E.R. Torre's Blog, page 28

The Last of Shiela (1973) a (very) Belated Review

I saw the clever murder mystery film The Last of Shiela a very long time ago and recalled only one element, the murder of one character (I’ll not say which) but otherwise remembered not much of it. Here’s the film’s trailer:

The Last of Shiela is an interesting curio: It features the only screenplay credits of Stephen Sondheim (known mostly for his work in theater and musicals) and Anthony Perkins (best known as playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho). The two were apparently fond of creating murder mystery games they played with their friends and used this to write the screenplay for this film.

The Last of Shiela is a Hollywood dog-eat-dog story through and through, where the “beautiful” people are revealed to be anything but.

The movie opens with the hit and run death of Shiela () who leaves a party held by her husband Clinton Green (, extremely good as a powerful Hollywood broker and oddball) after getting into an argument with him. As she walks around the Hollywood hills, she’s hit and killed and the driver of the car, after seeing what s/he’s done, drives off.

A year later, Green arranges a party with five of his “friends”, frustrated script re-writer Tom () who’s been out of the game and fears he won’t again get any significant work and his rich wife Lee (), vicious and nympho Hollywood agent Christine (), famous and beautiful “it girl” actress Alice () who the paparazzi follow and her rough hued -and far less successful- husband Anthony () she keeps wrapped around her finger, and veteran director Phillip (), who may have an unhealthy thing for underage girls.

As in the best of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, while they may outwardly look like beautiful people, its all a mask. None of the characters is particularly noble or nice and they accept Green’s party invitation because each of them hopes that by getting close to Green, they may advance their career.

Thing is, the game Green has planned, which involves getting these five isolated and together on his yacht, seems to be a means of revealing which one of them might have been the one to kill his wife Shiela the year before.

The game, eventually, takes a deadly turn.

The Last of Shiela is a fun, at times nasty murder mystery which rewards those who pay attention to the movie’s details.

While I saw the film before, again, I didn’t recall any details except for the murder of one character. I did, as I watched it again, notice one thing early in the film which revealed to me who the murderer was (I’ll not say what!).

If you catch the details, you’ll figure it out too because the movie doesn’t hide any of its clues and, by the end, reveals all.

This is a pretty great Agatha Christie-like murder mystery. For a film that’s nearly fifty years old, it moves well and is a fun watch.

Recommended!

One more weekend…

This is it, folks: Donald Trump’s last weekend as President of these United States.

Next week, on the 20th, Joe Biden officially becomes President and Trump is gone.

Or so we hope.

There have been some who wonder if he’ll try to “stay” in the White House, essentially force the new administration to evict him.

I dunno.

Already there has been movement seen in/around the White House, moving boxes arriving and staff taking their personal (I hope, anyway!) stuff out.

Trump is, if nothing else, a master at bending reality to his warped views but reality has a way of cutting through even the slickest of warped views.

There is talk about him continuing being a force in the Republican party, perhaps even running again in 2024.

Personally, I feel like he’s spent. What happened last week on the Capitol is going to follow him -and his heirs- for the rest of their lives and, I feel, views of it will only grow more and more negative.

They already have, with the many horrifying filmed scenes which reveal the brutal reality of that insurrection.

The most radicalized out there are going to stay that way, sadly. But even now, after Trump’s twitter and other communication devices cancelled out, I’m noting we’re seeing so much less of his insanity… and it feels kinda nice.

I don’t doubt Trump will do some more horrifying things in the next few days before he leaves office -I suspect we’ll see plenty of idiotic pardons, including Trump trying to pardon himself- but at this time next week, we’ll be two full days into Biden’s administration and two full days since Trump has had any power.

I can’t wait.

Something in the air…?

Been an interesting past few days, no?

Obviously things have been crazy politically but I’ve also found things really nuts these past few days personally/close to home as well.

I’m exhausted, mentally and physically but if there is one source of hope its that these dark days seem to come in waves and even if things may be …complicated… right now, they usually get better.

Hope they do so.

Soon.

Really soon.

Arnold Schwarzenegger On Current Events…

Have to admit, when a friend of mine pointed out Arnold Schwarzenegger’s YouTube post about current events and the terrorist raid on the Capitol, I didn’t think he could add much to what so many have already said.

But he did.

Quite eloquently, I might add.

See for yourself:

Second Impeachment? 25th Amendment?

Friday the 8th, 2021, and I’m reading that using the 25th Amendment to throw Trump out of office seems like it might not happen because Vice President Pence doesn’t want to use it. I suppose they need him to agree with this to use it.

On the other hand, a second impeachment seems to be building steam and, according to this article by Quint Forgey and presented on msn.com…

Rep. Clark: House could vote on impeachment by “mid-next week”

One would think this doesn’t have much of a chance to happen as we have to have the House of Representatives first pass this -which is likely to happen- but then it has to move to the Senate and they didn’t convict and remove him the last time around…

…however…

Here’s the thing: There is plenty of anger directed at Trump and his flunkies for what happened in the Capitol and the fact that he basically encouraged the riot. Worse, there is also news coming out that they dragged their feet in getting the National Guard in to put down/stop the terrorists who stormed the Capitol.

Several members of Trump’s staff are quitting and, though we’re less than two weeks from the end of his Presidency, clearly they are sending messages.

Further to this, there are several Republicans in the Senate who are probably making this cold calculation: If Trump is impeached, he cannot run for office again.

Yeah, I know, cynical calculation as it is, it is a factor. If Trump is impeached, the Republican party no longer has to worry about him trying to run for office again in 2024 and, at this point, many of them would likely be very happy to never see him as their candidate again. Not to mention the fact that several of them would rather not compete against him for the nomination.

So will it happen?

Who knows.

By January 20th, twelve days from now, Trump leaves office. Given what happened two days ago, there are plenty of things that could happen between now and they could be very bad news not only for the U.S. but for the world itself.

As with so many things, we’ll see what happens.

Dawn of a New Day…

Things are so damn dark -understandably!- the last couple of days and especially yesterday, with the terrorist action on the Capitol.

Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but it seems to me that maybe, just maybe, the actions yesterday may be what finally pushes this country to clean up its messes and fix things that, to this point, either they didn’t realize were broken or now understand they are.

It will start with arrests, which I suspect will come quickly in the next few days, of the terrorists who stormed the Capitol. Not all of them will be caught, I’m sure, but plenty of these MENSA candidates filmed themselves committing their terrorist actions and posted them to their social media accounts. These fools will be very soon.

I’m noticing, by the way, that many of them today must have realized they are in legal jeopardy. To this moment, a little after 12 noon on the 7th of January, there doesn’t seem to be any marchers/protesters in Washington. If there are, they are a small group and they’re being held very far away from the Capitol.

Certainly I have yet to see any news footage of anyone from the MAGA group anywhere.

A focus -proper and needed- will now fall upon the security forces/police that should have been protecting the Capitol. There are going to be plenty of heads that will roll, people who didn’t do their job or, worse, might have even participated in the terrorist act, if only by passively allowing the group to pass by.

They will be dealt with and, looking at things optimistically, the weaknesses, now exposed, will be dealt with. What happened yesterday very likely will not happen again.

Though Trump is still in power, I wonder if he’s finally come to realize he pushed things too far. Its possible -maybe even likely- he hasn’t.

But his friends -those with at least some ties to reality- are bailing on him after what happened yesterday. There are even Republicans -at least one so far- openly suggesting invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from the Presidency.

Yeah, I know… real profiles in courage a grand total of less than two weeks from when Trump’s presidency is up, but I suppose its better late than never and its got to sting.

Things will change by January 20th. They have to, and provided the Biden administration shows a modicum of competence, perhaps these last four years will rapidly slip into some kind of weird nightmare we collectively shared and will not see its like again.

Or maybe I’m being too optimistic.

The Morning After The Day…

Yesterday, January 6th, was a painful, frightening, bewildering, infuriating day.

I couldn’t not watch as the terrorists descended upon the Capitol and managed -how?!- to make their way into the building.

Where were the police? Where were the National Guards?

Even worse were images of what appeared to be at least one police officer… taking selfies with these terrorists?!

What. The. Hell.

I mean, he’s not holding the camera, its the idiot terrorist taking the picture, but what is the Officer doing there?!

Anyway, the terrorists were eventually pushed away. There were four people who died from this terrorist action (read about that here), three from medical issues and a woman who was part of the mob was shot and died from the wound. The details of how she was shot hasn’t been, at least that I’m aware of, revealed yet.

All of this, all of this, in my opinion rests with Donald Trump and his enablers. Donald Trump is, sadly, only the latest result of too many years of right wing media propaganda/brain-washing.

Sadly, the end results are people believing alarming lies.

Even more sadly, too many people I know, some very close to me, believe these lies.

Donald Trump couldn’t have lost the election, they say. He was robbed, he insists, just as he insisted President Obama wasn’t born in the United States (reality check: Yes, he was).

If people believe a string of alarming lies and somehow feel like nefarious things are going on and their rights are being trampled by evil socialist/liberals…

…then it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise when these people, those who swallow these lies whole, feel empowered to do something about it.

I’m absolutely not excusing the terrorists’ actions, only trying in my own way to explain them.

They’re grown ass men and women and they should know better.

Which is why its so damn alarming that while Trump lost the election by an overwhelming 7 million votes, there were still so many people who voted for him.

Some, I’m certain, held their noses when they voted. Many, sadly, did so happily, enthusiastically.

Those who committed those actions yesterday need to be brought to justice. Those who encouraged them -including Donald Trump himself- need to be brought to justice.

Late last night the Senate and House of Representative formally affirmed Joe BIden’s election. At some point last night President Trump finally –finally!– acknowledged his loss (even with his usual lies about having the election stolen) and spoke of a “peaceful transition”.

Too little, too late.

Today there is talk -and I hope it amounts to more than that- of serious consideration to invoke the 25 Amendment and remove Donald Trump from office.

I hope it happens.

Thought Trump only has 13 days to go, that’s an awful long time and, as we saw yesterday, things can go bad awfully quickly.

Let’s see what this new day brings.

Terrific Tuesday And Terrifying Wednesday

Yesterday, Tuesday the 5th the run-off elections in Georgia for their two Senate seats occurred and Raphael Warnock (D) has been declared the winner over Kelly Loeffler (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) currently has the lead -and considering where the remaining votes lay this lead will likely grow- over David Purdue (R).

Assuming Mr. Ossoff also wins, which seems very likely, it means the Senate will be split exactly 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans… which means that with the Vice President as a tie-breaker, and the Vice President being Kamala Harris, that means that by a slim margin the Democrats will lead the Senate along with the House of Representative and, of course, the Presidency.

Whew!

Today we also have what should be a formality: The Senate and House formally counting the electoral votes and declaring Joe Biden the President of the United States come January 20th.

Of course, this “formality” looks like it won’t be and there are many in the House planning to protest the election and a smaller number of Senators who also plan to protest. They are Trumpistas, no doubt, and while they will huff and puff, there is no realistic way for them to do anything more than delay the inevitable.

So instead of Joe Biden being formally given the Presidency relatively quickly, it may take until later today or earlier tomorrow to be given the power.

If you’ve read my posts, you should be very aware by now that I have little love for Trump and his chaotic governance and am more than happy to see him gone.

I also know that everything won’t magically become good once Trump is gone.

The entire world, thanks to this pandemic, is in a world of hurt and it is going to take several months -maybe even another year- before things get back to “normal”.

But with Democrats in control of all three branches of government and a President who seems to be more engaged with what is needed to be done to deal with this pandemic -versus a President who seems to think the way to deal with it is to ignore it almost completely- then maybe we can make some real headway in bumping up the number of vaccinations given to people.

When the pandemic is finally dealt with, I further suspect we’re going to see a burst of joy and activity the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years.

That day can’t come soon enough.

POSTSCRIPT:

It’s now 2:44 pm, Wednesday the 6th, and things around the Capitol have gotten way out of control, thanks once again to Donald Trump himself.

He incited the mob and now they’re trying to… what exactly? They’re breaching places they shouldn’t be in, supposedly smashing glass and doors… all for a degenerate who will be, I’m certain, viewed as the worst President we’ve ever had.

There will certainly be arrests and I hope many of them. I also hope this doesn’t go beyond this point.

President Trump incited this violence and he needs to be held accountable.

Inevitability we’ll see footage of many of these rioters in court, crying like babies, as their sentences are handed down.

Good riddance to bad trash.

On Writing… Cracking The Story…

While I’m certain it’s different for authors, for me a book really starts to work when I’ve got both the start and, especially, ending worked out.

Before reaching that point, there’s plenty of thought put into my novels, working with situations I’d like to present or bits of dialogue that appeal to me.

But once I have that ending, I have something to work toward and that, in turn, allows me to more sharply focus on the stuff leading up to that ending.

I’ve often tried to put into words what writing is like.

It’s like creating a jigsaw puzzle from scratch, creating each individual piece and getting them to fit together -or throw them away- until you have a picture.

Or perhaps its like painting in oils, first creating a rough image then slapping on the oils, mixing them and creating more and more delicate shades and a more solid overall picture.

The part that can get frustrating is that, at least for me, the final product is in flux, usually through the first two or three drafts at least.

So it is with the book I’m currently writing.

But yesterday I had a pretty big breakthrough: I kinda/sorta have figured out the novel’s ending -finally!- and now all the other pieces are falling into place.

I’ve been writing this book for something like two or three months now and have reached, roughly, the 1/4th point or a little past it, and now with the ending, things should move a little quicker.

We’ll see!

Tanya Roberts (1955-2021)

Wrote the below and then word came that… well, read on…

The shocking news that actor Tanya Roberts passed away at the very young age of 65 made the news yesterday (you can read about that here). She apparently walked her dogs and when she returned to her home collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where she would pass away.

Most of the obituaries I’ve read concerning Ms. Roberts note she was Stacey Sutton, the “Bond girl” in Roger Moore’s final James Bond film, 1985’s A View To A Kill (Tanya Roberts first appears at the 1:33 mark of the below trailer)…

She was certainly an 80’s figure, with her other two big roles, in the 1982 film Beastmaster…

…and in 1984 she would star as Sheena:

Later on she would make her mark in That 70’s Show as Midge Pinciotti…

I think its fair to say that her earlier works, now cult classics to some, nostalgia trips to others, weren’t all that good. It’s fair to say that A View To A Kill is the worst of the Roger Moore Bond films and among the worst of the Bond films, period. Few, too, would say Sheena is some lost classic while there are those who feel Beastmaster is a deserving Cult classic.

I say this not to put down Ms. Roberts, but quite the contrary. There’s something about the presence alone of Ms. Roberts in those films that make them memorable. One could point out the obvious: She is one beautiful woman, and the roles in both Sheena and Beastmaster in particular allowed her ample opportunity to show off that beauty.

In fact, when the news of her passing came, I instantly thought back to her roles in these films as well as The 70’s Show and my memories of her, frankly, were positive.

Yeah, maybe the 80’s material wasn’t always very strong and the film’s makers wanted a beautiful female in nearly no clothing running around, but there have been plenty of films like that made whose star isn’t quite as well remembered as Ms. Roberts, which suggests there was indeed more to her than just the proverbial pretty face.

As one gets older, the people in the arts one grows up with also grow older and, eventually, pass away.

Tanya Roberts’ passing at 65 is shocking as when I think about her my memories of her transport me back to that beautiful, athletic woman she was back in the 1980’s.

I hope she had a terrific life.

I may have to give A View To A Kill another whirl, for old time’s sake.

POSTSCRIPT:

Now there’s news that… Tanya Roberts in not dead?!

This is according to TMZ:

Tanya Roberts still alive… Despite her Rep saying she’s dead

Very weird, but concerning for Ms. Roberts nonetheless. She’s been hospitalized for over a week. I hope she recovers… assuming this second story is accurate!

POSTSCRIPT 2:

Now more news sources are confirming that Tanya Roberts is indeed alive, something which might explain my confused (and not totally sure!) original Postscript.

What a weird, weird story, though I have to admit I’m glad to hear that she’s not passed away. Still, what I said in that Postscript applies: Clearly she’s in some kind of major distress as she’s been hospitalized for over a week now.

Still, best wishes to her!

POSTSCRIPT 3:

Sadly, now comes news (12/5/21) that Tanya Roberts has indeed passed away. This is coming from TMZ:

Tanya Roberts dead at 65 following premature passing announcement

Frankly, I feared this would be the case. If memory serves, something similar happened with musician Tom Petty who was rushed to the hospital and was declared dead only for the news agencies to retract the story as he was still alive but basically vegetative.

I recall my daughter wondering if he’d recover and I told her based on the initial reports, that sounded doubtful. Mr. Petty would pass away a day or two after the initial hospitalization.

As I said, I feared Ms. Roberts was not in great shape. To be hospitalized so suddenly and remain there for over a week sounded grim. I suspect the publicist who released the initial report of her death knew she was about to pass and knew there was little chance of her recovery.

That’s guessing on my part, I admit.

Regardless, what I wrote initially stands. Ms. Roberts may not have been in the very best films during her biggest period of time in Hollywood, but she had a screen presence and to this day is remembered when many similar actresses in similar roles today are not.

She was a part of my youth, a face that was familiar to me and a beauty in the classic Hollywood tradition.

Rest In Peace.