The Paper Chase Guy

 Re-watching the MST3K episode "Warrior of the Lost World" recently and who should I (re)discover is the lead actor in that film? Robert Ginty!

One of the running jokes of the episode, ironically, is that they never refer to Robert Ginty by his name, no one knows his name, he is only referred to as "The Paper Chase Guy."

Just as with this episode of MST3K, I had a fondness for "The Paper Chase," the 1973 film about the pressure to make the grade for first year students at Harvard Law School, but had no recollection of Robert Ginty being involved. It was the perfect movie night suggestion.

Re-watching "The Paper Chase" I found it really holds up well. It really brings back all the memories of staying up for an exam and the stress of learning. The opening scene where it starts with an empty auditorium and progresses until the room is full is so simple but so evocative of that feeling. And I think I could watch John Houseman in anything.

The only problem with the movie is that Robert Ginty is nowhere to be seen. How is The Paper Chase guy not actually in "The Paper Chase." It turns out that Robert Ginty played a supporting role in the television series that was based on the movie. So now I'm watching the television series.

I'm generally enjoying the series, so far, it is a test of the hypothesis that I could watch John Houseman in anything - in the show he reprises the role he played in the movie. I have yet to resolve how they'll make a multi-year series about a guy/professor/class relationship. Will they do the Simpsons thing where time runs in the real world but is suspended in the show? Or will they do the Boy Meets World/Saved By the Bell thing where the teacher follows the students through the years? I wouldn't expect them to do that but what I would expect the least is that they'll be true to life and have John Houseman disappear after the first year, to be replaced by other professors.

The main conclusion and the main thing worth noting so far is that I've discovered "The Paper Chase" has the most 70s, wussiest, lamest theme song possibly in the history of television. People say that the "Family Ties" theme is lame, but that has the redeeming quality of being pretty. This theme is just... it's like a parody of bad folk songs. It's like an Adult Swim simulation of a sitcom that never existed.