Rickspade
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Posts posted by Rickspade
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> No It was Ava Gardner( Mogambo ) Go ahead Rick !I was
> up early and thought gee I wonder if I can ask today
> .I am not good at answering but I love to ask . Have
> fun !
I was so far off in my guess that I'm embarrassed to ask a question! And I've seen Mogambo at least two or three times and just couldn't recall that line. Go ahead, inglis, ask another one. I'd rather guess the answers than ask anyway (and I certainly need the practice!).
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> Hi Rick spade I hope you don't mind if I play on my
> thread as I have not seen anybody on here this
> morning .In what movie was this said and by whom
> "When a body meets a body coming down the rye"
I feel as if I've been standing in a movie line anxious to get in and someone rudely cuts in front of me. . .(only kidding). However, if you were going to ask a question, inglis, you could have made it one I could easily answer! I'm going to guess the speaker, but I can't name the movie. It sounds as if it's Bob Hope (singing it) in one of the many Road to pictures, but I don't know which. I'll guess Road to Utopia[/i, but it's strictly a guess.
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> The answer to Mr. Write?s question is here:
>
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037059/
>
> Let?s keep this thread for beginners.
Thanks, Fred. I went out of my way to think of a fairly easy question, knowing full well that many of the usual posters on these threads would recognize that classic dialogue from The Big Sleep, but many novices might not. Anyway, let's take Mr. Write's word for it that he inadverently wandered onto this thread and supplied the answer. As for me, I think I'll stick to some of the harder Trivia threads, although the posters over there are really good, and I may be out of my league. (Especially the Hitchcock fans!)
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> No. This one may be a little too obscure. The
> speaker's career peaked a few years later when he and
> a supporting actor in this film co-starred in an
> anti-war film. The screenplay for the movie I'm
> quoting was written by a man better-known as a
> cartoonist.
>
> PS - Maybe I should say they co-starred in an
> anti-military film, playing non-combatants.
>
> Message was edited by:
> LuckyDan
With these extras clues, LuckyDan, the movie in question has to be Little Murders, screenplay by the great cartoonist, Jules Feiffer. The film starred Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, was directed by Alan Arkin, and I believe the speaker you quote is Gould. I saw it when it came out; it was a real black comedy, with the emphasis on black.I'm assuming the anti-military film you refer to is the great M*A*S*H*, which for the record, actually came out the year before (1970) Little Murders was released. Good trivia, Dan.
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OK, a fairly easy one, but keeping in mind the title of this thread.
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like 'em myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them long winter evenings."
Who said it to whom, and in what movie?
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> Another Line: Hey, would you mind putting that gun
> away? My wife doesn't care, But I'm a Timid Fellow.
> Who said it and what film??
>
> vallo
Sounds very much like William Powell in The Thin Man.
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Jerry Goldsmith:
Under Fire
Chinatown
LA Confidential
Elmer Bernstein:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Magnificent Seven
Bernard Herrman:
Obsession
Wolfgang Korngold:
Sea Hawk
Adventures of Robin Hood
Max Steiner:
Now Victory
Thomas Newman:
Road to Perdition
Angels in America
Shawshank Redemption
Ennio Morricone:
Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in America
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
lzcutter,
Love your list. Permit me to add two more from the great Elmer Bernstein: The Man with the Golden Arm and Sweet Smell of Success.
And then two other personal favorites:
John Barry: Body Heat
Duke Ellington: Anatomy of a Murder
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Hey! Ann Sheridan made the list again! Hooray!
I agree, Hooray! Lately, Ann has been getting a lot of mention and respect on these threads, which thrills me. One question in connection with this topic: When does "Old Hollywood" end, and New Hollywood commence? I'm going to arbitrarily set the line for me around 1950. So, my votes are:
1. Ann Sheridan* (I can't be objective, and Ann finishes Number 1 on any list I make of actresses, i.e. funniest, sexiest, most underrated, etc.). So, excluding her, my top three would be:
1. Ava Gardner
2. Rita Hayworth
3. Lana Turner
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> Rickspade,
>
> Is "The Unfaithful" the movie that has a sculpture
> instead of a letter? Oh, I know "The Unfaithful" is
> the movie. I have seen "The Unfaithful" a couple of
> times and (both times) I had to shake my head and
> laugh. Why? Everybody in the movie seems to
> immediately recognize the 'bust' as the movie
> character--Chris Hunter (Ann Sheridan) . Well, the
> sculpture is a woman...with hair about the same style
> as Chris Hunter and...that thing does not look
> anything like Chris Hunter!
>
> I know...suspend disbelief. Okay, other than the
> 'bust' artist was looking at a picture of someone
> other than Ann Sheridan during construction, "The
> Unfaithful" is a pretty good movie.
>
> Rusty
I had the same thoughts Rusty, when I last saw the movie. Pretty "flimsy" evidence to use as blackmail against someone. Maybe the artist was actually looking at a picture of the actress who appears in a cameo walk-on in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre! I don't know if you've ever heard of Ann Sheridan's supposed unbilled cameo in that movie (the subject of another TCM thread not too long ago), but many of us long-time Sheridan fans swear the woman in the movie(a walk-on streetwalker with no lines) looks nothing like Sheridan. Therefore, we concluded that her appearance has always been a myth. Anyway, as you said in the beginning, have to suspend disbelief (certainly not the first time).
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>
> What is the fantastic Warner Brothers feature with
> Ann where she poses for a sculptor who later turns up
> murdered? The plot is almost a direct steal from
> Wyler's "The Letter"?
>
> In one scene, Ann visits an antique/curio shop where
> the owner is secretly keeping an incriminating bust
> of Ann. That very familiar shop set must appear in
> virtually every Warner Bros. film of the 1940's --
> Re-dressed it also turns up as the antiquarian book
> store that Bogie scopes out in "The Big
> Sleep"...again in the flashback sequences of
> "Humoresque"...The youthful Gershwin scenes in
> "Rhapsody In Blue"...Possibly also the coffee shop
> where Miss Crawford first meets Eve Arden in "Mildred
> Pierce"? It must have been the most overworked and
> underappreciated set in all of Los Angeles!
WaldoLydecker,
As another poster has already correctly cited, the film in question is The Unfaithful, and yes it is a rather loose remake of The Letter, although Ann's character is much more of a victim than Bette's. . .Bette is an unapologetic murderess (Spoiler Alert: Who can forget her immortal line at the end, "With all my heart, I still love the man I killed!"), while Ann is more a victim of an unscrupulous blackmailer. Anyway, that's great spotting concerning the studio set; the next time I revisit Mildred Pierce and The Big Sleep I will have to make note of those two scenes. BTW, the Sheridan film I usually connect in tone/plot with The Unfaithful is Nora Prentiss, a very good film noir with terrific performances by Annie as a nightclub singer who falls for a respectable, "bored-with-my-life" doctor, very well played by Kent Smith. As a Sheridan fan you've probably seen it, but if not, check it out the next time TCM runs it. Very good indeed.
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The #1 Underrated Actress of the studio era?
Ann Sheridan, hands down.
Even in dreck she is fantastic. When handed
superlative material, like "The Man Who Came To
Dinner," she's sublime spoofing Gertrude Lawrence and
actually steals the few scenes she shares with Bette
Davis. How many actresses could make that claim?
WaldoLydecker,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU THANK YOU! For years, I've been telling every person I know who has ever liked a classic film about what a great and severely underrated actress Ann Sheridan was, until frankly, everyone (especially my wife) is sick of hearing about i! It's nice to come onto these boards and find people who recognize great talent when they see it. BTW, love your poster name; along with Fred C. Dobbs, another regular contributor, you two have the best handles.
And jarhive,
As for Torrid Zone,glad you're so fond of it. It's right up there with the best work Annie ever did, and the movie makes my Top 10 list, just based on her performance and screen chemistry with Cagney. That film has to be one of the top all-time "underrated" screwball comedies from the 1930's/1940's.
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>
I always saw Walter as just a regular guy, a tad
swarmy, but just a regular joe who got into trouble
when he fell for Barbara S.
>
Had Lancaster had the role, it would have been a
different Walter Neff completely. Hunky guy with
great voice falls for beautiful dame with great voice.
That's a completely different story than the
one that Billy Wilder told at least from my seat.
You nailed it exactly, lzcutter. MacMurray is perfect in this role, and part of Billy Wilder's genius was obviously spotting the right actors for the right roles. (another example: Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend; had he ever done anything previously to suggest he was capable of such fine dramatic acting? I don't think so.) Anyway, I love Burt Lancaster, all of his work, right up until the great 1980's film, Atlantic City, but much of the fun of Double Indemnity is watching an "average guy" who went on to be the Dad in that most innocuous 1950's sit-com, My Three Sons (unbelievable), play such a great part in such a classic film noir. BTW, has anyone ever seen the still photo from the original ending that Wilder filmed? MacMurray dies in the gas chamber, as a very distraught Edward G. Robinson witnesses it on the other side of the glass. But after spending $150,000 on building the set and five days filming the last scene, Wilder had second thoughts about how appropriate the scene was and decided he was better off ending the film in the office with Neff trying to walk away and failing. I think that was the right decision.
P.S. I love this thread!
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And I'd put some one stunning in the role of Ilsa in Casablanca to show why he has pined for her all those years!!
Holy Toledo!
I know some other posters have already expressed surprise at this comment, but I had to chime in as well. Casablanca is my all-time favorite film (BTW, those posters on another thread who claim it should be listed as "Most Overrated" are frankly in a word, NUTS!) and the first time I saw it more than 35 years ago was in a revival theater in NYC on the big screen. Ingrid Bergman was so luminous, so stunning, that twenty minutes after the movie ended, and the second feature had begun, I still couldn't get her face out of my mind! More than two dozen viewings later, I still think she'd make any man on the planet "pine" for her for years. As for Hedy Lamarr, as some others have pointed out, she was definitely stunning, but hardly a very good actress. On the other hand, Ingrid Bergman gave many memorable performances, right up until the end of her career (see Autumn Sonata, directed by her countryman Ingmar Bergman for evidence of that).
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Films: (I tried hard to limit this to ten, but it's impossible!)
1. Casablanca
2. The Maltese Falcon
3. Chinatown
4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
5. White Heat
6. Double Indemnity
7. Duck Soup
8. Citizen Kane
9. North by Northwest
10. Torrid Zone
11. Woman of the Year
12. Sweet Smell of Success
13. His Girl Friday
14. Roman Holiday
15. My Man Godfrey
Honorable Mention: The Godfather, Meet John Doe, Goodfellas, To Be or Not to Be, The Roaring Twenties
Actors: Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, Edward G. Robinson, Jack Nicholson
Actresses: Ann Sheridan, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Meryl Streep
Directors: Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, John Huston, Orson Welles
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I second what patful had to say. . .these threads can become like dinner party conversations, one thought leads to another and then people are off on tangents. Don't take it personally, and most posters stick to the topic. In response to your original question, I'm a few years older than you, inglis, and grew up in NYC during the late 1950's, and 60's, when the local TV stations did not pollute the airwaves with the garbage that passes for programming today, but would show great films from the 1930's and 40's, especially from Warner Brothers, MGM, and Universal. One station, WOR, had a nightly showing of what they called the "Million Dollar Movie." They showed the same film every night all week, and depending upon which movie it was, I would watch it two or three or four times. I remember my mother coming into my room one night and exclaiming, "What, you're watching Boys Town again!" Anyway, during those "formative" years, I fell in love with Cagney, Bogart, Tracy, Grant, and had my first pre-puberty crushes on Ann Sheridan (that one has lasted a whole lifetime!), Lombard, Blondell, Hepburn, and a host of other great screen stars. In later years (pre-VCRs and of course TCM), I paid dozens of visits to the revival theaters both in New York and later Los Angeles, which held month-long festivals of classic films, which enabled me to see such greats as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and a host of screwball comedies and film noirs (my two favorite genres) on the full screen, the way movies audiences enjoyed them when they were first released. I've been a classic movie lover since I was a teenager, and thanks to TCM, and the many posters here, I'm thrilled to know that the classic films will never die. Sorry, this got so wordy, but that's another trend you'll find on these threads. Some of us (I'm guilty) don't know how to be brief! Welcome to the boards!
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From the classic Warners comedy, Torrid Zone:
Ann Sheridan to Pat O'Brien: "Mister, the stork that brought you must have been a vulture."
From Woody Allen's, Hannah and Her Sisters, when Woody's father is asked to explain "why there were Nazis."
"How the hell do I know why there were Nazis? I don't even know how the can opener works."
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Glad to see this thread has been resumed. I must have missed it when it first started. Great fun topic. My choices:
Actor: Frank McHugh
Actress: a terrific comedienne, as well a good dramatic actress: Ruth Donnelly.
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> In "Double Indemnity" when Edward G. Robinson tells
> off his boss on suicide statistics, then grabs the
> glass of water out of his boss hands and says as he
> is leaving,"Next time I'll rent a tux". The whole
> scene is the best ever.
That scene is in my top five all-time favorite scenes from any movie (This thread is fun, but frankly, to choose a single all-time best scene is impossible!), and I nominate it for "All-time laugh-out-loud sarcastic scene in any classic film noir"! The way Edward G. rattles off those statistics while his boss and Fred McMurray just look at him in amazement is fabulous!
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Sorry, folks, somehow I "double-posted."
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> *smile* Yep, I suppose - - - in my mind, there is no
> question, however. And, I wasn't referring to
> society, or Hollywood, when I mentioned "redeemed". I
> believe Rocky finally did one good thing before he
> died - and I believe Father "whoever" thought so,
> too,
>
>
Scarlett
I agree with you completely, Scarlett. Interesting that Cagney in his autobiography claimed that he played the scene in such a way that the viewer is left wondering. . .did he turn coward at the end or not? For me, it's pretty clear he didn't, for two reasons. One, it would be a complete turnaround for the character, who after all had come face to face with death several times earlier, e.g. gunfights with other gangsters, the cops, etc. And two, if you look at the expression on Pat O'Brien's face first as he hears Cagney cry out, and then later when he has to tell the Dead end Kids that "Rocky died like they said," it seems pretty evident they he knew Rocky faked cowardice as a final gesture to honor the request of his lifelong friend.
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> *smile* Yep, I suppose - - - in my mind, there is no
> question, however. And, I wasn't referring to
> society, or Hollywood, when I mentioned "redeemed". I
> believe Rocky finally did one good thing before he
> died - and I believe Father "whoever" thought so,
> too,
>
>
Scarlett
I agree with you completely, Scarlett. Interesting that in his autobiography, Cagney claimed that he played the scene in such a way that the viewer is left wondering. . .did he turn coward at the end or not? For me, it's pretty clear he didn't, for two reasons. One, it would be a complete turnaround for the character, who after all had come face to face with death several times earlier, e.g. gunfights with other gangsters, the cops, etc.and was already so hardened he acted as if he didn't care whether he lived or died. When he tells Father Jerry(Pat O'Brien) right at the end that he's not afraid to die because to be afraid "you have to have a heart, and I had mine cut out of me a long time ago," you absolutely believe him. And two, if you look at the expression on O'Brien's face first, as he hears Cagney cry out in the death chamber, and then later when he has to tell the Dead End Kids that "Rocky died like they said," it seems pretty evident that he knew Rocky faked cowardice as a final gesture to honor the request of his lifelong friend.
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> Would like to see a new bio on Ann Sheridan.It has
> been a while. Lets hope someone decides to do one in
> the near future. And Warners decides to do a box set
> too.
As I've mentioned on these boards on several occasions, I'm a huge Ann Sheridan fan, and I have to say I'm confused by your posting because I'm not aware that there has ever been any biography of her published. At least not any full-length book. I just spent several minutes on the Internet searching for titles, and all I could come up with were the standard on-line biographical "briefs." I would appreciate learning of any title you know of that's in print because I'd love to read it.Thanks.
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Dominick,
I'm a HUGE Ann Sheridan fan, and I think you did a great job compiling her best films. I think I'd put Torrid Zone ahead of Angels with Dirty Faces, just because her part is so much bigger and she gets to display that great comedic timing. I'd add Castle on the Hudson, which TCM just recently showed; it's a remake of 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, and she and Garfield have terrific chemistry. It's a shame they only made this one film together (except for her brief appearance in They Made Me a Criminal where she gets killed early on). And another one I like a lot is It All Came True, w/ Bogart; not a major film, but once again she shines and plays off Bogie very well.
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> All right, new question:
>
> While filming "Chinatown," what stunning thing did
> Jack Nicholson learn about his sister?
That she was actually his mother; the woman who he believed to be his mother was actually his grandmother.
Bad Movies Festival
in General Discussions
Posted
Great thread! I've got one I don't believe anyone has mentioned: They Saved Hitler's Brain (1963). You have to see this one to believe it. It's actually somewhat misnamed, because it involves a group of Nazis living on some island called Mandoras, where they still survive under the leadership of Hitler's entire head, which has been preserved in some kind of watery solution and encased in a glass container! Incredibly, the movie combines footage from some 1950's movie with original footage shot with a completely different cast! Even the legendary Ed Wood couldn't have topped this. The film was originally released under the title, Madmen of Mandoras. Deserves to be near the top of this Bad Movie list.