Last night, in "The Drag-Net"(1936), early star Rod La Rocque (his real name) plays "Larry Thomas Jr.", a playboy working for his father's century-old law firm. Larry's Dad is a distinguished attorney, well respected among his peers, so he'll be damned if he's gonna make a full partner of Larry, who spends his evenings partying at nightclubs, doesn't come to the office until noon, and when he does he's usually hung over. No siree, and in fact Dad doesn't want Larry with the firm anymore, so he pawns him off on his friend the DA, partially to get rid of him, but also with the faint hope that working in the DA's office might force Larry to get some discipline.
And it does, but not right away. The DA helps Dad out by making Larry his assistant. Larry doesn't want the job and tries to beg off, but the DA says "I won't take no for an answer." Avoiding it for the moment, Larry heads over to the offices of the local paper, where his reporter girlfriend "Kit Van Buren" (Marian Nixon) writes a society column. He asks her to the club, where a jazz band blares away. This is Larry's haunt, where he feels most comfortable, with music and drinks and late night carousing. He doesn't wanna be assistant DA, but Kit thinks he should try it. "And also, we should leave this club immediately because it's not the kind of place district attorneys should be seen."
While they are talking, we cut to a confrontation in the club owner's office. A woman has burst in, angry that her husband has been rotting away in the joint. "You promised you'd get him out! You said three months, then you said five! Well, I'm tired of waiting! He took the heat for you and kept his mouth shut! If you don't keep your word I'm gonna talk to the DA!" She of course turns up dead in the club's phone booth five minutes later, and it's Larry and Kit who discover her. He wants to leave, to avoid getting involved, but she forces him to take charge of the crime scene. The cops arrive, and Larry barely knows what he's doing, but as the plot progresses, because he likes Kit and wants to impress her, he starts asserting himself. There's a mole in the DA's office who's passing info back to the crooked club owner. That's how he keeps escaping justice, because because he's got a secret ally.
Did you watch the Trump - Tucker Carlson interview last night? This movie reminded me of it. Trump has this weird ability to come across - when he chooses - as the polar opposite of his Number One A-Hole Of All Time personality. I call it the soft spoken, jocular Trump. The "well-informed" Trump. He's a quick thinker, you've gotta give him that, and he's been a TV star for many years, so when he's with a sympathetic interviewer like Carlson (himself an Ivy League schemer who knows how to "turn down the volume" on his naturally abrasive personality), they sound like a couple of "reasonable guys" wondering if the whole world's gone crazy when all Trump was trying to do was save America. Watching their very smooth presentation, I thought, wait a minute, this isn't the Trump I know. If this Trump was like this all the time, (and if we didn't know him as he really is) I might even vote for him (cause Lord knows the Democrats have no one except Al Gore and Hillary Clinton). But then I remembered, "Oh yeah...that's right. Trump's a TV star. He's a damn good actor, too, and America is run by the news media, so they give us Two Trumps, the Boogeyman Trump and (occasionally) The Reasonable, Seemingly Knowledgeable Trump, the Trump You'd Vote For If You Didn't Know He Was An Asshole.
And you know that voting for Biden again is absolutely not an option. What do you want, 10 dollar gas? A wheelbarrow of cash to go to the grocery store?
And so, because you tuned into the Trump/Carlson interview out of curiosity, and because they are presenting you with the Reasonable, Well Versed on Policy Trump (remember, the guy ain't stupid and he's quick), you watch it all the way through, and you go: "What is this, a freaking sideshow?" Which Trump is the real Trump?
And then you wonder: "Is the whole idea of a democratic election, governed by what people see on TV, a freakin' joke?
And of course it is, Jack Nicholson, you ham sandwich, you. Because you can't handle the truth.
This is The Trump Show we are living through. He even called her "Fanny Willis" (not Fani) and the truth is, he is not gonna spend even one day in jail (unless they speed his trial up, and fast), because they just debuted The Reasonable Trump tonight, and you should've seen all the comments from his followers. They adore him and he's gonna get re-elected, and this whole thing is gonna disappear. Poof! Watch it happen.
Because we (or I should say "you", because I no longer identify with the Democratic Party, or with politics whatsoever) have only Joe Biden to run against him, and because Joe Biden is, economically at the very least, the worst President in my lifetime (and we won't even get started on the Wokeness that's taking over America), Trump's gonna win re-election. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it last night, with The Reasonable Trump and the support from all of his followers. Now, it's not Biden's fault that he's a lousy President, because he has dementia, but behind him you have a functional numbskull (Harris) who somehow got named "a Federal prosecutor". If you believe she was actually qualified for that job, you probably also believe that George W. Bush flew an F-104 fighter jet.
So what we are seeing is that American politics is entirely fake. It's a sideshow, run by the news, and that's why the country is collapsing. I'm all done, tirade over, but Two Bigs for the movie, which is first rate. Trump is right, it's all fake news. The picture is very good. ////
The previous night we had Charles Starrett, aka "The Durango Kid", in "What Price Crime"(1935), a question they should ask Trump. So far, he'd answer, "No charge," because the price for him has been nothing. Starrett plays "Agent Allen Grey" of the Justice Department, who is called upon to infiltrate a gun running racket headed by club owner "Douglas Worthington" (Noel Madison). Worthington is so smooth he can't be caught. His sister and mother have driven cross country visit him. Sister "Sandra" (Virginia Cherrill) worships him. He's such a good brother that he even has her car repaired, when, by coincidence, she runs it into Agent Grey's as they round the same corner in Hollywood. The accident accounts for the requisite Meet Cute.
Earlier, during a warehouse robbery by hoodlums, a night watchman was shot dead, but one of the hoods also took a bullet, and in his pocket was found a matchbook with the name of Worthington's club on the cover. That gives the Justice chief the idea that Worthington might be behind the gun running operation that has armed all the gangsters on the coast. "But he's as clean as a whistle " says the Chief's lieutenant, "a regular Boy Scout." They always are. But the Chief has an idea for infiltration: "Say, y'know....Worthington sponsors boxers. What if we put an up-and-comer in his sights, to get his attention?" "Yeah, but how're we gonna do that?" Then the Chief says, "Meet my old college roommate - Agent Allen Grey, former middleweight champ at MSU." Wouldn't ya know it, another boxing movie, but only for a couple of scenes. Grey, after saying, "I can't compete with professionals!" agrees to take an arranged match because it will pit him against Worthinton's guy, and in a ten rounder, he finally knocks the guy out. Worthington is impressed, and even more so because he attended the match with his sister Sandra, who recognizes Grey as the man she crashed into when she and her Mom arrived in town. Watching Grey win his match, she's smitten, and asks her brother take him on. Worthington thus becomes Grey's manager, and the infiltration is complete.
We now dispense with boxing to take the next undercover step. Agent Grey establishes his "shady past bonifides" by staging a fake robbery attempt in which he acts as Douglas Worthington's protector. Worthington then takes him into the racket's inner circle, saying "I can use you for more than boxing." Pretty soon, Grey is driving crates of contraband guns across town to a mobster's warehouse. This guy's a major player; the Feds wanna bust him at the same time as Worthington.
But lo and behold, a third-rate henchman spies Grey reporting to his Chief. Worthington is furious, and swears to kill Grey, but then Grey redeems himself by "murdering" two fellow agents (i.e. having the newspapers say he did so). Now Worthington trusts him again. There's a lot of "who's who?" going on. Worthington's sister thinks he's honest. Worthington thinks Grey's a murderous hood. No one is what they seem.
Charles Starrett could pass for a young Rock Hudson in this flick. Then he made a whopping 65 "Durango Kid" movies and aged appreciably, because just 20 years later he was quite weathered (though still lean). But in those days everybody was a smoker and a drinker. And in the words of the immortal Joe Walsh: "The smoker you drink, the player you get."
The movie ends in a very realistic looking shootout that looks like it could've been filmed by a bystander at an actual crime scene. Given the year of its release, it's a message from the Justice Department, saying "If you are gonna arm organized criminals, we are gonna shut you down". But then the gun runners just opted for doing it out in the open, with sporting goods stores, and gun shows, and mail order, until there were more guns in America than people.
Well anyway, Two Big Thumbs Up for "What Price Crime", a question only Trump can answer. The picture is very good. ////
And that's all for tonight. Sorry about the election pessimism. I sure hope I'm wrong on all counts (i.e. Trump winning, or inflation wheelbarrowing if Biden is re-elected). I just got cynical watching that Trump/Carlson interview, but I'll be back to my cheery self next blog, I promise. As long as there aren't any Man Buns at the CIA, I think we'll be all right. My blogging music was "Evening Star" by Fripp & Eno, and "The Last Waltz" by The Band. My late night is "The Flying Dutchman" by Wagner. I hope you had a nice day, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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