I had a great weekend with my children and their friends in Fort Worth. (Actually, we were in Arlington when I saw my daughters, Molly and Megan. We met them for dinner Saturday night at a steakhouse there.)
Patrick picked me up at Love Field in Dallas and then we headed for Cowtown. We grabbed a late supper at the original Fuzzy’s Taco Shop near Texas Christian University.
He and I messed around Friday. talking, walking his dogs and eating good food, including fried chicken, waffles, shredded sweet potatoes and collard greens at Buttons for lunch. On Friday night, we were joined by his girlfriend, Sarah, as we tried the Flying Fish location near TCU — several photos on the wall of fishermen and -women from Arkansas showing off their prize catches.
Saturday afternoon, the three of us sat in the bleachers at Lupton Stadium and watched the TCU Horned Frogs take on the Cal State-Fullerton Titans in a college baseball game featuring two nationally ranked teams. It was a great game, but the Titans turned a go-ahead-run on a close call at the plate in the top of the ninth inning into a full-blown five-run rally and then held on for an 8-4 win.
That seemed to start a trend because TCU, ranked No. 3 nationally entering that game, lost to CSU-F in the ninth again Sunday in the rubber game of the series. Then the Frogs repeated the trick Tuesday night against the visiting and much-more-lightly regarded Dallas Baptist University Patriots in a 4-3 loss. http://gofrogs.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/030111aaa.html
At night, we stayed up late talking and watching movies. One was Robert Duvall’s latest, “Get Low,” also featuring Bill Murray, Lucas Black and Sissy Spacek. It’s based on a true story of a hermit in from Tennessee in the 1930s. Quite entertaining.
On Sunday morning, Patrick, Sarah and I met his longtime friend from high school, Andrew McKernon, for a great brunch at Taverna, an Italian restaurant in downtown Fort Worth.
I made some friends from Maumelle, Myron and Stephanie Putnam, waiting at Love for the flight back. Southwest had some trouble with a part in the windshield heater of our plane. After first trying to fix it, they moved us to a different gate and put us on a plane originally scheduled to go to Lubbock, Texas, and then Las Vegas, Nev. Lubbock was experiencing high winds at the time, so us Little Rock travelers replaced the Lubbock passengers and we arrived at Little Rock national Airport about an hour late. Then the plane went on to Las Vegas for the other folks.
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I read a blog that asked if Mel Gibson’s latest tirade directed at his girlfriend and filled with expletives and racial slurs would keep people from going to see his movies. Good question.
It is easy to say that I’m fed up with his behavior and his rants about different ethnicities. I can say that I have no plans to go see a Mel Gibson movie and help him make more money.
But if he happens to be in a movie that also features someone whose work I respect, I might go see it.
For instance, he is reportedly soon to be in a movie produced by Jodie Foster. Even if I am boycotting Mel Gibson, I happen to be a big fan of Jodie Foster. So, who knows. I’ll have to decide when I know more about that project.
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I would like to see the results of a professionally conducted poll that asks people on the street four questions:
1. Have you read “To Kill A Mockingbird,” the 1960 novel by Harper Lee?
2. Have you seen the 1962 Robert Mulligan film, “To Kill A Mockingbird”?
3. Have you read the book and seen the movie?
4. If the answer is “both,” which did you do first?
A friend and I were discussing a series of first novels and their success recently. Naturally, Harper Lee popped up. What we ventured into was wondering about the quantitative effect that the excellent movie starring Gregory Peck had on extending the influence of the book.
Plenty of first novels have been made into motion pictures, but few have won the Pulitzer Prize and had the movie version win Academy Awards. Gregory Peck won for best actor, Horton Foote won for best adapted screenplay and the trio of Henry Bumstead, Alexander Golitzen and Oliver Emert won for best art direction in the category of set direction-black and white. The movie, produced by Alan J. Pakula, received five other nominations, including those of best picture, best director and best supporting actress (Mary Badham for her portrayal of narrator Scout).
Several years ago, I was talking with a new co-worker about likes and dislikes. When we came around to books, we both said, “To Kill A Mockingbird.” After we both talked about how much we liked it, I said, “Too bad she wrote only one novel,” Charlie said, “Yeah, but what a novel. Maybe she decided that she got it right the first time, so why write another one.”
The movie has its fans, too, and I am one of them. But some people love the movie, have never read the book and have no desire to do so. But as a fan of both, I have wondered how much the movie helped prolong the popularity of the book. I believe that the book stands on its own and still would be popular, but I can’t help but think that the superb movie version sent some people looking for the book in the library or the bookstore.
At any rate, the book-movie combination has had an effect in our culture. Babies have been named Scout and Atticus and a number of bands have had names from the work … the Boo Radleys and Atticus come to mind. Other bands have had songs that make a reference. Many television shows, from “The Simpsons” to” Frasier,” have had episodes that use character names, have puns on the title and make other references. Atticus Finch, the character, is a beloved hero among many lawyers and is considered a sterling example of the pinnacle of integrity of the legal profession.
Maybe some college professors have opinions on the topic, but I doubt that the effect of the movie on the novel’s longevity is measurable and I think we’ll always be wondering.
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Will Patton is one of those character actors in movies and television that many people know by sight but not by name. Often, he plays a villain or someone who appears to be a good guy but turns out to be a bad guy. Possibly his best-known hero role was that of the white high school football coach who was bumped out of the head job by Denzel Washington’s character in the excellent sports movie, “Remember the Titans.”
Patton, 56, a native of Charleston, S.C., may be most valuable to arts lovers, though, as a narrator or voice actor in the presentation of audio books — on tape, CD or disc.
Readers of James Lee Burke, in fact, likely consider Patton a national treasure for his narration of Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series about a New Orleans detective and other books featuring the author’s regular characters.
I don’t know how good Patton is compared with other voice actors. But I do know he has me feeling hung over after he delivers a Robicheaux fall from the wagon or like I’m dying for a canteen of water after hearing him describe a Hackberry Holland walk through the West Texas dust in the most recent “Rain Gods.”
He’s a well-respected character actor but among audio book fans of Burke, Patton is a superstar.
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“The Stratton Story,” the 1949 Jimmy Stewart movie about former Chicago White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton, was just on Turner Classic Movies on New Year’s morning. It told the story of the heroic comeback of Stratton, who lost his right leg after a hunting accident in 1938, but battled back to pitch again with an artificial leg in the minor leagues. It co-starred June Allyson as Stratton’s wife and Agnes Moorehead as his mother.
The movie featured at least two actors/ball players who were Arkansans, Bill Dickey and Gene Bearden. Dickey, of course, was a Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees, who was born in Bastrop, La., but lived in Little Rock. Bearden, a rookie sensation for the Cleveland Indians in 1948, was born in Lexa, but lived in Helena.
The ballpark in Helena was named after Bearden, while Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock was named after Dickey, his brother, Skeeter, and brothers Jack and Witt Stephens.
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Gene Barry died Dec. 9 at the age of 90.
He came to prominence first in the 1953 film, “War of the Worlds” and then moved on to household name status when he played in the “Bat Masterson” series in the late 1950s. He twice played the lead role of an independently wealthy police detective in “Burke’s Law” — in the mid ’60s and again in the mid-1990s for one season. In between, he co-starred with Robert Stack and Tony Franciosa as a magazine publisher in “The Name of the Game.”
Less has been written of his singing and dancing talents, but longtime Arkansas observers say Barry once appeared at the Vapors Club in Hot Springs during the heyday of his fame between “Masterson” and “Burke.” Some contend that Barry may have been scheduled in the Vapors once when the notorious club was bombed and had to be rescheduled in a nearby club. (Barry made several appearances in Broadway musicals.)
Ironically, William Barclay “Bat” Masterson, the longtime lawman-gunslinger-gambler-promoter-sports writer on which Barry’s “Masterson” character was based, was reportedly a big fan of Hot Springs in its prime as the nation’s favorite resort and gambling center.
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Nancy and I spent a cool but calm weekend at the lake. (Our dog, Daisy, a Lhasa apso we keep cut short, also came along.) The leaves are starting to change colors and Ouachita is up to its upper banks. No TV, no Internet. Beautiful.
It was almost a blast from the past — we listened to the Arkansas-Florida football game Saturday afternoon on the radio, via a sports station at 96.3 FM out of Fort Smith, then switched to the American League Championship Series between the Angels and the Yankees on XM Satellite Radio. We worked in a DVD of “Friday Night Lights,” the movie, in between.
It was nice. We didn’t get involved in the “blame the referees” stuff about the Razorbacks game because we couldn’t see if they were bad calls or not. The radio announcers (Chuck Barrett and Keith Jackson) said there were some bad calls, but both of those guys DO work for the University of Arkansas, so what do you expect?
I know that the Razorbacks were much-improved over previous games this year, yet they had three chances to score from inside the Gators 40-yard line in the third quarter and managed only three points. So, yes, we scared the top-ranked Gators, but we had chances to win and didn’t — we lost 23-20. That’s it. Whine all you want, but if you want to be Hog-crazy, worry about the Ole Miss game.
The rest of us will get on with our lives or continue to watch the baseball playoffs — football doesn’t really start until the World Series is over. That’s what matters to me, after my family.
Meanwhile, it’s back to work in the midst of some wonderful fall weather.
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The North Little Rock High School Charging Wildcats hung tough for a while Friday night in the slop at North Little Rock Stadium, but the school’s curious choice for a homecoming game opponent, the top-ranked Cabot Panthers, pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 17-6 victory.
***
“Rio Bravo” is one of those Westerns I have trouble moving past on cable TV, even when it’s after midnight like it was when I found it just now early on this Sunday morning.
John Wayne was, well, the Duke. Dean Martin was, as always, brilliant playing a drunk. Rick Nelson was there for the “kids” at the time. Walter Brennan was funny like he was every time he got in front of a camera … and Angie Dickinson showed you why women drove men crazy in movies then. They teamed up as underdogs against the evil rich guy and … it doesn’t get much better.
Try it the next time you see it on your TV.
