Blanc et Noir

I have always enjoyed old movies. For some unknown reason, black and while films relax me. Westerns, gangster flicks, comedies, musicals, historical dramas -  they all provide an escape pod from life's impending doom. Yes, I used those two words. This is the first time I've written them since the fateful "unidentified projectile" incident. We shall see.

I believe our family was the last in Haddonfield, maybe the state of New Jersey, maybe the eastern seaboard to get a color TV. My dad believed the technology still needed improvement and the next model would have better features. So why get it now?

When he finally broke down and bought a color set, nothing irked him more than walking in on me watching some b&w classic.

I can still hear him cursing and muttering about spending the money for color and that damn kid watches nothing but black and white. Dad has passed on, but things haven't changed. I now watch a 60" plasma. Viewing sports on this is like being at the game. However, b&w oldies are still my staple TV diet.

The past few nights, I have reveled in the glow of White Heat, The Roaring Twenties, and Foreign Correspondent. The latter being a B-movie classic and Alfred Hitchcock's second Hollywood film after leaving England.

Of course the first two mentioned fall into my all time fav list - with a bullet! The Roaring Twenties made in 1939 was an homage to the classic gangster films of the early 30s. It's the last movie Bogie and Cagney made together. It also contains the best last line of any movie. As a down-and-out Cagney lies dead on the church steps, a cop asks who he is. Gladys George (an underrated character actress who is one of my "you know her; she's that lady in...") looks at the cop as she cradles Cagney's head and says, "He usetabe a Big Shot."

White Heat, also starring Cagney, was made ten years later. Cagney plays a true sociopath with a mother complex. This is a much darker portrayal than the lovable hustler with a heart of gold in the aforementioned film.

Despite my father's spectral voice grumbling about watching black & white movies in color, this film's final scene was exceptional and deMille-like on this behemoth TV. Seeing Cagney standing on a globe-shaped gas storage tank, shooting it out with the coppers and yelling "Made it ma, top of the world" as the tank explodes was Homeric. The film also contains one of my favorite Bogie quotes which I've always tried to emulate.  - as ever - BB

"I always say, when you got a job to do, get somebody else to do it." Humphrey Bogart as George Halley in The Roaring Twenties