Entry Roger Mucci “ Be a Star of Your Own Movie”.. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid..
Roger Mucci is hosting the 4th annual Active Rain Challenge “ Be a Star of your Own Movie”. I had to think about this very hard to try to figure out a movie which had any impact on me or my life. It finally came to me the movie was “ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.
This movie was made back made back in 1969 and stars Robert Redford and Paul Newman. What stuck in my mind all these years was a scene in the movie where Harvey Logan one of the Hole in the Wall gang members challenges Butch Cassidy to a fight for control of the gang. The line said by Butch was something to the effect we have to get the rules straighten and Harvey drops his guard and says something like what Rules are there in a knife fight. Butch then kicks Harvey in the groin. Butch then tells Harvey if no rules lets get the fight started on the count of three. Sundance Kid counts to three very quickly and Butch knocks out Harvey. The key here was creating a diversion which took the mind off of the fight for a split second. This line or my version of it saved me big time.
The actual dialogue went like this :
[waves to Harvey and smiles]
Butch Cassidy: No, no, not yet. Not until me and Harvey get the rules straightened out.
Harvey Logan: Rules? In a knife fight? No rules!
[Butch immediately kicks Harvey in the groin]
Butch Cassidy: Well, if there aint' going to be any rules, let's get the fight started. Someone count. 1,2,3 go.
Sundance Kid: [quickly] 1,2,3, go!
[Butch knocks Harvey out]
There is more to it but I have a story to tell.
I made a business trip to Paris to learn about the new accounting consolidation program the French Company I worked for was installing. I worked for Elf Aquitaine which is now Total and this organization is a huge energy company. The year I think was either 1996 or 1997.I arrived the in the early afternoon of the day before class was to start. I took a walk along the Champs Elysee and made a few stops to buy a few things. I believe I bought a couple of books and I had a large fairly hard plastic bag with the acquisitions inside. Lucky for me the bag was sturdy. Of course I had to use the restroom which in Paris is usually problematic. I found a Burger King and went to the restroom which was located in what we would call a basement. It was a very typical restroom with one urinal and one stall with a toilet. I was finishing my business at the urinal when I heard a loud noise as the door was apparently kicked open. I turned to look and to my shock a large man who in those days would have been labeled a skin head strutted in and had a very menacing appearance and presence. I knew I was in danger and I was very scared.
The guy pretends to walk to the stall and then turns around to stare at me and starts speaking in broken English and French to me. My mind is racing and the only word I could figured what he said was wallet. He wanted my wallet and there was no way I could see that this confrontation would have a good outcome for me. I immediately got an image of me handing him my wallet and then of him kicking the crap out of me. In emergency situations sometimes your mind works very fast and this time it did. I was raised in bad neighborhood in a major midwestern city and city kids learn street smarts and survival at an early age.
I responded to him that I could not understand a word he was saying and this insulted him. I guess he was proud of his terrible English. His arms were in a position where he could easily take a swing at me with with either hand by taking a quick step forward. The bathroom is small in size. I then nervously blurted out this was against the rules and we had to have rules. The statement was taken and modified by me from the Butch Cassidy movie. I was attempting diversion.
Well it sort of worked as he dropped his hands to his side and said something unrecognizable in English to me and his face was indicating he thought I was crazy. The diversion I needed was there. I took one step or maybe two forward and swung my bag as hard as I could aiming for his eyes. Pay dirt as the bag hit this guy right in one of his eyes and he let a horrible groan and had both of his hands over his one eye and was cursing a blue streak at me in French. The odds of me hitting an eye were small at best. The good Lord was on my side. My heart was racing as I was scared to death.
I was still in a heap of trouble so I did the only thing I could do was to start kicking him in groin like Butch did in the movie. I had on a pair of indoor soccer shoes I use to wear all the time back in those days. I kicked him several times in rapid order and all hit the target. I have always had strong legs and possess a strong kick. His hands were now holding the family jewels and he was bent over and really moaning. I stopped kicking as I knew I needed to get out of there and started my escape towards the door as fast as I could. He either fell forward or he lunged at me. He grabbed my left foot with one hand. I half turned and kick his forearm several more times. I heard a horrible noise plus a terrible groan from him and he let go of my foot.
I ran up the stairs and yelled at another American who was headed to the bathroom to not go in there and why he should not go in. He started running like I did. I ran as fast I could for at least a mile and took my sweatshirt off and put on sun glasses plus removed my hat. I went into an outdoor cafe and hid the back as there was a covering back there and it was dark. The waiter tried to get me to move outside as the weather was very nice. I stayed put for about one hour. I had been told these street thugs in Paris worked in teams of at least two people and I was afraid he had accomplices who would be looking for me.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie plus the good Lord saved me this day! Thinking about all this brought back the scared out my mind feeling once again.
Entry Roger Mucci “ Be a Star of Your Own Movie”.. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid..
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