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Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980)
Bruce MacDonald and Karen Trott, lead actors in Secaucus 7, could have been major movie stars!
Both lead actors Bruce MacDonald ("Mike") and Karen Trott (Maura) had appearance and actor qualities and capabilities which could have made them later movie stars.
Neither continued work in the movie business or, apparently, desired to follow the rigors and problems part of climbing to the top of the movie actor heap into the realm of stardom, big money, fame, etc.
Movie actor work is very hard.
Actress Ursala Andress once stated that "there are a lot of very good movie actors, but very few good movies for them to act in."
Movie acting is a field which many try out, and walk away from after getting a close look at the world of movie making, and the way it treats actors.
Retired movie actor Tex Allen retired in 2014 at age 70 after decades of work in major SAG signatory Hollywood studio films, and stated:
"I "retired" from movie actor work in 2014 at age 70 and was granted "honorable withdrawal" status by the Screen Actors Guild (now named SAG-AFTRA).
"I'm glad to be retired from movie acting. Movie actor work was very hard work, and included many, many 18 hour days, often lots of physical dangers of various flavors.
"Movie sets were often unsafe, especially outdoor, on-location non-movie studio sets (e.g. high speed car chases, explosions, flying debris, dangerous sunburn, frostbite, etc.).
"During my career I was injured often, and witnessed and heard about gruesome accidents and injuries other actors suffered. Actors are almost never compensated for injuries they suffer on movie sets, the SAG-AFTRA union usually doesn't help much or at all, and movie employers pass the buck, put the blame on others, and wring their hands.
"The life of a non-movie star working actor is always hard, has been that way throughout movie history since early Silent Movie days."
The Return Of The Secaucus 7 (1979) is a movie with good actors who didn't continue the hard life of movie actor work.
The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show 2 (1991)
Very Best Of Ed Sullivan, Part 2 w/ Burt Reynolds (1991) is a dramatic portrait of the USA in the 1950's and 1960's complete with revolutionary social changes!
"The Very Best Of Ed Sullivan, Part 2 w/ Burt Reynolds" (1991) is a dramatic portrait of the USA in the 1950's and 1960's complete with revolutionary social changes.
The nostalgia entertainment documentary was created 20 years after the final broadcast of the famous Sunday night Ed Sullivan Show (originally called "The Toast Of The Town" hosted by Ed Sullivan).
The program featured both celebrity entertainers and vaudeville/ circus type novelty entertainers and was presented in a simple vaudeville/ talent show type format with each "act" lasting about 3 minutes and introduced by host Ed Sullivan.
The show ran weekly on the CBS Television Network for a total of 23 years from 1948 to 1971. Both the 1950 and 1960 decades were totally included and chronicled during the 23 year run of the show.
The show was a portrait of show business in America (the USA) during those decades: its changing tastes, values, taltent, and preferences.
An earlier "Part One" show hostessed by Carol Burnett was presented, and was similar in format to the "Part Two" show hosted by Burt Reynolds.
The "Part One" show had wonderful highlights but the "Part Two" show was better by far in terms of overall presentation and entertainment value.
The "Part Two" 1991 segment of the two part "The Very Best Of Ed Sullivan Show" package included both celebrity talent, and also interesting and arguably amazing circus/ vaudeville talent and entertainers not credited in the packaging or end of show credit titles.
A partial list of celebrity entertainers in the "Part Two" show includes:
Burt Reynolds ... Himself - Host
The 5th Dimension
Julie Andrews
The Beatles
Clyde Beatty
Harry Belafonte
Jack Benny
Richard Burton
The Byrds
Nat 'King' Cole
Phyllis Diller
The Everly Brothers
Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nuyev
Connie Francis
Frank Gorshin
Non-celebrity performers and entertainers recruited from travelling circuses and vaudeville type entertainment venues (kept alive by Las Vegas and other major gambling centers which later included Atlantic City, New Jersey) included knife throwers, animal acts, high wire trapeze acts, juggling acts, plate spinner acts, and grand opera aria singers (usually celebrities such as Beverly Sills), and classical ballet acts (usually celebrity ballet dancers including Jacques D'Amboise, Rudolf Nuryev, and Dame Margo Fonteyn).
Steve Allen stated during an interview about the Ed Sullivan Show that the show presented over 10,000 important show business acts to network television audiences over the 23 years it lasted.
The entire output of the show, opined Steve Allen, constituted a de-facto library of USA show business and major entertainment talent during the decades the show was presented between 1948 (when priimitive black and white television had just begun ............. the phenomenon of successful, advertising driven national television began immediately after the World War II (1941 - 45) years. The Ed Sullivan Show was an early beginner in the realm of national television shows, and by far the longest lasting of shows which started in the 1940's.
The contrast between the primitive black and white acts from the 1950's presented in the "Part Two" nostalgia 1991 show hosted by Burt Reynolds and the gaudy, sophisticated 1970 color with complex special effects 5th Dimension singer act performing hit songs from the 1969 Broadway HAIR musical show about 1960's hippies and their controversial dreams and hopes is dramatic.
The times really were " 'a changing."
Presentations of landmark song performances from famous Broadway musical stage shows of the 1950's and 1960's included in "Part Two" showed original Broadway stars singing then hit songs from My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Man Of La Mancha.
What times those were. What a nostalgia show "The Very Best Of Ed Sullivan, Part Two" (1991) hosted by Burt Reynolds was.
It's still available used from Amazon.Com for tiny money, and worth buying, enjoying, and thinking about.
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948 - 1971) presented America during a high point of its history. It shows why America was considered the greatest country in the world in the 1950's and 1960's all over the world. Unbeatable, noble, and always entertaining.
God Bless America!
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Written on December 3, 2018 by Tex (David) Allen, movie scholar, historian, teacher, and writer. Also a SAG-AFTRA movie actor. For details about Tex Allen, visit IMDb.Com movies, TV, and celebrities website database, owned by Amazon.Com. This is the 123rd movie/ television show review Tex Allen has written for WWW.IMDb.Com.
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Tunnel Vision (1976)
Tunnel Vision (1976) shows problems and objections with uncensored TV and other media!
Tunnel Vision (1976) shows problems and objections with uncensored TV and other media!
It was a joke independent feature movie house film made shortly after the counterculture revolution of the 1960's (which spilled into the early 1970's) ended.
People were calling for more freedom from censorship, and they got it.
Tunnel Vision (1976) jokingly examined the proposals for "absolutely no censorship" in a "reductum ad absurdum" manner.
It showed intentionally ridiculous violations of traditional censorship rules and traditions. Intentionally violated many then (middle 1970's) still "sacred" political and social taboos and rules.
It implied legitimatization of famously unacceptable subjects and topics, and was, arguably, heroic in breaking new ground regarding all this. It tried to be offensive (Lennie Bruce style) for the sake of being offensive, and for the sake of making a point about the absurdity and arbitrary nature of the entire subject of taboos.
At the end of the movie, the founder and CEO of the fictional "Tunnel Vision TV Uncensored Network" is shot to death on television, Lee Harvey Oswrld style.
It shows that intolerance leads to violence and tragedy, not matter how illegal intolerance is declared to be, and how much the government and other oversight forces (such as religion, etc.) objects to intolerance and promises to punish those who are intolerant. No matter how fairly those who give offense are treated and how permissive the "new society" where tolerance is declared the new supreme law of the land is, the sudden and unexpected removal of old taboos and rules of censorship will always result in violence and even human death.
The movie is a comedy.
Even so, it is intentionally offensive and makes an important and valuable political and social statement about the subject of traditional taboos, censorship, and inteolerance, and the inevitable fate of any person or group of people who purpose to change things, break the old rules, and "liberate the world from the shackles of intolerant censorship." This may be a noble goal, but those who pursue the goal of a "censorship free, totally tolerant society" will pay a big price for their undoubted heroism. Food for thought.
No wonder "prudence" is included as one of the eight traditional Cardinal Virtues.
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Written January 1, 2018 by Tex (David) Allen, movie history writer. More about Tex Allen by visiting WWW.IMDb.Com, world's largest movie, TV, and celebrities information database website owned by Amazon.Com. This movie review is the 122nd movie review written by Tex Allen and published by IMDb.Com.
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Goodfellas (1990)
Goodfellas (1990) is a major work of high cinema art. The best of the best in all ways!
Goodfellas (1990) is a major work of high cinema art. The best of the best in all ways! When the history of Western Art is written in the future, cinema will be included as a true and important art form along with painting and sculpture. Martin Scorcese will be ranked with his fellow artists of Italian descent, Michaelangelo and Leonardo DiVinci as one of the great artists of Western art history. Scorcese is a hero and a superstar in the world and history of art. No doubt about it.
The Goodfellas (1990) movie is ranked as the #2 best gangster theme of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI), as one of the top 100 best films of all time by the same organization, and included on the USA Federal Government's Library Of Congress National Film Registry List of best USA movies every produced.
The movie is about a 25 year span in the life of New York City born Henry Hill (Irish father, Italian mother, raised in 1940's and 1950's Queens, New York City) starting with his teen aged years in 1955 when he first joined an Italian organized crime group as a beginner errand boy for the mob, and continuing to 1980 when Henry Hill's 25 year history as a member of the Luchessi (NYC NY USA) crime family ended after Henry Hill agreed to become and FBI/ USA Federal Government prosecution witness against his fellow Luchessi crime family members (50 of whom were convicted and imprisoned as a result of Hienry Hill's 1980 turncoat testimony................Hill was then put into a Federal Government "witness protection program" from which he was evicted after the Goodfellas 1990 movie was released, and Hill got involved in mass media publicity activity connected with the movie which was based on his Wiseguy book (written by author Nicholas Pillagi) chraracter).
The beautifully filmed and written movie appears to be a near documentary describing the crime world in New York City Henry Hill lived in and participated in until he was arrested for illegal drug activity in 1980, and "flipped" ........ he agreed to testify against his long time friends and fellow criminals..........to avoid certain long term incarceration).
The statistics about this movie (reported in the WWW.IMDb.Com "Trivia" section of the IMDb.Com page devoted to Goodfellas 1990) are daunting.
The "F" word was used during the film many hundreds of times, and held the record for the use of that famous but historically avoided word (in the movies) at the time the movie was released (the record was later broken, we are informed!).
42 different songs were used to support the sound track of the movie.
The Sopranos (1999 - 2006) series TV gangster theme program (voted the best written dramatic TV series in TV history by the Writers Guild Of America) is largely based on story telling and structural approach used in Goodfellas (1990). Goodfellas (1990) lead actress Lorainne Bracco also appeared in the Sopranos (1999 - 2006) TV series as Tony Soprano's lady psychiatrist.
One of the minor actors in Goodfellas (1990) was a former New York City police officer whose father and other relatives had actually been in the Mafia. Eppolito wrote a best selling book about his life titled Mafia Cop, and was later convicted and jailed for murder and other crimes several years after the filming of Goodfellas (1990).
The Goodfellas (1990) movie was based on a 1980's book titled Wiseguy written by Nicholas Pillagi (author of Serpico, also about New York City Italians involved in crime............husband of famous book and movie writer Nora Ephron). The book was based on extensive interviews with Henry Hill, and some editions of the Wiseguy (1986) book credited Henry Hill as the book author.
A documentary titled The Real Goodfella (2006 UK) was produced about Henry Hill, and Hill himself appeared in the documentary which included his account of his part in the production of Goodfellas (1990).
Hill died in 2012. He served time in prison during his 1955 - 1980 time as a Mafie associate criminal, and also again after he entered the Federal Government Witness Protection Program after he was arrested and convicted for drug crimes. He served a total of 14 years in prison. He was kicked out of the Witness Protection Program in 1991 as a result of his participation in Goodfellas (1990) movie publicity and his efforts to make himself a public celebrity made famous by that movie and the book Wiseguy. He survived another 21 years after leaving Federal Government protection until his 2012 death. He was paid more than half a million dollars for his part and contribution to the making of the Goodfellas (1990) movie. He lived and died in open prosperity and was never attacked or harmed by presumably vengeful former associates from the Mafia.
Henry Hill's life after 1980 in the US Federal Government Witness Protection Program was presented and treated in comic form in a second movie about him titled My Blue Heaven (1991) written by Wisseguy author's book author and movie script writer wife of fame, Nora Ephron. Ephron wass famous for her comedy book writing (she wrote best seller Crazy Salad in the early 1970's) and comedy movie script writing (she wrote When Harry Met Sally 1988 starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan).
The Goodfellas (1990) movie describes the famous Lufthansa Aircraft Heist of 1978, one of the largest robberies in USA history. That robbery was the subject of a movie titled The 10 Million Dollar Getaway, and included several cast members who acted in Goodfellas (1990).
Goodfellas (1990) is by any measure an astonishing and worthy movie.
It is a portrait of urban America in the mid-20th Century.
Used copies of the movie can be purchased from Amazon.Com for tiny money (less than $5 as of 2017).
This movie is worth study and re-screening often. It is a highwater mark of USA cinema.
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Written by Tex Allen, movie historian, movie history teacher, SAG-AFTRA career movie actor. More about Tex Allen on IMDb.Com which has published 220 of his movie reviews as of December 2017).
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The Nutcracker (1977)
Baryshinikov's and Kirkland's solo and duet dancing brilliant in this best of all possible and produced Nutcracker ballets!
The Nutcracker (1977) ballet starred then 29 year old Michail Baryshnikov who, in 1977, could out do Michael Jordan and Disney's Peter Pan (1952) in the "flying effortlessly" department. Baryshikov and his 1977 dance partner and muse, Gelsey Kirkland, defied gravity when this classic ballet was produced on monster, empty, no-audience TV sound stages in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The camera didn't lie. Those two really did what viewers can still watch and admire, can still gasp at while smiling in delighted amazement.
Ballet is all about human beings who can fly ......... defy gravity when all is said and done. The best ballet dancers (Baryshikov and Kirkland in the 1977 version of The Nutcracker ballet) do it better than others ...... fly higher, longer, and smoother.
Not many ballet dancers (or people generally) can fly. That was true of the National Ballet Company of Canada supporting dancers who fill out the parts of this show when Baryshikov and Kirkland are not on stage, busy mesmerizing viewers.
Baryshikov and his management staff produced The Nutcracker in Canada on the cheap for TV broadcast. They went over the USA border to Canada where union problems and costs which encumber producers in USA ballet cities (New York City and Los Angeles) were not present, and where a very large, detailed, and gaudy background stage setting could be built on one of Toronto Canada's then huge sound stages.
The result was that Baryshinikov and Kirkland's amazing flying abilities were provided with a much more spacious venue than normal stages in the USA ever offer. The setting in the Nutcracker (1977) was spacious and wonderfully decorated, and the very space and stage decoration of this show became co-stars with the amazing flying dance abilities of the two major stars.
Michail Baryshikov was 29 years old in 1977, and was at the height of his airborne talents.
Baryshikov's choreography in the Arabian dance, Russian dance, Chinese dance segments of the presented ballet is absolutely unparalleled.
The action slows down when Baryshikov and Kirkland are not dancing.
National Ballet Of Canada dancers (probably not paid or rehearsed much for this thrifty dance show) perform for Michail Baryshikov and Gelsey Kirkland.
They are adequate. They are not brilliant or memorable. Not at all as good as the two main stars.
These secondary National Ballet Company Of Canada dancers perform by turns a Spanish dance, an Arabian dance, a Russian dance, a Chinese dance, each performed by a male and female duo. These secondary dancers are not gifted with the sort of precision and therefore the grace of the star dancers, and the contrast is noticeable.
Not to worry, not to gripe.
The chance to see Michail Baryshikov and Gelsey Kirkland dance (fly effortlessly) at the height of their dance careers and abilities is worth the price of admission and the time invested in watching their incredible performances. Never mind about less than ideal "fill in" parts of the show unavoidable because material resources (money!) was limited, and because spectacular dance talent is hard to find, manage, recruit. It's never cheap when it is presented, and the quest for "cheap" explains the shortcomings of this show.
"It's a waste of time to worry over things that they have not! Be thankful for ....................... the things they've got!" (There Is Nothing Like A Dame song from the broadway stage musical 1949 classic, South Pacific).
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG/AFTRA actor and movie historian. More about Tex Allen and his 119 IMDb movie reviews (as of December 26, 2017) by visiting IMDb.Com and using Tex Allen as search terms.
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The West Wing (1999)
West Wing (1999 - 2006) Deserved 26 Emmys overall, 4 Best Drama Series Emmys, and 9 Season One Emmys!
West Wing (1999 - 2006) Deserved 26 Emmys overall, 4 Best Drama Series Emmys, and 9 Season One Emmys!
The show is about the leadership of the USA government, and the immediate staff supporting the USA President. Capable, heroic, tough people every one.
They have to be.
The almost impossible job of leading and supervising the USA Federal Government is given to one man or woman every 4 years. That person must do his/ her job carefully and make no major mistakes.
The story of his immediate helpers is what West Wing (1999 - 2006) is all about.
Who are they? What are their problems? What is their background? What drives them? How to they relate to each other? When problems and disagreements regarding philosophy, policy, politics, interpersonal relations, morality, and self-interest occur, how are these problems/ disagreements resolved, how do they play out?
Big questions all, and the West Wing (1999 - 2006/ 115 episodes) takes 'em all on at high speed and with almost superhuman energy.
The portrait of the USA Federal Government leadership and high level leadership staff shown in West Wing is worth seeing, all 115 episodes of it.
Cost (in 2017) for a used Complete Set from Amazon.Com is roughly $70. A bargain price considering the quality and information benefits the show supplies, all done in a manner which is visually attractive and well done dramatically.
The USA Presidency has been centerstage in USA media at least since the USA Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is the biggest soap opera in the history of USA show business, which the USA Presidency has always emphatically been.
But its a soap opera important for all USA citizens to keep up with.
Get it, watch it, forgive its sortcomings. It takes on a problem of describing accurately the mysterious USA leadership system, democratic leadership which replaced aristocratic leadership in the 18th century for the first time in world history.
The USA government and leadership system is the longest continually operating democracy ("leadership and political decisions by nose count") in world history.
It continues into current (2017) times, and is in perpetual crisis. The West Wing (1999 - 2006/ 115 episodes) TV series gives an interesting and palatable, even optimistic examination of this crisis. No TV show or feature movie to date has done a better job with the important subject of how USA Federal Government leadership works, or what it faces.
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG actor and movie historian. More about Tex Allen on IMDb.Com. 118 IMDb.Com movie reviews written to date (December 25, 2017).
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ER (1994)
Study And Familiarity With All 331 Episodes (Which Took 15 Years To Produce) Of The ER (1994 - 2009) TV Series Should Be Required Of All USA Medical School Applicants!
ER (1994 - 2009) TV Series starring Anthony Edwards for 14 of its 15 year run is the most visible and widely viewed and studied statement about healthcare in the USA during the decade and a half when it was produced. Healthcare and Technology problems and changes were the two most important crisis problems which faced USA citizens and the USA government between 1994 and 2009, and arguably are the two most important problems we all face in the present age (written in 2017).
The pilot for the popular TV series is about the lives of a group of doctors, nurses, and staff members of a busy emergency room at a Chicago hospital.
These attractive and consistently heroic professionals are depicted as virtuous to an ideal level.
We watch them deal with the seemingly endless casualties which arrive non-stop at the Emergency Room at their big city (Chicago) hospital.
The central characters are the chief resident and family man Dr. Mark Greene, (played by Anthony Edwards); outgoing Dr. Doug Ross (played attractively by George Clooney), Dr. Susan Lewis (played by Sherry Stringfield) , the only female ER doctor among the mostly male physician staff of the Emergency Room; and young, enthusiastic and optimistic not yet cynical third-year med student John Carter (a character based on real life experiences of ER creator and writer Michael Crichton 1942 - 2009, a former Harvard University Medical School student).
The show provides detailed food for thought about the status of USA healthcare at the beginning of the 21st Century, its good parts and bad parts, its strengths and weaknesses, its players, politics, accomplishments and its notable and embarrassing (and possibly immoral) failures.
Better healthcare and better education (both improved and made more widely available) are the predictable, comic book solutions to USA citizen problems proposed (and sometimes acted on) by high level USA politicians.
Meanwhile, down in the trenches, workers in places like the Chicago large downtown hospital ER Room are seen "doing it" day to day, hour to hour. What they do, how they do it, what they face are things worth being exposed to and studying
Former Harvard University Medical School student (late 1960's), Michael Crichton (1942 - 2009) created and wrote scripts for the ER (1994 - 2009) TV Series and died of cancer at the relatively young age of 66 the year the show ended its spectacular and epic 15 year prime time television run (331 separate episodes).
Crichton was a Harvard University undergrad interested in literature and writing, and was an example of the sort of spectacular, brooding troubled intelligence overachiever attracted to and actively recruited by Harvard University which have given that excellent USA school its justified reputation as an institution which prepares cultural and other leaders later famous for their high profile, high level accomplishments (Norman Mailer, Tom Lehrer and many others are included in this group).
The study of ER (1994 - 2009) is worthwhile pursuit for all people, especially healthcare professionals and wanna-be professionals. That study certainly requires detailed attention to the life, times, accomplishments, and overall history of Harvard overachiever Michael Crichton (1942 - 2009) starting with a read of his detailed biographical pages on both the Wikipedia and IMDb.Com websites.
The ER shows are notable for their accurate portrayal of medical practice and hospital administration as brutal, militaristic, and fast paced to a clearly unhealthy level. Those who can function and even thrive in the middle of all this become the central players, the "unmoved movers" who the rest of us depend upon for health care, and delivery from health problems.
ER pays special attention to the question of "who are there medical professionals?" It's good question to ask, and ER does a good job of giving answers to the question, complicated and problematic as it is.
Healthcare and the problems and adventures of Emergency Room Hospital Medical Care are presented to viewers of ER (1994 - 2009), and that is done in a way which makes difficult and sometimes stomach turning problems understandable and palatable. Good for ER, good for Michael Crichton, good for the many thousands of players and workers at many levels who contributed to ER and its delivery to the USA (and world) public. Those people did a hard job, and they did it well...................not much different than the heroic ER doctors and other workers who save the day, often, in the Chicago, Illinois USA hospital emergency room where troubles arrive hourly, and are dealt with carefully and professionally by people who would be, except for TV shows like ER, mostly unsung heros and heroines.
The entire (complete) set of ER's 331 episodes filmed and videoed over 15 years (1994 - 2009) are available used from Amazon.Com for about $200 (written in 2017). $200 is a lot of money for many people, but it is a worthwhile investment everyone should consider. Nobody in today's (2017) world can or will escape the labyrinthine world of professional healthcare and/or government efforts to provide it and regulate it. A basic understanding of the subject is vital for citizen survival in today's (2017) world, and the ER (1994 - 2009) Complete Series Set (331 episodes) is a good, relatively painless way to learn about the important subject of healthcare in our times.
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor and movie historian. More about Tex Allen by visiting WWW.IMDb.Com, world's largest movies, TV, and celebrities database website.
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JAG (1995)
JAG (1995-2005/225 episodes) Provides Great Inside Look At Officer Level Military Politics And Behind The Scenes Military Life
JAG (1995 - 2005/ 225 episodes) depicts the professional and personal life and adventures and work of US Navy Judge Advocate General lawyer Harmon Rabb, Jr., portrayed by David James Elliott.
It provides a very well written, acted, and expensively filmed look at inside politics in the US Military at the officer level......Lawyer Rabb is an "O-3" or "Full Lieutenant (he out ranks Ensigns, beginning officers in the US Navy, and Lieutenant Junior Grade officers, "O-1" and "O-2" Navy officers respectively).
Lt. Raab is a junior officer, not yet a "field grade" or senior officer (Lt. Commander or "O-4" is the start of the world of senior officers which includes the top officers, Admirals in the US Navy). He's been around awhile, is no longer a novice, yet is young enough and physically fit and vigorous enough for the sort of physically demanding work only young adult males are capable of, for the most part.
Who is new and who isn't is always a big issue in the world of career (and non-career) military officers and men. Loyalties and internecine battles within the service are labyrinthine in the military bureaucracy world, and sorting all this out is critical to understanding what goes on in the military, and why things happen the way they do (or sometimes don't) in the military.
The military is always dramatic, and thus often used by Hollywood for dramatic presentations filled with electricity and tension between military players who are supposed to be on the same side, fighting for the same cause, but who are often at odds and in personal combat with each other.
One particularly good example of all this is presented in JAG Season One (1995), Episode Four titled "Desert Son." (Originally aired on Oct. 7, 1995).
The "Desert Son" story is about tragedy and death which results from a human error (later intentionally covered up by the guilty Marine Corps. junior officer perpetrator) during a 29 Palms Marine Corps. base field base artillery exercise .............wrongly calculated and targeted artillery fire injures seven Marines, one of whom later dies. The accused (later proven to be guilty) is a son of a former commandant of the Marine Corps.
The 2 Star Commanding Marine Corps. General in charge of the 29 Palms (California USA) Marine Corps. Base is good friends with the retired Marine Corps. Commandant General. Both Marine Corps. generals are very well acted and realized characters seen during the "Desert Son" episode.
The story unfolds to present the troubled and errant junior Marine Corps officer son of am apparently retired Marine Corps. Commandant (probably retired, but maybe not.....not clear if the man is retired.......he wear civilian clothes, and walks with a cane due to a permanent battle injury.......however, he gives orders to uniformed personnel during the episode and his orders are obeyed). The story takes several confusing twists and turns, and finally reveals the "Desert Son" junior officer to be guilty of serious misconduct including attempted murder of a fellow junior officer toward the end of the episode.
The entire episode is very, very well done, and could easily have been a movie house theatrical feature film of great success. The quality of this episode at all levels, including writing, acting, direction, special effects, action, and camera/ editing work is superb to a level rarely seen in television dramatic series presentations. The "Desert Son" episode (Season One, Episode Four) of JAG (1995 - 2005) is memorable and unusal for its high quality.
The famous true life Marine Office, Oliver North, appears briefly in civilian clothing, and does a remarkably creditable job as a movie/ television dramatic actor. North became a radio talk show host after the famous Iran Contra Scandal he was part of during years of the Ronald Reagan US presidency. And earlier episode during Season One of JAG also include then USA President Bill Clinton seen jogging with Secret Service guards, and stopping to speak briefly in a friendly way to JAG star David James Elliott. Former USA President Bill Clinton is presently (2017) credited with 101 different appearances playing himself in various TV shows. Use by Hollywood of actual USA political celebrities and media celebrities who were reporters covering the USA political scene was common in the 1990's when JAG first appeared.
JAG (1995 - 2005/ 227 episodes) is a very high quality series worth obtaining and screening from Episode One through 10 years worth of production to Episode 227. It is clearly one of the high water mark shows produced during Hollywood dramatic television history.
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA actor and movie historian. More details about Tex Allen on WWW.IMDb.Com
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The Paper Chase (1973)
GREAT LOOK AT AMBITIOUS HARVARD U. STUDENTS AND ALSO AMBITIOUS HARVARD U. ITSELF
The Paper Chase (1973) movie and also the Paper Chase (1978 - 1983) television series which followed the movie were wonderful and unusual departures from the usual no-brainer, pandering to the masses mentality of major Hollywood produced movies and TV shows. These shows (movie and TV series) depicted smart people located and functioning in a place (Harvard University, Cambridge/ Boston, Massachusetts USA) famous for recruiting and developing/grooming smart students headed for leadership positions always important to USA culture and functioning. The need for leaders is critical, and frought with labyrynthine politics and problems. These problems are depicted in these shows, and not surprisingly no easy answers to problems posed and faced are presented. That's the price of departing from Hollywood's comfortable and comforting "no-brainer," "don't make waves" mentality. The Paper Chase (1973 movie and 1978 et al TV series) does a good job at being both entertaining and pleasant, yet also intelligent and provocative. It tackled big social and political issues of the times when it appeared (the 1970's, no 40 years past), and was informative and worthy in ways few if any other movies and TV shows of its time delivered. The depiction of Harvard U. Law School Professor Charles Kingsfield (brilliantly realized by actor John Houseman in his late 70's when he portrayed Kingsfield in The Paper Chase movie and TV shows) was/ is especially memorable, and disquieting. Kingsfield was truly a man who followed Thorou's exhortation to "march to be beat of the distant drummer." Kingsfield was consistently and repeatedly noble and stalwart in his refusal to cave into the demands made by both his students and his superiors and peers (the Law School dean and high level faculty members) to "make things easier by doing the easier on others thing." People feared Kingsfield because they lacked his confidence in doing the right thing and getting the right results thereby. Students and school employees who lacked courage and self-confidence are often seen disparaging and attacking Kingsfield, and to the credit of the show's writers and producers, always failing. The character of Charles Kingsfield is a true hero, and solitary and no doubt at times lonely, a truism accurately applied to all heros of fame throughout history in all realms. England's Lord Kenneth Clark stated in his excellent "Civilisation" (1970 BBC) documentary about the history of Western Art that true civilisation depends on personal confidence ......... that "confidence" is the lynch pin which determines whether civilization thrives and survives. Clark would have agreed that civilization depends on highly placed and influential cultural figures and leaders like the fictional character of Charles Kingsfield of the Harvard University Law School. Hollywood needs other heros like that of Charles Kingsfield, and other shows, movies, TV series like The Paper Chase (1973 movie and 1978 et al TV series). Bring 'em on! Civilisation depends on them, and it also depends in modern times on Hollywood movies and TV series efforts, unsettling as that assertion is, and will always be.
Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor and movie historian, Columbia (Lancaster County) PA USA, December 2017. (See 114 other movie reviews by Tex Allen also published on-line by IMDb.Com movie reviews)
The Paper Chase (1973)
GREAT LOOK AT AMBITIOUS HARVARD U. STUDENTS AND ALSO AMBITIOUS HARVARD U. ITSELF
The Paper Chase (1973) movie and also the Paper Chase (1978 - 1983) television series which followed the movie were wonderful and unusual departures from the usual no-brainer, pandering to the masses mentality of major Hollywood produced movies and TV shows. These shows (movie and TV series) depicted smart people located and functioning in a place (Harvard University, Cambridge/ Boston, Massachusetts USA) famous for recruiting and developing/grooming smart students headed for leadership positions always important to USA culture and functioning. The need for leaders is critical, and frought with labyrynthine politics and problems. These problems are depicted in these shows, and not surprisingly no easy answers to problems posed and faced are presented. That's the price of departing from Hollywood's comfortable and comforting "no-brainer," "don't make waves" mentality. The Paper Chase (1973 movie and 1978 et al TV series) does a good job at being both entertaining and pleasant, yet also intelligent and provocative. It tackled big social and political issues of the times when it appeared (the 1970's, no 40 years past), and was informative and worthy in ways few if any other movies and TV shows of its time delivered. The depiction of Harvard U. Law School Professor Charles Kingsfield (brilliantly realized by actor John Houseman in his late 70's when he portrayed Kingsfield in The Paper Chase movie and TV shows) was/ is especially memorable, and disquieting. Kingsfield was truly a man who followed Thorou's exhortation to "march to be beat of the distant drummer." Kingsfield was consistently and repeatedly noble and stalwart in his refusal to cave into the demands made by both his students and his superiors and peers (the Law School dean and high level faculty members) to "make things easier by doing the easier on others thing." People feared Kingsfield because they lacked his confidence in doing the right thing and getting the right results thereby. Students and school employees who lacked courage and self-confidence are often seen disparaging and attacking Kingsfield, and to the credit of the show's writers and producers, always failing. The character of Charles Kingsfield is a true hero, and solitary and no doubt at times lonely, a truism accurately applied to all heros of fame throughout history in all realms. England's Lord Kenneth Clark stated in his excellent "Civilisation" (1970 BBC) documentary about the history of Western Art that true civilisation depends on personal confidence ......... that "confidence" is the lynch pin which determines whether civilization thrives and survives. Clark would have agreed that civilization depends on highly placed and influential cultural figures and leaders like the fictional character of Charles Kingsfield of the Harvard University Law School. Hollywood needs other heros like that of Charles Kingsfield, and other shows, movies, TV series like The Paper Chase (1973 movie and 1978 et al TV series). Bring 'em on! Civilisation depends on them, and it also depends in modern times on Hollywood movies and TV series efforts, unsettling as that assertion is, and will always be.
Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor and movie historian, Columbia (Lancaster County) PA USA, December 2017. (See 114 other movie reviews by Tex Allen also published on-line by IMDb.Com movie reviews)