Saw Life of Reilly last night. It’s, yes! about Charles Nelson Reilly. It was very good. He certainly showed how the beauty of a great one-liner is not just in its content, but in the delivery. Counting the beats, the pauses, before slinging out the great comeback. He made it look so easy.
It was also an incredibly sad movie. If you ask the question: how much mental cruelty can a parent inflict on a child? This move would answer: Plenty. Tons.
How resilient can a child be? Plenty. Tons.
When we were kids, it was still standard stuff to snicker and be cruel to the effeminate boys. I know in our elementary class, we all did it. I include myself. I’m really hoping all that has changed now. But I don’t know many children, and I don’t know any effeminate boys, so I have no idea. I can only hope that more compassionate parents are bringing up more enlightened children now. Too hopeful? Maybe. But if it was hard in the 1960 and 70s, imagine how much harder it was in the 1930s and 40s. Reilly survived and thrived, but how many young boys were destroyed by their families’ negativity and shame? A really grim thought.
5 comments:
...90 minutes and not one mention of Brett. I mean, was I the only one waiting for deliciously saucy tales of the backstage antics at Match Game.
JAW fan
that's because there was just too much blanking
as far as I can see racism, sexism and homophobia is more or less out
all that's left is making fun of the fat kids...the cnr's of the future, no doubt
Sadly, it being "out"...does not make it "disappear"...just ask the fat, black, lesbians, they'll tell you!
JAW fan
My very close personal friend Max Mutchnick says the only two groups anyone can still say any crappy thing they like about are "fags and fatties." Did I mention I know Max Mutchnick? It's so deliciously true. How gay is he? Even gayer than Luis Guzman.
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