It was the beginning of summer 2004, and I was at Mom's in Duarte, enjoying the peace of her home, the comfort of her large chair, while watching the 1964 Burt Lancaster movie, titled The Train, co-starring Paul Scofield, another favorite actor of mine. The two actors paired up again in a thrilling, 1973 spy movie, called Scorpio.
While enjoying the 1964 Lancaster movie,
Charlen and John pulled up at the curb outside, leaving enough room for the mailman to scoot his jeep up to the mailbox for his early-afternoon deliveries. A few minutes of anticipation grew before they stepped
through the door. John saw the television screen and immediately called out,
"Ah, The Train." And it kind of took me by surprise because here I
was thinking that the movie was a bit of a cult classic, directed by John
Frankenheimer and all. But no, John knew the film, and probably if I pressed him could have rattled off the entire list of actors including the director's name. He had such a great memory. Will never forget the time I was in South Carolina with him, Charlen, and family for Kevin's wedding. And we drove across a terrific bridge, probably the Grace Memorial Bridge that crossed and overlooked the Cooper River [the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge didn't open until 2005] to find a restaurant that served bloomin' onions. And a few minutes after we were seated in a quaint place with lots of good-sized windows and sunlight that afforded a beautiful view of the bay, the topic of school and learning came up and John delivered by rote memory, not missing a beat, what seemed like a 50-word list of all the prepositions in the English language. Stunned. I thought where did he learn that? So it was no wonder that he knew with such familiarity the movie, The Train. And why wouldn't he? It was from his era.
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