other side of the law when he finds no other way to support his family. Soon he realizes he will be under the thumb of the self-infatuated and ruthless Don Fanucci, the Black Hand. During a festival in which Fanucci walks the streets like a king, Vito follows him from the rooftops until he descends and does some fragging. Vito is a criminal and a murderer, but he’s also a great American success story, just as The Godfather, Part II is the second- greatest American movie (No. 1 being, of course, The Godfather itself ). This greatness can also be found in Destry, the sheriff of the greatest of all comedy Westerns, Destry Rides Again . Played by the very exemplar of American greatness himself, James Stewart, Destry is a lawman who arrives in the hilariously named town of Bottleneck and disgusts all present by refusing to wear a gun and speaking in civil and gentle tones. Oh, he knows how to use a gun – it turns out he is a spectacular marksman – but he chooses not to... until he has no choice. If the Texas of Giant is big and dumb, the Bottleneck of Destry Rides Again is small and quick. It is the very definition of a melting pot—everybody has come there from somewhere else, and quite recently, and the Polish and Yiddish and Irish and Scottish accents fly fast and furious. The thickest belongs to Marlene Dietrich, a chanteuse called Frenchy even though she is, of course, as German as sauerkraut. The folk of Bottleneck may hang out at a place called The Last Chance Saloon, but this place isn’t anybody’s last chance. It’s the main chance. It’s the great chance. It’s America.
We learn at the end of Animal House that Otter will become a Beverly Hills gynecologist –i.e., rich and happy – while the most ursine of the Deltas, John “Bluto” Blutarsky, will be elected to the U.S. Senate... and from there, who knows? As for the sticklers and sticks- in-the-mud who want to kill the party spirit at Faber College? One goes from the Nixon White House right to prison (where he is, shall we say, manhandled), while the other is killed by his own troops in Vietnam. Our founding document promises us the right to the pursuit of happiness. Interpose yourself between us and our happiness and buddy, you’re gonna get fragged. We love our fun. The greatest of American myths – because it has more than its share of truth to it – is that the U.S. is a country that elevates the individual above the collective. This is true even when the individual doesn’t deserve it, like Florida Man. Here, the governed choose those who govern them, and nobody is truly the boss of anyone else (except financially). Therefore, the movies that both reflect and represent American greatness are the ones that show an American staking out his or her claim as an individual. It’s a greatness that can be found in Tess, the Staten Island secretary of the comedy Working Girl , who poses as a Wall Street analyst and devises a brilliant idea for a trade. She is exposed and humiliated, but when her patrician boss steals credit for her brilliant merger-and-acquisition idea, Tess turns the tables and gets her boss’ “bony ass” fired. It can be found in Vito Corleone, the quiet and deep one, who begins crossing to the
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August 2019
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