Lovelace (4 Stars)

True Stories #36

Name: Linda Lovelace

Lived: 10 January 1949 – 22 April 2002

Film dates: 1970 to 1980

Film made in 2013

Ten years ago the actress Julie K. Smith was active on Facebook. I often spoke with her. She read my blog, and she commented on my reviews of her films. She recommended the film "Lovelace" to me. She said that it had Oscar written all over it. I'd missed the film in the cinema, but I bought it on DVD as soon as possible, based on Julie's recommendation. No, it didn't win any Academy Awards, and it wasn't even nominated. To be honest, I didn't expect it to win any awards. It's not the sort of film that finds recognition.

The film is based on Linda's autobiography, written in 1980, but many of the people mentioned in the book claims that she's lying. Her publisher asked her to take a lie detector test. She passed, but there are ways of beating the machine. When I was at university one of my professors, an ardent opponent of lie detectors, gave his class instructions on how to beat the machine. I still remember everything, just in case I ever have to take a test.

The film is shown in two halves. In the first half we see Linda as the world saw her. It was a glamorous  life, and she was envied by all. In the second half her story begins again, and we're shown what really happened behind closed doors.

Linda Boreman was born in New York in 1949. After an unwanted pregnancy her family moved to Florida to get her away from temptation. She married a man called Chuck Traynor. In his own words, he owned a restaurant which sold good food and had beautiful waitresses. That was a euphemism for a titty bar. Linda didn't approve, so she stayed away from the restaurant and never asked Chuck about it.

Chuck was always in debt. He had connections in the pornography industry, so he got her a role in a film. He didn't even tell her what she was auditioning for. She thought it was a serious film, but it was actually the infamous movie "Deep Throat". This made her famous, bringing her together with film stars and other celebrities. She even became friends with Hugh Hefner, who's played by James Franco in this film.

That's a handsome young Hef. Did he really look so good?

In the second half of the film we see what the first half omitted. Linda was never happy with her husband. Chuck raped her on her wedding night. Is that at all possible? Evidently, yes. He had sex with her in a way that hurt her, and he didn't listen when she repeatedly told him to stop. Adding insult to injury, the next morning he was enthusiastic about how good it was. In the following months and years he often beat her.

The casting for "Deep Throat" was more than just reading lines. Chuck told her she had to sleep with four men from the film studio. When she refused, he held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she didn't go through with it.

Linda made the film, doing everything that was expected of her. When it was finished, she was credited as Linda Lovelace. She never picked the name for herself. It was given to her by the film producers, and they didn't even consult her.

Linda was ripped off. The film made over $30 million at the box office, and another $500 million in video sales. She was paid $1250, and she didn't even receive that, because Chuck took it to pay off his debts. She was asked to film a sequel, but she refused. "Deep Throat" was the beginning and end of her film career.

If you check IMDB, you'll see that she made another two films, "Deep Throat 2" and "Linda Lovelace for President". That's where different stories are told. Linda claims that these two films were patched together from unused footage for "Deep Throat". The film producers contradict this. 40 years later it's impossible to be certain, but my gut feeling tells me to believe Linda's words.

While watching the first half of the film I thought to myself that I ought to watch "Deep Throat". It's a gap in the education of a serious film fan. After watching the second half I said No on principle. I don't want to watch any film that a woman is forced into against her will.

Today Linda Lovelace is still considered to be the most famous porn star of all time. That's remarkable, considering she was only a porn star for 17 days.

Success Rate:  - 4.4

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Fighting with my Family (5 Stars)

True Stories #35

Name: Saraya Bevis

Lived: 17 August 1992 – still alive

Film dates: 2005 to 2014, mostly 2010 to 2014

Film made in 2019

This is the story of the WWE wrestler known as Paige. The young woman from Norwich had a whirlwind career, leading to winning the WWE women's championship

Saraya started wrestling when she was 13. Her parents and her two elder brothers were all wrestlers in the family owned business, the World Association of Wrestling. In 2011 she and her brother Zak auditioned for the WWE in London. Saraya was accepted, Zak wasn't. This was heart-breaking for both of them. It had been Zak's dream all his life to join the WWE. It hurt Saraya because she loved her brother and didn't want to be separated from him.

The training in Florida is hard. At first Saraya, who's now taken the name Paige, isolates herself from the other female trainees. She's the only woman from a wrestling family. The others are models or cheerleaders.

People who don't understand professional wrestling say that it's fake. It's not fake, it's scripted. The level of athletic prowess needed to perform in the ring is immense. Despite Saraya's former experiences in England she had difficulty getting through the training programme.

The film ends with Paige's debut on Monday Night Raw on 7th April 2014. It's unusual for a true story to be made so soon after the real events. Florence Pugh does an excellent job portraying Paige. She had help and coaching from the real Paige. Several real wrestlers appear in the film, including the Rock (Dwayne Johnson), the Miz and the Big Show.

Success Rate:  + 1.8

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WWF 1997.02.17 - Monday Night Raw

Location: Nashville Arena, Nashville, Tennessee

Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

This episode of Monday Night Raw is taking place the day after the Final Four PPV. Yesterday Bret Hart became the WWF champion. Today he has to defend his title against Sycho Sid.

Match 1. WWF championship, Bret Hart vs Sycho Sid

The WWF championship match opens today's Raw. It doesn't get very far. Before the match can begin, Steve Austin runs into the ring and attacks Bret Hart. Sid attacks Steve Austin, but in the altercation his leg is injured and the match is postponed. In an interview with Kevin Kelly he says that nothing will stop him facing Bret Hart later today.

Match 2. Marc Mero vs Savio Vega

Marc Mero is accompanied to the ring by Sable. Savio Vega is accompanied to the ring by five members of the Nation of Domination. During the match Sable kicks one of the PG-13 rappers. Crush chases her into the ring, where she's surrounded by the Nation of Domination members. The referee disqualifies Savio Vega, but the Nation of Domination still wants to attack Marc and Sable. Ahmed Johnson runs into the ring to stop them.

Match 3. Intercontinental championship, Rocky Maivia vs Leif Cassidy

It was only last Thursday that Rocky Maivia won the Intercontinental championship, and he's had to defend the title twice in the following four days. And he's still smiling.

Sunny comes to the ring. Is there a reason? Does anyone care?

Sunny flirts with Rocky, but he pushes her away. What's wrong with him?

She looks disappointed at being rejected, but everyone else still wants her.

Rocky defeats Leif Cassidy in a fair fight. There aren't many fair fights in the WWF. After the match Jerry Lawler rips an ECW sign out of the hands of a ringside fan. He says that the ECW, Extreme Championship Wrestling, is just an organisation for has-beens and wrestlers who aren't good enough to be in the WWF.

Goldust comes to the ring, accompanied by Marlena. He tells the audience that Hunter Hearst Helmsley should stop trying to take Marlena away from him.

Marlena says that despite his effeminate acts in the ring, Goldust is more man than Hunter Hearst Helmsley will ever be.

That insult is too much for Triple H to take. He runs to the ring and pedigrees Goldust. Then he turns to threaten Marlena. Some men just can't take No for an answer.

While Marlena is looking at Triple H, a woman comes into the ring from the crowd and attacks her. It's the same woman who attacked Marlena yesterday. Security guards rush into the ring and take her away.

Match 4. Tag team match, The Headbangers vs The Hardy Boys

Was this the first appearance of the Hardy Boys, Jeff and Matt Hardy, on television? I don't remember seeing them before. I did a little research and found that they weren't hired by the WWF until 1998. Before then they were jobbers, just stepping into the ring to lose. Yes, the Headbangers defeat them today, but Jeff and Matt put on a good show. They have a big future ahead of them.

Match 1 (reprised). WWF championship, Bret Hart vs Sycho Sid

The championship match is about to begin, but before it can start Steve Austin attacks Bret Hart outside of the arena. The match has to be postponed again.

Match 5. Owen Hart vs Flash Funk

Flash Funk comes to the ring accompanied by his two unnamed dancing girls. Owen Hart comes to the ring accompanied by Clarence Mason, who's still his manager despite his connection with the Nation of Domination. British Bulldog comes to ringside and tells Clarence to leave. The match progresses fairly, but at the end British Bulldog hits Flash Funk with Owen's Slammy award and holds his leg while Owen pins him. This is the reverse of last night's win. Owen wanted to win fairly, so he's angry that British Bulldog got involved.

While the match is on, Jerry Lawler receives a phone call from Paul Heyman, owner of the ECW. He says that he'll bring some wrestlers to Raw next week to show just how good they are.

Match 6. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Bart Gunn

Honky Tonk Man joins Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross at the commentary table. The wrestlers are equally matched until Goldust runs into the ring to provoke Triple H. They chase each other out of the arena, so Bart Gunn wins the match by a countout.

Match 1 (reprised again). WWF championship, Bret Hart vs Sycho Sid

The championship match is finally underway. At the beginning it's in Sid's favour, but Bret has more stamina and slowly wins the advantage.

Steve Austin hits Bret over the head with a chair when the referee isn't looking.Sid pins Bret and becomes the new WWF champion.

The Undertaker comes to the ring and the two stare at one another, nose to nose.

Der Hauptmann (4½ Stars)

True Stories #34

Name: Willi Herold

Lived: 11 September 1925 – 14 November 1946

Film dates: April to May 1945

Film made in 2017

I was lucky to see the German premiere of this film, attended by the Stuttgart director Robert Schwentke. It tells the story of a 19-year-old chimney sweep who impersonated a German officer and killed 200 people in the last two weeks of the Second World War. As Schwentke himself said, it's a story so absurd that it's difficult to believe that it's true.

Willi Herold was a deserter. In April 1945 he was alone and scared, trying to find his way home. By chance, he found a car abandoned by an air force captain. Documents were being burnt close to the vehicle, and the captain's uniform was in the back of the car, tidily folded, complete with his medals. The captain had obviously fled recently, but he was nowhere in sight.

Note: The German military rank "Hauptmann" is usually translated as "Captain", but due to the difference in ranks in German speaking countries it's only an approximate translation.

Willi put on the uniform and began a new life. At first it was an act of desperation, but it turned into courage. He met other deserters nearby, and he recruited them as members of his Kampfgruppe Herold. He told them that he had an important mission, directly from Adolf Hitler himself, and he'd lost his men, so he needed replacements.

So Willi and his band of deserters headed to a prison camp where German deserters were awaiting trial. His claims that he'd been sent to speed up the execution of the prisoners were received with joy by the camp's commander, Karl Schütte, who was angry that the deserters were receiving warm meals every day while faithful German soldiers were dying on the front line. Willi performed mass executions, dumping the bodies in a mass grave. Those who survived being shot were buried alive.

After the camp was destroyed in an air raid, Willi and his Kampfgruppe arrived in Aurich, a town that was preparing to welcome the British troops. He executed the mayor as a traitor, and he set up his headquarters in a hotel, where he tried and executed civilians every day, when he wasn't involved in drunken revelry.

How was it possible for an uneducated young man to achieve such power and carry out such destruction in a period of only two weeks? I have no idea. When his deception was uncovered (only days before the German surrender) and he was put on trial for impersonating an officer, the court found him innocent. The judge said that he'd done nothing to harm the German war effort. He was released, so that he could return to fight for Germany. But the war ended abruptly. His next trial was by the British armed forces, and he was executed as a war criminal.

The film is overwhelming. Too absurd to be true.

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TV Series: On The Buses Season 6

Two days ago I heard about the death of Anna Karen. This made me sad, because she was a part of my young years. She appeared in the television series "On The Buses", which ran from 1969 to 1973. I still consider it to be the best comedy series ever, with certain reservations. The first five seasons are brilliant. The sixth season is good, but not up to the level of the previous seasons. The seventh season is a mess, which should never have been made. The episodes are all standalone stories that can be watched in any order, but you might as well watch them in order. You can skip the seventh season. I've warned you!

Today I watched all seven episodes of the sixth season. I picked this season deliberately, because I don't know it as well as the first five seasons. Yes, it's good, but there were only a few scenes that made me laugh out loud. I concentrated on Anna Karen's performance. In the series she's deliberately made up to look ugly, but in my eyes it gives her a bizarre beauty. I always felt attracted to her.

Now she's gone. She's the last member of the main cast to die. In her final years she was unable to walk and confined to her wheelchair. She died at home, burnt alive after falling asleep while smoking.

Reg Varney
11 July 1916 – 16 November 2008

Stan Butler was the series' main character. He played a bus driver who still lived at home with his mother. His romantic escapades never went further than a quick fumble on the sofa.

Bob Grant
14 April 1932 – 8 November 2003

Jack Harper was a bus conductor and Stan's best friend. He was also single, and it's hinted that he went further with his girlfriends, but we never see anything.

Stephen Lewis
17 December 1926 – 12 August 2015

Cyril Blake, usually called Blakey, is the bus inspector who's always complaining about Stan and Jack's laziness.

Doris Hare
1 March 1905 – 30 May 2000

Stan's mother is always referred to as Mom in the series. The credits list her name as Mabel, but I don't remember her ever being called Mabel.

Anna Karen
19 September 1936 – 22 February 2022

Olive is Stan's sister. A constantly repeated joke is that she's totally blind without her glasses. Is that possible? She's sexually frustrated, always complaining that her husband doesn't fulfil his duties in bed.

Michael Robbins
14 November 1930 – 11 December 1992

Arthur Rudge is Olive's husband. The couple also lives in the same house with Stan and his mother, because Arthur doesn't earn enough to afford his own home. Sometimes he's doing a low paying job, but mostly he's unemployed. There's no romance in the marriage. He's always calling Olive an idiot, useless, etc, and he makes a disgusted face whenever she suggests that they should have an early night. One of the episodes in season six gives a flashback to Arthur meeting Olive. He was a lodger in the house, and one night he came back from the pub drunk and got into Olive's bed by mistake. Mom was disgusted and said they should get married immediately.

I always felt sorry for Olive when Arthur was shouting at her. I wanted to take her in my arms and cuddle her.

She was special to me. The only thing I didn't like about her was the smoking, in the series or in real life. In the end cigarettes killed her.

Rest in peace, Anna Karen. You'll never be forgotten as long as DVDs exist.

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Wonder Woman 1984 (5 Stars)

I missed this film when it was shown in the cinemas last year. I don't remember why. It's possible I was in bed with the flu. I just don't remember. All I can say is that I regret not having seen it in the cinema, all the more after watching it on Blu-ray today.

Apart from a few flashback sequences, the first Wonder Woman film took place in 1918. This film takes place in 1984, as you might have guessed. Diana's lover Steve Trevor is long dead, though the reason for his death isn't named. She's now working at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Her specialities are cultural anthropology and archaeology. She makes friends with Dr. Barbara Minerva, whose specialities are geology, gemology, lithology and cryptozoology. I shan't deny it, I had to look up some of those words. However much I may love the English language, there are still some gaps in my knowledge.

Stolen relics have been delivered to the museum by the FBI for identification. One of the items is considered to be a fake, despite having an inscription in Latin that it will grant anyone one wish if made while touching it. Diana and Barbara each wish for something. Diana wishes that Steve Trevor would return. Barbara wishes that she could be more like Diana. Both wishes are granted.

Without going into too many details about the plot, the object is a Dreamstone, a magic artefact created the Greek God Dolos, the God of Trickery. Wishes are granted, but at the same time something is taken away, usually the thing that the person treasures most. Diana's powers slowly decline. Barbara's friendly nature slowly turns to cruelty.

Barbara turns from this...

... into this.

But at least she gets a better body. That's the reason she wanted to be like Diana.

I have to praise the actress Kristen Wiig who plays Barbara. She was 46 when she appeared in "Wonder Woman 1984", but she has an incredible body. She must work out a lot.

This wonderful lady also appears in the film.

I'll refrain from writing anything else about the plot until I watch the film again.

Success Rate:  - 1.2

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My Friend Dahmer (4 Stars)

True Stories #33

Name: Jeffrey Dahmer

Lived: 21 May 1960 – 28 November 1994

Film dates: 1974 to 1978

Film made in 2017

This is a chilling story about the formative years of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It's told from the perspective of John Backderf, one of Jeffrey's few friends in high school. It was a weird friendship, and John later expressed guilt for the way he treated him. Jeffrey Dahmer was a clown. He did things to shock the others in school or make them laugh. John thought Jeffrey was funny as well, so he encouraged him to do it even more.

What did he do? Jeffrey Dahmer performed the activities of a mentally deficient person. In the words of the film, he spazzed out. He made wailing sounds and moved erratically, finally writhing on the ground as if he were having an epileptic fit. It was hilarious for those who were in on the joke.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a mixed up kid from his early years. His hobby was dissolving dead animals in acid, because he wanted to see what they were like inside. He was able to do this because his father gave him acid that he brought home from work. That's a weird thing for a father to give his son. Later on he cut the meat off dead animals so that he could examine their bones.

Dahmer was having problems with his sexuality. He realised that he was homosexual, but he felt guilty about it. This was one of the things that contributed to the young boy becoming mentally unbalanced. When his parents got divorced, he was pushed totally over the edge. And his alcoholic consume can't be underestimated. He drank strong spirits every day, even in breaks between school classes. Didn't the teachers notice, or didn't they care?

One of the film's most unnerving scenes is his high school prom. He invited a girl called Bridget to the prom. Maybe he wanted to fit in, but it's more likely that he wanted to overcome his homosexual urges by having a relationship with a girl. It didn't work out. Soon after the start he walked out, saying he wanted to pee, but he never came back. He sat in his car eating until the prom was over.

Could Dahmer's killing spree have been prevented? Maybe. Maybe not. Those are questions that can never be answered. It's easy for Dahmer's friends and school teachers to blame themselves for not doing more, but it's possible he would have become a killer anyway. We'll never know.

Success Rate:  - 1.1

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I, Tonya (5 Stars)

True Stories #32

Name: Tonya Harding

Lived: 12 November 1970 – still alive

Film dates: 1974 to 2003, mostly 1985 to 1994

Film made in 2017

"There's no such thing as the truth. Everyone has their own truth".

I hate this quote, spoken by Tonya Harding at the end of the film. The nature of truth is an ages old philosophical concept. When Pontius Pilate spoke to Jesus Christ, he asked him "What is truth?" and Jesus didn't answer. Naively, I would say that truth is what really happened and what exists, but 20th Century philosophers have written endless books questioning this naive definition. The main argument against the definition is that it's a tautology. If truth is defined as what happened, the statement can be reduced to "Truth is truth". Philosophers prefer to define truth as what's perceived, so it's something subjective. That brings us back to Tonya Harding's words. Everyone perceives the truth differently.

Maybe we can better understand truth if we ask what the opposite of truth is. Most people would answer lies, but I don't believe it's that easy. There are also mistakes. Let me give a fictional case as an example.

Bill shoots Fred in front of Lucy. Betty is standing close by, looking in the opposite direction. Lucy pulls the gun out of Bill's hand to stop him shooting again.

1. Lucy says "Bill shot Fred".

2. Bill says "Lucy shot Fred".

3. Betty says "Lucy shot Fred".

Statement 1 is the truth, based on the naive definition that the truth is what really happened.

Statement 2 is a lie, because Bill is denying his guilt.

Statement 3 is a mistake. Betty turned round and saw the gun in Lucy's hand, so she assumed Lucy had just shot Fred.

Let's take this example a step further. Betty rings the police and tells them that Lucy shot Fred. Lucy is arrested, and in court she's found guilty, based on the testimony of the two witnesses, Bill and Betty. So the decision of the jurors, the judge and the whole legal system is that Lucy is lying, even though she's the only one who told the truth.

This started out as a simple example, but let's make it even more complicated. Lucy's lawyer tells her she has no chance of winning in court, so she should plead guilty to reduce her sentence. (In English law, pleading guilty reduces the sentence by 50%). So Lucy lies to the judge, saying that she shot Fred, and she only gets a 10 year sentence instead of 20 years.

Now nobody is telling the truth!

This simple fictional case now has implications, making it so complex that it could be the subject of a Philosophy PhD thesis.

There are other examples of truths and non-truths.

"God exists" vs "God doesn't exist".

Millions of people have been killed arguing over these statements.

"The Earth is flat" vs "The Earth is round".

This is a more difficult pair of statements, at least from a philosophical viewpoint. One of the statements is true, the other false, but most people have no way of proving what they say. They either rely on the proof of their own two eyes, or they accept the words of experts on faith.

Now for another example from my own past. In 1997 I decided to leave my wife. I explained my reasons, but she didn't understand them. I even gave her two weeks to change the way she was acting, but she didn't see any fault in herself. As far as she was concerned, I was leaving her for another woman.

About 10 years later she discovered that I'd had another girlfriend while we were separated. (There were actually several, but she only found out about one). That was all the proof she needed. Now she knew I'd left her for another woman. It was no good me telling her that the relationship didn't start until we were already separated.

The reconciliation with my ex-wife tentatively began sometime round about 2007. It culminated with me moving back in with her in 2016. I felt it was the right thing to do. The biggest problem is that after all this time she still doesn't know why I left her. She's told our children, her relatives and all her friends that I left her for another woman. She can't go back on it now. Three of our children believe her, one doesn't. Whenever I overhear her telling someone that I left her for another woman I tell her she's lying, although I know it isn't a lie. It's a mistake. It's a terrible mistake that she's unable to put right.

Now for the reason for Tonya Harding's words at the beginning of this post.

"There's no such thing as the truth. Everyone has their own truth".

The film is based on interviews with Tonya, her ex-husband, her mother and a few friends. Their stories don't agree. For instance, Tonya says that her husband Jeff was always hitting her. Jeff says that he never hit her, because he wasn't that sort of person. I know which one of the two I choose to believe. The film itself follows Tonya's version of the truth, but every time someone disagrees he faces the camera and says it happened differently.

The central point of the film is the incident on 6th January 1994, when Tonya's main rival, Nancy Kerrigan, was attacked and injured. Jeff tells the viewers that the incident is always different, depending on who's telling the story. Tonya didn't have to go to prison. She was given a ridiculously high fine, which she could only pay after appearing in a television news programme. The worst thing for her was that she was banned from professional skating for the rest of her life.

So she became a boxer.

This is an incredible film that grows on me every time I watch it. It was a big mistake not to include it in my top 100 films list. I've already made up my mind to start my new rolling top 100 list today. What I mean by rolling is that the list won't be fixed, it'll be regularly updated. I'll keep it online for my readers to check what I like most, but it can only be understood as a snapshot of what films I like most today, not what I'll like most next year, next month or even tomorrow.

Success Rate:  + 2.9

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