Marcia E. Letaw's Blog, page 9

A Fulgurite in Blue (Episode 4)

As I was leaving the courthouse, I stopped to speak with the old man: “According to the trial records, the DA could not prosecute the case because he was in fact the main witness against the sheriff. Is that man still around?”

“You’re lookin’ at him, Sonny. I can see you’ve got lots of questions, but I never miss lunch at the Blue. Martha, she can whip up a mean chicken fried steak the likes of which you’ve never encountered in all your born days.”

“I thought chicken fried steak was more of a...

A Fulgurite in Blue (Episode 3)

I read through all the court documents, and the way it went is this:

Sheriff Randall was driving along Copperhead Road when lightning struck the ground nearby. All of his life he’d wanted to find a fulgurite just like his friend George, so he whipped the jeep around and backtracked. Let me remind you that there are no trees, no mountains, no boulders, not even a single house: the high plains you know. Even so, when he turned around, there was one of those horse drawn caravans sitting on the s...

A Fulgurite in Blue (Episode 2)

I found the courthouse, an easy stroll from the garage, waiting for me and looking like it had seen a thing or two in its time and opened the door to a breath tainted with decades of law books and sweat and polished stair rails. Inside it was quiet. I could feel myself standing out a stranger which fact finally drew a senior citizen from his office: “What are you up to Sonny?”

“I just purchased the jeep that belonged to the man who was sheriff here in 1961. I’d like to look at the court paper...

250 Movies Better than Shawshank: The Night of the Generals

The Night of the Generals, the 1967 film directed by Anatole Litvak, stars Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Donald Pleasance, Tom Courtenay, Joanna Pettet, and Philippe Noiret. This film in my opinion is not only the best war movie ever made, but also one of the top ten movies of all time, and it’s a murder mystery! Today as promised I have a guest on board who actually agrees with me. He is a WWII veteran, so I suppose he should know what he’s talking about. For reasons of privacy, the town he co...

The 250 Movies Better than Shawshank: The Great Escape

Based on an actual escape from a WWII German POW camp, Stalag Luft III, The Great Escape is a transitional film in being both an escape movie and a war movie. In recognition of Veteran’s Day on November 11th, I will be presenting war movies and will be joined by guests to discuss of the best war movies ever made. I welcome anyone who would like to present their favorite film in that genre.

What’s so great about The Great Escape? Well, for one thing, look at Steve McQueen there on his motorcy...

A Fulgurite in Blue (Episode 1)

A few years back while house sitting for Bob, a longtime friend, the sheriff of Elayne county came a knocking. I recognized him at once, of course I did, on account of him being a main character sort of guy, and what’s more I knew exactly what he was up to, but that is quite another story. We had a very nice chat over French roast, and he was friendly enough to share a murder mystery he had encountered while driving his newly acquired jeep home to Oregon. I’ll just bet that’s a Willy’s jeep,...

250 Movies Better than Shawshank: We’re No Angels (1955)

Sometimes good people get themselves into a bit of hot water and need a little help from the angels. In We’re No Angels, 3 convicts played by Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray escape from Devil’s Island. While their original intentions are more along the lines of robbing the store run by the Ducotels, in no time at all they’re caught up in the family’s troubles.

Look for the devil to be played by Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone I mean, in this feel good prison escape movie.

250 Movies Better than Shawshank: Cool Hand Luke

Once upon a time when I might have lived in Sugar Land, home of Imperial Sugar, I used to ride my horse in the vicinity of the prison farm. There were those who believed that the prison farm in Cool Hand Luke was based on our prison farm and were consequently insulted and defensive. They of course did not have ready access to the truth according Wikipedia, so maybe they can be forgiven their ignorance. My horse was an Appaloosa, Joker B bloodlines of course, that Joker B got around; should ha...

250 Movies Better than Shawshank: Run Lola Run

Time: What is it anyway? Is it the clock on the mantelpiece, the watch on your arm, the clock in your computer or cell phone, or car. It seems to be watching us everywhere we go, and yet we also have several different clocks inside us that have very little to do with their so-called objective counterparts. Again, I ask: What is Time. Hell, maybe it’s actually a figment of our imaginations. Run Lola Run, the 1998 German film directed by Tom Tykwer, is at once a movie about the nature of time a...

A Samhain Tale

As it happens, It was my intention to post the following story yesterday, November 1st aka Samhain. Unfortunately, all of my energies were sapped by having to go to the opera, a dreadful opera as it turns out without sets, costumes that must have come from the thrift store, abysmal acting, mediocre singing. In short: it was if I had paid Macy’s prices at Goodwill. The upshot is that now I’ll have to ask your indulgence as I fall back not just 1 hour but an entire day and pretend that this is...