Movies | dual personalities

Time to remember

by chuckofish

It’s that time of year when TCM puts together their memorial to all those movie people who died during the year. Here’s the 2015 video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRvDQvT5MuM

Now that you have watched the whole thing, I know you are wondering who James Best was.

I know I was.

Well, according to Wikipedia, he was an American actor–originally from Kentucky–who usually played the third cowpoke from the left in television westerns and films.

You also might remember him as Andy’s friend, Jim Lindsey on the The Andy Griffith Show. He had kind of an Everly Brother vibe, and–fun fact–the Every Brothers were James Best’s uncles.

Over a six-decade career, he is ~~sadly~~ best remembered as the hapless Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard.

Well, now you know who James Best was. Rest easy.

3 Comments

“I went through the same thing with John Barrymore”*

by chuckofish

Last night on TCM they showed The World Of Henry Orient (1964), one of Peter Seller’s lesser known movies.

It is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

It is about two misfit girls who go to private school and their infatuation with the pianist Henry Orient (Sellers).

Marian and Val

I remember watching this movie on television for the first time with my mother in the late sixties. Oh, how I loved Val in her shetland sweaters, knee socks and flaps and hand-me-down fur coat! She was so cool. The girls were sloppy, free-spirited and, to me, very real. Years after seeing it for the first time, I realized that Marian is the one I really relate to–the nerd Val befriends. She is the one who holds it–and Val–together.

Furthermore, it is one of those great New York City movies as well–where everything looks wonderful and romantic. All those scenes adventuring through Central Park, clambering over the Manhattan schist. Sigh.

It is based on a book by Nora Johnson, who went to Smith College and was the daughter of the screenwriter Nunnally Johnson. It is a good book, which at the time it was published was compared to A Catcher int he Rye (!)–but the movie is better than the book (not the Catcher in the Rye). Another fun fact: Merrie Spaeth, who played Marian, also went to Smith College and was the roommate of the older sister of my sophomore year roommate. She went on to become a speechwriter for President Reagan.

I highly recommend this movie. It even takes place at Christmas time!

*Boothy in The World of Henry Orient

6 Comments

November 25, 2015

Swiftly fly the years

by chuckofish

As you know, we are a family that loves our traditions. For the last twenty-five or so years, we have watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) every Thanksgiving.

We will happily watch it this year.

We will watch (some of) the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and probably Miracle on 34th Street (1947) at some point over the weekend.

We might watch The Wizard of Oz (1939) which, when I was growing up, was always shown on television the night of Thanksgiving.

We are not a family that brings out the musical instruments when everyone is gathered. (Sadly, we can’t do that.) And we don’t play games. We tend to open up the DVD cabinet. À chacun son goût.

We will also celebrate the boy’s birthday this weekend and marvel at how that little tyke grew up into a fine young man.

Ah, sunrise, sunset!

Oy.

2 Comments

November 19, 2015

“In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of the wonderful character actor Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966). Born Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (what a great name!) in Indianapolis, Indiana, he moved to New York City with his mother Maybelle when his parents divorced. By age 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer using the stage name Clifton Webb.

Between 1913 and 1947, Webb appeared in 23 Broadway shows, starting with major supporting roles and quickly progressing to leads. He introduced Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” and the Gershwin’s “I’ve Got a Crush on You” in Treasure Girl (1928). Most of Webb’s Broadway shows were musicals, but he also starred in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and in his longtime friend Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter.

Movies followed and he made some great ones: Laura (1944), of course,

and The Razor’s Edge (1946)–he received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for both. But remember him in Sitting Pretty (1948) where he played Mr. Belvedere for the first time? This movie is hysterical.

And he received a leading actor Oscar nomination for it. (Laurence Olivier won that year for Hamlet–go figure.) He made three Mr. Belvedere movies and also Cheaper By the Dozen (1950)–another classic Webb role.

I also really like him as Barbara Stanwyck’s husband in the under-appreciated Titanic (1953)

and in the English war movie The Man Who Never Was (1956).

He was equally adept at comedy and drama–never over-doing either. You could probably argue that Clifton Webb always played Clifton Webb, but he was always wonderful, so who cares?

He lived with his mother until her death at age 91 in 1960, leading Noel Coward to remark, apropos Webb’s grieving, “It must be terrible to be orphaned at 71.”

A toast to Clifton Webb and, if you can find one of his movies, watch it!

*Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) in Laura (1944)

6 Comments

November 6, 2015

Friday movie picks

by chuckofish

Earlier in the week it was the birthday of character actor Martin Balsam (1919-1996) who, I was reminded, was in a lot of my favorite movies. For instance he was in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)–

playing O.J. Berman, Holly’s agent. (“Hey, Fred-baby!”)

He was in A Thousand Clowns (1965)–

as Murray’s brother Arnold. (He won an Oscar for this one.)

He was in Hombre (1967)–

playing Paul Newman’s friend Henry Mendez.

Indeed, he was all over television and movies in the sixties and seventies and all the way to end of the millennium. As an ethnically-ambiguous Jew from the Bronx he could play everything from Mexican bandits to Wasp admirals and he did, over and over. He was like Ward Bond in an earlier generation, always popping up in random movies. What a career!

So I suggest you watch a movie with Martin Balsam in it. There are a lot of good ones from which to choose!

I will also note that I watched Melissa McCarthy’s Spy (2015) the other night.

I am not a big fan of Ms. McCarthy–she is frequently over-the top in the vulgarity department–but I thought this movie was really funny. Besides McCarthy, the movie features Jude Law as a James Bond-type spy and Jason Statham in a parody of himself. Allison Janney is great as the Boss Lady who is a super bitch, but has been there and seen that and, in the end, understands.

The use of the f-bomb in this movie is a parody in itself. As Rose Byrne says, “What f**kery is this?”

When all is said and done, Paul Fieg (the writer) manages to make some good points about women who are ignored, stereotyped, laughed at, and generally under-appreciated because they are not traditionally beautiful, thin, assertive etc.

Anyway, I laughed non-stop to the point of embarrassment. My eyes were streaming with tears. The OM sat stone-faced throughout, of course, but he did stay for the whole movie, which is unheard of practically, and I think he smiled a few times.

So try it; you might like it.

9 Comments

October 30, 2015

“One more murder may be one too many.”*

by chuckofish

Every year at this time I wrack my brain for a good movie recommendation for Halloween. I usually come up with something, but what is there new to suggest? As I have said many times, I am no fan of horror and I do not like gratuitous violence and bloodshed. So what does that leave?

How about some good old-fashioned Sherlock Holmes?

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson is hard to beat.

Holmes and Watson investigate the legend of a supernatural hound, a beast that may be stalking a young heir on the fog-shrouded moor that makes up his estate. Yes, fog-shrouded moors are a good choice for Halloween, don’t you think?

I seem to remember that The Scarlet Claw (1944) is also pretty scary.

When a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out (!), the villagers blame a supernatural monster, but Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer.

Of course, there’s always Jane Marple–and by that I mean Margaret Rutherford.

There are four of these movies, but Murder Most Foul (1964)–when Miss Marple joins a theatrical company after a blackmailer is murdered, and then several members of the troupe are also dispatched by a mysterious killer–is my favorite.

But come to think of it, Murder She Said (1961), Murder at the Gallop (1963) and Murder Ahoy (1964) are all wonderful and hilarious! One could have a wonderful night of binge-watching all four.

I have not seen it in a long time, but M (1931) with Peter Lorre, Fritz Lang’s haunting, German-language crime drama, in which the Berlin police are hunting a whistling killer of children, is a great film.

The criminal underworld is after the killer as well, since the police manhunt has put a damper on their activities. And Lorre as the creepy killer is almost sympathetic in the famous confession speech where he describes with anguish his horrible compulsion. And who does creepy better than the Germans?

Another movie I have not seen for a long time, but liked when I first saw it, is From Hell (2001). Johnny Depp stars as an opium- and absinthe-addled Scotland Yard man assigned to the Jack the Ripper case, Robbie Coltrane is his stalwart partner and Ian Holm is the creepy royal surgeon who offers his advice. I’m sure I recall gratuitous violence and bloodshed, but nothing’s perfect. And it is scary.

Well, these are just suggestions.

I may binge watch Supernatural…remember Garth from season seven?

Happy Halloween!

*Miss Marple in Murder She Said (1961)

4 Comments

October 27, 2015

“Ramrod, wreckage and ruin”*

by chuckofish

R.I.P. Maureen O’Hara. She was 95 and had quite a life.

She made five movies with John Wayne (lucky lady!),

but she made a lot of other good ones too, like Oscar-winner How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Parent Trap (1961) with Brian Keith and Hayley Mills and Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with Natalie Wood. In fact she was in quite a few of my favorites! She even made a movie with John Candy–she played his mother!–Only the Lonely (1991).

In 2014, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Maureen to receive the Academy’s Honorary Oscar. She was only the second actress, after Myrna Loy in 1991, to receive an Honorary Oscar without having previously been nominated for an Oscar in a competitive category.

Maybe I’ll watch Rio Grande (1950) tonight…

and toast Maureen O’Hara!

Into paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem. (BCP, 500)

*Kathleen York in Rio Grande (1950)

4 Comments

October 13, 2015

“I am not a fool, you know, although I am a woman, and have my woman’s moments.”*

by chuckofish

Another thing that I managed to do this past weekend was watch the movie Far From the Madding Crowd (2015).

I had low expectations, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Indeed, this Thomas Hardy story of a headstrong young woman pursued by three rival suitors in southwest Victorian England is an excellent movie and I even liked Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene. It is well directed by Thomas Vinterberg and England never looked more beautiful as photographed by Charlotte Bruus Christensen.

My only criticism is the casting of the men who portray Bathsheba’s suitors. Matthias Schoenaerts was good but distractingly too “German” for the part of Gabriel Oak. (He’s actually Belgian.) He reminded me of Viggo Mortensen, but not enough. Michael Sheen seems to have studied too hard at the Anthony Hopkins school of drama. It was like he was impersonating him. Weird. And I just didn’t care at all for Tom Sturridge. He plays a rogue–but he should be an appealing one. He is not. It is hard to believe Bathsheba would ever look at him twice.

It was a very authentic movie, but they didn’t overdo the details the way filmmakers frequently do these days in period films. The characters were vivid, the acting excellent. Bathsheba is not portrayed as a feminist icon but as an intelligent woman who just wants to take care of herself. Of course, she falls for the wrong man and pays for it, but we understand. I cared about what happened. Well done.

P.S. They even sang one of my favorite hymns– “Jerusalem the Golden”–in a church scene.

I also finished The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith and it was very good. I highly recommend it. I hear there is a third one–Career of Evil–but I think I will have to wait for it to come out in paperback. What to read now?! Any suggestions?

*Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd (1874)

2 Comments

October 9, 2015

Friday movie pick: ”Call your baby, My wife’s having a husband”*

by chuckofish

Today we say happy birthday to Edward Andrews, character actor extraordinaire and Episcopalian. He was born to be the senior warden** in some fancy church, don’t you think?

In actuality he was the son of an Episcopal minister, born in Georgia in 1914. He attended the University of Virginia, and at age 21, made his stage debut in 1935, progressing to Broadway the same year. His movie career didn’t take off until he was in his forties, but he was made for the movies. Of course you remember him. He was perfect as both the harried executive and the slightly sleazy politician/military type. He frequently played The Mayor.

Last weekend I watched Send Me No Flowers (1964) in honor of Rock Hudson, and Andrews was hysterical as the doctor who puts up with Rock’s hypochondria.

He is also great in The Thrill of it All (1963) with Doris Day and James Garner, playing the flustered older father-to-be and advertising executive.

He was a staple on television from the 1950s until he his death in 1985. He was everywhere.

Anyway, one of Andrews’ movies might be just the ticket tonight as I know darn well it will be too stressful to watch the Cardinals take on the Cubs. Of course everyone in 49 states and Kansas City will be rooting for the Cubs against the Cards. That is always the way it is in the post-season. I hate it, but what can I do?

Pray hard.

*Gardiner Fraleigh in The Thrill of It All

**The senior warden in an Episcopal Church works alongside the parish rector. Together they share with their congregation the mission and vision of the parish and manage its operations as well. They also identify and work with members of the congregation who show leadership qualities or abilities and model ways of incorporating the Gospel in their daily lives.

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October 2, 2015

Friday movie pick: “He’s the last guy in the world I woulda’ figured.”*

by chuckofish

Thirty years ago today, Rock Hudson died after a 15-month battle with AIDS . He was only 59.

So in his memory, I suggest we watch one of his movies tonight.

We could go with Rock Hudson and John Wayne in The Undefeated (1970)

or Rock Hudson and Doris Day and Tony Randall in Pillow Talk (1959)

or Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida in Come September (1961).

His 1950s melodramas are a little heavy-handed for my taste but they’re not terrible. And he was great in his later career playing stand-up military types like Cdr. Ferraday in Ice Station Zebra (1968). But I like his romantic comedies best. He was perfect in them.

Indeed, he was just kind of perfect.

Have a great weekend! You go, Mike Matheny!

Yes, the Cardinals clinched their third straight division title, their fifth straight playoff appearance and their 12th postseason trip in the past 16 seasons. 100 wins. Central Division champs! Home field advantage!

*Fred in Lover Come Back (1961)–Hudson’s comedies are peppered with lines like this, as if his gayness was one big private joke in Hollywood (wink wink). I guess it was.

7 Comments

dual personalities

Category: Movies

December 30, 2015

Time to remember

by chuckofish

December 8, 2015

“I went through the same thing with John Barrymore”*

by chuckofish

November 25, 2015

Swiftly fly the years

by chuckofish

November 19, 2015

“In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.”*

by chuckofish

November 6, 2015

Friday movie picks

by chuckofish

October 30, 2015

“One more murder may be one too many.”*

by chuckofish

October 27, 2015

“Ramrod, wreckage and ruin”*

by chuckofish

October 13, 2015

“I am not a fool, you know, although I am a woman, and have my woman’s moments.”*

by chuckofish

October 9, 2015

Friday movie pick: ”Call your baby, My wife’s having a husband”*

by chuckofish

October 2, 2015

Friday movie pick: “He’s the last guy in the world I woulda’ figured.”*

by chuckofish