Year of Eastwood #35

Honkytonk Man (1982)

Starring: Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood
Directed by Eastwood

Clint reached a point in his career in the 80’s that he could get just about any movie made that he wanted. It didn’t matter if there wasn’t much of a script with Clint involved it was going to make some money.

Case in point, Honkytonk Man. I imagine the pitch went something like … a down and out Country singer gets his shot at the Opry - and some stuff happens - and then, why not, he gets real sick in the end. Oh yea, and Clint is going to sing in the movie. And just further his point, Clint puts his own son in the movie.

Honkytonk Man opens up in some dust bowl and it’s feeling like a twister moving in. Clint makes his big entrance as he crashes his fancy car thru the family farm. Not sure if he’s sick or really drunk or both. After moping around for a few days, Clint’s sister decides the only smart thing to do is let her young son go along with Clint to the Opry, just to make sure he gets there safe. And might as well let grandpa go along as well, you know, just for kicks.

It’s a dirt road trip! Shenanigans ensue as the guys travel from town to town - drinking, smoking, and playing in juke joints. Grandpa isn’t quite as much fun as everybody thought he’d be - so let's get rid of him. Enter a loopy young gal who’s got her eyes set on Clint and a career in Nashville … but Clint ain’t interested and the gal can’t sing. Clint helps get the young boy laid … a fact that I’m sure has followed Clint’s son around his whole life. Every now and then Clint coughs up a fit.

Now, a general rule is that I try not to criticize young actors, because I’m sure the whole experience of making a movie is pretty overwhelming … so I’ll just say that Kyle’s acting coach on the set of Honkytonk Man was none other than Sondra Locke.

Clint, on the other hand, is a grown man - so I’m sure he can take some criticism. Don’t make a movie about an undiscovered musical talent when the man can’t sing. Clint sort of whisper-sings (see Paint Yer Wagon) and we’re supposed to believe that audiences are captivated by his every note. Plus, Clint surrounds himself with some of the greats of C&W, but ... hey, let’s let Ringo sing the songs.

Clint finally makes it to his Opry audition. Of course, the room is a hush as the Opry hasn’t seen a talent like this in a long time, but Clint gets sick. Some fancy record producer hears the audition and wants to make some Clint records because the people need to hear this music.

The whole movie feels like they were just winging it. Just roll film, Clint will come up with something. So this guy drives this pickup and he’s got an ornery orangutan with him. Or he has to sneak into Russia to steal a jet that shoots mind missiles. OK people, it’s a wrap … print it.

Year of Eastwood #34

Bird (1988)

Starring: Forest Whitaker

Directed by Eastwood

Clint likes the jazz. Composer, aficionado, musician. So it’s only natural that he would tackle the genre in a bio pic. Loosely-based biographies of musicians have always done well … Coal Miner’s Daughter, Ray, Walk the Line … all have gone on to Oscar glory. So which jazz legend should Clint’s movie be about? Maybe Dizzy. Maybe Coltrane. But Clint had once seen Charlie Parker perform in 1945 so he decided to focus on Parker. A sax player better know as the Yardbird.

The Bird likes the smack. Which really shouldn’t be much of a surprise since most of these bio pics include some addiction that the star must battle as they rise in popularity. The Bird only reached a certain amount of fame while he was living, but he sure did like the crank. It didn’t do much good for his liver condition - but that’s what the blues is all about. He also has to overcome the death of his young daughter. Which he should have thought about when he was shooting up the junk. Eventually, he gives up the stuff - instead just drinking perfectly-legal alcohol … but by then his liver had had enough. But the dude sure liked the H. (I really don’t know what I’m talking about anymore … I had to look up some slang on the internets.)

Forest Whitaker portrays the Bird with his usual oafish charm which adds to the sense that Parker had all the talent to be a superstar, but was maybe lacking the charisma to be as successful as some of his contemporaries. Like a fine artist, Bird’s music has come to be more appreciated after his death. The film follows Bird’s career as he plays jazz clubs during a time when the style of music was considered scandalous.

The film opens with Bird jamming to a little ditty called Lester Leaps In. Which was the topic of an interpretation for my first studio in Architecture. I must have listened to that clip of music a hundred times, trying to pull some kind of form out of the composition. I’m not sure that I would actually recognize any other jazz music, so it was great to be able to re-visit those memories.
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I figure sooner or later there will be a bio-pic for just about every celebrity out there. It’s a lot easier to watch a movie to learn about somebody than having to look it up on Wikipedia. Still, I’m not really looking forward to watching the Bobcat Goldthwait story.

Clint directs Bird with a reverence for the music and artist that comes across in the film. Throwing in a few artsy-fartsy touches like the shot of a flying cymbol crashing to the ground. Not really sure why it was a cymbol … guess a saxamophone would have made more of a clunking sound.

House Project #1

Re-buffed, Re-sanded and Re-jected

Well, first up for the many tasks I hope to accomplish with the new house was to refinish the wood floors in the two bedrooms, living/dining area, and the kitchen. I did my share of research on the subject, got some insightful advice from many, and decided I was pretty confident this was something I could accomplish.

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Some before pics ...

Everyone I spoke to that has refinished their floors said they did it once ... wouldn't ever do it again ... but they did get it done, once. Well, I learned my lesson...

First up, I rented an oscillating sander that was supposed to be more user friendly than it's bigger brother the belt sander. If you ever find yourself in a place where you might want to refinish your own floors, I can tell you ... go with the belt sander. I must have gone over that living/dining area 8-10 times and still didn't seem to get all of the old finish off.

I was warned not to leave that sander stationary or it would gouge a groove right into the floor. I tell you, I could have left that sander running, gone out for an iced cream, and come back and that thing would still be sitting there shaking in the same spot.

Next up was the edges and corners with the handheld sander. Not much to say about that thing except the whole thing is a misnomer.

The cleaning/staining went much better and I was encouraged with the progress at the end of many hard days work - that everything might turn out pretty good.

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Sorry about the spots. I think my camera was still dusty from the sanding ...

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I waited the appropriate drying time and set to apply the water-based polyurethine finish. That was somewhat tricky to make sure to overlap the finish and apply all areas evenly. The next day, I was disappointed to see that the impressive stain had lightened quite a bit and all the flaws that concerned me were there plain as day. I followed thru and applied the other coats, but the end product just hasn't turned out as I hoped.

Well, after the big move, I was so disappointed with the floors that I decided to try lightly sanding once more and applying one more coat of the finish. I was pleased with the results, as this coat seemed to go on much more smoothly and after it dried, I would say the end result was 90% better than before. Moms seem to have all the answers and mine suggested that maybe I was applying the finish when it was too cold outside. I think she was right. Well, I am relieved.

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Year of Eastwood #33

a Perfect World (1993)

Starring: Kevin Costner, Eastwood
Directed by Eastwood

Have you visited the Ebert and Roeper website? They have catalogued movie reviews for the last 20 years, and for movie geeks (like myself) it is a gold mine of cinematic fodder. It is really interesting to watch reviews of films and compare the duo’s initial reaction to the longevity of certain films. I’ve spent more than a few moments revisiting reviews of Clint’s films and am surprised at times by their reactions. For one thing, both Siskel and Ebert gave Unforgiven thumbs-down. Pretty shocking. They generally like all of the Dirty Harry sequels and another one of their favorites was a Perfect World, a film that bombed at the box office in the early 90’s.



Perfect World was Clint’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Unforgiven. Clint teamed up with, arguably, the biggest movie star in the world - Kevin Costner. Costner had starred in blockbusters like The Untouchables and Field of Dreams - and he had even collected his own windfall of Academy Awards with Dances with Wolves. Clint seemed to have caught Kevin at the perfect time … it was still a few years until Waterworld and The Postman pretty much sank Costner for good. Reportedly, Clint only intended to direct the film, but Costner would only sign on if Clint agreed to act in the film as well.

Perfect World re-visits the Alcatraz escape, but this time it’s Kevin busting out of the slammer. Just so we know that Kevin is really a good guy, he escapes with a lunk-head who likes to beat up and/or grope everyone he comes across on the outside. These said wandering hands get the duo cornered as lunk-head has lustful intentions on a young mother - and the guys have to take a little boy hostage in order to make their getaway. Turns out the kid is a Jehovah’s Witness and has been denied all the usual childhood pleasures, such as cotton candy, cuss words, and Casper the Friendly Ghost costumes. What’s up with those JW’s? Both Prince and Michael Jackson have become devout followers … and look where they are now. To get the lunk-head out of the way, Kevin puts a bullet in his head after he gets a little too grabby with the boy.

Enter Clint, Texas Ranger, hot on the trail of the escaped convicts. Clint is mostly there for comic relief as he rambles around in a decked-out airstream trailer. Laura Dern is along for the ride as the by-the-book criminologist. They trade barbs as Dern questions Clint’s tactics in tracking down the escaped convicts. Clint’s in his serious, man-hunting mode and he ain’t got time for this chick and her fancy talking. I’m sure if they hadn’t crashed the trailer, Clint and her would have been making out in no time. Hey, that’s just the way the Clintster operates.

Clint has had his share of blockbusters, and also quite a few clunkers as well. There’s also a side category of Clint films that despite their poor reception have gone on to garner a cult following: Eiger Sanction and Paint Yer Wagon (to name a couple). Perfect World somewhat falls into that category because quite a few people praise the film as an under-rated gem (including Mr. Siskel and Mr. Ebert). Actually, the film doesn’t hold up too well in the canon of Clint’s best. The bond between the boy and Costner just doesn’t connect and there just isn’t enough development in the story to really be concerned about the final scenes of the film. It really isn’t surprising that the public’s reaction to Perfect World was a collective meh at the time, we had other things on our minds … like Prince changing his name to a symbol and all that concern if Michael Jackson would ever find the right woman.

Year of Eastwood #32

Mystic River (2003)

Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins

Directed by Eastwood

Mystic River was supposed to be Clint’s return to Oscar glory. The intense, multi-layered drama had an all-star cast and Clint firing on all cylinders with a script about the mystery surrounding the murder of a young woman in middle-class Boston. Mystic River received multiple nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) but when awards season rolled around, Clint ran into the buzz saw that was Lord of the Rings and the film walked away with only a couple of awards.

Sean Penn, the Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins were childhood buddies, playing street ball and other concrete-related activities. One day when one of the boys was abducted for a few days, the innocence of youth is lost and repercussions are still felt years later. As adults, Sean has (somewhat) put his thug past behind him and Kevin joined the force. Tim just kinda mopes around all day. Then one fateful evening, Sean’s teenage daughter disappears and the three friends are pulled back together once again.

Sean grieves and regresses back into his old ways. Kevin interviews suspects and talks to his estranged wife on his cell phone. Tim kinda mopes around all day. Old wounds are opened up again, secrets are revealed, and stories begin to unravel. Heavy stuff that don’t really make for an enjoyable film, but one that is certainly deserving of all the praise it received.

The truly disturbing performance in the film is from Marcia Gay Harden. As the wife of Tim, she becomes suspicious of her husband’s story about being bloodied and mugged on the night of the murder. As Tim struggles with his own demons, her eventual betrayal ends Tim up on the short end of a beat down at the docks. Sean has lost the only pure love he has known in his life, has killed the wrong man, and ends up the new kingpin on the block. Kevin gives him a good stare down though.

Clint has developed into a real actor’s director. In recent years, he has won Oscars for Gene Hackman, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman; and nominations for Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Harden, and a couple for himself. This film won a Best Actor award for Sean and Supporting Actor for Tim. Now, Sean does a fine job and career-wise is probably deserving of an Oscar or two. But this particular year, Bill Murray gave a subtle performance in Lost in Translation that deserved recognition. Bill got robbed, and my enthusiasm for the Academy Awards has never been the same since.

Drake Bulldogs

It’s a monumental year for Drake Basketball. The Men’s Basketball team, which has not had a winning season in 20 years, has turned it all the way around in 2008. The Bulldogs have won the Missouri Valley Conference title for the first time since 1971, after winning 20 straight games and taking a commanding lead in the standings. The team has beaten every other major school in the state of Iowa and has been rewarded by being ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in 30 years. Drake finally seems destined to make it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time that I can remember (although, Drake did make it to the Final Four in 1969 … losing to eventual champ UCLA (with future Kareem). The team has struggled a bit down the stretch but did beat the #8 team on the road on Saturday - Drake’s first win over a Top 10 team since 1982. Next up, the conference tourney, then on to the NCAA’s … go Duckheads!

Year of Eastwood #31

Midnight in the Garden
of Good and Evil (1997)

Starring: Kevin Spacey, John Cusack
Directed by Eastwood

Midnight jumps right into the action as we are introduced to the high society of the deep south. Lavish parties, drunken gentlemen, shrimp etouffee, and painted up hussies - this joints going to be rockin' well past midnight ... or at least until somebody throws up in the driveway.

Cusack is a failed novelist visiting Savannah, Georgia to write a magazine piece about the high falootin’ party scene attended by upper crust of the old crusties. The leader of these shaky-doo’s is Spacey, a fancy lad who has a strange relationship with a trashy hustler played by Jude Law. Law has made his rounds pleasing all the guys and gals of the South and he and Spacey argue quite a bit and Law ruffles up his doilies in a huff. Like so many of his movies - Jude ends up dead and Spacey has to stand trial for his murder.

Meanwhile, Cusack runs around Dixie enjoying the nightlife … kicking back at piano bars drinking Mint Juleps and carousing around graveyards with an old high priestess who likes to throw around chicken’s feet and profusing wisdoms like “yes um, the spirits is angries.” There’s never a bad time for a love interest and this one feels really tacked on as Clint’s daughter Allison shows up for a few scenes just to flaunt around town with Cusack … uhh, I’m having a Sondra flashback.

Just for fun, there’s a transsexual, Lady Chablis - who wisecracks with Cusack, vamps it up at a Cotillion and then because it’s narratively convenient … has to provide wisecracking testimony at the murder trial. But it’s not really clear what she’s adding to the trial and her scene doesn’t really break the case wide open. So the trial continues on and Spacey lies about the events of that fateful night - Cusack finds out the truth and is surprisingly horrified by all the going ons - until the jury, lead by Clint-staple Geofferey Lewis who likes to keep horseflies on leashes, reaches their verdict.

Oh wait, then Spacey has a heart attack and Cusack and Allison go to the park to enjoy a picnic of Lady Chablis’ special chicken. Feels like Clint had quite a bit of material to squeeze into 2 ½ hours and he wanted to remain true to the material. The novel was a best seller and I’m sure the whole Lady Chablis angle made for some interest reading but by the late 90’s the nation had been Crying Gamed out and the reaction to this film was a big collective yawn.

Midnight is actually quite a misstep in Clint’s career. I’m not actually sure what drew Clint toward this story, but it doesn’t really feed into his strengths as a director and story-teller. Clint is a born and raised California golden boy - Midnight takes place in the deep South, rich in tradition … and apparently voodoo and transsexuals. None of this really equals a connection with the material. His straight-forward approach which has worked so effectively in other projects just kind of falls flat with this courtroom drama.

Oh yea, Clint doesn’t even appear in Midnight, unless he’s a gargoyle or something.

Year of Eastwood #30

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Starring: Eastwood, Hilary Swank
Directed by Eastwood

Let’s take a moment to look back on the life that is Clint Eastwood … TV star that made his big break into movies with Spaghetti Westerns … biggest movie star in the world thanks in part to the Dirty Harry movies … quite the ladies’ man with the squint and the swagger … mayor of a small town in California … Academy Award winner with his triumphant return to the Western genre … everything else has to be gravy.

By the turn of the century, Clint had garnered as much acclaim as a director as he has as an actor. In 2004, Clint turned his attention to a collection of short stories written by a struggling cut-man and the result was a sleeper hit that cleaned up at the Oscars once again for Clint. In what was considered a bit of an upset at the time, Million $$$ Baby won Clint his second awards for Best Director and Best Picture.

Clint has said that this film is his final appearance in front of the camera - and what a way to go out, as the role earned Clint his second Oscar nomination as Best Actor (Unforgiven). Clint is a struggling boxing trainer always missing out on his break into the big time. The fighter he has spent years slowly preparing for a title fight jumps ship right before winning the title. All this strife is sure to leave any guy hardened. Dude’s so cranky, he could even lead a priest to curse.

So when spunky Hilary shows up at Clint’s gym, he don’t want nothing to do with no girl fighters. Hilary doesn’t give up so easy. She’s been munching on left-over steaks and dumpster fries just to save up enough money to pay for her gym membership. Clint needs the money cuz the 24 Hr. Fitness next door has challenged him to a winner-takes-all dodge ball competition. Slowly but surely, Hilary wins Clint over by showing up everyday and pounding on the bag until Clint agrees to take her under his tutelage.

Million $$$ Baby has more daddy issues than Lost … is there anybody on that island who has slapped, punched, or shot their dad? Hilary’s dad was the only caring person in her life, but daddy left early and momma was poor. Clint has lost touch with his daughter and despite his several attempts she has no interest in knowing him. Clint never seems to have any luck with the family life. Clint has always been the epitome of the swinging bachelor … never anyone back home to slow him down. A few times he’s been divorced or widowed, but so far in this Year of Eastwood, Clint’s only been married once … and even in that one he had to share his wife with Lee Marvin.

For skeptics, Hilary’s rise to the top of the women’s boxing world is unbelievable. She virtually steps into the ring and wins fight after fight without even taking a punch. When she quickly makes it to the title fight, the champ is such a blatant cheater that the referee must have had a lot of other things on his mind (like how to make his mortgage payment) instead of actually paying attention to the fight.

It’s probably not much of a spoiler by now to say that things don’t turn out too well for Hilary in the end. She won her first Oscar as a girl in boy’s clothing who gets beaten and killed by a couple of Nebraska good ol’ boys. This go-round she wins another Oscar having to spend the final third of the movie motionless in a hospital bed strapped to ventilators. The final scenes of Million $$$ Baby are agonizing, as Clint struggles with the decision to grant Hilary’s last wish.

Clint has spent his career building his macho screen presence, but this film - along with others such as Bridges of Madison County - have demonstrated his astute skill as a moving story teller.

The House ... before pictures

The ladder isn't included.

Living area.

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That's one funky kitchen.

Bedroom.

Basement.

Downstairs bath.

Sun porch.

a place for my bunnies...

Year of Eastwood #29

The Dead Pool (1988)

Starring: Eastwood

Directed by Buddy Van Horn

The fifth Dirty Harry film finds our loveable McGruff the Crime Dog having to deal with the media getting in his face every time he breaks open a big case. Harry is now a celebrity and he can’t tell the difference between a mob hit and autograph hounds. That liberal media is always causing trouble.

The Dead Pool tries its best to be topical. The title is taken from a morbid game where players try to pick which celebrity is going to die next. McGruff ends up on some of the lists and he ain’t none too happy about being included with the Buddy Epsens and Shelley Winters. But that’s the price you pay for celebrity. Some people would do anything to get their face of the tube, even setting yourself on fire. All these sound like cutting edge stuff but the film just kinda clunks along.

There is some fun with one scene where McGruff is chased thru the streets of San Fran by a remote control car equipped with explosives. It’s got all the standard moves of any car chase, but it’s kinda amusing to watch McGruff speeding away from a miniature Vette. Until it blows up and nearly kills McGruff’s new partner … guess that’s no surprise by now.

Watching 20 years later, the fun in watching this movie is McGruff’s co-stars who went on to fame of their own. Patricia Clarkson takes over the Sondra Locke part as a driven tv reporter who hounds McGruff for a story but ends up falling for the old coot. Patricia went on to be an indie film favorite in The Station Agent and Pieces of April. Liam Neesen shows up as an egotistical horror film director who butts heads with McGruff. Liam, of course, went on to play a Master Jedi in some Star Wars movie.



The biggest surprise is Jim Carrey, mugging it up as junkie rock star Patches or Squares or something, who lip sync’s his way thru Welcome to the Jungle during the filming of a music video. The song was lifted from Guns N Roses before they hit it big time and it’s beyond over the top to watch Carrey pretending to be screetching like Axl. Slash even shows up in a cameo. Carrey follows it up by overdosing on some designer drug and drops dead five minutes into his big break. Clint must of taken a liking to Carrey as he also played an Elvis impersonator in Pink Cadillac before he went on to dumb and dumber things.

There’s been some pressure on Clint to make a “final” Dirty Harry film. Which of course would be a lousy idea, but hey the media has to bug the old guy about something. So far, Clint has resisted unlike some of the more desperate among us (Sharon Stone with Basic Instinct 2, Schwartzenegger with Terminator 3, and Stallone with Rocky VI and Rambo IV (I think). Clint has said he can’t imagine what Harry could do to make an interesting movie at this point … collect retirement checks? I think maybe we can put this one to rest…