War and Remembrance

This movie is about World War II. It shows almost all the aspects and causes of the war. OK let's say I'm not gonna give the summary of the movie as some complained that I write too long but I'll tell you what I see in the movie instead. How's that sound? OK let's get started!

The war took place in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. The movie was filmed in 10 countries- wow.

I see lots and lots of fighting going on. The Japanese hit Pearl Habour and that made American angry as they entered the WWII.

Pug Henry plays important role in this movie. He had to fight the war as he struggled to safe his marriage with Rhoda but at the same time having love affair with Pamela. I see lots of soldiers sacrified their lives to fight for their country. It was hard fighting with the Japs and took a long time to have them withdrawn.

Now the Germany side. Adolf Hitler hated the Jews and wanted to get rid of them. His ways of killing the Jews were so cruel and inhuman. He gased them, burned them, invaded them and I was surprised by the Death Camp.

Pug's daughter in law Natalie was Jewish and she struggled hard to come back to America. But the German soldiers didn't cooperate much. She and her baby had to move from places to places hoping they'll be home safe. I think she's one of the strongest women. That's American! No matter what you face, keep your chin up and protect your child. That's American and that's Natalie.

One of the things I see about American culture in this movie is that they always help women and children. They place great importance on women and children. No matter which side you fighting, you must not harm women and children. You can even see in real life that American always help them and also give food supplies to help people survive in war time.

It must be very very hard for the Americans to fight and prove their independence as they are today.

I used to think that American movies are crap. They show crazy movies about teenagers but when it comes to talk about documentary and true story movies- they are the best!!

I believe that events in this movie and events took place in WWII that Americans had faced must be in lots of people's hearts and remembrance - unforgetable!!!

Roots

This movie is about black slavery before and during Civil Rights period. When I saw the name of it - Roots. I thought to myself "OK, what is it gonna be like? The name sounds complicated but I'll see through it" And that was it, I didn't think of anything else but finishing the movie as the second DVD finished. It was very touched to see people cry and suffer... gosh thats just it, I hate those white guys who traded the blacks. OK let me stop the bullsh.. and get started.

It was all began when Kunta Kinte turned 15 and was sent to train to become a man. He was one brave young man even he was not strong but he always wanted to be the 1st to answer the questions and the do the wrestling. Later he saw his people were captured by slave raiders and he ran for life just to escape and tell other people but the he was also captured shipped to America. He was very sad and tried to escape - didn't work. He was bought for some amount of money and was forced to work.

Now that Kunta Kinte has grown up and was given the name of "Toby" He didn't like to be called Toby, he was proud of his African name. Kunta Kinte never gave up the hope of being free again so he kept running away but was caught everytime. They had to chain him up and the last time was they cut his foot off to stop him from running. He later married and got a lovely daughter named "Kizzy" He liked the name because it's the African name and the white wouldn't know it. Kunta Kinte passed on his dream for generations to become free and the hope of going back to Africa. His daughter was seperated to another plantation and was raped. Later she gave birth to her baby boy named "Chicken George" He was one proud man.

As this very same hope passed on for generations, they never forgot to teach some African words to their children to show where they came from to be proud of oneself being African.

Now let's talk about the way the blacks were treated at that time.

The blacks were not allowed to vote or even share the same toilets with the whites. Weird but true. Children were not allowed to go to school and if they found out that the blacks were able to read and write they would be so mad and punish the blacks. Why is this so unfair? Grrrr life!!They couldn't do anything they wanted to, all powers and control were in the owners' hands. The blacks had to carry a piece of paper when traveling to show that they were not runaways and they would not be caught. They had to work from dawn till dark with no salary - not at all. Some with the good owners were lucky onces. Them blacks couldn't even think of running away because one of the lessons was "If you run away you'll be chained and wiped"

However, a lot of black slaves still thought of escaping to the north which they heard they could work and earn money there. It was far from the truth though. No matter how far they ran, they'd always get caught.

President Lincoln was trying to solve this slavery problem and this make the blacks love him so much. Later in the movie, it was said that president Lincoln was killed by a black man. People were very sad especially the blacks. They felt hopeless.

After generations and generations passed. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr fought back their freedom and was giving one of the most famous speeches in American history - "I had a dream."

Now their dream finally came true. They left the whites and got a piece of land to work on. They got the right to work and earn the money for their living. They could now vote, buy land, children go to school with the whites, etc. They were now treated as human beings.

The most interesting character for me was Kunta Kinte. He was the starting of the dream in the movie. He never gave up his hopes and kept on looking for his freedom even though the chances were rare. He was proud to be an African and hated those who called themselves African-American. He believed that his land was land of freedom and wanted his grandchildren should go one day.

Yes, this is another great movie I've seen so far. I like the fact that this movie was based on the true story and that it took Alex Harley (the 7th generation of Kunta Kinte family) 12 years to do the research and complete the navel - Roots.

You see people. From this movie you must not discriminate anyone just because of their color of skin. I believe that if only they could choose to be born they would wished for something better than this. All humas are equal and have to rights to think and express feelings. And I believe that if only god knew that there wouldn't be any discrimination he would create everyone either white or black. But that's life! Guys you really should have seen this movie. It explains clearly about how the blacks were treated and you could feel how they felt and suffered. Big time!!!

"Pretty Boy Floyd"

Charles Arthur Floyd was born in a poor family in Folsom, Georgia in Bartow County on February 3, 1904. When he was about ten years old they moved to Cookson Hills of Oklahoma but they didn't earn much there. Floyd married Wilma Hargrove at the age of 17. Floyd did his frist known crime at the age of 18 by a robbery of $350 in pennies from a local post office. After being put in prison several times he vowed that he would never go to prison again. in the Kansas City underworld, he committed a series of bank robberies over the next several years; it was during this period that he earned the nickname "Pretty Boy." It was a name given him by a madam, Beulah Baird Ash, in a brothel and he hated it.

In December 12, 1931 two banks were robbed in one day and bank insurance rates doubled. He was a Public Enemy No. 1 with a $23,000 dollar dead or alive reward on his head. On October 1934 Pretty Boy Floyd was in Ohio where the FBI agents were looking for him. He knocked on the Conkle farm door posing as a lost hunter and had asked for a ride to the bus line. They took mercy on him and gave him dinner. He gave them money for his meal.

When he was about to take off to the bus station he saw that there were police looking for him so he jumped from the car and was hiding in the corn crib. A local police Chester Smith recognized Floyd and shot him near East Liverpool , Ohio. Floyd didn't die right after the shot but according to the FBI, he died cursing his killers till the end and his final words were "I am Charles Arthur Floyd!" Floyd had $120 in his pockets when he died on October 22, 1934.

Floyd was not 100% bad guy... He was a folk hero to the people of Oklahoma who perceived him as a "Sagebrush Robin Hood", stealing from the rich banks to help the poor eat by buying them groceries and tearing up their mortgages during the robberies. He helped the poor alot. However, some said that he bribed them just to keep him safe from the police. Here's what his son Jack Floyd said about him:

"He was a fun guy to be around. He was like a regular father. He always had some puppies or other presents for me. What I knew about him didn't keep me from loving him."

Here's what Floyd said to his mother:

"Right here is where you can put me. I expect to go down soon with lead in me. Maybe the sooner the better. Bury me deep. "

Floyd's body was placed on public display in Sallisaw, Oklahoma where he wanted. His funeral was attended by between twenty and forty thousand people, and remains the largest funeral in Oklahoma history. He was buried in Akins, Oklahoma.

Movies have been made to tell stories about Pretty Boy Floyd and he was mentioned in the novel The Grapes of Wrath which I saw it already that the mother of the Joad children says that she knew Floyd's mother and is afraid that her son Tom might become bitter and violent like Floyd.

Five years after Floyd's death, Woody Guthrie wrote a ballad romanticizing his life of crime.

If you'll gather 'round me, children

A story I will tell

'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,

Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee

A Saturday afternoon,

His wife beside him in his wagon

As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him

In a manner rather rude,

Vulgar words of anger,

An' his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;

In the fight that followed

He laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber

To live a life of shame;

Every crime in Oklahoma

Was added to his name.

But a many a starving farmer

The same old story told

How the outlaw paid their mortgage

And saved their little homes.

Others tell you 'bout a stranger

That come to beg a meal,

Underneath his napkin

Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City,

It was on a Christmas Day,

There was a whole car load of groceries

Come with a note to say:

Well, you say that I'm an outlaw,

You say that I'm a thief.

Here's a Christmas dinner

For the families on relief.

Yes, as through this world

I've wanderedI've seen lots of funny men;

Some will rob you with a six-gun,

And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,

Yes, as through your life you roam,

You won't never see an outlaw

Drive a family from their home.

---------------------@-------------------

I kinda like his life story but not sure if he really wanted to help the poor or to bribe them. He was good looking too that he deserved the name of Pretty Boy Floyd. I think to be the American's Public Enemy No.1 in the 1930s was totally cool! He killed only 10 men in years so he must have been some kinda kind man too. Take a look at the song. I think the song is pretty much of saying good things about him that no matter what he did he still helped people especially the poor. I like the way his son expressed his feelings to him too - very nice. You see, his funeral was like he was some kinda hero or super star. Lots of people attended as everyone wanted to see Pretty Boy Floyd.

You see, to be a person of the great history you don't only have to be good guys. Bad guys rock too! As a matter of fact, I'm not saying that you should do bad things but all I mean is that good parts of you stand out and stay in the hearts of people!

The White Cockade - Kate Rusby

Hey guys... I really want you guys to check this song out. I can't believe it made me cry! Close your eyes and let your imagination flow while listening to the song. Too bad I don't have a soldier boyfriend! Oh.. you should be able to find the song by clicking on

"Folk" song then the "Civil War Songs"

PS. If only you got the music mp3 cd that A.Cecil gave you OR look it up on the internet.

The White Cockade- Kate Rusby

One day as I was walking all o'er yon fields of moss,

I had no thoughts of enlisting till some soldiers did me cross,

They kindly did invite me to a flowing ball and down,

They advanced, they advanced me some money,

A shilling from the crown.

My true love he is listed and he wears a white cockade,

He is a handsome young man, likewise a roving blade,

He is a handsome young man, he's gone to serve the King,

Oh my very, oh my very,

Heart is aching all the love of him.

My true love he is handsome and comely for to see,

And by a sad misfortune a soldier now is he,

I wish the man that's listed him might prosper night nor day,

And I wish that, I wish that,

The hollanders might sink him in the sea.

Then he took out his hankerchief to wipe my flowing eye,

Leave off your lamentations likewise your mournful sighs,

Leave off your grief and sorrow until I march o'er yon plain,

We'll be married, we'll be married,

In the springtime when I return again.

My true love he is handsome and it's all for him I'll rove,

I'll write his name on every tree that grows in yonder grove,

My poor heart it does hallow, how my poor heart it does cry,

To remind me, to remind me,

Of my ploughboy, until the day I die.

Movies Movies Movies

List of movies I've watched so far...

War and Remembrance
ROOTS
North and South
Band of Brothers
Once Upon A Time In The West
Grapes of Wrath
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Magnificent Seven
Little Big Man
Hard Times
A Star Is Born
The Roaring Twenties
X'mas with the Kranks
Jeremiah Johnson
Eagle
........... till I remember some of the others.........

Now.... "War and Remembrance" is the next one I'll be watching... cool!

The Grapes of Wrath

It happened in the Great Depression period by focusing on one family - the Joads. Tom Joad just got out from the jail but he's still on parole. He's trying to get back home to meet his family and then finding out that his family is being kicked out from their own land. He meets Jim Casy who was a preacher and that's how they going to meet Tom's family.

Surprisingly meeting his mother and other family members living together and now that he's being told that they're forced off the land. Tom's mother doesn't want him to cause anymore trouble so he joins family reunion and ready to head to Californai the next day. Most of the people were moving westward at that time. People were very angry being pushed away but there's not much they can do. They're just trying to survive and stick with their families.

The Joads now traveling all along the highway heading to California. The Joads meet with thousands and thousands of people heading to the same place carrying the same hope to settle, get a job and a piece of land they can call their own. Unfortunately, they're all going to the same place, getting the same job with large amount of people which is impossible for them to get the job. The money they make was very little. They keep going places and places just trying to earn a buck to support the family. Many of them die and the remaining are just trying to survive. It's very hard for the powerless people to fight for their rights where powerfull people only offering them to work with low wages.

Later they found the government camp which they think it's nicer than the other place. The Joads pick cotton for a month, every night they have meat and joing the dance with other families. They thought they would be happy but later they had to move to a new place - Fresno.

To me this movie is really sad, people trying to earn a few dollars to live, caryying hope to find a piece of land to settle. Tom's mother was becoming stronger and stronger as she's seeing the outside world which people are competing to get a job. She has to take care of the family- cook, clean and take care of the kids. At the end of the movie she said that she used to be afraid but not anymore.

Tom's father was the head of the family but now he thinks that it doesn't matter because all he has to do is helping his family by working hard.

Tom Joad is always running as he's on parole. He loves his family so much but he has to keep running as long as he's alive.

The Joads family is telling me how the American had to fight and how hard to had to earn a buck to live. The word "never say die" is really describing the situation. They moving west just like the others carrying the same hope - better job and better place to stay. The men had to work really hard while the women helping to get things organized at home.

Spaghetti Westerns

Spaghetti Westerns is a nickname of western film between 1960 and 1975. Why? It is mainly because most of the films were financed by the Italian studios as they have things in common like low budgets and even the Italian language.

Here are some of the spaghetti westerns movies:

Once Upon A Time In The West

Man With No Name

Treasure of Silver Lake

A Fistful of Dollars

Tepepa