Section One The Movies FILMS AVAILABLE ON DVD OR VHS AT YOUR FAVORITE VIDEO STORE, ON-LINE SERVICE, OR EVEN YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY. NOT ALL TVs ARE EQUAL If I ever doubted that statement I don’t now. This week I joined the modern world of digital electronics when my sister and I found a 32 inch, flat screen, LCD, High Definition AOC Envision Series television on sale at a Radio Shack store for $350.00 and bought it. I had enjoyed many DVDs (and before that, VHS tapes) on the 25 inch Sharp television that we purchased about twelve years ago. But, friends, I’ve got to tell you there is simply no comparison between the analog based Sharp and the digital, high definition AOC. The DVD picture and sound are truly superb, and the cable service television (Cox) picture and sound have jumped from good to simply great! What follows is a few of the movies I saw on my new “toy” this week. THE DEVIL AT 4 O’CLOCK 1961 127 minutes Sony Home Entertainment staring SPENCER TRACY FRANK SINATRA featuring Marcel Dalio Gregoire Aslan Bernie Hamilton directed by MERVYN LEROY This 1961 disaster flick is about a priest on a South Sea island who’s about to retire but, before he goes, is determined to finish a chapel at the hospital for children with leprosy up in the mountains. He finally manages to get the island governor to permit three convict volunteers to assist him. Before they can get the job done a volcano begins a massive eruption. Earth quaking and splitting, lava flowing everywhere, all the island's inhabitants flee, leaving Tracy, Sinatra and company to escort the lepers to the last evacuation boat before it departs at 4:00 PM sharp. The location photography is beautiful, the special effects well done (long before the computer driven effects of today) and the performances of the stars and the supporting cast (right down to the extras) very good. My rating: 4 Stars (out of five possible.) MILK 2008 / 129 minutes / Universal Pictures staring SEAN PENN featuring Josh Brolin Victor Garber Emile Hirsch James Franco Diego Luna Brandon Boyce Denis O’Hare Alison Pill Carol Ruth Silver Joseph Cross Stephen Spenella Lucas Grabeel Howard Rosenmen Kevin Yu Jeff Koons Mark Martinez Lynn McRee directed by GUS VAN ZANT Sean Penn deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in this fact based drama filmed on location where it happened in San Francisco. Harvey Milk was an openly gay activist who became the first self-admitted homosexual to be elected to public office (Supervisor) in the City by the Bay. In 1978 he led the anti-discrimination fight, state wide, against Proposition 6, championed by Anita Bryant’s “Save The Family” organization and a State Senator named Griggs, to authorize the firing of any teacher in the California school system suspected of, or admitted to, being homosexual. When the voters of California rejected Prop 6 by a huge margin, Milk had won a major victory against sexual discrimination regarding homosexuals, but sealed his fate in the bargain. A former supervisor named Dan White (Josh Brolin), who had angrily resigned his office only to change his mind and seek to be reappointed to the still vacant position by Mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber,) marched into City Hall and murdered both Moscone and Milk. In addition to Penn’s Oscar, the film earned two other Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin.) The extra Special Features on the DVD are well worth looking at to see what happened to many of the people involved in the events at the time. My rating is 5 Stars. DEAL OF THE CENTURY 1983 99 minutes Warners Home Video staring CHEVY CHASE GREGORY HINES SIGOURNEY WEAVER VINCE EDWARDS featuring William Marquez Eduardo Ricard Richard Herd Graham Jarvis Wallace Shawn Randi Brooks Ebbe Roe Smith Richard Libertini J.W. Smith Carman Moreno Charles Levin directed by WILLIAM FRIEDKIN Chevy Chase, in the role of smooth-talking Eddie Muntz, applies the skills of a salesman to the realm of national security; exchanging bombs, missiles, and other armaments for suitcases full of money. Based on the book by Bernard Edelman, this comic satire displays some bite when it comes to international af-fairs. The screenplay was credited to Paul Brickman, but Robert Towne’s bio on Wikipedia shows him as the uncredited writer. What that is all about, I don’t know, but sounds like someone could write a movie about it. Chase and Weaver are good, Gregory Hines is better, but the funniest character in the film is played by Vince Edwards, a far better actor than he was ever given credit for. My rating 3 Stars. WRONG IS RIGHT! 1982 117 minutes Sony Home Entertainment staring SEAN CONNERY featuring George Grizzard Robert Conrad Katherine Ross John Saxon Henry Silva Hardy Kruger G.D. Spradlin Leslie Nielsen Robert Webber Jennifer Jason Leigh Dean Stockwell Rosalind Cash Tony March Marianne Marks Ron Moody Keith McConnell Cherie Michan Tom McFadden written for the screen and directed by RICHARD BROOKS A film made at a time when many were worried about an arms race that might have resulted in World War III, it manages to target a good many things wrong with our current “War On Terrorism” and the politics of international affairs in which you never know whose thumb you will find pressing which button. Based on Charles McCarry’s 1979 novel, “The Better Angels,” the screenplay by Brooks also forecasts a decline in Media standards of what is “news” and what is “entertainment.” A dark, but nonetheless very funny comedy, released in the early years of the Reagan era, the film was not the smash hit it deserved to be. (My opinion is not shared by many other reviewers) But, in view of what is going to be our long involvement in the Middle East, I think it should be seen by every American, and the citizens of every other country involved in that region, for it reveals a good many aspects of the tremendously complicated problem we all face there. Sean Connery is brilliant as a globe-trotting journalist who finds himself in the middle of what seems to be a terrorist plot to attack the United States with a couple of suitcase atom bombs. But there are ripples from this discovery that seem to spread out through the immediate region and, ultimately to the U.S, president (Grizzard), his prime political opponent (Nielsen), a hard line CIA director (Spradlin), and a overly eager general (Conrad) among others. Henry Silva as the alleged terrorist, and Dean Stockwell as an aide to the President, turn in fine work here. The cast is, in fact, uniformly excellent. My rating 5 Stars. Enjoy a good movie tonight. See you next issue (June 30. 2010) TOM AMACKER MY NUMBER TWO TRAFFIC EXCHANGE Go To Section: Two / Three / Four / Welcome