Joust The Facts

The JTF Quote Of The Day

Hat tip to Hot Air headlines for this Benjamin Kerstein piece at The New Ledger, discussing Roman Polanski's recent arrest on a thirty-year old conviction ... oh, you know the story.

I cannot shake the suspicion, however, that lurking behind all of these various excuses is the fact that Polanski is a great artist. It is decidedly doubtful that so many in Europe and elsewhere would be outraged if a factory worker, office manager, or Catholic priest, for that matter, were finally caught after so many years evading justice for statutory rape. It is much more likely that they would be outraged at the authorities for taking so long to get around to arresting the perpetrator. The simple truth is that many people - and I freely admit to being one of them - very much wish that Polanski had not done what he did, and are sorely tempted to pretend that, somehow, he didn’t. Since we cannot deny the facts, we deny, in some way, his culpability; or, we tell ourselves that, in the end, all things considered, all things being equal, etc., it really wasn’t such a big deal. And we do this, I think, for one reason only: We love his movies.

It requires a great deal of effort in the face of this to remind oneself that perhaps the foremost reason people get things wrong is wishful thinking.

Jewel, of all people Twittered the most sane response to this excusing of the inexcusable.  Her tweet?

"Polanski-admitted raping a 13 yr old-whys every1 in the arts upset hes facing jail? cause hes a gifted director? what am i missing?"

I'm with you, Jewel.  I don't get it either.  By the way, on the topic of wishful thinking, do you think there was an abundance of that in the wake of the Hope 'n Change Express last fall?

"Eddie, You're A Born Loser"

George C. Scott may have been right about Eddie Felson, but that didn't apply to the actor playing Felson.  Paul Newman has passed away after battling cancer at the age of 83.  Just a couple of weeks ago I saw, for the first time in about 15 years, his memorable tour de force as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler, with Jackie Gleason playing Minnesota Fats.  If you haven't seen this superb film noir, do yourself a favor and cue it up on Netflix.

Brilliant performance.  For me it's a tough call between Newman and Clint Eastwood as my favorite actors.  Newman's filmography includes The Verdict, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Cool Hand Luke, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Long, Hot Summer, Slap Shot.  He did the voice over for the Hudson Hawk in Disney Pixar's Cars.  While not every Newman film was a great film, every Newman part was made his own; you'd be hard pressed to imagine any other actor playing the part.

"Newman's Own" brands has a tribute page up to their founder, noting that all profits for the company are donated to charity.

Paul occasionally referred to Newman's Own as the "joke that got out of control" and would express astonishment at its success. Despite this humorous approach, Paul was committed to the company's business and to providing top-notch quality – he brought all-natural food products to a wide audience long before it was fashionable. And he was one of the greatest recyclers, giving back to charity all the money he earned from the sale of Newman's Own products.

That's charity unlike what Sen. Joe Biden envisions - higher taxes coercing the money to be funneled through government filters.

I haven't decided yet which of his films I'll watch tonight.  But I'll watch one.  Bet on it.

Family Man?

This should move the debate forward.

NEW YORK - Brad Pitt, ever the social activist, says he won't be marrying Angelina Jolie until the restrictions on who can marry whom are dropped.

"Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able," the 42-year-old actor reveals in Esquire magazine's October issue, on newsstands Sept. 19.

In the article he reflects on "fifteen things I think everyone should know."

Though Shiloh, the world-famous daughter of Pitt and girlfriend/earth mother Angelina Jolie, hogged much attention upon her birth in May, Pitt says he "cannot imagine life" without adopted children, Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1.

That's tremendous, Brad.  And, to think, you've only been divorced once and had one child out of wedlock.  What a role model!  Of course, marrying the mother of the child could rectify that latter situation, but doing the right thing for your own family, and by extension (as a high-profile public figure) demonstrating a grasp of personal responsibility, isn't even in the same league as changing the world.

Gonna Fly, Now

Rocky makes a comeback!  No, not another movie, fortunately.  The statue of Rocky which was originally placed at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, then moved to the outside of the Spectrum, Philly's indoor sports arena at the time, then eventually removed and crated, will be replaced on the ground level at the art museum steps.

PHILADELPHIA Sep 6, 2006 (AP)— Rocky Balboa is headed back to his old stomping grounds. The city's Art Commission approved a plan Wednesday to return a statue of the big-screen boxer to a site near the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Sylvester Stallone ran the stairs in the movie as the boxer in training.

By a 6-2 vote, the commission voted to move the statue, currently stored in a warehouse, to a street-level pedestal near the site of one of the 1976 movie's iconic scenes.

There was a fair bit of controversy regarding what to do with the statue of the fictional everyman hero after the filming of Rocky III was complete.

Not even Claes Oldenburg's "Clothespin" generated the passionate debate provoked by a 9-foot-tall bronze "Rocky" statue — arms raised in victory — commissioned by Sylvester Stallone for his 1982 Rocky III, a film series that seemed never to end. The bronze boxer stood at the top of the Art Museum's 72 step-entrance, and when the filming was completed, the actor left the statue in place as a gift to the city. City Commerce Director Dick Doran was thrilled with the gift saying Stallone had done more for the city's image "than anyone since Ben Franklin."

Cultural and museum officials were horrified, terming the statue an ugly "movie prop." The public flooded the newspapers and city Art Commission with tons of mail, pro and con. The debate raged for months. Polls showed Philadephians equally divided. "Put it near the Liberty Bell," wrote a Daily News reader. "Dump it in the Schuylkill," wrote another. Countless tourists and residents climbed the steps to see and be photographed next to Rocky. People who had never been inside the museum, at least, got close to the entrance. In the end, the Art Commission decided the Spectrum sports arena sidewalk was the logical permanent address for the fictional heavyweight contender.

I have to admit that, on several occasions when I was living just outside of Philadelphia, I felt the temptation to run the steps and raise my fists in the air at the top.  I resisted the temptation, thus avoiding the giggles and pointing from those around that usually accompany that act.  Perhaps enough time has passed that the only people who would be tempted to make the run are physically unable to do so.

Greatest Movie Screenplay?

Casablanca. I couldn't agree more. 'Nuff said.

Actually, not quite enough.  This is one of those great films that I fear is going to be seen as less great to future generations due to a widening chasm of time and understanding of WW II and Nazi aggression, the black and white presentation, and the lack of special effects.

Current moviemaking is like the supersized meals at chain eateries - filling but ultimately unsatisfying.  The older movies were more like fine cuisine, satisfying without leaving you bloated.

If Hollywood really wants to increase their viewership and revenues, they should figure out how to get younger generations interested in older films.  They're called classic for a reason.

Submitted to Wizbang's COTT LVIII, with some edits.

Dreaming Of Moonlight Graham

Field of Dreams was produced in 1989 and became instantly a classic.  A heartwarming sports movie that combines the American pasttime, baseball, and the relationship tension between a father and his son.  In it Burt Lancaster plays Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, whom Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) and Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) pick up hitchhiking as a much younger boy, eager for a major league career.

I remember seeing the movie at it's initial release, then checking the Baseball Encyclopedia to see if there really was a 'Moonlight' Graham.  Sure enough, 1905 Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham played for the NY Giants.  Well, played is hardly the word.  Here's his stat line in the Baseball Encylopedia.

G  AB  R  H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  HP  SO  AVG  OBP  SLG  SB   FA    GatPos
1   0   0   0   0    0    0     0    0    0    0    --       --      --     0    --      O(RF)

That's right.  1 game, no plate appearances, no chances in the field, nothing.  His entire major league career.

Ben Walker at ABC News has a great long story discussing Moonlight Graham, partly because so many people, and I was one until I saw the stats myself, thought he was an invented character for the story.  He certainly fits the story to a tee, but he was indeed real.

Yet the tale is true, at least most of it. Because on June 29, 1905 exactly 100 years ago on Wednesday Archibald Wright Graham made his lone appearance in the majors.

He never got to hit. Instead, he was left on deck. A late substitute in a lopsided 11-1 win, he played only two innings and there's no proof he ever touched the ball.

"Graham went to right field for New York" was his only mention in the local Evening Telegram's play-by-play account. And, just that fast, the 28-year-old rookie described in the sporting press as being "quick as a flash of moonlight" was gone.

Graham really did become a doctor, and really did practice in Chisholm, Minnesota.  It's interesting that he was not the only player, or even one of a handful, to get in only one game.  There were, according to Elias, over 900 players that fit that description.

When [the author of Shoeless Joe, the book that turned into Field of Dreams, W.P.] Kinsella thumbed through the Baseball Encyclopedia, he could've easily turned to the pages for Twink Twining, Goat Cochran or Steamboat Struss. Of the more than 16,000 players in major league history, they're also among the 900-plus guys in the Elias Sports Bureau registry who got into only one game.

"I had no backup," Kinsella said. "My approach to fiction writing is that when I need facts, I invent them. So I would have invented a background for Moonlight Graham, but I'm sure nothing as wonderful as the truth.

Walker goes on to profile a couple of the others who graced major league fields for only one game.  Their stories are similar, and it comes down to basically the same point, one that Kevin Costner made as Crash Davis in another baseball movie, Bull Durham.

"Yeah, I was in The Show."

Can't Let The Little Jesters See This

Vodkapundit also has a jones for Star Wars, shown by serious photoblogging of the construction of a Lego Star Destroyer.  The little jesters have just discovered the films, watching for the first time Episode IV.  They're seriously into it - Gwendolyn is outnumbered!