Flashback Friday: Goofs

Last night I started watching A River Runs Through It, a film directed by Robert Redford based on a novella by Norman Maclean, who also co-wrote the screenplay. I've read the book several times, and seen the film a few times as well, albeit perhaps 10 or 20 years ago. 

Last night, though, I found myself questioning a couple details as they came up. For example, Norman, the storyteller, says he saw the great boxer John L. Sullivan fight while he was out East. For some reason I thought Sullivan fought around 1900, not 1920. A little after there was a reference Burma Shave, which I had thought took place much later. 

So I decided to check this out, and sure enough I was right and the film got it wrong. Sullivan died in 1918. And when Paul does a Bogart imitation at the speakeasy, well that is too much. I am watching a Bogart film tonight (In a Lonely Place) and though it was shot in 1950 I remember when I was in college we saw Bogart's first big screen film. (I just did a fact check, and yes he was in a small short film in 1928) but this scene in River Runs Through It was 1925, so I doubt he knew yer what Bogie sounded like since it was the silent film era..

All this is lead in to a blog post I wrote 10 years ago this month called Goofs. In that instance I detailed the goof in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Most films have them but I was surprised by the quantity of errata in this early Redford film. Here is a page itemizing what people have observed.

And here's my original blog post from Thanksgiving weekend 2010. 

Goofs

While watching movies I often like to read about the films in greater detail at imdb.com. Internet Movie Data Base is a great resource for getting background information about a film, or other viewers' opinion before you check out a flick. In addition to reviews, you can select actors or actresses and review the span of their entire careers, including future projects they have signed on to. 

 

One section that is fun is the trivia about each film. Another page highlights good lines and dialogue fragments. And in the event you are not a regular user of the site, there is still another section which I find interesting, titled Goofs. 

While I was talking on the phone with my brother yesterday he said they were being attacked by a flock of birds while on the way to the theater. He was jesting, but said it felt like a scene from the movie by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on that trigger, I chose to use The Birds to give an example of the kinds of goofs for this film. 

Revealing mistakes: When Melanie is climbing upstairs we see her shadow on the wall, even though the only light source is the flashlight she is using. 

Continuity: Just before the gas station explosion, gas is shown running into the left rear tire of a red car. The next shot of that car, taken from a little farther back, shows gas running near the tail of the car but the area around the tire itself is completely dry. 

Revealing mistakes: When the children are running from the school while being attacked, the birds attacking them cast no shadows. 

Continuity: After the seagull attacks Melanie on the boat, her hair appears disarranged. The next shot shows her hair neatly arranged again. 

Crew or equipment visible: When Melanie was driving her car to deliver the lovebirds, there's a shot of the front of the car and the camera is reflected in the window.

These are just a few of the dozens of observations people have noted about this film.

If you go through the Hitchcock catalog you will see that the films are rife with goofs. But this is hardly a Hitchcock characteristic. Directors know that they must operate with seemingly countless variables while simultaneously making the story "work" and all within a fixed budget.

What prompted me to write about goofs today was, in part, seeing the quantity of goofs in Cameron Crowe's films. As I investigated further, I discovered his films have neither more nor fewer errors of continuity than his peers. And as numerous as they were, I never noticed one of them in the three films I watched last week. Viewers only care that whatever happens makes sense in the context of the dream. It's when characters themselves act out of character that we have real problems.

For what it's worth.

CALL FOR POETRY: 2015 Farm/Art DTour

Are you clever? Are you competitive? Do you like word play?

The Fermentation Fest has put out a call for Upper Midwest poets to contribute short poetry for the Farm/Art DTour. They're calling the event A Live Culture Convergence. If you're old enough to remember those Burma Shave signs we used to see on the way to grandma's house, you'll grasp the principle behind this competition.

Upper Midwest writers are invited to submit short poems relating to food, fermentation, agriculture, art or the land which can be turned into a set of Burma Shave-style signage on a 50-mile stretch of scenic farmland in Sauk County. Sounds like a fun, retro way to create some buzz for the Farm/Art DTour.

When I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties our family frequently took drives from Cleveland to my grandparents home in Warren, Ohio. I have a lot of memories from that one hour drive including parachute jumpers, sparrows caught in the grill of the car, fifties rock 'n roll that was playing on the radio, and yes, those Burma Shave signs.

I did a bit of quick research on this last night and discovered that the first Burma Shave roadsides were introduced here in Minnesota. I bet you didn't know that. 1925.

Follow this link for lots of images related to these Burma Shave signs.

What a great marketing concept. I don't know what the signs cost, but the brand was established by means of its ubiquity and the humorous manner in which it reached the general public.

Oh, so back to the contest! The objective will be for writers to submit short poems that can be displayed along the roadsides of the Farm/Art DTour route like Burma Shave signs. Submissions will be evaluated by Wisconsin poet laureate Max Garland. Winners will receive $100 for each poem selected. There will be six poems selected.

You can FIND COMPLETE DETAILS ABOUT THE CONTEST HERE.

DEADLIINE is July 31, so put your thinking caps on. Let the games begin!

* * * *

Find out more about the Fermentation Fest here.

Learn more about Burma Shave history here on Wikipedia.

Read a radically vast collection of Burma Shave jingles here.

If you want to skip all the links and just Submit Poems for the DTour email your entries to dtour.poetry@gmail.com

Have Fun
With Your Number One
Go Pickin'
Berries
In The Sun

Meantime, life goes on....

TIP OF THE DAY: The more birthdays you have, the longer you'll live.

PASS IT ON.

Paul Harvey RIP, Twitter and Everything Else

"I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist." ~ Paul Harvey

This morning I learned that Paul Harvey had passed away this yesterday. The story was not in our morning newspaper. It was being tweeted on Twitter, the social media phenomena.

A lot of memories popped into my head at this point. I remember how as a kid in Cleveland we would drive to my grandmother's house with the radio on, and Paul Harvey was right there, injecting himself into our lives, along with the Burma Shave road signs. Paul Harvey outlasted Burma Shave by a long shot.

When I was twelve our family moved to suburban New Jersey. The new developments were fertile ground for Newspaper Wars, much like the Cola Wars that took place in the third world a decade or two later. I became a paperboy for the Newark Star-Ledger, and went to every house in the new neighborhood seeking new customers. What I remember from that experience was how the Sunday morning newspapers were delivered around 10:00 p.m. Saturday night, in two groups, the pre-printed comics, ads and miscellaneous material, and the late breaking stories which included the sports and front page sections. My job included meshing the two portions into one newspaper by inserting the pre-printed material into the late-breaking part.

So it is no wonder that the passing of Paul Harvey did not make this morning's paper. It must have been a late Saturday story, like the final scores on late games in sports. As a result, Mr. Harvey's passing was first announced on alternate media. I myself discovered it on Twitter early today.

You may recall that this past Thanksgiving Twitter broke the Mumbai massacre before network television or CNN had a handle on it. And Twitter is becoming the "live as it happens" mechanism for covering major events, from political to sports to social phenomena. Don't believe me? Check out the Nightline story about Twitter right here.

As for Paul Harvey, with seventy years on the air you might say he "found his voice." That inimitable staccato style stood out from the crowd of airwave noise makers. At one time his daily broadcasts were aired in Duluth at 7:30 a.m. and noon, with the morning version of “Paul Harvey News and Comment” being a five minute news review and the noon program going fifteen. His unique historical trivia accounts, called The Rest of the Story, reinforced his fame.

Being in advertising, I once looked into the going rate of being a sponsor of his news program. The price tag circled around $900,000 for a two year stint with six months on, six months off. This was about a dozen years ago, and it gives you an idea of the prices you can garner if you have a name. Mr. Harvey had established his cred, and claimed to be a user of every product he promoted.

I am sure that it was disheartening when last year Mr. Harvey said good-bye to his beloved wife Angel, but it looks like they are back together again, sharing the rest of their story.

As for everything else... I think we'll just save that for another time.

In the meantime, here's an overview on the life of this legendary radio entertainer.