Montauk Pioneer - October 31, 2008

Two films I saw during the festival were true stories that were turned into movies. The first movie, "Flash of Genius" starred Greg Kinnear and is based on the true life of Robert Kearns. Kearns invented the intermittent windshield wiper and when the idea was presented to GM, Ford and Chrysler, they rejected the proposal yet started to use his idea in their cars. He sued Ford in 1978 but it didn't go to trial until 1990, when Kearns represented himself. Alan Alda played the lawyer who told Kearns he had an offer of $250,000 to settle the case. Kinnear's character replies with, "But did they admit they stole my idea?" Through many offers that came after even up to one million dollars, if no one was admitting to stealing his idea he was not taking the money. His wife leaves him, yet by the time the case goes to court his children are old enough to help him, and they do just that. One of my favorite courtroom scenes was where Ford tried to convince the jury that Kearns' invention had no new concepts and that basic electronics such as resistors and capacitors had existed way before Kearns filed for his patent. One of Kearns' sons runs into the courtroom with a paper bag and in the paper bag is the book "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. He reads aloud the first few lines. He takes the words and explains how each word existed before Dickens wrote this novel as he holds up the Webster dictionary. Then he explains that it is the order in which the words are put together that made this book a literary classic just as the electronic components he used in his patent previously existed but it was the order in which he put them in that made the intermittent windshield wiper succeed. How can you argue with that? Kearns won his case against Ford and Chrysler for their "non deliberate" patent infringement. This story is one of fighting for what's right and standing up for yourself no matter how many people turn against you. There were a lot of inventors at the time who were having their patents stolen and Kearns was an inspiration for all of them, especially at a time where everyone was telling him that he can't take on the major automobile companies.

The other movie I saw based on a true story was "Stone of Destiny" starring Charlie Cox, who plays the real life Ian Hamilton. Every Scottish king had been seated over the Stone of Destiny since 843 when they were to be crowned. However, when King Edward I invaded Scotland and took the stone back to London with him and had the stone built into a chair that resides in Westminster Abbey. Since then, English monarchs had been crowned in this chair. Ian Hamilton was a university student who had the idea that he and his friends would take the stone back to Scotland. So, on Christmas Eve of 1950 they break into Westminster Abbey to complete this task. So many comical things happen this night and even funnier is that it was all true. The mishap with the keys, the stone, the cars, all of it was real. The real Ian Hamilton who is in his seventies makes a cameo in the film as well. They get the stone back to Scotland and it makes all the newspapers and is in every medium you can imagine. People are dancing in the streets and cheering in the bars. Even Ian's father who never really gave him credit for anything looks at the newspaper and then looks up at Ian asking him if he realizes what he's done and Ian looks at his dad like he's in trouble and his dad just smiles at him and tells him how proud he is of him. This film tells a great story of bravery and believing in what you can do when you believe in yourself and believe in what's right. There was a question and answer session afterwards where I learned that they were allowed two days of filming in Westminster Abbey. Kate Mara is the actress who plays opposite Cox and was in attendance at this film.