Long story short, a few days ago I hurt my back, and I’ve had some time on my hands since I couldn’t work, much less mow and clean up the yard. Those are among the chores I have scheduled for myself every week, but I won’t bore you with the details. I apologize to my neighbors, but I do have someone hired to clean up my yard this week, and I’m thankful for that. Hopefully, Cindy will stay away long enough for them to get it done. Not my sister, mind you, but the tropical storm.
Back to the story: Since I’ve had plenty of spare time I’ve been watching quite a bit of television. But there are only so many times a fellow can watch reruns of Fixer Upper and the Property Brothers. And I’ve been long tired of watching the network news version of the WWE every day. So I had to come up with an alternate plan.
Well, other than talking about my ailments, which is one of those topics of conversation that comes up more often as we get older. Nobody wants to hear about those except other people who have ailments. That opens the subject up and gives them a chance to talk about their ailments. Oh, boy! Then it becomes a contest on whose ailment is worse, and who has the most ailments. I’m making myself sad now.
Anyway, since I’ve had all this time on my hands, and I got tired of watching HGTV, Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver reruns and all the infighting on the news programs, I decided to look at my movie collection and watch some of those. Trying to figure out which ones to watch, and the order in which to watch them, was more difficult than I thought.
I finally selected what I considered a groundbreaking sci-fi movie, “Blade Runner,” for my first one. One of the reasons I picked it was that a sequel starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling called “Blade Runner 2049” is set to come out later this year. So, I thought I might as well get caught up before the new one debuted. After watching that movie, I got a little depressed since it took place in 2019 Los Angeles. Wow, that’s only a couple of years away. But the background music was fantastic, and one should watch the film if for no other reason than to hear the Vangelis score.
After watching “Blade Runner,” I decided to cheer myself up, so I went to a couple of my all-time favorite comedies. The first one I watched, “Robin Hood, Men in Tights,” is, in my opinion, the funniest movie ever made. And it has more memorable one liners than a Don Rickles standup comedy routine on the Johnny Carson show. I know, there are some who will say that “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” were better, and I certainly won’t argue the point. It’s almost like saying which one of your children is the favorite. You can’t do it; you love them all. So I guess I better say it’s a three-way tie. Either way, we owe Mel Brooks an incredible debt of gratitude.
The third movie I picked was “The Princess Bride,” which is another of those comedies where the one-liners shine. It has a stellar cast, including some of my all time favorites like Cary Elwes as Westley, Robin Wright (better known as Jenny to Forest Gump fans) in her movie debut as Princess Buttercup, and Andre the Giant as Fezzik. What a coup that ended up being. Mandy Patinkin played Inigo “you killed my father, prepare to die” Montoya, and Billy Crystal made a short appearance as Miracle Max. It’s “inconceivable” that someone would not like this movie, but “as you wish.” I watched it twice.
After watching the comedies, it was time to get serious, so that meant John Wayne was next up on the agenda. I had any number of choices from his war movies such as “The Longest Day” and “Sands of Iwo Jima,” to dramas like “The Quiet Man” and “The Searchers,” and finally his traditional westerns such as “Rio Bravo” and “El Dorado.” I picked “Rio Bravo.” I think it was the scene where Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, John Wayne, and Walter Brennan sat around the jailhouse singing some old songs that decided it for me. Or maybe it was Walter Brennan in his role as Stumpy. Great movie either way, and it has some comedic relief.
The last movie I watched is “The Sound of Music.” It’s one of my go-to favorites and a classic. I realize it may be a little operatic for some folks, but the music is great if you wade through those parts, and the message is timeless. And then there’s Liesl, Charmian Carr, who sadly passed away last year. She’s forever sixteen going on seventeen with the most beautiful blue eyes on the planet. Oh, yeah, Julie Andrews can bust a tune with the best of them. Must-see film if you haven’t seen it.
So there it is, my movie prescription for a bad back. I’m not saying it’s the only reason, but the back is better. So, if you get down or sick, try watching some great movies. At the very least, you’ll see some great movies.