After a busy 2022 and a mean case of writer's block, I'm back to wrap up my Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks series, where I've chronicled my first-time viewings of a half-century of films in chronological order, starting with 1921. As the title of this post shows, I didn't complete on time, considering my first entry in the series was way back in February 2021! This post wraps up the series with my tiny takes on the remaining films. For sake of time and space, I have not included film credits other than the director and year of release. For complete credits, click on the links to IMDb provided with each title.
My next post will be a wrap-up and meditation on what I learned from this voyage through film history.
Here are the final six films in the series, from 1966-1971.
Why I chose it: After the intense drama that was Repulsion, I needed something a little frothy! Plus, I needed to see more of Audrey Hepburn, and with the glowing reviews and William Wyler's direction, how could it miss?
My take: A blast. Perfect caper film with fun twists and turns. Both Hepburn and O'Toole were ideally cast, and Charles Boyer in an almost unrecognizable cameo made me smile.
Why I chose it: Because I've never seen Paul Newman in this, one of his career-defining films.
My take: It's a mostly relentlessly harsh film, and it's hard to identify with Newman, but you have to admire his character's strength of will. I'm definitely glad I saw this one, but will likely not revisit it anytime soon.
Why I chose it: What is more representative of 1968 than this doc celebrating the best live rock music of the counterculture?
My take: I'd seen clips from the film, but this viewing introduced me to live performances from artists I'd never seen on film (Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar). A great peak into a time that I missed by about 15 years. Also was moved seeing luminaries lost too soon (Redding, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix).
Why I chose it: I was interested to see both a young Maggie Smith and an older Celia Johnson, the young mother in Brief Encounter(1945), although I really had no idea of the plot.
My take: It felt a little like Picnic at Hanging Rock meets To Sir, With Love. Maggie Smith did a wonderful job of navigating the line between being totally out of line in how she handled her students and worthy of pity. Compelling performances all around.
Why I chose it: I absolutely needed to start filling in the viewing gap that is Sam Peckinpah's filmography. Of the 14 films from the legendary director of Westerns, I'd only seen Ride the High Country, his first. (Yes, I will get around to The Wild Bunch eventually!)
My take: Don't miss this one. A mostly non-violent Western deftly combining humor, drama, and pathos. Peckinpah said this one was among his favorites, and I can see why. Jason Robards is the eccentric title character who we root for until the surprising end. Jerry Goldsmith's score is sublime.
Why I chose it: More Jason Robards! Actually, a film friend had recommended this anti-war film, and with Dalton Trumbo directing a screenplay he wrote with Luis Buñuel, and a part for Marsha Hunt, I was in.
My take: Buñuel's influence is clear, with surrealism bountiful as we get inside the head of a paralyzed, blind, deaf, and mute WWI casualty. Timothy Bottoms plays the soldier in flashback. It's far from mainstream, and a bit remote, but ultimately moving. Marsha Hunt doesn't have enough screentime, but Donald Sutherland as Jesus is breathtaking.
I'd
like to thank Leah of Cary Grant Won't Eat You and Rachel of Hamlette's
Soliloquy for nominating me for the "Sunshine Blogger
Award"! Even if I'm a little late with this post, I hope you enjoy reading
my answers to their great questions below. First, here are the rules:
1.Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2.Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
3.Nominate new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new
questions.
4.List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award in you
post.
5.Notify the nominees about it by commenting on one of their blog
posts.
Now, on to the questions!
Leah asked:
Which party you’ve seen on film would you want to join? Oh my. There are so many fun and interesting parties in film. I'm a sucker for "oldies" rock and roll and I would love to hang out at a sock hop with the gang from American Graffitior the gang from Back to the Future. (I'm trying to think of a movie *made* in the 1950s with a fun sock hop, but coming up empty! Anyone??) Putting on a poodle skirt and dancing to 1950s music played live sounds like a blast to me.
Which cinematic character would be the WORST party guest? I was just talking with my Mom the other day about A Clockwork Orange(1971). I'm not gonna lie, if violent gang-leader Alex (Malcolm McDowell) showed up to a party I was hosting I would be more than a bit stressed about the various illegal substances and the home clean-up I'd be required to do afterward!
Which Hitchcock scene do you find the creepiest? Is "all of them" an option? I'm going to go with the first one that popped into my head and stayed there -- it's the meeting between Guy (Farley Granger) and Bruno (Robert Walker) in Strangers on a Train(1951).This scene starts like an innocent conversation and then you realize something is "off" about Bruno - at about the same time that Guy realizes it, too. Both actors are perfect here and just the way Hitchcock induces that creepy feeling in you in real-time is a stroke of genius.
4. Which
film’s writing blows you away? I love absolutely everything
about Trouble in Paradise(1932)directed by the great Ernst Lubitch. A sophisticated, double entendre-ridden European comedy
of class and manners. The screenplay is credited to Samuel Raphaelson,
adapted by Grover Jones from the play by Aladar Laszlo. Apparently
Lubitsch himself contributed to the screenplay.
5. What
actor (past/present) does the best job throwing a (funny or serious) tantrum onscreen? This one was hard for me. I finally decided this was the place to highlight Toshiro Mifune's unhinged and partially improvised performance as peasant-turned-samurai in Kurosawa's classic The Seven Samurai(1954). The scene where his character gets drunk and throws his body around threatening his comrades with violence to prove his mettle is about as intense as tantrums come.
Don't mess with Mifune when he's mad
6. Who is your favorite movie sidekick? It was an acquired taste, but I absolutely love Una Merkel in the 1930s whenever she is cast as the 'best friend' of the movie's
heroine. She always brought sweetness, sass, and common sense at exactly
the right time. She was the best friend of such stars as Jean Harlow,
Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne, and Myrna Loy, just to name a few.
Una
Merkel (IMdB)
What
classic movie should become a TV series on Netflix/Hulu? One
of my issues with the otherwise good film adaptation of Wuthering Heights(1939) is that the film ended about halfway through the
novel. What about making a series that continues the stories of the
occupants of the remote English moor through to and even past the novel's
conclusion? I can imagine many more adventures, illicit romances, revenge
plots, etc., to make at least one season on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime!
Which
of your go-to films is one others don’t appreciate? I
absolutely adore Billy Crystal's made-for-HBO baseball movie 61*(2001).It chronicles the 1961 New York Yankees' season and the national and
personal drama that was the home run race between Mickey Mantle (Thomas
Jane) and Roger Maris (Barry Pepper) with equal parts nostalgia, humor,
pathos, and irreverence. It's an absolute delight for film fans and baseball fans. I wrote about it HERE.
What
is the best sports scene in a film? Building off my answer to #8, the scene in 61* in which Mickey Mantle (Jane) is at the plate trying to fight through injury to hit a home run to stay in the race is heart-pounding and uplifting. Crystal did a wonderful job recreating the old
Yankee Stadium from the point of view of the batter.
What’s
the funniest scene on film? So tough to narrow this down, but one of my favorites is in the underrated Buster Keaton silent feature Our Hospitality(1923).Buster is "stuck" as a guest inside in a
house of his sweetheart in which her two brothers are looking to kill him for a perceived grievance. The only issue is that their social code says they cannot kill him while he is physically inside the house. The scene mid-way through the film in which Buster is trying every trick in the book to stay inside while his guests are trying to usher him out has me giggling every time.
What’s
your favorite (or one of your favorite) one liners/small bits of
dialogue? Going back to Trouble In Paradise, Fans of this film will no doubt
cite the pickpocket games between the two leads or the "Tonsils!
Positively tonsils!" line from Edward Everett Horton's character. I
giggle when the 'Colet and Company' radio jingle is performed by Tyler
Brooke: "Cleopatra was a lovely
tantalizer; But she did it with her little atomizer; We'll make you
smell like a rose; Ev'ry nose in Paris knows Colet and
Company"!
Rachel asked:
1.
What movie house would you like to live in? It may be the
'recency effect' as I just watched the film for a film group discussion, but I
adore 'Gull Cottage' in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir(1947). It's a
beautiful traditional home impeccably kept, on the coast of England! If it's
good enough for Gene Tierney, it's good enough for me! And if Rex Harrison
wanted to visit from time to time I wouldn't mind ;-)
"Gull Cottage": a screen grab from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
2. What movie pet would you like to own? Um, maybe "Baby" the leopard in BringingUp Baby(1938) if it would land Cary Grant for me like it did for Katharine Hepburn!
Katharine Hepburn and "Baby"
3. What
book do you wish your favorite actor or actress could have starred in an
adaptation of? One of my favorites, Alan Ladd, was apparently tapped by
director George Stevens to play Jett Rink, the role in Giant(1956)that
went to James Dean. Ladd turned it down. The two were such different actors,
but I would love to see what Ladd could have done with the role.
4. Are
there any movies you like better than the book they were based on? This is a tough
one!I recently watchedThe Heiressand concurrently
read Henry James' novella Washington Square, from which the film
was adapted. I can't fault the novella, but I thought the film adaptation was
more taut and suspenseful. Certain plot points were altered slightly for
effect, but in a good way. I also thought the character of the father, played
by Ralph Richardson in the film, was more nuanced than in the book. 5. What's
your favorite movie that's set in the decade you were born in?Dr.Strangelove was made the year I was born - 1964- and it's a favorite
of mine. I talked about it briefly in my post on my favorite films from
the 1960s. There are so many others, but I'll go with this one. I
love how the script and actors just pull out all the stops in this black
comedy.
6. Do
you collect movie memorabilia of any sort? Not really, although I pick
up occasional books and photos when inspired (I have a signed photo of Herbert
Marshall!--shown below). I wrote about my top Herbert Marshall performances here and reviewed a new bio here.
7. What actor and actress have never made a movie together, but you wish would have? How about George Sanders and Maggie Smith? Two incredible English actors who could dish out the snark with the cleverest wit imaginable. Too bad Sanders wasn't around for a guest part on Downton Abbey!
8. What director would you like to have direct a movie based on
your life? It would probably be a pretty dull movie (!), but I would
feel comfortable entrusting my life story to Ida
Lupino, the classic era director who made sensitive, character-driven
dramas, but could also handle noir, mystery, and comedy.
9. Do you ever like a remake better than the original film? Another
tough one, especially for me as I tend not to watch many remakes...but I did
like the 2006 version of The Painted Veil better
than the 1934version. Both were based on the Somerset Maugham
novel of the same name. The former starred Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, and
George Brent, and had its moments, but it rushed through many plot points and
mangled the ending. The later version, with Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and
Liev Schriber in the same roles took its time, but was absolutely gorgeous to
look at, and ultimately more tragic.
10. What's your least favorite movie
genre? My least favorite
genre is probably film musicals, as I find them tedious at times and want to
skip the musical numbers when I'm caught up in the narrative. Sacrilege, I know! On top of that the plots of these films are often thin or silly.
11.
Are there any movies in your least-favorite genre that you do like? I
love The Sound of Music (ironically!). My Fair Lady is
a close runner-up. Maybe also the 1930s Busby Berkeley musicals such as Golddiggers of 1933.
If random but revealing observations from a movie fan will entertain you for fifteen minutes of your time, then please keep reading. For anyone who is reading this I stronglyencourage you to leave one or more comments in the comments section, and anyone who wishes, consider yourself tagged!
First, thank you!! to my new blogging friend Hamlette from Hamlette's Soliloquy for tagging me with the 'Liebster Award'. This blogging award challenges me to answer 11 questions about my movie passions. Alright, let's go!
1. Is there a movie that has really yummy-looking food in it that you'd love to eat?
Well, I can eat anytime and anyplace, so there are very few movie meals that don't look good to me! That said, I have to perhaps go with something obvious: the meal in BABETTE'S FEAST (1987). This is a lovely quiet Danish film about two unmarried sisters in a remote 19th century Danish village who take in a French expatriate down on her luck to be their servant. It turns out she is a gourmet chef and in the final scenes of the film, she prepares a meal that all the villagers will never forget. The irony is that they have no idea what they're eating!
This is just the first course!
One
of the most memorable scenes in the film for me was when a French opera singer
comes to give lessons to one of the sisters in her younger years, and the two
have a connection while singing Mozart's luscious duet 'La ci darem la mano'
from Don Giovanni (in French). The singer was portrayed
by actual opera star Jean-Philippe Lafont. Below is the
scene from the film . I can remember when this film came out, rewinding
and watching this scene over and over on my poor VHS tape.
2. What era do most of your favorite movies take place in?
Oh my gosh, this is a tough one, as my favorite films span many decades. If I think about those classic films that I recommend to people, probably more of them are set in the 1930s than any other single decade. So much art deco loveliness, and class comedies, screwball comedies, and melodramas. Think MY MAN GODFREY, TROUBLE IN PARADISE, UNION DEPOT.
3. What two actors/actresses have you always hoped would make a movie together, but didn't/haven't yet? Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in 'Downton Abbey' would give George Sanders as Addison DeWitt in ALL ABOUT EVE a run for his money in the snark department. Both of these British actors dominated the big and small screen whenever they appeared and I would have loved to see them co-star in a film.
4. If money, time, and supplies (and crafting ability) were not considerations, what movie character would you love to cosplay or dress up like for Halloween?
One rarely gets a chance to dress like a 18th century French queen, and so why not take the opportunity to be the center of attention by being Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette in the lavish 1938 production? If as a bonus Ty Power becomes infatuated with you, I would probably never take that outfit off.
Wondering how much that headdress weighs!
5. Have you ever cosplayed or dressed up like a movie or TV character for Halloween?
OK, once in graduate school I dressed up as Winnie the Pooh. (Yeah, OK, it's lame.) Dressing up isn't really my thing, and because Halloween usually falls during the World Series I've been known to impersonate my favorite baseball player. This year it might have to be David Ortiz, aka Big Papi, the Red Sox slugger who is retiring after this season.
Good excuse to post a Big Papi pic, right here.
6. What movie would your family/friends be surprised to learn you truly enjoyed?
My family and friends have been trained to expect any number of varied film recommendations from me. From Russian silent films to modern Westerns, I enjoy so many. I'm not a huge fan of Action/Sci Fi blend pictures, so perhaps it might be a surprise that I enjoyed BLADE RUNNER. Then again, it's been seen as a Western in disguise, young Harrison Ford is in it (woo!), and now it's considered a classic of sorts, so I suppose wouldn't be a complete surprise that I loved it. I probably can cite many more films that others loved and I didn't (I sense a new topic for a blog post!).
7. What's one book you hope no one ever makes into a film?
I think most any good book, in the hands of the right director and production, could a good movie make. I think the question is more about what book do I love so much that I would hate to have my own imagining of the tale ruined by assigning a real production to it. As a child I adored the 'Little House' books and hated how the TV series distorted that universe. The illustrator, Garth Williams, was so good in capturing the mood of Ingalls Wilder's text, that I would have a hard time appreciating a film version even if the story was not altered. That said, I might enjoy a biopic about Laura Ingalls Wilder, or her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, both of whom had very interesting lives.
Garth Williams' illustration of 'Pa' fiddling for his daughters Laura and Mary
in Little House in the Big Woods.
8. Do you know the Wilhelm Scream when you hear it? Google is my friend. The Wilhelm Scream is new to me. So, the answer to this question WAS: no. I'm feeling a little sheepish here. However, believe me, I'll be sensitized to this for ever and ever, you can bet on it. In the comments section, please let me know what your most memorable 'Wilhelm Scream' is -- I will learn from you!
9. When a character onscreen has to hold their breath, do you try to hold your breath to match theirs? I honestly can't remember ever doing this. However, I suppose one can do it completely unawares! I believe my breath was coming raggedly for the entire 92-minute running time of the ultra-suspenseful Western, the original 3:10 TO YUMA, and especially in the scene in the hotel where Glenn Ford and Van Heflin are holed up together. If you've never seen it, watch watch watch!
Van Heflin tries to keep Glenn Ford at bay during 3:10 TO YUMA
I haven't yet seen the remake, but I can almost guarantee: it isn't better.
10. What upcoming movies (or TV series) are you excited about?
Speaking about remakes, I just read in the Boston Globe here about the upcoming release of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN -- a 2016 remake with Denzel Washington and other assorted modern stars. While advance reviews have been mixed, I am excited about this for the sheer fact that it may make people who haven't watched the original film, or the earlier Japanese film it's based on (SEVEN SAMURAI by Kurosawa) discover these films and become classic film lovers themselves. What may be most fascinating is Peter Sarsgaard as the villain. Check out the trailer below. (In the comments section -- who wants to see this, and who wants to avoid it like the proverbial plague??)
11. What are your favorite movie blogs? I've listed these in my 'Recommended sites and blogs' list on the lower right side of my blog home page, but I want to also call out the wonderful writers at two of my local cinemas: Brattle Blog and Harvard Film Archive series pages -- check out the latest here about Russian Silent cinema.
So, I will ask anyone who is interested to answer one or more of the questions below, either in the comments section or as a separate post.
1. Who was your first movie crush that you can remember?
2. Who is your current or most recent movie crush?
3. Is there a film you refuse to see? If yes, why.
4. If you could travel back in time to visit the set of one of your favorite films and tell the director in real time to change something, what would it be?
5. What is a comedy that most everyone loves and that you don't find the least bit funny?
6. What is the classic film stereotype that you hate the most?
7. How do you attempt to debunk said stereotype?
8. Provide a link to one blog post that you really enjoyed and think others would, too.
9. Name a film director that should be better known, and your favorite film of theirs.
10. What upcoming film or TV series are *you* most excited about?
11. What keeps you motivated to continue blogging?
