20160404 (success)

True in the '70s . . . true today?

Yesterday I watched American Hustle

For the second time and noted more

Closely the theme and the main

Characters’ origins. In the special

Features commentary, the director,

David O. Russell, said he was trying

To portray how some people here 

In America—the land where dreams

Come true—who start with nothing

will struggle desperately “to make it.”

A common theme but the characters

Don’t exactly start from nothing.

Male lead, Christian Bale, plays

Irving Rosenfeld, inherits a window

Glass business from his father (who

We gather was somehow harassed 

By collectors—but didn’t lose the

Business). Irving, at the opening of

The film confesses ownership of

The glass business, five dry cleaners,

And has moved into more profitable

Con schemes in loans and art sales.

He is hardly penniless. Female lead,

Amy Adams, plays Sydney Prosser,

A bright woman from Albuquerque

Who is lured by the temptation to

Do better for herself than stripper,

Moves to New York, and gets

A job at Cosmopolitan magazine

As an office go-fer. As a bright

Young woman whose beauty is 

Undeniable, she too is hardly

Without assets. Yet the two of 

Them meet and conspire to do 

Better. They could readily settle

In managing his businesses

Honestly and resolve the issue

Of his existing marriage and

Fatherhood. The story takes 

Place in the late ‘70s during the

Carter years when interest rates 

Were heading toward 18%. Maybe

That’s why they need steady 

Growth, from the thousands

They could have to the millions

They want. Doesn’t everybody

Want the millions? Isn’t that

The American hustle to which

The film refers? They could

Go back to the farm, raise 

Chickens and children and

Live modestly but happily

Ever after. But they want that

Extraordinary “more” that will

Raise Irving out of his father’s

Troubles and close the door

Forever on her stripper past.

Interesting how it ends though

(spoiler alert). Once they tie

Up all the loose ends of their

Scamming past, they open a

Legit art gallery and are shown

Picking up his son at a school

Where his mom, now divorced,

Shares him with Irving on the

Weekends. Done with the wild

Crazy con rides, they are willing

Now to be ordinary honest people.

I kept asking myself, “Self,” I

Asked probingly, “just how 

Long will this sedate life last

Before the itch of even bigger

Bucks and the lure of greater 

Danger disrupts their happy 

Home?” Maybe their love is

True and lasting. But for how 

Many others would the 

Hustle soon resume?

c. J.S.Manista, 2016