At The Movies

Seeing three movies in a week brought back memories.

In the past week I went to the movies three times. I watched Up In The Air, Sherlock Holmes and Young Victoria.

Up is a mixture. There are funny moments, serious moments and sad moments. George Clooney is at his peak. It’s difficult to imagine another actor in this role.

Sherlock was fun. Forget Basil Rathbone’s portrayals. This is Robert Downey, Jr.’s movie. While Jude Law holds his own, Downey can make an unforgettable dramatic experience by reading the telephone book. The movies ends with an obvious setup for the sequel. They likely filmed it at the same time.

The last movie was absolutely great. Emily Blount has the title role. I cannot remember seeing more personality poured into a character. She made the young queen into a real, not just reel, person. Rupert Friend also did an outstanding job of giving dimension to Prince Albert. That role could easily have turned into little more than a wall off which the primary character bounced her lines. Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee deserves credit for bringing out the best in his cast.

Years ago I was at loose ends when a friend, a theater manager, asked if I could help him out for a couple of months. He needed a projectionist. My only previous such experience was filling in for a soldier in Korea who was off to Japan for a week. He ran the USO theater. That was long before the days of a multiplex. The dual projectors held only 15-minute reels and operated by carbon arc, truly ancient, pre-technology.

Anyway, after 29 days I was talked into management of other Carmike theaters. That was when Carmike was the largest exhibitor, not 3^rd or 4^th as now. See what happens when I leave. My experience there led to one of my patents, an automation system for cinemas.

This temporary career had its good points and bad. One of the bad was that my wife and I became accustomed to seeing every movie we had any interest in during its first run. The movies, popcorn, candies and Coke were free. The addiction to the cinema continues. The free tickets and refreshments don’t.

But then my brain reached even further back for more distant memories. I was constantly returning to the Groves of Academe. It was the 1960s. I was in Los Angeles and had returned to college once again. One of the subjects I was taking was Chinese. I had a couple of interesting classmates.

One was a Japanese-American musician. He would, on occasion, show up late and apologize, saying Frank Sinatra or other musical luminary held him up. He brought a collection of oriental instruments to class and demonstrated them for the class. He scored the Marlon Brando movie, Sayonora.

He also wrote that memorable Kool-Aid jingle, “Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid tastes great. Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid can’t wait.” He earned more for that jingle than for scoring an Academy Award-winning movie.

The other memorable classmate was James Hong, a Chinese-American actor, writer and director. His filmography on the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) may be the longest they have. They list 345 credited roles, plus directing and writing credits. If you ever watched television or saw a movie, you have seen James. Perhaps his most noted role was as Dr. Chew, the Chinese maker of eyes for the replicants (robots) in Blade Runner.

Other major roles were in Big Trouble in Little China and Chinatown.

I recall that James preferred to think of himself as a writer. Our class was composed of both first- and second-year students. When it came time for our first-year midterms, we were each supposed to give a 5-minute speech in Chinese to the class. James prevailed upon the professor, Mrs. Hu, to let him write a short play for us to perform for the second-year students. It made our exam much easier. Thanks, James.

Sadly, I failed to keep in touch. My loss. While I remember him well, I doubt he remembers me. After all, it has been about 45 years.

When one of my sons became an actor and model I suggested he get in touch with James. My children do not always follow recommendations. His loss.

.

Tagged as: academy award, basil rathbone, big trouble in little china, blade runner, carbon arc, carmike, chinatown, Chinese, coke, emily blount, filmography, george clooney, groves of academe, james hong, japan, jean-marc vallee, jude law, kool aid, korea, marlon brando, movie, popcorn, replicants, robert downey, rupert friend, sayonora, sherlock holmes, up in the air, young victoria