Zona Sage and Paul Camera: Progression, But Not Fast Enough

Sharpen your knife, go back in the past, and slice off any section. It all says something. Everything is significant, every mote of dust on the microfiche slide. We flip to San Francisco. We look at a woman named Zona Sage. In 1970, Zona Sage is a 25 year-old law student at Hastings College of… Continue reading Zona Sage and Paul Camera: Progression, But Not Fast Enough

Long-Forgotten G.I. Coffeehouses: Hotbeds of Anti-War Dissent

In this age of freely flowing words–often too many of them–it’s hard to imagine a day when conversation actually had to be nurtured. During the Vietnam War, anti-war activists had far fewer avenues of discussion available than today: no Twitter, blogs, YouTube, or social media. Self-publication was largely confined to mimeographed newspapers. Vietnam anti-war activism… Continue reading Long-Forgotten G.I. Coffeehouses: Hotbeds of Anti-War Dissent

Brute Force (1947): Hume Cronyn’s Sadistic Prison Boss Makes the Movie

I came to Brute Force (1947) for Burt Lancaster but left with Hume Cronyn. Having seen Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success many years ago, I got on a Burt Lancaster kick and never quite left it. Because Sweet Smell… is just so damn good. It’s tough, cynical, it’s mean, it’s all New York-y. That movie,… Continue reading Brute Force (1947): Hume Cronyn’s Sadistic Prison Boss Makes the Movie