I always knew I'd get it in Toontown

[sovay]

derspatchel came in while I was washing dishes and said he had sad news. I asked who'd died. The answer was Bob Hoskins.

The first movie I saw in theaters was *batteries not included (1987). I talk about it when I talk about Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. The first movie I saw in theaters that I remember as the experience of seeing a movie in theaters—the Capitol Theatre in Arlington, right before it was multiplexed—was Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Which I have striven to see in theaters at every possible opportunity ever since. Hoskins' Eddie Valiant is a stone cold sad sack with a heart of vaudeville and it took me years to realize his native accent wasn't world-weary L.A. It's not that I never saw him as anyone else. He was a character actor; he had an inimitable face and I can see it on half a dozen different people if I take a look through YouTube. (I wish I'd seen him as Bosola to Helen Mirren's Duchess of Malfi. They must have been amazing.) He was himself and actors are not their characters, especially not characters who drink away their afternoons in a gritty, loopy 1947 just a doodle or two sideways from our own. But I can't help feeling that the world is now bereft of a man who cleared Goofy of espionage charges and kicked a cartoon weasel in the balls, and I am sorry.

P.S. I didn't have a chance to put up this post before we went out for dinner at Magoun's, meaning my endorphin levels are now significantly higher than they might otherwise have been. Curry goat was my first really substantial food since Saturday. I'm really quite happy about it.

P.P.S. phi just showed up with a copy of Khodasevich's Selected Poems for me! I couldn't make the Armory reading on Monday; I'd double-scheduled myself. I can't wait to read them. I have awesome friends. The book's bilingual.

Comments

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

If you can eat curried goat, you're better. That is a good, good thing.

[sovay]

If you can eat curried goat, you're better. That is a good, good thing.

Oh, yeah.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

This is *exactly* what I wanted to say.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

What they said.

Nine

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I am very sad to lose Bob Hoskins, favorite roles include his photographer in The Favor, The Watch, and The Very Big Fish, and his brilliant turn as the man who directs the theater in Mrs. Henderson Presents, but immortally for me, he will be that sad man whose brother was killed by a 'Toon, who dropped a piano on his head, and who found himself again while dealing with a cartoon rabbit.

[sovay]

The Favor, The Watch, and The Very Big Fish

I've never even heard of that. It's a wonderful title.

but immortally for me, he will be that sad man whose brother was killed by a 'Toon, who dropped a piano on his head, and who found himself again while dealing with a cartoon rabbit.

Amen.

[captainecchi.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think Batteries Not Included was one of the first movies I saw in theaters, too! About that age my parents decided that Friday nights were "go to the mall and eat in the food court and see a movie" night.

[sovay]

About that age my parents decided that Friday nights were "go to the mall and eat in the food court and see a movie" night.

I don't know why my parents took me to *batteries not included—I suspect because it was science fiction, it had character actors, it looked family-friendly. It is not their fault that it turned out to have a scary fire in the finale, although everyone survives. And the tiny alien machines were great. I've never rewatched it; I should sometime. I remember bits of the plot, moments of dialogue; I had to look at Wikipedia for a summary.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

I admired him throughout, but my favorite was the first thing I saw him do, a 1980 four-part TV thing called "Flickers," co-starring Frances de la Tour, about the early days of silent movies. If it's too long for you, start at about 1:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyElBk-f2Q4

At about the same time, he was Iago in that surprisingly tedious set of Shakespeare plays that the BBC put out in the early 1980s. (with Anthony Hopkins as Othello!)

[sovay]

a 1980 four-part TV thing called "Flickers," co-starring Frances de la Tour, about the early days of silent movies.

That sounds great. Thanks for the link!

(with Anthony Hopkins as Othello!)

Er.