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Reviews
Route 66: Blues for the Left Foot (1962)
Outstanding episode: Excellent script and memorable performance by Elizabeth Seal
Since another reviewer was lukewarm on this episode, I'm motivated to make a correction: this is one of my favorite Route 66 episodes. First, the script by Leonard Freeman is excellent. Tod and Buz are working at CBS Television City when they encounter an old crush of Tod's from his college days, named Rosemarie Brown, a dancer whose actor husband has just died after battling alcoholism. She is understandably depressed, so the men try to cheer her up, and encourage her to audition for a dance role at the studio. The script is clearly written by a show-biz insider who works out memorable characters most notably the dancer herself, and the executive producer, wonderfully played by Akim Tamiroff. We are kept in suspense: will Rosemarie be able to battle her depression? If yes, will she win a role in the chorus line against younger dancers in better shape?
Some have said that Seal's performance is "flat," but come on! She is playing a woman whose husband has just died. Of course she looks a little depressed at the beginning. But she expertly portrays Rosemarie's efforts to climb out of sadness and re-establish herself as a dancer. It's a perfect line when Tod is urging her to audition, and she looks down at the table, saying, "Oh, I couldn't." Then she looks up, manages one-tenth of a smile, and says, "Could I?" We are rooting for her all the way. Seal has a wonderfully expressive face and amazing eyes, all of which she uses to great advantage.
If you are even the smallest Route 66 fan, watch this episode. You will enjoy it.
The Natural (1984)
A very b-o-r-i-n-g movie; and I like baseball and movies about it
This movie is extremely long and boring, and I am a person who likes baseball and movies about it! The character Roy Hobbs wanders through a series of events that have little connection and no motivation. Roy does not appear to have any reason whatsoever to play baseball or to be good at it.
Robert Redford as Hobbs looks bored, and he is stiff and wooden, just as he was during the worst moments of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, when he was young and inexperienced. The other big-name actors, such as Robert Duvall and Glenn Close, try hard but the script gives them nothing to work with. To make matters worse, this travesty is two hours and 18 minutes long.
The only thing remarkable is the period sets, costumes, cars, etc. Someone obviously worked hard on these items.
For a good move in the baseball genre, try For the Love of the Game (1999). It's not a great picture, but it is decent, and at least it has a plot that makes sense and characters with clear motivations.