Bob: You’re welcome. I noticed because I had been doing same.

Thank you On the Amazon list.

Phil: Title fixed. Thank you.

Also, Bob, correcting the title (an error I kept making as well), it’s…

Green Book
2018 – Mahershali Ali and Viggo Mortensen
The year is 1962, in the middle John F. Kennedy’s presidency, and the civil rights movement that would reach its peak during the decade is gaining momentum. But the old ways are dying hard, and any African American traveling the country still needs to exercise great caution in approaching such otherwise normal activities as entering a restaurant or arranging for a motel room. Hence the Green Book, a guide to establishments that non-whites can safely patronize. But the movie’s title, and the book, provide the barest pretenses for what is essentially an absorbing odd-couple comedy–drama based on a true story. Famed jazz pianist Don Shirley (Ali) hires Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Mortensen), a tough guy with mob connections, to serve as his driver and bodyguard during a concert tour through what used to be called the Deep South. Vallelonga does so reluctantly, but he needs the money, and heaven knows Shirley needs the protection, not only because of his skin color but also because he turns out to be a gay man at a time when America’s tolerance for the lifestyle was nonexistent outside of its largest cities. Derived from interviews with both men (the script was co-written by Vallelonga’s son, Nick), the story evolves, predictably but not completely, from suspicion and mistrust to mutual respect and strong friendship. The motion picture academy members liked it enough to award it the Best Picture Oscar, and Ali the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In a stronger year, I’d say it would have been an also-ran. But that’s a quibble. It’s a solid movie, ably directed by Peter Farrelly, who’s best known for his raunchy comedies. [Trivia note: TV fans might recognize the real Vallelonga, who died in 2013. He played the role of the sly mob-boss Carmine Lupertazzi in The Sopranos] [Caution: language, some violence and sexuality] [W]