SUMMARY
Supply Sgt. Eustis Clay (Steve McQueen) idolizes his friend and superior Master Sgt. Maxwell Slaughter (Jackie Gleason). The two men couldn’t be more different in temperament, personality or skills. Eustis is the male version of a dumb blonde. He is not the brightest of men, but has no problem running swindles, even if Maxwell often has to rescue him from trouble. Eustis never fails to scrounge up hard to find items for himself and Slaughter. He is also always full of new ideas of how he and Max can make “a million, maybe even a billion” dollars rather easily. Eustis is close to retiring from the army and desperately wants his friend to join him in an idyllic civilian life. As he tells Slaughter, “Max with your brains, and my ideas…”
In contrast, Slaughter is an Army lifer and has no desire to leave his only family. However, Eustis won’t take no for an answer. To that end he fixes his buddy up with the beautiful but very young and ignorant Bobby Jo Pepperdine(Tuesday Weld). Slaughter is not so easily convinced, especially since Bobby Jo is half his age. When she calls him Fatty and a host of other cruel names, it brings up all his past insecurities.
However, time is running out for Eustis and Slaughter’s friendship and Eustis is determined. He can not imagine life without Maxwell in it. Through thick and thin these friends stick together and balance each other out.
Continue reading “Classic Film Review -Soldier in the Rain (1963)”
I originally had a hard time settling on a topic for this week’s freebie. But then, a flash of genius! I realized that as much as I love a good meet cute on film (a topic I’ve written about a couple of times) I also enjoy them in fiction. So today, I’m sharing some of the more memorable and interesting meet cutes I’ve run across in my reading adventures. 
For the first time ever I was part of a book club in 2019. I was only able to attend three times unfortunately. But because of this I read books I might not have otherwise; The Wedding, The Quiet Game, The Getaway Girls. I also participated in an online book club. The book choice was Charlotte Bronte’s Villette, which I didn’t like nearly as well as Jane Eyre. But I did enjoy discussing it with others online. 