The moral
of this tale is, keep on learning new things, no matter how old you get. Learning new things keeps the brain active
and functional. It keeps one more
socially adept. I learned this month
about special bonus tracks on DVDs, which include background information,
cartoons, out-takes, and interviews with people making the film.
To
bolster a lagging social life, a New Year’s resolution for 2019 was to start a
weekly “movie night”, Tuesday nights at 6 pm.
I’d tinkered with this idea last year as a part of the monthly book at
the Guerneville Senior Center. I
scheduled the movie version of the book we were reading. This provided a second view, the screen play
writer’s and director’s version, as well as that of the author.
The
bonus tracks may turn out to be more relevant than watching the movie, at least
for we readers of the book. Many people
will have seen the movie based on a famous book, but no standard venue:
theater, TV, streaming, or even most DVD watchers, see these bonus tracks.
The
reading list for this year tends to the more classic stories and movies, as
befitting a senior’s group whose teen years were the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. What you saw when a teenager is probably
something from which you can still remember the lines. So, I developed a list of sixty movies,
mostly award winners, which included our dozen book club selections. I ordered the sixty DVDs, as that is the way
I play them on a large, six-foot screen.
I’ve watched
three complete sets of these bonus tracks as I write this: Lawrence Olivier’s
Henry V, Bogart & Bacall’s To Have and To Have Not, and The Sting with
Redford & Newman. I’m an old film
buff, but I learned a huge amount from each one of these add-ons. Tonight, it was The Sting, and to see
interviews with all the participants gave me an awesome insight as I then
watched the movie itself. I never really
understood all that shooting in the final scene(s). I learned enough to appreciate every
character. With Henry V, it was the
production background [1944]; and with Bacall, the real-time romance with
accompanying Mel Blanc Cartoon; in summary, historical perspective.
I look
forward in 2019 to expanding my passion and understanding of all those old
classic books and movies, through these new-found special bonus features. I will hopefully then be better able to
discuss and inspire others to take a deeper look at why they’re called
classics.
Tuesdays
at Peter’s, downstairs. Next week,
Casablanca wrapping up Bogart.
