tom cody

If you're reading these comments on The Spitfire Grill, one of the things that has been overlooked so far is the contribution that this movie made to American capitalism in the fall of 1996. In the middle of the movie, Percy Talbot proposes an essay contest to raise funds for the diner. The essay should be entitled "Why I should be the owner of the Spitfire Grill." There was an entrance fee, and the winner would claim ownership of the diner, while the owner of the diner (Ellen Burstyn) would just keep all of the money from the contestants. If the number of entries was under a certain pre-determined amount, all of the money was supposed to be refunded. I don't know if this was an original idea by the screen-writer, but it was absolutely brilliant. Sortly after this film was released in September 1996, I couldn't turn on my radio without hearing some news report about a business owner trying to sell something by copy-catting this idea of an essay contest. I'm not exaggerating, EVERY FIVE MINUTES there was some breaking report; and it lasted for about a week, until the idea got saturated. But now that it's been a few years, and the film has disappeared from a lot of people's memories, I'm thinking I just might sponsor an essay contest if I ever have to sell my broken-down Toyota Tercel. This goes to show that The Spitfire Grill was a "word-of-mouth" kind of sleeper hit, because it sure as heck didn't get any vocal support from film critics. To listen to the reviews before the film hit theatres, you would think that it was the second coming of "Ishtar", with a little "Birth of a Nation" thrown in.

This TV show was the greatest thing to happen to TV; be it network, cable or otherwise! This show was everything I am about, and every fun-loving American should spend their Saturday nights like this. The premise was kind of like "Who's Line is it, Anyway?". There was a girls' team and a guys' team, and there were points given out. But the points didn't really mean anything, because the prizes didn't mean anything either. I feel like throwing back a couple of pints and belting out my best "Come on Eileen" just thinking about this treasure of a show that never should have been taken off the air!

I bought the movie Tremors at a movie and music store a few years ago. It's great! I do disagree with one user comment out there that says to avoid the lame sequel. The sequel is not lame. It's great, too. And di d you know that the little girl with the Pogo Stick grows up to appear in "Jurassic Park" and "Angus"?