Have I Overlooked A Classic?

Hello,
I've been on one of my periodic swans round that internet and stumbled across this article in The Independent -to save you the trouble of ploughing all the way though I shall summarise. Once upon a time there was a very bad man called Clint Eastwood who made immoral films then got a bit older and started making moral films because America is becoming a nicer country.

Anyway the article goes on at some length about 'Dirty Harry'. I'd always been aware that there was something vaguely disreputable about the film but as I'd never fancied seeing it I hadn't bothered to investigate and filed it under 'things for weirdos' in my highly organised brain filing system. Actually I may publish my list of 'things for weirdos' on this very blog so my readers can advise me if I've missed out on any other potential treats.

The thing is having read this denunciation of the allegedly 'fascist' film I am forced to consider the awful possibility that my blind prejudice may have deprived me of a rather entertaining treat. Why in God's name did no one tell me that the baddie was a homicidal hippy nonce? As far as I can make out the hero Harry is a bit like me in that he wants to kill everyone and is irked by the rules that prevent him from doing so, where we part company is that he actually does it. I, having spent time with criminals as an adolescent fear being locked up with hundreds of self pitying, sub normal adult babies.

I have to say the homicidal hippy nonce sounds like the sort of baddie you retain a sneaky admiration for. He's called Scorpio for a start! Thank God I wouldn't have taken him at all seriously if he was called something mundane like Steve or Jeff. Oddly the hippy character is supposed to be 'a pansy-parody of the peace movement: a long-haired, androgynous, lisping hippie who wears the peace logo'. One hates to review a film unseen but as parodies go this one is a bit rubbish -a murderous paedo peacenik? Sounds more like a maverick CIA plot than a person to me but this is the wonderful world of film and if there is a message there, I suspect it's just that the makers of the movie hate hippies in much the same was as every other normal well adjusted person on the planet.

This being Hollywood of course Scorpio gets offed by Harry in the end after he makes Harry really, really angry by suffocating a fourteen year old and hijacking a bus full of children. Incidentally just where was Garry Glitter when all this was going on? Personally I'd have done something a bit unpredictable at the end like have the Vietcong appear kill everyone and install Scorpio as dictator of the USA except they haven't quite killed everyone........paving the way for Dirty Harry 2 -He's back and this time he's filthy!

Apologies for the digression, the point I'm strolling towards is that I find the whole idea of this immoral film highly entertaining and more than a bit funny. I don't know why but the notion of a mad hippy being pursued by a bent cop makes me grin from ear to ear. Will I be disappointed? How funny is it really? Is it any good at all? Or is our Mr Hari making it out to be a lot better than it is. Answers below please.

Notes On A Scandal

Hello,

I don't take myself to the pictures that often, it's just something I never seem to get round to. Also working full time makes it a little awkward as I prefer to go during the day- fewer people means less chewing and slurping. Like I said in my last post I am sensitive to noise.

Today, however I made the most of my freedom and went to see Notes On A Scandal. I cannot emphasise strongly enough how 'must see' this film is, mainly for Judi Dench's performance as the bitter, witty, obsessive and downright terrifying Barbara Covett. It's the sort of film one could imagine Bette Davis starring in.

Cate Blanchett was also on fine form is the dippy, boho, middle class Sheba Hart. The expression of total shock and confusion on her face when she fully grasps the nature of Barbara's obsession with her and the central part it's played in her downfall is worthy of an award in itself.

The film's weakness for me was that Sheba's affair with her pupil seemed to happen too quickly. For all the obvious stresses and strains in her life, her marriage didn't seem all that awful. Whilst I can see why she would find the boy attractive, I couldn't quite work out why that became so overpowering that she acted on it. It may have been a bit more believable if she'd been seen to wrestle with her conscience more. That said, the film is more about the relationship between the two women, the affair merely served to give Barbara something with which to control Sheba.

I read the book some years ago, so my memory of it is a bit hazy, though I do recall enjoying it immensely. For what it's worth I would recommend both the book and the film, though they may be of more interest to my female readers than the chaps.

**If you haven't done so already please read the comments below my last post. David Duff has contributed a tale of suburban warfare that I can do no better than describe as hilarious, though I fear an ASBO may follow if anything like this were to happen again.**