#FILM
It’s been articulated here in bits and pieces – the last year or so have brought life-changing alterations to the road most travelled for yours truly. Adjustment has been difficult. Quite upsetting, in fact. Finer details of what it has entailed aren’t about to be re-hashed here. In ways though, the toughest alterations are the ones most wouldn’t even think of.
Like going for a few pints. It wasn’t done every night, or anything like it, but was still treasured. That’s simply not a runner in its former incarnation. Slowly but surely, however, the goalposts are being shifted to suit. Visits to the watering hole now take place at earlier junctures on the clock and a new perch has been found at what will, for me, always be Barney Reilly’s window, in Brady’s bar!
Earlier consumption does, however, mean hitting the pillow long before what would’ve been the norm not all that long ago. One change that has turned out to be positive from all the transformation has been a switch of television service providers. Thus, a far greater breadth of programming has become available.
Now, I’d never claim to be a film buff. In fact, most of what I like Police Academy, Beverly Hills Cop etc. would doubtless be considered stupid by more discerning minds. There was a time if somebody asked me my favourite movie the automatic answer would be Braveheart. Maybe most due to part of it being filmed in Trim. Though in fairness it has been viewed multiple times.
In terms of a ‘serious’ flick, mind you, if one could title the following thus, The Shawshank Redemption will forever top any such list. Mostly, however, the movie channels are thralled when one is in most need of a laugh. Recently, I’ve found myself watching Blazing Saddles four times in the space of about a week.
Maybe it’s just me, or perhaps the more often you see something, it can portray deeper meaning, but, even Mel Brooks’ classic western parody has parts to it that hit a nerve in life. Look no further than my favourite character, Mongo. Not only owing to his seminal line: “Mongo just a pawn in the game of life”. Sure that could be applied to any of us.
No, what attracts me more to Alex Karass’s character is, in a strange way given his famous one-liner, that he doesn’t mind being different. Consider that he, along with Gene Wilder’s character, befriends Sheriff Bart when the rest of Rock Ridge wants to lynch him. Or maybe what resonates greatest is that, when the rest go hither and tither on horseback or with carts, Mongo is at his happiest getting about on his bovine conveyance!