Day #73 - Captains Courageous

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Awww, this movie was really cute :) It took me awhile to get into it - I was afraid it wouldn't hold my interest but it eventually did - about 45 minutes in. I was really looking forward to seeing this since my Mother-in-Law recommended it as a great Spencer Tracy movie - and as this challenged has led me to become a great fan of his, I knew I was in for a treat. I didn't expect this kind of a role though! Tracy played a Portugese fisherman who spoke in broken English, which, at first, was really annoying - but I got used to it after a bit and it wasn't so bad. I guess at first I didn't understand he was Portugese and so I though he just sounded uneducated.

Captains Courageous centers around a young boy named Harvey - Harvey's father is very wealthy and his lack of attention to his son has led Harvey to become spoiled and entitled. He bribes kids at school to get what he wants and has few friends to show for it. One day he admits to a teacher that he had tried to bribe him to make his history exams easier and got kicked out. When his Father hears the news, he is shocked, mostly because he really doesn't know his son at all. He decides to take Harvey with him on a ship to Europe - when Harvey accidentally falls overboard, he is picked up by the fisherman Manuel (Tracy). Harvey spends the next several weeks with Manuel and the other men on the fishing boat - Manuel takes an interest in him, teaching him how to fish and telling him stories of his own Father who had died at sea. Harvey sees how little his own father had taught him and really latches on to Manuel, learning many valuable lessons before returning back to the mainland - I won't ruin anything else from the ending :)

I just really loved the relationship between Manuel and Harvey - Manuel could appreciate the simple things in life and found very little value in money and material things - quite the opposite of how Harvey had been brought up. In one of the scenes in the movie, Manuel challenges another one of he fisherman to a contest to see who can catch the most fish. When Manuel finds out that Harvey ruined the other guys line so that he and Manuel could win, Manuel forfeits the challenge and treats Harvey to silence. I really liked this bit of plot because Harvey was learning things about integrity and honesty when he had been so oblivious before. I enjoyed Freddie Bartholomew as Harvey - he was prett insufferable as the snotty kid at school but once he got on the fishing boats he was much more tolerable :)

Spencer Tracy won a Best Oscar for his role as Manuel. The movie was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Editing in 1937.

Ohmygosh, can I please take a second to talk about Lionel Barrymore? He played the Captain of the ship and I just saw him a couple of weeks ago in You Can't Take it With You. He is so hilarious - Chris and I were constantly laughing at him because he has this way of yelling his lines where I have NO idea what he's saying! It just all runs together! I like him a lot :)

Day #71 - Ben Hur

Ben Hur. I can't believe it's taken me so long to see it. I guess I thought I had magically watched it sometime without realizing it - but honestly none of it was familiar. I thought it was absolutely amazing - I loved the story and was moved by the set design and effects, especially in Rome. Ben Hur follows the story of Judah Ben Hur, a wealthy native of Jerusalem at the time when it was being taken over by the Roman Empire. When Judah turns against the Roman placed Governor - coincidentally his boyhood friend Masalla, and is wrongly accused of attempted murder on a Roman soldier, he is banished to the gallows and his mother and sister are placed in jail. He vows revenge on Masalla, his anger and hate fueling his will to live. After saving the life of a Roman General who commanded the ship he worked on, Ben Hur was adopted by him, living in Rome for a short period of time becoming a champion Charioteer. He leaves Rome to search for his family and find his revenge on Masalla, eventually defeating him a chariot race which leads to Masalla's death. I don't want to say much more about the plot as I don't like to give away too much - the movie continues as Judah reunites his family and finds his faith through the witness of Christ's crucifixion. I had a couple issues with the ending but overall really loved the movie.

There were a number of things that I loved about this movie - first of all, Charlton Heston. Throughout my challenge I have found a couple of people who I could cast in the story of my life - and for the role of my Grandpa Eckelman I am casting Charlton Heston. I can't quite put my finger on it but I believe it's something in how he moves his mouth. Mom and Melissa, any thoughts? I'll find a good pic for above. Anyhoo - Heston was really great in the role of Judah Ben Hur. I haven't seen him in a movie before and was surprised at how much I liked him. He had a good mix of strength and masculinity but at times he was also a bit feminine (for lack of a better word). Interesting. So another thing I loved was the story of Jesus - although not the primary story, I think that the question of faith and hope is really important in this movie and in the end plays a huge role. Throughout the movie you hear talk of the man from Nazareth - I just like that you never see the face of Jesus and the story only exists to strengthen that of Ben Hur and his family. Finally, wow - enough can't be said for the chariot scene. Apparently it took 5 months to film and of course that was before there were any computer effects so it was all straight camera work - amazing.

Ben Hur saved MGM from bankruptcy - a huge gamble, it really paid off by earning $75 million at the box office. It also won 11 Academy Awards - a feat only equalled by Titanic and Lord of the Rings - Return of the King. What I simply CANNOT understand is how it won 11 Oscars and lost only one for Best Screenplay - how on EARTH can you win Director, Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Set Decoration, Costume Design, Cinematography, Special Effects, Film Editing, Sound and Music and NOT Screenplay!? Are you kidding? Impossible.

Day #69 - The King and I

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"Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera" :)

The King and I was such a cute movie! Admittedly it took me awhile to get into it - I think with musicals, if you aren't already familiar with the music, it takes some time - or mutiple viewings - to really appreciate it. I also thought a few of the scenes were quite bazaar, but they were overshadowed by the cute scenes. Honestly without Yul Brynner this movie would have been so much less endearing. EVERY time he said "et cetera et cetera" I laughed out loud - or every time he said something was "scientific".

Deborah Kerr's character was very similar to Maria's in The Sound of Music just because she was so proper but had some real strength to her - and coming in to watch over all of those kids was similar as well. I hate that she didn't do her own singing. It seems like it wasn't that uncommon back then but now it would be unacceptable. Can you imagine if say, in Chicago, Renee Zellweger acted but someone else sang? There would be such an uproar.

......and since when did Rogers and Hammerstein musicals have sad endings like this? Sheesh! So - The King and I won 5 Oscars - Best Actor (Yul Brynner), Best Art Direction, Best Costumes, Best Music and Best Sound. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Walter Lang), Best Actress (Kerr) and Best Cinematography. Did you know that Yul Brynner was actually RUSSIAN? Yet he plays the King of Siam so well!

Day #48 - High Noon

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High Noon is a Fred Zinnermann directed Western starring Gary Cooper - according to John Lithgow (yay TCM!), this movie came about at a time, in the early 50's, when bravery and courage were much valued at the box office. Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Marshal Will Cane. The movie opens with Will's wedding to Amy, played by Grace Kelly. It seems like all is well until 3 shady looking men stride into town. This immediately puts the town into uproar, and we find out that these three men are waiting on their leader, Frank Miller, to arrive on the noon train. Frank threatened to come back and kill Will after being sentenced to hang for murder - little did Will know that he would be pardoned and come back looking for him. The rest of the movie basically consists of Will going around to the men of the town asking for deputies to help him take down Frank. When no one will step up to help, Will must fight on his own. At the beginning of the movie, Amy decided to leave town, disgusted with Will's desire to stay and fight. At the very end though, she comes back and helps him kill Frank and his men. The movie ends with Will throwing his deputy badge down at the townspeople who wouldn't help him and leaving with Amy.

When the movie was over, Chris said, "well, that's the most concise movie I've ever seen" - which is true, haha - it was only 85 minutes long, not much time for froo froo. Overall, I thought it was a fine movie - not great or bad, just fine. The Mexican woman who played Mrs. Ramirez drove me CRAZY. I didn't care for the acting much and am surprised Gary Cooper was called out for an Oscar. I find that I'm often times not impressed with acting in Westerns - is it like watching action movies today, knowing they aren't made for their great acting?

Throughout the movie, clocks are shown often as the movie is shot in real time. This reminds me a lot of 3:10 To Yuma, a Western remake from a couple of years ago with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe - that movie also was centered around the arrival or departure of a train and relied a lot on time.

Though I didn't care for his acting, I really like the look of Gary Cooper - he looks like a real man :) I would pick him for my side on a fight :)

According to IMDB:

"This film was intended as an allegory in Hollywood for the failure of Hollywood people to stand up to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Sen. Joseph McCarthy Red-baiting era."

Day #42 - The African Queen

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The African Queen was a 1951 John Huston-directed movie starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. It was filmed on location in Africa, which was extremely rare for that time period. It was also a dangerous time to be in the Congo, but John Huston felt it would add needed authenticity to the film. During filming, most of the cast and crew were sick - Katharine Hepburn dealt with a severe case of dysentery - what I think is hilarious about that is that she was so disgusted by how much John Huston and Humphrey Bogart were drinking that she protested by having water only - thus the reason she was so sick. Neither Huston nor Bogie were sick during the shoot - in fact, Bogie said they drank so much scotch that if a fly landed on one of them it would have died instantly :) Apparently Bogie was not too keen on being in the jungle but Kate viewed it as quite the adventure - why am I not surprised? :)

The movie opens with Rose (Hepburn) and her brother holding a church service in German East Africa - they are British and I assume missionaries. We are also introduced to Charlie, a British man who drives a steam ship on the river, delivering supplies to the area. This is where our TV signal went out (I was watching on TCM) - so I missed the next 15 minutes or so - ah! Apparently after learning that the Germans were at war, Rose's brother protested and was killed - Rose then left with Charlie on his steamboat. Rose seemed much more refined and sophisticated than Charlie who was fairly dirty and drank a lot. The rest of the movie is about the adventures they face as they head down the river. Rose feels that they can turn the African Queen into a torpedo boat and if they head down river they can attach a German ship that is keeping a British counter-attack at bay. Charlie is scared, feeling that it would be a suicide mission and far too dangerous. Rose convinced him otherwise and so off they went. They face many obstacles such as rapids and German gunfire but along the way fall in love. Eventually they get stuck in a channel with very little water and too much mud - convinced they are going to die, they go to sleep only to wake up in the lake they have been trying to reach, having been rescued by a storm which raised their boat from the mud. I won't ruin the end - so if you want to know what happens you'll have to see it for yourself!

I really liked the second half of this movie but not the first. It took me a LONG time to get into the story - at first I really just didn't care much about the characters. That being said, once they started to hit the obstacle of the mud, I felt like the added layer I needed was there and I began to really enjoy it. I LOVED Kate and Bogie together, I thought they were fantastic - I was especially impressed with Bogie - I always thought of him as such a serious person and although I liked his charm in Sabrina, I didn't think he could play a character like this. In fact, Bogie won his only Oscar for The African Queen, beating out the favorite Marlon Brando for A Streetcar Named Desire. There is just something about Kate Hepburn - I've seen a few of her movies now and I crave more - I can't put my finger on what it is, I just really love her audacity.

Day #41 - Stalag 17

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Stalag 17 was recommended to us and neither Chris nor myself had ever heard of it. Stalag is German for prisoner camp so Stalag 17 is about a group of men who share a barracks as American POW's during WWII. The movie came out in 1953 and starred William Holden, who won an Academy Award for it. It was also written and directed by Billy Wilder! This is my FOURTH Billy Wilder movie and I think my.....3rd William Holden movie :) Go me.

I felt so-so about Stalag 17 - first of all, we didn't know it was a comedy. I thought it was going to be a serious war movie. Apparently Billy Wilder liked to make comedies surrounded by a morose or dark context. So that threw me off a little bit. When the movie started I realized it was going to focus a lot on these two "barracks clowns" who provided a lot of slapsticky type comedy throughout which was fine I suppose, but I didn't expect it. Early on in the movie we are told that there is a "traitor" in the barracks who is feeding information to the Germans - information on escape attempts and equipment the men shouldn't have like radios. I really had no idea who it was until it was shown to me so I appreciated the surprise. Overall, like, I said, it was so-so for me. After the movie we watched the "making of" featurette which helped us to understand the movie more and I feel like when we watch older movies we should always know a bit about the context ahead of time. Chris was offended that they said Stalag 17 was the best POW camp/escape movie because we both liked The Great Escape much better :)

With all of that said, William Holden is HOT and I am MORE than happy to watch more of his movies :)

Day #40 - The French Connection

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Strikes and gutters - for as many good movies as I've been watching, I'm bound to run across one from time to time that I don't care for. I had high hopes for this movie because I, like every sane person in the world, love Gene Hackman. He has the voice, ya know - it lends itself perfectly to being raised, so I love it when he yells and gets mad. The French Connection came out in 1971 and won 5 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Actor (Gene Hackman), Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay. Perhaps this was a movie that was really significant for its time and that's the risk you take in watching older movies - without the context sometimes you miss the point. ...which I did.

Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider play NYC cops who are assigned to a special investigation involving a group of drug dealers. Gene plays Jimmy Doyle, a man who seems to work off of impulses and gut feelings, which doesn't always instill confidence in his plans. He discovers that the men he is following are actually working a deal with a French group who is smuggling drugs overseas to help with the "drought" in NYC. Thus, the French connection. Beyond that, I don't really care to even get into the story. If I were to look at the screenplay for this movie, I imagine it's about 10 pages along. There was SO little dialogue and I felt like the movie was Gene Hackman following the bad guys around for a long time, then a few lines of dialogue, then more following, then a car chase scene, more following....it just go really old. I know, I know, the chase scene is one of the best in film history, no? I'm not a car chase kind of person so I was just glad when the movie was over. I know it's harsh, but it just wasn't my thing.

Day #37 - The Philadelphia Story

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I looove this movie - it's such a classic. I saw it many years ago and didn't remember much about it, other than that I loved Jimmy Stewart. It was on TCM the other night so I DVR'd it and I've actually watched it twice now :)

Katharine Hepburn played the role of Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story on Broadway, and she wanted the rights to the script for a movie version, so her boyfriend at the time, Howard Hughes, bought it for her. Cause we all have billionaire boyfriends right?? MGM agreed to do the movie, even giving Hepburn the opportunity to choose her costars and director. As her director, of course she chose no other than her favorite, George Cukor. She originally wanted Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy as Macauley Connor and CK Dexter Haven, but they were not available, so Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were cast. Fantastic :)

The Philadelphia Story was nominated for 4 Oscars in 1940 and won 2 - Best Screenplay and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Jimmy Stewart (yay!). It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Katharine Hepburn and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ruth Hussey (really? what a strange nomination....). Kate Hepburn lost to Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle, which I have never heard of - but I imagine that after Kate put so much into this movie, she was none too happy not to win an Oscar for it. The Best Picture winner that year was Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.

I think that the best scene in this movie BY FAR is the scene where Jimmy Stewart is drunk and goes in to talk to Cary Grant and keeps yelling "CK Dexter Haaaaven!" and he hiccups all the time. He is so freakkin' fantastic. A couple years ago I read his biography and loved it because I was so happy for the story of his life not to ruin my opinion of him :) Here is a great video....from 1:20-1:30, tell me Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant are not trying desperately not to laugh after Jimmy hiccups and Grant says "excuse me":) It makes me hysterical when he says "CK Dexter Haven you have unsuspected depth!" This has to be one of my favorite scenes of all time!

Day #22 - Life is Beautiful

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/

I am still pretty behind but I have a lot of GREAT movies coming my way so I think I can catch up :) Today I am watching Life is Beautiful - I have been avoiding this movie for a couple of weeks actually, trying to find a good "crying mood" day, since I know I'm going to. All I really know about this movie is from the Oscars...when Roberto Benigni stood up on his chair when he won Best Actor :)

This movie was soooo sweet. I didn't think anyone could make a comedy about the Holocaust, but Roberto Benigni did it - or as the Netflix description calls it, a "tragicomedy". Life is Beautiful, or La Vita a Bella, was written, directed by and starring Roberto Benigni - it is about a man, Guido, who is just full of life, who falls in love with a woman he calls "princess". They have a son, Joshua, who is SO ridiculously cute. When Joshua is five or so, the family starts experiencing firsthand the prejudice against Jews in Italy in the early 40's. One day, without warning, Guido and Joshua are rounded up with the other Jews and put on a train to a concentration camp. When Guido's wife finds out, she insists on being put on the train as well. The real plot of the movie at this point is how Guido helps Joshua cope with and understand what is going on around them. Because it is Joshua's birthday, Guido tells him he is taking him on a trip as a surprise - once they arrive at the camp, they are part of this "game" where they must collect points. Once they earn 1,000 points, they win a tank :) One of the best scenes in the movie is when a German officer comes into their sleeping quarters and asks that someone translate his German into Italian so that everyone can understand the rules. Guido immediatly volunteers, even though he doesn't know German, so that he can announce to his son the rules of the game, such as the three things you are not allowed to do - 1) ask for a snack, 2) cry or 3) ask for your mother. I won't say much beyond that - if you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it :)

Life is Beautiful won 3 Oscars - Best Actor, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Score. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay. Also, it won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival. Here is a video of Roberto Benigni's winning the Best Foriegn Language Film Oscar...ok...so the embed isn't working, here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTR6fk8frs

An excerpt from Roger Ebert's review.....

"The movie actually softens the Holocaust slightly, to make the humor possible at all. In the real death camps there would be no role for Guido. But ``Life Is Beautiful'' is not about Nazis and Fascists, but about the human spirit. It is about rescuing whatever is good and hopeful from the wreckage of dreams. About hope for the future. About the necessary human conviction, or delusion, that things will be better for our children than they are right now."

Day #15 - Amadeus

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086879/

Amadeus is quite simply one of the best movies I have ever seen. I have to spread the gospel because I think SO FEW people have seen it and it is truly worth every second. Amadeus is the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - the movies begins with him as a young man and follows his career and life through to his death. It is told BRILLIANTLY by the narration of Antonio Salieri - Mozart's contemporary. Mozart is played by Tom Hulce - absolutely fantastic performance from a relative unknown. Salieri is played by the GENIUS F. Murray Abraham. The movie was released in 1984 and won 8 of its 11 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Lead Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Best Sound, Best Makeup, Best Writing (Peter Shaffer) and Best Art Direction. UM - why did Tom Hulce not win, you ask? He and F. Murray Abraham were both nominated for Best Actor, a very rare occurance.

The first time I saw this movie, I really liked it. A few months passed and I thought, you know, that movies was REALLY good, so I watched it again and then I was in love. For me, the story as presented by Salieri is just amazing. Salieri was a composer, like Mozart, but did not have the natural talent that Mozart did. All he ever wanted in life was to create beautiful music, and he asked God to allow him to serve Him in this way -even taking a vow of chastity. When Mozart came around, Salieri heard the music he always wanted to write but found Mozart to be immature, a perverted creature. Why, he wondered, would God grant THIS man, of ALL men, the talent he so desperately wanted? He tells God that he will destroy Mozart - and basically sets out to do so by being Mozart's friend to his face, yet manipulating every situation to continually contribute to Mozart's deteriorating sanity - especiallly after Mozart's father dies.

Here are some AMAZING quotes from the movie...

Salieri addressing a crucifix..."From now on we are enemies, You and I. Because You choose for Your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty, infantile boy and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the incarnation. Because You are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block You, I swear it. I will hinder and harm Your creature on earth as far as I am able."

Salieri describing Mozart's music..."On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God."

One of the final scenes in the movie is Salieri helping Mozart finish his requiem. Mozart is dicatating to him and Salieri is writing because Mozart is too sick. This is one of, if not the best, scenes in the movie. A bit of trivia - Tom Hulce skipped lines to confuse F. Murray Abraham so that it genuinely looked as though Salieri could not fully understand Mozart's music.

Day #13 - It Happened One Night

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/

It Happened One Night, a 1934 Frank Capra movie starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, was the first movie to ever sweep Oscars' "Big Five" - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Screenplay :) So naturally, it had to be on my list :)

It Happened One Night is about Ellie Andrews, a socialite who runs away from her life of people telling her "what to do and how to do it" and on her way to New York City meets Peter Warren, a newspaper man looking for a good story. Like any good romantic comedy, they can't stand each other at first - he's just in for the good story and she just doesn't want him to tell her Dad where she is. By the time the end rolls around, they discover they are in love! It Happened One Night was one of the first romantic "screwball" comedies ever filmed - paving the way for all the Sleepless in Seattles and When Harry Met Sallys of the world :) I love all the old sets and lighting, so classic. Clark Gable is witty and handsome, of course - and I was very curious about Claudette Colbert. She has a kind of manly (?) voice...or maybe just deeper, kind of sultry. I thought she was really cute (not pretty though, actually kind of odd looking haha) until I read that she demanded double her usual salary to do this movie for a guarantee that it would only last four weeks - AND, she hated the movie so much she didn't even attend the Oscars where she won Best Actress! Clark Gable himself walked on the set first day and said, "Let's get this over with." Hahaha! Back to the movie though....I really enjoyed watching it and am glad to be able to check it off my list :)

Turner Classic Movies named It Happened One Night as one of their top 15 most influential films of all time - see below for excerpt:
(http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/tcm-unveils-their-list-of-top-15-most-influential-films-of-all-time)

"The surprise success of It Happened One Night made Frank Capra one of the screen’s top directors and provided the prototype for a decade of screwball comedies. Romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally and The Sure Thing draw on the rapid banter, outrageous comic situations and sexy road trip of It Happened One Night. The movie even provided inspiration for one of the screen’s most enduring characters, Bugs Bunny."

I love learning about "old" Hollywood during the days of the studios contracting out and "owning" actors...here is a tidbit about it from IMDB....

"Columbia Pictures was considered a Poverty Row studio at the time of the film's release. Both MGM and Warner Brothers would loan out temperamental actors to Columbia as a 'humbling experience.' Studio boss 'Harry Cohn', who was loathe to pay for his own roster of contract stars during the early 30's, would invariably assign them to work on Frank Capra's films. Although the studio had received Oscar nominations prior to this picture, it's success virtually single-handedly lifted Columbia out of the ranks of poverty row."