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"The Featherweight" is more than just the story of Willie Pep, former Featherweight Champion of the World. Pep is now in his forties, down on his luck and contemplating an ill-advised return to the ring. Told from the viewpoint of a documentary film crew memorializing this comeback attempt, the film bridges the divide between moviemaking and reality.

James Madio IS Willie Pep, coping with life away from the boxing ring, the only life he has known since childhood. Trying to survive while attempting to keep up appearances as he recognizes that he is a hero to his people and fans in his hometown of Hartford, CT. Madio literally disappears into the role. Ruby Wolf is wonderful as his young wife with her own dream to follow as she tells Willie that he had his chance. Keir Gilchrist as his troubled son, Billy, is as good as it gets. I particularly liked Stephen Lang, as Bill Gore, Pep's trainer and close friend. This movie, unlike most others I've seen in recent years, rings true. Not a false or gratiuitous note in the story. I recommend it highly, if you can take a dose of reality with your moviegoing experience.

"The Gig" is a tight, funny and poignant little movie about a group of friends that have gathered together on a regular basis to play Dixieland for fun. The group unexpectedly lands a real paying job, in musician's parlance; a "gig".

They travel to upstate NY for a two week gig at a summer resort minus one member, who bows out due to contracting cancer. At the last minute, they hire a professional to take his place. Things get sticky as an over-the-hill Frankie Valli type attempts a comeback at the resort and tries to utilize the group as his band.

The attitude the professional bass player gave the guys rang true. By signing up to play the two-week gig, they were taking bread out of the mouths of someone who needed the job to feed his or her family. While Pop, Rock, Rap, Country and Western, and R&B stars make money off of albums. Jazz musicians have to travel abroad to make a living. Almost nobody gets rich. The guys living their dream also cost others a needed income.

I believe that almost everyone who can play a musical instrument with some proficiency dreams about playing a paying "gig" one time or another, Woody Allen and Kevin Bacon are two popular examples of this amateur-to-professional crossover. I especially recommend this movie to anyone who has ever played music professionally. My mom, who was a musician, LOVED it.

This is one of my favorite movies,"Marty" is my number one!. Wonderful acting and realistic dialog not seen today except in small independent movies. As each character shows himself, we can see our own doubts and struggles with marriage and the accompanying responsibilities. I like how Nancy Marchand appears in this, she was "Clara" in the live TV version of "Marty" opposite Rod Steiger.Terrific location shots of New York in the 1950s especially Greenwich Village.

Now let's see the third in what I call the "Paddy Chayefsky Trilogy": "Marty", "The Bachelor Party" and (also, another "Lost" film not on DVD) "Middle of the Night"!