I couldn't possibly have seen this movie when it first came out, I'd have been only 14 or 15 years old and the film is rated R. But back in the day we had "dollar theaters": re-run houses that showed second- or third-run films for just a buck or two. Smaller screens, but still a movie-size option that I miss.
Provided my memory isn't playing me false, I can state unequivocally that the best Jack the Ripper story I've ever encountered is a TV mini-series starring Michael Caine, titled simply Jack the Ripper, which came out in 1988. I need that caveat, however, because (a) that's how long ago I saw it, now some 28 years, and (b) I saw it while house-sitting -- and, as any reader or movie watcher can tell you, circumstances matter. The movie is a dark mystery and there I am, at night, in an unfamiliar house in an unfamiliar neighborhood taking it all in. So I may possibly have overrated it.
One scene that occurs in all three versions of the story is one in which the Texas Ranger essentially bends Mattie over his knee to punish her for her impertinence. All versions end with Cogburn putting a stop to it, but the Wayne version stands out because of a single line of dialogue. Cogburn orders the Ranger to stop because "You're enjoying it too much." This is the only version written by a woman, Marguerite Roberts, and I think it's the only one to really get the scene right.
The agnostic's Our Father, as given in the book: "Oh God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul."
I don't criticize movies any more than I criticize books, but dumb is dumb wherever you find it. In spite of the fact that Haggard tells us how to pronounce She's name, Ayesha, in a footnote in the book, the filmmakers here get it all wrong.
"The D'Ampton Worm" is performed in the film by Emilio Perez Machado and Stephen Powys, with Louise Newman on the violin. You can hear it, and see this scene, which is a good one, here.
A love of animals is a classic device to promote sympathy for otherwise questionable characters, and it's strange the filmmakers went that route here with Zodiac. Especially since many real serial killers, in a kind of cosmic indictment of their moral character, get their start by torturing animals.
My Bantam paperback of this book includes black and white illustrations by Sheilah Beckett. They're nothing special (although the one on the cover is evocative), but they are a nice addition. Wouldn't it be great if all books came with illustrations?
Context is a funny thing. In a movie like Taken, where we have young girls being auctioned off, we naturally hate the buyers. Here, where we have a 12-year-old's virginity being auctioned, we almost root for the price to go higher.
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December 2016
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