Broadway Lights Up Yankees' AAA Club

Lance Broadway, the son of my cousin Lynn Broadway of Cleburne, Texas, turned in his best performance of the 2009 season Wednesday night. Lance's complete game victory against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees, vaults him back into the picture when the New York Mets make decisions about their post-All Star game pitching rotation and the makeup of their bullpen.

Broadway's seven hit, four strikeout outing paced the Buffalo Bisons' 4-1 win Wednesday night. The victory was Broadway's first at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, and his first overall since June 16th. The former Texas Christian University All American right-hander cruised for the first eight innings, but the Yankees looked ready to mount another comeback against the Herd in the ninth. The Yankees put runners on second and third with one out, but Broadway struck out the last two batters he faced to seal the win for Buffalo. The Bisons started the scoring in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly from Chip Ambres, plating Cory Sullivan and giving the Herd the 1-0 advantage. The Bisons would strike again in the third with RBI's from Cory Sullivan and Jesus Feliciano, putting Buffalo up 3-0. Feliciano would make it 4-0 for the Herd as he drove in his team-leading 34th RBI of the season in the seventh inning. Sullivan continued his dazzling offensive efforts of late, going two-for-three with a walk, and extending his hitting streak to seven games. The center fielder came into Wednesday's contest batting .385 since June 24th, and .339 since the start of June. The center fielder also flashed his defensive talents in the fifth. Sullivan robbed Eric Duncan of an RBI with an outstanding diving grab in center to keep Scranton/Wilkes-Barre off the board. Broadway's complete game was the third for a Bisons pitcher in 2009, coming just three days after Jonathan Niese went the distance against the Rochester Red Wings on July 5th. The win was the first for Buffalo over the Yankees at Coca-Cola Field in six attempts in 2009, and the second overall. Buffalo's only other win against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre came April 21st when the Herd gave the Yankees their first loss of the season after an 11-0 start. Lance, who will be 26 years old on August 20th, was the number one draft choice of the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 major league draft. He started the 2009 season with the White Sox's AAA team at Charlotte and was recalled by the major league club in late April. Chicago traded Broadway to the New York Mets on May 29th for catcher Ramon Castro. Lance was 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA in eight games, all in relief, for the White Sox (9 strikeouts and 9 walks) prior to being traded to the Mets. He has been pitching for the Bisons, the Mets' AAA affiliate, since New York's National League team acquired Lance from Chicago's American League team. Broadway's Wednesday night performance on the mound was much better than his June 28th start against his former teammates at Charlotte. He was roughed up for eight hits and seven earned runs in five innings of work in that loss to the Knights, the White Sox's AAA team. Since donning the Bisons' uniform (wearing number 26 instead of the 41 he wore for the White Sox), Broadway is 2-3 with a 5.70 ERA in 36 and one-third innings of work with 14 strikeouts and 16 walks.

In the brief time Lance has been pitching in the Mets' system a number of changes have taken place on the major league pitching staff. Starter John Maine went on the disabled list June 12th and pitcher Jon Switzer was recalled from Buffalo. On June 22nd the Mets designated pitcher Connor Robertson for assignment, sent pitcher Ken Takahashi to the minors and recalled veteran hurler Elmer Dessens and younger pitcher Pat Misch from Buffalo. Former Houston Astros starter Fernando Nieve has been another midseason callup who has pitched well for the Mets, presenting yet another road block keeping Lance Broadway from returning to the big leagues as quickly as he would like.

His superb outing against the Yankees' AAA team Wednesday night in Buffalo dropped Lance's ERA from a lofty 7.52 to 5.68 in his 2009 minor league season. A few more sterling moments on the mound like his Wednesday showing will drop the ERA to a more respectable number and open more eyes of the Mets' management personnel. Lance's family members in the West Columbia and East Columbia areas of Southeast Texas, including yours truly, are loudly cheering our relative's efforts to continue to improve.

Gary, Indiana, Mourns Loss Of Famous Duo

The City of Gary, Indiana, lost two of its most famous former residents in the same week recently when Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 on June 25th and Karl Malden passed away on July 1st at the age of 97. Jackson, born August 29, 1958, in Gary as the seventh child of what would eventually become the most successful musical family in history, was memorialized on July 7th at a ceremony held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that was televised worldwide. Malden, an Academy Award winner who became better known many years after winning his Oscar, will be remembered more for his American Express TV commercials where he delivered the classic lines, "Don't leave home without it."

Both of these men with Gary, Indiana, roots played important roles in my life. Michael Jackson was one year younger than me (his older brother Marlon is the same age as me) and I watched him grow up on television while I bought many of the great songs he and his brothers put on vinyl when I (and the Jacksons) were kids and teenagers. It was surreal being able to sit on my family's living room floor and take in both visibly and audibly a Jackson Five performance on such TV shows of my childhood as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Flip Wilson Show and Soul Train.

Lionel Richie, who cowrote and coproduced the song "We Are The World" with Michael Jacksoon and was one of those entertainers performing at Tuesday's memorial service for Michael at the Staples Center, remarks on his new CD "Live In Paris" that he "doesn't even want to think about how big his hair was" when he and The Commodores recorded some of their great songs that he does on his live album that was released earlier this year. Let me tell you, when it came to Afros in the 1970s, none were bigger than those worn by Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael Jackson. For proof, take a look at the photo of a young Michael Jackson in this blog article that was taken after he had just gotten out of a swimming pool.

Much has been written, both positive and negative, about Michael in recent years when he had found himself spending more time in court rooms than in recording studios. I won't go into any of that because, just like with O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake, I idolized Michael Jackson the entertainer for the majority of my life. I wanted badly to believe in the innocence of all three of these celebrities, even when the bulk of the evidence being presented in the media against each of them was pretty daunting. I had a large poster of O.J. carrying the football in his Buffalo Bills uniform on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager, continue to this day to have an autographed 8-by-10 of Robert Blake on my office wall, and still consider "Thriller" and "Bad" among my favorite albums.

It disturbed me when, on the day of Michael Jackson's death two weeks ago, I drove home from my job that afternoon listening to Michael Barry say on his KTRH radio program that the adulation being directed at the deceased Jackson "makes me sick to my stomach." Barry went on to label Michael Jackson a pedophile who should have died in a prison instead of in his rented mansion in the ritzy Holmby Hills area of L.A. According to Barry, only Jackson's wealth and celebrity status enabled him to buy his way out of being successfully prosecuted for sexual assault of a child on more than one occasion. Chill, Mr. Barry. The man had just died of cardiac arrest a few hours prior to Barry's vitriolic statements being aired on the Houston airwaves.

Whether Robert Blake murdered his wife and got away with it or if he was innocent of that horrific crime as he says he is, I still thought his performance in the 1967 film "In Cold Blood" (ironic, isn't it, that he would star in a film with that name considering the charges against him in his murder trial) was among the best I have ever seen in cinema. If O.J. Simpson did murder his ex-wife and her friend "in cold blood" and got away with it because a Los Angeles jury refused to convict him, that doesn't erase his exploits on the gridiron as a Heisman Trophy-winning running back for the University of Southern California and as a Hall of Famer for the Bills and 49ers. If these two celebrities actually are guilty of the murders they were charged with then my opinion is that both Robert Blake and O.J. Simpson should be executed for their heinous crimes. But I don't know what the actual facts are in these murders. And I don't know what Michael Jackson was guilty of or not guilty of doing with the children he allegedly molested.

It is not for me to say. As a human being I, of course, have opinions on what I think happened in each of these high profile court cases and I agree that this blog was set up so that yours truly could spout my takes on a variety of topics. But, in the aftermath of the recent passing of Michael Jackson, I will abstain and refrain from delving into that forum at this time. Instead I would prefer to dwell on the decades of wonderful music The Jackson Five and the most gifted of their ranks provided for my own personal listening pleasure. The Jackson Five's first four singles all went to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts. "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" are all records I possess in my collection of 45s and I did not know until recently that each of these records were No. 1 singles by Michael and his brothers. I had to wipe away tears on Tuesday when I watched Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz sing "I'll Be There" at Michael Jackson's televised memorial service. That is one great song!

Usher leaving the stage and walking down the steps to stand beside Michael's casket while singing "Gone Too Soon" had me reaching for the Kleenex as well. Watching Usher struggle to finish his musical tribute to Jackson while placing his hand on the coffin, standing several feet away from Michael's children, his parents and brothers and sisters, was as touching and moving as anything I have ever seen on television in my 50 years of TV watching. Michael Jackson, inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was truly "Gone Too Soon!"

As a member of The Jackson Five (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997) and as a solo artist (inducted into the Hall in 2001), Michael Jackson had 13 No. 1 singles and received 13 Grammy Awards. He was truly a musical icon and, although radio talkshow host Michael Barry disagrees, deserving of the adulation of the world's record buying public.

Equally deserving of being honored by the residents of Gary, Indiana, is the recent passing of Karl Malden. His early acting career was tied closely to that of my favorite actor, Marlon Brando. So I found it odd yet somewhat prophetic that Malden would die on the same day of the year, July 1st, that Marlon Brando died on five years earlier. Karl Malden won his only Oscar for best supporting actor in 1951 for his outstanding performance as Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire," which starred Brando and Vivien Leigh. He also appeared in "On The Waterfront" (1954), another movie for which he was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of Father Corrigan, and "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961) with Brando. And though Malden was the villain in "One-Eyed Jacks," the actor was always aces with me after having seen him in each of these three Marlon Brando movies.

Among his other memorable movie roles were: "Birdman of Alcatraz" opposite Burt Lancaster; "I Confess" with Montgomery Clift; "How The West Was Won;" "Fear Strikes Out," in which he played the overbearing father of professional baseball player Jimmy Piersall; "Baby Doll;" and "The Cincinnati Kid" with Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson.

In 2004, Malden received the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award, saying "this is the peak for me" in his acceptance speech.

Karl Malden and his wife, Mona, had one of Hollywood's longest marriages, having recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. That accomplishment alone, compared to the multitude of divorces among actors and actresses of Hollywood's past and present, puts Karl Malden in a league where he had few peers.

He was born in Chicago on March 22, 1912, but his family moved to Gary, Indiana, when Malden was a child. Malden died July 1, 2009, at his Brentwood home in the Los Angeles area, not too far from where Michael Jackson died a week earlier. The City of Gary mourns the two deaths along with the rest of the nation.

Karl Malden is pictured in a black-and-white publicity photo from the Academy Award-winning movie "Patton," in which he portrayed General Omar Bradley opposite Oscar winner George C. Scott as the title character, and in a color photo from his days promoting the American Express card in his detective Mike Stone personna from "The Streets of San Francisco," a popular long-running TV show in which he costarred with fellow Oscar winner Michael Douglas. Malden was nominated for five Emmy awards, winning once, for his impressive work on "The Streets of San Francisco.

Gary, Indiana, is the home town of many famous people. The City of Gary can boast a Heisman Trophy winner, an astronaut who flew around the moon, a number of professional athletes, actors and singers, in addition to The King of Pop and his famous family. Tom Harmon, the 1940 Heisman Trophy winner when he was considered the best in college football as a member of the Michigan Wolverines, grew up in Gary. Other outstanding football players from Gary include NFL Hall of Famer Alex Karras and his brothers Lou and Ted Karras who also played in the NFL, a former Miami Dolphins guard named Bob Kuechenberg who should be in the Hall of Fame but has repeatedly been overlooked when voting on new Hall members takes place each year, and one of the most famous players from the days of the old American Football League, defensive back Fred Williamson who played in the first Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs.

"The Hammer" was Williamson's nickname when he played pro football. But more people will attach "The Hammer" with the many blaxploitation movies he made in their memories than will remember him as a football player. His post-AFL acting career made Fred Williamson more famous than did the many years he devoted to defending the elite wide receivers of his day. Alex Karras also parlayed his NFL career as an All-Pro defensive tackle with the Detroit Lions into a very successful career in Hollywood. Making his motion picture debut playing himself in the Alan Alda movie "Paper Lion," Karras would receive rave reviews for his performances in his own TV show, "Webster," as well as movies he appeared in like "Blazing Saddles" and "Victor Victoria."

Among the professional baseball players hailing from Gary, Indiana, are a couple of first rate relief pitchers, current Houston Astros closer LaTroy Hawkins and former great Dan Plesak.

Astronaut Frank Borman, now 81 years old, was the commander of NASA's Apollo 8 mission that circled the moon for the first time. He is from Gary, Indiana, as are actors Morgan Freeman (born in Memphis, Tennessee, but relocating with his family to Gary as a child) and Avery Brooks. Other famous people from Gary are singer Deniece Williams, who I saw in concert at The Summit in Houston as the opening act for Earth, Wind & Fire in the late 1970s, and the late blues great Jimmy Reed, born in Dunleith, Mississippi, but spending a large portion of his younger years in Gary.

It was nearly 31 years ago that the City of Gary, Indiana, was in the news because of one of the most tragic incidents in American sports history. I can still recall my shock when I heard on the TV news that California Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock had been shot and killed in a drive-by incident in Gary. What followed Bostock's death remains one of the lowest and most unbelievable court decisions this former journalist can remember.

Lyman Bostock had a routine two-for-four game in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox in a day game at Comiskey Park on September 23, 1978. He lined a base hit in his final at bat. Following the game, he got in a car and made the short trip to Gary, Indiana, where he was staying with his uncle as he always did when the team was in Chicago. After eating a meal with a group of people, Bostock got in the back seat of his uncle's car. As the vehicle crossed the intersection of 5th and Jackson streets, a car pulled up alongside them. The driver got out and fired one blast of a 410 gauge shotgun into the back seat where Bostock was sitting. The shooter, Leonard Smith, did not even know Lyman Bostock. His lethal wrath was intended for his estranged wife, Barbara Smith, who was along with the group as a guest of Bostock's uncle, Thomas Turner, who happened to be her godfather. The blast missed the woman but struck Bostock in the left temple. He died two hours later at a Gary hospital. Just like that, a life with so much to live for was snuffed out in a senseless act of violence. It was later discovered that Bostock had known the woman in the car for a total of twenty minutes. News of his death sent shockwaves through the baseball world. Making this story even more bizarre is the fact that Bostock's murderer spent just twenty-one months behind bars! After two trials he was found NOT guilty by reason of insanity. He was sent to a mental hospital where after just a few months of "treatment" he convinced a doctor that he was no longer insane. Leonard Smith has been a free man since 1980.

Lyman Wesley Bostock was born on November 22, 1950, in Birmingham, Alabama. He lived in Gary, Indiana, as a child and went on to star at Los Angeles' Manual Arts High School. After a stellar career at San Fernando Valley State College, now Cal State Northridge University, he signed his first pro contract after being drafted in the 26th round by the Minnesota Twins in 1972.

Bostock had brilliant seasons with the Minnesota Twins in 1976 and 1977, hitting .323 and .336 respectively, but played both seasons in the shadow of future Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew. He was in his first year as a big money free agent acquisition of the California Angels in 1978 when he was murdered with less than one week remaining in the baseball season. Lyman Bostock was definitely a rising star in major league baseball when he met his untimely demise in Gary, Indiana.

He gave of his money and time supporting the baseball program at his college alma mater Cal State Northridge. One of the first things that he did with his newfound wealth after signing with the Angels, was donate ten thousand dollars to rebuild a church that had been destroyed by a fire in his former home town of Birmingham, Alabama.

Carl Patten was a young teenager in September of 1978. He, along with another friend, attended the last game that Lyman Bostock would ever play at Anaheim Stadium. In those days fans could wait just outside the gate leading to the Angels' dressing room until all of the players came out following games. Kids by the dozens would wait in hopes of getting autographs. On this night, Lyman Bostock happened to be the last player to leave the locker room. When he encountered the boys, Bostock expressed concern that they were out so late without adult supervision. Instead of just signing his autograph and leaving, he took them across the street from the stadium to a restaurant and waited with them until Patten's father picked them up. One can only imagine the shock of these young men when they heard just 48 hours later that Lyman Bostock was dead! I shared the feelings of great sadness and shock as a 21-year-old college student on that horrible late-September day in 1978.

Koby Richardson Celebrates 9th Birthday!

Koby Dionne Richardson celebrates his ninth birthday today, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. He is the son of Tanya Spears and Kirk Gupton of Angleton, Texas.

Tanya and Kirk will be serenading Koby tonight at the Chili's restaurant in Angleton with dinner and birthday cake. Joining in the celebration will be Koby's brothers Koy and DeMarcus and his cousin Trey.

Koby is an honor student at Angleton Elementary School, plays youth football (as pictured in lower photo with his daddy Kirk) in the fall and is currently involved with select baseball. He also loves to play basketball in the Angleton youth league.

Paw-Paw Tracy wishes lil' Koby a very happy ninth birthday and apologizes for not being able to attend the big party at Chili's tonight. My employer demands my presence at the ol' refinery tonight.

The Greatest Actor Ever On The Big Screen

Five years have passed since the world lost one of its premier actors of screen and stage. Marlon Brando died at the age of 80 on July 1, 2004, bringing to a close one of the most interesting lives and motion picture resumes ever assembled. To put it bluntly, I adored Marlon Brando and was without a doubt among his biggest fans.

I can still vividly recall my brother Cody and I laying on the floor in the living room of my parents' best friends, Louis and Maxine Wilson, in the mid-1960s, our eyes glued to their TV set watching "One Eyed Jacks." At that time we owned only one black-and-white TV and I can't remember if my infatuation with this old movie was due to Marlon Brando's acting and directing skills, or more the simple fact that the Wilsons owned a big color TV set. But I can pinpoint my love of Marlon Brando movies to that one particular night while my mom and dad were playing dominoes with Louis and Maxine Wilson.

I recall watching "The Young Lions" in glorious black-and-white at The Capitol Theater in West Columbia, Texas, when Brando portrayed a Nazi officer with his hair dyed blonde and Dean Martin and Montgomery Clift costarred as American soldiers in a World War II epic based on the popular novel by one of my favorite writers, Irwin Shaw. The Capitol was also the venue where I paid my quarter or 50 cents to watch other great Brando movies like "The Appaloosa," "Reflections In A Golden Eye" and "The Ugly American." The bulk of the Brando movie catalog would not be viewed by my eyes until the VCR came along in my young adulthood. Then I found myself renting more and more old Brando films to devour with my hungry eyes. My appetite for his movies was insatiable yet I must admit my hero put out more than his share of stinkers. "A Countess From Hong Kong," costarring Sophia Loren and directed by Charlie Chaplin, and "Candy," which costarred other great actors like Richard Burton and James Coburn, are among the worst movies ever made, in my opinion.

But for every bad film he appeared in there were many more excellent movies. Marlon Brando, who would be celebrating his 85th birthday today and mourning the recent death of his close friend Michael Jackson if Brando were still alive, was the lead actor in a number of movies that are considered by film critics of yesterday and today to be among the best ever made. Nearly every film critic ranks Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" (as well as its sequel which Brando did not appear in) in their Top 10 of all-time great movies. And not too far behind would be listed Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On The Waterfront."

Brando won his second best actor Oscar for his outstanding portrayal of Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather," then climbed to the top of Hollywood's shit list by refusing to accept the Academy Award based primarily on the film industry's portrayal and treatment of native Americans. I personally rank "The Godfather" and "The Godfather, Part II" high in my Top 10 list, but I thought Brando topped himself the following year with his memorable starring role in "Last Tango In Paris." He was nominated for best actor again the year after winning the Oscar for "The Godfather" but did not win, partially because of the controversial nature of "Tango" and perhaps more because of his refusal to accept the Oscar the year before. Many film historians believe Brando's refusal of his "Godfather" trophy would have been more widely accepted if he himself had taken the stage at the Academy Awards ceremony and stated his reasons for turning down that year's Oscar. Instead he stayed home and sent a woman in Indian garb and headdress to read a brief statement to the stunned Oscars' crowd and mammoth TV audience. It turned out that the woman speaking for Brando wasn't even an Indian, but rather Hispanic.

Following "Last Tango In Paris," which allowed Brando to ad lib many of his lines and appeared to be therapeutic in a way for him (not to mention giving him the opportunity to grope a beautiful young French girl and get paid for it), he worked much less often. "The Missouri Breaks" came out about five years after "Tango" and proved to be the last film that he was on screen for a considerable amount of time. He doesn't show up in "Apocalypse Now" until the tail end of the film, yet he still received top billing over Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall. "Superman" proved to be very profitable for him but his on screen time as Christopher Reeve's father was minimal. "The Formula," which Brando costarred in with George C. Scott, was yet another film where the multiple Oscar winner was actually on screen a small amount of time, but the movie could boast both best actor Oscar winners who had turned down the award in above-the-title advertising.

He spent his later years primarily in seclusion in his Los Angeles mansion, where he was the neighbor of Jack Nicholson on Mulholland Drive. Bit parts in movies with Matthew Broderick, Johnny Depp, Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton and Val Kilmer accounted for the majority of his film work in his seventies. But this ultimate fan was always there with money in hand to buy tickets to these films when they would show in Lake Jackson movie theaters. Some of them I liked, others I loathed. But what could you do? It was all that was out there, besides TV interviews with Larry King and small parts in Michael Jackson music videos, to catch a glimpse of my aging, ever expanding (in girth, anyways) movie idol.

And then, when news eventually came on July 1, 2004, that Marlon Brando had died, I was crushed. His death at 80 had taken yet another of my Hollywood heroes away from me. But his memory shall never die!

Paul Newman probably came closest to equaling Marlon's "outlaw" status in Hollywood during the same era. They were practically the same age, their film careers paralleled each other in time frame, and both were able to be considered "men's men" by the public while still possessing a physical beauty that women adored. Newman's recent death was difficult to accept for me, as a huge fan of Paul's movies for the majority of my life. And while Brando and Newman never made a film together, there is an old movie available called "The Fugitive Kind" from the early 1960s that costarred Marlon and Joanne Woodward, the wife of Paul Newman. "The Fugitive Kind" was based on a Tennessee Williams' play entitled "Orpheus Descending." The movie is one of many Marlon Brando films that I own in my videotape and DVD collections, and I found it very entertaining. But "The Fugitive Kind" did not wow the film critics of the day in the same manner that Brando's prior Tennessee Williams-penned film, "A Streetcar Named Desire" did a decade earlier.

Viewing "A Streetcar Named Desire" today, I simply scratch my head in amazement that Marlon failed to win the Oscar for his stunning performance in that film. He did finally win an Oscar in 1955 for another film directed by Elia Kazan, "On The Waterfront," despite this longtime film fan being of the opinion that his better performance was in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Kazan also directed Brando in the fine film "Viva Zapata," which cast Brando as the Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata and Anthony Quinn as his brother. Poring over the many biographies I own about Marlon Brando's life and film career, the stories about the making of "Viva Zapata" were among the most entertaining. Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando are electric on screen in the finished product of the movie, but the behind the scenes relationship between the two enigmatic young movie stars of the 1950s was totally another story. Kazan tells the story in his own autobiography of how extremely competitive Brando and Quinn were. Kazan writes that at one point during a lull in filming, Quinn excused himself to urinate on some bushes and Brando even accepted that challenge from his costar. Kazan said it was all he could do to keep from laughing out loud while watching Brando and Quinn comparing schlongs and seeing who could piss the farthest.

I think I would have to say that my favorite Marlon Brando movies are two that probably no one else would select as their top two. Sure, I loved Marlon in "The Godfather," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "On The Waterfront" and "Apocalypse Now," but my choices of favorite films starring Marlon Brando are "The Chase" and "One Eyed Jacks." Marlon is pictured in a still photograph above taken while he was filming "One Eyed Jacks," the only movie he ever directed. I love a good western movie and put John Wayne and Clint Eastwood above all others when it comes to actors who made the best westerns. But "One Eyed Jacks" is by far this unpaid film critic's choice as my favorite western.

I could write pages and pages and pages on my impressions of Marlon's directing skills in this particular film, which was made in 1959 and 1960 but did not reach movie theaters until around 1962 due to constant delays and bickering between the director/star and the film's producers on just how the finished product should look. Stick a DVD or videotape version of "One Eyed Jacks" into your VCR or DVD player some time and see if you don't agree. Brando and Karl Malden are a couple of bank robbers in the old west days who go their separate ways when Mexican rurales trap them on a mountain ledge. And boy do they ever go their separate ways. Malden escapes to attempt to find them fresh mounts while Brando stays behind to keep the rurales off of his buddy's attempt to flee. Malden eventually abandons Brando and escapes with all of the money from the bank robbery. When Brando eventually breaks out of a Sonora prison where he served five years "puking his guts out," he goes looking for Dad Longworth (Malden) to get his revenge. But when he finds him Brando is shocked to discover that his old bank robbing buddy is now the sheriff of a little town along the California coast and the stepfather of a beautiful Mexican girl. So, of course, Brando falls in love with Malden's stepdaughter and decides to let the sheriff live if Malden's stepdaughter will run away with him. But those plans fall apart when the lowlifes Brando had been keeping company with ride into town and attempt to rob the bank while Brando prepares to meet up with his Mexican beauty and leave Dad Longworth and his dreams of revenge behind. The bank robbery fails, a little girl is shot and killed by mistake, and all of the bad guys are gunned down in the street outside the bank (including Oscar winning character actor Ben Johnson in an excellent performance). Malden and his deputies capture Brando and accuse him of being in on the bank robbery, with intentions of hanging him for the murder of the little girl. Excellent movie. Watch it if you have the opportunity.

But I liked Brando in "The Chase" just as much as "One Eyed Jacks." This film was directed by Arthur Penn, who directed another favorite movie of mine, "The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde," and also directed Brando and Jack Nicholson in the western "The Missouri Breaks." "The Chase" was a novel written by Wharton, Texas, author Horton Foote, who would later win an Oscar for writing the screenplay to the Gregory Peck film "To Kill A Mockingbird." The film Marlon Brando starred in with Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, E.G. Marshall and Robert Duvall was very different from Foote's novel, but in this rare case I liked the film better than the novel. It is not very often that you will hear me saying that about a favorite novel of mine that gets the Hollywood treatment.

Marlon plays Sheriff Calder in "The Chase" and Angie Dickinson portrays his wife. They live in an unnamed Texas town where E.G. Marshall is the rich oil man who also owns the town bank and pretty much runs the show in his town. Jane Fonda is the wife of Robert Redford, who has been sent away to prison while his wife carries on with Marshall's rich playboy son, who was Redford's best friend when they were kids. Redford and a fellow convict escape from prison (much like Brando and one of his fellow inmates did in "One Eyed Jacks") and when news of the escape reaches the small Texas town where Brando attempts to keep the peace while defending himself from false allegations from the populace that he is "bought and paid for" by Marshall's character everyone awaits with great anticipation the return of Bubber Reeves to reclaim his wife and do evil things to Marshall's son Jake.

What makes Brando's performance so appealing to me in "The Chase" is the manner in which he mumbles his way through three-fourths of the movie so low-keyed and monotone, then unleashes his pentup anger with more volume and physical displays than movie viewers would have thought his character capable of. This is acting, my friends, of the highest caliber. And well worth the price of a movie rental to witness it.

I have many other favorite actors and actresses working in films today, as well as so many who have joined Marlon Brando in hollywood heaven. I mourn the losses of each of these former acting idols, like Paul Newman and John Wayne and so many others who entertained me at the area movie theaters throughout my half-century of living. Among my favorites today are several who had the luxury of working with Brando in very memorable films, like Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall in "The Godfather," Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, Jack Nicholson and Donald Sutherland, Val Kilmer and Johnny Depp.

Brando's absence from my life the past five years has been sobering and leaves me with a great sense of loss. On top of having to deal with the deaths of so many of my beloved family members in the past decade or so, I have also had to bid farewell to a multitude of celebrities who meant so much to me during my life. And among them have been a few who have been almost like family due to the hero worship I have sent their way. Everybody of my generation can probably tell you today, 46 years after it happened, exactly where they were when they learned of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I can do that too, and can also tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I learned of the deaths of Elvis Presley, Bruce Lee, Jim Croce, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees, Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers, John Lennon and George Harrison of The Beatles, and just this past week, when we lost the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

The death of Marlon Brando five years ago today punctuated the closing of a fan's adoration for his movie star idol as a living, breathing human being walking the same planet as me. But my adoration for his work on the silver screen, as well as all of the many wonderful humanitarian gestures he made during the Civil Rights era and standing up for native Americans, continues today. My library of Marlon Brando films on videotape and DVD is one of my prides and joy, and I often view them just to remind myself of what a truly outstanding actor Marlon was.

He could have been a contender, he cried in "On The Waterfront"; when asked what he was rebelling against in "The Wild One," Marlon asked "whaddayagot?"; and he uttered the classic lines in "The Godfather": "We'll make him an offer he can't refuse!" Memorable lines uttered by Marlon Brando in films for six decades are among the best in movie history, and just one more reason why Brando remains an entertainment icon even today . . . five years after his death.

You Know You Are Getting Old When . . .

"Boy, you are getting old!" Those are the exact words my wife said to me Sunday afternoon when my remark to having two beautiful, buxom, blond waitresses chatting with each other only a few feet away from me was: "I wish they would take their conversation somewhere else so that I can see the TV."

We were dining at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in San Marcos Sunday following more than five hours of walking the outlet mall in San Marcos. Jose Valverde had just blown a save opportunity for the Astros on the big screen TV above the bar in the restaurant and I was craning my neck to see the 'Stros lame attempt at a comeback in the bottom of the ninth against the Detroit Tigers. The waitresses, most likely among the most attractive students attending nearby Texas State College, were pure eye candy with their tight-fitting T-shirts, bright white teeth and gorgeous tan legs sticking out of their khaki shorts. And all I wanted was for them to move so that I could see the TV!

"Boy, you are getting old" Gupton. After Peggy pointed out to me what I had just said, it hit me like a ton of bricks that it was true . . . I am definitely getting old! My wife and I had just spent the weekend in New Braunfels with the Schlitterbahn nearby and tube rentals in close proximity in every direction you turn, and all we did was visit the antique shops, sip the free wine samples at the winery, and bitch about the heat while hanging out in Greune. Not once did either of us even suggest putting our fat asses in the ice cold water of the Comal or the Gaudalupe rivers.

As much younger newlyweds in our twenties, we both looked forward to our annual treks to New Braunfels and San Marcos, often making the vacation trip accompanied by our good friends Bill and Sabrina Lott and others. Now we have become official old farts!

But nothing drove the point home more than when I recently received my latest AARP magazine in the mail and who is on the cover but little Opie Taylor himself, Ron Howard. Man, I am really getting old!

Ron, who went by Ronnie Howard when he costarred in the movie "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" with Glenn Ford when he was a small child, and then rocketed to nationwide notoriety and fame as Andy Griffith's son on the popular TV sitcom, "The Andy Griffith Show," is the same age as my older brother Cody. Cody is now 55 years old and for me to admit to myself that either Cody or Ron Howard are "old geezers" would have one single followup statement: "So am I." Now 52 years old, I used to proudly state that I am the same age as Warren Moon, the former Houston Oilers quarterback, and Bob Horner, the former Atlanta Braves third baseman, and Larry Bird, the former Boston Celtics superstar, and Tom Hanks.

Hey, Tom Hanks is still a (not a former) popular movie star with all of his hair and starring in popular movies being directed by, none other than Ron Howard. But the majority of the stars I mentioned above who are now also 52 years old are "former" somethings. Their glory days are in the past. But they say that age is only a number if you don't allow it to get the best of you. Just keep plugging away at whatever it is you love to do, waking up each morning with a bright outlook and plans to greet the new day with hopes of always bettering yourself. No matter how much older you get, it is factual that you can never, ever go back in time. We must all keep pushing ahead, for the future is all each of us has.

The majority of Americans in my age bracket grew up with Ronnie Howard and his younger brother Clint Howard, who starred in the TV show "Gentle Ben" and has had bit parts in practically every movie his big brother Ron has directed. Both Ron and Clint inherited the follicle genes of their father, Rance Howard, who has been bald or balding since he appeared in guest shots in the 1960s in many of the TV projects his two sons were involved in. Looking at Ron Howard today (pictured above with a baseball cap hiding his bald pate and in the old photo below with his TV father Andy Griffith) one cannot help but notice the similarity in his appearance and that of his father.

In recent years I have often approached my bathroom mirror to shave and brush my teeth and found myself saying, "Rex, is that you?" The Tracy Gupton of today, also follicly-challenged and sporting graying hair and whiskers and facial wrinkles that seemed to appear out of nowhere, is a constant reminder of what my late father, Rex Gupton, used to look like. I'm sure Ron Howard realizes the same thing when gazing at his reflection in mirrors and looking at photographs of himself as a man in his fifties.

"I want to do this until I drop," Ron Howard told AARP magazine for its July/August edition, speaking of his love of making movies. "When John Huston was directing his last movie, he was in a wheelchair and on oxygen. That's my idea of a good goal."

Hanks stars in Howard's latest film, "Angels & Demons," a sequel to "The DaVinci Code." Dan Brown's novel "Angels & Demons" is actually a prequel to his highly successful novel "The DaVinci Code," but I guess one would have to call the new movie a "sequel" since it follows "The DaVinci Code," which raked in more than $200 million at the box office. I saw "The DaVinci Code" at the Lake Jackson movie theater with my son Bret but have not yet seen "Angels & Demons."

The newest Howard-Hanks film venture is the twentieth film Ron Howard has directed. He won an Oscar in 2002 for best director for the movie "A Beautiful Mind" starring Russell Crowe, and has been nominated for other films he directed, including last year's "Frost/Nixon" starring Frank Langella.

And this will really age you even more, knowing that Ron Howard, the father of four, is now a grandfather of a two-year-old grandson.

Oh, there are many other barometers in my life that tell me I'm getting older. The mirror should be all I need as proof, but there are numerous other things as well, like hating the way I look now in photographs, the frequent aches and pains from arthritis in my joints, the lack of energy and desire to pry myself away from the sedentary lifestyle I have become prone to adapting in recent years, and having taken the same negative approach to the sounds coming out of my radio and TV speakers anytime modern music is being played that my own parents took when my siblings and I tried to get them to listen to and like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and any other band that was popular in the 1960s.

Rap is crap. Hip-Hop should be flushed and the screaming white bands that are popular today are just not my cup of tea. Yes, my friends, I am getting older and the signs are so damned obvious that I no longer even attempt to camouflage them. My opinions are what they are, and I find myself more likely to voice them any and every time I believe it necessary. As a younger man I practiced restraint with more regularity than today.

But hey, being "regular" is now a thing of the past too. At my current age I find myself always checking out the location of the bathrooms in restaurants and sporting events I attend, just as a precaution. It is part of getting older, OK?

Neighborhood News: The Good And Bad

As far as my own personal neighborhood goes, well, I've got some good news . . . and I've got some bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Edna Nash, my neighbor from two houses down the street, passed away at the age of 85. She and her husband of 66 years, Ray Nash, lived on Frances Street, which T's into Gupton Lane in West Columbia.

The Nash's are great people and I'm really going to miss Mrs. Nash. I attended her funeral Monday morning at the Baptist church in Old Ocean, Texas, where she and Ray were longtime members. Ray had been a barber for many, many years in Old Ocean, and Edna was a retired school teacher. The Nash's moved to West Columbia after Ray retired and closed down his barber shop. A person could not ask for better neighbors.

Now for the good news, and it comes in a double dose. Sara and Kevin Polhemus are expecting their second baby later this year and they learned recently that they will be having another girl. Sara is the daughter of my cousin Steve Weems and his wife Rhonda. Steve and Rhonda are my next door neighbors on Gupton Lane.

Sara is pictured above with her 6-month-old daughter, Kinley Mae Polhemus. Sara and Kevin presently are living in Illinois where Kevin works. Congratulations to Steve and Rhonda for learning that they will soon be grandparents for the second time. Jack and Phyllis Gupton Weems had to try five times before they finally had Steve, their first boy baby after my cousin Phyllis delivered four consecutive girls. Sara is following her grandmother's trend!

I would also like to extend my congratulations to another member of my neighborhood who competed in the state track meet and graduated from high school back in May. Dexter Lewis Jr., the son of Dexter Lewis Sr. and his wife Pat, was the co-recipient of the Columbia High School boys track award at the recent CHS Spring athletic awards picnic.

Dexter, pictured at right, was a qualifier in the pole vault competition at the state track meet in Austin on the strength of his 14 feet, 6 inches best effort at the regional track meet in Corpus Christi. He did not finish in the top three in Austin but was very impressive just in reaching that plateau.

Dexter broke his own Columbia High School record at the Region IV Class 3A meet to qualify for state. His height of 14-6 broke the West Columbia school record he set in winning the District 26-3A pole vault event with a height of 14 feet and won the regional silver medal. Congratulations Dexter!

"I wanted to beat the school record since my freshman year," Dexter told The Brazoria County News prior to the state meet. "I was just in a zone that day. It was a crazy day. Everyone was jumping good." Dexter shared the CHS boys track award with his fellow 2009 graduate Christian Gerbich.

Celebrating 29 Years Of Wedded Bliss

Wedding vows were exchanged 29 years ago today at the Methodist church in Brazoria, Texas, between myself and my lovely bride, Peggy Hall Gupton. As Peggy and I celebrate our anniversary today, June 28, 2009, we invite you to take a walk with us down memory lane by viewing a few of the photographs (taken by our good friend Jerry Hundl) from our wedding ceremony. I find it very difficult to believe that nearly 30 years have gone by since Peggy and I placed wedding bands on each other's hands, said our "I do's" (I had my fingers crossed), slapped that fatal kiss on each other's lips and walked back down the aisle as husband and wife for the very first time.

Attending the two of us at our wedding (shown in the group photo below) were Sabrina Matusek Lott as Peggy's matron of honor and Stephen Kent Weems as my best man; Polly Frizzell and my sister Kelli Gupton Kuban as the bridesmaids; and Harold Tolbert Jr. and Dean Carroll Sitton as the groomsmen. Ushers were my brother Cody Gupton, my cousin Hank Gupton, Sabrina's husband Bill Lott, and my good friend and college roommate, the late Isidro Valdez Jr. Wendy Hall was our flower girl and Stephen Hill was the ring bearer.

The Rev. William Raines, pastor of the Methodist church in Brazoria in 1980, conducted the wedding ceremony.

I want to say, "Thanks For The Memories," to my wife Peggy for the past 29 years of toughing it out, sticking with me . . . through good times and bad, soaking up all of the laughter and tears, and mostly for always being by my side since we were high school sweethearts. You are truly one of a kind! I love you, Mrs. Gupton.