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ladybug_archiveWhile trying to see if I could Google up any interviews with Simon Oakland (I couldn't, although I found an amusing anecdote concerning his Outer Limits guest-spot), I found a mini-biography someone wrote of him in which they called Lieutenant Schrank an out-and-out villain. They also called him bigoted and couldn't get his rank right. They called him Officer Schrank.
I've already expounded my thoughts on the character, including that it's not conclusive from movie canon that he is bigoted. (Book canon is something else, according to Ladyamberjo. But the book really seems to be a different version of everything anyway.) He makes equally terrible comments to members of both gangs. However, that alone certainly does not make him an out-and-out villain (or any kind of villain). I like and agree with what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pleasant_valley said, that pretty much all the characters are flawed in some way. To decide that Schrank (or really, any one character) is the villain in West Side Story is, I think, missing the whole point of the story in the first place.
And I can't get away from his guilt and shame over what he said, and his telling comment to Doc, "You try keeping a bunch of hoodlums in line and see what it does to you!" That doesn't sound like an out-and-out villain to me.
I think I finally finished a project I've been working on. I posted it at the Kolchak comm. And I'm hoping I won't decide later that it's not done after all. This is the second edition; the first is stuck in queue at the essay comm I signed up for. While waiting for it to go up, I realized it wasn't done and started tinkering with it again.
And I must see lots of Car 54, Where Are You?, a hysterical police comedy from the early sixties! It's another series I've carried a casual interest in for years, but previously had no access to. I tracked down the episode Simon Oakland guest-stars in, Hail to the Chief, and it's absolutely priceless. He plays a Secret Service agent trying to evaluate whether the two nutty main characters are fit to transport the President of the United States from the airport to the UN building. Nonsense ensues! I haven't laughed so hard all the way through a show in a while. Simon's character has his trademark reactions to the sheer goofiness around him, and at the end, after others are finally convinced that the officers are not fit for the task, he holds them at gunpoint in his office until the President can be safely delivered back to the White House by other police. It was so satisfying to see that Simon's character was finally believed, and from his expression in that last scene, I think he felt the same.
It's the first time I've seen Simon in a sitcom where he plays a scene for deliberate humor (with his frantic and comic attempt to get others to believe him that something is wrong). But there's also plenty of him being the straightman, too. And he wears a fedora for most of the episode, as he did in West Side Story. Yessss. I love fedoras in general, and he looks so good in them.
I've already expounded my thoughts on the character, including that it's not conclusive from movie canon that he is bigoted. (Book canon is something else, according to Ladyamberjo. But the book really seems to be a different version of everything anyway.) He makes equally terrible comments to members of both gangs. However, that alone certainly does not make him an out-and-out villain (or any kind of villain). I like and agree with what
pleasant_valley said, that pretty much all the characters are flawed in some way. To decide that Schrank (or really, any one character) is the villain in West Side Story is, I think, missing the whole point of the story in the first place.And I can't get away from his guilt and shame over what he said, and his telling comment to Doc, "You try keeping a bunch of hoodlums in line and see what it does to you!" That doesn't sound like an out-and-out villain to me.
I think I finally finished a project I've been working on. I posted it at the Kolchak comm. And I'm hoping I won't decide later that it's not done after all. This is the second edition; the first is stuck in queue at the essay comm I signed up for. While waiting for it to go up, I realized it wasn't done and started tinkering with it again.
And I must see lots of Car 54, Where Are You?, a hysterical police comedy from the early sixties! It's another series I've carried a casual interest in for years, but previously had no access to. I tracked down the episode Simon Oakland guest-stars in, Hail to the Chief, and it's absolutely priceless. He plays a Secret Service agent trying to evaluate whether the two nutty main characters are fit to transport the President of the United States from the airport to the UN building. Nonsense ensues! I haven't laughed so hard all the way through a show in a while. Simon's character has his trademark reactions to the sheer goofiness around him, and at the end, after others are finally convinced that the officers are not fit for the task, he holds them at gunpoint in his office until the President can be safely delivered back to the White House by other police. It was so satisfying to see that Simon's character was finally believed, and from his expression in that last scene, I think he felt the same.
It's the first time I've seen Simon in a sitcom where he plays a scene for deliberate humor (with his frantic and comic attempt to get others to believe him that something is wrong). But there's also plenty of him being the straightman, too. And he wears a fedora for most of the episode, as he did in West Side Story. Yessss. I love fedoras in general, and he looks so good in them.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 06:50 pm (UTC)Urgh. Officer Shrank? The heck? They clearly mixed him up with Krupke, if that's the case. Based on what he said in the bar, he hardly seems like a villain at all--he's just trying to keep the peace on those dangerous streets. Granted, it's been a while since I've seen the movie, but, still...
And that was an awesome essay. Yes.
LOL, that Car 54 ep was hilarious. Simon had some classic moments in there--and his facial expressions were a hoot.
And yes... fedoras are love. ♥
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 07:06 pm (UTC)There are interviews somewhere. Just apparently not accessible through Google. There's one in the Outer Limits book. I wish they'd scanned that part.
He taunts the gangs a bit, but while he does say some things that sound borderline racist, I don't think there's enough proof in that direction to say for sure. It's very possible that it's just his frustration and despair (and fear) over the gangs in general wreaking havoc on the streets, which is what he indicates to Doc after the fact.
Thank you!
Yessss. I can hardly wait until season 2 comes out on DVD and I can get it and take pictures from the episode.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 07:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, I would've loved to have seen more of that interview...
Hmm... Well, I probably would have to see his scenes again, because I honestly don't remember. All I do remember, however, is thinking "Hey, it's the not-so-dead cowboy!" upon seeing him.
That will make for some amusing icons indeed.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 07:20 pm (UTC)... That would honestly be scary. Or even downright frightening.
**snerk.**
Maybe we'll get lucky and season 2 will release soon, even though they recently released season 1. The seasons of The Patty Duke Show came out very quickly.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 08:17 pm (UTC)Always loved when the Monkees found an excuse to wear them.
To be fair when I just watch West Side Story I feel insanely frustrated by most of the characters actions, it's like every outcome could have been so easily prevented.
Maybe that's why I cant view Schrank as an out and out villian, he like almost everyone else is a victim of circumstance and I can't help but think that the things he has witnessed and the things he can't seem to prevent probably play a role in his attitude. I don't agree with the things he says (although I really don't think his comments towards the Sharks are anything other than a desperate attempt at begging favor with the Jets in order to get information from them) but surely by acknowledging the fact that the way he acts and the things he says are suspect shows that he is at least aware of his behaviour and he certainly doesn't give the impression of someone that is particularly proud of it.
Yep, I definitely view the characters as kind of grey when it comes to who are heroes or villians - even seemingly good guy Tony is a notorious gang member (albeit an unlikely one) who winds up killing a man.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 02:52 pm (UTC)That's very true. So much heartache could have been prevented all along the way if they only would have done things differently. West Side Story would be an interesting fandom for "What If?" stories. There's countless twists that could be taken.
And I very much agree that Schrank's words are probably largely the product of his jaded frustration. The script seems to indicate as much. And he only snaps at the Jets too when he realizes he can't get anywhere with them. I can understand at least some of the frustration nagging at him; that sort of thing does make a person want to lash out. And when he's already seen so much and he knows the outcome of all the rumbles he has likely encountered, the sheer stupidity of the gangs in inciting another would be more than enough to make him snap.
It was that outright declaration in the script's directions that he felt shamed and guilty, plus his explanation to Doc, that really made me reconsider all my earlier thoughts on his character. I don't agree with what he says, either, but he doesn't deserve the rap he takes from most of the fans that pay attention to him at all. An out-and-out villain ... oy.
And that's a good point about Tony. All the characters seem to be very human and very gray. The gangs aren't all bad and the police aren't all good. And vice versa, too, unlike some people seem to want to believe....