I’ve never read the Wizard of Oz and I’ve always assumed that I knew the story.  It turns out, and this shouldn’t surprise me, that there’s a lot more to the story than what made it into the movie.  There are back-stories for the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. 

In church today our pastor told us about the Tin Man’s story.  Apparently the Tin Man was the son of a Woodsman who himself became a Woodsman when he grew into a man.  He met and fell in love with a young lady and asked her to wed him.  The girl said yes and the Tin Man set to work earning the money, preparing to take care of his bride.

The woman’s mother opposed the wedding and went to the Wicked Witch.  The Witch put a spell on the young woodsman’s ax.  Every time he swung the ax at a tree the ax would swing wildly.  Before long the ax took off one of his legs.  Refused to admit defeat, the woodsman went to the tinsmith who fashioned a leg for him.

The woodsman continued to work with his enchanted ax and took off his second leg and then an arm.  Each time, for each limb, he would visit the tinsmith and have a new limb fashioned.  It was only a matter of time until the ax cut into the woodsman’s chest. 

Now made entirely of tin, the woodsman took on a new moniker, The Tin Man, and continued to work, cutting down trees in the forests of Oz.  He no longer had a reason to work though.  His bride was gone.  With nothing else to do, the Tin Man worked even harder.  He didn’t even stop to oil his joints. 

And this is how Dorothy found him.  He was completely seized up with rust and within reach of the oil but unable to grab it.  He was unable to help himself. 

After Dorothy helped him the Tin Man said the following (and I’m paraphrasing):

The greatest loss I have experience was the loss of my heart.  For one cannot love who has not a heart. 

I don’t see a lot of movies these days.? Until tonight the last movie I saw in the theater was probably Batman Begins and the last movie I sat through on DVD was Donnie Darko back at R and N’s. I’ve watched two movies in the last twenty-four hours.? Let’s go to the map!

First of all, I watched Garden State, as mentioned before it was a gift from my sister for my birthday.? It wasn’t bad, but could have been better.? In the interest of full disclosure I’m a big fan of Zach Braf and an even bigger fan of Natalie Portman’s body so I started off assuming I’d enjoy it - and had it come out seven or eight years ago it surely would have been on of my favorite movies.? Now days it was just another movie.

It couldn’t help but compare it to a truely great Natalie Portman flick, Beautiful Girls.? Each of them include someone coming home to their New England hometown to face their pasts and while there they meet up with a uniquie, self-confident, smart local girl played by Natalie Portman in both cases.? In both films that main character learns from seeing his old friends and the mess their lives are which, along with the girl, he finds the strength to make the touch choices in front of him.

Garden State felt like a lot of character development with no real plot though.? Over and over we got to meet some really great characters that, if they appeared at all, only made later appearances as background, not the interesting pieces of the story they could have been.? It almost would have been better to not have them there at all.

While Beautiful Girls is a better film, if you want to have a guilt free crush on Ms. Portman check out Garden State.? Marty (Natalie’s character in Beautiful Girls) is a lot more interesting of a character but she’s just thirteen.

Tonight I went and saw The Ballad of Ricky Bobby with my parents.? This one wasn’t bad for what it was.? Needless to say I didn’t have high expectations for this one, it stars Will Farrell for goodness sake.? My only real comment is that comedians need to realize that you don’t have to fill your movie with sex, religion and race jokes to be funny.? English is a pretty robust language, you don’t have to try to shock people to make them laugh.