HIGHLA-L Digest - 9 Sep 2004 to 14 Sep 2004 (#2004-174)
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Tue, 14 Sep 2004 22:00:04 -0400
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Topics of the day:
1. Season Five dvd Commentary: Glory Days
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Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:45:51 -0400
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season Five dvd Commentary: Glory Days
Commentary w/screen captures at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/Season5/GloryDays.htm
COMMENTARY: Donna Lettow says that, over time, they tried to showcase
Jim as an actor, and not just the Watcher who provided data when the
plot required, and he handled it amazingly well. They had trouble
casting Joe’s girlfriend, Betsy – a “still beautiful woman in her late
40’s”, but Marcia Strasborg was inspired casting. It was interesting
that Joe Dawson didn’t have a problem with sharing the facts of his
disability with people he was meeting in the present, but he had a
tremendous difficulty doing it with those who knew him before he lost
his legs, unable to overcome the vigorous image of a star football player.
Jim Byrnes says he was approached by Abramowitz about the plot and was
delighted to do it because it was another opportunity to do more work
and expose another side of who Joe Dawson is. They confront the
disability issue in a very real way, and it was not difficult to play.
While you go through life and “do what you have to do” there comes a
time when you have to confront that you’re disfigured and “different”,
and how other people perceive that.
Donna says there are a lot of people who think the sixth season scene in
Armageddon is a special effect, that Jim Byrnes just has a limp, and are
amazed to find out that Jim (and Joe, in turn) has had such an obstacle
to overcome, and overcame it so well.
Jim says it is hard not to feel “somewhat diminished and broken” and
somewhat ashamed of a disability, even though you know it is not your
fault. You deal with it and overcome it, and the story is about finding
the strength to deal with it, and the episode was a nice way to deal
with it, with a love story.
Bill Panzer says Joe was the football hero, still stuck with that image
in his mind, but he finally realizes that this doesn’t matter to Betsy,
and then we find out that what is keeping them apart has nothing to do
with his legs, and “Wow, wouldn’t life have been different, it you had
just gone back and said, “Now I don’t have legs, do you still love me?””
But then, says Bill with a smile, maybe he wouldn’t be running Joe’s.
Jim says the episode is really about self-knowledge and self-respect. He
wanted to show the hurt, and that everyone at some point has to confront
their hurt, whether physical or emotional, look at the scar and ask what
that means and be able to be proud of it, rather than be ashamed of it.
Donna says “Glory Days” is very similar to “Timeless”, where Methos gets
a girlfriend. You can’t really make a show about a secondary character
getting a girlfriend. That has to be the “B” plot, so the whole Johnny
Kay plot was really just window dressing “around trying to get Joe’s
shirt off.”
Rex Raglan talked about finding an environment where there weren’t too
many non-period things. They went to the old part of town in Vancouver.
There are a lot of things in that alley they had to obscure and remove –
modern signage and modern lighting. Sometimes they removed them with
things that contributed to the set, like a big 20’s period billboard.
The rest is just smaller things, like period automobiles, keeping them
in a limited frame.
Bill Panzer says it was fun to write the song that plays while we watch
Johnny Kay prepare to assassinate someone, “Everything a Boy Should Be.”
The other time Bill wrote a song for Highlander was in Highlander 2,
when they were standing outside the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in the
pouring rain and Stuart Copeland, the composer said, “Where’s the
chant?” Bill says, “What chant?” Copeland said they had 95 voices in a
choir showing up in 15 minutes to sing the chant, and that Bill needed
to write it. So he took a yellow pad and wrote out “Um Ba Ga Wa, Oh Ba
Ga Wa” or whatever, Copeland used it and then told Bill he had to join
BMI to “get all these vast residuals that are going to pour in.”
For “Glory Days” Roger Bellon suggested that Bill write an original song
for the episode, and out of it came a song that was a counterpoint to
“what a little bum this character had turned into.” He enjoyed doing it
and he got his last royalty check for the last quarter from BMI a few
weeks before, for 47 cents, and it was great being in the music business.
OUTTAKES: We see an extended version of the scene between Joe and Betsy,
when Joe demands to know if his disability is why she is leaving. It is
done as a close up on Joe, and is a very good scene, movingly acted.
Then we see a number of takes of the “Go Long!” moment at the end of the
episode, as both actors seem to get into throwing a football around the set.
THE EPISODE: In the prologue, we see a man get out of a chauffer-driven
limousine, accompanied by a personal guard. Both them are shot down by a
weasely looking guy who is wearing an elaborate disguise. The assassin
changes his clothes, ending up looking like a teenager, and escapes on a
skateboard.
At Joe’s, Duncan is admiring a new band’s performance and chatting with
Joe, who is behind the bar, when in walks an attractive woman in her
40’s. Joe recognizes her as Betsy Fields, an old high school friend, and
Duncan makes some “wow” faces at Joe as Joe and she catch up. She is
anxious for them to get together privately to talk about old times, and
asks Joe to dinner, but Joe is reluctant. Duncan tries to help things
along by intervening when Joe makes an excuse about having to fix a beer
tap, and offers to go to a storage facility to pick up the required
parts and fix the tap. With Duncan having taken away his excuse to get
out of it, the date between Joe and Betsy is set and Betsy leaves.
Duncan is smug about Joe having an admirer, but Joe is irritated at
Duncan for intervening. He churlishly gives Duncan the keys to the
storeroom, telling Duncan grumpily to “Knock yourself out.” (Duncan,
muttering: “Ungrateful SOB.”)
The next day, Duncan is rummaging around in the storeroom, finding all
kinds of stuff, like a football, an electric train set, and old black
long-haired wig (Duncan, looking appalled: “I’m not even going to ask.”)
As Duncan is leaving with the parts and tools he had come to retrieve,
he feels the presence of another Immortal, pulls his sword, and lo and
behold, it is the assassin guy. Duncan recognizes him, looking less than
pleased.
FLASHBACK: New York, 1929, at the Puccini Appreciation Society (an
obvious mob hangout). Duncan is drinking, smoking cigars and playing
poker (see Chronicle entry at the end of the commentary). A kid comes
in, and Duncan gives him a curious look (Kid: “What?!” Duncan, casually:
“Nothing.”). Duncan asks about the kid, Johnny Kay, who is described as
a local nobody who hangs around doing errands, a wise-guy wannabe with a
smart mouth. One of the wiseguys leaves the game to have a smoke
outside, and as Johnny watches, gets gunned down. Later Duncan observes
Johnny lying to the police about what he saw. He takes Johnny aside,
telling him that it was a bad idea not to tell the police the truth
since the killers will know he talked to the police, and will assume he
told them anyway. But Johnny says he’s “no stool pigeon.” Duncan, in a
New York wiseguy accent: “You expecting some kinda promotion here?”
Johnny brags about how he’s going to be a big shot badass someday, but
Duncan tells him it doesn’t have to be like that for him, that he has
“much more of a future than you think.” But Johnny isn’t interested.
Instead, he goes to the mob boss that was responsible for the murder and
attempting to leverage what he saw into a job. Big surprise, the man
kills him instead. The body is dumped back by the :Pucchini Appreciation
Society doorstep, where Duncan feel the presence of an Immortal, and
leaves the ongoing game to find Johnny Kay in the alley. Duncan tells
Johnny about Immortals, and the rules, but Johnny rejects his advice and
his help, and says he doesn’t need a “toadsticker” (sword), that he’ll
just use a tommy gun.
In the present, Johnny is smug and asks Duncan, “Wanna try me,” but that
just makes Duncan chuckle. Johnny says he never had a teacher, that he
just watched a few pirate movies to learn what he needed to. Duncan, a
little sardonically, wishes him well and starts to leave, but Johnny
pulls a gun and shoots him and prepares to take his head, saying that in
his line of work, he can’t let anybody live who knows what he looks
like. Fortunately for Duncan, some biker-types arrive at the warehouse
and Johnny slips away rather than be seen by them. Duncan breaks into
Johnny Kay’s little warehouse stash of costumes and weapons, easily
figuring out Johnny’s “line of work.”
Back at the bar, Duncan is attempting to fix Joe’s beer tap, telling Joe
about Johnny. (Duncan: “He was a punk in ’29, and he’s still a punk
now.”) Duncan questions Joe about his lunch, and it turns out Joe broke
the date. It takes a drink and a little probing, but Joe tells Duncan
that, in high school, he and Betsy were “the football hero and the prom
queen”, playing all day and dancing all night. But Betsy doesn’t know
about his lost legs and Joe doesn’t want her to know. Duncan insists the
loss of his legs never stopped him before, but Joe is sad and bitter and
doesn’t want to deal with it. Duncan pushes him, telling him he *can*
handle it. Joe says no, but Duncan keeps pushing and pushing until Joe
agrees to call her (Joe, disgusted: “Scotsmen!”)
Joe and Betsy meet in the hotel lobby, Betsy notices his cane, asks, and
Joe tells her he lost his legs in Vietnam. She figures out why he hadn’t
called all those years ago, and when he tries to get out of dinner, she
refuses. They have a great time, and Betsy confesses that it was no
accident that she came into his bar, she had sought him out. He asks her
to dance, and they do, embracing and rocking slowly to the music.
Duncan tracks down Johnny Kay’s address, which is a dumpy little
trailer. While Duncan is there, Johnny calls. Duncan realizes something
is up, dashes out and the trailer explodes.
In Betsy’s hotel room, and Betsy makes a move on Joe, kissing him. Joe
is reluctant, but Betsy asks him if he wants it, and Joe acknowledges he
does, kisses her and… fade to black.
The next morning, a very cheerful Joe shoes up at the loft, where Duncan
is carefully avoiding standing in the windows. Johnny calls, and Duncan
offers him a proposition, to hire Johnny to not kill him. Johnny says it
will cost $200k, but Duncan offers him $100k, and agrees to meet him in
a church. Joe is amazed, but sure enuf he meets Johnny (using water from
the baptismal font to comb his hair), where Johnny brags about all the
people he’s killed. Duncan is disgusted, calling him a pathetic little
punk. When Johnny asks for his money, Duncan pats his pockets, and
offers him a quarter, and when Johnny threatens him, Duncan grabs him by
the throat and tells him if he won’t play by the rules, “Then we’ll play
another game, okay? Now run along, little man.”
As Johnny angrily leaves the church, yelling threats, he walks through a
bridal party, where we see Joe, snapping pictures. Later, as Johnny is
setting up some scam to assassinate some new victim, a truck drives by
with Johnny’s picture on it, saying “Have you seen this man?” The poster
is being put up all over town.
At the loft, Duncan is putting together Joe’s train set, cheerfully
singing to himself, when Johnny calls to tell him he’s going to kill him
(again). “Took over 70 years, but you’re finally famous,” Duncan
response cheerily. “I hope you appreciate it.”
Betsy shows up at Joe’s, saying that she had to leave unexpectedly. Joe
is deflated, and goes to see Duncan, who is busy wiring phones and
puttering around with electronics. Joe tells Duncan about Betsy leaving,
saying he should have known, that he is damaged goods. Duncan insists
that he talk to her, that he ask her why she’s leaving, and says it’s
dangerous hanging around the loft at the moment.
At the hotel, Joe gives Betsy a gift of a broach, and confesses he
figures she’s leaving because of his legs. She starts to cry, and tells
him it’s because she’s married, and that it was a good marriage, but
that she’d always loved him and when she found out where he was, she
couldn’t resist seeing him again.
Johnny Kay is perched on a rooftop across from the loft, aiming at a
shadow crossing back and forth in front of a window. He calls Duncan to
get him to stop by the phone, Duncan answers, Johnny shoots and the
shadow falls. Johnny prepares to run over to take Duncan’s head, except,
of course, it wasn’t really Duncan. It was a manikin with that ugly wig
of Joe’s cleverly being moved back forth by the train set. Duncan finds
Johnny on the rooftop, they fight, and Johnny hides, runs, uses a taser,
etc., but it all comes down to swordsmanship in the end, and we know who
wins that battle (and delicately shakes the blood of his blade when he’s
done). The Quickening messes up a lot of cars, but doesn’t look nearly
as painful as most.
The next morning, Duncan is packing up the train set to take back to the
warehouse, when Joe drops by. He says he thought the risk of a
relationship was all his, but he was wrong, that Betsy was the one who
took the risk, that she’s still in love with him. “I guess it must be
the beard,” Duncan jokes affectionately. Joe picks up the football that
Duncan had brought from the warehouse, for (as he says) no particular
reason. Joe fondles the ball, looks up with a smile and says, “Go long,
MacLeod.”
“Yeah?” Duncan asks with a crooked grin.
“Oh, yeah!” Joe answers, and completes a pass.
MY COMMENTS: This is really Joe’s show, and there are some very nice
moments between him and Betsy, who is played very well and quite
believably. The plot is hardly Dickensian, but it is really good to see
Joe take center stage. One small, interesting note was that we had
Duncan giving Joe relationship advice, mostly not to assume anything,
and to not let opportunity pass him by.
The whole Johnny Kay thing was pretty silly. The most that can be said
about it is that Duncan seemed to really enjoy taking Johnny down, and
we saw a foreshadowing of MacGuyver!MacLeod that we eventually see in
Black Tower, another of my less-than-favorite episodes. Duncan was
rather arrogantly confident about his ability to take Johnny Kay, except
of course that Johnny initially almost took his head because Duncan
assumed that he would play by the rules. Foolish boy.
There were no real special, ringing moments of truth. No great character
revelations. I can’t say this episode is real high on my list, but
neither is there anything about it that I find really bothersome (except
Joe’s hair).
MacGeorge
Chronicle Entry, September 1929
New York City, New York
We’ve got a couple of days in New York before our steamer leaves for
England. MacLeod’s been having trouble moving his import shipments
through New York – key items going missing on the docks. Seems that
longshoremen are under the power of a mob boss called Big Gino. Most
businessmen, hearing that, would move their shipping to another port.
Not MacLeod – he went down to the docks demanding to see the Boss
yesterday. He’s still there in the Puccini Society building involved in
some test of manhood involving copious amounts of contraband liquor,
Cuban cigars, and poker with Big Gino and his boys. I don’t know what
the rules are, but I’m guessing if he survives this endurance test,
MacLeod’s freight moves untouched – except for Big Gino’s cut, of
course. Little does Big Gino know that when it comes to endurance, he
and his boys don’t stand a shot against MacLeod.
Bill Lipscomb
All episode commentaries at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/indexframeset.htm
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 9 Sep 2004 to 14 Sep 2004 (#2004-174)
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