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Robert Redford stars in All is Lost, the "perfect storm" of a movie[/caption]
I read this review of the new survival-at-sea film All is Lost in The Vancouver Sun newspaper yesterday, and I found it pretty riveting. An almost wordless performance by the iconic American actor Robert Redford, in a movie that sounds like the rarest of birds -- pure cinematic storytelling, which couldn't be done in any other medium besides film. Sounds almost like something from the glory days of silent film, and look what's ruling the box office: Gravity -- a survival-in-space drama, tightly focused on it's two leads, Sandra Bullock, and George Clooney. Wow. Storytelling, and gravitas, and Robert Redford. It's Autumn, when a young film producer's fancy turns to thoughts of Oscar.
What really caught my attention about the above review, was how it describes the character played by Redford as "smart, resourceful, calm and completely alpha."
I didn't even have to watch the trailer. I knew this guy. Or at least a guy exactly like him. The character the review described could have been a fellow named Tom West (1939-2011), a hardware engineer, and vice-president of the, now defunct, computer company Data General Corporation. He, and his company are the subject of a book I've started rereading.
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The cover my first copy had.[/caption]
The Soul of A New Machine, written by Tracy Kidder, and published in 1981, tells the story of Tom West, and Data General's literally life-or-death struggle to get a new mini-computer out the door -- the Eclipse MV/8000. Kidder's access was total, and the reader gets a blow-by-blow, first-hand, account from the drawing board to production. Turns out making computers is a very human endeavor. The book is a page-turner, and justifiably won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction.
Kidder's prologue to Soul is titled "A good man in a storm," and Tom West is among a group of five white, professional men, on a yachting excursion between Portland, Maine, and New York. As Kidder writes:
Concerning his occupation, West had only told them, "I make computers." Kidder uses the yachting excursion, and the serious storm the amateur sailors encountered to define West's buccaneer spirit, and his character as, dare I say it, smart, resourceful, calm, and completely alpha.
Kidder writes of a group photo that West looked like the one in charge. The psychologist among them, was fascinated by West, noting the man didn't sleep a wink through the entire four-day trip. He wondered if this was West's idea of a vacation, what did he do for a living?
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Tom West[/caption]
West was one of the guys who made waves with brash computer startups in the 1970s. They were all white guys; American guys, and smart guys with computer science, and engineering degrees. Tough guys who weren't afraid to bang elbows with the big players like DEC, and even IBM. They succeeded, and became rich in the process, and they made it look easy. Of course they grew old also. West passed away two years ago, at age 72.
At age 77, Robert Redford's the right age. His character in All is Lost could have been one of those guys who weren't afraid to get their slide-rules dirty. They helped make sure the American Century ended on a high note. I'd like to think this movie is for them.
Robert Redford stars in All is Lost, the "perfect storm" of a movie[/caption]I read this review of the new survival-at-sea film All is Lost in The Vancouver Sun newspaper yesterday, and I found it pretty riveting. An almost wordless performance by the iconic American actor Robert Redford, in a movie that sounds like the rarest of birds -- pure cinematic storytelling, which couldn't be done in any other medium besides film. Sounds almost like something from the glory days of silent film, and look what's ruling the box office: Gravity -- a survival-in-space drama, tightly focused on it's two leads, Sandra Bullock, and George Clooney. Wow. Storytelling, and gravitas, and Robert Redford. It's Autumn, when a young film producer's fancy turns to thoughts of Oscar.
What really caught my attention about the above review, was how it describes the character played by Redford as "smart, resourceful, calm and completely alpha."
"... we can tell Redford’s character was the kind of man who got his way — the omnipotent white male with money."
I didn't even have to watch the trailer. I knew this guy. Or at least a guy exactly like him. The character the review described could have been a fellow named Tom West (1939-2011), a hardware engineer, and vice-president of the, now defunct, computer company Data General Corporation. He, and his company are the subject of a book I've started rereading.
[caption id="attachment_6956" align="alignright" width="110"]
The cover my first copy had.[/caption]The Soul of A New Machine, written by Tracy Kidder, and published in 1981, tells the story of Tom West, and Data General's literally life-or-death struggle to get a new mini-computer out the door -- the Eclipse MV/8000. Kidder's access was total, and the reader gets a blow-by-blow, first-hand, account from the drawing board to production. Turns out making computers is a very human endeavor. The book is a page-turner, and justifiably won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction.
Kidder's prologue to Soul is titled "A good man in a storm," and Tom West is among a group of five white, professional men, on a yachting excursion between Portland, Maine, and New York. As Kidder writes:
"All of them were adults. The owner and captain was a lawyer in his sixties. There were a psychologist and a physician and a professor, all of them in their late thirties, and also a man named Tom West. West was rather mysterious, being the merest acquaintance to one of them and a stranger to the others."
Concerning his occupation, West had only told them, "I make computers." Kidder uses the yachting excursion, and the serious storm the amateur sailors encountered to define West's buccaneer spirit, and his character as, dare I say it, smart, resourceful, calm, and completely alpha.
"In the glow of the running lights, most of the crew looked like refugees, huddled, wearing blank faces. Among them, Tom West appeared as a thin figure under a watch cap, in nearly constant motion. High spirits had apparently possessed him from the moment they set sail, and the longer they were out in the storm, the heavier the weather got, the livelier he grew. You could see him grinning in the dark. West did all that the captain asked, so cheerfully, unquestioningly and fast, that one might have thought the ghost of an old-fashioned virtuous seaman had joined them. Only West never confessed to a queasy stomach. When one of the others asked him if he felt seasick too, he replied, in a completely serious voice, that he would not let himself. A little later, he made his way down to the cabin, moving like a veteran conductor in a rocking, rolling railroad car, and got himself a beer."
Kidder writes of a group photo that West looked like the one in charge. The psychologist among them, was fascinated by West, noting the man didn't sleep a wink through the entire four-day trip. He wondered if this was West's idea of a vacation, what did he do for a living?
[caption id="attachment_6948" align="alignleft" width="79"]
Tom West[/caption]West was one of the guys who made waves with brash computer startups in the 1970s. They were all white guys; American guys, and smart guys with computer science, and engineering degrees. Tough guys who weren't afraid to bang elbows with the big players like DEC, and even IBM. They succeeded, and became rich in the process, and they made it look easy. Of course they grew old also. West passed away two years ago, at age 72.
At age 77, Robert Redford's the right age. His character in All is Lost could have been one of those guys who weren't afraid to get their slide-rules dirty. They helped make sure the American Century ended on a high note. I'd like to think this movie is for them.
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