Splendor in the Grass

Passions (#47)

To every rule there is an exception.  The Rule of 38 has exceptions who are older (like Sean Connery) and exceptions who are younger (if Zac Efron is not one of these, make sure you pay attention in 2025).  Warren Beatty is a younger exception.  Because if You're So Vain had been written in 1961, it would be no wonder that he'd think that song was about him.

The movie itself, about a teenage couple that has everything stacked against them, is okay.  But Beatty is definitely worth watching.

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

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Top 100 (#67 - Revised); Stars - Elizabeth Taylor (#7); Passions (#89)

I don't get the appeal of this movie.  Two hours of people yelling at each other.  Seriously, that's all it is.  Well acted?  I suppose.  And some argue that the beauty of this story is that Taylor's and Burton's characters love each other and stick together despite the volatility of their relationship.  I don't call that love.  I call that co-dependence.

Truth is, I found the movie grating and annoying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDucj50eQYs

Sunrise

Top 100 (#82 - Revised); Passions (#63)

A man decides to kill his wife so he can run off with his mistress.  My, these old movies were scandalous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLLEBAQLZ3Q 

Ninotchka

Laughs (#52); Stars - Greta Garbo (#5); Passions (#40)

Greta Garbo's first comedy is about a Soviet agent who is assigned to retrieve the Grand Duchess's jewels.

Her cohorts are funny, Melvyn Douglas is cheesy (I would have picked someone else for her love interest, because I don't think he's all that), and Garbo does a good job as the stern agent who learns to lighten up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEOw8XLCSc

The Bridges of Madison County

Passions (#90)

I hate movies that glorify extra-marital affairs, so I think this is better viewed as a cautionary tale.  Streep is a bored, unfulfilled housewife.  Eastwood comes along and sweeps her off her feet.

The truth is, he's swoony.  He says all the right things (when she complains that she's stuck in the middle of nowhere, he says, "This isn't nowhere.  It's your home.").  He notices her and listens to her.  Of course she's going to fall for him.  So the lesson here is for spouses to pay attention to each other and not let the routine become too routine.

Oh, and I don't buy Streep as an Italian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm9LgDf8Ibk

Blood Simple

Thrills (#98)

This early Coen brothers movie is about a man who hires a private detective to kill his cheating wife.  Things don't go quite as he planned.

It's dark and intricate, and not nearly as good as Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fVDGu82FeQ

Horse Feathers

Laughs (#65); Stars - The Marx Brothers (#20)

A comedy about a college football team, this movie had a bit more of a plot than other Marx Brothers films.  Some funny moments, but I still like Laurel & Hardy better.

Oh, and you can't tell by this picture, but Zeppo is definitely the good looking brother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Qlk7sfZfQ

The Mark of Zorro

Heroes - Zorro (#45)

I like Tyrone Power oh so much better than Antonio Banderas.  His Zorro was carefree and charming, not cheesy.

Not the greatest film ever, but would make for a fun Saturday afternoon movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLSEILAW7k

The Poseidon Adventure

Thrills (#90); Stars - Ernest Borgnine (Current)

Disaster movies were big in the 1970s, and this was one of the biggest.  This movie wasn't bad - the pace was good and I liked the cast.  I do wonder though, why skinny Stella Stevens and Pamela Sue Martin were told they couldn't climb up the Christmas tree in their long dresses, so they had to lose their skirts, yet not-as-skinny Shelly Winters wasn't told that, and made it up the tree just fine in her skirt.  Men.  Hmph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd03qev59Jo

The Spirit of St. Louis

Stars - James Stewart (#3); Cheers (#69)

I guess I hadn't really thought about the fact that Lindbergh was a nobody before he crossed the Atlantic.  He was trying to get funding for his flight and no one wanted to sponsor him.

Anyways, I love Jimmy Stewart, and the movie was fine.  It just isn't one of my favorite Stewart films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d19eSW3p_MY

Way Down East

Stars - Lillian Gish (#17); Passions (#71)

Classic silent movie.  A young woman is tricked into thinking she married a womanizer.  Turns out she's not, but he leaves her pregnant and disgraced.  Pretty scandalous, I must say.  But years later she meets Mr. Wonderful, who loves her despite her sordid past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI2e3pXat54

Sunset Boulevard

Top 100 (#12/16); Score (#16); Stars - Buster Keaton (#21), William Holden (#25); Quotes - "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up" (#7), "I am big!  It's the pictures that got small" (#24)

I wasn't expecting this to be film noir, but it worked.  I liked it because it was different - it's hard to peg.  Silent screen star Norma Desmond still believes, 30 years later, that she's wonderfully famous and doesn't want to face the fact that people have forgotten her.  She's living in the past, and once struggling screenwriter William Holden stumbles into her world, he finds he can't easily leave it.

Gloria Swanson was campy and overdramatic, but that's what the character called for.  I think Holden had the same clause in his contract that Matthew McConaughey must have - one that says he has to appear shirtless in every movie.  And I loved that Ms. Desmond's bridge club was made up of cameos by other silent film stars, including my favorite, Buster Keaton.

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

The General

Top 100 (Revised #18); Laughs (#18); Stars - Buster Keaton (#21)

When a Confederate locomotive is stolen by Union soldiers, Buster Keaton saves the day and wins the heart of his true love.

Not my favorite Keaton movie, probably because it was much too long.  Did early audiences really sit that long through silent movies?  Sheesh.  They could have spent that time Charlestoning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSGWoXDFM64

Spartacus

Top 100 (Revised #81); Thrills (#62); Stars - Kirk Douglas (#17); Cheers (#44); Heroes - Spartacus (#22); Top Ten - Epic (#5)

What?  "I am Spartacus" is not one of the top quotes?  Who came up with these lists?

Overall, I'd say it was good for a guy movie.  Not one of my favorites though.  But Goose Cousin loves Kirk Douglas' butt chin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V32PWJX-GpY

Captains Courageous

Stars - Spencer Tracy (#9); Cheers (#94)

Spoiled brat Bartholomew falls overboard from his big ocean liner and is lost at sea.  He's rescued by a fishing boat and has to wait three months until they return to shore.  Needless to say, they don't put up with his tantrums and demands.

I didn't have high hopes, but I liked this movie. Freddie Bartholomew wasn't annoying, and I loved Spencer Tracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OEEs2L49wc