This is fun.
A good list, especially #38 and #52.
But when you’re talking about the 75 Best Dressed Men of all time, I might add this guy**:
and maybe this guy**:
And certainly this guy** had personal style:
But I won’t quibble. It’s a good list and a nice distraction during a busy week.
Enjoy your Wednesday!
*ZZ Top
**Napoleon Bonaparte, Buffalo Bill Cody, Sitting Bull
Spoiler alert! Crime does not pay!
The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery is a 1959 heist film shot in black and white. The film stars a 28-year old Steve McQueen as a college dropout hired to be the getaway driver in a bank robbery. The film is based on a 1953 bank robbery attempt of Southwest Bank in St. Louis.
It was filmed on location in south St. Louis in 1959 and for anyone who grew up here, it is a fascinating movie, which captures a moment in time, that is gone, gone, gone.
I watched it one Friday afternoon at work–“previewing” it for a film course at school–and my assistant (who is from South St. Louis) and I had so much fun pointing out landmarks–
Planning the heist in Tower Grove Park
Tower Grove Park! Magnolia Avenue! The Southtown Famous Barr!
Love those St. Louis names!
We wondered where the bar was where Steve goes and drinks a Budweiser.
No need for a concealed carry permit in the good old days!
Well, it’s a small world really.
You want to know how small? The film was directed by Charles Guggenheim, who was a neighbor of ours on Westgate Avenue for awhile back in the 1960s before he got famous and won three Oscars for documentary films. His daughter Gracie was a friend of my dual personality. (Actually I don’t think my sister liked Gracie too much, but they got invited to the same birthday parties.) Be that as it may, the point is that there really are/were six degrees of separation between me and old Steve McQueen.
Anyway, Guggenheim’s switch to documentaries was a good move on his part. This movie is not very good, despite Steve’s best efforts trying really hard. Who knew he would become such a star? No one who saw this movie. (Don’t worry, I thought he was terrific!) But I do recommend it to anyone from St. Louis. It is a hoot and a half. You can find the entire film on YouTube.
So we all have been preoccupied recently with the year 1963, especially with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.
So I got to thinking about what would be an appropriate movie to recommend as this Friday’s pick.
So I looked up the top-grossing films of 1963. You would not believe what fun movies are on that list! Indeed, many are favorites of mine. There is hardly a serious drama in the bunch. Here are the top 16, starting with #1:
Cleopatra, How the West Was Won, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Tom Jones, Irma la Douce, The Sword in the Stone, Son of Flubber, The Birds, Dr. No, The V.I.P.s, McClintock!, Charade, Bye Bye Birdie, Move Over, Darling, Come Blow Your Horn, The Thrill of It All,
and #17: The Great Escape.
I’ve missed him, have you?
It is kind of eye-opening. It was a different world back then and the movie stars were different too–Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine, John Wayne and Steve McQueen and this guy:
Albert Finney, you were adorable
Not to put too fine a line on it (or to be disrespectful), but it was all downhill from November 22, 1963. The world became a depressing and chaotic place.
I was just in the second grade that fall, but I have to say I have always gravitated to the early 1960s time period as a favorite era (see above list of movies).
Flyover blondes and me
I guess I was happy then. My parents were still fairly young and seemed happy and not un-hip to me. We had moved into a new (old) house. Things were on an upward trajectory. I suppose that’s why.
ANYWAY, How the West Was Won has always been in my Top Ten list.
I went to see it at the movies with my best friend Trudie Glick (her birthday party) and it was practically the first movie I had ever seen at the movies. My 12 year-old brother, of course, had already seen it and he gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. He told me about all the really good parts. I was pretty bowled over by it–remember, it was in Cinerama–and especially loved the magnificent musical score by Alfred Newman. It is the soundtrack by which I have judged all soundtracks since.
Charade, starring Audrey and Cary Grant, is another all-time favorite of mine.
This rom-com is bright and light and much-copied. The original is always best! Stanley Donen’s direction is perfect–he made some great movies with Audrey Hepburn. And Cary Grant is on his A-game. Plus there is all that and wonderful European scenery and Henry Mancini music.
Move Over, Darling and The Thrill of It All are both terrific Doris Day vehicles, even with the B-Team James Garner (i.e. not Rock Hudson). The Thrill of It All in particular has been a favorite of our family: Happy Soap saved my life!
So I leave it to you which movie to pick, but I recommend them all (maybe not Son of Flubber). No conspiracy theories for me this weekend.
Here’s a picture to make you smile on Tuesday: Steve McQueen drunkenly embracing an amused John Wayne.
“I love you, man.”
Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I take advantage of any opportunity to feature a picture of Steve McQueen. Well, today it’s Steve McQueen day on TCM all day–12 movies!
So quick, set your DVRs! They’re not showing The Great Escape (1963), but they are showing The Magnificent Seven (1960), which stars many of the same actors and is also directed by John Sturges. It’s the classic re-make of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai–a great idea which they actually pulled off pretty well. In this version embattled Mexican peasants hire seven American gunfighters to protect their village from Eli Wallach and his army of bandits. The seven include Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and the German Horst Buchholtz as “Chico”. What a line-up! It also features the famous score by Elmer Bernstein.
Bonus points to anyone who can explain to me what Vin means when he says: “It took me a long, long time to learn my elbow from a hot rock.”
P.S. I just got my pillow back from the finisher.
Isn’t it adorable? It is a present for someone. Lucky, eh?
Have a great weekend!
How was your weekend?
Mine was very quiet and I was able to catch up with all the loose ends in my household. Laundry, groceries, dusting, mulch-spreading, etc. I also read in church on Sunday–another good St. Paul finger-shaker: “God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7–16). Good stuff. We also got to sing 2 patriotic hymns:
“America” and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.
The sermon was about the Gospel lesson (Luke 10:1-11, 16–20) and Jesus sending out the disciples in pairs to spread the good news. There were a couple of digs at the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses–of course we would look down on their success! We were encouraged to be friendly etc. Yeah, right.
All in all, however, it was a very satisfying service. How often is it even possible for me to say that? So thank you, Lord, from the bottom of my heart.
The boy and his bride came over for dinner. 
They took our lawn mower back over to their new house. And some big clippers. Ah, I remember when we use to do that!
I watched Of Gods and Men, an excellent French film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale.
Based on the true story of seven French Trappist monks from the monastery of Tibhirine, Algeria, who were kidnapped in 1996 and found beheaded. The Armed Islamic Group of Algeria claimed full responsibility for the incident. It won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn’t even nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar that year. Amazing.
I also watched The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) with Steve McQueen.
Steve McQueen as a Dartmouth man
Not really one of my favorites–it’s overly and self-consciously “stylish”–but it’s always worth a look at Steve in those famous Persol shades.
There are also some fine glimpses into familiar Boston locales, such as
Copps Hill Cemetery where Increase and Cotton Mather are buried along with other notable Puritans.
Thomas Crown lived in the 2nd Harrison Gray Otis House, built by Charles Bulfinch, located at 85 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill. Very nice.*
I seem to remember that my parents got a kick out of all the Boston locales back when they went to see it in 1968–their old stomping grounds.
*(Please note that the 1999 remake with Pierce Brosnan took place in New York City and Crown is no longer a Boston Brahmin and Dartmouth man, but a self-made rich guy. I wonder if this is because movie-makers assume the movie-going public no longer knows/cares what a Boston Brahmin is and what the heck Dartmouth is. Movie goers just wouldn’t “get” it? Phooey.)
I am closing in on the final pages of The Sand Pebbles. This 597-page novel is really wonderful and I highly recommend it. Written by Richard McKenna, it centers on an American gunboat on the Yangtze River in 1926. The author completed it in May, 1962, just in time to enter it in the 1963 Harper Prize Novel Contest. Not only was it picked over 544 other entries for the $10,000 first prize and accepted for publication by Harper & Row, but it was also chosen as the following January’s Book-of-the-Month Club selection. It was also serialized in the Saturday Evening Post for the three issues from November 17, 1962 through December 1, 1962.
The author’s life story is not the usual back-of-the-book blurb. Enlisting in the Navy in 1931 at the age of 18, he served until 1953 when he retired after 22 years of service as a machinist’s mate. He then entered the University of North Carolina. He received his degree in English in 1956, married one of the university librarians and settled down to write. Sadly, he died in 1964 at the age of 51, but one feels that to have written his magnus opus and seen it published to acclaim is a great thing. He must have been an extraordinary man.
I am reminded of what John Steineck said about his own East of Eden: “I put everything I knew into that book.” One feels this is the case with Richard McKenna. The Sand Pebbles is full of truth. The author pours everything he has into this well-crafted, well-written story of a man struggling to understand himself and the world he finds himself in.
Jake Holman, the hero of the story, is a great character with whom many can relate:
They could command you what you had to do, he thought, but they could not command you how you had to feel about it, although they tried. So you did things their way and you felt about them your own way, and you did not let them know how you felt. That way you kept the two things separate and you could stand it.
One imagines that there is a whole lot of Richard McKenna in Jake. Toward the end of the book he describes Jake’s thoughts about Shirley, the missionary teacher: “He kept her deliberately on the edge of his dream. He would get books from her and read them and later they would talk about them. They would be friends, but she would still be just a teacher.” One can’t help thinking of the author’s courtship of the UNC librarian.
The movie, which was released in 1966, is one of my favorites and Steve McQueen is perfectly cast as Jake Holman.
Any excuse to insert a picture of Steve McQueen in the blog is a good one.
The screenwriter did take many liberties with the story, however, which is a necessity I suppose with such a long, detailed book. In the book the sailors (the “sand pebbles”) are good guys deep down and not all are the low-lifes portrayed in the movie. The captain, also, is a good guy and not the duty-obsessed, blinders-wearing martinet portrayed in the film.
Perhaps it is better that Richard McKenna never saw it.
*P.S. No one says this in the book. Instead, Jake says, “Go to hell, you bastards!” The book is always better.
Okay, name that first line!
It is, of course, the great first line of The Sand Pebbles by Richard McKenna, published in 1962. I was reminded of this when I found the book at an estate sale on Saturday and bought it.
I plan to read the book soon, but I had hoped to watch the movie. I thought we owned the DVD, but I was wrong. We only have the 2-video VHS set! The story of my life. So no Steve McQueen this weekend.
This is a great movie, you will recall, and it was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor. It won NONE. They were robbed! This was the year (1966) that A Man for All Seasons took home the big awards–you know, that movie about Thomas More. Bah. Give me Steve McQueen any day.
So anyway, I will have to Netflix the movie and watch it later. Meanwhile, despite this disappointment, I had a good weekend. I had lunch with the boy on Saturday after going to an estate sale together. I worked in the yard and started my DIY project in the bathroom. I went to Church!
I celebrated daughter #2’s birthday with her father by making a trip down to:
A real treat.
And the Florida room is officially open!
Have a great week! It is supposed to rain here all week, but that’s okay. You know what they say about April showers.
On this day in 1816 Indiana (“Land of the Indians”) became the 19th U.S. state. The Hoosier (“country bumpkin”) state is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populace.
The Wabash River, which is the longest free-flowing river east of the mighty Mississippi River, is the official river of Indiana. Thus, its state song is “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” written in 1897 by Paul Dresser, the brother of noted Hoosier writer Theodore Dreiser. (Apparently Paul Dresser was horrified by his brother’s shocking novels and changed the spelling of his name to differentiate them.)
The official state flag of Indiana was adopted in 1917. It was designed by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, Indiana; he won a flag design contest sponsored by the DAR for Indiana’s 100th anniversary of statehood in 1916. There are 19 golden stars on a blue field. The 13 stars in the outer circle represent the 13 original colonies of the United States of America; the 5 stars in a half circle represent the states admitted prior to Indiana (but after the original 13), and the larger star atop the flame of the torch of Liberty represents Indiana.
In our family we have a fondness for the state of Indiana because daughter #1 attended and graduated from DePauw University in the charming town of Greencastle.
During those four years we spent a lot of time in Indiana. We have been to many charming bergs in the state, including Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie, Terre Haute, New Harmony, Crawfordsville, Evansville–some a lot more charming than others. Indiana is, of course, a state boasting many fine colleges and universities, including Butler, Purdue, Valparaiso, Earlham, Ball State, Wabash, Notre Dame, and, of course, Indiana University.
Indiana is a state full of history and the birthplace of many famous Americans, including Johnny Appleseed, Gen. Lew Wallace, V.P. Dan Quayle, Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, Booth Tarkington, Bill Blass, Cole Porter, Kurt Vonnegut, Red Skelton, David Letterman, Hoagy Carmichael, and my personal favorites:
Steve McQueen and James Dean
Yes, Indiana. Way to go.
I could go on and on about the great state of Indiana, but I’ll stop here. I’ll just make one suggestion. In honor of the anniversary of Indiana’s statehood, I recommend watching a really good movie that celebrates the state’s love of basketball: Hoosiers (1986) with Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper. (BTW, One of the players on the high school team was played by a DePauw basketball player. The NCAA gave him a three-game suspension and he was charged 5% of his acting fee.)
We must also note that today is the birthday of two great actors (neither one from Indiana):
Victor McLaglan (1883-1959)
and Jean Marais (1913-1998)
Bon anniversaire!
Doesn’t everyone love Natalie Wood?
Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko in San Francisco to Russian immigrant parents. She made her film début a few weeks before turning five during a fifteen-second scene in the 1943 film Happy Land. In 1947 she appeared in two favorites of mine, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Miracle on 34th Street. A few years later at age 15 she starred with James Dean in the classic Rebel Without a Cause, uttering the immortal line, “I love somebody. All the time I’ve been… I’ve been looking for someone to love me. And now I love somebody. And it’s so easy. Why is it easy now?” Somehow she made you believe it.
And the next year she appeared in John Ford’s The Searchers with John Wayne. Indeed, she had quite a career, despite not really being a very good actress. Frequently the studio powers-that-be had her playing Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Italians–I suppose because of those big brown eyes–and she was never very good at faking accents. But there was just something about Natalie you had to like.
She died much too young (and tragically) in 1981. Rest in peace, Natalie. May light perpetual shine upon you.
Natalie with Steve McQueen in “Love With the Proper Stranger”–a good Friday movie pic, don’t you think? Steve is better than usual in this movie, and he is always great.
dual personalities 