By Dave Montalbano
AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com
John Wayne portrayed Tom Doniphon, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, although Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) got the credit for eliminating the bad guy, portrayed by Lee Marvin. As your humble swashbuckling journalist and information scientist, I have always sought the Tom Doniphons lost in the shadows of history.
Often considered the stepping stone in the overhyped career of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier is the Tom Doniphon of pugilistic history. The South Paw from Philadelphia was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1969-1973 and only lost to two men – twice – Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. After his heavyweight heyday, it was revealed that “Smokin’ Joe” was partially blind from cataracts when he was World Heavyweight Champion.
Overcoming handicaps is something Joe Frazier was trained to do at a very young age. Frazier’s father, Rubin, lost his left arm a year before Joe was born. Growing up in rural North Carolina, Frazier became his father’s “left hand man.” There is no irony that when Frazier knocked down Ali in Superfight I 40 years ago, he did it with a left hook. Given his perseverance growing up, it is appropriate that he has a cameo appearance in the original Rocky.
The search for Tom Doniphon is apparent in my book, The Adventures of Cinema Dave in the Florida Motion Picture World. In the final chapter, I wrote about the importance of letting go of the many artifacts in my apartment, which has been hard since they remind me of the people associated with them. While it would be “easy” to throw them out, I feel it would devalue the spirit of generosity in which I received them, so I have been donating them to nonprofits “From the Cave of Cinema Dave.”
While the “Cinema Dave Adventure Pack” raised $50 for the 26th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, I wonder how much money will be raised at the Doreen Gauthier Lighthouse Point Library Semi Annual Fall Book Sale next Thursday, Nov. 19?
LHP Library has received eight boxes from my cave, with more on the way. Besides “special collection VHS” and movie related books, one will find text books, biographies and historical books that were used to supplement the curriculum for a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence circa 1996.
