Land Ho!

The Fountain of Youth is found in friendship and travel. The more unnerving, the better.

Land Ho! is an engaging movie about two men in their late 60s trying to find some adventure in a life. It is a movie about old guys for old guys.

Here we find Colin and Mitch renewing a lost friendship. Mitch surprises Colin with two first class tickets to Iceland where they can confront the unknown. Unfortunately, despite the beautiful landscape of Iceland, the film starts a bit slowly given Mitch’s concentration on idiotic sexual remarks regardless of the company.

On the other hand, you gradually understand that both gentlemen are grasping with profound boredom and lost aspirations, and they seek the spontaneity and gaiety of being young. As an example, how can you go to a Reykjavik nightclub to watch young women dance when you are clearly the oldest guys in the bar?

In watching this little film reach its finest level with its ending, I was reminded of the story where the CBS news reporter Quentin Reynolds died of cancer decades ago. He was a flamboyant guy, and the stories of his adventures involving booze and beautiful French women while reporting on location in World War II are legendary.

When the great Eric Sevareid visited Mr. Reynolds in the hospital shortly before he died, he looked down at his stricken friend, grabbed his hand and said, “Quentin, is there anything I can do?” To which Reynolds smiled and softly said, “Yes, there is Eric, make me young again.”

Not a bad mantra to keep in mind, is it.