It takes a lot to make Pauline Kael talk like Yoda, but these are parlous times. Over at the Weekly Standard, poor Bill Kristol is at such a loss for words, and sense, that he’s asking the American people to choose a President based on his taste in film! It’s true! Here’s the deal:
Katie Couric asked each candidate recently what his favorite movie was. Obama gave an utterly conventional answer: “Oh, I think it would have to be The Godfather. One and two. Three not so much. Umm. So-so, but, but that—that saga—I love that movie.”
Couric asked him to explain a bit.
Obama: I mean there’s this combination of old world gentility and, you know, ritual with this savagery underneath. It’s all about family. So it’s a great movie. Lawrence of Arabia. Great film. One of my favorites—and then Casablanca. Who doesn’t like Casablanca?”
* * *
That’s Obama. He’s glib, conventional, won’t make a real choice, shows nothing about himself, and says nothing offputting and says nothing impressive.
McCain’s answer was in no way conventional:
“Viva Zapata! It’s a movie made by Elia Kazan. It was one of the trilogy of A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront and Viva Zapata! Marlon Brando stars in it. He plays Zapata. It’s a heroic tale of a person who sacrificed everything for what he believed in, and there’s some of the most moving scenes in that movie that I’ve ever seen. And one of them is he gets married—the night of his wedding night—he gets up and he and Jean Peters are in their hotel room—this little room and she says “What’s the matter?” And he says, “I gotta go to Mexico City tomorrow. I’ve gotta be with Pancho Villa and Modero and these people.” He says “I can’t read.” And she reaches over and takes the bible from the—table and opens it up and starts, “In the beginning.” You know, it’s a great scene. It’s great and there’s many others that are wonderful too, especially when he dies—when he gives everything for his country and what he believes in.”
Which one of these two men do you want to be president in a time of crisis and difficulty? Viva McCain!
Okay, here’s what Pauline had to say about McCain’s all-time fave-rave cinema moment, which was also one of her favorites, but not in a good way: “the famous, supposedly terribly touching wedding-night scene in which Zapata asks Josefa to teach him to read. (To deflower his virgin mind?)”
What’s terribly touching about Kristol’s column is that this the only reason he can come up with for you to vote for McCain rather than Obama. Forget the issues, the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! It’s all about the movies they like!*
*And especially forget about Sarah Palin! I mean, who is she, anyway? I’ve forgotten!
