Saving Mr. Banks

I am a huge fan of the movie "Mary Poppins". It's my favorite Disney movie, and when my nieces were all young, I started them out on it. They'd come over to my house, and the first thing they'd want to do it watch "Mary Poppins". We'd sing the songs together and dance around the living room, and laugh to see if we could float up on the ceiling. It's a true classic, and a memory with my nieces that I treasure.

The other night, as part of it's Summer Outdoor Movie Series, the County showed "Saving Mr. Banks" at a local park. It's the story of how Walt Disney convinced P.L. Travers to sell him the movie rights to "Mary Poppins", which was no small task. As played by Emma Thompson, she was a most unlikable woman, and very suspicious of Disney's attempts to turn her characters into a movie. Disney, as played by Tom Hanks, spends the better part of 20 years, and develops countless ulcers, trying to win her approval and make the picture he envisions. She is absolutely opposed to the idea of a musical, and to animation, and to everything she thinks Disney represents. While all this is happening, she is recalling her own tragic personal history. Slowly, over time, Disney and his staff win her over, and the picture gets made. 

It's not necessarily a fun movie, or a fun story. There are moments of humor, and tragedy, but mostly it's the story of how a huckster and showman gets a mean and cranky woman to briefly let her emotional guard down, so that together they can create a classic. 

This may make you think that I didn't enjoy the movie, but on the contrary, I absolutely did. I admit, it's a little slow in parts, and it can be a little confusing as it shifts from 1964 to the early 1900's and back again. But the performances are superb, and the recreation of Los Angeles, and  the Disney Studios as they were at the time, is beautiful and breathtaking. And in the end, Mr. Banks is saved, and the classic is created, for countless families like mine to enjoy for years and years to come.

RIP James Garner

Sad news this morning that one of my all-time faves, James Garner, has passed away. My family was big fans, and we faithfully watched "The Rockford Files" every week, along with old episodes of "Maverick". And I can't even begin to count how many times we watched "Murphy's Romance". In our household, he was a very close second to John Wayne, and that's really saying something. Especially so since in real-life, Garner was a devoted Liberal (and let's just say that my family's politics more closely followed The Duke's).

In those days, you could go to a local shop to rent a VHS player and old movies on video, and invariably, we always brought home something with either The Duke or James Garner. Besides "Murphy", there were the Disney Cowboy movies, "The Castaway Cowboy", "Support Your Local Sheriff", and "Support Your Local Gunfighter", and the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movies. Remember those old Kodak commercials with Mariette Hartley? In the 70's and 80's, James Garner was everywhere you looked in the entertainment world. 

His typical character was always handsome, a bit of a con artist, a little irreverent, and usually tried to avoid a fight. But you always rooted for him, because inevitably he'd have to step up and get involved, and when he did, it usually worked out in the end.