What happened next?

 Escape from Alcatraz

Butch and Sundance

No Escape

There is no doubt Frank Miller, and the Anglin brothers escaoed from Alcatraz, but like Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid there is no record of them in later life.

My opinion is the got carried away by the tide under the Golden Gate Bridge. One theory I had was they were eaten by the Great White sharks that inhabit the waters near the bridge.

An equally plausible theory is the were so tired after the escape, they had no energy to fight the tide. They had hauked the raft up a ladder, across the roof, down the other side, and onto the beach. Then they had to inflate it, even using a makeshift pump, it takes energy, which they had ran out of.

In 2017, a letter was posted by a person "claiming" to be Frank Miller, you have to take this with a large dose of salt. The question you need to ask is if he had survived, why did he wait so long to send his letter, when an escape from a prison built to be unescapable would have made him a hero in the gangster world?

Ok, he was dying, but what did he have to gain? He was hardly clearing his consience.

Another aspect you need to consider, these men were hardened criminals, I doubt they could have stayed out of the life of crime for long

White Line Fever

 Trucking Movies

Before Smokey & the Bandit

Trucking Movies

Many years before Smokey & the Bandit, and Convoy made trucking movies a trend, I saw a film about truckers, in Southanpton, Hampshire, UK. That film was called White Line Fever, and its star was a young actor called Jon Voight.

For years, I tried to track the film down, but the price it costs is too high for one film.

To hog the trucking trend, Sylvester Stallone made a film called F.I.S.T., with Rod Stieger, both men and all the people who say the film call it trash. The premise is a group called the Federation of InterState Truckers fight off companies so they can control thier routes, and jobs.

Dead men don't wear plaid

 Steve Martin

Film Noir

Steve Martin

To many viewers if you mention Steve Martin, you think of Little shop of Horrors. However, he made an excellent pastiche with the film noir movie, Dead men don't wear plaid.

What is the difference between pastiche and parody?

A pastiche is what you get when you take cuttings from films, and make another film. A parody is when you make a movie to poke fun at something.

I haven't seen the movie Bilko, I don't think I'd enjoy it, to me Bilko is Phil Silvers. Also, the times have changed, a modern audience wouldn't know half of what went on

Though I am not a fan of musicals, I did enjoy Little shop of Horrors, as it wasn't purely musical, also it had Bill Murray and Rick Moranis in before they played in Ghostbusters.

Before Smokey & the Bandit

 Convoy

                                                                      White Line Fever

To many viewers films such as Smokey & the Bandit, and Convoy started the craze for trucking movies. Years before these I saw a film in Southampton, UK called White Line Fever. The star was a young Jon Voight, who would later play in the classic Deliverance with Burt Reynolds.

Talking of Burt Reynolds, and lost films, I have been trying to track the film Hooper, a film about stuntmen. In the cast is his friend, and fellow stuntman, Hal Needham, who directed Smokey.

The Final nail in the coffin

 Getting over Pamela Olsted

The wait is off

There are times when I question my sanity

For weeks, if not months, I had suspected scammer Pamela Olsted of lying about her Apple gift card. For every three I sent, she "claimed" one was faulty, that is well above accepted levels, howver, a week before I ended our business arrangement, she closed the case. Desperate for money, she sent a photo of a "supposed" fault report on a card. However, she made several MAJOR errors.

She over-estimated my patience, which had ran out the week before.

First, it was hand written, not mass printed.

It was written in Spanish

The Overdraft Trap

The wait is off

 I was a Palooka 

I'll wait and see

The problem with an overdaft, is once we use it, it is hell to get clear.

Though I have been told, repeatidly for the last month, that I will be sent a refund for the loan I sent to Pamela Olsted, I won't believe it, until I have the money in my bank account.

Her sister has promised to repay me, but if one sister has lied to you for several months, why should you believe another sister?

At one time, PO "claimed" her other sister died from Covid, at first, I believed her, I thought knowing my wife had passed away not long ago from the illness, she wouldn't use it as trick to get money.

On my way back, in the winds and rain, and walking on a broken toe, the truth hit me, if she is after money, there is nothing to stop her using Covid as a twist

A Jean Harlow film I probably won't enjoy

 Riff Raff

Jean Harlow

The Jean Harlow Mystery

The Jean Harlow movie Riff Raff is one of hers I am not expecting to enjoy. Not because of Jean, Spencer Tracy, or Una Merkel. I always enjoy watching them, my issuse is with Mickey Rooney, I have seen him in several films, and never enjoyed the film.

Outside this collection, I have several Jean Harlow films, including her debut in The Public Enemy, a film actress Louise Brooks turned down, but made Jean a star. The Public Enemy is most rememberred for Jimmy Cagney's scene with Mae Clarke, and the grapefruit.

Some people class me as riff raff, as I have no formal qualification, yet I am an award winning writer