where we're headed it's gonna get colder'n hell.


 where we're headed it's gonna get colder'n hell.




      Of all the movies the young Greg loved and memorized "Five Easy Pieces" was right near the top. He not only used many lines from the film he enjoyed describing the gritty first scene when Bobby comes to after a night of boozing face down on the docks of a Puget Sound harbor. We connected with the Jack Nicholson character who was rootless, mysteious and moody like we wanted to be in the South Gate blue collar upbringing we experienced. The problem, at least for me is that I did not want to live in Oildale or Bakersfield, and work at an oil-rigger. My blue collarl life exended to one day at the Owens Illinois Glassworks in Vernon. We probably did want a hot, high school dropout girlfriend like Karen Black as long as she stayed quiet.Bobby was a privileged piano prodigy at one time but rejects the contol of the plastic society we pretended to revolt against. All that aside the movie is brilliantly written and acted with Nicholson playing one of his greatest roles. The screenplay is filled with memorable lines and Greg knew them all. In some scenes direector Bob Rafael used non-actors and their lines were improvised to perfection. Everyone know the scene where Bobby orders some toast and does his characteristic melt down but Greg prefered the foreman of the oil roughnecks telling Bobby and Elton "I'm glad to be rid of the both of you dumb guys" He also loved the oddball nurse character Spicer who chokes out Bobby in deflating scene of bullying. He would occasionally repeat the lines of his brother Carl (Ralph Waite in a neck brace) insulting his sister Partita with "what'do you know about it penis envy?" There is also an incredible scene where the simple Rayette trying to be friendly with as crowd of effete classical music intellectuals by saying "there's lots of good things on TV" Bobby's dressing down of the snobs is classic  "Where do you get the ass to tell anybody anything about class, or who the hell's got it, or what she typifies? You shouldn't even be in the same room with her, you pompous celibate... You're totally full of shit! You're all full of shit" .Looking back at over sixty years hearing the opinions of the man sometimes called Craig I would say "Pieces" was in his top five along with "Chinatown," "Midnight Cowboy,""The Conversation" and "Saving Privte Ryan." Because he knew I knew exactly what he meant when he would sometimes just repeat to me the last lines of "Five Easy Pieces" as Bobby escapes from commitment and expectations to hitch a ride on a truck bound for Alaska.       

                                           DRIVER

			I've got an extra jacket behind the
			seat, if you want to put it on.
		
					BOBBY
			No, it's okay.
		
					DRIVER
			Suit yourself. But I'll tell you,
			where we're headed is gonna get
			colder'n hell.
		
					BOBBY
			It's all right. I'm fine. 




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paul Knowlton's White Lotus

Image
 Paul Knowlton's White Lotus \      It is ironic that this post is titled something that means nothing to the protagonist. Paul, Zeke, "the Prince," "Senor Suerte" or the Snail (I never called him that.) My old pal just created a memorable vacation on the island of Oahu where the mean old world was a far off nightmare and the closest thing to stress was choosing which kind of massage you would request. Paul was the second friend in my life and we grew up about a block away from each other. We were Catholic boys and loved sports that created a bond lasting seventy years. This connection continued from grammar school to High School, to Community College to University. We were roomates from 1968 to 1972 and our families had a solid respect for one another. Paul grew up in a family of nine kids at a tract house in South Gate when the common man lived the American dream. Then again with 11 mouths to feed the American dream can only stretch so far. It is a cliche but ...
Read more

alright mother

Image
  alright mother- “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” —Carol Ann Duffy  Greg was always delighted by a story told by his mother in law about a "sortie" dinner party attended by a Doctor "Putty" Putnam who had been forced to attend an opera by his wife. When asked by a clueless guest if he enjoyed the opera, his response was  "fuck you!" When I was visiting Bear Cove and sitting next to the matriarch Greg goaded her into telling the tale. But a rum n' coke had loosened "Minnie's" tongue and when she got to Putty's answer she blurted a rather hard FUCK YOU!  Roy, hearing his bride curse thusly said across the table "Alright mother!"
Read more

Athletic Club Flower shop

Image
  Athletic Club Flower shop      This phrase is actually the telephone greeting at Greg's uncle Johnny Tassano's flower shop at 808 W. 8th street near Flower street in downtown L.A. Greg loved the place and culled many a story and line from his experiences at a place he worked and visited fondly. Even when he wasn't employed he drove around with cousin Kent (Kevin Smith) and they had a ball observing the absurdities of modern living in the Southland. The phone was answered by different employees and each had a unique turn of "Athletic Club...flowershopppp" There was owner John Tassano, right-hand man Ronald P. Lord, "Speed," a delivery man, and Carmen who cut flowers and told odd anecdotes such as the origin of pizza. I believe Greg and Kevin could go on for weeks about the people they met on their deliveries as they set forth across the city of the angels to spread floral joy. This might include places to eat, fascinating neighborhoods, cemeteries, lone...
Read more