Rambling Over Movies

Yesterday afternoon I was flipping back and forth between Rambo: First Blood and On the Waterfront. I suppose they're the same in that each features a man struggling against a corrupt system, be it racketeering unions or small-town cops a little too full of themselves.

Rambo: First Blood was almost finished when I came in, as Rambo was making his way back to town in the army truck, and I was struck by how, as he smashes through the police car barring the way, the music is a rather triumphant score. "Look at our hero break through, no one can stop him, isn't it great?" It's a bit strange considering these are cops he's breaking through. I know he received a raw deal from the cops in town, but I figured these were probably highway patrol, rather than part of the sheriff's department. They were just doing their job. I remember watching it sometime earlier as part of AMC's DVD on TV thing, and there being a blurb about how the book did a much better job of showing Rambo was as much in the wrong as the sheriff.

It's the same problem (albeit not to the same extent) I have the more I watch the Matrix and realize that Neo and the rest kill an awful lot of people whose only crimes are to be unaware they're living in the Matrix. The security guards in the building Morpheus was held don't know what his deal is; they do know two people in leather with a ton of guns just walked in, and it's their job not to allow such things. So they get shot. I know those folks could become deadly Agents at any moment*, but it seems unnecessarily cold.

As to On the Waterfront, I'd never seen it before, and wasn't sure if it would work for me. Something about how the description specifically mentioned "racketeering" made me wonder if it would feel dated, where I'd be unable to relate. I needn't have worried. I didn't catch all of it, as it was already 30 minutes in when I found it, and the next 20 minutes I was switching between it and Rambo taking the town apart, but I was impressed with what I saw. Watching Terry struggle with what the right thing to do is, weighed against the woman he cares about, and his brother, and his livelihood. I felt the Father came on too strong when trying to convince Terry to testify. Too often, when terry worries about what he owes his brother, the Father makes some comment to the effect Charlie isn't worth a damn, and much better men than Charlie have lost their lives to Johnny Friendly's tactics. Seems to me if the person you're trying to convince to help you cares about his brother, badmouthing said brother isn't going to get him on your side. I'm an only child, but if some priest talked shit about my best friend, he would be seriously mistaken if he expected any help from me.

Still, I was impressed with how well the Father held up when lamenting Dugan's death, imploring the workers to realize how they were being used by Friendly, even as those same workers pelted him with stuff and shouted threats. I'll have to watch it the whole way through sometime.

* That's something I'm not clear on. A person in the Matrix becomes an Agent. What happens to the person? It seems as though they're overwritten by the Agent's program, so is that undone once the Agent isn't needed there? Or does the Agent continue to overwrite the person until the "body" in the Matrix is destroyed? Once overwritten, is the person brain dead, because that seems like it wouldn't make them as effective of a generator, so they'd likely be disposed of.