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savantelle
Reviews
ABC Weekend Specials: Scruffy (1980)
The scariest movie ever CONTAINS SPOILERS
I saw this movie about fifteen years ago, and I was shocked at how horrible it was then. Looking back, I wonder why such a frightening movie was released to kids. A summary is as follows: [WARNING, total spoilers] Scruffy is a single birth to a mother dog. Their owners have to move from their house because it's condemned and they can't take the dogs, so they leave them in the yard for a neighbor to pick up. The mother dog is confused and hides in the house, which the demolition team soon sets ablaze.
She climbs the chimney to safety, pup in tow. They are adopted by a firefighter, but soon Scruffy's mom gets wanderlust and the two set off again. In a scene reminiscent of Bambi, Scruffy's mother gets gunned down. Now the poor lost dog is orphaned, lost, and did I mention that it's winter?
While hiding in a park, she meets a hobo who takes her in, and the two live blissfully under a bridge. He teaches Scruffy how to perform tricks, and they manage to make a living off the change people throw at the dog walking on her hind legs. (But how much money does a homeless guy need?) One night, the hobo gets mugged, and is so distraught by the attack that he spills the tonic that he needs to calm himself down. He collapses, an ambulance comes and he dies. Meanwhile, Scruffy manages to fall into the river, and is rescued by a junkyard dog right before she drowns. She lives with them then, one is a drunken Great Dane and one is a Collie who thinks an old boot is her dead puppy. They get into tangles and fights with other junkyard dogs and then eventually wind up in the pound. Just before Scruffy and this other dog are about to be euthanized they are adopted by this family, and I think Scruffy wins a beauty pageant and she also has a big pile of puppies. While it does end OK (I guess, even though it's sort of doggie incest), I personally was disgusted by the unhappy nature of this movie. I will never share it with my children.
And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen... (2002)
what the heck was this?
I saw this film while I was in France and I must say that it confused me. It is a story of a jewel thief and a young singer who each end up in Morocco at the same time, run into one another and form a connection. Simple enough? Well, the problem is that this is the sort of film that has ambiguity in both chronology (the film is not played entirely in order) and in reality (did what i just saw really happen, or was it only a dream?). Given those parameters, as well as the film being bilingual, it was really hard to follow, and I was not sure as to what happened at the end. I imagine some deep artsy types could understand this film better than I could, and it may require more than one viewing to understand.
M*A*S*H (1972)
M*A*S*H
I missed the series the first time through, as I was a mere tot at the end of the run. However, within the past year I have begun to see lots of reruns and to really appreciate the series and the cast members from the more lovable to the annoying (RIP Larry Linville) and can relate to them. Fortunately, many of the actors are still visible on other television shows. I first remember Alan Alda from Scientific American Frontiers and was drawn to the scientific personality. The brief stint on ER was also captivating.
I think the humor of M*A*S*H and the preoccupation with sex make it more believable. There is nothing nice about war. And this show demonstrates no glamour. But I love it anyway and would tolerate infinite reruns.