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Sweet Hostage (1975)
I was too young to watch it! Disturbing.
TOTAL SPOILER ALERT
This was my first introduction to the actor Martin Sheen. I was barely 15 as I recall, because I hadn't yet moved to the San Fernando Valley with my grandmother. However, in 1975 I not only had moved to the Valley but also was in the 11th grade and was 17 1/2. This doesn't track. So, I will continue with my memory as my compass.
I was 15 when I saw this movie. I was innocent and had no conceptions of evil plots prior to watching this movie. To be fair to my grandmother, who didn't know I was awake as she watched from the living room, but my hide-a-bed was stationed in the dining room and had an excellent view of the large TV that was only a few feet from where I laid at night.
I could not help but watch this movie. It was certainly the first scary, apprehensive and dangerous plot movie I'd ever seen. I couldn't fall asleep because I was transfixed in shock and horror as the movie only became more shocking to my senses as it progressed.
The basic plot was of a young teen girl who, if I remember correctly, was trying to hitch a ride back home after shopping in the remote, small town she frequented. Martin Sheen was a mid-aged 20-something, possibly even a young 30-year-old drifter, who the townspeople was not aware existed in the vicinity. He picks up Linda Blair and they awkwardly pick up the conversation of Blair's family life. It takes awhile but she begins to notice that he is no longer taking her in the direction to her homestead.
At first Sheen ties her up in his shack that has no electricity, but eventually he starts to trust Blair, probably because he begins to see her as a mate in his twisted mind. Close to the end of the movie Blair has succumbed to the effects of his affections, as an active surviving victim, who begins to lose sight of who she was and for the sake of keeping herself alive, she begins to be taken in emotionally by Sheen's consistent pursuit.
In a survivalistic moment of lucidity Blair takes advantage of being sent into a shop for supplies and tips off the store owner with a clever clue that she leaves with the store owner. She asks for an exact duplicate special order of drapes (to put in Sheen's cabin) that she has requested some previous time for her mom's kitchen. Sheen isn't even remotely clued into this tactic, but the store owner does realize that Blair is in fact the now prominent missing child everyone has been looking for.
At my age, this movie was really confusing to my understanding of all the emotional and psychological changes that were affecting Blair as a rape/abductee victim. For Blair had indeed fallen for Sheen, mainly due to his affection, that she saw as real love from a man. Her first relationship.
I can only express how I perceived the movie as a young virgin child myself, who had never dated. It floored me. I was confused by it and terrified. But at the same time, I was getting swept under the same spell he had put Blair under and I in fact felt like I was living the story myself... as some movies have the ability to do.
I hated the movie, I was undone for having watched it and I did feel a violation had occurred to my sensibility.
I don't think I've had such a reaction to a movie quite like that ever again. I just wasn't emotionally nor had any sense of maturity enough to really deal with how it affected me.
The ending was especially a dichotomy to my emotional senses. In the end, Blair has fallen deeply for her predator, but the actions she took in town were successful for her to be saved from her potential eternal prison. She had given them his delivery address for her special order curtains, you see.
There would have been no way to locate her had she not been so clever. There were no other leads and all the leads that the police had, had turned up nothing but dead ends. They finally came in with helicopters and trucks into the rural hidden cabin's location. They had the place surrounded when Sheen realizes what Blair had done by ordering the curtains. He sees his fate is now set in stone and in a moment of total selflessness, he releases Blair to her saviors. The ending scene we see Sheen's cabin being bombarded with massive gun fire as Sheen lays mortally wounded on his bed while Blair is in shock, walking away from her lover /abductor towards the truck to safety. She is numb and forever changed. And no longer an innocent child.
I hated the actor Martin Sheen for decades after seeing this film, not really realizing the complexity of actors just playing roles.
He's redeemed himself frequently since. And I've since forgiven him. But what a ride and rude awakening to real and harsh realities in life.
Bitter Harvest (1981)
As of 1981, this was the official statement given at the close of the movie
After Ned DeVries killed his herd, public pressure forced the state to start testing livestock for contamination. Over five hundred farms were closed. Thirty thousand cattle were driven into mass graves and slaughtered.
It was not until two years later, in 1976, that testing was finally begun on state residents. Ninety percent of the people tested showed levels of PBB. Another year passed before a law was enacted to eliminate all contaminated meat and milk from the marketplace.
It is now estimated that eight million men, women and children carry the toxic chemical PBB in their bodies.
(Personal observational comment: since 1981 many generations have come into existence. IT is absolutely true that human contamination through genetics has now risen that last count of 8,000,000,000 to a far greater factor.
"Fifty years ago, in 1973, the Michigan Chemical Corporation in St. Louis, Michigan, caused the largest food contamination event in U. S. history when it shipped polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), a chemical flame retardant, instead of a nutritional supplement to be mixed into livestock feed. The event remains the worst case of accidental contamination in agricultural history.
"After a year of diligent work by a farmer-scientist (played in the movie by Ron Howard), the PBB contamination of livestock feed was documented, and officials were informed of the widespread environmental contamination. Cattle, swine, sheep had to be destroyed, including 1.5 million chickens, and 5 million eggs." According to a 2023 report commemorating the 50 years, on the nih dot gov site.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
If this nation doesn't stand up for the little guy, then we already lost those World Wars, we just don't realize it!
The last week in high school, all the students were directed into the auditorium to watch, "American Graffiti." I can't say it meant more to me than a nostalgic moment. I watched it, but I recall actually feeling I had better things to do with my time than to be stuck in the dark for two hours during daylight time!
However, this movie should be seen by every teen in America. That's my opinion, I realize, and I'll explain why.
It's not just an entertaining movie with some entertaining actors, this movie's got real meat on the bone. To think that the man, Tucker died only six months after his trial, that he miraculously won, considering that every level of the government had corrupted evidence, thwarted his efforts in every way, bugged his facility, and threatened his life with a possible sentence of up to 255 years for an act of supposed fraud, it's a wonder he was able to live that long. This nations' political and the top three auto manufacturers of the day, that underbelly of that era, did all it could to bury this man. And... unfortunately, they were successful!
They may not have been successful in killing his dream, but they were successful in killing the man. This is barely a footnote at the end of the movie, but it's there, if you were paying attention. I noticed NO ONE else mentions this fact in the movie?. It's the whole reason the movie is so valuable! IMHO
We owe it as a nation, individually to witness and learn from what happened to this man and his dream.
Thankfully, this movie was made to document this atrocity... if anyone is listening!
Checkin' It Twice (2023)
Lots of pleasant plotting went into this movie
Now that the Christmas season has begun, I'm hoping we'll get a new lot of romance movies. This just came out and the first is many season movies I'll be seeing. This movie captures the same old formula, but it's an interesting and new plot. Not typical for this genre. I think the beginning was cute, the middle was a little thin and felt drawn out, but it's got moments of developed background history, which add to its charm. The lead female is a fresh personality on the stage and we always love this male lead.
Because this movie steps out from the cookie cutter mold enough to catch my attention, I've rated this Hallmark romance movie a star higher than most their movies.
The Awakening (2022)
This represents a different gif than the God of the Bible
This is a set of interviews from parents who have lost a young adult child. Its focal point is in the journey through spiritualism into gaining a greater light into what they call as the communication with those in the afterlife. I found this documentary deeply concerning.
Truly not worthy to be associated with of the God of the Bible. It's more about mysticism than any thing else.
They ramble on about their experiences, all focused on things such as inner knowledge, moving into a deeper light all towards those loved ones who have died being the transistor to them attaining some perceived greater perfection.
I don't recommend this documentary for people susceptible to influences of things not proven, especially children.
Shuffleton's Barbershop (2013)
A must see
It can heal your childhood.
It's also playing on Hallmark Movies.
A movie about a singer, becoming a man, and his childhood memories through reuniting With His family and townsfolk. He comes back in to His hometown, when running away from His present life as a successful singer, but he can't run anymore from His past anymore. A series of events occur in His hometown that give him opportunities to either take the high Road His uncle instilled in him, or to stay broken and take the low road. Which way will he take at every bend that appears in His path? Watch this stellar movie to experience His choices.