We learned this week of the death of Robert Duvall at the age of 95. When an actor I admire dies, I tend to find myself going through my collection and binge watching their movies. And Duvall was in some of the most celebrated films of the last 60+ years including many of my favourites, beginning in 1962 with his almost heartbreaking performance as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. This week alone, I've watched M*A*S*H, The Godfather, and Apocalypse Now. I expect I'll probably watch others over the next few days.
Duvall was one of those actors who appeared in so many films, it's easy to forget he was in some of them. Going through his IMDb page, I was surprised at how many of his films I actually own. I had forgotten completely that he was in Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges and True Grit with John Wayne (not to be confused with the version with Jeff Bridges). And I don't even remember him in The Natural or Falling Down. But that's okay because I'm pretty sure no one but me remembered that he was in Bullitt with Steve McQueen.
When I started this little Robert Duvall film festival that I'm still enjoying, I knew right away that there was one movie I wanted to include. Knowing that Apocalypse Now is incredibly dark (it is, after all, based on Joseph Conrad's book Heart of Darkness), I thought I might want to follow it up with something a little lighter... but not too light.
This week's film is a darkly comic satire--not something that sits well with many audiences because the humour can be interpreted as inappropriate. Frankly, I'm drawn to inappropriate humour. I find so many things in life--especially these days--completely inappropriate. Therefore, if I can find a way to laugh at it, those inappropriate things in life are at least a little bit bearable.
Nick Naylor (played by Aaron Eckhart) is a lobbyist for the tobacco industry who works for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. His job is to essentially downplay the health risks posed by smoking and get more people to light up. He's smart, he's savvy, and he can spin anything to make it appealing. Needless to say, the general public reviles him. He even admits that his only real friends are two other lobbyists--Polly Bailey (Maria Bello) for the alcohol industry and Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner) for firearms. Together, they refer to themselves the Merchants of Death or MOD Squad. While shilling legal, addictive carcinogens, Nick is also trying to be a solid role model to his son Joey (Cameron Bright).
Jason Reitman not only wrote the screenplay (based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, who also has a cameo in the film), he also directed this as his first theatrical feature. The film sports an impressive cast including Reitman mainstay J.K. Simmons as Nick's boss, Katie Holmes as an intrepid journalist, Rob Lowe as a film mogul trying to make smoking in the movies sexy again, Sam Elliott as the former Marlboro Man, William H. Macy as a Vermont Senator intent on bringing down the tobacco industry, and, of course, Robert Duvall as a tobacco titan known only as The Captain. Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2005, the film was released theatrically in the spring of 2006. Please enjoy Thank You For Smoking.
Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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