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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, a VOA Special English program aboutmusic and American life — and we answer your questions.
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This is Doug Johnson. This week —
New songs from Annie Lennox …
A question about the Chief Justice of the United States …
And — find out who the best heroes are in films!
Top Heroes in Film
HOST:
The American Film Institute has named the fifty greatest heroesin American movies. Shep O’Neal takes a look at some of them.
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The American Film Institute asked one-thousand-five-hundredactors, directors and critics to name the top heroes in Americanmovies. A hero was defined as a character who shows morality,bravery and purpose.
The top hero chosen is Atticus Finch, in the movie “To Kill AMockingbird.” Actor Gregory Peck played a white lawyer in a racistsouthern town. He defends a black man wrongly accused of a crime. Athome, Atticus Finch is a single father who teaches his two childrenabout fairness and justice.
Several top heroes on the listbattle evil with lots of action. There is Indiana Jones, played byHarrison Ford in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Another top hero isBritish spy James Bond, played by Sean Connery in “Doctor No.” SeanConnery is British, from Scotland, but the film was American made.Rick Blaine is not as famous a name as James Bond, but he too is atop hero. Humphrey Bogart played this part in the movie”Casablanca.”
His character helps Resistance leaders escape the Nazi Germans inMorocco during World War Two.
Actor Gary Cooper as lawman Will Kane is another movie hero. Hekills the bad guy in a gunfight in the famous western movie “HighNoon.”
Two women are among the top ten movie heroes. Actress SigourneyWeaver, as Ellen Ripley, battles horrible creatures from outer spacein “Alien.” And Jodie Foster plays Clarice Starling, an agent of theFederal Bureau of Investigation, in “The Silence of the Lambs.” Herenemy is Hannibal Lecter, an insane criminal who kills and eatspeople.
The American Film Institute alsoreleased a list of the fifty top villains – the most evil charactersin movies. It may not surprise you that the top villain is HannibalLecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Another top villain on the list is Darth Vader in the “Star Wars”movie “The Empire Strikes Back.” His frightening voice was providedby actor James Earl Jones. Several women also are among the topvillains. They include the Wicked Witch of the West, played byMargaret Hamilton, in the nineteen-thirty-nine movie “The Wizard ofOz.”The list of heroes and villains is part of the American FilmInstitute’s celebration of one-hundred years of American film.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam. Van Vu asks about the leader of the Supreme Court, theChief Justice of the United States. To understand this job, it isimportant to know some things about the Supreme Court.
Congress created the court more than two-hundred years ago, ascalled for in the Constitution. The judicial division of thegovernment has the power to decide legal disputes involving lawsmade by Congress. The judicial division includes the Supreme Courtand lower courts. The main duty of the Supreme Court is to make surefederal and state laws agree with the Constitution.
Most of the disputes the Supreme Court considers already havebeen judged in a lower court. The Supreme Court hears appeals ofdecisions made by lower courts that involved federal and state laws.All decisions made by the Supreme Court are final. Neither thepresident nor Congress can veto a Supreme Court decision.
The president and members of Congress are elected every fewyears. They must base their actions at least in part on what thevoters want.
But Supreme Court justices are appointed for life by thepresident. Their loyalty, then, is not to voters but to theConstitution. Presidential nominations to the court must be approvedby the Senate.
The court has nine members: a chief justice and eight associatejustices. The chief justice is also appointed by the president andapproved by the Senate.
The Constitution gives just one job to the chief justice: to leadany presidential impeachment trials. However, the chief justice isconsidered the top officer of the court. The chief justice leadsmeetings where cases are discussed, and may choose the justices whowrite the court’s opinions.
The chief justice today is William Rehnquist. President RichardNixon nominated him as an associate justice in nineteen-seventy-two.In nineteen-eighty-six, President Ronald Reagan nominated him chiefjustice. Mister Rehnquist has held that job ever since.
Annie Lennox
HOST:
Annie Lennox became famous during the nineteen-eighties as leadsinger of the rock group the Eurythmics. That group is no longertogether. But last month Annie Lennox released her third independentalbum. Steve Ember tells us more.
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The name of the album is “Bare” — as in without clothes, open tothe world, breakable. Annie Lennox says the name also describes herfeelings about herself.
The songs are less angry, less robotic, than earlier music byAnnie Lennox. The music on “Bare” seems lighter in spirit, moreplayful. The first song establishes an atmosphere. It is aboutlife’s good things – right down to the air we breathe. It is called”A Thousand Beautiful Things.”
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Annie Lennox launched “Bare” with a series of performances in theUnited States, Canada and Europe.
She performed this song from the album in Washington. It is allabout learning to accept lost love and not looking for happiness inholes along the road. It is called “Pavement Cracks.”
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Music critics say the clear quality of Annie Lennox’s voice comesthrough in her newest album. We leave you now with a song that isperhaps the best example. It is called “The Saddest Song I’ve Got.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. Today’s program was written by ShelleyGollust, Jill Moss and Nancy Steinbach. Our producer was PaulThompson. And our studio engineer was Tony Pollack.
I hope you enjoyed our program! Join us again next week forAMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.