HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

[Murfreesboro]

I'm unfamiliar with those titles, but no doubt there are many stories that deserve a wider audience.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I had both of them in paper-back. Unfortunately they were both destroyed in the fire of 2015. You may be able to find a copy on line or at Amazon.

At any rate they both would have been great movies IF the movies are done properly and not all cluttered up with so-called 'artistic' under exposure, dark lighting and barely audible sound.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

You and my daughter share an intense dislike of the under-lighting of movies and TV shows.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I always disliked that. Now a days my eye sight, like the rest of me, is going to be 60 next July, and that low-key lighting just makes it harder for me to follow the movie. It also doesn't help when the audio is down to below a whisper, and even with head phones I can barely make out the lines. The sad thing is that some of the stories that were made into movies that way are good, well written stories.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Yeah, I think the film makers think it's artsy.

[Pumpkin_Head]

They do think it's artsy. Unfortunately it makes it very hard to follow the story. To my way of thinking, the main art work is the story being told, and as much as I understand that cinematographers are artists in their own right, their 'artist philosophy' shouldn't get in the way of the story.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Speaking of artsy, I'm not a huge fan of the non-linear storytelling that is all the rage now. Think "This Is Us," and the recent adaptation of Little Women. I mean, I can take some of it, but it seems to have become the "it" thing. I wondered if I could have followed Little Women if I hadn't already known the story.

[Pumpkin_Head]

Sometimes that can make things a little more interesting, but the way some movie makers go about it causes confusion. "The God Father" was some what non linear in the way it was done. You would get scenes that take place in the present, then it would 'warp' back to the turn of the century to develop the story a little. As for "Little Women," I'm not at all familiar with that story.

Mike

[Andybev01]

Speaking of artsy, I'm not a huge fan of the non-linear storytelling that is all the rage now. Think "This Is Us," and the recent adaptation of Little Women. I mean, I can take some of it, but it seems to have become the "it" thing. I wondered if I could have followed Little Women if I hadn't already known the story.

One of my sisters. Who is a retired english professor, said the exact same thing.

[Pumpkin_Head]

Sometimes that non linier story telling does cause confusion and breaks up the continuity. But there are a few examples where I actually enjoyed it. "The Godfather," for instance used that technique rather creatively. I also like the way the "American Horror Story" shows were presented in that style, and to a lesser extent "Bates Motel," all though a lot of what was going on in "Bates Motel" were the dilusions of Norman.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Lol, well, I am a former Englush prof, too, so I guess your sister and I are peas in a pod that way, Andy!

I think my real problem is just that it's gotten so trendy. Everybody has jumped on a bandwagon. Every once in a while it can be interesting.

Can you believe I have never seen The Godfather? Everyone agrees it is one of the best movies ever made. I just have an allergic reaction to all things mafia. Can't make myself sit through it.

[Pumpkin_Head]

"The God Father" is very violent and a very eloquent portrayal of the Mafia in it's own right. Based on the real life Charles "Lucky" Luciano, but that sort of story is not for everyone. I also really liked "The Sopranos." "The Untouchables" was also fun to watch.

I was dorking around with an idea of a Gangster/Horror story about a haunted 1920s vintage 'Speak-Easy.'

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

My son says it has a strong father-son story line that he likes.

I think your idea of a gangster horror story could work!

[Pumpkin_Head]

"The God Father" does have a very strong father/son story, but it's also a very good story of how the Mafia works, their history both here in America and in Cicely.

As for my gangster/horror story, here's my sceneopsis. Circa 1923. The place, a small town just outside Chicago, about 5 or 6 miles North. I'll give the town a fictitious name, to be determined later. Big Biff, a ruthless gangster runs a speak-easy in the basement of his 'front' business, a small grocery store, where speak-easy is located on the 2nd floor of the building where the store is located. When the store closes, the speak-easy opens for business. During the day time, a child of about 9 or 10 goes into the store to purchase a couple of items for her Mom. Meanwhile, a rival looking to muscle in on Big Biffs illegal liquor business walks in, unaware that the child is there. He pulls out a "tommy gun" and kills Big Biff. Stray bullets fly all over the place and the child is struck and killed.

Circa 1978. A married couple with two children decide to go into business for themselves, so they decide to open up a restaurant, and the old building where this crime takes place looks like the all prefect place. Meanwhile, the gangster who killed Big Biff, and killed an innocent child in the process was never caught and never prosecuted. The family starts to set up their business, but are plagued by strange occurrences. The cries of a child, sounds of gun shots, and a whole host of other ghostly manifestations. They find an old bullet imbedded in a beam, and while pulling up old boards, they find a small scrap of paper that gives a clue as to the identity of the shooter. They start telling people, doing research at the local library and making an investigation into this 50 year old crime, which makes the old gangster very nervous.


I know the story needs more development, but it might be fun to put together a great gangster yarn, and marry it to a creepy ghost story of a victim crying out for his or her murderer to be brought to justice after all these years.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I think that sounds like a good story! And I'm sure you'll give it a strong sense of place, since you know that part of the country.