Sunday, April 19, 2009

Frank Herzog Made Me Cry



How do you know you're really, no, REALLY, old? When you go to a Russell Crowe/Ben Affleck movie and this guy makes you cry.

Yup, I cried.

We've been in Atlanta eight years this month, and I've pretty much come to think of myself --mostly, not completely--as an Atlantan. Definitely not a Georgian, that would be going too far. But an Atlantan--one who resides in Atlanta.

When Mr. Pug and I went to see State of Play yesterday, we had a good time picking out Washington, DC scenes. OMG, there's Metro Center Station! The Rayburn Building! Oh, wow--which bridge is that, anyway? There's the Watergate! Honey, what was the last show we saw at the Kennedy Center? Did we stand right there after the performance? Yup, it was a hometown festival all around.

But Frank Herzog--man, he got to me. He doesn't even get a credit at the end--I guess those credits are reserved for speaking roles, and he didn't speak a word. If he had, I think I would have bawled out loud!

But there he was, grayer and fuller in the face than the last time I saw him, but then again, I am too. He was sitting next to Ben Affleck in two scenes, portraying (I guess) a congressman at some hearings into the nefarious doings of a Halliburton-like company called PointCorp. In one scene he looks mildly surprised when Ben breaks down on announcing the death of his (clandestine) girlfriend. In the other, he looks frankly (a little pun!) horrified when Ben makes an impassioned speech about said company.

But it was definitely him--the onetime voice of the Redskins, Frank Herzog.

Okay, I undersand that you've never heard of Frank. Not everyone is lucky enough to be from DC and some of you still don't understand about the Redskins, and why they're they ONLY NFL team worth following. But seeing Frank made me homesick in a way that all those pictures of DC couldn't. After all, even the old Americana motel in Arlington--I can't believe it's even still there!--nope, seeing Frank was even more poignant than that.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I moved to Texas 2 years ago after living in the D.C. area for 35 years. I just watched the movie and the SECOND I saw him, I knew it was him. I told my wife, "Holy cow, that's Frank Herzog!!" and she just looked at me like, so what.