Abandoned books and/or movies #13

These are the movies that I have started and then stopped watching over the last six months or so. The ones marked with a * are movies I have seen before.

Downhill Racer-- Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, skiing-- I had wanted to see this movie for many years. However, I didn't like it.

The Americanization of Emily-- James Garner is a plus; World War II is a plus; Julie Andrews is a minus. I tried to like this one but couldn't.

Getting Straight-- I'll watch almost anything Elliott Gould does; apparently not this one, though. 

Black Cat, White Cat*-- The best romantic comedy ever made about Gypsy mobsters in the former Yugoslavia. I actually love this movie; I just wasn't in the mood for it on that particular day. I own the soundtrack as well-- it's great, too.

Hidden Fortress-- They say that this movie by Akira Kurosawa (above) inspired George Lucas to make Star Wars. It was pretty good, but I kept falling asleep.

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy-- I was on a bit of a Woody Allen-kick at the time. This pretty much put an end to it.

What Have I Done to Deserve This?-- Directed by Pedro Almodovar; I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided I wanted to watch this one.


Something Wild-- Boring; I stopped when they got to the high school reunion.

Up in the Air*-- I enjoyed this movie when I saw it in the movie theaters.

Salvador*-- I'm not sure you could pay me to sit through an entire Oliver Stone movie these days, not even if it has Jim Belushi in it.

Three Kings*-- In my mind, I love this movie and was really, really looking forward to watching it. It features one of my favorite living white American male actors (George Clooney) and my favorite African-American rapper/actor/director of all time (Ice Cube). For some reason, though, I just wasn't interested this time around.

The Getaway*-- I really like this movie and was quite excited to come across a very cheap DVD copy while out shopping one day. It probably just wasn't the right time to watch it.

The French Connection*-- A hard-hitting portrayal of the reality of life on the police force or neo-fascist swill? You can decide for yourself and let me know.

The Hit*-- I'm not sure why, but this movie failed to grab me this time around. 

Alphaville*-- Boy, do I remember liking this movie way back when I saw it at college.

Shaft*-- I had just watched Across 110th Street and figured I wanted to see another blaxploitation movie. It turned out that I didn't.

Happy Birthday Wishes!

Happy birthday wishes to Vujadin Boskov - born on May 16, 1931. Boskov played professionally in Yugoslavia, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as for the Yugoslav national team. He is more famous as a coach - he has coached in many European countries, including Italy, the Netherlands, Spain (at Real Madrid), and as the manager of the Yugoslav national team. His greatest success came during the 1990-1991 season when he led Sampdoria to their only Scudetto.

Boskov is famous for his many quotations, including:

• "The game ends when the referee blows his whistle."
• "The team that wins the championship is the one with the most points."
• "It is better to lose 3-0 once than 1-0 three times."

Once again, from all of us here at Ape Canyon News Service, happy birthday, Vujadin!