Tim-121 Reviews

A Bright Shining Lie (1998 TV Movie)

Should have listened to my brother

[22 November 2004]

I had received the book and DVD for Christmas last year. Being ignorant on much of the Vietnam War, I decided to read the book to see if I could apply anything to the Iraq situation. My brother told me to watch the DVD first because if I read the book first, the movie would be a huge disappointment. I read about 3/4 of the book and then watched the movie. Needless to say, the movie was a disappointment.

It tries to cover way too much in a short period of time. Bill Paxton is OK as Vann but every scene is way to short. Several characters are composite characters rather than the actual person. Donal Logue appears to be a composite of David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan. Eric Bogohosian is completely miscast as a composite of Doug Ramsey and Daniel Ellsberg (I think they call him Doug Elders in the movie).

The beauty of the book is the detail that it has. There's about 100 pages on Vann's 1962 stint and how he became completely frustrated with the American leadership in the war. There's about 100 pages on the history of Vietnam. There are about 100 pages on the Battle of Ap Bac and the fallout. The book weaves Vann's life in and out of the story of the Vietnam War. The movie makes Vann the centerpiece, so it becomes very difficult to get the background information and non-Vann information that one needs to understand Vann and the war. How could you do that in two hours?

Collector's Item: The Left Fist of David (1957 TV Movie)

Pretty Good

[2 March 2004]

I just watched this pilot as a bonus piece on my "The Last Man on Earth" dvd from Critic's Choice. This was an unsold pilot with only one episode, "The Left Fist of David". Vincent Price plays an art appraiser/collector whose partner is Peter Lorre. They go to Florida to catalog the collection of a large estate. Thomas Gomez plays a creepy schemer (although Lorre's character is kind of creepy too) who alerts them to the possibility that the collection may contain a legendary piece known as the "Left Fist of David".

It would have worked much better as a full hour story as opposed to a half hour. They should probably remake this as a full hour show because I think it could have a lot of possibilities with a different story every week. Who would be today's equivalent of Price and Lorre, though?

The Critic's Choice version is a little choppy and some scenes are dark, but we are talking about a 1958 TV pilot so I don't know if that's normal or not.

The Continental Twist (1961)

A real slice of Americana

[7/10 · 23 September 2000]

This movie was very enjoyable even if the acting and plot were subpar. The plot is only a vehicle for the music scenes with Louis Prima and Sam Butera who can really light up a room. I also loved the way Prima and Butera conversed with each other in their hip cat talk. June Wilkinson is very attractive as Prima's love interest. I checked her IMDB biography and she's a former Playboy playmate who's nickname is "The Body". I assure you she's much better looking than Jesse Ventura.