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Here are some interesting notes about The War which
have appeared in various trivia questions on Internet boards.
- The Tree used in The War is not a special
effect. It’s a real old critter found in South Carolina and fitted
with the appropriate set pieces.
- The name of the Simmons family car is Flossy. And
coincidentally, cotton candy plays a role (as a symbol for sweet peacemaking)
and cotton candy is referred to in England as candyfloss.
- The family raises needed money for Stephen’s union
card by refunding coke bottles. After his death and just before the
word that their auction bid had been accepted for the house, there’s
a close up of a new pile of coke bottles accumulating under the porch.
- After the first Water Tower scene, when Stu has won
the dare, there’s a shot of Elijah Wood’s face lit by a stream of
sunlight on his angelic eyes, a Money Shot as Dom Monaghan
refers to some of his friend’s facial poses on film.
- The actor playing Mr. Lipnicki is Raynor Scheine,
which to this reviewer is one of the cleverest screen names ever (Rain
or Shine, get it?)
- When Elijah refers to the Lipnicki’s as the Limpdickies,
he comes as close as he has come to a cuss word in any movie to date.
His first use of the F word would be in The Faculty
as he sits in the boy's bathroom nursing a bloody nose and a sore
pair of testicles (oh, I’ll say it - balls).
- Elijah tends to get beat up in his movies. In this
one he sustains quite a number of lickings - but his lip is cut in
the "best" possible manner to underscore his agony
facial expression. He would continue to have his lip suffer in other
films right up to the current Hooligans/The Yank/Green Street,
set for release in the UK (2005), no distributor in North America
to date.
- When Stu calls Mr. Lipnicki a "son-of-a-bitch"
he has risen to his father's level. Stephen, in the drug store scene,
uses "son-of-a-bitch" in a different sense. However, Stephen
automatically apologizes for using the epithet, while Stu must be
prompted.
- The Lipnicki children, as an ensemble team work very
well in this film with their drawl and nastiness - "goody gumdrops,
I found ma’self a looock." However, their dialog sometimes gets
too erudite for comfort, especially when they ask for rhyming as a
dare.
- The delightful musical numbers in the work from the
three girls gave a nice flavor to the period setting.
- The film’s sub-theme of Lidia’s seeking acceptance
by another race is similar to the later film Black & White
where the young white teens seek to adopt rap culture. However, Lidia’s
efforts take a biting edge, as the writer wanted to make a statement
about segregation in the South. To do that he created that unbelievable
creature Miss Strapford, with her silly wig and her Life is But
a Bowl of Cherries routine.
- There’s a trend in Elijah Wood movies to have a tower
or high place to dangle. Elijah dangles twice in The Good Son,
once in The Two Towers, and once in The Return of the King.
There are also tree houses and forts in Radio Flyer, Paradise,
The Good Son and hiding places in North and The Ice
Storm. North's hiding place is a Department Store comfy chair
at the local mall.
- The ride down the quarry hill is reminiscent of the
Radio Flyer ride and the future Bumblebee roof racer in The
Bumblebee Flies Anyway.
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