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Kathy Bates

Richard Jewell: The End of the Innocence

March 17, 2020 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

They’re a common sight around malls, retail stores, and companies these days. They help make sure things go smoothly yet are often ignored or make fun of. Of course, I’m referring to the humble security guard.

Perhaps the most infamous of all security personnel in the past 25 years has to be Richard Jewell. For the younger generation, his name is not one that will likely register as important. Director Clint Eastwood wants to change that with his latest film Richard Jewell. It is a tale of heroism, woe, and frustration that will reward the patient filmgoer and serves as a reminder of life before the world’s innocence was shattered one fateful evening.

Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) was a rather portly individual who lived in the Atlanta area and had a dream of getting into law enforcement. He was good with guns, extremely good at remembering things, but absolutely lousy in people to people relationships. His track record wasn’t the best either, partially due to the people he was trying to protect making fun of or simply ignoring him.

At the opening of the film, Jewell’s trying to make ends meet as a supply clerk in a law firm. He encounters Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), a no-nonsense lawyer who doesn’t take anything from anyone, including elected officials. The two briefly get to know each other over candy bars and a discussion in a video arcade before Jewell takes another job, this time as security detail at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, he helps protect a music venue inside Centennial Park, the hub of action outside the sporting venues.

All is well for the first few concerts until one fateful evening when Jewell spots a suspicious backpack under a bench near the sound and lighting tower. He calls the police over to check (this is an international event, after all) and begins getting people out of the way. Suddenly the backpack explodes, raining fire and shrapnel throughout the park. Two people were killed and over 100 injured, transforming the capital city of Georgia instantaneously. Jewell goes home that evening, content that he helped keep the situation from being significantly worse.

The next day, he discovers that his observation and quick thinking has won him fame in the eyes of the world. People want to talk to him on television, people cheer when they see him, and he becomes an instant celebrity. Meanwhile, the FBI begins to look into who planted the backpack and called 911 with a warning about the bomb. They don’t have any real leads, but after acquiring information from Jewell’s past, they suddenly begin to think he was the culprit, doing it for fame and notoriety. With that, Richard’s quiet lifestyle (he lives in an apartment building with his mother [played by the always excellent Kathy Bates]) is completely shattered as the FBI does everything possible to make him the world’s biggest enemy.

Usually such situations are kept fairly quiet. However, Kathy Scruggs, a rather arrogant and pushy reporter from the Atlanta Journal newspaper (played with realistic smarminess by Olivia Wilde) is able to coerce one of the FBI detectives to inform her who they’re going after. They have a paper to print, you know. When she finds out, she makes the FBI’s intentions known to the world. 

Cue circus music.

Jewell suddenly cannot move more than 15 feet without a reporter yelling questions at him or hearing the shutters of cameras go off. He doesn’t know what to do. At this point, he reaches for the one person who might be able to help him–the lawyer he stocked with candy bars a few months earlier. Since then, Watson Bryant has gone into his own practice and decides to help the poor guy out. The question is whether the mass of humanity descending on Jewell or the FBI will destroy him first. 

Richard Jewell is a film that, for me, hit very close to home. You see, I was at Centennial Park a few hours before the bomb exploded. I played in the fountains and snapped a few 35mm pictures before heading back to South Carolina. That night, my friends and I huddled around a television set, aghast at the video news outlets were showing of the aftermath and thankful to God that we left when we did. I also distinctly remember the media’s evisceration of Jewell and how he was made to look like had the whole bombing planned (in reality, Eric Rudolph confessed to it a few months later). I remember feeling sorry for the guy but had no idea how much his life changed as a result of the FBI and media. Of course, the film shows Jewell as an avid owner of guns and is extremely knowledgeable about security–things the FBI used against him. Bryant tells him to not say anything, but he keeps talking (since he’s so big into law enforcement), making things worse on everyone around him. It’s only after he realizes how the ordeal has hurt his mother that he finally gets the nerve to confront the FBI directly. 

As for the film itself, it’s very good and has some incredible acting. Bates was nominated for a Golden Globe recently for her role as Jewell’s mom Bobi. Hauser and Rockwell are great in their individual roles but magical when they share the screen. You see and feel their relationship build, change, and eventually transform each other. Munn seems to me to be the weak link, but after giving it some thought, she adds a necessary layer to transform the film from ho-hum to must-see. And this is a film that deserves to be seen and its voice heard for past, present, and future generations. 

That evening in Centennial Park, anyone off the street could walk in–there were police around, but no layer of security other than presence. One week later, I returned to Atlanta to see a handball match and found a completely different city. There was a feeling of nervousness everywhere. Security was beefed up considerably. In fact, in order to visit the park again, I had to go through two separate bag checks. The innocence was gone, never to be reclaimed again. 

At one point on this planet, there was innocence and no need for protection. Adam and Eve were sinless at first, having their pick of whatever they wanted to do and to eat. Sure, God warned them not to eat from one specific tree, but there was no security guard around for enforcement. When they finally gave in and tasted of the forbidden fruit, things changed. The innocence was lost. God, after a stern lecture, kicked them out of Eden–and added security detail in the form of a flaming sword so they could never get in again. Sin is costly, but it doesn’t have to rule in us thanks to Jesus and his birth, life, death, and return to life once more. He’s ready to forgive all those who call on him to do so.

Make sure you put Richard Jewell on your must-see list this year. It’s thrilling, harrowing, and a sobering reminder of innocence lost–both individually and as a society.

Special features include both “The Real Story of Richard Jewell” and “The Making of Richard Jewell” with many of the principles (Eastwood, Hamm, Rockwell, Bates, etc.) included.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Adam and Eve, Atlanta, Bombing, Clint Eastwood, FBI, Innocence, Kathy Bates, Olivia Munn, Olympics, Paul Walter Hauser, richard jewell, Sam Rockwell

The Ballad of Left Brown – Cliché Western Rides Again

December 15, 2017 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

There’s a new Western in town: The Ballad of Lefty Brown. Once upon a time Westerns were a staple of the movie industry. Now when one comes out they create a bit of nostalgia. As a genre Westerns focused on the mythology of America—especially freedom and hard work creating a growing, prosperous nation. At their best, Westerns dig deeper to address some of our culture’s problems. But for the most part they were really a veneer that made America look like we wanted it too. The latter is very much what we find in The Ballad of Lefty Brown.

The twist in this film is that the sidekick becomes the hero. Lefty Brown (Bill Pullman) has been the sidekick of famed Montana lawman Edward Johnson (Peter Fonda) for many years. Now Johnson is about to head to Washington as a new Senator. He wants to leave Lefty in charge of his ranch, even though Johnson’s wife Laura (Kathy Baker) doesn’t think Lefty is up to the job. Lefty isn’t too sure he is either. He has always been in Johnson’s shadow. Even when Lefty, Edward, the current Governor Jimmy Bierce (Jim Caviezel) and Tom Harrah (Tommy Flanagan) were keeping peace in the area and inspiring dime novels about their exploits, Lefty was never in the stories.

When Edward and Lefty are out looking for some rustlers, Edward is killed. Lefty vows to get those responsible. When he sets off he comes across Jeremiah (Diego Josef) a young man who has read all the stories and seeks glory as a gunfighter. When Tom Harrah (now a U. S. Marshal after years of alcoholism) comes to stop Lefty, Lefty convinces him to join in the hunt. The three track down the killers, but they also discover that there are powerful people behind the killing. On returning with the information, Lefty discovers he’s been framed for the killing. He is determined to see justice done, even if it means exposing the political corruption that may taint an old friend.

In Lefty, Pullman is almost channeling Gabby Hayes, who was a frequent sidekick to heroes like John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Bill Elliott. There is a certain incompetence that characterizes sidekick, and Lefty seems far below the skill level we expect in a hero. But his sense of loyalty, determination, and justice, propel him to be the hero he has never been.

The film’s shortcoming is that it is so cliché. It seems all the characters are what we would expect in an old Saturday Morning serial. The noble Edward, the morally week Marshal, the corrupt politician, the young tenderfoot with dreams of grandeur. And at the center of it all is the sidekick, usually the comic foil, but can he rise to the task of being the story’s hero? For those who want a bit of the nostalgic feel of old Westerns, The Ballad of Lefty Brown might feed that, because it is all so familiar. But aside from the virtues of loyalty and friendship, there’s not much here to challenge our thinking about what America really is or should be.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: AFIFest, Bill Pullman, Diego Josef, Jared Moshe, Jim Caviezel, Kathy Bates, Peter Fonda, political corruption, Tommy Flanagan, western

The Great Gilly Hopkins – Finding Family

October 6, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

For Gilly (short for Galadriel) Hopkins (Sophie Nélisse) family has always been a daydream. She has been through a load of foster homes. She has developed an attitude that serves as her armor. No one is going to get close to her. Yet she dreams of her mother coming to rescue her—even though her mother has never wanted anything to do with her. The Great Gilly Hopkins is a story about the meaning of family. Based on the long-popular YA book by Katherine Paterson (which won a National Book Award and a Newbery Honor), the film is adapted by Paterson’s son David, who also adapted her book Bridge to Terabithia for the screen.ggh-6-8-14-251

The film opens with Gilly being brought to what is a last chance for her, the very lower middle class home of Maime Trotter (Kathy Bates), a foster mother who has never found a child she cannot love. And through all Gilly’s tries to fight against that love, Trotter keeps right on loving. Her first day at school she gets in a fight (beating six boys). She writes a card with a racial slur to her teacher (Octavia Spencer). When a girl in the school seeks to befriend her, Gilly treats her miserably. She mildly bullies W.E., the younger foster child in the house, but won’t let anyone at school bother him. She steals from Mr. Randolph (Bill Cobbs) the blind neighbor across the street that Trotter has brought into the family was well. Let’s face it; most people would have given up on Gilly long ago. And she pushes everyone to the limit. Then, finding where her mother is living, she sends a letter full of exaggerations then tries to run away to her.

Trotter still refuses to admit defeat, and soon Gilly is beginning to find her place in the oddly put together family. But then, as a result of the letter to her mother, her grandmother (Glenn Close) (who never knew about her) shows up. Her grandmother is very well off and wants to take Gilly to live with her. Just as she has finally found happiness, is she to be uprooted yet again?

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While stories of children in foster care often show settings of abuse, this home is a place of love and acceptance. Gilly’s dream of being united with her mother has stood in the way of her seeing the people around her willing to love her and make her a part of their family. Dreams, of course, can help us find happiness as we follow those dreams, but for Gilly they have been a barrier to happiness. Just as her attitude has served to protect her from harm, it has also been a hindrance that has blocked any chance at love and happiness.

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Perhaps one of the reasons for the popularity of the book is that it focuses on the struggle of people of that age to feel as if there is a place for them—even those in loving families. It is certainly age appropriate for tweens to feel as if they don’t fit in anywhere. Gilly has given tween readers someone who gives voice to their feelings. That comes out well in the film. I think the kinds of feelings that Gilly exhibits at various stages of the film reflect the fears and hopes of many children of that age. The film also shows that even when there is great disappointment in life, if there are those around who love you and you love in return, happiness can still be found.

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate Premiere

 

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: banned book, based on a novel, Bill Cobbs, foster care, Gleen Close, Katherine Paterson, Kathy Bates, Octavia Spencer, Sophie Nélisse, Stephen Herek, YA

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