AWW DARN

Did you ever really look forward to something only to have it be sadly disappointing? In 2006, I was an extra in an independent movie called War Eagle Arkansas. I had never seen a movie being made and was of course curious. I was rather new to Arkansas so it seemed like a good idea when I read about the call for extras in the paper.


So I put on the clothes the ad recommended (Arkansas Razorback attire) and headed for Fayetteville Arkansas. I really had a good time as a face in the crowd, enjoyed the experience, met some nice people and wrote about it here.

Well that was 4 years ago. Patiently I followed the movie's progress on line and finally it was released to the theaters. Well a couple of theaters anyway. It seemed to have done well at festivals so I had high hopes for the movie. I was only part of a crowd scene for a high school baseball game but since it wasn't a really large crowd and I was close to the main actors, I was hopeful that at least a part of me would make the big screen. I was really pulling for my right ear, but my left ear held promise also of making the big screen.

The movie didn't do well and was recently released on DVD. I climbed all over Netflix to get a copy. When it came. honestly, my hands shook a bit when I put it into the DVD player. The opening scene held great promise, then the movie for me went down hill from there. I am certainly no movie critic. Give me a good story line which can either make me laugh or cry and I am usually happy.

I really really wanted this to be good. To me, the camera work was not stellar and the action either dragged or jerked from scene to scene with no cohesion. It had a few special moments but as much as I really wanted to like it, I couldn't. Somehow I feel a good film editor might have pulled it off. For me, it widely missed the mark. I felt sad for the story held promise.

This is a true story about a young high school baseball pitcher with college prospects. He has a severe stuttering problem and I do mean severe. His best friend has cerebral palsy and is wheel chair bound. They have been friends since childhood and together they seem to complete the other.This had the makings of a beautiful story.

Brian Dennehy, who is a personal favorite of mine, plays the ball players grandfather. I always liked his "teddy bear" appeal. Oddly all my old favorites are now grandfather types. Go figure.

There was one very good scene where Wheels is driving his electric wheel chair down the highway at night when the battery suddenly dies. He is stuck on the edge of the highway, unable to move. As headlights bear down on him, he raises his helpless hands in the air and whispers, "Don't kill me. Please don't kill me," over and over as car after car buzzes past him in the dark. I really felt his helplessness. That was the highlight of the film for me.

Now I hope I am not coloring my opinion of the movie due to the fact that even by playing the crowd scene frame by frame, I could see zero trace of me. Not a shirt sleeve and definitely no ear. There went my ear's 15 seconds of fame. My carefully scrubbed ear is somewhere on a cutting room floor.

I guess my lack of appearance is actually good. Now I don't have to buy a wad of the DVD's to send to family and friends and guilting them into watching a mediocre movie. See, if you look sharply enough, there is good even in disappointment. Hay, my glass is always half full.