I'm back. Yesterday there was no movie and thus nothing to write about. Missed church, too. It was taking longer than usual to get Pearl ready and finally I saw that we were barely gonna make it, if at all, so I just figured we'd skip it this time. It's only my fifth absence in four years of being in the choir, so I guess that's not too shabby. I've been there for 203 out of 208 Sundays. Now I'll start a new streak and not miss a week for at least another year.
I did make it up to the Granada Hills Christmas Parade yesterday afternoon, which you might already know if you saw my pics on Facebook. I never miss the Parade (I like being dependable you know), and when I got there at 2:30 I was immediately looking for The Dogs. Again, you may know which Dogs I mean if you have ever seen my pics of the parade in years past. Every year, the group Guide Dogs of America has a parade entry, where the trainers walk the dogs down the two mile route. I arrived an hour after the parade started, so I was worried I'd missed the Guide Dogs. I stood at the main parade intersection of Chatsworth and Zelzah for about 10 minutes, watching local scout troops pass by, and chamber of commerce folks, marching bands, Mexican Caballeros on horseback, we always have the same entries every year, which is what makes the parade so "homey". You know you can count on it. But I was worried I'd missed The Dogs, so I started walking, east on Chatsworth Street, back in the direction of the parade's starting point. Gotta find those doggies....
And I did! I'd walked about a mile down the street, past hundreds of folks sitting in lawn chairs, others standing, many with dogs of their own. I saw quite a few members of The Cutarian Society (i.e. small dogs, which I once thought were wimps until The Mighty Kober Doberman Pinscher showed me otherwise).
Finally, all the way down at the intersection of Chatsworth and Louise Avenue, I saw the Guide Dogs approaching, and I walked with them all the way back (I stayed on the sidewalk of course). But it was so cool to have found them, and not to have missed their appearance, and to have the chance to flank them all the way back on the mile of route that remained. Most of the doggers are Labs - my favorites - but this time I saw a couple of beautiful Golden Retrievers, too. When you see these dogs, and think about them as I had the chance to do while walking alongside them, you can see their deep intelligence, different than human intelligence, but a level of sheer understanding nonetheless that you can see in their eyes. Dogs are so smart - in their own way, separate from humans and yet bonded with us - and we have only just begun to come to know them, and I dare say learn from them.
I was thinking that the Guide Dogs are God's Angels as I walked alongside them.
I got a few good photos, some of which I posted. And I had a lot of fun at the parade.
Tonight I watched a Western from one of my collections, called "They Came To Cordura". Right away you know you have an Epic on your hands, otherwise the title would sound pretentious.
"They Came To Codura". Who came? Oh, wait a minute.....it's They.
"They Came", and so you know it's an epic and you don't question it.
Gary Cooper stars as a Major in the US Cavalry who is tasked with leading a foursome of soldiers back through the Arizona desert towards the city of Codura (state not established but probably New Mexico). The soldiers in question have been selected by Major Cooper for the Congressional Medal Of Honor, after their heroics in defending the American Fort in New Mexico against an attack by Pancho Villa, leading a guerilla Mexican Army.
"Codura" is a "Big Script" psychological Western, and it was big budget, too. Cost 4 million to make, which in 1959 was a fortune.
The story almost entirely involves the journey these men must make through the desert, as they retreat from the battlefield but find themselves trapped in unknown territory in Pancho Villa's mountains. Along for the ride is Rita Hayworth, playing a female rancher who allowed Villa's invading troops to hide out on her land in New Mexico. Major Gary Cooper has her under arrest and is taking her back to Cordura, too....But the four men who have been nominated for the Congressional Medal are not the perfect heroic specimens that Gary Cooper has perceived. In fact, every one of them is flawed, even fatally so.
Their flaws - i.e. their tendencies toward violence, due to their psychological deficiencies - are the very qualities that brought out their heroics in battle, and saved American lives at the New Mexican fort.
None of the men want the Congressional Medal, mostly because each has something to hide and doesn't want to become a post-war celebrity.
Each man also knows a secret about Major Cooper as well, that he had been leveled with a military charge of "cowardice in the face of the enemy" in a previous battle, but the charge had been swept under the rug by a fellow commander, a friend.
The four soldiers slowly become renegade. Cooper must hold them together as they conspire to commit mutiny and even worse. Two of the men mean to take advantage of Rita Hayworth, and are just waiting for Cooper to fall asleep so they can do so.
These are a few tidbits of the storylines from the movie, and there are a whole lot more. "Codura" runs 123 minutes but is super-talky, so a good 30 minute reduction should have been in order. Then you would certainly have had a classic on your hands.
Cooper is great as the weary Major, trying to deliver these men to receive their Medals, as charged. He isn't ready for what he runs into - the opposition of the nominated men, which becomes sinister and fierce - but he perseveres with his mission regardless.
The desert photography is spectacular, and the man vs. man / man vs. nature dramatic conflicts lead up to a battle of attrition at the end of the film, between Gary Cooper and Van Heflen, who plays a ruthless, amoral Sergeant bent on getting rid of Cooper and trying to convince the other men to go along with his ugly plan.
"They Came To Cordura" could have been one of the great Westerns ever made. It was interesting to learn that the United States Cavalry not only existed until 1916, but fought it's last battle then, only 44 years before I was born. They were still fighting on horseback until the mechanized forces of WW1 made the Cavalry obsolete. But yeah......just 44 years prior to 1960, things were still like the Old West.
What keeps the film from being great is it's talkiness, which adds unnecessarily to the length and bogs down the action in several places. Director Robert Rossen wanted to explore the questions of courage and cowardice in the context of war - a classic and eternal dramatic theme (unfortunately).
But he wasn't able to cut or shorten scenes in order to tighten his film, because he was so in love with his dialogue.
I give "Cordura" Two Thumbs Up anyhow, because it is a very good movie and it is indeed Epic.
But it could have been One Of The Greats, in which case I'd have awarded Two Huge Thumbs Up.
Instead, just Two Regular. See it anyway if you are a Western Fanatic like me. ////
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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