Over at Banana Oil, Ian says
that he’s shocked, simply shocked, that I’d never before seen The
Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, and that I have to see
Once Upon A Time In The West when it comes out on DVD. It’s
another Sergio Leone spaghetti western, and it has an interesting
cast–Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Keenan Wynn, and also Jack
Elam, who I’ve only ever seen before as the sidekick in the James Garner
movies Support Your Local Sheriff (outstanding) and
Support Your Local Gunfighter (eh…so so.). So you know I’m
curious.

And of course, Ian was right about A Town Like Alice, only he
doesn’t know that I think so because I haven’t reviewed it yet. I’ll get
to it sometime this week, probably.

Regarding Charles Bronson…I just had occasion to watch
The Great Escape, another classic movie I’d not previously gotten
around to, and while there was considerable stuff to like about it, I was
most impressed with Bronson. He plays a Frenchman named Danny who
escaped to England at the beginning of the war and enlisted in the RAF.
In the flick he’s a “tunnel king”, that is, he’s in charge of building
the tunnel they’ll use to escape. It’s a role almost entirely unlike his
usual shtick, and if I hadn’t seen his name in the credits and been
looking for him, I’d never have recognized him.

I suppose Ian’s going to be shocked again, now.