Nobody's mentioned "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!" It's a hilarious take on the fear of a cold war invasion. One of the best.
"E-mare-jen-see, effree body to get from strit."
Posted on 03/14/2005 8:23:25 PM PST by Captain Peter Blood
Hard to find that one..
[First line, voiceover] C.R. MacNamara: On Sunday, August 13th, 1961, the eyes of America were on the nation's capital, where Roger Maris was hitting home runs #44 and 45 against the Senators. On that same day, without any warning, the East German Communists sealed off the border between East and West Berlin. I only mention this to show the kind of people we're dealing with - REAL SHIFTY!"
"Otto: I will not have my son grow up to be a capitalist. Scarlet: When he's 18 he can make his mind up whether he wants to be a capitalist or a rich communist."
"Schlemmer recognizes the reporter Untermeyer (played by Til Kiwe)] Schlemmer: Herr Oberleutnant! C.R. MacNamara: You two know each other? Schlemmer: He was my commanding officer. C.R. MacNamara: In the subway? Schlemmer: No, after that, when I was drafted. C.R. MacNamara: Aha! Gestapo! Schlemmer: No, no, SS.
C.R. MacNamara: Ten minutes early! That's a hell of a way to run an airline! Planes are supposed to be late, not early!
Peripetchikoff: We have emergency meeting with Swiss Trade Delegation. They send us twenty car-loads of cheese. Totally unacceptable... full of holes.
(cough)
World War III
It was a miniseries with a miniseries cast--Rock Hudson, David Soul, Brian Keith--about a Soviet task force that slips into a US northern Alaska outpost, and a small team fights it off. It was literally a "cold war" in miniature.
An enjoyably grim movie, it has one really gruesome real life footnote. The director, a real loudmouth, was getting out of a helicopter and yelled at someone, and turned and walked away in a huff...right into the rotor on the back of the helicopter, and was decapitated!
GRIMMEST Nuclear War Movie Ever:
Threads
NOT for the easily depressed!
Not a movie but a British TV series: "The Sandbaggers" starring Roy Marsden (who later portrayed Adam Dalgleish in the TV versions of the P.D. James mysteries).
Might take you a couple of episodes to get into, because it's serious, not glam, and portrays the boredom and office politics. The most harrowing episode: the one about the mortally wounded agent left to die in a hotel room.
It's on DVD now, series 1, 2, and 3.
It's a farce! You could read the dialogue of any Marx Brothers movie, Airplane knock-off, or other farce and it would not read well either. It's the delivery, pacing, and references that make it funny. Without the background to understand the constant references to the times it may not be funny, kind of like reading a Shakespeare or Aristophanes comedy today, but for the rest of us who get it, it's great.
Nobody's mentioned "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!" It's a hilarious take on the fear of a cold war invasion. One of the best.
"E-mare-jen-see, effree body to get from strit."
Ah, the old "You don't like something I like so you're dumb and you don't get it! routine.
I understood all the references--some of us DO know one or two things.
I understood it was a farce. It was also an unfunny farce.
I understand about words as opposed to how their played--I specifically said I'd SEEN the movie, and was merely posting the lines as a reference.
People can disagree on matters of taste; you don't have to call their intelligence into question just because they don't share your sense of humor. And it's rude to do so when you have no idea of the other person's background. Later.
Hint: Begins with and "I" and doesn't mean peace.
Personally, I thought WWIII was just a bit goofy, however, David Soul was in "The Disappearance of Flight 412" as well. :-)
Both "Threads" and "The Day After" were definitely war scare movies! I have both in my library.
BTW, if you can find "Countdown to Looking Glass" or see it on as a late night show, SNAP IT UP! As far as I know, it was only broadcast three times.
Well yes he could but I doubt he will. I for one would love another good George Smiley novel but I think I read where Le Carre said he retired Smiley a long time ago and would not bring him back.
I always thought he should bring him back and fill in the back story. TTSS started with Smiley being brought back from retirement to investigate the mole. So there is his whole history available for exploration.
It would have to be as LONG as the Cold War...:)
I prefer V. myself.
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