WCBE 90.5 FM: "A Prairie Home Companion," "Cars"

WCBE 90.5 FM: “A Prairie Home Companion,” “Cars”
It's Movie Time co-hosts, writers, producers:
John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Air Time: 3:01 pm & 8:01 pm, June 9, 2006

Streaming Live on the web and on-demand at: http://www.wcbe.org

The Script

Clay

“A Prairie Home Companion” is as warm as the sun and as dry as the dust . . .

John

“Cars” races to  a box office victory . . .

HIT MUSIC (“STAR WARS THEME”), THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:

"It's Movie Time" in central Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe.''

MUSIC UP, THEN SEQUE TO (CD: “A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION,” CUT 3: MUDSLIDE), THEN UNDER FOR

John

I'm John DeSando,

And I’m Clay Lowe.

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER AGAIN FOR:

John (“A Prairie Home Companion”  130 words)

Clay: If there is anyone more laid back or brighter than Garrison Keillor in show business, let me know, because Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, based on Keillor’s long-running Minnesota Public Radio success, shows Keillor as an audience sees him each week—like a god gently guiding an eccentric ensemble through excellent performances made to look as easy as his demeanor.  

Clay

An easy demeanor indeed, John.

John

This film stands near Altman’s Nashville as a testimony to the director’s gift for sustaining strong characters in layers of dialogue approximating overlapping conversations at an interesting party.

So enjoyable are Altman, his ubiquitous HD camera, and his busy dialogue that you feel a part of the proceedings, catching the sweet smell of success for everyone attached to this thoroughly realized song of love to radio, music, and creativity.

Clay (“A Prairie Home Companion”)

Well, folks, you’ve got to love a movie that has my co-host waxing poetic. Especially over an old radio show that’s chock full of wisdom and nostalgia that’s homespun. But, in this case, he’s dead-on.

Because just as Jonathn Demme made Nashville’s old Ryman Auditorium glow in his film “Neil Young: Heart of Gold,” so too does Altman bring to glowing life the old Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, which is of course, the home of the real “Prairie Home Companion.”

Credit Keiller for keeping his script as easy going as his persona, and credit Altman for discovering a kindred spirit in this man who has managed to keep “A Prairie Home Companion” on the air for thirty-two years.

And don’t forget the musicians and cast. They are marvellous too.

MUSIC UP, THEN SLOWLY UNDER AND OUT

John (“Cars” 121 words)

In Cars,  the creators of Toy Story take us to an imaginative world with just autos grooving to the sounds of competition, love, and family values.

The heart of Cars rests on heart:  preserving the past of small town values with big heart.  Because Cars is red-state red meat, Hollywood may be pandering to its neocon critics. But the film delivers sentiment closer to reality than toys or bugs or closet bugaboos could ever do. It’s about love in all its forms as the source of happiness.

However, J.D. Salinger keeps us grounded when he says, “I don’t even like old cars . . . .  I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake.” 

Clay (“Cars” 130 words)

Well, folks, Salinger may have never watched a race horse break a leg, but lots of people have watched race cars slam into walls, crash into crowds, and of course, smash into each other. And that’s no doubt, part of the draw of this Pixar-animated, fast-paced, G-rated film.

But “Cars” delivers more than thrills and chills. Because, despite the arrogance of Lightining McQueen, this red-hot rookie race car (voiced by Owen Wilson) is forced to learn some lessons in humility when he dead-ends in Radiator Springs, somewhere along Route Sixty-Six.

But that’s not all, he also learns to have fun . . . And, yep, he even falls in love. So send the boys out for popcorn when that happens, so they can get back in time for the big race.

But enough of Robert Altman, Garrison Keillor, and Rusty old diners, John, because it’s grading time.

John

Holy  , Hooray!

HIT DRUMS, THEN UNDER FOR

John

“A Prairie Home Companion” earns an “A” for ARTFULLY ACCEPTING death within life . . .

Clay

“A Prairie Home Companion” gets an “A” because its “AW-Shucks” cast is both AWKWARD and ADORABLE  . . .

John

“Cars”  earns an “A” for ANIMATION that goes beyond ANIMATION. . .

Clay

“Cars” gets an “A” because it’s lots of fun even though it’s ALSO very noisy.

HIT MUSIC (CD: A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, CUT 25: GUY NOIR), THEN UNDER FOR

John

Clay, here’s how I first became interested in radio. It was Marilyn Monroe speaking about posing nude on her famous calendar:

“It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.” 

What got you interested?

Clay

Well, John, because I was only five when I began to listen to the radio, my first hero was Orson Welles, who was the original voice of The Shadow . . . and that’s the naked truth.

I’m outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT MUSIC (CD: “A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION,” CUT 5: GUY NOIR), THEN UNDER FOR

Richelle

The award winning "It's Movie Time" is co-hosted, written, and now produced by John DeSando and Clay for WCBE 90.5. FM

SEQGUE TO CUT 15: “FRANKIE & JOHNNY, MUSIC UP THEN DOWN AND OUT

Copyright 2006 by John DeSando & Clay Lowe