Just sitting here relaxing for few minutes watching a little TV. Stumbled upon an old movie on the MGM channel - "the misfits" with Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. They're driving around the west in a great old Chrysler station wagon. Not sure of the year, but it's a beauty. Still on, and I'm sure the wagon will be making another appearance if you get a chance. Looks like a pretty good movie.
Great movie!!!:2_thumbs_up_-_anima It was Clark Gable's last movie - he died just a few weeks after filming was done. It was Marilyn Monroe's last completed movie. And co-star Montgomery Clift died only a few years later as well.
Directed by John Huston and written by Arthur Miller, Marilyn's husband at the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EckvMsLsfBM
The horses they round up become dog food.... not a great movie in my opinion. And that is coming from one of Marilyn's biggest fans. (Arthur Miller was a nutcase.) Better movies to watch would be "River of No Return", "Some like it Hot" or "Seven year itch".
Actually they had a change of heart and released the horses before the buyer arrived. Thats the part I liked. Also, it's alway interesting to watch a movie made in this era (early 60's). For the cars, but also for those of us who are old enough to remember, how truly different the world was then. When you see the wide open west in this movie, you can tell it was truly wide open. I think the US population was around 180 million in 1960, and now it's around 315 million. No wonder things have changed so much. The town I grew up in had a population of about 1000 throughout th 60s. Now I guess it's somewhere north of 5000. Doesnt sound like much but it makes a huge difference. When your town has about 1000 or less, you basically know everyone. The big difference in population probably has a lot to do with the current job situation. Years ago there was a lot of stuff that needed to get done, and not a lot of people to do it. Seemed like working almost any job you could afford a lot more (house, sometimes vacation homes, lots of land, etc.). I knew a lot of people with pretty crumby jobs that were still able to have a lot of stuff. And usually, it was on one income. It wasn't really until the 70's that women started working in huge numbers. I have nothing against women working, but I think it kind of backfired a little bit. It had less to do with women, but more to do with "the man" as they used to say. Before women entered the workforce in large numbers, "the man" had salaries set so that a single income could support a family. Once women started working more, "the man" adjusted wages so that two incomes were required to support a family. Think about it, in 1958 when a man applied for a job, it was pretty much assumed that his pay would need to be enough for the whole family. And a lot of basically low level jobs did exactly that - provided enough for the whole family. I remember factory workers, milk-delivery, gas pumpers, janitors etc making what appeared to be a decent living. By 1978 if a man applying for a job said he needed more money, he'd basically be told "tell your wife get a job". I'm pretty sure I've read that real-income growth peaked somewhere around 1973 and has been going down ever since. It's probably no coincidence thats around the same time women exploded in the job market. Maybe this is completely wrong, but that's the way I've always seen it. Basically the work-force doubled over a few years. How could that not depress wages? Again, I have nothing against woman's lib This was not their fault. It's more related to businesses taking advantage of the increased labor pool. And, you can't really blame them, it's just business. Its really just a numbers game in the end. The same reason the country is so different at about 180 mil (1960) and 315 mil. (today).
I too love watching the classic movies for the cars, and I love to see the way life was. As far as things changing, this is true, The west might have a few more folks living here, but take it from me, it is still Wide open. I can drive for miles and not see another person or structure.
