GO!

The very first movie that I ever remember seeing with my parents was “No Time for Sergeants” with Andy Griffith.  The year was 1958, I was seven and I saw it in their car at a drive in movie.

I remember the car.  It was a baby blue Chevy Impala convertible.

(My brother Kenny, Caesar, our Standard Poodle, and me- skinny bookworm. Still am.)

I certainly remember the movie.  I fell in love with Andy Griffith- and this scene put me away for LIFE.

“No Time For Sergeants” and “Lady and The Tramp” made me a movie liker.

My father, Ben Roffe, made me a movie LOVER.

I admired and emulated EVERYTHING about him.  And as it turned out, I had a fabulous and well-informed mentor with impeccable taste in everything about movies, music, dance, theater and baseball.

He taught me to love things greater than ourselves.   He taught me to worship the writers, the screenwriters, the actors and actresses, the playwrights, the directors, the comics, the comedians, the composers, the cinematographers, the costume designers, the choreographers, the chorus, the gypsies…

In other words-

SHOW BUSINESS.

It was ingrained somehow in his DNA. (Btw, he took my mother- who couldn’t have cared less about anything musical- to see the great Ethel Merman in “Annie Get Your Gun” on their honeymoon in 1947. I was born two years later- undoubtedly singing this as I proudly strutted out onto the Stage of Life.)

And my father was the one who turned me on to “Casablanca.”

Now let’s watch Rick and Ilsa remember Paris. (My dad somehow knew the guy who played the doorman at Rick’s Café Americain!)

He also loved “The Maltese Falcon,” “Laura,” “The Thirty Nine Steps,” Robert Donat, “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” Claude Rains, Madeleine Carroll, Terry-Thomas, Bette Davis- his FAVORITE actress,  Peter Sellers, Rex Harrison, Sid Caesar in anything– but especially his tour de force turn in “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad etc.World,” “Citizen Kane,” the entire cannon of Billy Wilder and….

Preston Sturges.  Dad loved- and laughed- at every movie this genius ever made.

And then there was the G.O.A.T.

The immortal Ernst Lubitsch.  Just watch “Ninotchka” or “The Shop Around The Corner” or the GREAT “To Be or Not To Be.”

Fred Astaire and Cary Grant towered above of his movie idols.  He learned how to be dress by watching all their movies. They taught him how to look like a gent. (Nobody ever had to teach him how to act like one.  He was born one.)

Ben Roffe gave me a great gift all those years ago when his eyes would light up as he talked about his favorite movies.

Now, Dear Readers, here is my holiday gift to you.

Run- do not walk to see Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.”  Co-written by another genius, Tony Kushner (think “Angels in America”) it is the story of how a scaredy-cat little boy grows up in a hostile and incomprehensible environment- both at home and in the world at large.

NO SPOILER ALERT This young boy grows up to be STEVEN SPIELBERG.  You know- the guy who brought you this.

And this.

And “Jurassic Park,” “E.T.,” “Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “The Post,” “Lincoln”…

Uh, you know who he is.

Or do you?

“The Fabelmans” is not about a boy who grows up to make movies.  It’s a story about a loving and supportive family who- no matter what they have to face- pull together and save each other.

It’s about anybody who has ever had a mother, a father, a mean aunt, a grandma, siblings – you know- ALL of us.

(Michelle Williams WILL win Best Actress at the Oscars, btw.  And Austin Butler will get it for Best Actor for “Elvis.”  So so movie with bad Tom Hanks stunt casting, but Butler KILLS it.)

I don’t want to waste more of your time.

As Ben Roffe would say,”Ellen, take yes for an answer!”

GO.  Bring Kleenex.

Say hi to my/your dad.

See you at the movies.

Happy holidays to all

God Bless Us Everyone.

ATTENTION: The place is for the comments is temporarily on the blink.   You can post a comment by hitting “Comments” link below.  Hopefully, all my tech support will restore this box to its rightful place soon. Would love to hear what you think/thought of the movie.  Or anything else. Thanks.