The Rose

 
Song - The Rose (#83)

A singer sleeps around and drinks too much.  She managed to muster up a little bit of sympathy from me, because it shows how these big stars are sometimes viewed as a commodity.  She recognized that she needed help, but her producer said no, because she had a tour to finish and another album to record.  Mostly, though, I found her annoying and devoid of personality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5G3XKsq7Ic

Road to Morocco

Laughs (#78); Songs - (We're Off on the) Road to Morocco (#95)

Eh.  Hope and Crosby - wonderful, I know.  But I was bored and unimpressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiLf9YTrGU

AFI Top 100 Quotes

 

 

The only movie quote not yet listed is "What a dump" from Beyond the Forest.  I haven't been able to find that movie.  Incidentally, Elizabeth Taylor quotes that line in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, when she asks Richard Burton what movie it's from - so I guess that will have to count.

 

This list confirms my belief that Casablanca is the best written movie of all time, what with 6 quotes listed.  Why don't people talk like that anymore?  My only objection is that there aren't any Princess Bride quotes.  I think it's fair to say that that movie is the most quoted film of our generation.  Seriously, when ESPN devotes half an hour to quoting it, I think it's made a significant stamp on pop culture.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594Oxq4c0XA 

 

 

 



In the Heat of the Night

Top 100 (#75 Revised); Stars - Sidney Poitier (#22); Cheers (#21); Quotes - "They call me Mr. Tibbs" (#16); Heroes - Virgil Tibbs (#19)

Excellent movie.  A Philadelphia homicide detective is falsely accused of murder while visiting relatives in the South.  He then has to help the racist sheriff figure out who really did it.

Have I mentioned that I love Sidney Poitier?

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

Ray

Cheers (#99)

I have a hard time feeling a lot of love for a character who just about destroyed his life with drugs and womanizing.  He cleaned himself up and became a better person, but that was only in the last few minutes of the movie.  His mama raised him much better than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJxL3PrrLM 

AFI Top 25 Musicals

 

 

We've finished the Musicals category.  While I certainly can't dispute their top choice, I still consider The Sound of Music the most-loved musical of all time.  Fiddler on the Roof will always be my favorite.  And I really, really don't get the love affair AFI (or anyone, for that matter) has with Judy Garland.

 

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

On the Town

Stars - Gene Kelly (#15); Songs - New York, New York (#41); Musicals (#19)

The story was thin, but the movie starred Gene Kelly, so it's all good.  I just love watching him glide while he dances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7CIgWZTdgw

City Lights

Top 100 (#76/11); Laughs (#38); Stars - Charlie Chaplin (#10); Cheers (#31); Heroes - The Tramp (#38); Passions (#10); Top Ten - Romantic Comedy (#1)

Good, sweet, but maybe a bit overhyped - then again, I'm watching it 80 years later.  The Tramp falls in love with a blind girl and tries to come up with the money she needs to save the home where she lives with her grandmother. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rkNBH5fbMk

How the West Was Won

Score (#25); Stars - James Stewart (#3), Henry Fonda (#6), Spencer Tracy (#9), Gregory Peck (#12), John Wayne (#13)

Holy cavalcade of stars!  This movie is actually 5 different stories about taming the west, covering river rafts, trapping, gold mining, wagon trains, riverboats, the Civil War, buffalo stampedes, the railroad, and Indians.  It wasn't bad, but although they managed to loosely tie the stories together, it felt a bit disjointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5HRSmLlaiA

Marty

Stars - Ernest Borgnine (Current); Passions (#64)

I wasn't expecting to like this movie, but I loved it!  This little gem is a romantic drama from the guy's point of view.  Marty is in his mid 30s and single.  Everyone jokes, "So, Marty, when are ya going to get married?"  Marty laughs it off, but secretly he's alone and hurting, thinking no girl will ever find him attractive. 

If you haven't seen it, see it.  It'll be worth your while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_1M-4lIfnA

Show Boat

Stars - Ava Gardner (#25); Songs - Ol' Man River (#24); Musicals (#24)

I was actually supposed to watch the 1936 version of this movie, but I can't find it.  I ended up watching the 1951 version.  It worked out ok, because then I got to see an Ava Gardner movie, so it counts for that, too.

Well, what's there to say about it?  It started off with slaves smiling in the cotton field.  Somehow I don't think they actually smiled all that much.  And the Magnolia/Ravenal story wrapped up awfully quickly.  And we never did find out what happened to Julie.  And the Ravenal/Kim part at the end totally creeped me out.

But I liked "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDU1ai5P1I

What's Up, Doc?

Laughs (#61); Passions (#68)

This is an homage to the classic slapstick comedies of the early days of film.  I think they use every gag except for slipping on a banana peel.  I thought the plot was thin, and so was the romance.  I'm not really sure why it got a spot on the Passions list, other than the fact that AFI loves Barbra Streisand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWRZut6klgE

Thelma and Louise

Thrills (#76); Stars - Geena Davis (Current); Cheers (#78); Heroes - Thelma Dickerson and Louise Sawyer (#24)

First, I'd just like to say that if I were Susan Sarandon, I would have pushed Thelma into the Grand Canyon about 30 minutes into the movie.  Oh my gosh, she was an idiot.  How on earth can Geena Davis think she was portraying a strong woman?

Secondly, I strongly question the "heroes" list.  Sure, they deserved a cheer for shooting the would-be rapist.  But after that, everything they did was just plain wrong and anything but heroic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A

A Night at the Opera

Top 100 (#85 Revised); Laughs (#12); Stars - The Marx Brothers (#20)

Okay, so I don't really like the Marx Brothers all that much anyway.  I like Laurel & Hardy better.  But this wasn't my favorite of their movies.  Maybe it was because of all the opera.  Maybe it was because Zeppo wasn't in it.  Who knows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Axzxe1a78E

The Deer Hunter

Top 100 (#79/53); Thrills (#30)

Three buddies from a factory town enter the Vietnam war together.  They serve together, end up separating, and each find different fates.

Too gritty.  I very didn't like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpBkc2jK-6w