The image of a tiny Monroe screaming her isolation ([her husband] "did not know I was there") but from a great distance near the end was powerful. The old world is indeed dying out--sort of reminiscent of the film "Hud" (and McMurtry's novel) as the older ranchers waited for the oil rigs to replace them. But there is more here than approaching doom--there is also stoic perseverance, andeven an inner joy flickering but alive, as long as the folks are.
Love it. Great review! It is such a particular moment in history. The dying gasps of something, finalized by JFK/MM's ends. Captures the atrophy and ungluing of all-American black & white cowboy ethos, and hints at the fear for whatever's to come next. The rivets were rattling on modernity and only MM swinging her end in a bar could save those poor dudes from seeing The End. Plus, a new beginning is only months away with the arrival of strange knights in shining Beatle Boots, and a new war to spark a colorful new counterculture. Almost like Huston knew he was sending the first part of the 20th C out with a whimper.
She's the Real Deal in this in every way. Not to mention the soundtrack by Alex North, Tosh!
A whole 'nother post...
The image of a tiny Monroe screaming her isolation ([her husband] "did not know I was there") but from a great distance near the end was powerful. The old world is indeed dying out--sort of reminiscent of the film "Hud" (and McMurtry's novel) as the older ranchers waited for the oil rigs to replace them. But there is more here than approaching doom--there is also stoic perseverance, andeven an inner joy flickering but alive, as long as the folks are.
Love it. Great review! It is such a particular moment in history. The dying gasps of something, finalized by JFK/MM's ends. Captures the atrophy and ungluing of all-American black & white cowboy ethos, and hints at the fear for whatever's to come next. The rivets were rattling on modernity and only MM swinging her end in a bar could save those poor dudes from seeing The End. Plus, a new beginning is only months away with the arrival of strange knights in shining Beatle Boots, and a new war to spark a colorful new counterculture. Almost like Huston knew he was sending the first part of the 20th C out with a whimper.