Illogical
I don't know about you, but I have a long history of movie watching. I get it naturally, though, because my father watched every movie that came on television. Quality was never a factor. Generally, the only requirement was that my mother had gone to bed. That meant we watched movies that came on late at night. A regular Saturday night event for us, mother excluded, was Terracina Theater on channel 6 out of Greenwood, Mississippi. "Hi. Frank Terracina here with another fine movie for your viewing pleasure." Obviously Frank thought we were easily pleasured because his idea of 'fine' was something like "Four Guns to the Border" or "Fort Dobbs". On occasion he would give us a thriller, but it was usually a western.
While many towns had theaters called the Bijou, the Strand, the Palace or the Majestic, ours was called the "Ricky". The neighboring town had a theater run by the same people and it was called the "Danny". Catchy, huh? As you guessed, the owners named them after their kids. The first movie I went to see by myself, at the Ricky, was "King Kong vs. Godzilla". Actually, we didn't refer to it as a movie, it was the 'show'. Anyway, one of the things I began to notice even while I was a kid, was that the movies didn't always use logic.
Did it ever bother you that Godzilla came out of the sea, after spending years in an iceberg he was immediately able to breath fire. So why didn't he just breath fire and melt the iceberg? Was his pilot light out or something? That just doesn't work for me. King Kong had to fight an octopus before he got drunk and was captured. They loaded him on a barge and tied him down with some high strength fishing line. I remember the Japanese guy swinging out over the balcony of the apartment building to demonstrate the line. Anyway, they use electricity to stop Godzilla from totally trashing Japan. So, Godzilla has atomic fire breath, but he can't handle electricity? Okay, so be it. But then they turn around and have King Kong actually get stronger from the electricity. That seems so unrealistic. Of course at this point you realize you're talking about an giant atomic fire breathing lizard awakened from an iceberg and a humongous ape that fought a giant invertebrate and is ballooned to Mt. Fuji for the finale...just as the Japanese planned. So maybe logic isn't required.
But it's not just the 60's movies that utilize poor logic. Remember the movie "Gremlins"? That one was loaded with illogicity (I don't think that's a real word). I'll give you the not feeding them after midnight and never get them wet business. But how did the bad ones know to sing Christmas carols, dress like Humphrey Bogart (let alone finding that little trench coat and fedora), and flash people? So i watched that and just went with it...like i was supposed to. But when they had the big chase scene and Gizmo was driving the Barbie car all over the store, I told myself, "those things don't accelerate like that! They don't have brakes, either." Of course at that point I realize I'm accepting the fact that a Gremlin is driving it.
Anyway, that's my thought for today.
While many towns had theaters called the Bijou, the Strand, the Palace or the Majestic, ours was called the "Ricky". The neighboring town had a theater run by the same people and it was called the "Danny". Catchy, huh? As you guessed, the owners named them after their kids. The first movie I went to see by myself, at the Ricky, was "King Kong vs. Godzilla". Actually, we didn't refer to it as a movie, it was the 'show'. Anyway, one of the things I began to notice even while I was a kid, was that the movies didn't always use logic.
Did it ever bother you that Godzilla came out of the sea, after spending years in an iceberg he was immediately able to breath fire. So why didn't he just breath fire and melt the iceberg? Was his pilot light out or something? That just doesn't work for me. King Kong had to fight an octopus before he got drunk and was captured. They loaded him on a barge and tied him down with some high strength fishing line. I remember the Japanese guy swinging out over the balcony of the apartment building to demonstrate the line. Anyway, they use electricity to stop Godzilla from totally trashing Japan. So, Godzilla has atomic fire breath, but he can't handle electricity? Okay, so be it. But then they turn around and have King Kong actually get stronger from the electricity. That seems so unrealistic. Of course at this point you realize you're talking about an giant atomic fire breathing lizard awakened from an iceberg and a humongous ape that fought a giant invertebrate and is ballooned to Mt. Fuji for the finale...just as the Japanese planned. So maybe logic isn't required.
But it's not just the 60's movies that utilize poor logic. Remember the movie "Gremlins"? That one was loaded with illogicity (I don't think that's a real word). I'll give you the not feeding them after midnight and never get them wet business. But how did the bad ones know to sing Christmas carols, dress like Humphrey Bogart (let alone finding that little trench coat and fedora), and flash people? So i watched that and just went with it...like i was supposed to. But when they had the big chase scene and Gizmo was driving the Barbie car all over the store, I told myself, "those things don't accelerate like that! They don't have brakes, either." Of course at that point I realize I'm accepting the fact that a Gremlin is driving it.
Anyway, that's my thought for today.
Posted by TBF at 1/11/2010 10:02 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Frank Terracia Gremlis King Kong Godzilla
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Frank Terracia Gremlis King Kong Godzilla
Frank Terracina was the most apologetic sponsor I've ever seen. "I'm sorry to interrupt this fine movie, folks, but I need to sell this car. I promise I'll keep it as brief as possible and let you get back to John Wayne." And while he did only a couple of commercials, they were long enough for a bathroom break, fix something to eat and not miss one single grainy, black and white frame of The Duke.
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