Father’s Day Reading and Viewing Pleasure

by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Happy Father’s Day. Allow me  to recommend some of my favorite books and movies about dear old Dad.

At the top of the list, of course, is To Kill A Mockingbird. Little needs to be said here. Both book and movie are timeless classics. If ever there was a role that was meant for a specific actor, it was Atticus Finch for Gregory Peck. The movie score by Elmer Bernstein is also perfection. I’ll admit it, as soon as that score begins in the opening credits, I’m already reaching for a Kleenex.

Speaking of which, I remember reading Avery Corman’s novel Kramer vs. Kramer when it came out in the late 70s. I was a few years away from marriage and fatherhood, but I was still blubbering at the end (please keep this to yourselves). The 1979 movie, starring Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and cute kid Justin Henry, is every bit as effective.

My favorite comedy on the subject is Father of the Bride (1950). Spencer Tracy plays the father of Elizabeth Taylor, who has become engaged. What follows are the stages of a bride’s father that seem as inevitable as the stages of grief: testing the young man about his financial future; meeting the in-laws; trying to keep down wedding expenses; surviving the emotional shakeups. It’s amazing that this comedy is as fresh today as it was back then. And yes, the ending has me at the Kleenex box again. (What is this going to do my rep as a thriller writer?)

Laurence Fishburne in Boyz n the Hood (1991)

On the other side of the spectrum is John Singleton’s 1991 urban drama Boyz n the Hood (very strong language, so be advised). Ten-year-old Trey is getting in trouble at school, so his mother Reva (Angela Bassett) decides he needs to go live with his father, Jason “Furious” Styles (Laurence Fishburne). When she drops Trey off, she says to Furious: “I can’t teach him how to be a man. That’s your job.” Furious becomes the solid rock in Trey’s life—teaching, admonishing, correcting. When he asks his boy what he knows about sex, Trey gives a boy answer. Furious replies, “Any fool … can make a baby, but only a man can raise his children.” The film cuts to seven years later and follows Trey and his friends through a series of encounters until the final, crushing climax. Trey almost makes a life-altering, criminal mistake, but once again his father is there when he needs him most. Outstanding performances by all, especially Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ice Cube.

Speaking of solid-oak fathers, in the late 30s and into the 40s the quintessential dad was Judge James Hardy, played by Lewis Stone. He was the father of the irrepressible Andy (Mickey Rooney) who was in constant need of correction and advice. This series was wildly popular, sixteen in all, with Stone in fourteen of them. If I had to pick one to start with, it would be Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), as it is the film that adds Judy Garland to the series (not to mention a young Lana Turner!)

And then there are father-son reconciliation films. These are the flip side of mother-love-and-sacrifice movies (e.g., 1937’s Stella Dallas.) The two that get me every time are October Sky (1999) and Field of Dreams (1989).

The Crowd (1928)

I want to mention one more movie that most people, sadly, are unfamiliar with. That’s because it comes from the rich history of silent films. King Vidor’s The Crowd (1928) is an unflinching look at the pre-Depression working stiff and what happens when optimistic ambition runs up against cold, hard reality. The climax is unforgettable, only this time it’s the young son who saves the father from destruction: “I believe in you, Pop!”

Honorable Mentions:

Tarzan Finds a Son (1939)
Life With Father (1947)
The Godfather (1972)
Parenthood (1989)
Finding Nemo (2003)

Any movies or books about fathers you’d like to add? And please feel free to share any memories of your own father if you are so moved.

As a special treat, here is a priceless moment from the old Dick Cavett show, where Groucho Marx sings the Harry Ruby song “Father’s Day.”

Of Fathers and Dragons

by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

Only twice in my life did I see my dad cry.

The first time was fifty years ago as we watched the funeral train of Robert Kennedy on TV. I was just becoming politically aware then, and Bobby Kennedy was the first politician I ever responded to. I was too young to vote, but was caught up in the aura and optimism of this man running for president.

When he was cut down at the Ambassador Hotel it was such a seismic shock, especially in view of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s assassination just weeks before.

My dad, who grew up in the Depression and fought in WWII, was a Roosevelt Democrat. We were thus a Kennedy family when JFK was elected. I was just a kid, but (like most people alive then) I remember where I was when I heard that JFK had been shot. I was on the playground at Serrania Avenue Elementary school, sitting on bench awaiting my turn at kickball,. A boy ran up and started spouting the news. I didn’t believe him.

So I ran back to our classroom and looked in the window and saw my teacher, Mrs. Raymond, at her desk, her head in her hands, shoulders shaking. And I thought, “Wow. It’s true.”

Cut to June, 1968. I was sitting on the floor in our living room, my dad was in his favorite chair, and Bobby Kennedy’s funeral train was on TV. All of a sudden Dad burst into tears. Not little ones. Heaving sobs. My mom heard him from the kitchen and ran in and threw her arms around him and held him. I sat there in stunned silence, looking at my big, strong rock of a father as I’d never seen him before.

Life started to get a little more complex for me then. And life, as we all know, does not let up. The next year, 1969, was the year of the Manson murders. The evil of that was hard to comprehend, especially living in L.A. where it all went down. Manson and his “family” holed up in a canyon just ten miles from where I lived and where I rode my bike and stayed outside all day during the summers.

Now Manson’s face was in the papers and on the local news. This crazy-eyed monster had manipulated several people into committing such heinous acts. When the trial began we saw the defendants, stuporous and smiling about the whole thing. Female “family members” who kept vigil outside the courtroom carved Xs into their foreheads and warned whoever walked by, “You better watch your children because Judgment Day is coming.”

How the hell (literally) could this happen? If you want to know, read Helter Skelter, Vince Bugliosi’s riveting account of the Manson murders and trial (Bugliosi was the prosecutor). But beware—you may have a nightmare or two, as I did.

The second time I saw my dad with a tear in his eye was when he was giving a speech to a ballroom full of criminal lawyers. Dad was by this time the leading expert on California search and seizure law, and he was describing an infamous event where the LAPD used a battering ram to crush a house in a black neighborhood. He saw the pictures, which included a scared little boy on the street watching all this as he held his ice cream cone. The words caught in Dad’s throat. He was silent for a moment, took a breath, and moved on.

I was a law student at the time and had inherited my dad’s view of the majesty of the law. But that moment, short as it was, showed me how deeply he felt about his calling.

And about the incalculable value he placed on our 4th Amendment. I can still hear Dad’s voice when someone would question him about this basic right. Dad would go into oratorical mode and recite, word for word, William Pitt’s famous utterance to the House of Commons in 1763: “The poorest man may, in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown! It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter. But the King of England cannot enter. All his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!”

Dad also helped set up a federal indigent defense panel in Los Angeles, giving the poor legal representation before Gideon v. Wainwright made it mandatory. I was proud to be his son. Still am.

That’s why justice is the theme I’m always writing about, consciously or not. Because in our books we have the chance to bring about what is often absent in “real life.” That’s one reason people read thrillers, isn’t it? We long for justice, hope for it, and within the pages of a good book we can find it.

I’m not into nihilism. I’m not into the ending of Chinatown. I’m into good prevailing over evil. I’m into fighting the good fight even—no, especially—in a world that can produce a Manson and assassins of good people.

The other day my son told me the story most requested by his own son, not yet four years old, is “St. George and the Dragon.” It put me in mind of that great quote from G. K. Chesterton: “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

Put me down as a fan of the dragon slayers.

I dedicate this post to the memory of them—my father, Arthur Scott Bell, Jr.

My Favorite Movies About Fathers

James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell



In honor of Father’s Day, I thought I’d share (with help from my film scholar son) ten of my favorite movies about dads.
FATHER OF THE BRIDE           
(1950, Dir. Vincente Minnelli)
The great Spencer Tracy plays the father of the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor, who has decided to get hitched. What follows are the stages of a bride’s father that seem as inevitable as the stages of grief: testing the young man about his financial future; meeting the in-laws; trying to keep down wedding expenses; surviving the emotional shakeups. The comedy is as fresh today as it was in 1950, and being the father of a daughter myself, I cannot help tearing up at the end. Top of the list.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
(1962, Dir. Robert Mulligan)
Gregory Peck isAtticus Finch, the widower raising his two children in Depression-era Alabama. He is a paragon of decency, honor and the values that make one a compassionate human being. One of those times when the perfect role met the perfect actor for that role. It’s also, I think, the perfect movie score.
PARENTHOOD
(1989, Dir. Ron Howard)
Steve Martin plays Gil, the flustered father of an overanxious son, who also happens to have a less than perfect dad himself (Jason Robards). The movie is spot on about the various types of parents and their quirks, with the underlying message: you never stop being a parent. Highlight for me (and most dads, too) is when “Cowboy Gil” saves his son’s birthday party from utter ruin. 

KRAMER VS. KRAMER
(1979, Dir. Robert Benton)
One of the first movies, based on the novel by Avery Corman, about single fathers. Dustin Hoffman captures the spirit of the times, a 70s guy who thinks he’s got everything . . . until his wife leaves him. Hoffman and the son, played by Justin Henry, make it on their own for awhile, and then the ex-wife (Meryl Streep) returns and demands custody. This was the first male two-hanky movie.
SHANE
(1953, Dir. George Stevens)
One of the great American films of any kind, Shane is sometimes mistaken for a typical Western, with a gunslinger and bad guys. In reality, the movie is about the father, played by Van Heflin, trying to eke out a living as a homesteader with his wife and young son. Shane (Alan Ladd) comes into his world to help. It’s all mythic, and Jack Palance is one of the great villains in cinema history. But once Shane has done his work, he tells the boy to grow into a man just like his father, “strong and straight.”
LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY
(1938, Dir. George B. Seitz)
When Lewis Stone stepped into the role of Judge Hardy, father of the irrepressible Andy (Mickey Rooney), neither he nor Louis B. Mayer thought he would become the Ward Cleaver of his generation. Stone is the quintessential father, who knew when to let Andy take responsibility for his own actions, and when to cut him some slack and teach him lessons about life. So popular were these movies that Stone and Rooney filmed short subjects for MGM, which were sort of public service announcements. The studio brass figured no one had more parental authority than Judge Hardy. You’ll even find them immortalized in the great Warner Bros. cartoon Hollywood Steps Out (1941). Of course, Judy Garland and a young Lana Turner are in this one, too.
The following films are provided courtesy of Nathaniel Bell (M.A., Film Studies, Chapman University):
THE KID
(1921, Dir. Charles Chaplin)
Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” rescues an abandoned baby boy (later to grow into the adorable Jackie Coogan) and teaches him how to survive in the slums. The ensuing comedy-drama reaches a sentimental pitch worthy of Dickens. Images of Chaplin caring for the youngster in his pathetically ramshackle apartment, cutting diapers and cooking breakfasts, are the very picture of fatherly devotion, demonstrating that love, not money, is the greatest gift a father can bestow.

THE CROWD
(1928, Dir. King Vidor)
In this silent masterpiece, a young man with grand ambitions is humbled—first as a husband, then as a father—by the struggle to earn a living in the Big City. Witnessing the change from a carefree and naive youth to a man brought low by misfortune is a pungent reminder of the responsibilities that come with being a family man and provider. The gritty details are almost oppressive (this may be the first film to actually show a toilet), but it’s worth enduring for the powerful scene in which the father is pulled back from the abyss by his five-year-old’s innocent declaration, “I believe in you, Pop.”

TARZAN FINDS A SON!
(1939, Dir. Richard Thorpe)
Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Jane (Maureen O’Sullivan) discover the infant survivor of a jungle plane crash. Naming him “Boy,” they adopt the tot and return with him to their treetop abode, where Tarzan passes down his best vine-swinging techniques. Later, when the inevitable search party comes to reclaim Boy, Tarzan’s fatherly instincts—powerful as a gorilla’s—kick in full force. For all its creakiness, this 1939 potboiler is probably one of the best demonstrations of that primal paternal impulse to defend your children at all costs.
THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK
(1944, Dir. Preston Sturges)
Sturges brings his withering satirical sensibilities to bear on the American small town in this WWII screwball classic. The entire cast is brilliant, but it’s William Demarest who steals the picture as Edmund Kockenlocker (the name alone, as James Agee once suggested, places him firmly in cartoon strip country), the trash talking, pipe smoking town constable whose protection of his two teenage daughters verges on the psychopathic. His favored technique for fending off potential suitors is taking a wild kick, missing the mark, and falling flat on his back.

Happy Father’s Day! Enjoy!