Skip to main content

Night Falls On Manhattan

     Hey, everyone. I watched a good movie tonight. I think you might like to see it. It is Night Falls On Manhattan. It stars Andy Garcia as an idealistic young lawyer who is just starting to work as an Assistant District Attorney. His dad is a cop in New York and he was too, until he landed the new gig.
     You may remember the days when you were a young idealist. Very few arrive at an age where they can be called an old idealist. It is a dangerous business, being idealistic. Not many people will love you and fewer still will want to hang with you. Heck, they know you'd send them down the river too, because "It's the right thing to do." But I digress.
     So, Andy Garcia plays Sean Casey. Sean is only a few months into his career with the D.A. when his dad is shot during a drug bust. He survives but three other cops die during the raid.
     The dealer hires the best lawyer in town, Sam Vigoda. (Played by Richard Dreyfuss.) Sam foolishly uses the defense that a group of cops were on the take and therefore coming to kill the dealer. He was just defending himself, according to Sam.
    Sean draws the case and goes to trial. He also goes somewhere with Sam's assistant, Peggy Lindstrom. (Played by the smoking hot Lena Olin.) The place where he goes with Peggy is to her place. Lucky him. Or is it luck? When I saw this I said to myself, "This is poor judgement on his part".
     It turns out that Sean becomes known as a crusader and wins the election for District Attorney. Will his high ideals and standards survive in a city where favors are like poker chips? Will he walk the chalk if his own dad's aged butt is on the line? Can he possibly trust his dad's partner when he looks suspiciously like James Gandolfino from The Sopranos?
     This movie is odd, in that it makes you stop and think about that first time when you started thinking about shades of grey instead of black and white. About the fact that some things are so subtle that you still are not sure, decades later, what was cool and what wasn't. About words like 'the greater good'. About how much crap it is to punish the good guys when they chase the bad guys and where lines must be drawn. About the fearful and scary job that a judge has when he has to sit on a bench and decide people's fate. May God help these men and women as they have to exercise the power of their office.
     Speaking of responsibilities of office... I read that Steven Segal is thinking of running for Governor of Arizona. I figure he would make a good one. I also expect that he would win. I seriously doubt that anyone would intimidate the big guy.
    This film was well acted and directed. It was surprisingly entertaining, considering the fact that there wasn't much action.
     From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The White Chicken Mystery

    The other night I happened to come home very late. It was the middle of the night and I was driving up a steep mountain road. Near the top I saw something white in my headlights. It was standing in the other lane, standing very still. It was a large white chicken. It was probably a rooster because I thought I could see his comb as I whizzed by at my customary pace. He never moved a muscle. This is weird, don't you think?      After a couple of days to consider this phenomenon, I have come up with some plausible answers for his bizarre behavior. 1. He was conflicted whether or not he should cross the road. 2. He was feeling cocky and decided to play chicken with the traffic. 3.He was being hen-pecked at home and had decided to end it all. 4. Someone had egged him on to do it. 5. He had just watched the movie Fantastic Four and decided to try to stop a truck the way that Ben Grimm did on the bridge. 6. He had driven himself crazy wondering if ...

Batman Lives In Washington, DC

    Hey, everyone. I just read an interesting article on Washington Post.Com by Mike Rosenwald. It was titled Who Is the Route 29 Batman? This is a true story about a guy that the cops pulled over. The guy was driving a black Lamborghini with Batman plates. There were yellow Batman symbols on the doors. They had a video from the police car that showed him being pulled over. He was wearing a Bat-suit which he said cost him $5000. His gig is that he visits sick children in area hospitals and hands out Bat-Toys and Bat-books to cheer the kids up.     His name is Lenny B. Robinson and he says that the 'B' stands for Batman. He is perfectly sane and is just a good dude trying to make a difference. He is a self-made millionaire and is currently having a duplicate of the Batmobile custom-made at a cost of $250,000.    It was a hoot, watching the cops having their pictures made with the Bat Guy. Someone asked him where Robin was and he said that the boy won...

Cake Is Better Than Swords

Hey, everyone. On Thanksgiving, we had a get-together here at The Author's Green Retreat. One lady brought a cake which I wanted to show you. It had the look of a Roman Coliseum about it. Inside it was just as decadent...and fun, as ancient Rome. When I cut it open, homemade marshmallow cream began to ooze out in several spots, running over the chocolate cake and peanut butter icing. It is best served warm so the cream is fluid. Very tasty. The same lady, and her children, are people who have played a lot of Skyrim. They gave me some pointers on the game because I am having problems with it. They taught me how to fast travel, and a ton of other things, but the main thing was the armor and clothing problem. This is a little embarrassing, but let me explain. Okay. For several weeks when I played, I would enter towns and everyone I met would comment on my nakedness. I would select a tunic and shoes, whatever, go back around people and they would say something about it. I guess I w...