At the Helm
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on ota in NYC, ran The Omega Man (1971), a run of the mill post-apocalypse yarn, in this case biological warfare, starring Charlton Heston, based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. In researching the flick I discovered the extraordinary careers of two of the participants. Director Boris Sagal has 100 titles under his name at IMDb, a figure that fails to capture the scope of his efforts, as he directed multiple episodes of prime time TV fare, 22 of Peter Gunn alone, 26 of Mike Hammer, and at least seven of seven more. He was at the helm of several of my favorites: two episodes of The Twilight Zone, three of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, two of Columbo and one each of Combat! and Naked City. He also did four chapters each of two critically acclaimed mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man and Masada, each of which earned him an Emmy nomination, two of his four nods. His career spanned 1955-’82, his last work, World War III, posthumous, as he was killed walking into a helicopter blade during its production in 1981. He was 57. He is the father of legendary TV actress Katey Sagal.
Among the cast of TOM is Eric Laneuville, who was logging his fifth credit at the time. Born in New Orleans in 1952, he has had a phenomenal Hollywood run both as an actor and director. In front of the camera, he has amassed 53 titles. Again, that figure is misleading, as he appeared in 128 episodes alone of St. Elsewhere and 29 of Room 222. Behind the camera, there 98 titles in his canon. He is still working, having helmed episodes of Chicago Fire, Blue Bloods, Chicago P.D. and FBI: Most Wanted in 2021. He has been nominated for three Emmy’s, taking home the prize for a 1991 episode, All God’s Children, of I’ll Fly Away. Kudos, sir.
Few would dispute that Academia is controlled by leftists. How far left are some students? A nypost.com article by Doree Lewak reveals an attitude that is shocking even for the young. Here are excerpts, edited by yours truly: New York filmmaker Ami Horowitz visited Cal Berkeley and made a modest pitch: raise money for the Taliban to perpetrate attacks on Americans. He said: “The majority of people who stopped and talked to me decided they’d give me money…” Not one person told him to get lost. Several praised him. Tuition is estimated at $14,254, room and board $17,220. Here’s a link to a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYB9-o5QklE
Snippet from an op-ed piece on a vax mandate for kids by Jonathon Podoretz at NYP: “724,000 Americans are dead of COVID. The number under the age of 18: 542. That’s seven one-hundredths of one percent.” He intends to have his child vaxxed to protect him not from the virus nut from any yahoos that might attack him for not getting the shots.
I believe Mitch McConnell has been in politics too long, is too compliant to the swamp, and should retire, but I agree with this statement he has made, captured in a headline at newsmax.com: “Stop ‘Rehash’ of 2020, Make Midterms a Biden ‘Referendum’.”
In California a shipping container fell off a truck:
Good fortune continues for the floating book shop. All of the action was outgoing today, continuing a welcome reduction in inventory. My thanks to the kind folks who made purchases. Here’s what sold: true crime by Ann Rule, thrillers by John LeCarre, David Baldacci and Lawrence Block; What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff; Psychology of the Unconscious by Carl Jung and Beatrice Hinkle; another true crime opus; six DVDs; eight books in Russian.
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