The Reach Exceeds the Grasp

With all the brouhaha about Tom Cruise cast as Jack Reacher, I wonder if we Reacher fans should organize a Reacher March to Hollywood!

The news about that Little Guy playing the Big Guy has flooded the air waves.

Articles, posts, blogs, tweets, - a verbal tsunami has hit the civilized world.

When I first got the news, I thought maybe I was off-base. After all, the Little Guy has made a lot of dough. He's not bad cinematically.

Then the verbal volcanos took over. Erupted from Vesuvius to Iceland.

People yelled from roof gardens. In bars, barns , barnyards and barrios.

Blue-blooded dowagers leaped on the tea tables at the Colony Club, yelling, "Non! Cruise cannot Reach!"

Even the staid Harvard Club posted a modest notice: " Members may not mention Cruise."

The New York Athletic Club was bolder. Signs appeared in all massage rooms: "Members may Reach, not Cruise!"

Even Mike and Chuck stopped weekly reruns of the Little Guy in all Manhattan movie houses.

The world of commerce got into the act. Tiffany, Cartier, Brooks Bros. and Men's Warehouse put huge signs in their front windows: " Keep Reaching with Reacher! No Cruising on These Premises! "

Then Janet Maslin came out in Section C of The Grey Lady: "Mr. Cruise seems such a wrong choice to play the jumbo vigilante..."

The critic mentioned Reacher's 6-foot-5-inch frame. ( Later, when I saw all the PR for John Taylor, of the Gridiron Developmental Football League, who stands 6-feet-11-inches, my first thought was - if they make a movie on this guy, starring the Little Guy, they'll have to put his pants on stilts!)

Maslin goes on to praise the "sang-froid" of Reacher's delivery. I wonder if the Little Guy knows what that means!

Deborah Sinclaire, Editor-in-Chief of the bomClub, wrote: " Now, I have to admit, I have some qualms about the casting of this movie…"

Hey, you, tell me your thoughts on this hot topic!

I'm open to a good verbal fight - unless you're 6-foot-5!

Thelma Straw