[dd74]

War movies. We watched lots and lots of war movies: Kelly's Heroes and The Eagle Has Landed were two I can remember -- the scene where Larry Hagman bought it was hard to take - his character was cool in that film. Sort of like when Charlton Heston bit it in Midway.

Tora, Tora, Tora -- I watched all of them. And westerns too. Every single one of Clint Eastwood's westerns -- I thought that guy was a god. Still do in some respects.

Then, when I was about 14, cable came into the neighborhood, and TV started its decline.

Cable was comprised of a handful of channels with a big honkering push-button remote box selector. Z Channel was where the movies were. I snuck out of my room to watch "Straw Dogs" and "Marathon Man" alone.

At 7:30 PM, channel 52 had the L.A. T-Birds roller derby on. Watched them religiously.