Film discussion: The Hero

Tomorrow, in The Music Hall’s Historic Theater, we will be discussing one lovely, low-key movie that disappeared from national screens with hardly a splash: The Hero.

The Hero is a drama/comedy that stars Sam Elliott, he of the magnificent cookie-duster mustache and the resonant voice. And the movie raises a question as to why, although we have lots of movies with Sam Elliott in them, we have almost no Sam Elliott movies, where he is the main character.

The movie revolves around an aging movie star who gets some bad health news and begins to look back at his life and the choices he has made and starts to consider his legacy. It’s a showcase for Elliott, who is often a voice of moderation and a mentor in his movies, but hasn’t been asked to do much more than add flavor to movies about other people. And the fact that his best pal and sounding board for his ruminations is his marijuana dealer should tell you something about the emotional mix of the movie.

I’ve always enjoyed it when Sam Elliott showed up in a movie. And once you know the story behind the making of the movie, it becomes obvious that director Brett Haley enjoyed it too, and saw the potential for putting Elliott at the heart of a movie and set out to make it happen.

In my experience, Sam Elliott onscreen is like a good cup of coffee, both calming and stimulating at the same time. I’m looking forward to a larger dose of him

I hope to see you there, which will be in The Historic Theater at 7:00 on Tuesday night. A dose of Elliott with a chaser of free coffee and popcorn and a good discussion sounds like a recipe for a good evening in an atypical August.

And don’t forget to mark your calendar for the discussion of A Ghost Story on August 29.