Book Recommendations

[Robert]

Was that a sick joke, Dougie?

[dougie]

Just finished reading the diaries of virginia woolf (the shorter version),only 504 pages unfortunately, but an intriguing insight into the "bloomsbury set" and their characters....marvelous writing...a book to sink yourself into.
regards

[dougie]

Plang,
your remarks were uncalled for, but ill do my best to be polite to you....I have seen the film ,many years ago, googling doesnt come into it..even if its spelt correctly
"Is it wrong for you to be young after all youve been through?" you ask...well I dunno, maybe if you relate what you have "been through" it might be easier to answer that question......... I presume the tequila is beginning to take effect,so ill leave you to sober up.
regards

[plang]

Respect your opinion Robert.
On the other hand, seems you have no idea really.
dougie, Henry Fonda has nothing to do with it other than he played the part of one of the jurors.
Can you look past who played the part and take it for what is is?
Probably not, because you have not bothered.
Maybe you should actually see the film before you offer an opinion instead of just googleing your 'knowledge' all the time.
And there is no 'young' in the title.
But is it wrong to be young at heart after all we have been through?
Or have you led a protected life? Don't know any better?
That is the UK's biggest challenge. How to adjust.
Why do you Brits not recycle. You have turned my country into a dump.
Ever heard of paying a deposit on beer cans/bottles ,juice/beverage bottles?
Oh no! Pay a few pennies on top of what you purchase. The horror!
But you see, if you can't be bothered to return them, at least some poor old sods will return them.
Clean up your act and stop trashing the place .

Did I just go off on a rant? (who cares)

[Robert]

I found "Twelve Angry Men" - though brilliantly written - just a tad too preachy. What saved the film was the character of the city engineer, who maintained the defendant's guilt (till quite near the end) for rational reasons.

Note the reassuring scene at the end of the film on the court house steps, where Henry Fonda and the old man exchange pleasantries and say goodbye, i.e. "these men had never met before and are not part of a Communist conspiracy."

I also liked Tony Hancock's version : "What about Magna Carta? Did she die in vain?"

[dougie]

Good luck finding the original 1957 film.
You will need to go to a specialty store maybe.
Dougie, did not know Henry Fonda was one of the jurors. It does not matter who the Star names are.
It is better to just absorb the dialogue and never mind who the actor is.
Unlike the remake, where big name actors overact their parts and over dramatize everything, that just ruins it.
Regards,
plang

Point taken Plang, and I agree,but Henry fonda (in my opinion) was a great actor, and maybe a story like "12 angry young men" needed an actor like that to get the message across......imagine a ham actor like sylvester stallone playing the part ..it would have killed the film stone dead.
On a different note ,Ive just found out there was a sequel to "road to nab end",been out a few years ,but I guess ill be buying that too now...I been spending a few bob on books recently ,partly due to some excellent reccomendations from members here....still id rather spend a few evenings with my nose in a book than watching tv.
regards

[plang]

Good luck finding the original 1957 film.
You will need to go to a specialty store maybe.
Dougie, did not know Henry Fonda was one of the jurors. It does not matter who the Star names are.
It is better to just absorb the dialogue and never mind who the actor is.
Unlike the remake, where big name actors overact their parts and over dramatize everything, that just ruins it.
Regards,
plang

[c.d.]

Indeed, Dougie. And I agree - it's a marvellous film.

I agree. I also think it should be a lesson that "evidence" needs to be questioned rather than blindly accepted at face value and that common sense and reasonable assumptions are valid tools as well.

c.d.

[Sam Flynn]

Was that [the original "Twelve Angry Men"] the film starring henry fonda?

Indeed, Dougie. And I agree - it's a marvellous film.

[dougie]

Celesta, I found it trite in that the same concept is repeated over and over again.
We all know the story of the poor African American.
Did you ever see the film 'Twelve Angry Men'? The original one I mean.
Now that is what should be mandatory viewing in college.

Was that the film starring henry fonda? If it was It was terriffic ..if it wasnt then its irrrelevant i guess
regards

[Celesta]

Celesta, I found it trite in that the same concept is repeated over and over again.
We all know the story of the poor African American.
Did you ever see the film 'Twelve Angry Men'? The original one I mean.
Now that is what should be mandatory viewing in college.

I understand what you are saying. Thanks for filling in that gap. I think the book is more complicated than that though, in that it is about other things as well. It's about poor people in general, I think, and about growing up in the depression, but it's been a while since I read so I'm not going to add to this.

[plang]

Celesta, I found it trite in that the same concept is repeated over and over again.
We all know the story of the poor African American.
Did you ever see the film 'Twelve Angry Men'? The original one I mean.
Now that is what should be mandatory viewing in college.

[Celesta]

Now, now, celesta, the civil war thing was a footnote to jbarntt.
And 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' to me was trite!!!
Can you say 'overrated'?
Just an opinion, I could be wrong.

I just wondered what you thought was trite about it. I read it when I was a young teen, and I had never read anything like it, and that opinion hasn't changed. There was nothing trite about it to me. Boo Radley was one of a kind. Atticus was certainly an extraordinary man. I understand that it might not appeal to everyone, due to personal taste, but what was trite?

[plang]

Now, now, celesta, the civil war thing was a footnote to jbarntt.
And 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' to me was trite!!!
Can you say 'overrated'?
Just an opinion, I could be wrong.

[c.d.]

Hey everybody, try your hand on the bad Heminway thread. Let's see if all this reading has paid off.

c.d.