How sad is this?

As Good As It Gets

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I grew up on the other side of it's longtime Chicago "dry dock" in Jackson Park, and across from 57th St. Beach, outside of The Museum of Science and Industry. A fun walk across a golf course, past some boat harbors, over the old stone bridge that Jake and Elwood run the Nazis off of with the Bluesmobile, and you there you were, standing in front of it. And old and partial fence around it gave the kids another giant old iron war relic to climb on, walk the decks, sit at the anti-aircraft guns, etc. The official tour the museum gave was great with everything left in place like the crew was going about the day when captured. The periscope worked and they let you look through it, rotate it to scan Lake Michigan for Chris Craft, DuFour, Catalina, jet skiers, and cars driving by on Lake Shore Drive.

My father was on the USS Guadalcanal. He didn't talk about his experiences much, but he was one of a few men who spoke German and could relate to the captors. My father was a flight deck electrician. To see him run across the screen during this movie was so thrilling!!! My father passed on in 1991, so it is always interesting to know more about his journey in life. Of course, all the men serving on the USS Guadalcanal received Presidential Citations signed by fellow Missourian, Harry S. Truman, however few could actually discuss it until after the War. He did attend the installation of UBoat 505's installation at the Museum in Chicago. Until then, we girls didn't have a clue about his role in WWII. I would love to hear from some of his shipmates if they are still around.

I have of late been digesting massive amounts of books and documentaries concerning the German submarines in World War II, due to having recently read an astounding book called Shadow Divers, in which a group of deep shipwreck divers on the east coast discover a sunken U-boat off the coast of New Jersey that no government or military history expert in the world can explain. This documentary is about the U-505, the first (and only, I think) German submarine which was not destroyed, but was captured, and now sits on display in a museum in Chicago, and from which the New Jersey divers obtained some crucial information as to how to identify the U-boat wreck that they had discovered. The documentary goes to great lengths to give an in-depth history lesson as to what was happening in the war at the time the U-505 sailed, including the lengthy list of troubles that she suffered before finally making it out to sea. It is an incredible story, the life of U-505, not the least reason for which is that the ship's captain has since visited the U-boat on display, alongside the captain of the American ship which captured her. The two men are friends now, which just makes me feel good about human nature. Any thoughts on whether anyone from opposite sides of America's war today will be shaking hands in a few short decades? One can only wonder...