Robert Duvall Books

This truly is cowboy fare...not Texas fare so if you are looking for very basic recipes, this is the book for you.

Absolutely wonderful. The recipes are easy and tasty. The pictures are beautiful. I would recommend this to anyone. I have eaten at Perini Ranch and the recipies are just like those they serve.

This is the best cookbook I've ever used. Everything is so simple and delicious. Tom Perini really knows his stuff!

Wonderful in all respects- the recipes are excellent ways to fix good substantial food, written understandably. Outstanding pictures and commentary. I have been a Texas Panhandle cowboy and New Mexico rancher.
Have cooked for hunters and working crews and own an extensive array of gourmet cookbooks. This is the one used for our recent holiday, and I have given 3 of them to friends since. Don't think this is rough food - it's the kind that everybody loves.

I am from Abilene and have eaten at Perini Ranch a number of times plus am writing a cookbook myself. loved the book and the colorful photos and the recipes look fun.

A book that covers the basics of the most common ocular conditions and the simplest explanations available on the pharmacology of the usual medications. An excellent teaching guide!

This film is a wonderful combination of ideas on what the mass media system is doing to our perceptions of the world and how humanity is in constant struggle with the ways success has taken the place of real human emotions. It also presents the argument that corporate globalization is an inevitable process that will be to the ultimate benefit of mankind. A very interesting spin on so many of the most popular conspiracy theories. This film provokes serious thought on many controversial topics the people of the world are currently facing. Awesome film!

es la vida misma.... todos sus discursos, paracen validarse en nuestro dia a dia....Visionaria.... es hora de que las personas creemos mas conciencia en donde vivimos y para lo que trabajamos....

A refreshingly cynical film about the fallout occuring from transitioning the business of journalism to a commoditized commercial interest. A peak experience movie that captures the business of marketing anger, as enabled by the ambitious personalities beholden to nothing but competitive advantage.

The conflict is a struggle of principles for prominence, one that serves the sense of an individual free will against the "forces of nature" argued as capitalism. The prophet for the humanistic cause makes his choices and the captivated public echoes him enthusiastically whatever his position happens to be. Why? The business of amusement doesn't serve any great human design, only the ceremonious murder of boredom.

There is also a love story, that serves as an excellent compatibility experiment between the old and new. William Holden, our objective old school news executive is loyal to the news and the traditional values, and we see his transformation upon realizations of whether falling for the seductive charms of a mercenary agent of entertainment are really worth the conversion. And what is to be said of this new mercenary, how would she fare having to face the responsibility for genuine human experience? Who, needed whom?

I think my favorite part had to be the legal terms and conditions negotiations between the ecumenical liberation army and the network attorneys over the Mao Tse Tung Hour.

I am amazed at the extent to which the makers of this film demonstrated lucid self awareness with vivid and meaningful representations of the competing ideologies at work. I wonder to what extent the hippy celebrations for the dawning of the age of aquarious mantras had something to do with this film's themes, given its timing and central arguments against the hypocrisy inherent in the new order of things. Many have wondered if the hippy generations really added anything to the American Experience. Perhaps this film could be argued in favor of the cause to expand American awareness through creative license.

I think my review is only about 32 years overdue, however, I just discovered this film a couple of months ago, and to be honest, I was very young when it came out, more captivated by Sesame Street at that point in time.

Altogether a fascinating and intriguing story with brillint dialog, direction, performances and an outstanding story in general. I wonder how the people of Fox News would comment on this film given their current criticims.

Intense viewing experience. This movie certainly is not for everyone. If you are looking for a very intelligent and rewarding viewing experience, this is a movie for you. With a warning - it is a slow moving vehicle, with some fantastic scenes no doubt, but not the kind of action people are used to these days.

This film takes a little (or a lot depending the person) patience as a viewer. Beyond the pacing, I couldn't believe how on-point this movie was. Not simply about television and media, but about life. Wow, what a message this movie delivers to those who are listening. And this was 1976 to boot!

There are a few monologues from Howard that are fabulous and packed with emotion and words that may shake you, if only slightly. There Is a particular scene, when Howard is in the office talking to Max and Max tells him they are taking him off the air. Listen carefully to Howard's monologue about energy and purpose and oneness of life. Wow.

Peter Finch is fantastic, but all main players do excellent. He won the Oscar for best actor and it was certainly deserved. This move is worth seeing for his performance alone.

This movie should definitely find an audience in today's new age spiritual movement and those questioning the veils of society. It gets five stars from me. Highly recommended for the patient viewer.

Finch won a well deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Howard Beall, a highly disturbed news anchorman, whom the network uses to increase its ratings.Holden, his supposed best friend, has too many problems of his own to urge Finch to receive the psychiatric help he needs. Chief among Holden's problems is Dunaway, a power hungry runaway train who's been directly responsible for his firing. Nevertheless, Holden has an affair going with her, a relationship that has no rational sense. Then, we have Duvall in his prime, convincingly portraying a man who's just staged a coup d'etat. All goes reasonably well until Beall's ratings begin to drop. Enter corporate chair Arthur Jensen, giving Beall one of Hollywood's great all time lambastings. When ratings continue to drop, it's Dunaway who indirectly delivers the bad news. This movie will always stand up because its main themes of money, power, and sex are timeless. It's about time you saw it.

A refreshingly cynical film about the fallout occuring from transitioning the business of journalism to a commoditized commercial interest. A peak experience movie that captures the business of marketing anger, as enabled by the ambitious personalities beholden to nothing but competitive advantage.

The conflict is a struggle of principles for prominence, one that serves the sense of an individual free will against the "forces of nature" argued as capitalism. The prophet for the humanistic cause makes his choices and the captivated public echoes him enthusiastically whatever his position happens to be. Why? The business of amusement doesn't serve any great human design, only the ceremonious murder of boredom.

There is also a love story, that serves as an excellent compatibility experiment between the old and new. William Holden, our objective old school news executive is loyal to the news and the traditional values, and we see his transformation upon realizations of whether falling for the seductive charms of a mercenary agent of entertainment are really worth the conversion. And what is to be said of this new mercenary, how would she fare having to face the responsibility for genuine human experience? Who, needed whom?

I think my favorite part had to be the legal terms and conditions negotiations between the ecumenical liberation army and the network attorneys over the Mao Tse Tung Hour.

I am amazed at the extent to which the makers of this film demonstrated lucid self awareness with vivid and meaningful representations of the competing ideologies at work. I wonder to what extent the hippy celebrations for the dawning of the age of aquarious mantras had something to do with this film's themes, given its timing and central arguments against the hypocrisy inherent in the new order of things. Many have wondered if the hippy generations really added anything to the American Experience. Perhaps this film could be argued in favor of the cause to expand American awareness through creative license.

I think my review is only about 32 years overdue, however, I just discovered this film a couple of months ago, and to be honest, I was very young when it came out, more captivated by Sesame Street at that point in time.

Altogether a fascinating and intriguing story with brillint dialog, direction, performances and an outstanding story in general. I wonder how the people of Fox News would comment on this film given their current criticims.

Intense viewing experience. This movie certainly is not for everyone. If you are looking for a very intelligent and rewarding viewing experience, this is a movie for you. With a warning - it is a slow moving vehicle, with some fantastic scenes no doubt, but not the kind of action people are used to these days.

This film takes a little (or a lot depending the person) patience as a viewer. Beyond the pacing, I couldn't believe how on-point this movie was. Not simply about television and media, but about life. Wow, what a message this movie delivers to those who are listening. And this was 1976 to boot!

There are a few monologues from Howard that are fabulous and packed with emotion and words that may shake you, if only slightly. There Is a particular scene, when Howard is in the office talking to Max and Max tells him they are taking him off the air. Listen carefully to Howard's monologue about energy and purpose and oneness of life. Wow.

Peter Finch is fantastic, but all main players do excellent. He won the Oscar for best actor and it was certainly deserved. This move is worth seeing for his performance alone.

This movie should definitely find an audience in today's new age spiritual movement and those questioning the veils of society. It gets five stars from me. Highly recommended for the patient viewer.

This movie totally rocks, I suggest it to any movie lover. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it!!!!

Back in 1976, the notion of "Sybil the Soothsayer" was an absurdity happily confined to the movies. These days, there's a guy named John Edward whose 15 minutes of fame seems to be on an endless loop: he appears on daytime gabfests, TV shopping networks, & with the "serious" interviewer Larry King. (How a career gossipmonger like Larry King became a serious TV journalist couldn't be imagined by "Network": there, serious journalist became gossipmonger. Larry King presents the inexplicable case of life ridiculing art.)

"Network" was a gag gift for the Bicentennial: a newsman's emotional decline becomes ratings fodder, until that decline horns in on the network's behind-the-anchor-desk dealings. These days, the airwaves are so cluttered with madmen that emotional decline is only cited as such after a dozen lie dead in a mall or school. Apparently, this is sponsors' way of distinguishing betw. newsmakers & newsreaders, a difference that disappears anyway @awards time.

In 1978, humorist Mort Sahl said on his D.C. radio show that Chayevsky told him that the Beale character was in part based on Sahl, who had by then become an object of peer ridicule for reading text from the Warren Commission Report on stage. (You remember the Warren Commission: an investigative body appointed by President Johnson, one member of which [Allen Dulles] was compelled to step down as CIA dir. by the same President whose assassination was being investigated. No, they can't make this stuff up, but they can always pretend someone did.) Howard Beale alienated his bosses, so they arranged for apparent audience members to waste him.

What strikes the conscientious viewer of "Network" is the literate script & the intensity of the characters: it's a sad comment on mature entertainment today that the breakup scene between Wm. Holden & Beatrice Straight is far more romantic, sincere, & even erotic than any current under-the-covers tete-te-tete. Today, there remains only stereotype, so our crop of right wing, pseudo-patriotic zealots must be comforted by the fact that the primary by-product of secular humanism is the endless self-congratulatory orgy of history repeated as farce.

Finch won a well deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Howard Beall, a highly disturbed news anchorman, whom the network uses to increase its ratings.Holden, his supposed best friend, has too many problems of his own to urge Finch to receive the psychiatric help he needs. Chief among Holden's problems is Dunaway, a power hungry runaway train who's been directly responsible for his firing. Nevertheless, Holden has an affair going with her, a relationship that has no rational sense. Then, we have Duvall in his prime, convincingly portraying a man who's just staged a coup d'etat. All goes reasonably well until Beall's ratings begin to drop. Enter corporate chair Arthur Jensen, giving Beall one of Hollywood's great all time lambastings. When ratings continue to drop, it's Dunaway who indirectly delivers the bad news. This movie will always stand up because its main themes of money, power, and sex are timeless. It's about time you saw it.

This is definitely a movie you can enjoy as a couple, great story not only for baseball fans but also for the love story fans. I love this movie!

Ever since the first time I watched this movie, I have always enjoyed the story line.

This is one of my favorite sports movies. It is about life and dreams and how one does not have to stop the other at any age.
I am glad I bought it.
Just a side note, I am always amazed at how many movies Robert Duvall has been in. I forgot his role in this one.

Some movies are better left untinkered with. The original film version of "The Natural" is a beloved sports masterpiece, no matter how muddled the opening scenes may appear. For some reason, Director Barry Levinson re-worked the entire opening sequence and created a completely different feel for the movie closer to his "original vision". For those who have never seen the original version, this version might be adequate. But being familiar with the original, this version comes across to me as a lame attempt to cash in on a 25th Anniversary Edition. Several classic, important shots and lines are scrubbed from the original and replaced with new footage, giving the movie a chopped-up feeling that never goes away. And the opening sequence is still not easy to follow.
I would have been OK with this new version if it included the original as well, but instead you're forced to hang onto both versions for the time being. Watch them both and compare, but in the end you'll reach for the original version every time you're in the mood to watch this great baseball film about life's redemptions.
One positive, the bonus disc provides excellent insight and footage into the making of this film, and is worth the price alone.

When I was first made aware of this new "Director's Cut" of The Natural, I wanted to rent it before deciding whether to buy it or not. Unable to find it for rent, I bought it. Having watched it twice (alternately with the original theatrical version DVD), I will probably toss it.

Director's Cut? Even the director, Barry Levinson, concedes in the introduction to this new version that it is not meant to replace or be better than the original theatrical version. It's merely an intriguing chance to see the movie edited to match his original vision more closely (made impossible in 1984 by post production time constraints). He makes no judgment that his original vision was better. For me, this cut is quite inferior.

Not only were 15 minutes of footage added, but 9 minutes were deleted. In the original version, the opening act (before Roy returns to the game after 16 years) ran 20 minutes. In the new version, despite a lot of added material, it runs 17 minutes. The relaxed, natural pace of the original sequence is now full of somewhat abrupt, quick edits. Gone also are some beautiful shots, such as the young Roy and Iris running towards each other at night across the horizon of a field. Gone are moments of character development, such as The Whammer's wisecrack on the train, "Oh, first Pete and now Repeat?"

And much later in the film, one added scene derails a major theme. Iris is a positive influence, and Roy excels in the game under that influence. Memo is a negative influence, and under her spell Roy fails. Yet in this new verson of the film, Roy returns to New York after several highly successful games (under Iris' influence) on the road, and then a scene has been added where Memo welcomes him home in a hotel lobby and gets cozy with him in a phone booth. In the following scenes, Roy continues his successful run! It makes no sense. In the original version, his success ended as soon as he reunited with Memo at the welcome home party. In fact, the addition of the phone booth scene results in her welcoming him home twice, which is somewhat odd.

On the positive side, the new 5.1 sound is very nice most of the time, but sound effects that were subtle in the original film have been amped up at times to the point of being distracting. Originally, the two gunshots sounded appropriate to the rooms in which they happened. They now sound like recordings of shots in an echo chamber, edited into the film. Still, I have to say I loved the enhanced sounds of thunder throughout the movie.

The second disc of Special Features has some interesting stuff on it. So I'll keep the Special Features disc, put it with my DVD of the original theatrical version, and toss the so-called Director's Cut disc. But I will miss those great thunder sounds.

This is a great movie. Like the Bible, it deals with humanity as it is, not as it is supposed to be. Christ is perfect. We Christians are not perfect...at least not yet. :-)

Contrary to what some have said, this movie is a movie that Christians should see. It portrays the faith in very positive terms. Not as the hypocritical, legalistic and club-like modern (organized) churches, but as the passionate faith that drives us to struggle against the our own nature as we seek a relationship with our Creator. (Important side note, while Christianity is about individual faith, it will always draw us away from ourselves and into Communion with God and other Christians, and even to our enemies beyond the Church.)

There are several scenes that stand out in this movie. For example, the scene where Sonny praises a clergyman from another faith tradition as having different ways of doing the same job...sharing the good news that Jesus Christ has saved us from ourselves.

My favorite scene is the very last one in the movie. To comment further would give it away. I just hope that you will watch the movie to see it. :-)

The Christian Faith is passion for the one-and-only God who is our Creator, Savior, and Spiritual Guide. The Apostle shows this passion.

This movie impresses me in that it shows the title character as a man, blemishes and all. The fact that he is a man of the cloth does not preclude the idea of him being flawed and capable of bad things, while also being capable of grace and unflinching faith.Duvall is an American treasure.

Wow! You never want to think that someone would react the way Apostle did when in the same situation, but you hear about it all the time on the evening news. What incredible story-telling! Robert was just fantastic as the Bible-thumping, pew-jumping preacher! What a story of redemption!

First of all i am a (pentacostal)Christian, and i have never heard about this movie. And i have to say now after watching this movie to my regret.

I bought this movie NEW in a store for about 1 dollar. Yes 1$. There was someone over there in the store wich told me it's a great movie. Sure i thought well see.

Well after me and my family and some of our friends saw this movie we all
had the same conclusion. THIS MOVIE IS AWESOME GREAT TERIFFIC.

Especially Christians should see this movie. I don't know how non believers will react to this movie.

I want so say a brief thing about the livestyle of this preacher, there
are parts of it wich are really bad. But you have to look at a person like
God does. Only Jesus is perfect and every Christian has his flaws. If a mature Christian looks at this movie and knows his bible. I think he will
like this movie. Remember lukewarmness is also a sin.

...and I say that as a Buddhist.

I both live and work in Hollywood, and this must have been a very tough picture for Robert Duvall to get made. "The Industry" tends to treat religious faith with contempt and ridicule -- Hollywood can't believe there are people who actually place their faith in anything besides fame and money. Religious people end up being treated in film as either comically delusional or slick confidence artists. Hollywood lives in a cultural bubble of its own making and just can't understand any other set of values.

In contrast, this film really reflects the Pentacostal communities of Texas and Louisiana, and does so without looking down at the people who live there. How refreshing. I'd be very curious to know how this movie works for people in the UK or other countries.

This is one of my favorite movies - I have seen it several times.
I really admire Robert Duvall for working to make this picture a reality. The character he plays is a three-dimensional, flawed human being who is "on fire for the Lord". He'll minister to anybody, anywhere. And he's most at home with a shoutin' congregation in a shoutin' church.

Jack Nicholson won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1997 ("As Good as it Gets"), and I think Duvall got robbed. R-O-B-B-E-D. Robbed.

Somebody say "Amen".

I just caught this on TCM. I had planned to watch for just a few minutes but I was hooked by the photography, the characters and the story. I am immediately adding this to my collection. Back in 1970, when John Wayne got the Academy Award over Dustin Hoffman, I thought an injustice had been done. I was wrong. The Oscar is awarded for accomplishment. Sometimes it's purely for acting but sometimes other elements are taken into consideration. The Academy made the right call. The history of American film would be different story if it weren't for John Wayne. You only have to watch this film to see why he is one of the greatest screen stars of all time. John Wayne is a genre all by himself.

This was one of John Wayne's best films, certainly the best of his later works. I've made people angry in the past by stating that the late Mr. Wayne was playing roles that were WAY TOO YOUNG for him and that I didn't care for them. That's not the case with this work, my only real criticism is that the movie feels abbreviated.

i have a theory or a belief or whatever.... that people i.e. actors, directors, writers, and producers in the movie business aren't as talented or as deep thinking or as visionary as they once were in this country?...for the most part people don't read and dream and express themselves and their ideas like they use to...whether it's because we are in this me/now MTV/real world/computer/ instant gratification age or whatever?...which brings me to true grit. [ kind of a weird segway uh?] what i guess I'm getting at is we just don't turn out great movies here anymore for a whole host of reasons!... i think I've said before in my prior reviews that I'm a child of the 60's and the 70's and one of the iconic figures of that time was john Wayne...the western was still a fixture at the local theater and the movies and it's stars were still for the most part bigger than life....I've seen this 1969 film maybe 20 times thru the years but never like this,...the clarity and the color and the sound are just great!...they spent a few bucks [remastering] and they did this film justice and good for them!...the way language is used and the performance of Wayne and most of the supporting cast is a real treat, and the cinematography and the whole production is first rate...as i watched this film for perhaps the 21st time i was almost like a 11 year old kid again... it's just a shame they can't write like this and have have a little artistic vision and that we don't have stars like john Wayne anymore?....I've seen glen Campbell in interviews a few times state that his acting was so bad...he made john Wayne look so good that Wayne won the Oscar in 1970 for this film!.....i think he was about half right.

I hadn't seen this movie in a number of years, but I'm happily surprised that the film doesn't come across as dated or formulaic at all. A solid Western and a classic within the genre.

True Grit is probably John Wayne's best performance, although it wouldn't be his last, even though he did win an Oscar for it. He also felt the story strong enough to entertain the idea of doing a sequel of the character, Marshall Rooster Cogburn, which is now elementary. Listening to the commentary though, it was stated that a third film was in the works and both Wayne and Hepburn were both happy to reprise their roles whenever filming began, Rooster Cogburn (...and the Lady) being the second and final.

Kim Darby as 'Baby Sister' was also very memorable. When I saw her later in Better Off Dead years later, I not only didn't recognize her, but I was convinced that I recognized her voice from somewhere, which is probably one of those truly signature film voices of all time. It's just a shame she wasn't tapped for better roles through the years to show it off.

True Grit is a incredibly well-written story, nice cinematography and hardy villains (Bruce Dern & Dennis Hopper) which makes for a well-spent two hours and eight minutes. And if you listen to the Director's Commentary towards the end of the film, despite Gary Will's biography, which is incorrect, John Wayne DOES jump over the fence.

For the record, even though he won an Oscar for this, it always seems that The Cowboys seem to be the fan favorite.

True Grit DVD

True Grit is probably my favorite John Wayne western, maybe The Shootist is a close second. It stars John Wayne as an old, rough and coarse U. S. Marshall who reluctantly helps a teenager (Kim Darby) who both won academy Awards for their roles in the movie. The Marshall helps track down the killer of Darcy's Father into Indian Territory (modern day Oklahoma). The movie is based on the novel True Grit.

Glen Campbell sings and plays a Texas Ranger who tags along.

Highly recommended for fans of John Wayne, Classic Western movies, and Cowboy movies the way they used to be made.

Gunner April, 2008

I just caught this on TCM. I had planned to watch for just a few minutes but I was hooked by the photography, the characters and the story. I am immediately adding this to my collection. Back in 1970, when John Wayne got the Academy Award over Dustin Hoffman, I thought an injustice had been done. I was wrong. The Oscar is awarded for accomplishment. Sometimes it's purely for acting but sometimes other elements are taken into consideration. The Academy made the right call. The history of American film would be different story if it weren't for John Wayne. You only have to watch this film to see why he is one of the greatest screen stars of all time. John Wayne is a genre all by himself.

This was one of John Wayne's best films, certainly the best of his later works. I've made people angry in the past by stating that the late Mr. Wayne was playing roles that were WAY TOO YOUNG for him and that I didn't care for them. That's not the case with this work, my only real criticism is that the movie feels abbreviated.

i have a theory or a belief or whatever.... that people i.e. actors, directors, writers, and producers in the movie business aren't as talented or as deep thinking or as visionary as they once were in this country?...for the most part people don't read and dream and express themselves and their ideas like they use to...whether it's because we are in this me/now MTV/real world/computer/ instant gratification age or whatever?...which brings me to true grit. [ kind of a weird segway uh?] what i guess I'm getting at is we just don't turn out great movies here anymore for a whole host of reasons!... i think I've said before in my prior reviews that I'm a child of the 60's and the 70's and one of the iconic figures of that time was john Wayne...the western was still a fixture at the local theater and the movies and it's stars were still for the most part bigger than life....I've seen this 1969 film maybe 20 times thru the years but never like this,...the clarity and the color and the sound are just great!...they spent a few bucks [remastering] and they did this film justice and good for them!...the way language is used and the performance of Wayne and most of the supporting cast is a real treat, and the cinematography and the whole production is first rate...as i watched this film for perhaps the 21st time i was almost like a 11 year old kid again... it's just a shame they can't write like this and have have a little artistic vision and that we don't have stars like john Wayne anymore?....I've seen glen Campbell in interviews a few times state that his acting was so bad...he made john Wayne look so good that Wayne won the Oscar in 1970 for this film!.....i think he was about half right.

I hadn't seen this movie in a number of years, but I'm happily surprised that the film doesn't come across as dated or formulaic at all. A solid Western and a classic within the genre.

True Grit is probably John Wayne's best performance, although it wouldn't be his last, even though he did win an Oscar for it. He also felt the story strong enough to entertain the idea of doing a sequel of the character, Marshall Rooster Cogburn, which is now elementary. Listening to the commentary though, it was stated that a third film was in the works and both Wayne and Hepburn were both happy to reprise their roles whenever filming began, Rooster Cogburn (...and the Lady) being the second and final.

Kim Darby as 'Baby Sister' was also very memorable. When I saw her later in Better Off Dead years later, I not only didn't recognize her, but I was convinced that I recognized her voice from somewhere, which is probably one of those truly signature film voices of all time. It's just a shame she wasn't tapped for better roles through the years to show it off.

True Grit is a incredibly well-written story, nice cinematography and hardy villains (Bruce Dern & Dennis Hopper) which makes for a well-spent two hours and eight minutes. And if you listen to the Director's Commentary towards the end of the film, despite Gary Will's biography, which is incorrect, John Wayne DOES jump over the fence.

For the record, even though he won an Oscar for this, it always seems that The Cowboys seem to be the fan favorite.

True Grit DVD

True Grit is probably my favorite John Wayne western, maybe The Shootist is a close second. It stars John Wayne as an old, rough and coarse U. S. Marshall who reluctantly helps a teenager (Kim Darby) who both won academy Awards for their roles in the movie. The Marshall helps track down the killer of Darcy's Father into Indian Territory (modern day Oklahoma). The movie is based on the novel True Grit.

Glen Campbell sings and plays a Texas Ranger who tags along.

Highly recommended for fans of John Wayne, Classic Western movies, and Cowboy movies the way they used to be made.

Gunner April, 2008

This article consists of three letters to the editor of "First Things" about Gary Anderson's article "How to Think About Zionism," and a response from Anderson.

Robert Barnett asks what right a European colonial power and international organizations had to assign an Arab territory to the control of European Jews! That's hilarious. European and non-European Jews were trying for many centuries to move to what is now Israel and buy land there. Finally, some folks decided they would not stop them, and Barnett interprets this as a crime on the part of those who didn't stop them! But the crime actually was on the part of Arabs who insisted on depriving Jews of human rights, and who insisted on killing, robbing, and slandering these Jews. Anderson does manage to reply that Israel's neighbors were indeed guilty of far worse than anything Israel did.

Charles Duvall also sides with Arab aggression over Jewish rights. He boasts that when Jews were finally allowed to move to the Levant in significant numbers, they were only a small part of the population there. No kidding. I think we can all guess why. And he boasts that the partition plan gave 54% of the land to the Jews, even though the Jews only owned 6% of the land. But this is a famous anti-Zionist lie, given that it implies that the Arabs owned the other 94%. Jews did only own about 6% of the land as private property, but most of the land was state land. Arabs owned a roughly similar amount. And even had the Arabs owned 100% of the land and Jews 0%, it would not have been wrong to let Jews buy land and live on it. Israel is land-poor. If everyone were as greedy for land as the Israelis, there would be no conflicts over land, that is for sure. Anderson quite properly mentions that the Levant was not highly populated when the Jews began to return and to improve the land, which is a good point.

Richard Rowling makes a religious point, roughly that Jews have no right to their land. Um, is he kidding? Why does he feel that Jews are special, and must be mistreated? If people in general are to have rights of life, liberty, and property, Jews need these rights as well, because Jews are people too.

Look folks, if you want something, and if it is for sale, and if you have the money to buy it, and if you outbid all others for it, you deserve to get it. Rowling is out of line to suggest that all this is invalid if you are Jewish and want to buy land in your homeland. And Anderson also realizes that it is significant that many Jews persist in wanting to live in their homeland.

This review deals with the picture and sound quality only. Read other reviews for the plot, acting, etc. "The Sixth Day" picture and sound quality are perfect. With an anamorphic widescreen format, the image is nearly high definition quality. The sound is quite good also because it was remastered. Viewed on a 46-inch Samsung high defintion LCD TV (and played on a Toshiba 1080p HD DVD player), the picture and sound are simply stunning!

Adam Gibson is an average guy living in the near-future (2015 according to Schwarzenegger). It's a nice place to live in. Cars can drive themselves, holograms are commonplace, helicopters can turn into jets and pistols fire lasers. But the most important difference is the widespread use of cloning technology. If your pet dies why not get it cloned? It's mind can be uploaded into a computer chip as long as it's still fresh and then downloaded into the cloned body through the eyes. The pet's back, good as new, and nobody could tell the difference. Of course a human mind is supposedly too complex for this procedure and human cloning is illegal anyway. However a corporation is secretly cloning humans as a way to achieve immortality, with the best intentions of course. No one wants to die and a clone is essentially the same person as the original.

This time they've made a bit of a booboo and they've cloned poor Adam Gibson while he's still alive. The poor guy comes home after a long day's work to find that he's already there. And to top it off people are trying to kill him and no matter how many times he kills the assassins they keep coming back. It's up to Adam to get his life back, defeat the bad guys and think of some witty one-liners to say while doing it.

The 6th Day raises some interesting metaphysical questions. If a person's mind can be stored in a computer chip and copied endlessly, is there really such a thing as a soul? Is a clone the same person as the original, considering they have exactly the same personality and memories? Is this really a triumph over death or just a delusion based on downloaded memories?

Some people have complained that this movie shows a very unrealistic portrayal of cloning. It involves an adult-sized fetus which is injected with the DNA of the person being cloned and then left to develop into that person before having the person's mind downloaded into its brain. The scriptwriters seemed to think this wasn't much different from today's cloning which kinda ruins the movie's message a bit but it doesn't really matter. The 6th Day is a great action-packed thriller for lovers of sci-fi and Schwarzenegger.

NOW I COULD EASYLY SAY THIS WILL GO DOWN AS ONE OF THE GRATEST MOVE EVER MADE IN THE WORLD THAT IS SO FOR SHORE & THAT IS PUTTING IT LIGHTLY

Really decent effort from the king of the action movie ! Really involved story line...something one might not expect from this genere. I was pleasently surprised by this movie. Definetely one of Arnold's better opus's. It's not as good as End Of Days (Arnold's best in my opinion), but it is at least as good as the Termenator series. Give it a try...You won't be sorry. 4 Stars.

The Sixth Day DVD


The Sixth Day is A Science Fiction movie about a man who is unknowingly cloned. Arnold Swarzenner is the protagonist, he must prove that he's the real one while, at the same time, battling against the organization that cloned him, they are out to shut him up. Plenty of action and thrills.

Recommended for both the Science Fiction fan and the Arnold Swarzennegger fan.

Gunner December, 2007