Love Story

Quotes - "Love means never having to say you're sorry" (#13); Passions (#9)

Boy and girl fall in love and marry despite the objections of their families.  And then she dies. 

Yuck.  Overly sappy, not all that original, and it just didn't draw me in.  If you want the best love story to come out of Hollywood, look here instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpptOWytjCc

The Great Escape

Thrills (#19)

POWs attempt an escape from an "inescapable" prison camp.  Pretty good, and I bet if Steven Soderbergh got his hands on it, it would be even better.  Brad Pitt in the Steve McQueen role would be perfect. 

As for this movie, the only thing worse than Charles Bronson's Polish accent was James Coborn's cockney one. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbH244wi22k

Bright Eyes

Stars - Shirley Temple (#18); Songs - On the Good Ship Lollipop (#69)

I think maybe it was Shirley Temple who came up with the first rule of pretend - Get Rid of the Parents.  This movie follows the typical format, but she's the unofficial mascot of a bunch of aviators.

Temple is cute, of course, but at age 6 she can get away with not being the best actress in the world.  The rest of the cast, well, it's sad that a little girl has to carry the entire movie.  The mean rich lady's acting wouldn't get her a role in a junior high play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLLSqpYyPD8&feature=related

Animal Crackers

Stars - The Marx Brothers (#20); Quotes - "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas..." (#53)

Very, very vaudeville. It was performed and blocked as though the actors were on stage, and their lines were said with pauses for audience laughter.

And the acting, well, I've seen better acting on a high school stage. And Margaret Dumont (the one in this clip) is particularly bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPSAu8xfmhk&feature=related

Barefoot in the Park

Passions (#96)

I like Neil Simon, and I liked this movie.  Reserved lawyer Robert Redford marries freespirit Jane Fonda just a few hours after they meet.  Predictably, the honeymoon doesn't last forever, but of course it's all okay in the end.  Not much to it, but fun anyways.

Plus also, it has Robert Redford.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rfWebUtm-M

Dinner at Eight

Laughs (#85); Stars - Jean Harlow (#22)

A woman plans a dinner party in the hopes of assuring her social status.  Meanwhile, all of the guests have problems of their own.

A good movie - not great. 

I have to say I don't get what the deal is about John Barrymore's profile.  It's a profile.

And to be perfectly honest, Marie Dressler (although I like her in this movie) looks like Nathan Lane in drag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zQe-lVm7L4

The Guns of Navarone

Thrills (#89); Stars - Gregory Peck (#12)

I don't like war movies.  I didn't mind this one, though.  Gregory Peck and friends have to sneak onto a Greek island where the Nazis are holding 2000 Allied POWs.  Then they have to destroy the two really big guns that are guarding the island.

The scenery is beautiful.  I want a Greek island.  And Gregory Peck looks nice in a peacoat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9sT6DCiavQ

Modern Times

Top 100 (#81/78); Laughs (#33); Stars - Charlie Chaplin (#10)

It's a little strange that this silent movie was made in 1936, when everyone else was making talkies.  It's even stranger that Paulette Goddard's character - Chaplin's love interest - was young enough to belong in a juvenile home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCu9DEqmffM

The Public Enemy

Stars - James Cagney (#8); Villains - Tom Powers (#42); Top Ten - Gangster (#8)

Any job worth doing is worth doing well.  Apparently James Cagney's grandma told him that, because he started out as a bit player in this movie.  He did his job so well that he impressed the director and was given the lead role.  And that's why you should listen to your grandmother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1FgpBxXho4

Tootsie

Top 100 (#62/69); Laughs (#2); Stars - Geena Davis, Teri Garr, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange (Current - Not Rated)

Dustin Hoffman is one of the most versatile actors of his generation, and he helped come up with this storyline because he wanted the challenge of playing a woman.  He rose to the challenge, but the story fell short. 

It had its funny moments as well as its sentimental ones.  But something about it felt flat.  I think they almost got it right.  Maybe they needed an extra 20-30 minutes to wrap things up properly.  I don't know.  The ending just seemed to be missing something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMrVCBhiFKg