Two weeks prior to ABC’s removal of “Roseanne”, the network announced they were “dialing back” the star’s support for Trump in the following season. The fact is: ABC was embarrassed by the new found popularity of a previously dead show. As in real life, blue-collar workers (those in the rust belt) helped Donald Trump win the presidency. That’s what Roseanne’s character became. ABC was just looking for a reason, ANY reason to cancel it.
Roseanne Barr’s tweet, a joke about Valerie Jarrett being a cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes” has been misinterpreted. Ms. Jarrett is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. She was born in Iran; therefore, you cannot call her “African-American”, regardless of her parentage.
Barr meant her joke to be about Muslims, who are not a race. How can this be about racism?
Q. If any entertainer made a reference to Pres. Trump looking like an ape, do you think they’d be fired?
Madonna said she thought about blowing up the White House.
Snoop Dogg made a music video, showing a clown-faced Trump being “shot”.
Robert DeNiro said he’d like to punch Trump in the face.
Were any of these people punished for what they said?
People should be asking why Pres. Obama’s chief advisor (Ms. Jarrett) has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – and – why Obama gave them billions of dollars during the “Arab Spring”. People should ask why Obama threw away our victory in Iraq, then allowed ISIS to form a caliphate. People should ask why Obama allowed torture and mass genocide against Christians in the Middle East.
Instead, comedienne Roseanne Barr is being demonized for making a dumb joke.
David Ely’s spellbinding novel “Seconds” became a Paramount film that failed miserably at the box office. Since then, it has gained respect amongst science-fiction fans. Additionally, Criterion has issued a blu-ray version with a few minutes of added footage.
So, what went wrong? Why didn’t “Seconds” connect with ’66 audiences? Several reasons…
Grim storyline.
Filmed in black & white, then considered “old”.
Audiences not ready to accept Rock Hudson in this type of role.
Too ahead of its time.
Today’s audience understand because…
Far-out freaky cinematography by James Wong Howe.
John Frankenheimer’s tight direction – an expert at realism.
Considered to be one of Rock Hudson’s best roles.
Black & white gives it that “classic” look.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score.
Superb supporting cast, some formerly blacklisted during the McCarthy era. (Will Geer, Jeff Corey and co-star John Randolph.)
Story is more plausible today, then in the past.
WARNING – REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
From the nightmarish opening credits by Saul Bass, we realize we are in for something different.
Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) is a middle-aged businessman trapped in a lifeless marriage, a boring job and a desperate desire to change it. He receives phone calls from a friend named Charlie – someone he believed to be dead – telling him about a second chance at life.
This secret organization will transform its members into “reborns” or “seconds” – men physically transformed by plastic surgery, ready to begin a new life.
Hesitantly, Mr. Hamilton visits the company, unsure of what to expect. While there, Mr. Ruby (a very funny performance by Jeff Corey) explains things: how his duplicate body will be discovered, etc. (“The question of death selection may be the most important decision of your life!”)
Arthur H. is still not ready to sign until he is shown a film of what looks like him raping their secretary. This company takes no precautions, having drugged him earlier by putting him in this compromising position. At last, he speaks with the founder (Will Geer known as the “old man”), a benevolent-looking soul who convinces him that “Seconds” is the way to go.
Following extensive plastic surgery, he is congratulated as the doctors “masterpiece”. Arthur Hamilton is now Antiochus “Tony” Wilson, (Rock Hudson), a painter, already established with a place to live and a butler. (Wesley Addy as John.)
While walking on the beach, Tony conveniently meets Nora Marcus (Salome Jens), who becomes his new girlfriend. But all is not well. Those who work for “Seconds” can see their client is not happy. Nevertheless, Nora introduces Tony to a hedonistic lifestyle – parties, sex, new people, until…Tony in a drunken state, inadvertently begins telling the party guests who he was. Carrying him off to another room, he looks up and is told by John that the others are like him. “Reborns.” Nora enters, screaming, “Who the hell do you think you are?!!”
The next morning, Charlie phones again warning “Arthur” to stay there. Instead, Tony visits his old home and former wife (Francis Reid.) Under the guise of being a recent friend of her departed husband, Tony asks for a painting as a keepsake. His “wife” informs him that all his paintings have been “cleared out”. Tony/Arthur realizes that she has moved on, especially when she describes him as “a stranger in his own house,” “a quiet man who never let anything touch him.”
Walking out, John drives up saying, “I’m sorry, Mr. Wilson,” which says a lot.
Tony Wilson is taken back to the company. Mr. Ruby asks if he’ll sponsor any new clients. He is able to put him off.
After extensive photography of his body, he is taken to “the room”, where a number of men wait, are given desk work and sedatives. There, he meets Charlie (Murray Hamilton), his sponsor, who thought he’d “make it.”
Once again, Mr. Ruby asks Tony for sponsorship. After turning he down, the die is cast.
The next morning, Tony is awakened by the old man.
“I sure hope’d you’d make it. Make your dream come true.”
“Maybe, I never had a dream.”
The old man explains that the company has had a high rate of failures. Unfortunately, the organization has grown too big and the board won’t let him end it.
Doctors enter and Mr. Wilson believes it’s for new plastic surgery…until he’s given his last rites.
The same doctor who performed his transformation apologizes, saying, “You were my best work, Mr. Wilson. Cranial drill.”
Tony Wilson’s body is to be used for another “reborn”.
As his consciousness fades, the “dream” appears. On a beach, a man carries his child on his shoulders, a dog running in the background. The dream ends when the drill bores itself into his brain.
Kim Jong-Un shakes hands with Moon Jae-In in historic photo of the meeting between North and South Korea
After sixty-five years, there is peace between North and South Korea. Unification may begin.
Moon Jae-in, President of S. Korea has credited President Trump, however, according to the mainstream media, Trump had nothing to do with it. On the contrary, the New York Times claims our President wants war and conflict, because he would profit from it. (Trump needs $ because he’s so poor.)
Where is all this Fantasy Island b.s. coming from and why?
The MSM fears this will give Trump the 2020 Election. Back in 1972, Pres. Nixon’s “Only Nixon could go to China” trip, helped thaw relations between the most populated country on Earth. Nixon would go on to win his re-election by a landslide.
The media hates Trump because he’s not afraid to call them “fake news”. He can beat them at their own game.
What will the press corps say next? That Hillary Clinton could’ve done the same thing? Not likely. Mrs. Clinton had already publically stated her strategy with N. Korea. The “Carrot on a Stick” trick. I.E., Whenever Kim Jong-Un acts up by threatening to blow us up, give them a billion dollars (“in aid”) to shut up. Pay off the bully. Bush and Obama were no better.
Pres. Trump, on the other hand, threatened to blow N. Korea off the map and there was serious talk of targeting Kim Jong-Un’s residence.
The MSM, of course, reacted with horror, saying, whenever Jong-Un speaks, we must remain silent. Is that what made America great? By remaining silent when being threatened with annihilation?
Kim Jong-Un knew his days of bullying the United States were over. Little “Rocket Man” got sent to the woodshed.
Krzysztof Komeda was best known as the composer for the early films of director Roman Polanski. His life was cut short by a fatal accidental injury which took his life on April 23, 1969. Some called it part of the “Rosemary’s Baby” curse. //ericreports.com/2016/02/04/curse-of-rosemarys-baby/
The first time I heard one of Komeda’s scores was in MGM’s “The Fearless Vampire Killers” (Or; Pardon Me, but Your Teeth are in my Neck (1967.) In this dark-humored farce, Polanski (as Alfred) is irresistibly drawn by the beautiful charms of Sarah (Sharon Tate.) The music is a quasi-baroque theme matched perfectly by the ironic conclusion.
Next, Paramount’s “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968). Like Hitchcock, Roman Polanski inserts comedy among the grimmest of circumstances. The opening lullaby (composed by Beethoven) is sung by Mia Farrow, eerily foretelling the proceedings. (Plot: A chic Manhattan couple find themselves amidst a coven of witches in the famed Dakota apartment building.)
Komeda’s last work was for “Riot” (1969), starring Jim Brown and Gene Hackman. The director was Buzz Kulik. Komeda wrote the music for “100 Years”. Lyric by Robert Wells.
Who knows what direction Roman Polanski’s films would’ve taken if his favorite composer had lived?
Moon Jae-in, President of S. Korea has credited President Trump, however, according to the mainstream media, Trump had nothing to do with it. On the contrary, the New York Times claims our President wants war and conflict, because he would profit from it. (Trump needs $ because he’s so poor.)
