Celluloid Heroes

You’re sort of the St. Francis of Telegraph Hill.

My brother Brian, who passed away about 11 years ago, would have loved this movie. Not only is it about San Francisco, where he lived, but he knew the subject of this documentary, Mark Bittner, when he was just starting out observing the parrots on Telegraph Hill. That’s not surprising, as birds fascinated Brian, too. When I was little, the side yard of our house contained quite a sizable collection of reptiles and birds, including at least one red tailed hawk at some point. Our backyard also featured a walk-in aviary.

After he moved out on his own, his apartments were rarely without at least one parrot, macaw or cockatoo, not to mention any number of other birds. I distinctly remember going into his bathroom to see the injured seagull he was helping to nurse back to health. This affinity made him somewhat of a kindred spirit to Mark Bittner.

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I hope there’s a good movie on this flight.

Executive Decision is probably the best film Kurt Russell has made since the original Escape From New York. Of course, only Tequila Sunrise and The Mean Season give it any serious competition. That said, this is largely a standard “Die Hard on a plane” action film that works best if you don’t think too hard. Fortunately, most of its mistakes are technical errors that can be mostly dismissed as “artistic license.”

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