Saturday Mornings

 

Some Saturday mornings you arise, up and doing with a heart for any fate.

And some mornings, some mornings your sense of adventure needs . . . . inspiration.

 

So I spend my morning with Christian Bale, Charleston Heston, Oliver Reed and Christopher Lee – and I keep a weather eye open for a sea-faring man with one leg.  The best – and by far the best rendition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

I grew up with this movie – loving it so much that I would purposely not watch it very often. And yet I have – even now, every scene, every shot and every cut memorized.  I love the men – the light – the language – the sounds.  It’s a low budget made for TV movie, the acting is not the best – the special effects are lacking.  But it sticks close to the story in special little ways – little moments in the book are played out in the movie in quiet ways.  You’ll see Israel’s body sink into the deep – Blind Pew being run down in the road – and the music – the Chieftain’s are amazing!!!

And the sounds – the sounds are just as good as the music. Jim is sent ashore to tell “Mr.Silver” that the ship will leaving with the morning tide, he finds Long John at the Spyglass Inn.  When he asks for Mr.Silver the loud and rowdy inn grows quiet and still – and from somewher4e in the back we hear the thumping of his peg leg long before we see him – a deep, low, steady, thumping.  And then for the next hour and forty-five minuets it’s classic Heston.

Only it’s not –  it’s better - it’s what you wish classic Heston could have been.

 

If you can find a copy – treasure it. It’s out of print – only on VHS that I know of.  I’ve seen going for as much as 189 dollars online. 

So if you find your Saturday mornings needing some inspiration, if you want to escape from the snow and the cold of the season – well I know where you can look.