WALTER HUSTON, COMMUNIST

When I was in college I knew some folks who were loosely affiliated with a communist group called Progressive Labor Party.  It was a Maoist party, and how they distinguished themselves from any other communist organization I have no idea.  But I mention those college years because it was when I began watching movies by Humphrey Bogart with a more political lens so to speak.  I had seen him in The Maltese Falcon growing up, Key Largo, Casablanca, Treasure of Sierra Madre, 1948, Dark Passage, 1947, and more.  Bogart was a national treasure.  Had a wonderful voice and a tough-guy attitude.  What's not to like?  

Maybe the fact that he was empathetic to communist ideology.  He was one of the Committee for the First Amendment so that they could believe and say anything they wanted.  I guess communist, mass murder ideology is so poorly persuasive that the communists need government protection.  I remember hearing while in school the argument that communists were controlled by the Kremlin.  If they were I had not known of it, particularly with the group of semi-incompetent, young kids who wanted to roll some heads.  That was the extent of their aggression--they wanted an ideology to justify their anger at being poor.  What college kid is not poor?  How many of them are in debt today and now?  

So I didn't give much attention to the thought that communist leaders stationed in Moscow were running things or people associated with the Progressive Labor Party.  Until I began to study history a little.  Turns out that the communist parties, of which there are many, do run things internationally.  There was one guy that a friend of mine and I met at an airport.  He was from DC but we met him here at John Wayne.  I was oblivious to so many things back then.  No moral guidance.  

But communism had a horrible influence on people, on study, on my ability to make a living for myself.  And now I am upset at learning that Walter Huston, father of director and actor of Chinatown, was a communist sympathizer to the point where he produced communist propaganda in film.  The movie I refer to is Mission to Moscow based on the Joseph Davies book by the same name.  Here is the synopsis of it at IMDB:


"Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to America as an advocate of Stalinism."  Charming. 

Point is I am still reeling from having been associated or made friends with people in PL who were sucking on the high salaries of other people.  I was invited to a friend's home on the west side of LA, two gentlemen in fact who were well to do, owned million-dollar homes.  But that's relative when you're talking about impoverished students. 

But back in the day, people used to worship Walter Huston and his son, John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and other Lefties in Hollywood.

The movie also pisses on gold as the source of greed.  These guys were Hollywood thugs discouraging others from making enough money for themselves and redirecting citizens to rely on the government to receive just enough sustenance.  Fuck them. 

BARBARA STANWYCK, 1907-1990

This Is My Affair, 1937

As a young actress, Stanwyck was a doll.  

Moonlighting, 1953, is cattle rustling or stealing cattle.  MOONLIGHTER.

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, 1940

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

This is one of the best scenes of the movie. When I hear Bardem's character choke on the idea that the man "married into" the garage and store it makes me laugh.

EPIC FILMS

10.  Dances With the Wolves, 1990

9.    Ran, 1985 (based on Shakespeare's King Lear)

8.    Das Boot, 1981

7.    Once Upon a Time in America, 1984, directed by Sergio Leone, is an epic crime drama set in the 1920s and moves forward to the 1960s.  Of all of the films in this list, Once Upon a Time in America is the best selection.  Not only does it rank with The Godfather, but in many ways it surpasses it.

6.    12 Years a Slave, 2013

5.    Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

4.    Schindler's List, 1993.

3.    Seven Samurai, 1954.

2.    Gone With the Wind, 1939.

RUNNERS UP:

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2003.

Forrest Gump, 1994.

Gladiator, 2000

Titanic, 1997

Spartacus, 1960

1.    Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.

Why not include The Godfather, Last of the Mohicans, Rob Roy, Braveheart, and others?

10.  Open Water, 2003

9.    White Squal, 1996.

8.    The Perfect Storm, 2000

7.    The Wayback, 2010

6.    Rabbit-Proof Fence, 2002.

5.    Rescue Dawn, 2006

Of all the movies in this list, Rescue Dawn, directed by Werner Herzog, is by far the best selection.  Again, in part to Christian Bale, whose performance cannot be reproduced.  The story is a testament to remarkable stamina, strength, and courage.  How he, Dieter Dengler, overcame what he first went through goes beyond telling.  Some idiot who goes by the username writes in the comments that this is a poor movie.  He says "This movie is horrible. One of the worst war movies that I've seen. How it got good decent to good reviews on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes I have no idea. The movie was very poorly directed and had extremely bad pacing. Acting was sub-par. The story was way too fictional to even be base on true event.  For example how does Dengler escape the mob of angry villagers while his friend get chopped up while sitting right next to him. Fictional crap this like that made the movie feel less believable in a movie that is suppose to be base off something. Ending was worst."  Immediately there are others who attack him.  This is one of the greatest war dramas that I have ever seen and I have seen a lot.  When he says that acting was "sub-par," well, he was just baiting his audience.  Christian Bale pulls off a remarkable performance.  And his co-stars, too, provide some terrific and unforgettable characterizations of prisoners of war.

4.    Touching the Void, 2003

3.    Into the Wild, 2007.  Directed by Sean Penn.

2.    Alive, 1993, Crash landing of Uraguayan soccer team in 1972.

1.    127 Hours, 2010, about outdoors-man Aron Ralston.  I saw this movie with my sister, Mary, back in August of 2011.  I have not had many moments with my sister, so I really enjoyed spending time with her.  As to the movie, well, it didn't work.  The effect it had on the audience was like torture.  We knew the story.  Ralston's efforts were remarkable and courageous.  It shows what some people do to survive.  But as a form of entertainment, the film did not work.  Between squirms around the sawing off of his arm, I was bored to death with the deterioration of his psychological state.  From what I watched, I thought that Ralston was a bit of a risk taker, jumping down into crevices into subterranean pools.  Beautiful but highly risky.