In article <322DB2B4.6B5B@aol.com>, DGalensky@aol.com says...
[.....]
>the DOF is shallow enough at f/1.4...
>gaining a stop of shutter speed by opening up to f/1
>doesn't seem very practical to me...particularly for
>$2000 plus dollars (zowie!) of course folks may disagree...
>after all, they are selling the lens to some people...

I am often in situations where f1 would be useful,
and f1.2-1.4 isn't quite enough to stop the (distant,
therefore OK for DOF at f1) action with the films
available which provide reasonably high quality image
characteristics. More useful than a 50mm f1 would be
a 30-40mm f1, and a 70-80mm f1 (though they would
need to be sharp at f1 to be useful - and I gather
that the Canon 50mm f1 is not an impressive performer
at f1....).
Hope This Helps