AzRanger

...could the renewed strength and spirit that all New Yorkers felt possibly have gone even higher? It's doubtful. The city had already reached a zenith when the Yankees took all three home games during the series. What had started as continued mourning at the beginning of the series did indeed change to hope and cheering and even happiness for the people of New York. It was just what they needed. Just what the doctor ordered.

I loved the advice Derek Jeter had for George W. who was to throw out the first pitch for their home game... You can't stand in front of the mound... they'll boo you. And don't bounce it in... or they'll boo you. Left Dubba feeling a little insecure, but he did just fine with the pitch, after all.

And I didn't know that one of the umpires was really a secret-service agent. Not during the game, of course, just during the opening pitch.

This documentary is just short enough to have kept me interested. It flashes into new subjects quickly and tries to give a piece of information about everything. The world series is background for everything else presented. It contains no mushiness, no pro-America propaganda, not even any anti-terrorist themes... it just shows us how that world series was able to change the feelings of us all. To help us mend.

While `The Godfather' was not Al's first movie (it's his third), it's certainly the one that gave everyone their first look and feel of his talent. Then he made `Scarecrow'. At the start, we see him as a young drifter who immediately shares with Gene his attitude of humor as the way to take on life. I thought: Hey, he's giving himself a break from the very structured character he played in `The Godfather' and is going to have some fun in this movie. Well, as this movie goes on, we see that humor fading away, forced from him by some bad interactions with others. 'Course, about this same time, Gene finally grabs the humor bug that Al's character has been trying to get him to catch, so he's having fun now, right? So, did Al get a break from playing the serious character? No, so what's he do next? - He makes `Serpico'. What a downer. I'm not knocking that great movie, just saying that his character plays an extremely serious cop forced into awful situations. It's just that I was hoping, as `Scarecrow' started out, that I was watching the kind of movie that actor's enjoy making simply so they can have fun (they're entitled, aren't they?), but nope, the seriousness is all there. Still, it's interesting the order these three fall into, within a year of each other. If you're like most people (me included), you missed this one when it first came out. Watch it now. It's well worth it.

As much as I like this movie…

…what its storyline does, especially as it gets further along, is simply to re-tell the story of Billy `The Kid' Bonney. It supposed to take place after Chisum has made that famous cattle-drive and shows the start of the Lincoln County war. Towards the end, the battle between Chisum and Murphy (the war) is completely set aside and we end up seeing all the same things happen to Billy that we've already seen in all the other movies about him, i.e., his relationship with Tunstall, meeting Pat Garrett and becoming friends (at first, then their falling out, well, kinda), him getting revenge on everybody, and the ol' shootout at McSween's store. The movie alters history in some interesting ways, though, like instead of the U.S. Army helping the sheriff (a fictitious character that replaces Brady) during the McSween's store shootout, Chisum becomes the cavalry and he and Pat Garrett help Billy out. The movie ends rather abruptly, never letting us know what happens to Chisum, Billy or the Lincoln County war.