Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • 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 Coats for Kids collection under way Dear Editor: The Sons of the American Legion, along with the American Legion and its auxiliary members, are collect- ing new and gently-used coats for children in kindergarten through the third grade. There are hundreds of children in these grades who go to school in the cold of winter wearing only T-shirts. Their parents cannot afford coats, sweaters, or even sweatshirts. Donations of coats may be dropped off at American Legion Post 57, 46 Franklin Turnpike in Waldwick, after 5 p.m. on weekdays and after 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. To make a monetary donation, checks made payable to “SAL Squad 57” and marked “Coats for Kids” on the memo line may be sent to American Legion Post 57, 46 Franklin Turnpike, Waldwick, NJ 07463. Post members will shop for the coats. For more information, contact Squadron Commander Steve Toms at (201) 637-9189 or at teamtoms@verizon.net. Nancy Nielsen, President Auxiliary Unit 57 Waldwick Questions Cho’s qualifications Dear Editor: To paraphrase a popular quote, there are lies and then there are “damn lies.” Roy Cho’s campaign is apparently deft at telling the latter. In signs littering the Fifth Congres- sional District, Mr. Cho states as fact: “Moderate Republi- cans Support Roy Cho.” Really? Where is the polling data to back Cho’s claim? Certainly, Cho’s million-dollar cam- paign could have paid for another poll to back its claim. The June poll was solely a push-poll intended to bolster name recognition. In his professionally crafted Facebook page littered with rude ad hominem attacks against Congress- man Garrett, noticeably absent is any actual backing for this outlandish claim. I’m assuming someone finally real- ized Cho needs many registered Republicans to swing over to his side before he can win. Which leads me to my main point: Who is the 33-year old Roy Cho and why are people bankrolling him? Apparently, he is only an associate attorney who graduated law school a mere five years ago. Having an “inactive” New Jersey law license, he now works in New York City at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP and before that in New York City at Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP – both in private equity. Why are “money people” bankrolling his elaborate social media campaign and associated PAC groups with hopes of jump-starting Cho’s career in politics? Unfortunately, we have already “been there, done that.” The result in that instance was two terms with a president whose palpable distain for America is so strong he would rather assist Liberians despite the dangerous consequences to US citizens. Frankly, Obama’s rejection of a travel ban with Ebola nations should disgust everyone no matter what party affiliation – including Mr. Cho. It would not be credible if Cho now said he did not align himself with Obama on immigration or an Ebola travel ban. At law school, Mr. Cho was the editor-in-chief at the leftist Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. He was also an aide to former Governor Jim McGreevy. For those who forget, McGreevy appointed Golan Cipel, a poet, to run our state’s Homeland Security Department in the hope that Cipel would become his concubine. Does anyone really believe Cho will do anything to stop Obama’s plans to bypass Congress and grant amnesty to over 30 million ille- gal aliens or urge a travel ban with Ebola nations? Bottom line: Does anyone really believe Cho will do a better job of protecting New Jersey residents? In my opinion, Cho is nothing less than a classic car- petbagger who will likely say anything to get elected. He apparently chose what he considered to be a ripe candidate and then moved to a Hackensack address solely for the election. Before Hackensack he lived in New York City and before that in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown Law and Manalapan with his parents. Having a New York City victim of Ebola – a doctor who rode the subway hours before being placed in quarantine -- should stir up voters to the dangerous policies of folks like Obama and Cho. One can only hope the slick and vicious ad hominem attacks against Congressman Garrett do not carry Cho into office – an office Cho neither deserves nor is qualified to fill. Mr. Cho may be a smart, hardworking, “nice guy” with pearly whites but he surely is not quali- fied to be our next congressman – especially with the train wreck administration we currently have. We continue to need “Tea Party Extremists” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) who are still awake to the need for a Constitution as well as putting up as many roadblocks as possible against the serious damage caused on a daily basis by the Obama administration. Paul E. Paray Ho-Ho-Kus Supporting Walsh & Batt Dear Editor: On Nov. 4, Ho-Ho-Kus residents will have the opportu- nity to vote for two board of education candidates. Many residents are familiar with the hard work, dedication, and critical role Ellen Walsh has played in improving our school (continued on page 17)