Well, dear readers, I must tell you about a motion picture. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I must tell you about a motion picture that was so irritating, so disgusting, so puerile that I literally was screaming at the TV because there could be no possible way human beings could be so stupid as the characters I was watching. But unfortunately, the film is based on a true incident, and is not one of those that is purported to be based on a true incident – this film IS almost identical to the true incident, with only a couple of little things changed. The film is called Compliance and was released in 2012. I am certainly not recommending it to anyone – unless you really do want to, as I did, scream at your TV and squirm with each new thing that you’re presented with. It’s based on the 2004 prank call to a McDonald’s in Kentucky, where someone posing as a police officer called the manager, told her that he had the district manager on the other phone and that a young, female employee had stolen some money from a customer. The caller instructs the manager to bring the girl into the back room, and then the humiliation begins – starting with a strip-search, which, by the way, is completely illegal. At no point does the manager question what she’s asked to do. The girl in the real case was fearful of losing her job, despite her innocence and so she went along with it, as her mother had just recently lost HER job.
But as the film goes on it gets worse and worse and the stupidity quotient climbs to ever-higher heights. The ordeal goes on for four hours – and no one ever thinks to question what they’re being told, even when the manager’s fiancé is told to watch the girl, search the girl’s private parts, have the girl do jumping jacks so that if she’s hiding the money in her private parts it will fall out – I mean, at what point do you not say, “Give me your name and badge number and I’m calling the police department to verify this?” It gets even worse, but this is a family site so I shan’t go into detail. It’s only when the fiancé can take no more and is feeling such shame that he just walks out, that the manager is instructed to bring in the janitor (I think that’s what he was) – the JANITOR is the only one who shows some intelligence and he refuses to do anything he’s asked to do, saying no one in a position of authority would ask such things. At that point, the manager finally calls the district manager and finds out that the “officer” has never been in contact with him. She then goes to tell the “officer” that – he, of course, immediately hangs up and ends the call and the ordeal. Thankfully, one of the young co-workers (who would also not take part in anything) does a star 69 and gets the number of the caller.
In the film, the caller is calling from his home – in real life it was a pay phone, but both using a pre-paid calling card. When the real police show up, they get the surveillance tapes and all the information they can. It turns out that there have been seventy such incidents over a decade, all with the same MO, including a couple of other incidents at other McDonald’s. The police finally get information that leads to the arrest of a suspect, who is identified from surveillance tapes from Walmart where he purchased the calling cards – identified by his real employer. He was tried – he’d denied ever having a calling card, and yet they found them at his house (he was married with several children) and several had been used to call other restaurants. And yet, the jury acquitted him of all charges – brilliant. So, the guy walks, and there hasn’t been one instance of a prank call like that again. Hmmmm. It’s the most unbelievable scenario imaginable and yet it happened. Many people say, “You don’t know what you would have done in that situation.” Really? I think if an “officer” on the telephone asked me to have a naked girl do jumping jacks I would immediately end the call and telephone the police. But I would have done that at the strip search phase, because no officer is ever going to ask such a thing on the telephone. I would have simply said, come and arrest her or do what you have to do at the police station. In any case, the film Compliance is the longest ninety minutes you’ll ever spend watching a movie – it really FEELS like the full four hours of the phone call.
Well, that was a rather long introduction to these here notes, wasn’t it? That just went on and on and on, didn’t it? I watched Compliance at five-thirty in the morning after having gotten only three hours of sleep. After it was over, I eventually went back to bed and got an additional hour of sleep, which actually made me feel worse. I then went and had a cup of soup and a turkey sandwich and no fries or onion rings. Then I did some banking, then came home. I finally began the new set of liner notes and got a few paragraphs done, had a few telephonic conversations, answered e-mails, and finally sat on my couch like so much fish because I was just too tired to even think.
Yesterday, I watched a documentary entitled Bettie Page Reveals All – it was quite good, I thought, with lots of interesting information. It’s narrated by Bettie herself, who did an audio-only interview that’s the basis of the film. This one I can recommend. It’s on Netflix streaming.
After I finished that, I watched the new Criterion Blu and Ray of A Hard Day’s Night – an amazing transfer of a wonderful and still fresh film, one that really was what they call a game changer and one that was imitated so many times it wasn’t even funny. Then Richard and Elizabeth Sherman stopped by briefly – she’d left her glasses at The Federal, so I was keeping them safe and sound. We had a really fun visit. After they left, I went to Gelson’s and bought quite a bit of fruit for my evening snack, then I came home.
Whilst I nibbled on melon balls, apple slices (they got back in my favorite kind of apples called Envy) and cherries I watched two episodes of Route 66 – both of which I’d seen when the DVD came out, since they were both shot in LA. These were the episodes where George Maharis was missing in action, so Martin Milner has a phone conversation (one-sided – you only see and hear him) as if that was going to fool anyone. The first episode I watched was mostly filmed at Pacific Ocean Park and I had a hankering to watch it again. This is the show where you can finally see my grandparents’ apartment building, the Hotel St. Regis – several great views of it. This was shot in 1962 while the park was closed briefly for renovations. Some wonderful footage there, and a terrific performance from guest star Susan Oliver, who was one of my favorite TV people back then. The following episode starred Jack Warden and the first part of the show took place at the Pacoima Bus Depot, whose number address could clearly be seen. So, doing a little detective work (the bus depot is long gone), I ascertained that it was on Van Nuys Blvd. and I found it on Google Maps and it’s instantly apparent, even though there is no vestige of the depot left – it’s a strip mall and an apartment building now. The writing in these two episodes is good, but very florid in the then-popular style. The quality of the transfers for those two episodes is very strong. Also, Jack Warden’s character has to go back to wrestling, and the last fifteen minutes or so was shot at my beloved Olympic Auditorium downtown, where I attended wrestling matches every week for two years. The double they have for Warden looks nothing like him at all – it’s hilarious (not on purpose) when the have the wide shots with the double, then cut in to Mr. Warden’s closer shots – it just doesn’t even pretend to match. After all that, I did some more work on the computer.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, then I’ll do some errands and whatnot, choose songs, gather music, continue writing the liner notes, hopefully pick up some packages and then the Staitmans will pick me up and we shall be on our way to see something at the Hollywood Bowl.
Tomorrow, I shall be seeing the opening night of Always Patsy Cline at the El Portal Theater – I’m going with Doug Haverty and hoping it will be a fun evening of theater. Saturday we’re doing our pick-up session so that’s most of the day, then Sunday I’ll be with my engineer finishing the mix.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, choose songs, gather music, hopefully pick up packages, and attend a concert. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you think of that prank phone call story? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall greet the new day with no compliance whatsoever.