When news catches up with my long-term pop culture diet

I’ve been planning for several days to write a blog entry today about three movies from 1968 that I’ve watched over the last couple of weeks  – 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ice Station Zebra, and The Shoes of the Fisherman.

Why these movies?

When I was eight years old and growing up in Iowa, my parents took the whole family to the River Hills Theater in Des Moines to see 2001.  River Hills was a spectacular theater designed for Cinerama and 70mm films, featuring a 90-foot wide curved screen.  Sort of the commercial IMAX of the time.  In addition to being blown away by 2001, I was also impressed by the two trailers we saw – Ice Station Zebra and The Shoes of the Fisherman.  Even more than 45 years later, I still remember seeing both the movie and the trailers.  In fact, that evening helped set in motion my lifetime love of seeing bigger than life movies in big theaters.

A couple of weeks ago, I found Ice Station Zebra showing on Turner Classic movies, and that prompted me to go ahead a watch those three 1968 blockbusters.  I had, of course, seen 2001.  And I suspect, though I’m not certain, that I’ve seen all or most of Cold War submarine thriller Ice Station Zebra at one time or another.  But this was definitely my first time to see Shoes of the Fisherman.  The movie tells the story of a Ukrainian bishop who has been imprisoned in a Soviet gulag for 20 years.  He’s released in a deal with the Vatican to help prevent the outbreak of WW III between the Soviets and the Chinese.  In a strange turn of events, the Ukrainian bishop is quickly elevated from being a political prisoner to being the first non-Italian pope in centuries.

The movie holds up surprising well over the years, with a beautiful look at the papal election process and the role that our religious leaders can play in world events.

So I’ve been planning to blog about this 45-year-delay from seeing the trailer to seeing the movie, and then the news catches up with me with surprise announcement this morning that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning because of old age.  And in a strange coincidence, Turner Classic Movies already had two screenings of Shoes of the Fisherman scheduled over the next month.  Though it wouldn’t surprise me now if they move up and expand their showing of it.

At any rate, I highly recommend both 2001 and Shoes of the Fisherman.  Ice Station Zebra was fun, but largely dated.  If you decide to watch Shoes, try to catch it on TCM.  The print available on DVD is pretty bad.  Here are the trailers for these three movies:

Shoes of the Fisherman

2001: A Space Odyssey

Ice Station Zebra