"Hey, it's too late!" . . .

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2013)

. . . "Not for me!" Though the proverbial "fat lady" already has sung, packed up her music, and left the building, Elaine Robinson cannot refrain from beating a dead horse. In the moment that may have inspired the "God is Dead" Movement in the late 1960s, actor Dustin Hoffman as Ben Braddock ends his marathon drive and sprint by jamming a sacred metal cross into the church door to trap the mostly elderly gathered Christians inside their temple. The message here is that religion, morals, community standards, knowing where your next meal is coming from, and people over 21-years-old have no place in the Brave New World. The cross country running team captain has barely lifted a foot all summer, because this New World Order is totally fluid--"Plastics!" is the current buzz word. Now it's perfectly rational to let the mom show her daughter's designated date how things work in bed for his "maiden voyage" (or first 50 trips through the wickets), as long as no one thinks too hard about it. Elaine may have been "started" in a Ford, but it doesn't take her long to move up to Ben's sporty red Alfa Romeo convertible. Yet, to echo Laurence Olivier's urgent question to this not-so-lonely long distance runner\MARATHON MAN, "Is it safe?"