Our burning question of the week was asking about your all-time favorite movie. For me, it’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. That became my favorite movie probably in the mid-70s. Before that however, by far my most favorite movie ever was Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.
When I was about six, I remember going to my grandmother’s house (my dad‘s mom) up in Santa Monica. She had a big black and white TV console in her living room. Channel 11 used to play old monster movies on Saturday afternoons and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman was on. on. I had enjoyed the original Frankenstein, and then, of course, The Bride of Frankenstein but I had never seen this one before. (Note: If these movies were made today, they would have been simply called Frankenstein, Frankenstein II, and this would have been Frankenstein III)
I loved it. It had my two favorite monsters, which were of course, Frankenstein‘s monster, and the Wolfman starring Lon Chaney Jr. I only saw about the last half of it, and I wanted more than anything to see the whole thing. From that moment on, whenever I would look through the TV Guide, which we would pick up every week at the grocery store, I would try to find that movie. If I did find it, I would ask my dad if I could watch it and he always said no.
Finally, one day I said, “Hey dad, guess what movies on this Thursday?”
Dad: “Let me guess. Frankenstein Meets the WolfAss.”
That was my clue to leave him alone. It happened a lot growing up. I never brought up the movie again.
Now fast forward to 1987. This is when all of us were using VHS tapes. I was stationed overseas and there was a store back in the States which you could mail order VHS tapes. I managed to find Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. I quickly ordered it and it came in about four weeks later.
Watching it with my now, adult eyes, I realized how silly and hokey that whole movie was. Frankenstein‘s monster was played by Bela Lugosi, who you probably remember from the Dracula movies. It wasn’t the same. The sets were poorly constructed, and the whole thing looks like a low budget picture. I was disappointed. Now ironically, right about the time my dad told me I couldn’t watch Frankenstein meets the WolfAss, we all went to watch 2001 A Space Odyssey at the drive-in. It was the second feature and I made it through about the first 20 minutes, which involve these fake looking monkeys, which obviously were humans dressed in a monkey suit hitting each other with dinosaur bones. And then it suddenly jumped to modern times in outer space and that’s when I fell asleep. It seemed like a stupid movie.
However, right about the time I watched Frankenstein meets the WolfAss in 1987, I rewatched 2001 A Space Odyssey. I couldn’t believe the depths of that movie. It was so well-made, that you didn’t know if it was science fiction, a metaphor, or simply a good movie. Then, after re-watching it last year, I think the movie is finally ready for today’s audience. It’s a warning about AI. It’s almost like it took 50+ years to ripen.
How do you explain why a movie that thoroughly entertained me as a child would look so silly as an adult and vice versa? I think it’s because we all change as we age. Our tastes change, but also our maturity level changes. Even though we’re really focusing on movies this week, have you found that things in your career have changed over time? Important things when you were younger are probably not nearly as pressing as other things.
And my first job out of the Navy, my company had a good 401(k) that gave you for 3% match and you’d be vested in about two years, I think. This was great if you were a little bit older, but some of our younger employees that were struggling to feed a small growing family wouldn’t work there because they needed income. They weren’t worried about the future then. I’m quite certain, 20+ years later, they are regretting having walked from that opportunity.
This week, think about how your tastes have changed over the years. If something that you’ve enjoyed suddenly doesn’t seem as exciting to you, I think that that’s normal. I find myself now gravitating from business articles, to things that involve hobbies and subjects that I am more interested now at my current age.
Maybe the lesson this week is that it’s OK to grow up. It’s OK to have changing tastes. It’s OK not to like the things that we used to like, and it’s just fine to take a new interest in the things that you never thought you would find intriguing.
What do you think?