Subject: Re: list archive
From: Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Date: Tue May 02 2000 - 07:42:31 GMT
At 11:55 PM -0700 on 5/1/2000, you wrote:
> The special was indeed that "Close-Up: Salinger" tragedy. The
> computerized dixieland jazz I didn't understand at all. It was on Bravo
> about a week or two ago; I am sure it will be on again, as Bravo is
> all about the reruns. I wouldn't suggest trying to catch it, though, unless
> you like getting your fingernails removed with a hot iron, or whatever
> that saying is.
I saw it after it first aired (the BBC kindly sent me a tape) and my
initial reaction was of horror. I thought it was dreadfully
tasteless and exploitative. I set the tape aside and said a quiet
prayer that I wasn't involved.
Then about a month ago, I thought to watch it again -- mainly
because Scottie mentioned the emphasis on the war's impact on JDS's
demeanor, how Salinger came back from World War II a changed man --
and I found that while the jittery camera work was indeed still
irritating, it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. (And, as usual,
Scottie's comments about it were quite insightful.) It dovetailed
nicely with my re-reading a book called "Round Up the Usual
Suspects," which is about the making of "Casablanca," which mentions
one Hollywood director (perhaps Howard Hawks), who went to Washington
to do morale-boosting movies for the military and produced one that
focused on the aftereffects of the war on veterans.
(I apologize for not having the book in front of me so that I might
give the full citation. When I find it, I'll happily do so in
private.)
I never knew it made its way to Bravo, though. I personally didn't
find the music offensive. I think they were trying to recreate the
post-WWII New York City of jazzy nightlife -- the kind of nights
Holden lives through -- through music and shots of neon signs and old
buildings.
--tim o'connor
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