Whistling and Fishing

We saw the Ferrari vs Ford film last night and I confess that I cried at random parts.  Maybe I’m getting old but I cry in movies all the time now.  I know that this was a true story (spoiler alert) but did they have to have Ken Miles lose the race and die too.  I usually cry for beauty, truth and kindness but now it’s for Bruce, bravery, mentoring, inquisitive kids, sad wives, fast cars and of course dogs and all other animals, except cats.

The other day I was over at my new neighbors and the kids had new K-mart fishing poles that needed setup.  Mom was busy and frantic so I said I would help if the kids said please and thank you.  I set up 6 year old Ruby’s rod and she skipped off to the creek to fish.  Three year old Boon was next and as I threaded his fishing pole eyelets and attached the giant fake hook, I sang John Prine’s - Whistling and Fishing in Heaven song.

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us and we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other 'til we both turn blue
And we'll whistle and go fishing in the heavens.

Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Eat everything that they put on your dish
When we get through we'll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again, again? again?

When I finished a wide eyed Boon asked me to sing it again, again and again and he tried to help me.  He was so cute and innocent that it brought a tear to my eye but when his mom came around the corner laughing, she brought the house down.  The point is that I’m a sad and sorry sot, easily bemused.  I still cry at "Rudy", every time.

Back to the movie, dynamic Christian Bale acts circles around cardboard Matt Damon and Lee Iaccoca is inserted for his name recognition as much as Ford and Coca-Cola are splattered across the screen.   If they are going to do so much branding, they could show a real Shelby Mustang named after the Matt Damon character or relate how Iaccoca eventually saved Chrysler as well as Ford.  

All the actors had strong moments but there were times when they seemed to stop acting well, perhaps because of poor dialogue or directing.  The sole female role of the wife had only one shining scene when she was racing around in her Country Squire to punish her husband for his quiet secrecy, and she knocked it out of the ballpark.   The movie, like the story and the times, was male dominated and that felt hollow in this modern world.

The stereotypical evil corporate controller part was a bit overdone as well but set up the conflict of good and evil and gave us a premeditated excuse for the tragic loss of the big race at the end. The cheap shots at the new Mustang design were undeserved and its unveiling could have been a nice Iaccoca sub plot in the film since it was all about saving Ford.  In the end it was about the people, characters and their story, since Ford did very well before and after this story happened and these legendary guys may just bend up as corporate speed bumps in the overall Ford story.

This film was a fun ride and the sound and cinematography was excellent, especially the early bumper level racing sequences.  The classic 50’s and 60’s period shots were tremendous and the small town, small track California scenes were bittersweet and nostalgic.  It all hearkens back to an early, simpler time when men were men, cars were cars and heroes were heroes.  This was a herculean effort and a real hero of a movie.

However, the best driving from that movie occurred on our way to the show.  I was driving the camper van when I saw, no, I felt a large 20 long SUV moving up fast on my right to try to impossibly pass me in a 14 foot space before ramming the stopped cars in front of him.  As usual, I knew my position and the position of all around me, since I am an excellent driver, so I swerved almost subconsciously as far left as I felt I could without hitting others and the crazy guy slipped into the limited space and avoided the inevitable catastrophe.  He sped away unscathed but my wife remarked on the tragedy narrowly averted by complimenting my driving, for the first time, ever.

They don’t make movies like this anymore that on the surface are totally enjoyable but have a subtle message underneath.  Movies that hit the punch line and don’t lose the teaching moments to dribble away in lame dialogue.  Movies where the guy kisses the girl in the fog at the train station and does not just say 'I'll see you around'.

Spielberg is the master of this with his simple depiction of the perfect split level California home with the happy loving, slightly dysfunctional but perfect family in the new subdivision with cookie cutter houses and the American dream.  The occupants are all willingly ignorant of the big picture cost of this lavish, conspicuous consumption American lifestyle and mindless growth but blissfully participate in it for the next great adventure.

In the early eighties Spielberg was making nature films before we knew what climate change was, he was making family films before there was a crisis of connubial confidence and he was making Nazi films before there was Trump.    Was Jaws a Melvillian man against nature or common man against local government film?  Was Indiana Jones just an adventure film or overstated anti Nazi.  Was Close Encounters a film about family madness or space invaders. 

I thought ET was about kids and spacemen, but it is apparently about the adversarial relationship between man and nature, the effects of our thoughtless growth and consumption with its affects on other creatures.  It’s also about the evil government and authority effects on the innocents. But is ET really Jesus?  He descends from heaven and is left here by his father, he becomes man – merged with Elliot, he is recognized and appreciated only by the innocents, he does miracles, flies, heals cuts and dying plants – he is life, he dies, is resurrected by the love of Elliot and ascends back to heaven to sit with the father.   Who knew?

I even thought Game of Thrones was about dragons, incest, gratuitous nudity and head chopping violence.  Now I hear that it’s about Climate Change - Winter is coming.  It is the World War I transition from feudal contentious warring tribes and families to the new method of building consensus and alliances united nations.  It takes the old Hammurabi code of an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' to the Christian philosophy of 'turn the other cheek and love your enemies'. 

And finally, I thought Bagger Vance was about golf but it's really about being our authentic selves in concert with the real world as we perceive it.    What does it all mean?  What makes us laugh, what makes us cry, what makes us think, what makes us lie?  I don't know.  I'll just whistle and go fishing in Heaven.