Update on Oct 2008 story.

To the Okinawan widow of a fallen Marine, a son is born

By Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Hotaru Ferschke cradles her newborn son, Michael H. Ferschke III, at a Japanese clinic near Kadena Air Base on Tuesday. Michael, born Jan. 9, was named for his father, Marine Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., who was killed in Iraq in August.

CHATAN, Okinawa — Michael H. Ferschke III, the son of a Marine who was killed on a mission in Iraq last August, was born Friday on Okinawa. Hotaru Ferschke delivered the healthy child at 1:18 p.m. at a Japanese clinic near Kadena Air Base. He weighed 7 pounds, 8.8 ounces and was 19.7 inches long.

The much-awaited arrival brings to a close another chapter in a story that began Aug. 10, when Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., a team leader with Okinawa-based 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, was killed conducting door-to-door searches north of Baghdad.

It was exactly one month after Ferschke and Hotaru exchanged marriage vows by proxy while thousands of miles apart. Hotaru, supported by her in-laws, has vowed to raise her son in the Tennessee town where his father grew up.

Her son seems to be growing stronger every hour, she said Monday in her room at Yabiku Women’s Clinic. A framed photo of her and her husband taken before he deployed, as well as his ID bracelet, were at her bedside table.

"I told my husband that our baby has arrived, although I had a bit of a hard time," she said, looking at the photo.

She said the photo was with her while she was in the labor room.

"The baby has his father’s mouth, eyes and hairline," she said. "But he got my nose."

She said her husband’s parents, whom she first met in Tennessee during Christmas 2007, are to arrive on Okinawa next month to see their new grandson and make arrangements to bring him and his mother to their home in Marysville, Tenn.

"I do have some anxiety in moving to an unfamiliar place," she said. "But I also know that my parents-in-law and all the family there will be always with us. They treat me like their own daughter."

She said she would soon apply for a passport for the baby, and her six-month temporary visa should be ready before they leave for the United States in late February.

She said she was grateful for all the help provided by the U.S. Consulate and the Marine Corps to process the paperwork for the visa and passport.

At first, she will be on a six-month temporary visa, which can be extended for another six months. She and her family in the States hope to change the visa status before the visa expires.

Help and support has been "bountiful" from Ferschke’s unit, she said. Soon after the battalion returned from Iraq in November, a group of Marines took her to a dinner. They called Sgt. Ferschke their brother and asserted that Hotaru was their sister and the baby their nephew, she said.

Also, the battalion’s wives group held a surprise baby shower for her.

"They offered so many gifts that they [hardly fit] in my car," Hotaru said. "I was overwhelmed by their warm thoughts."

As she remembered the events during the past year, tears welled.

"Had it not been for the baby, I would never have got over from the shock [of Michael’s death]," she said.

While in Iraq, Michael Ferschke kept a running letter in diary form for his bride. The last page was written only a few hours before he went out on his last mission.

The last sentence was: "I love you."

"The diary, or the log book, that is so precious to me. [It] will be a valuable treasure for our baby because he will be able to see his father’s own handwriting," she said.

"I truly feel how fortunate and lucky I am to be able to meet someone like him."

CBS is reporting that a foreigner who had his teaching credentials stripped in the United States for child molestation has been working openly as a professor in Korea for the last decade.

Naturally, this is leading some to question Immigration’s handling of foreigners and the hiring process of foreign professors.

Prof. A, who is teaching at a university in Daejeon, was convicted in 1996 of molesting girls under the age of 14 while employed as a middle school teacher in California. In 1997, he was imprisoned for six weeks on charges of paying female students so that he could feel their legs and hands while in his office.

CBS quotes Prof. A as claiming that while he was indeed convicted of child molestation, this record was erased in 2002 after a court judged the crime to be minor.

Prof. A said, however, that it was true the crime remains on his FBI record.

Because of the incident, he was reportedly kicked out of the school and had his teaching credentials stripped.

So in 1999, he came to Korea, where he has worked as professor and instructor at public and private universities. Since 2001, he has taught English conversation at four universities.

These days during the vacation period, he runs a conversation class for children at the college.

Prof. A apparently faced no restrictions when getting employed as a professor. Why, you might ask? Well, according to CBS, current law states that while native speaker instructors (E2 visas) need to submit criminal background checks, professors (E-1 visas) have no separate requirement.

In fact, when the Justice Ministry made it mandatory for E-2 visa holders to submit criminal background checks, he switched to E-1 visa during the grace period.

Now this you’ll love — despite the Daejeon Immigration Office belatedly discovered that Prof. A was charged with child molestation, it’s not taking any measures against him.

While Prof. A is saying he’s caused no trouble in the decade he’s been here and vowing to put up a legal struggle if Immigration tries to deport him, Immigration simply said it has nothing to say at the moment.

CBS said due to a porous legal net and Immigration’s failure to properly manage the foreigns, a foreigner inviting controversy concerning sexual abuse is openly standing in the classroom...

MORE TO FOLLOW AS SOON AS I GET THE INFO.............

# 1 All Time Favorite Film: Apocalypse Now Redux




With all critics, we have this one, special, film that we like above all others. Gene Siskel's favorite film was "Saturday Night Fever" Roger Ebert has indicated that his favorite film is "Citizen Kane" but he wrote about this film: "Longer or shorter, redux or not, Apocalypse Now is one of the central events of my life as a filmgoer." Mine is "Apocalypse Now Redux"

I first saw this film when I was 13 years old. It struck me as a film that I knew was great but it was hard to tell anyone in my school why it was good. To this day, I have never seen anything quite like it and I have never seen anything like it to this day.

I later learned that the film was heavily based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. (it is a book about on man adventure into Africa, while looking for someone). This is also the film that introduced me to The Doors. Francis Ford Coppola, who attended the film school at UCLA with Morrison, released Apocalypse Now with "The End" used prominently in the sound track. Ever since I first hear that song, I have been a "Doors" fan.

I am such a fan of this movie that I have recently acquired a copy of the Extended bootleg version, a longer 289 minute version which circulates unofficially. It has never been officially released but circulates as a video bootleg, containing extra material not included in either the original theatrical release or the "redux" version.

From Wikipedia..In 2001, Coppola released Apocalypse Now Redux in cinemas and subsequently on DVD. This is an extended version that restores 49 minutes of scenes cut from the original film. Coppola has continued to circulate the original version as well: the two versions are packaged together in the Complete Dossier DVD, released on August 15, 2006.

The most significant footage added in the Redux version is an anticolonialism chapter involving the de Marais family's rubber plantation, a holdover from the colonization of French Indochina, featuring Coppola's two sons Giancarlo and Roman as children of the family. These scenes were removed from the 1979 cut, which premiered at Cannes. In the scenes, the French family patriarchs argue about the positive side of colonialism in Indochina and denounce the betrayal of the military men in the First Indochina War. Hubert de Marais argues that French politicians sacrificed entire battalions at Điện Biên Phủ, and tells Willard that the US created the Viet Cong (as the Viet Minh), to fend off Japanese invaders............

When I had the chance to see "Redux" at the theater, I took it and I once again realized that this film deserves to be seen on a huge screen.

With all film, their is one moment that makes a film from a good one into a great one and in some cases a legendary film. To me this films main scene is the attack on a village with Huey helicopters.

The scene is when Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), the eccentric commander of 1/9cav AirCav, following a massive and hectic mopping-up operation of a conquered enemy village. Kilgore, a keen surfer, later, he learns from one of his men, Mike, that the beach down the coast which marks the opening to the river is perfect for surfing, a factor which persuades him to capture it. The problem is, his troops explain, it's "Charlie's point" and heavily fortified. Dismissing this complaint with the explanation that "Charlie don't surf,"

Kilgore orders his men to saddle up in the morning to capture the town and the beach. Riding high above the coast in a fleet of Hueys accompanied by H-6s, Kilgore launches an attack on the beach. The scene, famous for its use of Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," ends with the soldiers surfing the barely claimed beach amidst skirmishes between infantry and VC. After helicopters swoop over the village and demolish all visible signs of resistance, a giant napalm strike in the nearby jungle dramatically marks the climax of the battle. Kilgore exults to his men, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", which he says smells "like...victory" as he recalls a battle in which a hill was bombarded with napalm for over twelve hours.

2005 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:"I love the smell of napalm in the morning," #12.In a 2004 poll of UK film fans, Blockbuster listed Kilgore's eulogy to napalm as the best movie speech.The helicopter attack to the song of Ride of the Valkyries was chosen as the most memorable film scene ever by the Empire magazine.

I was so glad when I found out about this information. I was glad that others had seen exactly what I saw in this film.

To me it about war, redemption and overall the insanity of war and of life. If you like this type of film, then please see the "Redux" version on a big screen TV and enjoy it.

A few cartoons about January 2009.

#2 all time Favorite Film. (Tie) Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai and Ran (Ran "chaos", "revolt")
(Japan)




I have been a fan of films from Japan for the last few years now. I am amassing a nice little collection of them on DVD. In the last few years I have made some friends who, also like films from Japan. I will usually get them into a few of the different films that I have seen and liked from Japan (Battle Royale, Godzilla, Battle of the Sea of Japan and a few other ones) When I feel that they have a good idea about these films, I always hand out DVD copies of these 2 films together and I ask them to please watch these 2 films back to back.

I ask that they watch Seven Samurai first, because, the director of both of these films, Akira Kurosawa, directed "7 Samurai" first as a young man and as an old man he directed "Ran" This is also why I made my # 2 selection a tie also. I look at these 2 as 1 huge film with 2 very different parts but when shown together, you get a true appreciation for Kurosawa's genius.

Now, to be honest, for a long time, I refused to even watch these 2 films because they weren't in English and that they did not have any monsters in them. My thinking was, How can a film from Japan be any good if it not in English? I had allowed myself to listen to people who said that all films must be dubbed into English.

So for a long time, I would never watch the Seven Samurai. I would instead watch the American remake The Magnificent Seven. This was a cowboy film, They spoke English and I loved it. Until I ordered "The Seven Samurai" on DVD.

I had heard that this film was a classic and that it needed to be seen, but back then all that was around was an US version 141 minute copy of the film that was missing about 60 minutes from the original version. I had a Saturday evening off and I went to watch it on my DVD player.

I honestly could not believe what I was seeing. I felt like a complete idiot after the film was over. How in the heck could I have ever praised the inferior "The Magnificent Seven" and passed on the original. I then went online to see what other films this, Akira Kurosawa, had directed. (Ever since that day, I have refused to watch TM7 and have taken it out of my DVD collection.)

I went to the video store and I saw that "Ran" was available to be rented on DVD. I rented the film and, even though it was the crappy Fox Lorber version, I could see a great film, it just needed a better DVD presentation.

Plot for Seven Samurai. (Wikipedia)

A gang of marauding bandits approaches a mountain village. The bandit chief recognizes they have ransacked this village before, and decides it is best that they spare it until the barley is harvested in several weeks. One of the villagers happens to overhear the discussion. When he returns home with the ominous news, the villagers are divided about whether to surrender their harvest or fight back against the bandits. In turmoil, they go to the village elder, who declares that they should fight, by hiring samurai to help defend the village. Some of the villagers are troubled by this suggestion, knowing that samurai are expensive to enlist and known to lust after young farm women, but realize they have no choice. Recognizing that the impoverished villagers have nothing to offer any prospective samurai except food, the village elder tells them to "find hungry samurai."

The men go into the city, but initially are unsuccessful, being turned away by every samurai they ask — sometimes very rudely — because they cannot offer any pay other than three meals a day. Just as all seems lost, they happen to witness an aging samurai (Kambei) execute a cunning and dramatic rescue of a young boy taken hostage by a thief. In awe, they ask him to help defend their village; to their great joy, he accepts. Kambei then recruits five more masterless samurai (ronin) from the city, one by one, each with distinctive skills and personality traits. Although Kambei had initially decided that seven samurai would be necessary, he leaves for the village with only five companions because time is running short. A clownish ersatz samurai named Kikuchiyo, whom Kambei had rejected for the mission, follows them to the village at a distance, ignoring their protestations and attempts to drive him away.

When the samurai arrive at the village, the villagers cower in their homes in fear, hoping to protect their daughters and themselves from these supposedly dangerous warriors. The samurai are insulted not to be greeted warmly, considering that they have offered to defend the village for almost no reward, and seek an explanation from the village elder. Suddenly, an alarm is raised; the villagers, fearing that the bandits have returned, rush from their hiding places begging to be defended by the newly-arrived samurai. It turns out that Kikuchiyo, until this point merely a tag-along, has raised a false alarm. He rebukes the panicked villagers for running to the samurai for aid after first failing to welcome them to the village. It is here that Kikuchiyo demonstrates that there exists a certain intelligence behind his boorish demeanour. The six samurai symbolically accept him as belonging with them, truly completing the group of wanderers as the "seven samurai."

As they prepare for the siege, the villagers and their hired warriors slowly come to trust each other. However, when the samurai discover that the villagers have murdered and robbed fleeing samurai in the past, they are shocked and angry, and Kyūzō, the most professional and calm of the samurai, even comments that he would like to kill everyone in the village. The always clownish Kikuchiyo passionately castigates the other samurai for ignoring the hardships that the farmers face in order to survive and make a living despite the intimidation and harassment from the warrior class (and in the process, also reveals his own roots as a farmer's son). "But who made them like this?" he asks. "You did!" The anger the samurai had felt turns to shame, and when the village elder, alerted by the clamor that this revelation instigates, asks if anything is the matter, Kambei humbly responds that there is not. The samurai continue their preparations without any animosity, and soon afterwards show compassion toward the farmers when they share their rice with an old woman who, her family having been killed by bandits, cries out that she merely wants to die.

The preparations for the defense of the village continue apace, including the construction of fortifications and the training of the farmers for battle. Katsushirō, the youngest samurai, begins a love affair with the daughter of one of the villagers who had been forced to masquerade as a boy by her father, hoping to protect her from the supposedly lustful samurai warriors.

As the time for the raid approaches, three bandit scouts are captured, and one divulges the location of the bandit stronghold. Three of the samurai, along with a guide from the village, decide to carry out a pre-emptive strike. Many bandits are killed, but one of the samurai, Heihachi, is struck down by gunfire. When the bandits arrive in force soon after this raid, they are confounded by the fortifications put in place by the samurai, and several are killed attempting to scale the barricades or cross moats. However, the bandits have a superior number of trained fighters, and possess three muskets, and are thus able to hold their own. Kyūzō decides to conduct a raid on his own to retrieve one of the muskets and returns with one several hours later. Kikuchiyo, jealous of the praise and respect Kyūzō earns, particularly from Katsushirō, later abandons his post to retrieve another musket, leaving his contingent of farmers in charge. Although he succeeds, the bandits attack the post, overwhelming and killing many of the farmers. Kambei is forced to provide reinforcements from the main post to drive the bandits out, leaving it undermanned when the bandit leader charges this position. Although they are driven off, Gorobei is shot and killed.

Apart from defense, the initial strategy of the samurai is to allow the bandits to enter a gap in the fortifications one at a time through the use of a closing "wall" of spears, and to then kill the lone enemy. This is repeated several times with success, although more than one bandit manages to enter the village several times. On the second night, Kambei decides that the villagers will soon become too exhausted to fight and instructs them to prepare for a final, decisive battle. During the night, Katsushirō's affair is revealed, and after an initial uproar, his amorous adventures provide comic relief to the embattled militia.

When morning breaks and the bandits make their attack, Kambei orders his forces to allow all 13 remaining bandits in at once. In the ensuing confrontation, most of the bandits are easily killed, but the leader takes refuge in a hut unseen. In an act of extreme dishonor, he shoots Kyūzō in the back from the safety of the hut, killing him. A despondent Katsushirō seeks to avenge his hero, but an enraged Kikuchiyo bravely (and blindly) charges ahead of him, only to be shot in the belly himself. Although mortally wounded, Kikuchiyo ensures he kills the bandit chief, finally proving his worth as a samurai, before dying. Dazed and exhausted, Kambei and Shichirōji sadly observe "we've survived once again," while Katsushirō wails over his fallen comrades. The battle is ultimately won for the villagers.

The three surviving samurai, Kambei, Katsushirō, and Shichirōji, are left to observe the villagers happily planting the next rice crop. The samurai reflect on the relationship between the warrior and farming classes: though they have won the battle for the farmers, they have lost their friends with little to show for it. "Again we are defeated," Kambei muses. "The farmers have won. Not us." This melancholic observation sheds new light on Kambei's statement at the beginning of the film that he had "never won a battle." This contrasts with the singing and joy of the villagers, whose figuratively life-sustaining work has prevailed over war and left all warriors as the defeated party.

Plot for "Ran" (Wikipedia)

It is a tale about the downfall of the once-powerful Ichimonji clan after its patriarch Hidetora decides to give control of his kingdom up to his three sons: Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. Taro, the eldest, will receive the prestigious First Castle and become leader of the Ichimonji clan, while Jiro and Saburo will be given the Second and Third Castles. Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro, and Hidetora illustrates this by using a bundle of arrows.[3] Hidetora will remain the titular leader and retain the title of Great Lord. Saburo criticizes the logic of Hidetora's plan: he reminds his father that he achieved power through treachery, war and bloodshed, yet unwisely expects his sons to be loyal to him. Hidetora mistakes these comments for a threat and when his loyal retainer Tango comes to Saburo's defense, he banishes both of them.

Following Hidetora's abdication, Taro's wife Lady Kaede begins to persuade him to take direct control of the Ichimonji clan, and engineers a rift between Taro and Hidetora. Kaede is a vengeful, manipulative woman whose family was slaughtered by Hidetora in his own rise to power and has thus dedicated her life to bringing about the downfall of the Ichimonji clan.

Matters come to a head when Hidetora kills one of Taro's guards who was threatening the fool Kyoami. When Taro subsequently demands that Hidetora confirm Taro's new standing and powers by signing a document in his blood, Hidetora reluctantly complies and storms out of the castle. He then travels to Jiro's castle, only to discover that Jiro is more interested in using Hidetora as a pawn in his own power play. During this time Hidetora visits Jiro's wife, Lady Sué. Like Kaede, her family was murdered by Hidetora, but she has embraced the gentle creed of Pure Land Buddhism and forgiven him. When Jiro refuses to allow Hidetora's warriors to enter the castle with him, Hidetora leaves, vowing never to see Jiro again. Hidetora's entourage is reduced to camping in the wilderness where they face the prospect of starvation because the peasants have been threatened by Taro not to provide them with food.

Meanwhile Taro's retainer Ogura arrives at the Third Castle to take possession of it. Refusing to serve him, Saburo's troops leave to join their lord in exile. Tango, following Hidetora in disguise, arrives at the camp to convince his lord to take refuge with Saburo. Hidetora, though ashamed of his mistakes, refuses to let go of his pride and, orders his samurai to burn the villages as punishment, over the protests of Tango. Influenced by his devious adviser Ikoma, Hidetora decides to go to the Third Castle, instead of Saburo, who has taken refuge with the neighbouring warlord Fujimaki, who early in the film had expressed admiration for Saburo's integrity. When Kyoami uses a jest to criticize his master's decision, he is violently reprimanded by Hidetora and left behind with Tango. Hidetora takes control of the Third Castle and settles in it.

Shortly afterwards, Hidetora and his retinue are attacked from within and without by the combined forces of Taro and Jiro (yellow and red forces respectively). Hidetora's retainers are slaughtered, his concubines kill each other in despair and the Third Castle is set on fire. As Taro's and Jiro's forces storm the castle, Jiro's Chief Retainer Kurogane surreptitiously assassinates Taro. Hidetora is left to commit seppuku (ritual suicide); however, to his dismay, Hidetora finds his sword broken and he cannot commit seppuku. Instead of killing himself, Hidetora becomes insane and wanders distracted out of the burning castle, unharmed by the attackers who, awe-struck by his transformation, clear a path for him.

As the castle burns, the deranged Hidetora wanders about during a storm in the grassy fields of the nearby mountains when he is discovered by Tango and Kyoami, the only people who have remained loyal to him. At first, regressing to childhood, he gathers flowers, ignoring his companions; then, suddenly overcome by a horrifying vision of all the people he has killed, he flees in terror. The three take refuge from the storm in a nearby peasant's home, only to discover that the peasant is Tsurumaru, the brother of Lady Sué, blinded years before on the Great Lord's orders.

Upon his return from battle, Jiro, as part of the plan made with his generals, publicly embarrasses Lady Kaede. The treacherous Ikoma and Ogura have given Jiro good service, as his generals in the recent campaign against their erstwhile lord, Hidetora. But now the traitors are themselves betrayed, when Jiro offers them presents in thanks but also in farewell, dismissing them on the grounds that having betrayed one master, they might betray another. Later, when Kaede enters, supposedly to congratulate Jiro for his new rank, she manages to overpower him. With a dagger pointed at his throat Kaede extracts from Jiro the truth about Taro's death, blackmailing him and becoming his lover. She demands that Jiro leave his wife for her. When Jiro offers to divorce his wife Lady Sué and marry Kaede instead, she demands he have Sué killed.

As Ikoma and Ogura are traveling into banishment, they are discovered and killed by Tango, who learns that Jiro killed Taro and intends to murder his father should he recover sanity. Kyoami and Tango decide that to ensure Hidetora's safety he must be taken to Saburo. But shame at his shabby treatment of his only loyal son prevents Hidetora from willingly reuniting with him. Therefore, Tango sets out to bring Saburo to Hidetora. Kyoami stays with the Great Lord as the old man descends deeper into madness, wandering into the remnants of the castle of Lady Sué's father - a castle he himself had destroyed.

Kaede swiftly becomes the real power behind the throne of the weak-willed Jiro, in her secret efforts to destroy the Ichimonji. Kurogane is given the order to kill Sué, but he refuses, blatantly bringing back the head of a statue and, through the story of a wily fox, warns Jiro not to trust Kaede. Having been warned by Kurogane, Lady Sué flees the Second Castle and, meeting up with her brother Tsurumaru, flees to the ruins of their father's castle. Along with an aide they barely outrun enemy forces sent by Jiro. But suddenly, Tsurumaru remembers that he has forgotten his flute; the aide leaves to retrieve it.


With Hidetora's whereabouts a mystery and his calamities and plight now well-known, Saburo's army (blue forces) crosses back into the kingdom to find him. Saburo's new father-in-law, the warlord Fujimaki (white forces), anticipates a major battle and marches to the border. Worried about his brother's actions and mindful of Saburo's alliance with rival warlords who want the Ichimonji lands for themselves, Jiro hastily mobilizes his much larger army to stop them. Meanwhile, Hidetora and Kyoami come across Sué and Tsurumaru at the Second Castle ruins, and Hidetora flees.

Saburo's and Jiro's forces meet on the field of Hachiman. Another rival warlord, Ayabe, shows up with his own army (black forces) on a hill overlooking the field; Fujimaki's forces remain poised on an opposite hill. Back at the castle ruins, Sué decides to retrieve her brother's flute herself. Tsurumaru tries to convince his sister that he does not need the flute, but Sué goes back anyway, leaving him with a scroll, illustrated with a picture of Amida Buddha. After arranging a truce with Jiro, Saburo finds Kyoami and rides off with soldiers to find Hidetora. Jiro breaks the truce and sends a gunnery brigade after Saburo and then orders an attack on Saburo's remaining forces. Saburo finally finds Hidetora, who comes back to his senses and repents. Despite their superiority in number, Jiro's army is decimated by arquebus fire from Saburo's army.

Word reaches Jiro and Kurogane that a large part of Ayabe's army has unexpectedly left the battlefield and is marching towards the First Castle. Thus, Jiro realizes, the army on the hilltop is a decoy. Jiro's army promptly retreats and flees back to the castle, as Fujimaki's army cheers from the opposite hilltop. As father and son ride contentedly together on horseback, Saburo is killed by Jiro's gunnery brigade. Overcome with grief, Hidetora finally dies, collapsing atop the body of Saburo.

Jiro's army barely makes it back to the First Castle, just as Ayabe's army arrives. A soldier arrives with the head of Sué, who has been killed with her aide and beheaded by Jiro's forces. During the battle against Ayabe's forces, Kurogane confronts Lady Kaede about her actions; she admits that she herself had planned for events to transpire this way all along, and so Kurogane beheads her in front of Jiro. The First Castle's defenses are ultimately overcome and breached by Ayabe's forces, the castle burned, and Jiro's death and the fall of his army are implied.

While Saburo's army mourn their fallen leader, the film ends with a shot of Tsurumaru, standing alone on top of the ruined castle of his father. As he wanders blindly about, he nearly falls from a ledge and accidentally drops the scroll given to him by his sister.

Now reasons why Seven Samurai works as a great film:

1. Seven Samurai was among the first films to use the now-common plot idea of the recruiting and gathering of heroes into a team to accomplish a specific goal, in this case, to save a village.

2. It shows that Farmers and Samurai must never be allowed to mix. One must remember that Japan had different castes and that the Samurai were at the top of it. If you watch the film closely, you will see that the villagers fear both, the bandits and the Samurai. This is why the foolish Samurai speech with the bell works, he is telling the people either work with us or you will be killed by the bandits.

3. The seven masterless samurai or ronin

The Seven Samurai are as follows.

* Kambei Shimada (島田勘兵衛, Shimada Kanbei?) (Takashi Shimura) — The leader of the group and the first "recruited" by the villagers, he is a wise but war-weary samurai.
* Gorōbei Katayama (片山五郎兵衛, Katayama Gorōbei?) (Yoshio Inaba) — The second samurai, recruited by Kambei. A skilled archer, he acts as the second in command and helps create the master plan for the village's defense.
* Shichirōji (七郎次) (Daisuke Katō) — The third samurai. He was once Kambei's deputy. Kambei meets him by chance in the town and he resumes this role.
* Heihachi Hayashida (林田平八, Hayashida Heihachi?) (Minoru Chiaki) — The fourth samurai, recruited by Gorōbei. An amiable though less-skilled samurai whose charm and wit maintain his comrades' good cheer in the face of adversity.
* Katsushirō Okamoto (岡本勝四郎, Okamoto Katsushirō?) (Isao Kimura) — The fifth samurai. A young unbloodied samurai from an aristocratic family who wants to be Kambei's disciple.
* Kyūzō (久蔵) (Seiji Miyaguchi) — The sixth samurai, who initially declined an offer by Kambei to join the group, though he later changes his mind. A serious, stone-faced samurai and a supremely skilled swordsman; Katsushirō is in awe of him.
* Kikuchiyo (菊千代) (Toshirō Mifune) — The seventh member of the group and the only one who is not actually a samurai. A would-be samurai (right down to the false noble birth certificate) who eventually proves his worth. He is mercurial and temperamental. Of all the samurai, he most closely identifies with the villagers and their plight. Always the show-off, his sword, an Ōkatana, is considerably larger than everyone else's.

You must remember these 7 men fight for this town for basically 3 hots and a cot,(3 meals and a place to sleep at night). The reason that they do it is because, Japanese society declares that they must do this role. They do ask why, they just do it and try not to die.

4. The love story: Now the farmers feared that the Samurai would try and take all of the young women so in the beginning of the film, when the Samurai arrive there are no young girls in the village. So when the town decides that they must work with the samurai, the audience sees that the samurai Katsushiro and a village girl fall in love, but the farmer's daughter cannot dream of marrying a ronin, once again because the culture would demand that she not.

5. The ending of this film: (From Roger Ebert's review)

Many characters die in "The Seven Samurai," but violence and action are not the point of the movie. It is more about duty and social roles. The samurai at the end have lost four of their seven, yet there are no complaints, because that is the samurai's lot. The villagers do not much want the samurai around once the bandits are gone, because armed men are a threat to order. That is the nature of society. The samurai who fell in love with the local girl is used significantly in the composition of the final shots. First he is seen with his colleagues. Then with the girl. Then in an uncommitted place not with the samurai, but somehow of them. Here you can see two genres at war: The samurai movie and the Western with which Kurosawa was quite familiar. Should the hero get the girl? Japanese audiences in 1954 would have said no. Kurosawa spent the next 40 years arguing against the theory that the individual should be the instrument of society.

This is why the ending was hard to understand the first time that I saw it. The bandits were killed off and the town was safe. The villagers did not want the samurai around because they are now a threat to the order, but there would not have been any order without the samurai. This is why the quote by the leader of the samurai was hard to understand...

"The farmers have won. Not us." This statement sheds new light on an earlier statement at the beginning of the film that he had "never won a battle." The town was at peace and they had their lives back, they had won the battle. The samurai had lost their friends and they were back to wandering around Japan without a master, a low samurai. All because society tells them that it must be this way.


With "Ran", this story is based on legends of the daimyo Mori Motonari, as well as on the Shakespearean tragedy King Lear. (but instead of daughters, this King has 3 sons.)This film was to be Kurosawa's last epic, After Ran, he directed three other films before he died, but none of them were on this large of a scale.

Kurosawa first got the idea that would become Ran in the mid-1970s, when he read a parable about the Sengoku-era warlord Mori Motonari. Motonari was famous for having three sons, all incredibly loyal and talented in their own right. Kurosawa began imagining what would have happened had they been bad. From Kurosawa himself.."When I read that three arrows together are invincible, that's not true. I started doubting, and that's when I started thinking: the house was prosperous and the sons were courageous. What if this fascinating man had bad sons?"

Kurosawa also once said that "Hidetora (the king) is me," and there is some evidence in the film that Hidetora serves as a stand-in for Kurosawa.[6] Hidetora's crest is the sun and moon, and the Chinese character of Kurosawa's first name "Akira" (kanji: 明) is combined from the kanji meaning "sun" (日) and "moon" (月)He also stated about the "King Lear" connection, "What has always troubled me about 'King Lear' is that Shakespeare gives his characters no past. ... In Ran, I have tried to give Lear a history."

While Kurosawa said that Ran is not a direct adaptation of King Lear, he did admit to being influenced by the play and incorporated many elements from it into "Ran". Both follow an aging warlord who decides to divide up his kingdom among his offspring. In place of Lear's daughters, Hidetora has three sons — Taro, Jiro, and Saburo (who correspond to Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia respectively). In both, the warlord foolishly banishes anyone who disagrees with him as a matter of pride — in Lear it is the Earl of Kent and Cordelia and in Ran it is both Tango and Saburo. The conflict in both is that two of the lord's children ultimately turn against him, while the third supports him, though Hidetora's sons are far more ruthless than Goneril and Regan. Both King Lear and Ran ultimately end with the death of the entire family, including the hapless Lord. (Wikipedia)

What I really liked about this film was the simple use of clouds in it. In many scenes Kurosawa shows that "Ran" (chaos) is about to be unleashed by the simple showing of different colored skies and clouds. It was so subtle that I did not get it until the very last cloud was shown at the end of this film.

If you are going to want to watch these 2 films, then please watch them back to back, so you can enjoy a true master, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, at his apex.

Michael White's mother sues.

An update to one of the most outrageous news items of 2008.

An American mother sued the Korean government Friday for 450 million won in compensation over her son's alleged drowning in a sauna in a southern city. The bereaved mother claimed that Korean paramedic management was poor and the legal system prevents people from helping others in emergency situations.

According to the Daegu District Court, Stephannie White, 41, has filed a compensation suit against the central government and local South Gyeongsang Provincial government for having ``let her son die due to poor emergency measures.''

The accident took place on May 10 last year, when White and her 14-year-old son Michael visited the Royal Hawaii Sauna in Gyeongsang, near Daegu. He was found unconscious in a pool soon after arriving. Emergency staff rushed him to a nearby hospital and tried to resuscitate him via cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but the boy was declared dead a few minutes later.

Best of luck to Ms. White, who deserves credit for continuing to pursue the matter. However, I would be very surprised if anything came of this.

You can read more about Michael and this story on the website his mother created, Mightie Mike. Give a listen to the two podcasts done with Seoul Podcast, too, here and here, or give the transcripts a read (a few choice excerpts here). They'll leave you speechless. And really really mad.

A few earlier posts on the topic:
** "Michael White's autopsy report released to press before family."

** "Vigils for Michael White hitting snares."

** "But at this point, the difference in law and culture at bathing places is what is likely to be at fault."

** "The suspicious death of 14-year-old Michael White."

#3 All Time Favorite Film. tie Unforgiven, The Searchers





This was probably the hardest choice to make in this entire list. I have seen both of these film numerous times and I am still surprised by how much I enjoy these films.

What you have in both of these films are actors who have made their mark in the Western genre (John Wayne and Clint Eastwood) also another feature that both films share is how much is a life really worth?

The plot of "The Searchers"...(Spoiler Alert)

The year is 1868. Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns from the American Civil War, in which he fought for the Confederacy, to the home of his brother Aaron (Walter Coy) in rural northern Texas. No one knows what he's been doing for the past three years since the war ended in 1865. But despite hints and supposition that Ethan has been up to no good, the movie's early scenes never explicitly frame Ethan for wrongdoing. However, Ranger Captain Clayton (Ward Bond), who is also the local preacher, dourly observes, after Ethan refuses to take an oath of allegiance to the Texas Rangers ("no need to, wouldn't be legal anyway") "you fit a lot of [wanted poster] descriptions." Moreover, Ethan has a medal that he gives to his niece Debbie (Lana Wood), which suggests he has been in Mexico during the period of the Emperor Maximilian. He also gives Aaron 180 freshly minted Double Eagle $20 dollar gold pieces to help with the ranch. Martha and Aaron wonder, but do not ask, where they came from. Shortly after his arrival, a Comanche raid leaves his brother and sister-in-law Martha (Dorothy Jordan), his nephew, Ben (Robert Lyden), all dead, and his two nieces, Lucy (Pippa Scott) and Debbie, abducted, and the family homestead burned down.

After the funeral, a group led by Captain Clayton goes in search of the raiding party. When they discover the location of the encampment, Ethan wants to attack immediately, before daylight. Clayton points out to Ethan that the Comanche generally kill their hostages at the first notice of a raid, which is something that Ethan already knows. This is the first sign that Ethan is willing not to bring the girls back alive. Captain Clayton gives the order that they will sneak in easy and scare off the band's horses. By the time they get to the encampment the Indians are gone. The Rangers are then caught in a pincer movement trap and have to make a run for the river. As they cross the river, one of the group, Nesby (William Steele), is wounded. The Rangers take up a defensive position using the river as a buffer, and they manage to repel the attack. The Indians retreat. When Ethan attempts to kill one more Comanche, Clayton stops him by knocking his rifle barrel down. This enrages Ethan who says that from now on he will do the job by himself. Captain Clayton decides that they are too few to continue and must get Nesby back home to treat his wound.

One of the group, Brad Jorgensen (Harry Carey, Jr.), also Lucy's fiancé, says that someone will have to kill him to make him stop looking for Lucy. Aaron's adopted son, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), who is 1⁄8 Cherokee, feels the same way, and with the two of them, Ethan continues to pursue the Comanche. The three of them find where the main trail goes one way and four horses take off to the right, into a tight canyon pass. Ethan tells them that he will follow the small trail and that the two of them should stay on the main trail. When Ethan returns he is distracted and seemingly upset, but doesn't say anything. He also seems to have lost his Confederate Army long coat. Later Brad is out on scout duty on foot and returns to Ethan and Martin saying that he has found the Comanche camp, and has seen Lucy. At this point Ethan tells Brad and Martin that it wasn't Lucy, that he had already found the murdered body of Lucy in the canyon. He had wrapped her body in his coat, and buried her with his bare hands. Brad, enraged, mounts his horse and charges into the encampment alone, dying in a fruitless, suicidal attempt to avenge Lucy.

Ethan and Martin lose the trail when the winter blizzards come. They go to Fort Richardson, Fort Wingate (near Gallup, New Mexico), Fort Cobb and the Anadarko Agency both in Indian Territory, among other places trying to pick up the trail. After a year, they return to the Jorgensen ranch. When they arrive, Laurie Jorgensen (Vera Miles) has been pining and waiting for Martin, and Ethan has a letter waiting for him from a man who runs a trading post on the Salt Fork of the Brazos River, Jerem Futterman, saying that Futterman has information about Debbie. The next morning Martin learns that Ethan has left without him, but Laurie has stolen the letter to give to Martin. She also lets Martin take her horse. Laurie doesn't want Martin to go, but knows that he must. Ethan and Martin continue to search for Debbie, a search that goes on for five years. During that time, she grows into adolescence and is taken as mate by Scar (Henry Brandon), the chief of the Nawyecka band of Comanche. Scar is presented as the cultural mirror image of Ethan. He hates whites every bit as much as Ethan hates Indians. Once Ethan realizes that Debbie (now played by Natalie Wood) has been mated to Scar, he undergoes a change. He no longer wants to rescue Debbie; he wants her dead, believing that a white woman being a Comanche's "squaw" is worse than death. Martin follows in hopes of stopping Ethan from killing the girl.

Eventually Ethan, Martin, and the Texas Rangers find Debbie. Martin kills Scar and Ethan scalps the dead chief. Martin tries to prevent Ethan from killing Debbie, but it is Ethan himself who realizes how close he has come to destroying the last link to his family and how, in the act of scalping Scar, he himself has become what he hated so much. Instead of killing Debbie, he lifts her in his arms just as he did when she was a child. Ethan brings Debbie to the safety of friends and then walks away. The film, which opened with a near-identical shot of another doorway, slowly revealing the film's landscape, finishes with a reversal: the film's players enter the darkness within the doorway, and the door closes, just before the end title, leaving Ethan isolated outside where he turns and wanders away into the wilderness.

The plot of Unforgiven (Spoiler alert)

The film opens with an introductory crawl: She was a comely young woman and not without prospects. Therefore it was heartbreaking to her mother that she would enter into marriage with William Munny, a known thief and murderer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition. When she died, it was not at his hands as her mother might have expected, but of smallpox. That was 1878.

In 1880 Wyoming, in the town of Big Whiskey, a cowboy with the aid of a fellow cowboy slashes a prostitute's face for laughing at his small penis. The venomous local sheriff and former gunfighter, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), fines the cowboy and his friend seven ponies, payable to the prostitute's pimp and saloon owner Skinny. The other prostitutes, furious over the cowboys' lax punishments, conspire with each other to offer a $1000 reward to anyone who kills the two. Miles away in Western Kansas, the Schofield Kid (Woolvett) approaches a farm owned by William Munny (Clint Eastwood) and his two children, looking for a partner to do the hit. Munny, known in his youth as an infamous gunfighter, murderer and bandit, has since retired, having forsworn his criminal ways through the influence of his late wife. After initially declining the Kid's offer to join up and split the reward money, Munny reconsiders amidst his financial troubles and recruits a former associate and neighbor, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), as his partner before catching up with the Schofield Kid.

Back in Wyoming, English Bob (Richard Harris) and his biographer W.W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek) get off a train and ride into Big Whiskey. English Bob ignores the sign that prohibits the possession of firearms and blatantly lies to a deputy about the revolver he carries in plain sight. Following a quick shave, he emerges onto the barber's porch and is confronted by five armed deputies and Little Bill, who remembers Bob from his gun fighting days. After disarming the gunfighter, Little Bill ruthlessly beats him in front of the townspeople, shouting ominous warnings about pursuing the prostitute's bounty. Little Bill then ridicules and insults the jailed English Bob for the benefit of his biographer. Finally, Little Bill deports English Bob with a warning that he will kill him should he return. The humiliated and furious English Bob shouts and curses at the entire town and the American system as he is taken to the train station in a carriage.

After a long way through wet, frigid weather, Munny, Logan and the Kid enter a saloon for a drink and inquire about the reward. Feverish and sick after the long wet ride, Munny remains at a table while Logan and the Kid go upstairs to be serviced by the prostitutes. While Munny waits downstairs for his friends, Little Bill arrives and confronts him. A town ordinance prohibits guns — upon entering town that stormy night, Munny failed (or chose not) to see the warning sign posted alongside the road. Weak from his illness, Munny is in no condition to fight back as Little Bill brutally beats him in full view of the patrons. Munny manages to drag himself out of the saloon as Ned Logan and the Kid escape through a second-story window. The three partners retreat to a barn outside of town. Munny is nursed by his friends and the prostitutes, and after recovering sufficiently from his injuries, the three men ambush and kill one of the two cowboys in a canyon. It is at that point that Logan realizes he can no longer stomach murder, and decides to head home. Munny and the Kid find the other cowboy and Munny allows the eager Kid to shoot the man in an outhouse outside the isolated cabin where he had been holed up for safety.

Logan is captured and brought back to Little Bill, who beats all the information he can out of him, inadvertently killing Logan in the process. Logan's corpse is put on display in an open coffin outside the saloon as an example of frontier justice. Outside town, the Kid is shaken by the murder he has just committed and admits that it was his first kill; he renounces his planned gun fighting career. He tries to justify his guilt by claiming "Well, I guess he had it coming." "We all have it coming, Kid," returns Munny.

One of the prostitutes brings the reward money to Munny and tells him of the death of Logan. This enrages Munny who, breaking his vow of sobriety, drinks half a bottle of whiskey. In fear of Munny's reputation, the Kid attempts to refuse his share of the loot, to which Munny replies "I'm not gonna kill you Kid, you're the only friend I've got." The Kid gives his pistol to Munny who rides into town to confront the sheriff after giving the money to the Kid to deliver his and Logan's share to Logan's widow and Munny's children.

That night, Munny quietly walks into the crowded Greeley's Saloon. Inside the saloon, Little Bill has assembled a posse to pursue Munny and the Kid. Munny demands to see the saloon's owner while holding them all at bay with a double barreled shotgun. When Skinny, the owner, identifies himself, Munny shoots him with one of the two barrels. Little Bill curses Munny, as he states that Skinny was unarmed, but Munny retorts that he did it because Skinny had decorated the saloon with Logan's body.

Munny trains the other chamber of the shotgun on Little Bill, but the gun misfires and Little Bill commands the others to shoot Munny. A gun fight ensues where Munny pulls out a pistol and kills three posse members outright, and seriously wounds Little Bill and another deputy. Munny has a short encounter with Little Bill's erstwhile biographer, who is scared witless, yet amazed and admiring of Munny's cool dispatch of 5 armed men. Beauchamp leaves having finally, after false starts with English Bob and Little Bill, found the real western anti-hero he has sought to document in his penny pamphlets. Munny hears Little Bill cocking his pistol. Munny steps on Little Bill's hand and points Ned's rifle directly into his face. Little Bill realizes what is to follow and tells Munny that he'll see him in hell, then after a three-second glare into Little Bill's beaten eyes Munny shoots Little Bill dead. Munny heads to the door, shooting the last injured deputy without bothering to aim. After shouting threats of wanton violence through the open door to anyone who might be outside waiting for him, he leaves the saloon and rides away on a gray horse, unmolested by the frightened townspeople, who recoil in fear, glad to see him ride out (with the possible exception of the disfigured prostitute, who watches Munny leave with something approaching gratitude and/or compassion).

The film ends with an epilogue that echoes its introduction: Some years later, Mrs. Ansonia Feathers made the arduous journey to Hodgeman County, Kansas to visit the last resting place of her only daughter. William Munny had long since disappeared with the children... some said to San Francisco where it was rumored he prospered in dry goods. And there was nothing on the marker to explain to Mrs. Feathers why her only daughter had married a known thief and murderer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition.


As was stated earlier in the review, What is a life really worth? In both of these films the answers are not that clear.

John Wayne later revealed that "The Searchers" Director, John Ford, hinted throughout the movie that Ethan had an affair with his brother's wife, and was possibly the father of Lucy and Debbie. This meant Ethan's thirst for vengeance stemmed not from the murder of his brother, but of the woman Ethan had loved. This was so subtle that many viewers at the time missed it altogether.

A significant portion of the film's labyrinthine plot is revealed on a throwaway prop that most casual viewers also rarely noticed. Just before the Indian raid on the Edwards homestead, the tombstone that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan's glaring hatred for Native Americans. The marker reads: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Comanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year." Sixteen years earlier, Ethan's own mother was massacred by Comanches.

John Wayne played his most difficult role as the racist Civil War veteran who hates practically everyone - but Indians in particular. After he discovers that his niece Debbie has mated with an Indian, he intends to kill her.

Ford from the onset strove to make a movie unlike any made before it in Hollywood. Wayne had played outlaw characters before (the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach), but never one as driven and borderline psychotic as Ethan Edwards - indeed, Edwards is played as hovering on the verge of a complete breakdown. Jonathan Lethem said of Wayne’s portrayal of Edwards that he was “tormented and tormenting ... his fury is righteous and ugly, at once, resentment branded as a fetish.” His racism and hatred are blatant and open, and Ford's comments suggest that he intended it so. His remarks make clear he is seeking to portray the racism of white America that led to the genocide practiced against Native Americans. Lethem also writes of his first look at The Searchers, “Weren't Westerns meant to be simple? The film on the screen is lush, portentous.”. (From Production notes)

In this film, John Wayne, took the role of Ethan and makes it his own. Thought the entire film, you feel that he has one foot in heaven and the other one in hell and
damned be the man that tries to stop him in his road into redemption.

This film really needs no long words from me telling you that it is a great film. I will let this from wikipedia be the end...

The 2007 American Film Institute 100 Greatest American Films list included The Searchers in twelfth place. In 2008, the American Film Institute named The Searchers as the greatest Western of all time. The Searchers is and was a favorite of Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ramesh Sippy, James Robert Baker, Brent Spiner, Quentin Tarantino, Sergio Leone,Wim Wenders, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman and John Milius.

(George Lucas alludes to the film in his Star Wars movies. In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the burning of Luke Skywalker's home parallels visually and narratively the burning of the homestead in The Searchers; also the framing of the shots through the opening of the cave where R2-D2 is hiding, when Obi-Wan Kenobi first appears, directly matches the framing of the screen shots of Ethan Edwards' reunion with his niece, Debbie. Another direct quote comes in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones when Anakin Skywalker approaches the Tusken Raider settlement to rescue his mother, a scene which is framed in the exact same manner as Ethan Edwards surveying the Comanche camp before rescuing Debbie)

For Unforgiven

This film opens up with a scroll about a bad man who became good when he met the right lady. He stopped becoming a killer and tried to settle down. When the killer was needed to return, he did not want to do it. It is only when his friend is killed and dead body displayed in town, does the killer re-emerge. The shots of the killer returning and unleashing his hell upon this town is what makes this film.

Clint Eastwood has stated that he wanted to bury the western with this film. There are no heroes in this film, and the differences between good and bad are deliberately blurred so by the end of the film, are you cheering for Clint or for Gene to fishing the deed.

As with Eastwood's other western roles, he is a man of few words. He can stay very quiet and look like he is a peace with the world, but when the time comes to act. The viewer should be ready for a very real look at the results of his actions. Watch the scene where all Clint does is squint his eyes, take a drink and listen to how his friend dies. Right before your eyes you see the pig-farmer being shut down and the return of the man on a white horse, who is going to unleash death and hell upon a small town.

Both films tell of love lost and how men will protect their family and friends. Both of these films are considered classics and should be seen back-to-back to show two great actors playing roles that helped to define their careers.

#4 All-Time Favorite Film: Blazing Saddles





When I first saw this film, I was 12 years old; I thought that it was going to be a normal western. I had no idea who Mel Brooks was and I was in the mood for a hero to save the town film. After the film was over, I kept thinking, I can never tell my parents that I watched this film.

On Monday I went back to school and asked my classmates had they just seen this crazy film on HBO, called "Blazing Saddles"? I could tell very easily who had and had not because this film was those who saw exactly what I had seen were trying to explain it to those who did not and , to be very honest, we were not doing a very good of job at it.

At 12 years old, I had never seen anything quite like what I had just seen over the weekend. It was funny, I was laughing so much that, I thought that I was going to, wake my parents. The problem was that, it was hard to explain why it was funny, unless you saw the film. To this day, it is still hard to explain why the film is funny, it just is to me and I hope to you also.

I have owned a copy of this film on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD and now Blu-ray DVD. To this day whenever I want a good laugh, I pull this film out warm up some popcorn and get ready to enter a world of kaos. Now this film in not PC at all and if you are offended very easily then this film is not for you,

For those who do not know the plot here it is...

In the American Old West of 1874, construction on a new railroad runs into quicksand; the route has to be changed, which will require it to go through Rock Ridge, a frontier town where everyone has the last name of "Johnson" (including a "Howard Johnson", a "Van Johnson" and an "Olson Johnson".) The conniving State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) – not to be confused, as he often is in the film, with actress Hedy Lamarr – wants to buy the land along the new railroad route cheaply by driving the townspeople out. He sends a gang of thugs, led by his flunky Taggart (Slim Pickens), to scare them away, prompting the townsfolk to demand that Governor William J. LePetomane (Mel Brooks) appoint a new sheriff. The Attorney General convinces the dim-witted Governor to select Bart (Cleavon Little), a black railroad worker who was about to be hanged, as the new sheriff. Because Bart is black, Lamarr believes that this will so offend the townspeople they will either abandon the town or lynch the new sheriff.

With his quick wits and the assistance of alcoholic gunslinger Jim (Gene Wilder), also known as "The Waco Kid" ("I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille"), Bart works to overcome the townsfolk's hostile reception. He defeats and befriends Mongo (Alex Karras), an immensely strong (but exceptionally dim-witted) henchman sent by Taggart, and bests German seductress-for-hire Lili von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) at her own game, before inspiring the town to lure Lamarr's newly-recruited and incredibly diverse army of thugs (characterized by Lamarr as ideally consisting of "rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperadoes, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, half-wits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswagglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass kickers, shit kickers and Methodists" in addition to nearly every other kind of stock movie villain) into an ambush. (In the later scene where Lamarr conducts his hiring event, the candidates in line for consideration include stereotypical bikers, banditos, crusaders, Nazis and Klansmen).

The resulting fight between the townsfolk and Lamarr's army of thugs is such that it literally breaks the fourth wall; the fight spills out from the film lot in the Warner Bros. Studios into a neighboring musical set (being directed by Dom DeLuise), then the studio commissary where a pie fight ensues, and finally pouring out into the surrounding streets.

The film ends with Bart shooting Hedley Lamarr in the groin at the 'premiere' of Blazing Saddles outside Grauman's Chinese Theater, saving the town, joining Jim inside a theater to view the end of the movie, persuading people of all colors and creeds to live in harmony and, finally, riding (in a limousine) off into the sunset.
(From Wikipedia)

Here I was, a 12 year old, trying to explain, the above plot. I and my classmates, who has seen the film, knew it was funny, but, we could not explain why it was funny.

As I grew up, I soon started to watch this film once every few months, so I could see if the humor would hold up. After 30+ years this film is still funny and I still cannot believe all that the director Mel Brooks got away with in this film.

From the DVD "Blazing Saddles" Mel Brooks commentary..

Brooks repeatedly had conflicts with studio executives over the cast and content. They objected to both the highly provocative script and to the "irregular" activities of the writers (particularly Richard Pryor, who reportedly led all night writing jams where loud music and drugs played a prominent role in the creative process). In a similar vein, Gene Wilder was the second choice to play the character of the Waco Kid. He was quickly brought in to replace Gig Young after the first day of filming because Young was suffering from delirium tremors on the set due to his alcoholism.

After screening the movie, the head of Warner Brothers Pictures complained about the use of the word "nigger", the campfire scene and the punching of a horse, and told Brooks to remove all these elements from the film. As Brooks' contract gave him control of the final cut, the complaints were disregarded and all three elements were retained in the film with it holding the distinction of being the first film to display flatulence. Mel Brooks wanted the movie's title song to reflect the western genre, and advertised in the trade papers that he wanted a "Frankie Laine-type" sound. Several days later, singer Frankie Laine himself visited Brooks' office offering his services. Brooks had not told Laine that the movie was planned as a comedy, and was embarrassed by how much heart Laine put into singing the song. (The song was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Music, Original Song category)

Mel Brooks also claimed that Hedy Lamarr threatened to sue, saying the film's running "Hedley Lamarr" joke infringed her right to publicity. This is lampooned when Hedley corrects Governor Le Petomane's pronunciation of his name, and Le Petomane replies with "What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874, you'll be able to sue her!” Brooks says they settled out of court for a small sum. A very similar gag, with a male character named "Peter Hedley Lamar, Jr." occurs in the 1941 Buster Keaton short "General Nuisance."

Mel Brooks related how he managed to convince John Wayne to read the script after meeting him in the Warner Brothers studio commissary. Wayne was impressed with the script, but politely declined a cameo appearance, fearing it was "too dirty" for his family image. He is also said to have told Brooks that he "would be first in line to see the film, though."

Mel also put together a collegial group of five writers that included a then up-and-coming young black comic named Richard Pryor. According to Brooks, his group "needed a good black writer" who could help them do "black comedy." Once Pryor was on board, however, he took to the oafish, white Mongo character (ex-NFL player Alex Karras) and Brooks himself ended up writing most of Black Bart's dialogue.

The main nugget on this DVD commentary was the 2 showings that were held at the Warner Brothers studio. Mr. Brooks states that after the film was finally assembled, He showed it to the bosses at Warner Studio. Not one of the bosses laughed and made complaints about the use of the word "nigger", the campfire scene and the punching of a horse, and told Brooks to remove all these elements from the film.

Mel, then arranged another screening, but at this one, got a lot of the Warner's secretaries, common labors and anyone who wanted to see this film. The reaction was very different. The people were laughing through the entire film and as it was over then went back to work and were telling everybody that they had to see Mel Brooks’s new film.

The Warner Bosses then asked Mel what other film Mel had that was making the great "buzz" around the lot. Mel simply told them that it was the same film that you hated and did not laugh at.

The objections of WB about this film stopped. For a film that cost 2.6 million to make and that WB did not want it grossed $119,500,000 (USA) during its numerous runs at the cinema.

Mel has stated a few times that in today's market, this film could not be made and that, to me, is a real tragedy. At time we all need to be able to laugh at ourselves in an honest way. Please see the film when you can.

All time #5 film. Casablanca



If there ever was a classic love story made by Hollywood, this is it.

For the people who have never seen the film and want to know the plot of the film then please click here.

For a love story to work, you must have a great man and a greater lady. In this film we are given Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman). Ricks story is that he is an American Ex-Pat, who owns and operates "Rick's Café Américain", an upscale nightclub and gambling den that attracts a mixed base of customers of Vichy French and Nazi officials, refugees and thieves.

Ilsa Lund fell in love with Rick in Paris; she believed that her husband (Victor Laszlo) had been killed while trying to escape from a Nazi concentration camp. Later, with the German army on the verge of capturing Paris, she learned that he was alive and in hiding. She does not meet Rick on the last train out of Paris and she goes to take care of her husband.

One of the greatest lines in film history set up the reunion of Rick and Ilsa

Ilsa: Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake.
Sam: [lying] I don't know what you mean, Miss Ilsa.
Ilsa: Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By."
Sam: [lying] Oh, I can't remember it, Miss Ilsa. I'm a little rusty on it.
Ilsa: I'll hum it for you. Da-dy-da-dy-da-dum, da-dy-da-dee-da-dum...
[Sam begins playing]
Ilsa: Sing it, Sam.
Sam: [singing] You must remember this / A kiss is still a kiss / A sigh is just a sigh / The fundamental things apply / As time goes by. / And when two lovers woo, / They still say, "I love you" / On that you can rely / No matter what the future brings-...
Rick: [rushing up] Sam, I thought I told you never to play-...
[Sees Ilsa. Sam closes the piano and rolls it away)

The look on Rick's face when he sees her, later in the movie leads to this classic line.

Rick: Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.

This film is filled with classic lines that have been incorporated into all walks of US Entertainment industry. The 2 speeches above have been used in countless TV and films since their introduction back in 1942.

What I have always found interesting about this film is that both of the main stars (Bogart and Bergman) both wanted to be released from their contracts for this film. They both thought that the film was bad and that it could have hurt their Hollywood careers.

The film was shot in a fast mode to get it to the theaters asap. Neither of the main start wanted to be in the film. The film was based on a, then-unproduced play, Everybody Comes to Rick's. Nobody had any real hopes for the film. With all of this it becomes one of, if not the, classic loves story.

This film has a love triangle,(Rick,Ilsa and Victor) For those who have read my past work, I have usually complained about these. But in this rare case, this is what makes the film work.

Ilsa thinks that Victor is dead and, in the most romantic city in the world, Paris, she meets this dashing American who sweeps her off her feet. She feels love again, she feels alive again. She tells her new love that they will leave Paris together but she never shows up for the last train of out Paris. Rick has no clue what happened and blames himself. His love is gone and all that is left is a man who hates life.

The film is a man’s journey toward love and in the end forgiveness for himself. He knows what he must do and it not easy but he does it, he lets the love of his life go.

(In 1987, a specially re-edited version prepared by Joao Luiz Albuquerque was shown at the Rio Film Festival. This version had the ending changed (Ingrid Bergman does not take the plane and goes back in Bogey's arms).

So if you want a happy or a sad film, then you can get both endings with this classic film.

Please see the film when you get the chance.

My #6 All Time Favorite Film:The Battle of Algiers



I know a lot of people have never heard of or seen this film. I finally got to see the unedited version of this film back in 2004. A simple way to describe this film is this.

"The Battle of Algiers" is a film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides, The French and the Algerian. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove to the people of France and to themselves. The Algerians are seeking independence From France. The two clash. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. The scenes of torture by the French and the use of Women as bombers by the Algerians leaves no doubts that both sides want to win this war.

For those who do not know the US Pentagon showed this film back in 2003 to try and explain what could and what was going on in Iraq with this statement.

"How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range. Women plant bombs in cafes. Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor. Sound familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically. To understand why, come to a rare showing of this film."

This is why I had a huge problem with the Pentagon stating that they did know how terrorist were thinking. If they watched this film, they got a textbook on how the enemy will win with a guerrilla warfare campaign.

Since I first saw the film back in 2004 and with the continual watching of this film on DVD. I am still amazed how much new information I catch with each showing of this film.

What really takes this film into the next level is the direction by Gillo Pontecorvo. He shoots the film in black and white and experimented with various techniques to give the film the look of newsreel and documentary film. The effect was convincing enough that American reels carried a disclaimer that "not one foot" of newsreel was used.

I recall seeing that disclaimer back in 2004 and when I saw the final scene of this film. I really thought that I was looking at an old newsreel. It looked that real and the film basically said that the Battle of Algiers will continue.

Another thing I loved about this film was that, it shows both side of this conflict. Neither side is an angel in this film. All sides are shown with their ideas and how they will do whatever it takes to win this war. Please look at how the police are killed in this film by the Algerians and how the police proceed to plant a bomb where civilians live at. Neither side is wrong and both sides feel that they are right.

If you are looking for a French Hero in this film, then the film gives you one in Colonel Mathieu (Played by Jean Martin). What I later discovered about this man was that Martin had also served in a paratroop regiment during the Indochina War as well as the French Resistance, thus giving his character an autobiographical element. He was able to draw upon his real experience and was able to show that the French side has a man who was willing to do exactly what his country wanted to and needed him to do to win this war. (Martin subsequently lost several jobs because he condemned his government's actions in Algeria.)

If you are looking for an Arab hero in this film, then the films gives you one in The film begins and ends from the point of view of Ali la Pointe, played by Brahim Hagiag, who corresponds to the historical figure of the same name. He is a criminal radicalized while in prison and is recruited to the FLN (National Liberation Front) by military commander El-hadi Jafar, a fictional version of Saadi Yacef (a producer and a writer of this film) played by himself. You are shown what he will do to win freedom for his people.

At the time of this review this film is #174 on IMDB's Top 250 This is my all-time favorite French film.

If you are looking for a real look at war where everyone is wrong and no one is truly right, then this is the film for you. Hopefully you with think is is worth you time to try and track down a copy of this film and watch it. The films' language is French and Arabic, so please do not let the need for subtitles deter you from watching a very important film about the insanity of war and those who wage it.

My all time #7 film: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King





To be honest, I had head of somebody back in 2000 trying to make all 3 of J.R.R.Tolkien Lord of the rings books, into a movie. All I remember was my collective "Ho-hum" about it. Even after seeing the previews for months on TV and at the movies, I did not even bother to see the film during the opening weekend. When I saw these #'s on the opening weekend, $66,114,741 (USA) (23 December 2001) (3,359 Screens). I could not believe that these were correct numbers for a 3 hour film.

I had vaguely read all 3 books back in my high school days and I had somewhat of an idea about what was going on in the film. So I decided my next off day from work I would go see the film. I ended up seeing the film twice that day. I could not believe what I had just seen and I wanted to see it again asap.

This was the start of me actually wanting to read more about Tolkien and to soon get these so-called special edition DVD's that I was hearing about for all 3 of thee movies. For a quick plot summary on all 3 of the films please click here

So as 2002 was moving along I, like many other, were eagerly awaiting any spoiler information on the next film that was coming out. When the 4 DVD extended set of #1 went on sale, I purchased it and went home to watch all 4 of the dvd's.

Then soon it was December 2002 and it was time to join the other fans at one of the many midnight showing of the "Two Towers". By the time the film was over, all I wanted to go was go home take a quick nap and see it 2 more times the very next day. In 2003, I did the exact thing with ROTK, go see midnight film, nap, go see the film two more times the next day. I think I saw the last part 6 times total at the movie theater.

In my DVD collection, I have all 3 of the movies and i want all of them to be released on Blu-ray, so I can see these films in glorious Hi-Def.

Now, as for being a huge fan of the book, to this day, it is still a bore for me to try and read these books. Its style just never really works for me. So when Peter Jackson announced all of the small changes from the book to the movie. It never really bothered me. If it made the film work then I was all for it. If you are a huge fan of these books then the films have left out people and events such as Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire.

The idea of this film is very simple, take a ring into a mountain and drop the ring into a lava fire. Now it sounds very simple, but it isn't and that's what I loved about these 3 films. I really had no idea what was coming next and you had better be ready for what comes next at you.

For the longest time I could not understand the ending with Frodo. I could never understand why he was acting lost. Then while watching the Extended Version of ROTK, I saw a part that explained that Tolkien has fought in the first World War, then Frodo finally made scenes to me.

Frodo had returned from the war but the war was still with Frodo. When he states that his wound has never really healed. To me, Tolkien was talking about the lost men from WW1 who never were really home and suffered the rest of their lives because of what they had seen and done in the war. When I rewatched the film after learning this, Frodo becomes more of an empty person to me. He did all that was asked of him and a whole lot more, but now that the war was over, he had not found love nor joy. I always thought that Gandalf knew this and blamed himself for it.

My best advice for this film is to take a Saturday or Sunday off and watch all 3 of the extended version back to back. This way you will be able to see it as one huge complete film instead of the 3 smaller ones.

My #8 All Time Favorite Film: The Shawshank Redemption


Of all of the films on my list, this is the one film, I really did not like the first time that I saw it. For a long time I never could understand why a lot of people were falling all over themselves trying to praise this film. It then dawned on me the reason was that I had never seen the entire film all the way yet.

By the time I had seen this film in its entirety it was being shown on TNT (USA TV channel) on a regular basis. I had a Saturday evening off and the film was on. I could not believe that after the film was over that I refused to see it at the movie theater back in 1994. At the time of this writing, this film is #1 on IMDB Top 250 movies.

So what changed my mind? Try seeing a film half way into and try not really wanting to sit down to see a film. Then when you finally see the film, that you have a such low expectations of, A great film emerged. I had to admit that I was wrong in my earlier passing of this film.

Now the story is very simple and if you haven't seen the film then please stop reading now and go rent or purchase the film on DVD.

In 1947, a young banker named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine. Also at the prison is inmate, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman)who is once again rejected for parole after having served twenty years of his life sentence shortly before Andy's arrival. Andy gradually becomes acquainted with Red's circle of friends in the prison.

What I really liked about the first part of this film was that Andy was not like the other people in this jail. He knows that he is innocent and tries to keep that idea of hope in his mind.

What really started to make this film into a great one was the part where , while tarring the roof of Shawshank's license plate factory, Andy overhears the head prison guard, Captain Hadley, discussing the taxes he will have to pay on an inheritance he will soon receive from his dead brother. Although he nearly gets thrown off the roof, Andy's knowledge of making the guards inheritance tax-free soon earn him the respect of the guards. The only thing that Andy ask for is 3 beers each for his co-workers while they are putting tar on the roof. If only, for a few moments, the men feel free.

Andy is soon given his own little office inside the prison and is doing the warden paperwork when the warden devises a program to put prison inmates to work for local construction projects, exploiting the prisoners' free labor and putting money in the wardens person numerous accounts.

The scene where Andy explains to Red how he avoids a paper trail with all of the money coming into the prison, via the wardens' money working idea. Pay attention to the details of his creation of Randall Stevens. How he pulled it off even amazes Red.

The film ultimately turns when a young prisoner by the name of Tommy Williams, tells Red and Andy about an ex cellmate: Elmo Blatch, who had gleefully described murdering two people who fit the description of Andy's wife and her lover, and how her "hotshot banker" husband got blamed for it and how he got away with it.

When Andy goes to the warden, the warden fails to believe him and then throws Andy into solitary, while the warden set into motion of killing Tommy. Now Andy fells that he has lost everything. He tells Red that if he ever gets out of prison he should go to a specific hayfield near Buxton, Maine to find something that has been buried there. The following morning, Andy is missing from his cell. In a fury over Andy's disappearance, the warden throws one of Andy's rocks through a poster of Raquel Welch, revealing a large hole that Andy had used to escape.

Andy has used the Randall Stevens alias to walk away with over $400,000 of the wardens money. At one of the banks that Andy visits he ask the clerk to mail off a package for him. The package has the ledgers and deposit slips for all of the wardens illegal activities. When the police come to arrest the warden, he commits suicide.

The film ends with Red getting out of jail and going to Mexico to join Andy in a fish boat venture.

To me the films main story is "Hope." We see a man who should have never had gone to jail ultimately become a better man for it. A lot of other critics have also discussed the hope of this one man and how it helped to save some of the other prisoners. That's why the film work and becomes a great one in my opinion. Hope in man and in the end hope in himself.

Please see the film when you get the chance.