Don't be fooled by the familiar dramatis personae: the regretful old man haunted by memories, the ghost of times past with the power to erase his bitter legacy, and the poor but loving family gathered in anticipation of a meager Christmas celebration.
"Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" is very much about men, triumphant, regretful, defiant, sentimental, touchingly vulnerable men who are made all the more poignant with each image of them as young players.
The lyrics describes a woman feeling regretful of loving a man who does not know what love is.
Fueling the drama is the unnamed man's regretful memories over the end of the affair and bitterness, not the least of which stems from his complicity as a lowly editor at a publishing house that churns moronic manuscripts into art while his former love has gone on to marry a successful novelist.
Washington directs Wilson's own screen adaptation, about a retired baseball player named Troy Maxson (Washington), now working as a Pittsburgh garbage man, who's regretful about how his life turned out.
Willmott includes both a filmed and recorded 1905 interview with the aged, regretful Lincoln, "remembered only as the man who lost the War of Northern Aggression," as well as a clip from a faux film by D. W. Griffith a victorious substitute for "The Birth of a Nation," titled "The Capture of Dishonest Abe," adapted from Thomas Dixon's novel "The Yankee".
The word "regret" is particularly regretful.
Sadly, he never got the chance to do so; his cancer reappeared in July, forcing him into a regretful resignation and robbing the football world of a man who genuinely could have gone on to become an all-time managerial great.
Mary Bevan's engaging Zerlina, in bridal frock and heels, convincingly suggests a young woman all at sea, head turned by an older, powerful man, desires muddled, tempted yet regretful.
