Bugsy and info on a new novel

 My father sparked my interest in science fiction. The first movie I saw in the theater was Forbidden Planet. Over time we watched The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits on TV, and The Andromeda Strain and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the theaters. This interest led me to write a sci-fi novel:

Galloper’s Quests, based on Gulliver’s Travels, begins in 2079. Navy Captain Samuel Galloper is a scientist who continually seeks answers about the mysteries of the universe. The military only temporarily quieted his feverish mind through its regimented ways. Galloper invents a propulsion system that transforms matter into energy and can open wormholes. However, the military wants to steal his work and use it to wage war. So, Galloper decides to prevent the perversion of his invention by leaving Earth on a journey through the cosmos. He visits three planets whose inhabitants exhibit very different ways of dealing with life. He becomes involved in the armed conflict between two of the planets. Along the way he befriends aliens and a witty robot. He falls in love with an extraterrestrial who might know more about humanity than Galloper does. As Galloper nears the end of his quests, he must weigh the risks of returning to Earth. Will his invention fall into the wrong hands? Will anyone believe his story about his intergalactic travels? What fate awaits his new love if she goes with him?

https://www.amazon.com/Gallopers-Quests-Fall-Earth-Destiny/dp/B0DRTBVDM6/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_

 

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

As in other gangster movies, the hoodlum in Bugsy (1991) has a family life that he tries to keep separate from his unlawful activities. Bugsy Siegel (Warren Beatty) has a wife and two children, who appear in the first shot of the film. Later he has a birthday party for his daughter which Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) and his associates invade. As Sigel dashes back and forth between his family and his business associates, that scene shows how the private life and the gangster world can’t be kept apart. When he has a new home with Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), he again can’t segregate parts of his life as she insists on riding with him when he secretly plans to eliminate Harry Greenberg (Elliott Gould), his best friend, for testifying against Siegel’s partner Lucky Luciano (Bill Graham).

We discover immediately by Siegel’s interest in clothes, sun lamps, and facials that he is focused on appearance, which includes his name. He chastises a male shopper that “Bugsy” refers to a creature that crawls in the dirt. It’s lowly, which is not what he thinks of himself. His name is Benjamin, which he reminds others is in the Bible. He wants to be revered, but he is hardly compatible with anything biblical. He also uses women for sex and then discards them, which adds to his self-involved personality. Underneath that fashionable appearance is a man who has no trouble killing a worker who he believes has been stealing from him, and his partners, Luciano and Lansky. We have here the theme of how surface appearance differs from the truth beneath the façade. That Beatty is a handsome fellow adds to this point.

Siegel’s friend, George Raft, who played gangsters in the movies, and Siegel go to the studio where they are shooting a film called “Manpower,” which is appropriate for the crime genre. So, we have a gangster film within a gangster film, thus stressing the appeal for outlaws as independent rebels in the American society. Siegel’s affinity for movie making is evident when he quickly checks himself out in a mirror on the set, making sure that his appearance is pleasing and audience friendly. The headline in a local newspaper stresses the fantasy versus reality of criminal life when it asks in a headline if Siegel is a gangster or a movie star. He even films a scene of himself saying Raft’s lines in the movie “Manpower,” and then plays it back in his new house. So, we have an actor (Beatty) playing a gangster watching himself play an actor pretending to be a gangster. Quite a meshing of fiction and true life.

Siegel buys a home from an opera singer living in Hollywood on the spot with $60,000 he carries around with him in a leather bag. He does the same when he sees a car that he wants. That idea that you can get what you want without restriction is attractive to the American capitalist audience.

On the movie set he meets Virginia, who has a much stronger will than the females Siegel is used to meeting. He tries to put the moves on her and is frank about being married. She tells him he is a smooth talker, but “dialogue is cheap in Hollywood, Ben. Why don’t you run outside and jerk yourself a soda.” She wittily reverses the “soda jerk” phrase and cuts him down to size by saying he should choose that lowly profession.

In a meeting with LA crime boss Jack Dragna (Richard Sarafian), Siegel says either Dragna joins him and his gangster friends in the crime operation or Dragna must shoot him, and he hands Dragna his gun. The impression is that Siegel lives up to the name “Bugsy” because he acts crazily. Siegel wastes no time in getting what he wants. He explains his philosophy of grabbing what he desires when he says, “Time is vicious when you take it for granted.”

Siegel is a complex character. His desire to break American laws is offset by his patriotic enthusiasm. He tells Raft that Mussolini is “Hitler’s partner. He’s our mortal enemy,” and he does not tolerate anyone being in the United States who consorts with the country’s enemies. He actually hatches a pan to get close to the Italian fascist to kill him. When he finds out fellow Italians killed the dictator, Siegel is upset, because he wanted to commit the act, and now he can’t add that item to his list of ego-building accomplishments.

He wins Virginia over, but she knows that they will cause each other grief. That’s because, she says, they are both selfish. She says, “we both want whatever we want whenever we want it, and we both want everything.” Given that premise, they start a passionate love-hate relationship. There is jealousy about her sexual past, which is a double standard given his promiscuity.

Siegel’s sociopathic nature is evident as he confronts Dragna about stealing from him. He yells like a maniac, threatens to kill him, plays Russian roulette, and makes Dragna crawl like a pig. He then calmly eats his dinner, only to be seduced by the turned-on Virginia, who shows her own deviance by getting excited by Siegel acting like a lunatic.

Speaking of crazy people, Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel), the head of the LA mob scene, makes a deal with Siegel reluctantly. They go to Las Vegas to check out a rundown place that has a few slot machines that bring in some money. After getting into an argument with Virginia, he gets out of the car, walks into the desert, and gets his epiphany about turning Vegas into a gambling mecca. (IMDb notes that the original idea for turning Vegas into a casino town belonged to Billy Wilkerson, a gambler, Siegel became his partner and then took over the operation).

Despite his wacky personality, Siegel has vision. He explains to Lansky how Nevada allows gambling and if they make it hospitable with a large, luxurious hotel, and add all the elements that a city possesses, like schools and a church, then they will be able to control the city. His ambitions are grand, as he says that after controlling the city, they can control the state, and then have a big say in who is President. He even counters Lansky’s argument about concentrating on Cuba when Siegel says a foreign country can kick you out. That foreshadowing is realized in The Godfather, Part II. Lansky is the voice of reality, trying to reign in Siegel’s off-the-rails behavior, such as trying to assassinate Mussolini. Lansky also alerts Siegel to the fact that the alure of stardom, which feeds Siegel’s narcissism, conflicts with the gangster life, where one doesn’t want to draw attention to the illegal activities being perpetrated.

Siegel eventually wins over even the practical Lansky as he plans his oasis, his “Eden” in the desert, in the form of the Flamingo Hotel. His imagination is grandiose as he says about costs, “Did they ask Michelangelo what it would cost to paint the Sistine Chapel? Did they ask Shakespeare what it would cost to write MacBeth?” Of course comparing the building of a hotel-casino in Las Vegas to immortal works of art shows how egotistical Siegel is.

Siegel’s volatile nature is on display as he contemplates suicide after killing Greenberg. Virginia saves him by getting the gun and shooting it six times to empty the pistol of bullets. Because Virginia’s ex, Joey Adonis (Lewis Van Bergen) calls Virginia a whore, Siegel savagely beats the man, while still checking out how he looks in a window. It’s like Mr. Hyde wanting to keep up appearances as Dr. Jekyll. 

A taxi driver testifies that he dropped Greenburg at Siegel’s house the day Greenburg was killed. So, Siegel is arrested for the homicide. His accommodations in a private jail are plush, with gourmet food and telephone at his disposal which shows how much leverage he has even in prison. Siegel is more concerned about appearances again, saying a photo in the newspaper made him look pale, despite his tanning routines.

The cost of the Flamingo soars, and in his divorce settlement Siegel gave much of his wealth to his wife and children. He must cash in all his assets, including his Hollywood home, to finance the hotel. Virginia has been running the project while Siegel is incarcerated. Siegel gets out after Cohen prevents the taxi driver from testifying in the homicide trial. Siegel’s reckless spending alienates him from Lansky and Luciano.

Siegel tries to get Virginia to fly on separate occasions. She is brash and strong, but she has a deathly dear of flying. Her aversion to getting in a soaring plane may suggest that, despite her ambitiousness, she can’t join Siegel on his grandiose level of reckless daring. But back on earth, on solid ground, she is an aggressive schemer. Cohen tells Siegel that she stole two million from Siegel and put it in a Swiss bank account. Siegel mentions this information when she is jealous of his asking a possible female employee if she likes flying. She accuses Siegel of looking for a new girlfriend. The argument between them leads to Virginia leaving him.

Lansky sums up Siegel’s character when he tells Luciano, in exile in Cuba, and fellow gangsters that Siegel has no business ability because he doesn’t respect the cost of things. It isn’t money he is interested in but making something real from one of his ideas. Lansky says, “He is a dreamer.” These words make one think that if he was more stable emotionally and not a gangster, Siegel could have accomplished a great deal given his imagination and drive.

However, these are hardened criminals only interested in the bottom line, like most big businessmen. Luciano knows about the money in the Swiss account and suggests Siegel is behind it. Siegel also has overspent and oversold investments in the hotel which will tank the whole enterprise if the Flamingo is unsuccessful. It seems fate is working against Siegel, since on opening day there is a powerful rainstorm, in the desert of all places, which means that although it is Christmas, Siegel’s stocking comes up empty. But he has faith and tells Lansky on the phone not to sell his shares in the Flamingo.

Lansky says Siegel must fly to LA that evening. Siegel suspects that he is in trouble but asks Lansky not to involve Virginia in his failures. He is willing to take all the responsibility to protect her. In a sort of ironic play on the last scene in Casablanca, Virginia shows up at the airport with the two million dollars, but Siegel tells her to save it for a rainy day, which is funny because it is raining, and he needs help now. She is even willing to join him on the flight in the dangerous weather, which shows her love for him. Her just offering to help him is enough for Siegel.

Lansky said he would “handle it” if the casino didn’t look like a success. The assumption is that he follows through. Bullets riddle Siegel’s house as he watches his bad screen test. He is killed as the Hollywood-like dream of his fails which is suggested by the shots destroying his video equipment.

The gangsters tell the devastated Virginia that Siegel is dead and they are taking over the Flamingo. Endnotes state that Virginia returned the money to Lansky. However, she couldn’t live without Siegel and committed suicide. Siegel’s advice to Lansky was right. Las Vegas has become a huge money-maker. The last shot of the film shows the Las Vegas strip lit up with an abundance of hotel-casinos. Siegel’s dream came true, but his dangerous life denied him the chance to see it.

Rain Man

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

The title of this 1988 Oscar-winning best film clues us into the main theme of this story. Tom Cruise’s Charlie Babbitt says that when he was scared as a child he had a pretend friend, the Rain Man, who would sing to him so he would feel safe. That imaginary friend turns out to be a brother of whom he was unaware existed. His name is Raymond (Dustin Hoffman, winning his second Oscar). The discrepancy between the two names points to the importance of communication being necessary between individuals to understand each other, which allows them to be emotionally connected.

The movie opens with the unloading of Lamborghini sports cars at a shipping dock. During this sequence, and later in the film, the music sounds primitive, with a predominance of percussion. It feels tribal, which goes along with the theme of the importance of bringing family members together. The initial image foreshadows the importance of the car road trip that will occur later, and presents something, in this case an automobile, which establishes a bond between relatives. Charlie became estranged from his father when he took the family Buick Roadmaster convertible, against his dad’s wishes, to celebrate with friends after getting a good report card. His father, a man who passed on his difficulty showing love to his offspring, knew that his son took the car, but reported it stolen, and let Charlie stay in jail for two days. Charlie left home after that incident, so it is ironic that the automobile which was pivotal in the initial family break up is now the vehicle that brings the two brothers together.

The film quickly establishes Charlie as a man cut off from others, someone who does not listen or communicate well with those he encounters. He is in a financial bind trying to negotiate between the buyers of the sports cars, the institution which lent him the money to acquire the Lamborghinis, and the Environmental Protection Agency holding up emissions approval. He says to one of the parties on the phone, “Don’t tell me that, ‘cause I’m not even listening.” Instead of being straightforward with the various parties, he uses lies to delay dealing with his problems. 

This lack of communication carries into his personal life. He has been involved for quite a while with one of his employees, Susanna (Valeria Golino). It is significant that his romantic partner is an Italian who, although speaking English well, symbolizes Charlie’s lack of wanting someone with whom to converse, and thus become close to. For example, when he relates the story of his father and the Buick, she does not understand the phrase “pulled over” by the police, and he must try to clarify it. As the couple drives to a getaway spot, she complains that he hasn’t said anything for quite a while. He is annoyed about this topic being brought up again, so we realize that this lack of communication is an ongoing concern of Susanna’s. She wants him to share what he is thinking. She says consider talking to be “foreplay,” which means it would add depth to their sexual intimacy.

 During their drive, Charlie receives a call telling him that his father died. He is unemotional, ending the conversation with, “Is there anything else?” as if the fact of his dad’s passing was just another item on his “to do” list. He takes Susanna with him to Cincinnati, but leaves her in the car at the gravesite. He is only interested in the will, and when he says he will be having a short meeting with the lawyer, she says, sure, she can wait in the car, which symbolizes how the physical distance at which he keeps her mirrors the emotional one he has established between them. In the will, his father says he understood why Charlie left, but did not forgive him for never trying to get in touch again. He rants at the lawyer, asking was he listening to what was written in the will. The lawyer tellingly asks, “Were you?” Again, Charlie does not pay attention to what someone is saying, in this case his father, who obviously revealed in his words how hurt he was by his son’s continued estrangement. After he becomes angry that his father only left him the roses in the home’s garden and the Buick, he confides to Susanna about the story surrounding the Roadmaster, telling her that his mother died when he was two years old, so it was just him and his father. She is amazed that after being together for some time, he has never shared the stories surrounding these traumatic events.

But, his primary concern is the inheritance and his investigation reveals that his father’s three million dollars is held in a trust administered by a Dr. Bruner (Gerald R. Molen), who runs a hospital for the mentally challenged. While Charlie tries to make a deal with Bruner, Raymond enters the story because he recognizes the Buick. When Charlie arrives on the scene, Raymond can recite all types of facts about the car and its owner. Charlie learns from Bruner that he has a brother, who is autistic. The movie was pioneering in publicizing autism, and how those with this condition need rituals, routines and a static environment to provide a sense of protection. If these become disrupted, the person is terrified. Raymond calls one of the attendants, Vern (Michael D. Roberts), his “main man” whenever his world appears threatened, as it does when Charlie and Susanna handle his things. Susanna says she tried to touch Raymond, but he pulled away in alarm. Vernon explains that he has known Raymond for nine years and doesn’t even like the caregiver touching him, and, if he left, Raymond would probably not even register concern about Vernon being gone. He says that people were not Raymond’s first priority. He cares more about his baseball cards, books, and TV programs. Bruner says Raymond has trouble communicating. So, in a strange way, these two brothers are similar. They both have difficulty with listening, communicating, and being able to deal with emotions because of their inability to connect with others. Director Barry Levinson stresses this similarity between the two by cutting to Charlie’s face as we are told about Raymond’s condition.

Charlie basically kidnaps his brother, using Bruner’s concern for Raymond as a bargaining chip to negotiate a deal to receive part of the inheritance. He seems quite cold toward his brother at first, removing him from his protected environment, and is short-tempered with Raymond concerning his idiosyncrasies. When Susanna realizes Raymond’s removal from the hospital was not with Bruner’s approval and how Charlie shows a lack of concern for Raymond’s well-being, she becomes angry. He says that she doesn’t know what he is going through, which she agrees because, again, he doesn’t say anything. He tells her he needs her, but, because of his inability to deal with feelings, she says he doesn’t need anyone, and leaves in disgust. (Little incidents continue to show Charlie’s lack of listening – when all three are in the hotel room, Charlie says he is ordering a pizza. Susanna says no peperoni, and Charlie ignores her and orders the pizza with the topping).

Charlie’s plan is to fly to California to his home, and try to get custody of Raymond. Raymond throws a fit at the airport because he recites all the crashes that have occurred, providing the dates of the accidents. (Bruner had said that Raymond is a savant. Although he has mental deficiencies, he has amazing memory and mathematical skills. He is able to memorize the phone book to the middle of the “G” section in one night in the hotel, can immediately count over two hundred toothpicks that fall on the floor of a restaurant, and solve complex arithmetic problems). So, Charlie has to take his brother in the family Buick, which allows them the time to bond. Because Raymond has problems listening and talking, Charlie gets a dose of his own medicine. Along the way, Raymond’s way of saying “Oh, oh” whenever something doesn’t go according to his routine, or announcing the countdown to when Judge Wapner will be on TV, although at first infuriating Charlie, eventually make Raymond funny and endearing.

The turning point that brings these two together emotionally occurs at one of their motel stops (funny that Rain Man can’t travel in the rain). Raymond reveals that he sang for Charlie when he was young, and his brother called him Rain Man. He gives Charlie a photograph of when his brother was a child. Raymond starts to sing the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There,” and the brothers begin to harmonize, musically and emotionally. When Charlie turns on the hot water in the tub, Raymond has a tantrum and reveals that he accidentally burned a baby, which Charlie realizes was himself when he was a baby. He concludes that was why they sent Raymond to live elsewhere. When Charlie says he is now alright, Raymond affectionately, although awkwardly, pats his brother on his head, making physical contact, repeating, “Never hurt Charlie Babbitt,” and allowing an emotional connection to begin between the siblings. Whereas at the beginning of their journey, they couldn’t even communicate about what to eat for breakfast, Charlie now begins to take care of his brother, making sure he gets what he wants, such as having his bed near the window, eating his cheese balls, watching his favorite television shows, and even tucking him in at night.

Charlie uses Raymond’s abilities to count cards in Las Vegas, and wins enough money to escape his financial situation. He is grateful to have a brother who has bailed him out. He gets them the high roller suite, and places his brother’s bed next to a panoramic set of windows. But, when he tries to hug Raymond, he responds with an agitated yell and a pushing away, showing that there is no easy solution to Raymond’s condition. However, Charlie is now more in touch with his emotions, and able to start to communicate his wants. He calls Susanna, and expresses desire for her to return, which she does.

When they arrive in Los Angeles, Charlie realizes that he doesn’t care about the inheritance anymore. He has made an emotional connection with a brother he did not know existed and wants custody of Raymond. But, he realizes that it is dangerous for Raymond to live in his house when his brother causes a toaster oven to smoke, setting off an alarm, which causes Raymond to become terrified to the point where he bangs his head against a glass door. When a psychiatrist (director Barry Levinson) examines Raymond, it becomes obvious that the latter is confused about where he should live. Charlie concedes the custody battle. But, when alone with Raymond, he tells him he likes having him for his brother. In a clear action of emotional connection, Raymond leans his head against his brother’s forehead. He also starts to substitute Charlie for his caregiver, Vern, by calling his brother “my main man.” Raymond goes on a train to return to the Ohio hospital, but Charlie promises to visit him in two weeks.

When Raymond would come into a new setting he defaulted to the ritual of repeating Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s on First” comedy routine. Charlie tells his brother it’s not a riddle to be solved that will provide a solution to Raymond’s problem. He says it’s supposed to be funny, and if his brother would understand that, maybe he could get well. Raymond always said there had to be syrup on the table before pancakes arrived. Toward the end of the film, Charlie surprises him at a restaurant counter with the topping before the flapjacks are delivered. Raymond, for the first time laughs, and says, “Charlie Babbitt made a joke.” At the train station, Bruner asks if he is happy with his K-Mart clothing. Raymond repeats Charlie’s line, “K-Mart sucks.” Charlie says. “Hey, Ray. You just made a joke.” To which his brother responds, “Yeah, a joke, Ha, ha, ha, ha.” Because he now can appreciate the interactive joy of humor, maybe Raymond, just like his now socially connected brother, is on his way to a more emotional life.

The next film is The Prince of Tides.