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Italian Tea Time and the Basketball Coach

Monday: Intruder in the Dust (1949)
       Chick is a young teenager living in Mississippi. One day he falls into a frozen creek. He is helped out by the black man who owns the land. The black man, Lucas, takes Chick to his house and gets him warmed up. Chick starts to question his prejudice towards black people. Especially when Lucas won't accept any form of payment for helping Chick. Chick realizes Lucas helped because he is a good person and did it simply to help. Then Lucas is arrested for murdering a white man. He is innocent. Lucas wants Chick's uncle, who is a lawyer, to help him. The case is not easy when Lucas won't tell the whole story. And the more they look into it the more they can see something is off. I thought this movie was ok.

Tuesday: Act One (1963)
       This is based on the true story of the playwright Moss Hart. Moss is a struggling writer. No one seems to be interested in his work. Several people suggest he should write comedies. He tries it out and writes a comedy about talkies (movies with full sound) in Hollywood. Moss gets some good reactions. It takes a while but he finally finds a director who will work with him. His play is rough. They have to spend a lot of time fixing it. The first few productions of the play don't go well. Moss almost gives up but then finds inspiration that fixes the play. He goes on to be a successful playwright. He also worked on some movies. I thought this movie was ok.

Wednesday: A Warm December (1973)
        Matt is in London on vacation with his daughter. There he meets a mysterious woman named Catherine. At first he thinks she is a spy. Then he learns that she is the niece of an African diplomat. He starts to have feelings for her. But she never seems to be available. She is always disappearing. Catherine clearly likes him too but can't stay still. Later Matt finds out that she is sick. That is the reason she disappears. He still likes her and is determined to be with her. I liked this movie. Sidney Poitier was Matt. As always he did an amazing job. He also directed the movie.

Friday: The Way Back (2020)
        Jack suffered a great loss. He deals with it by drinking almost nonstop. His life is going no where. He is a mess. His former high school calls him to offer him a job as the basketball coach. When he was in high school he was the star of the basketball team. Jack agrees to be the coach. The team is not very good. Jack puts very little effort into helping them. Then something clicks, he stops drinking and becomes more committed to the team. The team starts to win games and come together. Jack is proud but his old demons come back to haunt him. His fight with alcoholism is not over. This is a good movie.

Saturday: Tea with Mussolini (1999)
         This is based on a true story. Luca, an Italian orphan, is taken in by a group of English women living in Florence before WWII. They all do their part to raise him. They feed him, take him to school, and teach him about art. They believe they are safe in Italy. When the war comes the women are seen as enemies. They resist leaving Italy. The women are moved from the embassy to barracks. With the help of an American friend they are moved to a hotel where they can wait out the war. Luca is now a young man now and does what he can to help the women and anyone else who needs it. This is a really good movie. I liked it a lot. It has a pretty great cast too.

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