Gard Wrote:Thanks for posting the info, I was just on my way here to post what I'd found, and got to read what you said. Here's a good piece from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan...actor-dies
In my opinion, "The Prisoner" is by far the greatest individualist creation in either film or television. It operates on so many levels, from the religious, to the political to the philosophical and moral, that one can watch the series three or four times and see more and more becoming revealed. In it McGoohan, who created the series, and the writers with whom he worked, questions everything from government-inspired wars, to government-run schools, to government-owned roads and government-run courts. It's a stunning achievement that eventually gets into the metaphysical, with references to ancient Christian ideals and the question of whether we are our own jailers.
Can't tell you how much that piece of work inspired me and many others to become warriors for liberty, as well as to appreciate fiction/drama that operates on many intellectual levels.
In a way, I suppose one can say that the Prisoner is free. Depends on one's desire to embrace that perspective.
Be Seeing You!
Mick C. Wrote:Ah, damn. I'm so sorry to hear that. So many memories, not just THE PRISONER, but SECRET AGENT/DANGER MAN, ICE STATION ZEBRA, THOMASINA, BRAVEHEART, THE PHANTOM, and THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH, lots more...
And Ricardo Montalban just passed away as well.
Gard Wrote:I'm glad you mentioned "The Scarecrow", because my brother recorded that theme song on reel-to-reel when it was broadcast on NBC back in the early 1970s. I always loved it, and just found it to use in a podcast I've been producing in honor of McGoohan. The lyrics are fantastic. Always remembered them, thanks to multiple repetition, but the anti-state attitude of them is even more valuable to me now. I already wrote about it over at the Reason forum, but for those who don't mind the duplication, check out the chorus (the tale is based on a true story from Southern England):
"Scarecrow! Scarecrow-o...
The soldiers of the king feared his name.
Scarecrow! Scarecrow-o...
The country folk all loved him just the same...'
He was a rum-runner and tax resistor who fought the royal baddies in the film, a not-so-clear-cut-good-guy in real life.
Oh, and Romney Marsh has been filled in--
By the government. :dontknow: