30 October 2006

boston men

five name-brand actors who would have been a better casting choice than jack nicholson to play frank costello in "the departed:"

gene hackman
michael caine
ian mckellan
michael gambon
hell, daniel day lewis with some makeup

and speaking of boston,
rip red auerbach. although i was too young to see him as a coach, i do remember watching the ceremony in 1985 when the celtics retired his number and my dad telling me stories about red.

reading the obituaries i am struck not only by the humor of the red stories but also the humanity. for every tale of him being thrown out of an arena, or punching somebody in the face, or the bravado of the famous cigar, there is a story of his undying love and support for his players, his insistence on a team-based strategy, or his groundbreaking hiring of black players and coaches. boston has lost a legend.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As part of the new Sunday night Hart's Turkey Farm and movie night in northern NH, I saw the Departed last week. And Adam and I both thought it was sort of eh. That night's ep of the Wire was better. And this week's movie choice of Little Miss Sunshine was better. Are we really saying the Departed is gonna get best picture just because a whole lot of A-list actors kill each other? Snore.