“The Sapphires” a Sweet Story Set During Vietnam War
Apr 20th
“Sweet Story Set During Vietnam War”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE SAPPHIRES is inspired by the unlikely, but true story of four girls from the aboriginal outback of Australia who form a singing group that entertains the American troops in Vietnam during the war.
The movie begins in 1958 in Australia, and we see four little girls who love to sing performing before an audience. Suddenly a group of government officials show up, and one of the little girls, Kay, is taken away from her family by the officials, because she has light skin, and forced to live in a city with a white family.
This was all part of a government program to integrate aborigines into Caucasian society.
Then the movie shifts to 1968, and we meet Dave Lovelace, played by Chris O’Dowd, who is sleeping in his car and arrives late to work in a bar where he is the emcee of a local talent show, and his boss puts him on his last warning.
Dave says to the audience, “I sort of start off slow, and then I slowly peter out.”
Two young aborigine girls, Gail and Cynthia, are singing in the talent show, they announce that they are from “black fella’ country,” and they sing a country song that the audience doesn’t pay much attention to.
But when their younger sister, Julie, suddenly joins them on stage, their singing becomes much better and so does the audience’s appreciation.
After the talent show, the girls approach Dave, show him a newspaper clipping about an audition in Melbourne for singers and dancers to perform for the troops in Vietnam, and ask him to help them go to the audition.
Dave agrees to help, but says they should sing soul music instead of country music and that Julie should sing lead instead of Gail, which doesn’t please Gail one bit.
Also, while they are in Melbourne, they track down their cousin, Kay, who had been abducted 10 years earlier, and she is able to join them for the audition.
Ironically, while Dave is coaching the girls and teaching them choreography, he says that they should sing their soul songs “blacker.”
So, the girls, accompanied by Dave as manager and chaperone, entertain the troops in Vietnam, where there is danger, conflict, and even romance.
The Sapphires is a sweet and mostly true story set during the Vietnam War.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Sapphires – Movie Trailer
Apr 14th
Inspired by a true story, THE SAPPHIRES follows four vivacious, young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. Cynthia (Tapsell), Gail (Mailman), Julie (Mauboy) and Kay (Sebbens) are discovered by Dave (O’Dowd), a good-humored talent scout with a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music. As their manager, Dave books the sisters their first true gig giving them their first taste of stardom, and travels them to Vietnam to sing for the American troops.
“The Place Beyond the Pines” a Terrific, Wonderful Drama
Apr 13th
“Terrific, Wonderful Drama”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Place Beyond the Pines is a wonderful drama in three parts about the influence of one generation on the next, or as William Wordsworth put it in “My Heart Leaps Up,” “The child is father of the man.”
The action takes place in Schenectady, New York, and when the movie opens we meet Luke, played by Ryan Gosling, who performs in a traveling circus as a motorcycle stunt daredevil.
One night a young woman named Romina, played by Eva Mendes, approaches him, and Luke recognizes her as the woman he had a fling with the year before when he was in town.
They talk, and Luke gives Romina a ride home, where he tells her that he leaves town the next day and won’t be back for another year.
Well, the next day Luke goes back to Romina’s house to see her, but she is away at work.
The woman who answers the door is holding a baby in her arms, and she tells Luke, “He’s yours. You want to hold him?”
Luke is immediately smitten by this surprise addition to his life, and he makes some dramatic changes because of it.
He quits his job with the circus, stays in town, and determines that he is going to take care of Romina and the baby, who is named Jason.
Unfortunately, Romina, Jason, and her mother are living in the house of Romina’s boyfriend, Kofi, and Kofi doesn’t take kindly to Luke’s sudden appearance and desires.
Meanwhile, Luke meets a man named Robin, who has a small mechanic shop out in the woods, and he gets a job working for Robin, which also gives Luke a place to stay.
Robin also gives Luke the idea for how Luke can make some fast money to give to Romina and Jason, but it leads to disastrous results.
Then we meet Avery, played by Bradley Cooper, who is a rookie policeman in Schenectady, and his first encounter with Luke makes Avery a hero in the eyes of his fellow policemen, which leads to ill-fated consequences.
Avery has a wife, Jennifer, played by Rose Byrne, and a young baby named AJ.
Then the movie shifts 15 years later to the two teenage boys, Jason and AJ.
The Place Beyond the Pines is a terrific film, and I cannot praise it enough.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
