Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • November 5, 2014 Hollywood revisited As outdoor living winds down due to the seasonal tem- perature shift, those of us who can pass up the vacations that promise “getaways” or “escapes” -- escapes from what? America? -- have TV to fall back on. My wife and I like nothing better than to put on eight layers of clothing and watch “Reel Thirteen” every Saturday night. The secret of enjoying the same movie more than once is this: The first time you watch for the plot and the characters and the next three times you enjoy the allusions, anachro- nisms, and absurdities. In “The Searchers” (1956), John Wayne tracks the Comanches to the same Indianist theme that Errol Flynn tracked the Sioux to in “They Died with Their Boots On” (1914). Max Steiner, whose family knew Johann Strauss in Austria-Hungary, produced such an evocative five-note theme -- BOM-BOM, bah-bah-BOM! -- that it came to have a life of its own. In an intentional allusion, “The Searchers” begins with an orchestral version of “Lorena,” a Civil War ballad in which the singer yearns to meet his beloved after they both die, which is intensely relevant to the plot. Steiner also wrote the music for “King Kong,” which is seething with allusions. Kong lives on Skull Island. The ape and skull motif was a symbol of Darwinism. Lenin kept one on his desk to remind himself to be ruthless. Kong’s death grapple with the snake-like lizard in his skull cave, which enables Fay Wray to escape with Bruce Cabot, is an obvious Freudian allusion. The scene in which the ship’s crew and the natives join forces to keep Kong from break- ing into the village by barring the gate can be taken as an allusion to the defense of the West against communism. In the sad little sequel, “Son of Kong,” the ship is taken over by a group of angry merchant seamen whose loud-mouthed leader is simply known as “Red.” When the island sinks, the hero, the heroine, and the Chinese cook take off in a sailboat and are rescued by what is obviously a Japanese ship. Bad “reds” and kindly Japanese disappeared from Hollywood a few years later. This leads us to anachronisms. “The Searchers” begins circa 1867 as John Wayne rides up to his brother’s ranch in Texas. Later, when he rides out for vengeance, the revolver and lever-action rifle he uses are both weapon types that were not produced until 1873. For once, Wayne was ahead of his time. One of my best friends was a door gunner in Vietnam, winner of the Air Medal, and cannot stand Wayne -- yet admits that “The Searchers” was a truly great movie, and the only great movie Wayne ever made. I posit another one for my purposes: “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” Wayne actually acts in this one, playing an old cavalry captain troubled by retirement -- a human anachronism since he had no immediate family. As a re-run special, you get it all. You get your anachronism: The year is 1876 but Pony Express riders are said to carry the news of Custer’s Last Stand. (The real Pony Express went out of business in 1861 when Western Union linked New York to San Francisco by telegraph.) You get your allusions: The German-American post blacksmith is named “Wagner” and the anvil theme from Richard Wagner’s “Ring” opera plays briefly as Blacksmith Wagner works at the forge. The crooked Indian agent and gunrunner, Isaac Rynders, is named for a New York City gang leader of the prior decade who once ordered African-American Abolitionist Frederick Douglass beaten up for seeing an Irish woman. You get your absurdities: Indian Agent Rynders, offering the hostile Indians rifles for looted gold, climbs up on the tailgate of his buckboard and makes an insulting speech. His interpreter tells the Indians “Sicha, sicha, lelah sicha! Wasteh, wasteh, lelah wasteh!” The hostile Indians are supposed to be Southern Cheyenne, but this is the wrong language. What the interpreter says is “Bad, bad, very bad. Good, Good, very good!” My wife and I both understand rudimentary Lakota and we burst out laughing when we heard this. The Cheyenne chief, played by Noble Johnson, a multi- faced and multi-faceted black man, suavely raises his bow and puts an arrow right into Rynders’ chest. Rynders looks surprised. His crooked agency staff goes into the campfire. Wayne digs it from a safe distance. Johnson also turned up, sometimes as the native chief in “King Kong,” and in a film version of “The Most Danger- ous Game,” for which he used white-face to play a men- acing Cossack. Johnson was the hypnotized Nubian slave in “The Mummy” with Boris Karloff, and a stalwart and dignified Sikh sergeant in the Alexander Korda version of “The Jungle Book” with Sabu Dagastir. In his farewell performance, Johnson got to charge up on horseback and shoot an arrow at John Wayne’s feet, his eyes glowering a challenge. Wayne picked up the arrow, snapped it, spat on it, and threw in back at Johnson. “I’m an old man, leave me alone,” Wayne says. Then Wayne and John Big Tree, who played the friendly Indian Blue Back in “Drums along the Mohawk” when he was a decade younger, meet in peace and agree that war is no good and they should go off and get drunk together -- or perhaps watch old movies. Here’s a crash course in enjoyable movie details you may have missed, especially on “Reel 13.” In “Eye of the Needle” with Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan, the des- perate German U-Boat crew members waiting to hear from their ace spy all speak German with crass English accents. Conversely, in “Run Silent, Run Deep” with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, the Japanese destroyer crew whose ship they blow up at the beginning of the movie all look and sound distinctly Korean, while the Japanese submarine that stalks the American submarine has a crew that looks Japanese and speaks Japanese perfectly. In “The Eagle Has Landed” with Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland, the sinister intelligence officer Robert Duvall’s black eye-patch is shown first on one eye, then on the other eye. “Braveheart,” not yet on Reel 13, is said to be the world record holder for anachronisms and inaccuracies. The Scot- tish national hero William Wallace circa 1300 fought the English in full plate armor, not in a kilt with woad (blue paint) on his face as Mel Gibson did. The droite de sei- gneur was part of the plot, but researchers say it was never practiced in Catholic countries, especially not in the Brit- ish Isles. The depicted “gay” English King Edward II is believed in real life to have produced children with three different women. I call that plausible denial. The French Princess Isabelle whom William Wallace is shown to have seduced and impregnated with the future king Edward III of England was in fact three years old at the time of Wal- lace’s execution. I call that implausible precocity. However, if they ever show “Braveheart,” I will be there taking notes with a strange sense of delight. I too have a brave heart -- and a strong stomach. Letters to the Editor Urges support for McGowan Dear Editor: I would like to encourage all Franklin Lakes residents to take the next election opportunity to re-elect board of edu- cation member Susan McGowan. Susan has been serving as an advocate for Franklin Lakes students for the past four years. She has proven her commitment to our K-8 students and our community by making, at times, difficult decisions based on what will benefit our students as a whole. Some of her accomplishments include the hiring of our new superintendent who has a proven track record of lead- ership and whose goal it is to unite our district keeping in mind that every student deserves the highest quality educa- tion; her commitment to our district’s policy to maintain small class sizes; and the enhancement of our middle school education program by ensuring every student at FAMS is provided with his or her own laptop. Susan’s dedication was validated when she received the Janet S. Lobsenz Award by the Bergen County School Board Association for her com- mitment to professional development and school gover- nance, and was appointed to the New Jersey School Board Association’s Legislative Committee in Trenton. I have three children in the Franklin Lakes K-8 School District. I am pleased to know that the decisions being made by Susan are always with the students’ success in mind. We have made great progress in the last four years due in large part to Susan’s tireless efforts to maintain the highest qual- ity standards for our schools. Let’s keep the momentum of success going by re-electing Susan McGowan on Nov. 4. Laura Saunders Franklin Lakes Re-elect Brian Scanlan Dear Editor: I am writing to show my heartfelt support for Brian Scan- lan in his candidacy for the Wyckoff Township Committee. During Brian’s tenure on our township committee, he has consistently proven be a positive and highly effective pres- ence on our governing board. He has brought fresh ideas and a strong volunteer spirit to his varied positions, includ- ing as deputy chair of the Finance Committee, as a member of the board of Health and the Personnel committee, as well as a member of the Community Emergency Response Team. He has also been an active and highly engaged liaison to the library board, parks and recreation, the DPW, the Wyckoff Family Y, the ambulance corps, and the Zabriski House. On a personnel level, as a former member and president of the Wyckoff Board of Education for six years, I was so appreciative of Brian’s unwavering support he consistently demonstrated for our schools. He completely understood the importance of maintaining a quality system of edu- cation, not only because a great educational system will directly preserve and promote Wyckoff s residential prop- erty values, but more importantly because Brian believes that every child in our town deserves the best education we can offer. For that I remain truly grateful. Lastly, and I’m sure I speak for many, the extra efforts through his e-mails that Brian has taken to ensure that the residents of Wyckoff are kept up-to-date about what activi- ties and issues the members of the township committee are engaged in has been refreshing, highly informative, and it truly helps me feel more connected to this town that I love so much. In return for all that Brian has done for our town, he has my vote and I urge everyone to vote for him as well. Siobhan Carlino Wyckoff Scanlan’s contributions recognized Dear Editor: Please take time to vote Nov. 4.Our votes in local races are just as important as in federal ones, but with much more impact, numerically. That’s why I’m looking forward to voting for Brian Scanlan in Wyckoff’s Township Committee race! As a long-term Wyckoff resident, I’ve seen the benefits of Brian’s leadership and teamwork. Brian cares for the feel of Wyckoff and saw the opportunity for Wyckoff to receive Open Spaces grants. Brian led the way in recogniz- ing the benefits we all reap from more effective recycling. Most recently, Brian objected to the proposed 400 percent increase in park and ride fees and suggested a better solu- tion: a much smaller increase to $125 a year and a commit- ment to increase the lot size by 60 spaces, alleviating the waiting list. He thinks outside the box and has proven his ability to work with others. Brian’s contributions to Wyckoff are recognized across the community. Brian Scanlan has won the endorsement of a former mayor, two past presidents of the Wyckoff Board of Education, a past president of the board of health, and voters across Wyckoff. Stanley Goodman Wyckoff Koulikourdis brings fresh voice Dear Editor: On Nov. 4, please join me in voting for Peter Koulik- ourdis for the Franklin Lakes Board of Education. Peter is an attorney who owns a thriving law firm with offices in Hackensack and the Bronx. He also serves as the president of the parish council at his church and as secretary and (continued on page 18)