We finally got to see the film “Green and Gold.” I don’t remember ever being so anxious to see a film. I felt like my brother, Mark when our family had to rush home so Mark could watch some group called the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.
The age old vaudeville question is, “Will it play in Peoria?” We went to a Sunday matinee at Peoria’s Grand Prairie Theater. Green and Gold was indeed great in Peoria.
I was a city kid, who spent every summer on dairy farms every in Wisconsin. For most of my childhood my “farming” was watching cousins milk cows and playing in the hay mow. It meant riding tractors with older cousins and my uncles. When I was older, it meant being one of the hired hands in the summer.
Craig T. Nelson is the dairy farmer facing foreclosure. His simple wisdom sounded like my uncles. His work ethic reminded me of my dad spending the summer cutting thistles and fencing.
Parts of the film made me laugh- Leaving church early to “close the gate,” poor Jerry Kramer’s health issues, or Grandpa’s warning to the young man who seemed interested in his granddaughter.
And Bart Starr, Max McGee, and Jerry Kramer, made me smile. They made me remember how special I felt when Orval named one of his cows,”Evalina” as a nod to me.
The film is a flash back to the days when everyone knew their neighbors, even if they were a mile down the road. And they cared for their neighbors. The film is a reminder of the Christian value of grace vs. the un-Christian value of retribution. (Dear Canada- Please note most Americans still believe in caring for their neighbor.)
The Chicago Sun-Time review included the following,”When I first heard about “Green and Gold,” which is inspired by true events and tells the story of a Wisconsin dairy farmer who risks everything by placing a bet on the Green Bay Packers to win the Super Bowl, I figured it was going to be another cheesy (pardon the pun) football based tale… I was wrong in all the right ways.”
Another review says, “Green and Gold” doesn’t play out like a Hallmark film.” Yes, the ending is not what I anticipated.
Jim Valvano said that everyday you should laugh, cry, and love. “Green and Gold” had me doing all of those things. Some of the tears were out of sadness and some were out of happiness- the reaffirming there is still good in the world. For me, it turned out to be a love story to farmers and rural America.
A big thank you to Michael Graf, the screenwriter. Michael is married to my cousin, Linda Massey. His wit and creativity, spill out into this film. i am not a film critic, but I know some films have the ability to touch your soul- Green and Gold is one of those films.
When I was a child, the Massey cousins had ownership of 9 dairy farms in the area of Hollandale, Wisconsin. While some of the farm land is still owned by Massey relatives, to my knowledge none of those farms are dairy farms today.
My cousin, Ken and his wife Sue lived the story of “Green and Gold” themselves. Their story and their toughness has also been an inspiration to many people, including myself.
The following is a post that I shared in 2011, it includes newspaper descriptions of Ken and Sue.
No comments:
Post a Comment