On the drive to work yesterday morning, I heard a sound bite on the radio, something to the effect of a male voice saying, “Actually, I’m not even really sure what the premise of Indecent Proposal is. I’ve never seen the movie. I guess, like, the guy from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wanted to sleep with my wife or something? Like, who doesn’t? But I never saw the movie cuz I was too young at the time and I guess it’s R-rated and my parents wouldn’t let me watch it.” And I realized it was Ashton Kutcher. The quote made me laugh, cuz it’s reminiscent of how I sometimes “remind” Mr. W of our age difference. (Mr. W: “Remember this guy? He’s from such-and-such a movie.” Me: “I really wouldn’t know; I was like 4 at the time and didn’t speak English yet.”) I then realized that I’d never seen Indecent Proposal straight through either, only in bits and pieces, and I thought that I would like to watch that movie sometime.

In typical Cindy’s World koinkidinkal style, I was channel surfing late last nite and Indecent Proposal was playing. I didn’t get to watch from the very beginning, but it was probably within the first 10 minutes. The movie was surprisingly good. And Robert Redford is surprisingly charming in his character. I’d had a conversation with Mr. W last week about how some friends in high school had crushes on Robert Redford, which I’d found odd at the time, cuz to me he was such an old folgie. But after this movie, I can see what the attraction is. The movie did rip a few reluctant tears out of my eyes, but I like to think if it as late-night oversensitivity. I was, however, disappointed at the lack of sex scenes. Why’s this movie R-rated? Maybe the cable channel had edited out the good stuff.

Two scenes that stuck with me:
1.) The turning point scene at Robert Redford’s character’s mansion (which I recognized to be shot at the Huntington Library. In fact, lemme see if I can find a photo of it.). John (Redford) finally explains why he was pursuing Diana (Moore) so hard by telling a story from his youth. To paraphrase, “When I was much younger, I was extremely shy around women. One day, on a bus [train?], I saw a girl sitting there. She was wearing a dress with a shirt that was buttoned all the way up to her chin. But she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. But when she looked up, I would look away, and when I looked at her and saw her looking at me, she would look away. Then when I got off, I looked back at her through the window. She was looking right at me, and then she gave me the most beautiful smile. That moment was horrible for me. I wanted to break down the glass doors and get back to her. I went back on the same bus every day, at the same time, for the next two weeks, but she never came back. There hasn’t been a day since that I hadn’t thought about her, and about what I’d lost. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
2.) The scene in the limousine when John let Diana go by telling her that she was just one of thousands worldwide in the “million dollars’ club”, i.e. that he’d paid many people $1mil to be with them for a night, and his chauffeur, finally catching his drift, played along. She was at first confused and hurt, but then she realized what he was doing, and looked at him gratefully. “Thank you, John,” she said as she kissed him one last time. “Goodbye.” And then she exited the limo and ran into a bus to go back to her ex-husband. “What was that all about?” the chauffeur asked John. “I wanted to end it,” John explained, looking wistfully after Diana. “She would’ve never looked at me the way she looked at him.”

In the movie, this was John’s front yard leading up to his house, altho in the photo (from our visit in 10/06) it was under renovation:


Here’s what lines either side of the yard/fountain: