One of my favorite pastimes is watching classic movies like "The Deer Hunter," described as "a critically acclaimed , extraordinarily powerful film which tracks a group of steeworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the cool hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnamn. The Deer Hunter is a searing drama of friendship and courage - and what happens to these qualities under hardship. It is a shattering emotional experience that you will never forget." The film itself received five academy awards in 1978.
After seeing this film for the first time, I wanted to see it again and again. Like any great novel, there are layers of meaning that keep revealing themselves. In a climatic scene, two of the major characters play a game of Russian Roulette. It is a scene I am not likely ever to forget. As I began thinking about this film this afternoon, I made a connection I had not made before. The hero, played by Robert Deniro, early in the film "plays" the game of "one shot" - he wants to shoot a deer with one shot. At the end of the film, he has an opportunity to kill a magnificent deer and he does not follow through even though he would have killed it with one shot. His close friend had killed himself with one shot in the game of Russian Roulette they played. He witnesses how it takes only one shot to destroy life be it human or animal. After he is discharaged, he goes on another hunting trip and he has the opportunity to kill a magnificent deeer with one shot. Instead of taking advantage of this opportunity, he lets the deer get away. His days of killing are over.
The film, which runs for some three hours, is studded with vignettes which point up how the friendship between buddies is effected because of the war. Among it's other messages is how wars brutalizes people. If you haven't seen this film, treat yourself.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
A Day Of Nostalgia
Yesterday, June 4, was a day redolent with nostalgic memories of the late thirties and the forties. At noon, I went to hear our resident, wonderful jazz vocalist, Colleen Pratt, open the season of concerts on Jay Street in downtown Schenectady. Every subsequent Thursday, at noon, another group will play. The program will extend throughout the summer. What a enjoyable way to spend a Thursday afternoon listening to the groups slated to play.
Colleen is a gifted singer whose style of singing has profited by many of the great jazz women vocalists who preceded her, beginning with Ella Fitzerald. Colleen can do scat singing - she uses her voice as if it were a jazz instrument, That afternoon, I sat in the warmth of the sun as I listened to the program of great popular songs I grew up with. Backing Colleen were three equally gifted musicians, a pianist, a base player and a drummer. Most of the songs they played were written during the era of the Great Big Bands. I could recognize every song which Colleen sang and as I listened to them, my mind and spirit drifted back to the late thirties and to the forties. I had all I could do to keep from getting up to dance because the performance of each song was so compelling. At the end of the session, I approached all four performers and thanked them for affording me so much pleasure.
Little could I have predicted that during the evening programs on CBS, there was more delight along the way, a delight listening to music of the Great Big Bands who played during the late thirties and the forties. Watching this program took me back to the forties, to those earlier years of my life.
In addition to playing the music of this era, there were pictures of the Big Bands played those pieces they were associated with, those songs that sold the most records and gained the bands the great popularity they enjoyed. The hour and a half program opened with Glen Miller's band playing "In The Mood."
I sent for the 4 CD set where all those signature songs are recorded giving me an opportunity to wander back to those earlier years whenever I wished through these melodies and those who performed them. Watching this program and listening to the music brought back sweet memories of when I danced to many of these songs.
The afternoon and evening programs convinced me that the era of the Big Bands was "My Era". What a day yesterday was!
Colleen is a gifted singer whose style of singing has profited by many of the great jazz women vocalists who preceded her, beginning with Ella Fitzerald. Colleen can do scat singing - she uses her voice as if it were a jazz instrument, That afternoon, I sat in the warmth of the sun as I listened to the program of great popular songs I grew up with. Backing Colleen were three equally gifted musicians, a pianist, a base player and a drummer. Most of the songs they played were written during the era of the Great Big Bands. I could recognize every song which Colleen sang and as I listened to them, my mind and spirit drifted back to the late thirties and to the forties. I had all I could do to keep from getting up to dance because the performance of each song was so compelling. At the end of the session, I approached all four performers and thanked them for affording me so much pleasure.
Little could I have predicted that during the evening programs on CBS, there was more delight along the way, a delight listening to music of the Great Big Bands who played during the late thirties and the forties. Watching this program took me back to the forties, to those earlier years of my life.
In addition to playing the music of this era, there were pictures of the Big Bands played those pieces they were associated with, those songs that sold the most records and gained the bands the great popularity they enjoyed. The hour and a half program opened with Glen Miller's band playing "In The Mood."
I sent for the 4 CD set where all those signature songs are recorded giving me an opportunity to wander back to those earlier years whenever I wished through these melodies and those who performed them. Watching this program and listening to the music brought back sweet memories of when I danced to many of these songs.
The afternoon and evening programs convinced me that the era of the Big Bands was "My Era". What a day yesterday was!
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