champion-5

This is such a wonderful little, "feelgood" film. Terry Thomas is just wonderful and so is Tuesday Weld. All the different characters work so well together. There are about 5 or 6 different storylines, all interwoven. This film is just the sort of film to relax with at the end of a hard workweek. Even the dog has a storyline!! If you are looking for a little film that will have you smiling at the end, I highly recommend this one.

I haven't seen it in a good 25-30 years. Yet I was so captivated by this movie that, all these years later I still remember it. By my definition that's worth giving it a 10. Think of the hundreds of movies you have seen in your life...how many of them do you remember 30 years later, after, perhaps, like me, only seeing it once? How many movies did you see last year, yet can't describe them...or even remember who was in them? Wonderful films don't have to be epics...they just have to touch something in you and that makes them special. If ever comes the day when this cute little film ever comes on video, you'll find me first in line to buy a copy. That's why it's a 10.

I always found this film to be uplifting, and often suggested the film to library patrons as such. Harvey Milk was a man full of life. He was someone who wanted to do (and did) great things, not just for himself, but for others.

I must have seen this film about 50 times and have never been able to get through it dry-eyed. The story of Harvey Milk is told by people who loved him, liked him and learned to respect him.

If you watch and listen to Jim Elliott...it's just amazing. How many Jim Elliotts are there in this world? It's so incredibly easy to say you hate gays...but when you meet them and get to know them, as Jim did, it makes all the difference.

It's now 2000. Tom Ammiano, the gay teacher in the film, is head of the Board of Supervisors and recently ran for mayor of SF. One has to wonder if any of this would have happened if Milk had not died.

Unfortunately, there will be many people who will chose the film to watch, find out it's about a gay man and put it back on the shelf. If you're standing by such a person when this happens, nudge them in the right direction. They won't be sorry.

Oh, and by the way, my other favorite documentary is The Day After Trinity, another film about how a man changed history.