As a child my mother refused to let us have anything from a gum machine. She was convinced that we would catch all manner of diseases: chicken pox, tuberculosis, leprosy, you name it. So every now and then I get a gum ball and secretly feel the urge to call her. Don't get me started on the pernicious palomino next to the gum machine which we were not allowed to ride.
My local video store has an interesting gimmick. A great big gum ball machine sits near the front door and if you happen to get the color of the day then you win a free rental.
A few weeks ago I won a free rental and decided to get the 1979 Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine film Being There.
It's a must see for nothing else than to witness Shirl on the floor masterbating. Yes, you read that correctly.
This was Sellers' last film and I must say that it gives me a new interest in his acting. He plays the role of a simple man who is forced into the world after the owner of an estate where he lived dies. He is a gardener at the home and had never been out side of the garden walls up until this point. Shirley MacLaine's limo backs into him on the street and before you know it he is living with her and giving financial advice to the president through garden vernacular. It could happen.
I decided to get the novella it's based on by Jerzy Kosinski to read on the plane last week. It's a simple yet insightful read.
You gotta love that hair in her photo above!
The Peter Sellers marathon continues next with Lolita.
4 comments:
I love Peter Sellers. I only once saw Being There however.
I may have to revisit.
I just wish Netflix would have a gumball machine, though.
Being There is some sort of masterpiece. As is Lolita, though a far cry from the book. Shelley Winters is great in it!
You were right. Shelley was brilliant in the film. How convenient that she was hit by a car when James Mason was trying to decide how to rid himself of her.
Adding this one to my reading list now.
I've won the gumball machine lotto here too. Isn't it thrilling?
Why weren't you allowed to ride the horsey?
That was the highlight of my grocery shopping experience as a child and I STILL want to hop on!
wv: packract
Oh, they know me TOO well.
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