To commies, domestic traitors, global elites, and other such vermin, I'll just pass along a slightly altered line from Steve McQueen's character in Papillon, "We're still here, you bastards!"
Let us honor those giants, our founding fathers, for one of the noblest achievements in human history. May they live in our memories forever.
From the excellent AMC series, Turn: Washington's Spies, here is the scene featuring the British surrender at Yorktown.
The American Civil War tested the Republic as never before, and the great words of Abraham Lincoln have come echoing down the years, filled with commitment to duty and the hope of a better future for a nation healed from the wounds of war. I have always cherished this scene in the movie, Ruggles of Red Gap, in which an expatriate English butler (played by Charles Laughton), alone in a room full of American locals, remembers the words of the Gettysburg Address, and utters them with heartfelt humility.
All rise for our National Anthem.
It's nice to hear the National Anthem performed correctly (although a little slow for my taste). People talk about desecration of the flag, but the anthem is desecrated more often than not, used as a vehicle for third-rate singers to try to show off in order to hide their lack of musical skill.
ReplyDeleteBased on some of the butchering I've heard over the years, the national anthem doesn't seem to be particularly well suited for those who wish to disguise their lack of talent.
DeleteCharles Laughton's performance there was excellent!
ReplyDeleteThe mesmerized expressions on the other actors' faces was probably genuine.
DeleteI thought Slim Pickens was one of the saloon patrons, but it was Victor Potel, sure looked like Slim but he would have been 16 when the film was made
DeleteYeah, that feller did look like Slim Pickens, didn't he?
DeleteStirring entries all, Paco. I never heard of “Ruffles of Red Gap”, but I wish I’d seen it. Charles Laughton is one of the greatest actors ever.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good movie, I highly recommend it. Laughton is the valet of an English earl who loses him in a poker game to a newly rich married couple from the American west. Funny and moving, by turns, it is, in some respects (as indicated in the video clip I posted), a love letter to America.
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