92 In The Shade Movie

This essay was first posted December 22nd 2007, a review of a classic Key West film that would make a pleasant afternoon's entertainment on these seasonably windy afternoons we are having this Spring in the Keys. In the Caribbean the strong winds in winter are known as The Christmas Trade Winds; here in the almost-Caribbean we have powerful Spring winds most years.

A sunny afternoon at home with one's feet up.

" I guess I've had an adventure. At least I moved to Key West. I thought I was leaving the real world behind." So says Peter Fonda's father William Hickey, in the movie 92 In The Shade, as he tries to dispense fatherly advice in the face of a threat against the life of his son. The film was made in 1975 on location in Key West, which is probably its greatest claim to fame. The plot is simple, the pacing languid and the characters not too complex, which happens to work well enough for the setting. Some parts of the film are depressingly true to 21st century life in Key West, and the old saying about the more things change the more they stay the same comes ringing through. I noticed the Pirate Torture Museum of Key West as a backdrop in one night scene, so I guess the Pirates in Key West myth has been propagated for some considerable time, and visitors have been bamboozled by that one for decades apparently. The waters, the fishing the beaches are all in place as they always have been. The streets are similar, the houses and greenery lining them are there and the essential quality of other worldliness that attracts people to Key West is in evidence. Old bars, long gone will cheer the hearts of old timers, but my brief visit in 1981 wasn't stamped strongly enough to enable me to remember much. I think the other side of Key West, the drab, hard scrabble, know-nothing booziness is clearly portrayed in a way that looks cool on film but reminds one that life in Key West has long been nasty and tough. The plot is simple enough. Tom Skelton is a talented flats fisherman and gets hazed by the old timers on the dock who are threatened by his potential. Warren Oates plays Nichol Dance, Fishing Guide and all around nasty guy. Tom doesn't take kindly to the practical joke Nichol plays on him, and overreacts to establish his turf and the retaliation spirals down from there. Throw in Burgess Meredith as his weird old monied grandfather, a bra-less girlfriend, Elizabeth Ashley and a crusty Greek Chorus played by Harry Dean Stanton and all Key West needs to be is a pretty backdrop. That's what its about really, its just a B movie set in the Fabulous Florida Keys, and the locations are real even if moved around a little.

Bridge Fishing

I like the old Flagler Bridge that connects Cudjoe to Sugarloaf Keys.


Cheyenne likes it too and she enjoys wandering the bushes next to the bridge also.


While people stand like mannequins dipping dead worms in the water Cheyenne stumped down to water level to make sure there wasn't any edible trash going to waste.


I can't say I have ever understood the attraction of the sport, and after years in the Keys, paradise for anglers, I still don't.


The views are pleasant enough.


And the bridge itself has been beautifully refurbished by the great State of Florida.


Cheyenne loves to hunt for abandoned bait fish.


With a strong east wind blowing up Bow Channel the waters take on a steely gray color.


But for these people chasing fish is more important than checking out pansy views.


Some people like to spend money chasing fish on the water.


Women can be martyrs to fish hunters. This one I don't get at all. Many women love to fish, you see them all the time on the bridges with poles, but to be out here wind blown and bored without even a book (or a Kindle) blows my mind.


Te bridge is also home to families cycling together. They liked Cheyenne but happily my pink Crocs kept them at bay.


And to cap it all we found dead fish strewn around the parking area. Raw fish does not appeal to Cheyenne but she gave them some close scrutiny before leaving them where she found them.


And I scrutinized this abandoned bra for some time trying to figure out what the story could possibly be. Nothing good I think.


I have no idea how the bloodmobile got into this essay, but here it is on it's way to Summerland Key for a round up of donors.


I have a rather rare blood type but can't give because I had Heptatis A, contracted in Africa when I was a wild motorcycling youth and not very conscious of cleanliness as I camped rough through Nigeria and Cameroon and ate whatever I found. The interior of the bus is therefore a mystery to me and all the more fascinating for it.


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Pelicans

Like Amanda on her Bassett's BVI blog in the British West Indies I too like pelicans.


A little black speck in a large wind blown ocean.


Which manifests itself as a graceful pair of wings hauling the round body aloft.


Soon they will all be buggering off to some other place for the summer. Kansas perhaps like the human snowbirds.


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Spring Break Road Hell

It is inevitable if you drive US Highway One with any regularity...


Traffic slows, and the brake lights appear and your heart sinks when you realize you are dead in the water on the only through road in the Fabulous Florida Keys.


In these first pictures I was driving north bound past Square Grouper on Cudjoe Key Thursday evening where I encountered a serious accident, what police call a traffic homicide investigation or T.H.I. That doesn't necessarily mean someone died, just that the wreck must be investigated with great thoroughness because people severely injured may die later and in a wreck when the evidence is gone, if it was not properly recorded it will never come back.


The Square Grouper is one of the finest restaurants south of the seven mile bridge and had I not had a pizza date at home with my wife on the deck I would have been tempted to yield to the temptation of the ugly red roofed building.


The restaurant is right next to a broad intersection which sometimes tempts idiots into passing and other idiots to cross the Highway without looking. Whatever happened here they forced a lengthy, aggravating road closure. I blame youthful testosterone filled drivers and I have no evidence to back my suspicions...


I have talked to traffic investigators at Key West PD where I dispatch and to me it would be the specialization I would prefer were I to become an officer (in another life because in this one I don't have the stomach for police work) because the body of knowledge and the ability to recreate the sequence of events before impact is quite fascinating.


And while they measure and calculate we the public sit on our hands and wait. Or, if we are lucky enough, we get to slide by on a small piece of frontage road. Of course the rubber-neckers keep the pace to a slow and intermittent crawl!


Thursday night not enough mayhem? There was more action, or rather inaction, early yesterday afternoon which gridlocked traffic south of Big Pine. I went happily off to do some chores, none of which involved buying fresh or frozen food luckily, and was promptly mired in the merde. Zut alors! Seen here stationary for an hour among the Torch Keys.


Unfortunately this kind of stuff is to be expected from time to time and the blessing of the road that makes a peninsula of all these islands, promptly becomes a curse.


Cheyenne was bored on the back seat and some bored human nipnunks took short cuts, hopefully to their homes on intermediate islands.


Luckily this time I had the car and my iPad and the a/c was cool on an 86 degree afternoon so all was not lost.


Please drive carefully when visiting, be patient, and don't drive like the locals who know the quirks of the road. Plus, if stuck dial *FHP to find out what's going. Please don't call 911, as we don't consider being stuck in traffic an emergency, just an inconvenience in Paradise.


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Rude Boy

I was following this Harley look-alike out of town on the Boulevard, but I got tired of his loud pipes so I swung off onto First Street got tangled in school zones on Flagler and lost a bunch of time leaving Key West earlier this week.


But before we went our separate ways I noticed his Illinois tag and as usual I was forced to wonder why do people do this. Rude? Really?


I met up with the motorcycle by chance at the gas station at the end of my street 27 miles away. That happens a lot in the Keys where driving choices are limited. You keep meeting the same vehicles, and in this case I suddenly discovered why the absurd specialty tag suited this rider.


I am not fond of people who cock block gas pumps while they are busy inside the inconvenience store doing some light shopping. It took a few minutes to fill the Bonneville but Rude Boy was nowhere to be seen. Living down to his name inside the Shell station.


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Daytona Bike Week Residue

Motorcycles, quite aside from my Green Bonneville (in the foreground) have been all over Key West:


Highway One also has been packed in all directions for what seems like forever. This is a typical stretch on Cudjoe Key:


Spring Break has a lot to do with it, but let's not forget that Daytona Bike Week runs through Sunday Up North, and Key West is a popular side trip for the adventurous rider.


This is not a week to look for Triumph Bonnevilles on the highway, but it is a week of relaxed riding styles on the 42 bridges of the Overseas Highway.





It's an odd irony that Florida requires seat belts on slow moving SUVs and family loving slow minivans, but doesn't require motorcyclists over 21, with health insurance, to wear helmets.


Motorcycles must have their headlights on at all times whereas the lights on requirement is only a gentle suggestion for cages (motorcycle talk for cars).


It's all about the open road, in the flat, straight, Florida Keys.


A lot of it too is showing off your ride in the sun.


For some dude like me allergic to crowds and attracted to practical everyday motorcycles, the rampage through the Keys is a source of wonder.


Pirate bandanas and doo-rags are the clothing preferred by many of the adventurers.


But I was impressed when this intrepid traveler actually stopped and asked for directions. You know the joke about why the Israelites wandered the Sinai for forty years? Because Moses was a man and couldn't bring himself to ask for directions.


And then there are the non bikers still riding around Key West on two wheels.


I never understand why parents think it's okay to ride without a helmet when the law mandates their kids wear one. Isn't learning by example how they are supposed to raise the new generation?


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