Comfort and Joy

It’s spring, and that means a nation’s thoughts turn to ice cream.

Just last week, Jerome Robbins, one of the founders of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain died at 90.

This week, as the temperatures rise, the New York Times reports on a skirmish between Mr. Softee and Good Humor truck drivers on the Upper West Side, mentioning some previous incidents.

There have been harsh words, hurt feelings and even bloodshed between competitors. In 2004, a couple in their 60s who owned and operated two ice cream trucks were ambushed in the Bronx and beaten with an oversized wrench. The motive, the police said, was the couple’s ice cream route. A rival ice cream salesman was charged with assault and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

It’s the wrong season for it, but there’s never a bad time to watch Bill Forsyth’s Comfort and Joy.