This Week on TV

I’ve been seeing a lot of films this last week with a bit of history in them, like today it was Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks about the negotiations to get Frances Gary Powers back, and there was a film called Confirmation about the Anita Hill hearings, and The Rat Pack, and some piece of crap about John McCain, with Woody Harrelson in it, and it seemed to be focusing on Sarah Palin and totally blaming her for McCain’s defeat, as if he’d had any chance before he picked her.
Of course, when I say I saw these films, I mean I saw the last half, or the last 3/4ths, because I’m talking about TV viewing. Catching a film at the beginning is like catching the perfect wave right at the top, and that doesn’t happen very often.
They are interesting to me, because they make the news real (I am old enough that what is now history was once news. So, I still have unresolved issues and sometimes find myself shouting at the TV during these period dramas), they put faces behind the names, even if they are actors’ faces. Usually, directors try to get actors who resemble the main characters at least a little bit – Kevin Costner playing Jim Garrison in JFK was a glaring exception, and a serious flaw in the film.
The most interesting to me was the Rat Pack film, because it focused heavily on Frank Sinatra’s connection’s with mobsters and how that affected his relationship with JFK, which was closer than I’d realized. Also, some interesting stuff about Sammy Davis, Jr. that I hadn’t known.