The farmer in the dell,
The farmer in the dell,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The farmer in the dell,
The picture begins as a group of small children is playing and singing, “The Farmer in the Dell.”
The largest group of children forms a circle, several form a second group within the circle, and a third set of one stands alone in the middle of the circle. Through time elapse photography, we see the circle gradually widen, until one blonde-haired boy stands all alone in the middle.
The cheese stands alone,
The cheese stands alone,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The cheese stands alone.
Stalking my neighborhood video store the other day, on the back wall with the recent releases, I saw a familiar face on a DVD with a distinctly unfamiliar name: Robert MacNaughton of E.T. (he played the older brother) is riding a bike on an empty road. But MacNaughton, who has to be closing in on 40, still looks like he’s about 15 years old. That incongruity is due to I am the Cheese, whose theatrical release was in 1983, being first released only twenty years later on DVD.
I am the Cheese is a disturbing movie that heaps sadness upon sadness and deception upon deception.
The picture works on at least half a dozen different levels. It’s a road movie, a coming-of-age story, and a labyrinth of mysteries.
Jonathan Tunick’s deceptively simple score begins with a single clarinet, before branching on to other instruments. And so it is with the story line of I am the Cheese. The movie starts as a road story, following its 15-year-old protagonist, Adam Farmer (MacNaughton), as he begins a long journey to visit his father, riding a rusty, old bicycle, carrying a package wrapped in brown paper, about whose contents we know nothing. The story is told through flashbacks that occur to Adam as he pedals along, on lonely, wet, New England back roads. Soon enough, the viewer is immersed, along with Adam, in mysteries in which nothing is as it seems.
Those mysteries may all be expressed as questions that may sound pretentiously metaphysical, but which in fact all have concrete answers. Who is Adam Farmer? To what degree are his perceptions accurate or fantastic? What mysterious event occurred when he was a young child? What second, mysterious event occurred more recently? Who are the other people whom we – and Adam – encounter in the story?
Article comments
1 - Witness
James Ellroy's opinion is incorrect. Karyn Kupcinet was deliberately murdered in my opinion. Here's my theory: She was being stalked for about 4 days before she was murdered. She didn't know this. A hired hit man from Chicago waited till one night she had 2 male visitors. When they left, she fell asleep. At midnight, her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Prine, called her. The conversation, according to Prine, wasn't memorable. Now awake, she went into the bathroom and took a shower. When she came out, she heard noise in the living room. She put on her bathrobe and went to look. A man grabbed her, there was a scuffle, and he hit her with a karate chop to the neck. This occurred because Irv Kupcinet went into the Ruby angle of Kennedy's Assassination immediately following Ruby shooting Oswald. He called a mutual friend, Paul Dorfman, who hadn't yet heard that Ruby shot Oswald. Kupcinet had been acquainted with Ruby. The Mob killed her to show Irv that they were not fooling around and to stop investigating it. And sent that message to other journalists too, through this prominent murder. At the same time, they called Irv to ask if he needed their assistance in L.A. as the cops weren't finding the killer. He turned them down and remained, in my opinion, in denial. I am told that he never wrote about the Assassination again until JFK, the movie, came out. He ripped that movie to shreds.
2 - Witness
I just wanted to add, as the author of the above, that Paul Dorfman was very mob-connected. I'm sure after that call from Kupcinet, he turned on the TV and via phone started to inform the Mob of who called him and why. Karyn was killed in the early hours of November 28, 1963, Thanksgiving. Supposedly, Irv wrote a column on Jack Ruby, having been the leader of the Waste Handler's Union, and said Ruby didn't do a good job and was replaced. The date of the article is November 25, 1963 in the Chicago Sun-Times. I am trying to verify this. In my notes about 2 years ago, I have History-Matters as the website from which I got this info. I have scoured History-Matters and I can't find it.
It's possible Irv Kupcinet was in denial.
Witness
3 - Cathy Reinhardt
David Lange died unexpectedly at his sister,
Joy's, home in Vermont on February 6, 2006. He and I had been companions in Connecticut for the past ten years. He was much loved and is sorely missed.
4 - Nicholas Stix
Dear Ms. Reinhardt,
Please accept my condolences for your loss.
Nicholas Stix
5 - Whose Who 2 ?
Is there any connection to Alan Dorfman?
6 - Witness
The words above were written by me. I was able to get my hands on Karyn Kupcinet's autopsy. I believe she was killed by having her carotid artery cut off in a choke hold.
She had much damage to her left side neck. She had a "copious" discharge in her birth canal.
I believe she was ordered dead by Paul Dorfman, whom I discovered was a very powerful mafiosa. Irv Kupcinet called around and located Paul Dorfman in Palm Springs and told him about Ruby. At the same time, riding out the assassination in Palm Springs, was Irv's daughter, Karyn Kupcinet.
I believe Paul Dorfman hit upon a plan to get the assassination out of Chicago. A huge crime. Kill Karyn Kupcinet and shock the citizens of Chicago. Everyone there watched this kid grow up.
Chicagoans will be more shocked about her than Jack Ruby, who was also in the Mob. Those blinding headlines left people speechless. And her death had been reported on the air before Irv and Essee even heard about it.