In 1970, at Guildford Grammar School, there was a rather unusual young man named Kirkwood Guy Weller.
He remains most famous in his schoolboy days for writing his own thesis on the French Revolution in his final years and for adapting one of the questions in the Leaving History exam to propound his theory.
Whatever the exam asked, Guy reasoned there would be at least one question which he could begin by answering and then shift the emphasis to the causes and effects of the French Revolution,.
Guy was a non-sportsman but loved the subject. He was scorer at First XI matches from his third year in high school.
One Saturday I took the hour-long train ride from Grant Street to East Guildford and spent the day with Guy in the charming wooden scoreboard facility. Though two years younger, he liked me because I was one of the few Guildfordians who knew anything about horse racing.
Even in those far-off days I was a person who, as George Grljusich once said of himself: “I am a person with strong opinions and I express them. People don’t like that.”
While overlooking the ground, I commented on the bare patches on the oval and how it was a pretty poor indictment of our school, the facilities of which were always up to the mark.
“You fool,” Guy said. “It’s still recovering from three years of Duperouzel.”
Bruce Duperouzel had amassed century after century on this turf in the previous three seasons and is acknowledged as one of the finest batsmen ever to play Darlot Cup cricket.
Forgive me this indulgence but it connects slightly with Thelma (2024), a film I haven’t seen. However, taking Guy’s French Revolution example, I am putting some background into a film review which has nothing whatsoever to do with school days but there is hope that my efforts are worth a high mark?
K.G. Weller was given 100 per cent in his exam, a figure I don’t expect to match in this piece.
Thelma is a ‘made for old audience’ movie starring one of the oldest actresses in US film, June Squibb.
According to IMDb, the 94-year-old Squibb has been in movies since Alice (1990). The accompanying biography concurs but this means she moved into film from the stage at 61. Alice was a Woody Allen movie that disappeared without trace.
Thelma is Squibb’s first starring role. Often character players don’t come up to the mark when given their chance. According to reviews I read, Squibb hits it easily.
She plays a woman who gets scammed when a phone call pretending to be from her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) leads her to provide money to get him out of jail. When she realises she has been robbed, Thelma decides to get her money back.
She enlists her friend Ben (Richard Roundtree) to help and the two cross the city – I assume to less gentrified sections – to confront the scammers. Her children and Danny pursue Thelma and Ben.
Lots of of wry humour – smart remarks indicating very old people still have their great wit – and antics on a mobility scooter ensue.
Squibb was Jack Nicholson’s wife in About Schmidt (2002) and Bruce Dern’s in Nebraska (2013), earning an Oscar nomination for the latter.
Roundtree probably once ranked third behind Martin Luther King jun. and Muhammad Ali as the most famous living Black American.
This was 1971 when he played private eye John Shaft in the movie Shaft. Roundtree became the first black action hero in cinema.
Aforementioned comments about Thelma on Rotten Tomatoes appear to fit into two categories: adulation and abasement. Some examples:
“Funny … as I am getting up there, I could relate to the old folks stuff.” Yvonne H 4/5
“Loved everything about it. Thelma was excellent. Love seeing seniors fight back.” Valarie M 5/5
“Great story and loved the actors.” John M 5/5
and
“My god this is an awful show.” Jim X 0.5/5
“First off, how did this movie even get made? And second, and far more shocking, how did it get such great reviews?” Amy K 0.5/5
“Didn’t deserve a theatrical release, could have gone straight to streaming.” Damian H 1/5
So there. In 1.5 pages you now know a little about Thelma. Perhaps more importantly, you may want to know more about Duperouzel?
I WRIGHT 