WORLD TOUR Day 23 - Brooklyn, NY
BEFORE: It's autumn in New York, which is a fine time to visit. But it also means I've got my first head cold of the season, right on schedule. I took the day off and tried to sleep most of the day, which of course further screws up my already screwed-up sleeping schedule. Tonight's film represents a side-trip out to the far side of Brooklyn, which will at least add a little mileage to my counter. I couldn't find a way to put both films that were adapted from Neil Simon plays together, but at least one got scheduled for the day after Rosh Hashanah, and the other one plays tonight, on Yom Kippur. A deli sandwich and some matzoh ball soup for me, please.
Tonight TCM is playing films like "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "The Lords of Flatbush", so great minds think alike, and we're finally in the same place at the same time. Well, in time I'm still in the 1930's, and I think I've spent the last 10 days in the 1930's and 1940's, with films either made or taking place in those decades. Linking actors is tough tonight, but Katherine Hepburn was also in "Love Affair" with Harold Ramis, who was also in "The Last Kiss" with Blythe Danner (last seen in "Paul").
THE PLOT: Eugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He lives with his parents, his aunt, two cousins, and his brother, Stanley.
AFTER: Maybe it's the cold medicine affecting me, but I didn't really glom on to this one. I don't know why, it's not that the experiences of the people in the film are that different than mine - I could watch "Biloxi Blues" and understand the experiences even though I've never been in the army. Maybe it's the way that the ethnicity of the family here was so punched up. It's similar to "Avalon", I suppose, except these people act more stereotypically Jewish.
I guess everyone romanticizes their childhood, even if they had to make a lot of trips to the market, since there was no supermarket. And people had no way to get in touch with someone if they stayed out all night. And teen boys had to wonder what naked ladies looked like, since there was no "Playboy" magazine yet, and no internet.
But it's really about a family trying to stay together while they're at risk of fracturing, they all get on each other's nerves, plus there's the threat of World War II looming, so they're worried about their family members in Europe. The themes are universal, teens growing up and getting jobs, wondering about their future lives, and as is typical for a Neil Simon story, one just can't wait until he's a writer and can pen a play about his crazy family. (How many times did he go back to THAT well?)
I'm too tired to really analyze this one tonight, or find some way to connect it to my own childhood...
Also starring Jonathan Silverman (last seen in "Class Action"), Bill Dishy, Judith Ivey (last seen in "Flags of Our Fathers"), Brian Drillinger, Lisa Waltz, with cameos from David Margulies, Fyvush Finkel (last seen in "Nixon"), and Jason Alexander (last seen in "The Last Supper").
DISTANCE TRAVELED TODAY: 11 miles / 18 km (New York, NY to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn)
DISTANCE TRAVELED SO FAR: 5,784 miles / 9,311 km
RATING: 5 out of 10 dance lessons
No comments:
Post a Comment