An Indecent Obsession

1985

An Indecent Obsession is an Australian film based on a novel by Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds). It is set in a South Pacific field hospital at the close of WW II, where Wendy Hughes (Sister, or Sis to her patients) runs a ward for serious mental cases. Although she has no psychiatric training, she does have a large measure of compassion, and has done well with them. All that changes when a new patient arrives. Handsome, polite, friendly, and seemingly normal, Gary Sweet soon occupies her thoughts and her attention. A physical relationship is inevitable, but the other patients don't react well at all.

The film was originally intended for TV, but with the writing credit and the quality of the finished production, they went for a theatrical release. While the pace is deliberate, the acting is top notch, and the film tells a love story as it shows the effects of war on the warriors.

Wendy Hughes shows her left breast.

It is now available on an All-Region PAL from RLDVDs.com in a very nice transfer

The Hunger

Season 2: The Perfect Couple

Last episode of the Hunger. A modern day cupid arranges for two people to come together and believes them to be the perfect match. Four years later, though, he revisits them to see how they fared and finds their relationship is troubled. He doesn't like to fail so he gives them a little gift to make them more honest with each other.

Marie-Josee D'Amours

Personal Best

The nice thing about sports movies is that they are usually interesting regardless of when they're done, and this 1982 sports drama, set in the late 70's, still makes sense even in 2008. True, doping wasn't the big story back then that it has been lately, but they had their own issues. Specifically, the story involves two female track athletes competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, even though they knew that the U.S. was boycotting the 1980 Olympics. More interesting, though, is the personal story behind the headlines.

Tory (Patrice Donnelly) is a highly ranked pentathlete expected to win a spot on the 1980 Olympic team, while Chris (Mariel Hemingway) is a promising competitor that just seems to lack the drive to be at the top.

The two become fast friends and roommates, then they become lovers. In the middle is their hard-driving coach (Scott Glen) who also has a romantic interest first in Tory, then in Chris. All this causes the two girls to become very competitive with one another while still retaining a close relationship, until something happens that makes it appear that Tory was trying to sabotage Chris. Spurred on by the coach, the girls sever all ties off the field.

This is a very interesting drama with some outstanding track and field footage, and a surprising amount of full-frontal nudity (and they didn't shave back then). I really enjoyed it.

Mariel Hemingway

The Comedy Wire

Comments in yellow...

Right-wing Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has an unlikely ally.  The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a brief in support of his effort to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct for allegedly soliciting gay sex in an airport men's room.  The ACLU said not only can the state not prove its case, but that sex in public bathroom stalls should not be illegal.  They say people in closed bathroom stalls have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and it's not illegal to have sex in a private place.

*  Defending a rightwing conservative?  Wow, the ACLU really takes a wide stance! 


Oprah Winfrey already has her own TV show, website, satellite radio channel, magazine and cable TV channel, but now, she'll have her own TV network.  She signed a deal to take over the Discovery Health network, which will become OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.   A spokesman said the focus will be "Oprah's brand, which is to educate and inspire people to live the best life they can."  The programming will probably include some of her regular stable of contributors such as Dr. Oz. 

*  If Barack Obama doesn't get elected president, she'll star him in a new version of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air." 

*  Oprah's network is called "OWN," as in, "Eventually, she will OWN us all."

*  It will be perfect for viewers who think Lifetime is too macho. 




Italy's Supreme Court ruled that it's not illegal to secretly videotape sex with your partner.  The case involved a man whose girlfriend let him set up a camera during sex and project images of them on the wall, but who didn't know he'd hit the record button.  After they broke up, he sent her the videos with a note reading, "These are my last thought for you."  Lower courts sentenced him to four months in jail, but the high court said it wasn't illegal because he didn't distribute the tapes to other people. 


*  She let him set up a camera during sex and didn't KNOW he'd hit the record button?  Is he the first man she'd ever met?!