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Out here I don’t have a lot of choices about my entertainment. I filled up a hard drive with movies and TV shows, and I’ve been watching them off and on, but it really lacks that “trip to the movie theater” feeling I crave from back home. Lucky for me, the MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) tent has a tiny movie theater consisting of a flat screen TV and four rows of comfy couches. No popcorn, though.
Ever since he went crazy on Oprah, and called Matt Lauer “glib” for questioning a philosophy which paints psychiatry as the devil, I’ve been wary of Tom Cruise. I didn’t watch Mission Impossible 3, I didn’t watch Valkyrie, and I hung my head in disapproval about Scientology concepts like silent childbirth. But damnit, I must admit that he’s made some good movies.
That’s why when I walked past the MWR Café Cinema on Tuesday I just couldn’t resist anymore when I saw that Cocktail was playing at 1800. I tried to talk my friends into going, but my requests were only met with confused looks and questions about my sexual preferences. Obviously, they don’t remember that movie as fondly as I do. I love all of the bar tricks, the off the cuff poetry, and the kickass soundtrack which—like Dirty Dancing—spawned two soundtrack albums, both of which my family owned on CD in the late 80’s and played ad infinitum in our conversion van.
In spite of the unjust mockery, I was able to really enjoy the movie. Laughing for the good times, crying for the bad. Poor Coughlin’s reach far exceeded his grasp. At least in death he was able to teach Bryan the things he should’ve learned himself in life.
Wednesday night, I dove into my library and pulled out the Paul Newman classic The Hustler. With support from Jackie Gleason and George C. “M-F’in’ Patton” Scott, this is a great film. The last time I saw it, I think I was too young to really understand the tragedy of the love story, the life he was attempting to leave behind, and the addictive side of Fast Eddy’s incredible talent. But I think age has given me the wisdom to see the movie through more sympathetic eyes.
The real movie buffs will see where this is going. What do you watch after you watch The Hustler, and what does this have to do with Tom Cruise? Well, after watching Robert Rossen’s The Hustler from 1961, you should really follow it up with the Scorsese-directed, 1986 sequel The Color of Money. Paul Newman reprises his role as Fast Eddy Felson and takes a young, dumb upstart (Cruise) under his wing to teach him the Art of the Hustle. Tom Cruise is really phenomenal in this movie, playing a complete flake with perfect mid-80’s, Jersey hair, and a totally guileless personality.
Friday morning I walked back through the MWR and read the movie board. While I couldn’t remember the film, I knew that there was something I wanted to see at 2000. So that became my goal all day: be in the MWR by 2000 to watch… well, whatever movie it was. And I shared this idea with some of the Air Force guys I work with and without knowing what the movie was, they agreed to go.
Before the movie played, we had a few rocket attacks on base. Mostly these are characterized by an alarm screeching “ROCKET ATTACK … … … ROCKET ATTACK” at you, followed by 15 minutes of nothing and then an “ALL … … CLEAR … … ALL … … CLEAR.” This time was a little bit different. I heard the initial alarm go off for a few seconds and then felt and heard a BOOM! which came as a surprise to me. I was waiting in line with some soldiers to get a haircut, and we took the opportunity to all file out and do our jobs. My job was to get nearby a bunker and wait to see what happened.
What happened was a column of smoke rose from somewhere not terribly far from me, and four ambulances screamed by. I found out the next day that they were carrying two dead Eastern European soldiers and two injured Eastern European soldiers, a rocket having landed right on their bedroom. Now, this might be cause for further concern if these guys could aim their rockets, but the very nature of the way they work makes it nearly impossible to repeat a shot. They can’t use the same place twice, and if they sit still and wait to find out if they got a hit, they will be blown up by someone… And I can tell you that someone got blown up in response to that attack.
After all that excitement, I figured a movie would be a nice treat, so my Air Force pals and I went to the MWR to find out what the movie was and to watch it. It turned out to be A Few Good Men, written by Aaron Sorkin and starring Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore in her first Navy role, but not her last. I love Sorkin’s writing, so it’s always a pleasure for me to watch his stuff. His characters tend to stand on a pretty tall soapbox some of the time, but I can forgive that for the good plots and the clever banter.
So that’s how I went from a Tom Cruise-free existence to one completely steeped in his work. Maybe Top Gun will grace the screen next week and I can continue the streak.
Also, incidentally: I'm just fine after the attack. Didn't even really shake me up, so don't worry. And remember, they can't aim these things for sh*t.
forgive the first 'ku
ReplyDeletecold medicine fogs the brain..
clever post title :)
I totally didn't mean for it to work out like that. When I was trying to think of a title, I just went through all of the Tom Cruise movies I could think of, and this was before I decided to include the rocket attack. I didn't want to worry anyone back home, you know? But that's a pretty good war anecdote so I threw it in and it made the title make a lot more sense.
ReplyDeleteBe glad you don't have popcorn; there were reports all over the news a few days ago, that a medium movie popcorn has 3 times your daily alloment of fat!
ReplyDeleteMan, popcorn would be a treat... We were just talking about that today. no one has a microwave as far as I can tell, so I was brainstorming ways to cook popcorn with an MRE heater, but we don't think they get hot enough... Plus, they create poisonous fumes which might effect the flavor.
ReplyDelete