Hot Day for Scoundrels

Started out a sunny, humid day with a laundry run. Or a laundry walk. It's too hot to run anywhere! It got into the lower 90s here today, and the heat is just supposed to get worse throughout the week. I pushed the cart to the laundromat around quarter of 10. The laundromat was steady, but not terribly busy. A lot of people may already have come out, or were planning to come out later in the evening. I read You Call It Madness and listened to Let's Make a Deal and several Eyewitness News warnings about the heat wave this week.

I had enough time when I got home to put my laundry away, listen to my The Bing Crosby Story LP set (which features many of Bing's earliest recordings, including several mentioned in You Call It Madness), and have a quick lunch before heading out to work. I did ride there. I know how to deal with hot weather - go slowly and bring water.

Work was steady all afternoon. It was only really busy during rush hour, and then probably because today is the end of a big weekend sale. There were a few cranky people (the heat may have been getting to them). Otherwise, I had no major problems, and the teen boy who was my relief was on time.

Went straight home after I finished. I changed into regular clothes and had leftovers for dinner while watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Michael Caine is a con artist in the French Riviera who enjoys the high life, thanks to the money he makes bilking beautiful tourists. When an American con man (Steve Martin) turns up and lands in jail, he bails him out. Martin wants to learn how to make money like he does, so Caine teaches him. It works all too well...and now, Martin is looking for money and a con of his own. They make a wager - whomever can clear out a naive soap company heiress (Glenn Headley) is the winner. The loser will leave town. They do whatever they can to take the sweet lady for a ride...but she may have a few surprises of her own to dish out.

Proof positive that bad guys really do have the most fun. What Caine and Martin do for a living may be far from honest, but they're both so charming and lovable that you root for them anyway. This is a colorful bit of fluff reminiscent of the Technicolor comedies of the 50s and 60s that were often set in Europe. A delightful must if you're a fan of Caine, Martin, director Frank Oz, or old-fashioned sophisticated comedy.