{"id":22,"date":"2007-04-30T08:08:04","date_gmt":"2007-04-30T15:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/2007\/04\/30\/the-grand-finale\/"},"modified":"2007-04-30T08:08:04","modified_gmt":"2007-04-30T15:08:04","slug":"the-grand-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/2007\/04\/30\/the-grand-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grand Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">As I stare at my computer with my bag of sunflower seeds (busy food) and my trusty spit bottle, I wonder what movie I really want to write about.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about either \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Portrait of Jennie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Glass Key.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I think about these two because they were the books that I read that I truly enjoyed, but when I saw the movie I was truly disappointed with.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I thought about some movies that I really like in the past, and some of the movies that I disliked, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found that I can talk a lot more about a movie that I dislike, than a movie that I enjoyed.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">The <em>Harry Potter <\/em>book series, <em>Twelfth Night<\/em> by Shakespeare, and the books that we read in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s class are the only books that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read in the past that have been made in to movies that I have seen. <span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>The <em>Harry Potter<\/em> series, I will admit, I really enjoyed the movies, but I loved the books even more.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>However, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find myself wanting to talk about the books to people.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Even with people that I know have seen and read them as well as I have.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The other movies, <em>Twelfth Night, The Glass Key, Portrait of Jennie, <\/em>I really disliked the movies, but I found myself wanting to talk about them the most of them all.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Even with <u>The Glass Key<\/u> book, the interpretations, <em>Yojimbo <\/em>and <em>Fistful of Dollars<\/em> I really enjoyed but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to talk about them.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>When I watched <em>The Glass Key<\/em> I felt really in-touch with the book.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I found myself wanting to talk about the book in relation with the movie<em>, <\/em>but was sad to find out that it was slim pickins outside of film class.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The same thing happened with <u>Portrait of Jennie<\/u>.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>No one has heard of it, but when you mention that Alfred Hitchcock was involved in the making of it, and it had influence on <em>Vertigo,<\/em> its <em>Vertigo <\/em>people want to talk about instead.<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">So when deciding between which movie to talk about, I decided to go with <em>The Glass Key<\/em> because I enjoyed the book more than <u>Portrait of Jennie<\/u>.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman\">When I watched all of <em>The Glass Key<\/em> the first time through, I was thinking, <em>What?<\/em><span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It was the ending that screwed me up the most, putting aside how deliciously cheesy the 40\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s were.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The book was the ending that I wanted.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Paul Madvig was the bad guy; you wanted him to be upset at the end.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He was a mean guy and he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deserve to be truly happy at the end.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Ned(Ed)<br \/>\nBeaumont was harder to think that way about, he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t your normal hero.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He was a compulsive gambler, not a terrific friend, and was willing to steal your girlfriend and your wife from you. <\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Thinking that, compare him to the other people in the book.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Nick Varna\/ Shad O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Rory: liar, cheat, murderer and it seemed like he was a bookie as well.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff,<br \/>\nVarna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s henchman, all he did was beat the hell out of people.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He loved to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cuddle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d assigning Ned Beaumont the nickname of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cuddles.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Though Jeff was an entertaining character to watch on screen and to read about, he was still a bad person and therefore he was no hero.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Paul Madvig is what many would just call an overall scumbag for his personality, his arrogance and his cockiness.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Taylor Henry was a gambler and ended up dead, and his father was the one that killed him.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The only person that you can really look at as a hero is Ned Beaumont because he is the private inspector; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one that finds out who killed Taylor Henry.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give up on his friend Paul Madvig, even when he admitted to the murder, he knew something fishy was going on with Madvig and he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to give up on the case.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Ned Beaumont solves the murder and also gets the girl in the end, for no other reason than that he is the hero of the movie.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">The actors are what I want to talk to about the most.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Not so much the actual characters of the movie (the names), more so how the actors play the characters, interpreting how they complement each other so well.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman\">With <em>The Glass Key<\/em> I really liked the actors; they seemed like the actors that were perfect for each part.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Alan Ladd plays that suave, smart aleck, bad boy that you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but love.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Veronica Lake, whoo, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that sultry, temptress, that you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but be hypnotized by her.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It seems like in every scene that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in; she is only there for you to fall in love with her.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mans woman.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Brian Donnelly plays his role perfectly.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>At times you really want to like Paul Madvig, you want to believe that he can be a good guy and start to be sincere, but he turns around and lets you down.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>William Bendix as Jeff is probably my favorite actor in this movie.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got facial expressions that John Belushi would be jealous of.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>His scenes with Ladd, a bit homoerotic when you look at them, Bendix is able to play the role of dominatrix.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He just loves beating up on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cuddles,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d his homo-hetero punching doll.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Like I said at the beginning of this essay, I really didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like the movie.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I liked the characters from the book. I also liked the actors and the way they played the characters, although I think the acting was at times uninspiring. <\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">When you look at this movie one of the things that squeaks by is the facial expressions.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I commented a little bit back about William Bendix in connection with facial expressions. He just has a face that can light up a room.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The rest of the cast have tremendous facial expressions.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>If you watched a lot of the scenes from this movie on mute you would be able to tell what was going on simply because of the facial expressions of the characters.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to focus on the scene in which Ned Beaumont comes by the Herny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house on the night of<br \/>\nTaylor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The Henry family, excluding Taylor, is sitting at the dinner table with Paul Madvig telling stories about his past career decisions.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The scene to me doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start until Ned\/Ed Beaumont enters the house and there she is.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Ed and Janet see each other for the first time, and its love at first sight.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Ed Beaumont enters the room, when Paul sees him; he rushes over with Janet wanting her to meet him.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Paul says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153want you to meet Janet Henry, and (then to Janet) this is Ed Beaumont.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a close-up on Ed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face and upper body as she first lays eyes on Janet, his face makes him look like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to die young.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He calmly says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How do you do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d barely opening up his mouth to say the words.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He looks as if he is tongue tied, but he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to seem over anxious in front of Paul, who is smitten with Janet.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>If you put the scene on slow-motion you can see them undressing each other with their eyes.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Paul Madvig stands in between them with a stupid smile on his face; he has no idea what he has done.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Bela Balasz wrote \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Close Up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in <u>Film Theory and Criticism.<\/u> In dealing with facial expressions and acting, I found the article very insightful.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Balasz writes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they [close-ups] show the faces of things and those expressions on them which are significant because they are reflected expressions of our own subconscious feeling\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (315 Balasz)<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I like that quote because I find it to be true when dealing with Janet and Ed when they look at each other for the first time.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The close-up is used to show the viewer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s want for them to be together already.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The director wanted the viewer to feel this way after he showed the eyes of the characters scanning each others bodies.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a cut to Janet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, her hair dancing in the light.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Her eyes are staring right into Ed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as she says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Mr. Madvig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assistant.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Whoo! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on fire in this scene as she says this.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Her eyes perk up with her eyebrows and she smiles as she talks.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Smiling while you talk is one of those things that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve picked up on in my life.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>If someone does that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big signal of how happy someone is.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>They can barely open their mouths wide enough to get out what they are trying to say.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I love the look on<\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Veronica Lake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting an eyeful of Alan Ladd.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The only words that I can think to describe<br \/>\nLake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes are penetrating.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>They pierce through the screen, making you wish that they were looking at you.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re almost mad at Alan Ladd for knowing that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s him she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s looking at.<font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\"> <\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Afterwards Madvig escorts the two future lovebirds into the living room.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The camera following in front of them, they <u>never <\/u>take their eyes off of each other, up and down they go scanning each other.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no telling what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking, except that you think you have a pretty good idea.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Then, a few paces away its Mr. Henry that now is to meet Beaumont, but he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take his eyes off Janet, who is still staring blankly right on back.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Finally, he breaks eye contact with Janet, and gives some papers to Madvig.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The gentleman exchange brief words with each other, and Janet sees her hole to speak.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you stay for coffee, Mr. Beaumont?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Janet makes sure that Ed isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going anywhere except straight to the couch where she can keep an eye on him.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Its remarkable watching the scene for the millionth time, I keep picking up on little things that she does and what is so irresistible about<\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Veronica Lake.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some coffee for Mr. Beaumont, and brandy?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as she says the second part directly to him.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as though she wants everyone to leave so she can have him to herself right now.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her eyelashes that got me this time.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The way she sort of flicks them at<br \/>\nBeaumont at the end of the sentence, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very flirty and seductive.\u00c2\u00a0<span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">This whole scene revolves around<\/font><font face=\"Times New Roman\"> Veronica Lake (Janet) and her face.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She does everything with her face, whether it is her talking or simply acting while other people are talking, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the center of attention.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The coffee arrives, and Janet can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take her eyes of Ed, and Madvig busts in and wants to finish his story about his job at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Observer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d newspaper.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Madvig is telling the story, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first time that Janet pulls her eyes off of Ned, but she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay attention when Ed is right next to her.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She keeps trying to be sly and sneak peeks over at Ed.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>You can tell that she is desperately trying to pay attention to Paul because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speaking and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s polite to pay attention, but she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too far gone in this situation.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">The scene ends with Ed Beaumont leaving the house, as Janet walks him to the door.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>There the two are alone for the first time of the movie.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>They exchange looks and small talk about Paul, and he closes the door to say good night.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She turns around, not quite facing the camera, but really giving the viewer and eyeful of smiles.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She wants Beaumont badly, and she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to stop at anything to get him.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d also like to talk about Jeff (William Bendix) who in <em>The Glass Key<\/em> was my favorite character.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Though he played a bad person, who did nothing but beat up on the hero, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still the lovable oaf you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but want to turn out OK in the end, but we all know who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">There are a few scenes I want to look at with Jeff and Ed in them, because in my mind they have the best on screen chemistry out of two people in the movie.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Some would say Ed and Janet and they do have a steamy on screen connection, but Jeff and Ed feel right together to me. <\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">The first scene is one where Ed is passed out on the bed, beaten senseless, and Jeff and his buddy are playing cards at the table.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff has just lost a hand, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s four bucks I owe ya\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now all smiles because he hears Ed moaning.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Ed moaning can only mean one thing to Jeff\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6another beating.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very amusing the way Jeff talks to Ed.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>As Ed gets closer to the door, while posing no threat to escape, Jeff looks at him and says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now sweetheart, you know what I told you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He picks him up and takes him to the bed and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s followed by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look Sweetie-pie, you oughta lie down, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel so good.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff also calls him \u00e2\u20ac\u0153baby\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in this scene which is hilarious.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff talks about how it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ok because Ed likes the punishment.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In the book he calls him a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153masacrist.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff makes me feel like Ed really does like it.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>With all the words of affection, it sounds like they are a couple and are treating each other like they would on an everyday basis.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Except for the one problem that Ed is on the bed unconscious, and bleeding from most parts of his body.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give off many facial expressions in this scene, except ones of excruciating pain.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>In the hospital, I found it odd that no one really asked Beaumont who did this to him, it seemed Madvig and Janet knew, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever really come up.\u00c2\u00a0 Beaumont doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t incriminate Jeff, his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sweetheart.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Another big scene in which Jeff and Ed are in together is the bar scene towards the end of the movie.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The scene begins with an African American singer at a piano singing about a love she has lost, the camera pans out and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jeff listening intently.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>He walks over to the bar, looking to drown his loneliness in booze.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Beaumont enters the room, walking down a flight of stairs; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153come back or you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll break my heart\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the lyric that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being sung as the camera moves in to Beaumont.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff looks up to see Ed standing there at the top of the landing and his face lights up, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well if it ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sock me again Beaumont.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The two go up to a small room on top of the bar, where the two get ready to play some \u00e2\u20ac\u0153handball.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Jeff is wasted, he starts talking things out of left field, and he wants to give \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cuddles\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a beating.<span>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Jeff and the other characters of <em>The Glass Key <\/em>have some marvelous facial expressions in this movie; I pray maybe one of you that read this blog goes back into the movie and takes a further look.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman\">As I wrap up my final blog for this year I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but to think about all the movies that I have seen that I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have gotten to otherwise and consider it to be a very rewarding experience. <\/font><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0I agreed with RoyaleWithCheese&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/royalewithcheese\/2007\/01\/22\/monumental-mix-up\/\">http:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/royalewithcheese\/2007\/01\/22\/monumental-mix-up\/<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0blog (sorry for some reason my insert hyperlink wasn&#8217;t working).\u00c2\u00a0 The movie though it was amusing at many times, it left you dissappointed a lot of the times.\u00c2\u00a0 Ned Beaumont becoming Ed Beaumont, I don&#8217;t think we will ever know or understand what made someone say, &#8220;You know, Ned is OK, but wouldn&#8217;t making his name Ed just make the movie 100 times better.&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t pick out the facial hair aspect as well as Royale did either.\u00c2\u00a0 But I do remember that in the book Ned Beaumont was supposed to be a somewhat dirty, unshaven man.\u00c2\u00a0 Another thing was that Ned was supposed to be a compulsive gambler asking people for money, but they made him look like a real straight shooter.\u00c2\u00a0 Another thing that I didn&#8217;t like about the book that the movie really emphasized was how much Ned liked Janet.\u00c2\u00a0 To me it didn&#8217;t seem like he was very interested in Janet in the book.\u00c2\u00a0 But then again it&#8217;s the movies and there has to be a love story element for people to want to see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I stare at my computer with my bag of sunflower seeds (busy food) and my trusty spit bottle, I wonder what movie I really want to write about.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about either \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Portrait of Jennie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Glass Key.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/2007\/04\/30\/the-grand-finale\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/jmerk5zi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}