No Worms

Autumn is my favorite time of year, so I figured that it's about time I told y'all about one of my favorite movies. Rocket Gibraltar. What's so special about this movie are all of the different components. For example, there are the intricate family dynamics centered around a dying grandfather's birthday. There are many wonderful 'joys of life' that come into the film: favorite books (Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire"), favorite artwork (Jackson Pollack), favorite movies (Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire).
Not to mention comedy. I think this was one of Kevin Spacey's first movies, and his character Dwayne Hanson, is quiet but excellent. One of my favorite scenes is when he comes home from the grocery store and spots his brother in law, played by John Glover, lounging on a float in the pool while doing paperwork. Spacey waits, glares at the oblvious Glover, then asks Glover what his favorite Pepperidge Farm cookie is. "Milano." Glover drawls. Spacey then grabs the box of cookies out of the bag, throws it at Glover and yells out, "Here catch." Then watches as his brother in law flails into the pool. Classic.
This movie also holds one of the best narratives thanks to Burt Lancaster. He is tired of the big ta-doo that his kids are making over his birthday, so he gathers all of the grandkids around him and tells them about the Vikings. Sadly I could not find it on the net, but it's mesmerizing. He reveals to them that the one thing he truly wants for his birthday is a Viking funeral. A boat is pushed off into the ocean, the dead's family gathers on the shore and makes a bonfire, then shoots arrows at the sails of the boat. It will burn all night and you know that the person lived a good life if the fire from the boat matches the colors of the setting sun.

Of course, one scene from the movie that I will forever take with me is a six year old Macaulay Culkin running across the yard with a can of gasoline in his arms....
Won't you watch this movie for me this season?