Tonight's featured avatar belongs to the team member, Yankee43...a long time member of the site since 2006.







His avatar is of the actor Oskar Werner playing the role of Guy Montag in the 1966 film, Fahrenheit 451.







The movie is based on the book of the same name written by Ray Bradbury.

The storyline of the movie is of a future society in which all books have been banned by the government.  Books have been deemed to be dangerous to society as they made people feel unhappy with their current lives and makes them desire change.  Instead, they are encouraged to view something that could most easily be described as a form of reality TV, leaving them more easily managed by the government.








Guy Montag is a fireman.  In this time, fireman do not put out fires.  Instead, they start fires.  Books, to be specific.  As books are forbidden, when they are discovered, the firemen are called to the scene to burn the book.  They will also burn down the structure where it was found.  Clarisse, Montag's neighbor questions him about his job.  Her questions cause Montag to become curious and he secretly smuggles away a book so that he could answer his own personal questions.  He goes on to quietly take more and more books to his home.  Montag's Captain notices a change, but it is too late.  Montag is called away to his final call as a fireman....and I won't reveal it with a spoiler.  

Here's a video summary:







...and here's a discussion with Ray Bradbuy about the book:







...and now you know.  





Previously featured avatar: AF304

Love that movie.

Love the book, too.

Interesting as always. Mr Reno

This

Holy crap, he wrote Farenheit 451 in ten days.

Was a great movie.

A lot of great Sci Fi movies were made in the 60's and early 70's.

Bernard Hermann did the Soundtrack for the original, which was good as well.

I like how he sold an early edition to a young publisher with a shortage of money for a mere $400.

That publisher being Hugh Hefner which ended up in editions #2, #3, #4 of Playboy magazine.

and on a typewriter in a library that he was renting for 10 cents an hour.  

I wonder how much a set of Playboys #2 through #4 would sell for these days in good condition?   That would be pretty kickass to say you've got a copy of Farenheit 451 in the ORIGINAL "hard" cover.

Edition #3


Another fun fact - a limited run of 200 copies of Fahrenheit 451 were produced with a cover made of Johns-Manville Quinterra.  That's asbestos.  

You can pick one of those up for about 20 large.  Here.

Bump - now with 100% moar music video!