The Wings of Eagles, The Legs of Pierre

I watched a John Ford/John Wayne movie I'd never seen before last night, The Wings Of Eagles. It had some excellent moments and one of the Duke's better acting jobs, but it was a bit of a mess. The script felt like it had been ripped to shreds and then scotch-taped back together in a hurry. Wayne played Frank "Spig" Wead, a real-life figure Wayne and Ford were friends with. Wead was a Navy aviator and then, after a crippling injury, a successful screenwriter and playwright before rejoining the Navy during WWII. The always luminous Maureen O'Hara played his long-suffering, sometimes estranged wife. She was terrific, but sadly underused. I just think that any movie (especially in color) that features Maureen O'Hara should give her as much screen time as possible. Man, was she easy on the eyes. At least we get to see her in a bathing suit. Ward Bond showed up to play a thinly-veiled version of Ford himself, in one of the film's more entertaining sequences, and Dan Dailey played Wayne's cigar-chomping, loudmouth cohort. It had a lot of the elements of a great John Ford film, but it just didn't entirely deliver. Too many moments of "Huh? Wha?" for my taste. Worth seeing for John Ford aficionados (like me) or fans of the Duke (me, again).

Game 3 of the Woild Serious is tonight in that hallowed ballyard, Pro Player Stadium. Much like Game 3 of the ALCS, this is a big game for the Yankees opponent. Josh Beckett is pitching for Florida and he's their best chance to shut down the Yankees. Beyond Beckett, the Marlins starting pitching doesn't exactly inspire fear in NY, so the Marlins really need to grab this game behind him and take a 2-1 lead. Frankly, my gut feeling is that Beckett is going to start to show the ill-effects of pitching so much this post-season at some point tonight and become very hittable. Hey, I may be way off and he'll pitch a 2 hit shutout with 12 strikeouts, but my hunch is that the Yankees get to him.

Rob Neyer has a fun piece today, debunking the idea that Juan Pierre is somehow now one of basball's elite players and then wondering aloud whom a neutral fan should be rooting for this week. His fellow ESPN.com baseball columnist, Jim Baker also has a very entertaining column today, worth your while. Look out for a Talking Heads reference in there.