed. It’s a fun little story with an odd fixation on surveillance and bugging of the apartments. This was a few years before The Conversation (1974) which played against fears from the Watergate years. This type of surveillance is used as a plot device and doesn’t carry the same symbolic weight. Lumet is a masterful director, and this is a wonderful heist film despite the surveillance red herring.
- Basquiat (1996) (Directed by Julian Schnabel): “When I speak nobody believes me, but when I write it down, everybody knows it to be true.” – Rene Ricard. An artist makes a film about an artist. The story is cast full of artists, dealers, agents, collectors, and critics. Added to that, it’s a story with drug use influencing the story throughout. Even in 1996, this wasn’t a formula for success. I remember it being in indie darling mostly on Jeffrey Wright’s performance as Basquiat. He’s a canvas himself that people project their own expectations onto. It isn’t given enough credit for the subtle way it addresses the racism that Basquiat encounters in the art world. There’s an amazing supporting cast of David Bowie (as Andy Warhol), Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Parker Posey, and an underrated performance by Benicio Del Toro as an artist friend as he’s up and coming. The film seemed to disappear for few decades, as most movies about the art world do. It has had a little renaissance lately as it approaches 30. I like to think that a good story and good acting will find an audience.
Best of the Rest
- It’s the second week in a row with a George Benson cover that turns a 1975 classic into a smooth-jazz workout. He puts his twist on this song by still featuring the piano but there’s his funky guitar that sets a mood that isn’t in the Leon Russell original. This version is for nighttime with the sun setting and a cocktail.
- Entertainment Weekly (3/28/97): “Best Commercials of All-Time” #28: Life Cereal “Three Brothers” (1971): Mikey (John Gilchrist) was just three years old when he did nothing but eat a bowl of cereal. The two older brothers uttered the famous “Hey, Mikey” and “He likes it.” This ad would be a cultural reference that everyone on the schoolyard understood the reference. The success of this single ad is undeniable. It would air until 1986 when Quaker Oats tried to remake it with an 18-year-old Gilchrist. The updated ad had no life.
- Other than headlines about snakes on the loose, the next most scary thing is America Is Falling Out of Love with Ice Cream. We are living in a Golden Age of ice cream. There are parlors turning up on every corner and not just chain outlets. The freezer aisle has some of the best variety of flavors of our lifetime. Unilever parting ways with Benny & Jerry’s is just a canary in the coalmine for where we might be headed. The low margin (11% average) item might find themselves squeezed out of the freezer aisle with any further drop in sales. It’s time for a call to arms – get out there and do your frozen-treats duty.
Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback
- On the Sunday Morning Tuneage from 6/4/2007 to 7/12/2009, I ranked my 100 Favorite Films of All-Time. I did one per week with the arbitrary rule that they had to air on television that upcoming week. It ended up being a pretty representative list in retrospect. A few were ranked out of order, but I stick with that list for that point in my life. The 2009 stats check out.
6 – Alfred Hitchcock films.
5 – Steven Spielberg films.
4 – Stanley Kubrick films.
4 – Billy Wilder films.
I’m going to attempt the impossible over the next 20 weeks. I’m going to use that old list as a template and rank five films a week, without planning it all out ahead of time. Remember, these are “favorite” and not necessarily “best” movies. Enjoy critiquing me along the way.
2025 Running Stats (#51-100)- 3 – Directed by Terry Gilliam
- 3 – Directed by Quentin Tarantino
- 2 – Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
- 2 – Directed by John Hughes
- 2 – Directed by Terry Jones
- 2 – Directed by David Yates
- 2 – 1920’s
- 1 – 1940’s
- 1 – 1950’s
- 5 – 1960’s
- 14 – 1970’s
- 9 – 1980’s
- 11 – 1990’s
- 4 – 2000’s
- 2 – 2010’s
- 1 – 2020’s
- FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME (2009)
- 55. Blue Velvet (1986)
- 54. Alien (1979)
- 53. Schindler’s List (1993)
- 52. The Deer Hunter (1978)
- 51. Rocky (1976)
- FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME (2025)
- 55. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971) (Directed by Mel Stuart): I had probably watched the movie before I read the book, but it’s the first time I remember being familiar with both media. It’s the perfect story for a boy like I was in the early ’70s. I still get chills at the end when Charlie gets the factory.
- 54. 1917 (2019) (Directed by Sam Mendes): A beautifully shot film that covers my favorite subject, WWI. It’s best seen in a theater, but there’s such a compelling, simple plot that you will be tantalized at home too.
- 53. Planet of the Apes (1968) (Directed by Franklin Schaffner): This film holds a special place for most people in my age range. I didn’t get all the symbolism at a young age, but it was talking apes. I scoured the TV Guide each week to make sure I didn’t miss Ape Week.
- 52. M*A*S*H (1970) (Directed by Robert Altman): I watched the TV series for years before I watched this film. I didn’t get it at first. Altman is masterful with misdirection and handling the huge cast. This has gotten better and better over the years.
- 51. The Thing (1982) (Directed by John Carpenter): The best horror film of the decade? Possibly. Carpenter understood how to take a Communist scare film and make it into our myriad of fears in the ’80s. There are some of the most deliciously tense horror scenes here that are why I love this genre.
1975 in Review
- March – Captain America #183 (Marvel): Cover by Gil Kane. Written by Steve Englehart. Art by Frank Robbins. The long tenure of Sal Buscema on the title was over and Frank Robbins had a style that I had trouble getting used to at first. Steve Rogers has been Nomad for awhile and they are in the process of getting him back into Cap’s suit. I remember being impatient with the story to just move forward.
- March 31 – The last episode of Gunsmoke (CBS) aired. The 635th episode of a show that had run since 1955 was called “The Sharecroppers.”
- March 31 – Kentucky had a great run to the NCAA Finals in San Diego but came up against John Wooden coaching his last game for UCLA. It would turn out to be UCLA’s 10th National Championship in 12 years. The 92-85 victory brought an end to the type of domination that we likely won’t ever see again.
What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?
Chester’s Fries:
Carolina Style BBQ
I would say that as a whole, Carolina Style BBQ is the most inconsistent flavor across brands. It should be a more tangy vinegar, mustard taste. These don’t initially differ much from their superior chili-cheese flavor. There’s a little mustard hint of aftertaste. It’s just not a taste that appeals to me in this “fries” format. I’m not a Chester’s Fries fan in general, so I’m not likely to seek these out again.
Oreo: Birthday Cake
The overwhelming smell and taste is simply vanilla cake. Do you like vanilla cake? You will enjoy these. Oreo has been going all out on their flavors the past year. This feels like they just needed a break. I didn’t mind them but nothing sticks out about them.
Cap’n Crunch’s Arctic Crunch
More vanilla. It’s in the cookies, in the Coke, and in my Life cereal. I was very concerned that these would have that annoying “cooling” effect. They didn’t have a cooling effect nor did they have a variety of flavor. There are two different colors of the Crunch Berries style cereal but both are vanilla. It’s the most generic of vanilla flavors, not even birthday cake vanilla like the Oreos. The blue balls should have given the milk a different hue, but they don’t. I don’t understand the purpose of this other than to give the brand a winter boost.
“You’re getting used to me, baby
But you just a-wait and see, lady
‘Cause I’ve been in love before
And I love you a whole lot more” – Leon Russell
