The 8 O'Clock Movie
Boston, 1973—Years had passed and I assumed a
Different life when one night, while resting from
Books on Marlborough Street (where things like
This can happen), there came into my room images
In black-and-white with a flow of light that
Would not die. It all came back to me in different
Terms: characters were born again, met up with
Each other in adult life, drifted across the
Screen to discover cattle and oil, traveled miles
On horseback in dust and heat, characters whose
Names emerged as if they mattered in a history
Book. Some were swept up by power and prejudice
Toward neighbors different from themselves,
Because that is what the picture is about, with
Class distinctions moving the plot along. A few
Could distinguish right from wrong; those who
Could not you condemned from the beginning when
You noticed them at all. Still others married or
Backed off from the ranch with poignant flair,
Like James Dean, who in the middle of grazing land
Unearthed the treasures of oil, buried his soul in
Money and went incoherent with alcohol. When the 40's
Came, two young men were drafted, the one called Angel
Dying at war. It's a generational tale, so everybody
Aged once more and said what they had to say along the
Way according to the script. And then the end: the
Hamburger joint brought into existence to the beat of
"The Yellow Rose of Texas," Juana and her child the
Color of dark amber, foreshadowing the Mexican-looking
Couple and their daughter, all in muteness, wanting
To be served. I climbed out of bed and in my head
Was a roaring of light—words spoken and unspoken
Had brought the obliterated back. Not again (I said,
From my second-floor room)...let this not be happening.
Three and-a-half hours had flicked by. As the sound
Trailed off into nothing, memory would not dissolve.
Copyright Credit: Tino Villanueva, "The 8 O’Clock Movie" from Scene from the Movie Giant, published by Curbstone Press. Copyright © 1993 by Tino Villanueva. Reprinted by permission of Northwestern University Press.
Source: Scene from the Movie Giant (Curbstone Press, 1993)