Friday, January 2, 2009

The film education of Miss Jean (not Brody)

Being married to a film fanatic is not always peaches and cream, as the response to virtually every query about things to do is, "Let's watch a movie!" My wife has been very patient in indulging my passions, and letting me foist my sensibilities onto her.

One thing that became apparent soon after we started going out is that Jean has missed out on many of the seminal movies of our generation. It always astonished me when I would mention a line of dialogue or famous scene from a movie that I assumed simply everyone has seen, and she would respond that she hadn't seen it.

The Star Wars Movies, the Indiana Jones movies, the Godfather movies, the Lord of the Rings movies -- I could go on and on. It's hard to think that anyone who, like me, grew up in the 1970s and '80s could have missed all these cinematic events, but she did.

Needless to say, I've taken upon myself to tutor my bride in these matters. I knew she would be a patient pupil when (over the course of a couple of weeks) we watched the entire Lord of the Rings series -- extended version, over 11 hours total.

Before going to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," I had to show her "Raiders" -- her first encounter with the fedora and bullwhip.

She's enjoyed most of these "lessons" -- although after watching "The Godfather" for the first time yesterday, she did mildly inquire as to what the big deal was.

Some of them she's really enjoyed, and I admit it's a thrill to see someone having the same reaction I did to a movie the first time I saw it 20 or 30 years ago.

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