Elevating the Gallos / Vague Hollywood Memories (Patreon)

Well, I certainly enjoyed the unpredicted, 20-minute hailstorm that just happened. (Between pea-sized and golf-ball-sized). This planet is so fucked, etc.

But that's not the only bizarre occurrence. I just discovered that not one but films are opening tomorrow, directed by that nondescript fellow above. Do you recognize him? You should, apparently, because he is a major figure for our times. Meet George Gallo!

Up to now, his biggest achievement has probably been writing the script for Midnight Run. But he has directed 13 major motion pictures. None of them are particularly noteworthy. Possibly the best known would be 2001's Double Take starring Eddie Griffin and Orlando Jones. And apparently he is also a well-regarded landscape painter. Here's a sample:

Yeah, that's just fine. But tomorrow, we get a double-shot of Cinema Gallo. There's his 2020 Robert De Niro / Tommy Lee Jones / Morgan Freeman vehicle The Comeback Trail, which looks very much like the filmic equivalent of visiting a relative in assisted living. And, we also get Morgan Freeman again, this time paired with an eerily de-queered Ruby Rose, in revenge-thriller Vanquish (2021). (Would not have picked Rose to be the New Ashley Judd.) Somebody made the most of quarantine.

Also, an unrelated note. Watching Notorious last night, I had a strange feeling that I had seen the first half of the film before. That's to say, the deja vu evaporated around the 45-minute mark. I've had this feeling before with classic Hollywood films. Like, I am sure I haven't "seen" North By Northwest. But I distinctly recall specific scenes from it. And I think I figured out why.

Back between the ages of about 10-15, during the summers, or when I was home sick from school, my parents would often watch KTRK-13's 3 O'Clock Million Dollar Movie. According to Wikipedia, several ABC affiliates around the country had this late afternoon / early evening movie broadcast. They usually had theme weeks, like Godzilla, beach movies, racing films, underwater adventure, as well as weeks devoted to specific movie stars. But they also had a Hitchcock Week, so there you go.

Thing is, these commercial TV stations had to edit the films to make room for commercials. And very often, a film clocking in at two hours or more was split over consecutive days. (They would start Day Two by rebroadcasting the last 30 minutes of Day One, so it made for a weird viewing experience, to say the least.) So I'm not crazy. There are some classic films I've seen, a long time ago, but often only in part. (Anyone else have a similar pre-Blockbuster era experience?)