Written by Gary Boldizar, Service Director at Fiesta Ford
You lucky readers of The Sun City Insider are luckier than normal this month. You’re going to read the only article which touches on the most iconic Spaghetti Western of all time, and then segues into a quick look at the blasé month of August.
The term “Eurowestern” (European Western) refers to the nearly 600 films produced between 1960 and 1978 that were based on tales from the old American West. They were filmed in nearly every country in Europe, but mostly in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Yugoslavia. Most of us probably remember a half dozen titles or so, such as A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, One Dollar Too Many, and The Dirty Outlaws. But the first one to come to most people’s minds is, without a doubt, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which turns 60 this year.
Bah-Nah-Nah… Wha-Wha-Whaaa… Admit it, you heard the notes in your head as you read those strange words. That memorable theme, a young Clint Eastwood at his finest, and the movie’s classic good guy vs. bad guy story make the movie an all-time classic.
“Ok,” you say, “thanks for the movie trivia. But how do you connect the dots to the month of August?” Easily, I say. In my view, August is that kind of month. Some good, some bad, and some ugly. Although, in this age of political correctness, I’ve added a fourth category, which I dubbed “Notable.” I know, I know… The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Notable. Well, it isn’t very catchy.
Some good things my research revealed that took place in August:
Both Francis Scott Key and Herman Melville were born on August 1st. For those of you who aren’t history buffs, Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, and Melville wrote Moby- Dick. 2) Slavery was abolished in Jamaica in 1838. 3) The U.S. Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965. 4) The discoverer of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, was born in 1881. How many of us are still around because of him? 5) Hawaii became the 50th state. 6) The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920, granting women the right to vote.
Bad things were far easier to find:
Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, launching the first Gulf War. 2) President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the very first income tax in 1861 as an emergency wartime measure. It was 3% on incomes over $800.00. 3) The Gulf of Tonkin Incident took place in 1964, escalating U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. 4) In 1814, British troops burned the White House, the Capitol Building, and many government buildings during the War of 1812. 5) Britain’s Princess Diana died from internal injuries suffered in a car accident in Paris. Two other occupants in the car also died. 6) Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, died in his third year in office in 1923. 7) Elvis Presley passed away in 1977.
Plenty of ugly, and I passed on talking about most of it:
The death of Marilyn Monroe, and the controversy surrounding it, in 1962. 2) The Watts riots, and the incident which triggered them, in 1965. 3) In 1883, one of the worst volcanic eruptions in recorded history took place on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa. One-hundred-and-twenty- foot tidal waves killed an estimated 36,000 people in the first hour after the main eruption. That’s enough of the ugly.
Events I classified as Notable were easier to jot down. For example, the resignation of Richard M. Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, took place on August 9, 1974. Some of you readers may remember that as a bad thing; others, a good thing. So, I remained apolitical and called it Notable.
Other notable August nuggets:
In 1492, Columbus began his journey, which ended in the discovery of the Americas. 2) August is a big month for Jamaica: they achieved independence after centuries of European rule in 1962. 3) The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. 4) In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, establishing the system which guarantees pensions to those who retire. It also aids dependent children, the disabled, and the unemployed. P.S. It was originally intended to be temporary. 5) Notable persons born in August: Ernie Pyle, Louis Armstrong, Barack Obama, Herbert Hoover, Cecil B. DeMille, Fidel Castro, William “Bill” Clinton, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Mother Teresa.
I know my lists are short and far from comprehensive. As I was writing down the notable nuggets, I realized some of them should be listed with the “Good” things, like the birth of Mother Teresa. Thought I should have gone back and added them to the “Good.” But I was running out of gas near the end.
Like I said, it’s a blasé month.
P.S. For all your car needs and tune-ups this August, pop by and visit our Quick Lane services on-site at Fiesta Ford.
