This is not an entertainment blog, but we cats are inspired by the passing of Martin Landau to opine on the Woody Allen film "Crimes and Misdemeanors."
For some reason, around 1989 Woody Allen decided to make a movie that explored the consequences of human choices, and whether one is punished or rewarded by a higher power for them. Say what you want about Allen and his personal life — as a filmmaker he is among the giants, and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is, we think, his masterpiece.
The movie's most compelling characterization? Alan Alda's repulsive TV producer, who is a despicable, self-aggrandizing human being, but who nonetheless gets the girl and wins in the end. Which leads Allen's character to try to rationalize fairness and equality with Landau's character, who has neatly gotten away with the murder of his mistress.
Twenty-eight years later, we can only think that Alda's character is Donald Trump — behaving badly and yet rewarded with the highest office in the land. And we cats are Woody Allen, bereft and trying to figure out, in a happenstance conversation with Trump's collaborators, how the country has come to this sorry point.
Is there a hopeful outcome to all this? Allen wondered that in "Crimes and Misdemeanors," and we cats wonder it now. We don't know the answer yet, but we're pretty fearful. So we probably HISS. And worry.
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