http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/movies/Section?oid=846987 Comments On: Movies en-us Copyright 2009 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Chicago Reader readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Chicago Reader. wil@desert.net (Chicago Reader Webmaster) Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0600 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:15:00 -0600 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
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Posted by Alison True]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:07:20 -0600 Chicago Reader
I'm all for tough aesthetic standards but if the only movies the Reader can find to recommend are two hairshirt epics like that, I have to say you've lost a certain touch with the reality of the moviegoing public. How about dialing your bullshit detector down one order of magnitude, and allowing at least a modest level of support for things that would at least be better to see than other things, such as A Serious Man or Where the Wilds Things Are-- or Bad Lieutenant, for that matter?
Posted by Ronald McFirbank]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:43:39 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by transleytan]]> Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:07:36 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by robert kawasaki]]> Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:57:19 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:59:24 -0600 Chicago Reader
I'm thrilled to see such renewed interest in one of Chicago's greatest contributions to the film world.

Vernam
Posted by cipherdom]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:52:06 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:11:47 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by Bobby G]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:23:10 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by 415reader]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:13:39 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by jwarthen]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:54:55 -0600 Chicago Reader
My apologies because the following is a little personal, though hopefully not self-indulgent. I was moved by the account of the 22nd Street tunnel tragedy, and then it occurred to me that my father, who was 19 at the time, was living in Little Italy just a few blocks away. Though his childhood was very different from Robert Ryan's, my dad also became a dedicated actor (though not a professional). And like Ryan, he was half Irish. They had some things in common, including those dark moods.

Two of Robert Ryan's films -- "Crossfire" and "Billy Budd" -- made a deep impression on me as a young man. Eventually, he inspired a song and graced the cover on my humble first CD, called Sweet Science. The cover photo is from one of his best movies, "The Setup." (Whoever called boxing the "sweet science" probably never stepped into a ring.)

A couple of the song's lines are verbatim from "Crossfire," but it could just as well be about my dad, or the songwriter, for that matter.

He's got eyes like two little bits of coal
Dark smudges on the windows to his soul
And there's something smoldering just below
He's got eyes like two little bits of coal


I wrote those words after seeing Robert Ryan as the sadistic master-at-arms John Claggart in "Billy Budd," based on the Melville book. I've always wondered if "Moby Dick" might have earned a spot on the short list of all-time greatest films if Ryan had played Ahab. Gregory Peck was perfect as Atticus Finch, but I could never buy him as Ahab -- too much the nice guy trying to play mean.

Something about Robert Ryan just spoke to me as I moseyed toward middle age. With time, I've come to relate better -- sometimes all too well -- to the wellspring of anger that often defined my father's passion for acting, which he pursued well into his 70s. When mortality starts coming into view, hanging onto that sort of intensity isn't easy. If the alternative is resignation, I'll settle for being a slightly pissed-off old guy.

Vernam Cipher

www.cipherdom.com
http://www.facebook.com/vernam.cipher
vernam at gmail dot com

Posted by cipherdom]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:21:21 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by seanax]]> Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:35:48 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by trench]]> Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:22:10 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:32:15 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by MKelly]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:38:26 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by murphy0114]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:29:12 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:55:45 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:01:41 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:55:20 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by Conslor]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:48:55 -0600 Chicago Reader
And your story about Robert Ryan is just fascinating--it reads like a novel. Well done.
Beth
Posted by murphy0114]]> Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:28:32 -0600 Chicago Reader
joanjacqueline: Robert Ryan was a heavy smoker throughout his adult life. According to his biographer, Franklin Jarlett, his original cancer diagnosis was lymphoma, although the cancer eventually spread to his lungs.
Posted by J.R. Jones]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:56:24 -0600 Chicago Reader Posted by joanjacquelyn]]> Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:40:53 -0500 Chicago Reader Do you have any idea of his Grandparents address when resident here
Posted by George123]]> Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:07:05 -0500 Chicago Reader Posted by dylanite]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:14:01 -0500 Chicago Reader