It's kind of a circuitous path to explain why I chose this week's film, so please bear with me and/or enjoy the ride.
With Father's Day this weekend, I get a little sentimental remembering my own dad. He died ten years ago this past May, which seems difficult to believe--but, as I say, time has been a blur to me since about August of 1985. On 18 June--Father's Day weekend--we had a memorial service for him in my aunt's living room. Only my father could get me to eulogize him the day before Father's Day.
I told a few what I hope were entertaining stories, but one thing still stands out to me. The day before, 17 June, I was at work. Noticing what day it was, I walked into the breakroom and wrote on an easel that I was declaring that day to be Frank Wills Appreciation Day. As expected, I got the inevitable question, "Who's Frank Wills?" I would just encourage people to look him up. From the moment I did that, I've always questioned whether I did it of my own volition, or if I was channeling Dad--right down to my smug response to "look it up" when someone asked me about it.
That was just the sort of thing Dad would have done--latch on to some obscure historical detail and make a big deal about it. I remember him telling me that there was a lot of Islamophobia in his workplace after 9/11. After hearing so much of it, he made some comments about how he too had stopped trusting Mormons after 9/11. When his colleagues would say something like, "You mean Muslims, right?," he pointed out that, no, in fact he was referring to Mormons. Fun bit of history--in 1857, Utah settlers who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints committed a series of attacks against the Baker-Fancher party who were part of a wagon train moving west from Arkansas. At least 120 members of the party were killed in the attacks which started on 7 September and ended on 11 September of that year. Now unless you have an extensive knowledge of American history--and, sadly, most Americans don't seem to--you've probably never heard of the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. I have to admit, I had never heard of it. It certainly wasn't brought up in any American history class I took in high school or college. But Dad had read about it and took note of the dates that it happened allowing him to screw with people later on down the road. Admittedly this was a favourite pastime of his.
Shortly after Dad died, a very dear friend of mine lost her own father. We got together for lunch one day that fall as a tribute to them. Over pizza and (really good) root beer, we determined that the best way to remember those we've lost is to find something about them that we've always admired and try to emulate that in our daily lives. I realized that Dad's propensity for "taking people's brains out and playing with them"--to use my mom's phrasing--was one of those things that I admired in him most. In the decade since, I've tried to do likewise where and when I could.
So, every 17 June, I declare it to be Frank Wills Appreciation Day. It's still not a national holiday but hope springs eternal. As I always say, if you see a security guard on that day, thank them for their service--maybe even give them a hug just to see the look on their face.
There are certain periods of twentieth century history that have always fascinated me for one reason or another. One of the big ones was the Watergate scandal. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two reporters from The Washington Post, followed all sorts of leads in what was supposed to be a "third-rate burglary" investigation that eventually brought down Richard Nixon's presidency. More than 50 years later, it's still considered one of the greatest detective stories of the twentieth century. The two wrote a book about their investigative experiences and the perils they endured along the way. In 1976, two years after Nixon resigned from office, screenwriter William Goldman adapted their book into a movie. It starred Robert Redford as Woodward, Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein, and Jason Robards as editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee.
The film went on to be nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director (Alan J. Pakula), and Best Supporting Actress (Jane Alexander). It won four including Best Adapted Screenplay (Goldman) and Best Supporting Actor (Bradlee). Co-starring Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Frank Wills, Stephen Collins, Meredith Baxter, and F. Murray Abraham, please enjoy All the President's Men.
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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