(The) Ox-Bow Incident

Lynching!

Say it out-loud once and tell me it does not conjure up a visual image that creates a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. It is an ugly word, an act committed by individuals caught up in the frenzy of a mob, who for their own individual reasons, justify taking the “law” into their own hands.

Lynching and the “lynch laws” is not something they used to teach kids in the public or Catholic school system so I had little knowledge about it until I researched and wrote a piece about Ida Wells-Barnett for a children’s history magazine. Born many years apart, she educated me and it is a lesson that has stayed in my mind long after I wrote the final paragraph for that piece.

(The) Ox-Bow Incident is also a novel written by Walter Van Tilberg Clark, but I can’t tell you how well the movie follows it as I have never read it, but maybe someone else can share if it stays true to the book.

Quotes

Major Tetley: This is only slightly any of your business, my friend. Remember that. Gil Carter: Hangin' is any man's business that's around.

Gil Carter (reading Donald Martin’s letter to his wife to the lynch-mob): "My dear Wife, Mr. Davies will tell you what's happening here tonight. He's a good man and has done everything he can for me. I suppose there are some other good men here, too, only they don't seem to realize what they're doing. They're the ones I feel sorry for. 'Cause it'll be over for me in a little while, but they'll have to go on remembering for the rest of their lives. A man just naturally can't take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin' everybody in the world, 'cause then he's just not breaking one law but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It's everything people ever have found out about justice and what's right and wrong. It's the very conscience of humanity. There can't be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody's conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived? I guess that's all I've got to say except kiss the babies for me and God bless you. Your husband, Donald."

Plot Summary

It’s 1885 and an entire Nevada “cow” town and the surrounding ranch-folk are on edge because there are some cattle rustlers operating in the area. Strangers Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Henry Morgan) ride into this community to have a “cool drink” at the local saloon and to see an old flame of Gil’s. Gil finds out from the bartender that his lady-love did not wait for him and a little later in the movie that she has married.

Gil and Art are talking to the bartender when two local cowboys come in. The bartender pours the local boys a drink and mentions to them that the Sheriff is still in the area (working on a case). Art asks if it is “about that rustling people were talking about last fall” the two local cowboys, wary of strangers, move down on the other end of the bar. The bartender explains why it’s a “touchy subject” in town and they (meaning the local folks) only like to talk about the rustling with people “they sleep with.” Gil says to the bartender, “Wouldn’t people know if there were any strangers around?” The bartender replies, “There hasn’t been any except you two.” Gil answers, “That ain’t funny.”

Tempers flair and a fight breaks out between Gil and one of the local cowboys who hints that Gil and Art might be the rustlers. Several punches later, the local cowboy goes down and the bartender knocks Gil out with a bottle. Gil wakes up just as a man runs into saloon and shares some urgent news. He says one of the local ranchers has been shot and killed and “they” think the rustlers did it. He, the rider, was sent into town to get the Sheriff.

What follows next is a series of suppositions based on no concrete fact checking as frustrations and anger mounts over someone killing “one of their own.” Unable to locate the Sheriff, the town folk and the acting deputy (along with Gil and Art) form a posse to “find the men who did this.” What they find are three men, strangers to the area, driving cattle. Are these the cattle rustlers or are these innocent men? Lines are drawn, people choose sides, and before this movie is over we see what each person in the “lynching” scenes are really made of.

Life Lessons

“The darkest corners of hell are reserved for those souls, who when they know what is right and speaking up in someone elses defense would make a difference, remain silent.”

(The) Ox-Bow Incident is about mob violence and bullies. It gives movie goers an inside look about how a group of people, carry bullying to the extreme. It is also about people with courage who stand up for what is right and refuse to participate in the madness around them.

It’s not lynching, but let’s take a look at a prevalent problem in school systems and a boil on the backside of school children from every walk of life - bullies.

Why don’t school administrations and PTA groups work together to create anti-bullying programs sponsored by a combination of guidance counselors and/or teachers and/or parents with youth leader experience and/or one community police officer, but ran by the students themselves – think a peer board of review which gives students, who are bullied, a safe place to go to tell their story.

The bully gets called in before the peer group for evaluation with the panel of adult sponsors in attendance for back-up support. Questions are asked – all sides are heard, and young people are made accountable for their actions. In extreme cases when there are repeat offenses -- the bully has to report for counseling with a school psychologist and just to make sure Mr. or Miss Bully are not emulating or “acting out” on patterns of behavior they learned (or are subject to) at home – mom and/or dad (or their Guardian(s)) are going to have to report to the school psychologist sessions too.

It is a win-win situation. The child being bullied and the bully themselves get the help they need. If your school system already does something like this or has a productive anti-bullying program in place, bravo!

If it doesn't - why not?

The Ox-Bow Incident Movie Cast

Henry Fonda as Gil Carter
Dana Andrews as Donald Martin
Mary Beth Hughes as Rose Mapen / Rose Swanson
Anthony Quinn as Juan Martínez / Francisco Morez
William Eythe as Gerald Tetley
Harry Morgan as Art Croft (credited as Henry Morgan)
Jane Darwell as Jenny Grier
Matt Briggs as Judge Daniel Tyler
Harry Davenport as Arthur Davies
Frank Conroy as Major Tetley
Marc Lawrence as Jeff Farnley
Paul Hurst as Monty Smith
Victor Kilian as Darby
Chris-Pin Martin as Poncho
Willard Robertson as Sheriff

An Unfinished Life

Accidents happen….bodies have an amazing power to heal on the outside, but the scars on the inside, when life runs a semi-truck right over your heart, are harder to recover from. Guilt, grudges, fault finding, and those awful “what ifs” pick away at the interior scars making them fester, slowing down the healing process. I know you’ve seen souls like this – walking around with pain so deep it breaks your heart.

An Unfinished Life is a movie about the walking wounded, people who walk around with unseen scars, hidden pain, and hopes for redemption. Watching this movie is comfort food for the soul and sends the message, even in the darkest times of our lives that “there is always hope.”

Quotes

“Einar Gilkyson: Think it might rain today.
Mitch Bradley: Naw, it’s gonna stay warm.
Einar Gilkyson: I didn’t say anything about the temperature. I said
it might rain.
Mitch Bradley: Would you bury me next to Griffin?
Einar Gilkyson: Don’t you think you oughtta die first?
Mitch Bradley: It’s gonna happen, you know.
Einar Gilkyson: Where the hell else do you think I’d bury you? It’s
where my family lies. You think the dead really care about our
lives?
Mitch Bradley: Yeah, I think they do. I think they forgive us our
sins. I even think it’s easy for them.
Einar Gilkyson: Griff said you had a dream about flying.
Mitch Bradley: Yeah. I got so high, Einar. I could see where the blue
turns to black. From up there, you can see all there is. And it
looked like there was a reason for everything.”

Plot Summary

In the opening scene of An Unfinished Life you see a crusty and slightly eccentric Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford) doing morning chores and tending to his ranch hand Mitch Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who was attacked by a bear a year earlier. You learn later that Einar was drunk at the time of the bear attack, failing to save his best friend from serious injury...the bear escaped. Some time has passed since the accident and Mitch's wounds give him constant pain. Hanging onto sobriety by a thin thread, Einar cares for his friend, giving him morphine injections, friendship, and food as he tries to nurse Mitch back to health.

The movie shifts to Einar’s estranged daughter-in-law Jean Gilkyson (Jennifer Lopez), her head is hanging and her face is battered. She is being lectured to by her abusive boyfriend Gary Winston (Diaman Lewis) about how “she just makes him have to hit her,” while her daughter Griff Gilkyson (Becca Gardener) looks on. After this violent encounter, Jean escapes with her daughter in a beat up old car which breaks down on a no-name stretch of highway. At the end of her rope spiritually and financially, she decides to go to the ranch of her estranged father-in-law Einar in Wyoming, knowing he blames her for the death of her husband, his son Griffin, in a car accident. (Einar’s son, Griffen had moved away and married Jean years ago, causing a rift in the family that came to a head when Griffin died in the car accident.)

The bear returns to Gilkyson ranch looking for food -- Einar sees the tracks, but the bear has moved on turning his attention towards town for a fresh source of food. Sheriff Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas) captures the bear and the animal is put on display in a cage at the local town zoo. About this same time Einar's daughter-in-law arrives on at the ranch with a granddaughter, he didn’t know he had, in tow.

After a lukewarm reception from her father-in-law, Jean and Griff move into the basement with Einar in the main house and help him take care of Mitch in the bunkhouse. Tension mounts between Einar and Jean because both are still grieving for Griffin. Mitch encourages him to make peace with his past and the family he has who is still alive by sharing, “a granddaughter, that’s a nice thing for a man to have.” Mitch’s wisdom begins to sink in and the ice around Einar’s heart begins to melt for his son’s daughter.

Jean starts working at a local coffee shop where she befriends the owner Nina (Camryn Manheim), who (along with Mitch) helps her come to understand Einar’s crusty ways and fills in the blanks of what has happened in her father-in-law’s life since Griffin’s funeral. Jean also starts a “friends with benefits” relationship with Sheriff Curtis which promises to blossom into something more, but Jean has been in a series of abusive relationships since her husband’s death and Griff can’t bring herself to trust the Sheriff when he comes to visit.

Jean grows stronger and things start looking up for her and Griff as life falls into a safe and comfortable routine, even with Einar’s bouts of crustiness, until Gary comes to Wyoming. Then all hell breaks loose….Want more? I hope you do because this is a movie you don’t want to miss.

Life Lesson

“They call’em accidents because it’s nobody’s fault.” Mitch Bradley to Einar Gilkyson

Without a doubt, each main character in this movie struggles with forgiveness.

• After years of friendship and working together, Mitch knows what makes Einar tick. We realize from the very beginning of the film that Mitch has forgiven Einar for being too drunk to help him when the bear mauled him. We also know that because of that attack, Einar quit trying to drown his grief in booze and will spend the rest of his life making amends to his friend because he wants to, not because he feels he has to. These two men love each other like brothers and there is no bitterness or recriminations between them. That is how family, biological and family by choice, is supposed to behave – loving each other when mistakes are made.
  
  
• The most spiritual character in this movie, Mitch and the bear have a relationship too. Upon seeing the bear in the cage and later meeting up, face to face with the bear on the ranch after Einar keeps his promise to free the bear. Mitch shares, “You can’t just leave him there (at the zoo) Einar. We walked into his business, hell he was just do’in what bears do, we can’t punish him for that.”
  
  
• Jean forgives herself for her poor choices in men since her husband died and reclaims some of her old strength when she confronts the two guys in Nina’s dinner. Standing up for herself she tells the two cowboys, “They're good enchiladas... served by good people. I'm a good person. I'm also one who's taken more than her fair share of shit from men. I couldn't take a pinch of crap from two little cheesedicks like you.”
  
  
• Jean’s friend Nina shares a personal story and about how life can change in a blink of an eye. She tells Jean, “we aren’t suppose to outlive our children. You have to understand that about Einar.”
  
  
• Things come to a head in the kitchen when Jean tells Einar about the night Griffin died and “how she lives with that everyday” then she tells him that she tried to go on living, but he (Einar) has been acting like, he died when Griffin died. This confrontation starts Einar on the path of figuring out what is really important in life as he comes to realize how much he cares about this family who has re-entered his life…and that accidents are, just that, accidents. In a scene at Nina’s restaurant, he tells Jean, She’s (Griff) a good girl. Good kids don’t get that way by accident.”

Forgiveness is a hard thing and many of us wrestle with it. Here is something to consider while you are trying to figure it out….

Forgiveness is not about being anyone’s doormat or a guarantee that you’ll be able to forget the transgression, it’s about making peace with your past, letting go of the anger and hurt, and moving on with your life.

An Unfinished Life Movie Cast

Robert Redford as Einar Gilkyson
Jennifer Lopez as Jean Gilkyson
Morgan Freeman as Mitch Bradley
Josh Lucas as Sheriff Crane Curtis
Damian Lewis as Gary Winston
Camryn Manheim as Nina
Becca Gardner as Griff Gilkyson
Lynda Boyd as Kitty

The Family Stone

You’re in love and your significant other wants to bring you home to meet the family at the holidays. Are you happy and looking forward to meeting “the posse” or are you dreading it like a police interrogation where “you just know” everything you say can and will be used against you?” Okay, did I mention it’s the holidays too and you “as the child” are also going to have to assimilate whatever joy or personal “luggage” which surfaces every time the holidays rolls around and you and your siblings get together?”

The first time I saw The Family Stone I laughed, I cried, and upon examining some of the characters in this movie - I said ah, yes, I have felt that way too.

Quotes

Ben Stone (to Meredith): Don’t dilly-dally there, pretty lady. We are all gonna be down here talking about you.

Meredith Morton (to her boyfriend’s sister): I don’t care whether you like me or not!
Amy Stone (to her brother’s girlfriend Meredith): Of course you do.

Meredith Morton: What’s so great about you guys?
Sybil Stone: Uh, nothing…it’s just that we’re all that we’ve got.

Kelly Stone (to the entire Stone Family): We will try to welcome her back in, like a “civilized” family might.

Meredith Morton (to the entire Stone Family): Isn’t there anyone that loves me?

Plot Summary

Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Evertt Stone (Dermot Mulroney) are, with some slight exceptions, similar in many ways – both are business people, traditional, conservative, perfectionists, and they are dating. It seems like a perfect match until Evertt decides to take Meredith home for the holidays to meet his liberal, out-going, and eccentric family. Once there, he plans to ask his mother for his grandmother’s antique ring so that he can ask Meredith to marry him.

The Stone parents Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) and Sybil (Diane Keaton) are college educated products of the 1960s, who raised their children in an artsy and liberal atmosphere. Diane Keaton, as the matriarch, is brilliant in this role – think a combination of hippie, mother earth, artsy, feminist, and your favorite progressive college professor and you have an idea of what her personality is like. She is opinionated, blunt, embarrasses her children at times, and under the surface you know, you REALLY know, she loves her family so deeply it hurts. Sarah Jessica Parker, as the girlfriend of the family prince and overachiever, is brilliant too. Outwardly she appears to be really put together, but inwardly, placed in this particular situation, we know that is a façade. She clears her throat and talks too much because she is nervous to meet Evertt’s family and she is enough of a “people reader” to know how they REALLY feel about her. There are traits to like and dislike in both of these women, but we know that given time – these two women, opposites in many ways, would be good for each other if the reason they had come together in the first place was different.

Raised in the same home by the same parents, the Stone children, like most siblings, have different personalities and one by one the five of them come back home to spend the holidays with their parents. Thad Stone (Tyrone Girodano), the Stone’s deaf and gay son arrives first with his African American partner Patrick Thomas (Brian J. White), Amy Stone (Rachel McAdams) – a schoolteacher and the baby of family who is an equal combination of disorganization and acerbic wit which conceals or protects a kind heart – she is the only one in the family to have met Meredith and gives a “humorously” negative report to the rest of her family concerning her brother’s choice of girlfriend, next to arrive is the older pregnant sister Susannah Stone Trousdale (Elizabeth Reaser) with her daughter Elizabeth (Savannah Stehlin) in tow (her husband is working and will come for Christmas, but we only get to see him for a few minutes later on in the movie), Evertt and Meredith arrive next and from the get go we see that she is a “fish out of water” with this liberal group, and last of the children to arrive is laid back Ben Stone (Luke Wilson), a documentary filmmaker, who is a free spirit, funny, and what could be referred to as a “stoner.”

It is apparent from the beginning that Meredith is overwhelmed and trying way too hard to be liked by the Stone family and while they treat her nicely (with the exception of Amy who is always throwing zingers her way) on the surface none of the family can see Meredith and Everett as a couple. Meredith awkwardly tried to fit into the family mix, but comes to feel that none of them, with the exception of Ben, like her. Eventually Meredith calls her sister Julie Morton (Claire Danes) for moral support and in another plot twist Julie arrives on a bus and immediately hits it off with the entire family. I’m going to stop there as I don’t want to reveal any more of the plot.

I do not know how they did it, but this movie is funny and sad and I promise you one or several of these characters will strike a cord with you and tug at your heart strings.

The title, The Family Stone is something to reflect on too – is it the heirloom ring, a play on the Stone family name, or could it refer to the “rock of the family,” the person who keeps the Stone family connected to each other and coming home year after year to spend the holidays together?

Did I mention there is a secret which will change the very fabric of this family? Can they survive it!

Life Lessons

This is a movie about family and how the family dynamic works when someone is introduced as a potential new member to the pack.

You could be the leader, the responsible one, the slack-off, the risk taker, the moocher, the caregiver, the peacemaker, the stoner, the baby, the person no one takes seriously, the overachiever, the hero, the kind one, the mean one, the black sheep etc, but each person has a role in a family and brings their own distinct personality to the mix. Families who have been operating as a unit for awhile get this and get each other.

The family “the new person is being introduced to” thinks they and their way of doing things are normal – even though normal can be a relative term when you are dealing with families. Still – they get and understand each other -- add someone new, and the family dynamic changes.

Meeting your significant other’s family can be daunting, after all they all know each other. Maybe you are one of those amazing souls that an encounter like this would not bother – you look forward to it with joy, but most people, if they were honest, would say to their best friend before going… I hope they like me.

This exchange between Evertt’s sister and his girlfriend is brilliant:

“Meredith Morton: (to her boyfriend’s sister) I don’t care whether you like me or not!
Amy Stone: (to her brother’s girlfriend Meredith) Of course you do.”

Yes of course Meredith does care what they think – she is human and we all want our beloved’s family to like us.

Here is something “a sage woman of age” said at a bridal shower many years ago…..

“When you become engaged to someone, take a good look at their family, because the day you marry your beloved – you marry them too.”

Young love might not want to believe that, but old love will tell you it’s absolutely true.

The Family Stone Movie Cast:

· Claire Danes as Julie Morton
· Diane Keaton as Sybil Stone
· Rachel McAdams as Amy Stone
· Dermot Mulroney as Everett Stone
· Craig T. Nelson as Kelly Stone
· Sarah Jessica Parker as Meredith Morton
· Luke Wilson as Ben Stone
· Tyrone Giordano as Thad Stone
· Brian J. White as Patrick Thomas
· Elizabeth Reaser as Susannah Stone Trousdale
· Paul Schneider as Brad Stevenson
· Savannah Stehlin as Elizabeth Trousdale
· Jamie Kaler as John Trousdale
· Robert Dioguardi as David Silver
· Carol Locatell as Jeweler
· Ginna Carter as Jittery Cashier
· Gus Buktenica as Bartender
· Michael Pemberton as Bus Driver One
· Ron Wall as Bus Driver Two
· Christopher Parker as Inn Receptionist

To Kill a Mockingbird

When the idea first came to me to do this blog, I thought – which book or movie should I start with? In a moment of synchronicity, the decision was taken out of my hands when To Kill a Mockingbird came on the movie channel I was watching.

A Pulitzer Prize winning novel and later a Gregory Peck movie, TKAM has been required reading for every high school student since it was first written by Harper Lee back in 1960, but please do not let that influence your decision to read this book or see this movie as an adult. It IS worth your time to revisit the classic To Kill A Mockingbird.

Side Note: The movie tries to remain true to the book, but if you want to get the entire story, I suggest you watch the movie and read the book too because some characters and scenes were left out when they adapted the book to the silver screen.

Let’s begin:

Quote

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Plot Summary

Narrated in flashback by an adult Scout a.k.a. Jean Louise Finch and retold from the memories of Scout as a child (age 6-8), To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in the sleepy southern town of Maycomb, Alabama from 1932-1934. It was a time of screen doors, front porch swings, and scarred cigar boxes filled with childhood treasures. Scout lives with her widowed father Atticus Finch, her older brother (by four years) Jem, and Calpurnia or “Cal” the black housekeeper who is the “mother figure” in the Gregory Peck movie.

Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill who stays with his aunt during summer breaks. The three children are scared and fascinated by one of their neighbors, the “reclusive” Boo Radley and use their imaginations, fueled by the town-folk stories and gossip, to fabricate stories about his appearance and try to figure out ways to get Boo (played by Robert Duvall) out of his home where he lives with his parents. Following two summers of friendship Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is leaving the Finch children small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times, the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, never appears in person.

A lawyer, Atticus is appointed by the court to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom to the best of his ability.

In some of the best screen courtroom scenes, Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk, are lying. Humiliated by the trial, Bob Ewell vows revenge and the rest I will leave for you to discover when you read the book or watch the movie.

Life Lessons

You were probably going to say that the main theme of TKAM is prejudice and you would be right. In the same vein, but equally important to me is the theme of “judging others without having all the facts,” a theme which Harper Lee used repeatedly in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Let’s take a look at a few examples:

*Jem is upset with Atticus because his father will not play “football against the Methodists.” He sees his father as “too old” to be good at anything. Is Atticus too old or does he have enough confidence in himself to feel he does not have to prove to anyone who he really is?

*There are people in town who feel Atticus should not “try too hard” to defend a black man.

*We learn a good and gracious black man, Tom Robinson is being falsely accused of a crime by a white man of low character named Bob Ewell for the sake of Ewell’s pride. Will Tom be convicted because of the color of his skin?

*Boo Radley is labeled strange by the town-folk, but we discover there is MORE to him than meets the eye.

The list goes on and on….

How many times do we do this – judge others without having all the facts? We decide this person is good or bad without really taking the time to get to know them. We ask others “what is she/he like?” and then accept their subjective version of things, instead of finding out for ourselves. We label them and then go about the business of treating them according to the judgment that has been made about them by us or the community.

I think we do it because we are afraid. Even though we know in our hearts it is wrong, we go along with the “crowd” and point the finger at someone else, in the hope no one will look too closely at our lives and our flaws.

Is that fair? Not really. If you want to live a good and gracious life, then remember……

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

A good quote to live by.

To Kill a Mockingbird Movie Cast

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch
Mary Badham as Jean Louise "Scout" Finch
Phillip Alford as Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch
Robert Duvall as Arthur "Boo" Radley
John Megna as Charles Baker "Dill" Harris
Alice Ghostley as Aunt Stephanie Crawford
Brock Peters as Tom Robinson
Frank Overton as Sheriff Heck Tate
Rosemary Murphy as Miss Maudie Atkinson
Ruth White as Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Estelle Evans as Calpurnia "Cal"
Richard Hale as Nathan Radley
James Anderson as Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell
Collin Wilcox as Mayella Violet Ewell
William Windom as Mr. Gilmer
Paul Fix as Judge Taylor
David Crawford as David Robinson
Dan White as Mob Leader
Crahan Denton as Walter Cunningham, Sr.
Steve Condit as Walter Cunningham, Jr.
Kim Hamilton as Helen Robinson
Kim Stanley as Jean Louise Finch as an adult (narrator)