Movie Moment

The other day one of our sons invited me to see a movie.  The following is a transcript of that conversation:

“Hey, Dad, let’s go see Public Enemies.”

“What?  No, thanks!  Why would anyone sit through a film about a rather disgusting and very personal medical procedure?  Yech!”

“No, Dad, I said Enemies!  Public Enemies!”  Then, under his breath: “You doddering old dolt.”  See, sometimes my hearing is better than other times.

Well, we went to the show.  Actually, this was a movie I was  eager to see for three reasons. 

First of all, I read the book, upon which it is based, several years ago and loved it.  The book covers Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Karpis, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson and everybody else, on both sides of the law, in those hurly burly days of the early 1930s.  There are lots of Kansas City references throughout the story, too.  If you are looking for some American History that reads like a novel, go find Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough.  (Okay.  I realize that I’m no Oprah when it comes to book recommendations.  In fact, I can hear the surprise in your gasps that I can read at all.  But, this is a good book.  It’s one of the few I read bits and pieces of over and over again.  Well, this one and Pat the Bunny.)

The second reason I was on board for this trip to the theater has to do with our nephew Kurt.  As mentioned before in this silly cyber space (alliteration is free of charge) Kurt is an actor.  He has appeared, as an extra, in The Dark Knight…he was the guy looking aghast in the bar scene, left-hand side of the screen…and The Express.  He was in the background of a lot of scenes in that one.  In Public Enemies, you have to watch carefully, again, the left side of the screen, as Dillinger and the gang knock over a bank in Racine, Wisconsin.  It comes early in the film.  Kurt is the one looking startled and appearing to yell “Oh, noooooo!”  He does a great job.  In fact, I suspect Johnny Depp may have felt a little in awe of Kurt’s thespian skills.

Finally, that whole era of gangsters and g-men, has interested me since I was a little kid.  My grandparents owned a place in northern Wisconsin called Nick’s Canyon Resort.  My grandpa would talk about seeing well-dressed, unfamiliar faces holing up in the little cabins and cottages.  They weren’t  there to fish.  At one point in the movie, as Dillinger is heading along a tree-lined road after a botched bank robbery, our youngest son turned to me and said “He’s headed for your grandpa’s place!”  I have a picture of my grandparents from that period.  She’s wearing a long fur coat and he’s got on a snappy, cocked-just-right fedora and vest outfit.  They weren’t going to any costume party as a gangster and his moll.  It was just the way they always dressed. 

Frankly, in that faded photo,  they look like extras from Public Enemies.  Maybe that’s why Kurt looked so at home in his scene!  It’s genetic!