The Postman Always Rings Twice

Passions (#49)

Gorgeous Lana Turner is married to an old codger, so she and (the apparently good-looking but really not all that) John Garfield decide to do away with her husband so they can live happily ever after.

The whole postman thing isn't explained until the very end.  It means that if they don't kill you the first time, they'll try again and get you on the second try.

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

Tarzan the Ape Man

Heroes - Tarzan (#34)

1. If Africa were left to Jane's father and Tarzan, there'd be no animals left. 
2.  I love how 1930s actresses bite their knuckles when they cry.
3.  The pygmies dance like Oompa Loompas.
4.  Cheetah is the real hero of this movie.
5.  Holy cow, is this movie cheesy.  Give me the Disney version any day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zTzqz0_bM4

AFI Top 25 Film Scores

 

 

While Star Wars deserves the top spot without question, I don't necessarily agree with the rest of the list.  Star Wars brilliantly demonstrates what a film score should be - it needs to be easily identifiable with the movie, and it should evoke the emotions and essence of the story.  As someone said, the score is very much a character in Star Wars.  John Williams is a genius. 

 

And yes, Lord of the Rings should be on this list.

 

1 STAR WARS    2 GONE WITH THE WIND    3 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA    4 PSYCHO    5 THE GODFATHER   6 JAWS   7 LAURA   8 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN   9 CHINATOWN   10 HIGH NOON   11 THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD   12 VERTIGO   13 KING KONG (1933)   14 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL  15 OUT OF AFRICA  16 SUNSET BLVD.   17 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD   18 PLANET OF THE APES   19 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE   20 THE PINK PANTHER   21 BEN-HUR   22 ON THE WATERFRONT 23 THE MISSION  24 ON GOLDEN POND    25 HOW THE WEST WAS WON

 

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

Out of Africa

Score (#15); Passions (#13)

Well, let's see...the scenery was beautiful, and Robert Redford was Robert Redford, so those are good things.  The score was ok, but not fabulously memorable.  I didn't care for Meryl Streep's character, so that tainted the whole thing for me.  I also didn't like how - and I know this is historically accurate - the Europeans belittled the native Africans.

Basically, it was Dr. Zhivago or The English Patient or any other such movie, set in Africa.

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

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Thrills (#63); Stars - Bette Davis (#2), Joan Crawford (#10); Villains - Baby Jane Hudson (#44)

I love you, sister dear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=648-2RE4XAk

Jezebel

Stars - Bette Davis (#2), Henry Fonda (#6); Passions (#79)

It is said that this movie was Bette Davis' response to not being cast as Scarlett O'Hara.  However, Jezebel is no Gone With the Wind.  Sure, she's a spoiled Southern girl pining over a man she can't have, making a spectacle of herself in the process.  But it doesn't have the depth or complexity that GWTW has.  It's simple and lackluster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrhNPS4nbmQ

The Great Dictator

Laughs (#37); Stars - Charlie Chaplin (#10)

This movie, made in 1940, featured Chaplin in a dual role - as the ruthless leader of a European country and as a Jewish barber living in the ghetto.  I liked the opening disclaimer:  "Note, any resemblance between Hynkel the dictator and the Jewish barber is purely co-incidental."

It was very strange to hear Chaplin speak.  But he had enough of his characteristic comedy pratfalls and mishaps to keep his fans happy. 

This was a comedy, but when the barber ended up confused with Hynkel (surprise, surprise) and had to give a speech to the masses, I liked what he had to say.  It's a bit lengthy, but worthwhile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4

The Wild Bunch

Top 100 (#80/79); Thrills (#69); Stars - William Holden (#25), Ernest Borgnine (Current); Top Ten - Western (#6)

Ugh.  This ranks up there with Unforgiven as my most disliked western.  A gang of outlaws in the last days of the Old West rob banks and trains, take advantage of women, and try to avoid the mercenaries who are after them.

There's not a single woman in the movie who's not being used by men.  I realize it shows what kind of men they were and all that, but it really was excessive.

William Holden and his adversary Robert Ryan looked too much alike, and I found that confusing.

The gunfights, however, were cinematically impressive.  And that's about as positive as I'm going to get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62qvse2Rl-M

AFI Top 100 Cheers

I haven't yet seen The Defiant Ones and I can't figure out why neither Netflix nor the library has it. Oh well.  Overall, a pretty good list.  I don't think Breaking Away or 2001 should be on it.  They were stupid and pointless.  As for the others, I may not have liked them all but at least I see how they fit this category.  It fits that Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Tom Hanks, and Frank Capra are well-represented here.

But while I'm not going to be petty about the order, I have to disagree with The Sound of Music being as low as #41.  Have they not seen that movie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AJI6XTRGsc