MissGoddess
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Posts posted by MissGoddess
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Fine review of They Came to Codura---thanks Dan, for posting it and thanks, John, if you wrote it. I still cannot find any trace of "cowardice" in Gary's character, I suppose that is because what he apparently did or failed to do is never actually shown, only referred to. I wonder about that choice---why did the director choose never to show him actually doing a cowardly act? Maybe John would know? Is it because they thought they were already giving Cooper fans too much to swallow? This enquiring mind wants to know....
Miss G
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> They Came to Cordura is a very dark movie of Coop's
> that you may like. It was butchered in the edit room
> but still has a very powerful story. Gary Cooper was
> very sick with cancer in it and he does have a very
> tired and worn appearance in it that actually works
> quite well for his part in the movie. I have heard
> some refer to him as appearing very wooden with his
> lines in this movie but I think he did a fine job
> with them. The story line and it is a great one is
> all about what is a hero, which is not all that cut
> and dry and there are many dark characters in this
> one. If you liked High Noon, you very well might
> like this one better with your preference for darker
> storys. This is not a favorite with most people that
> post here as Gary Cooper did all of his own stunts in
> this one and he is abused quite a bit. Actually I
> think it is quite cheap on dvd now as it has been
> reduced in price over the years. It is a double side
> disc with the anamoriphic widescreen on one side and
> the 3:4 display on the other.
>
> This is a favorite of mine and would rank in my top
> ten favorite Gary Cooper movies. It was also the
> very first movie I ever saw of his which may be why I
> love it so much but not sure. I can not see anyone
> else playing the part of Major Thorn. As an added
> bonus Rita Hayworth gives her last great performance
> in this movie.
Frank---I heartily concurr with CoopFanDan on They Came to Codura---don't miss it when it plays tonight, it's a powerful film and one I think you would appreciate.
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>
> I've been married for twelve years and I can tell you
> my words are final, boy, and they are
> usually, "Yes, dear."
LOL!!!
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> > The majority of men are quite often afraid of
> > powerful women, mainly because many of them have
> been
> > taught to believe they are the head of a family
> and
> > society. Oddly enough, I believe many women do
> want
> > the man to be the head of the family but they also
> > struggle with how much power he's to have. It can
> be
> > a serious balancing act at times.
>
> I don't think the problem is that men are afraid of
> powerful women. I mean, what powerful, or successful,
> woman is going to be interested for ten seconds in a
> man who is afraid of her anyway? I think its more a
> matter of successful women not being interested in
> men who haven't achieved as much as they have. And
> can you blame them?
>
> course they want the man to be the head of
> the family. That's just another way of saying they
> want the man to be a man. They just want him to have
> the family's best interests in mind, is all. They're
> also impressed when the man remembers key dates, and
> what she told him this morning.
>
> P.S. And Gary would agree, I'm sure.
>
My, but this thread has stepped into deep waters lately! I'm still paddling through the posts slowly. I have to temper my own remarks on gender issues because my opinions tend to be too extreme for most; let's just say I kind of agree here with what LuckyDan just said, and I do like manly men, no doubt about it. I believe when their with me, their "feminine side" is to be supplied by Me, hee!
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>>>I'm not a Gary Cooper fan... yet. I haven't given his films a serious look, but I will watch a few of his films tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing Man of the West, Return to Paradise, and They Came to Cordura. The Fountainhead, Peter Ibbetson, Design for Living, and The General Died at Dawn are the other Coop films I'm getting itchy to see. I'm actually getting close to purchasing the one Cooper DVD box set. <<<
Frank----I think you may be becoming one without realizing it yet....you are subtly being brainwashed: Gary Cooper Gary Cooper Gary Cooper..everywhere you turn in the TCM City today, you will run into....Gary Cooper! Hee!
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[nobr]>What I really dislike is a regular person who does
> things that people just can't do. Movies don't need
> to necessarily be uber-realistic but I'm not buying
> that a guy gets shot multiple times but gets up and
> acts just fine
>
> Amen! That's also why I love Gary's movies; he wasn't
> flying around in a spaceship and destroying
> three-headed beasts! He was simply just a man with
> superheroisms inside -- not outside. He didn't need
> big muscles, a large gun and a cocky attitude. He
> played the hero part to reality and wasn't some
> fantasy superheo with freaky unrealistic powers.
> [/nobr]
[nobr]
I don't know about the rest of you, but my own opinion on this subject is firmly rooted in belief the preference today for this type of "hero" is childish at best, or adolescent. This is why I think movies have gone backward. I don't even think the most primitive examples of the first movies made had characters as one-dimensional and cardboard as those being written today for men---or women, in the biggest budget movies. My emphasis is deliberate, because I know there are smaller films that are trying to do what was done so skillfully before, but in the normal course of artistic progress you wouldn't think the kind of "heroes" children are show today would have any place.
End of rant!
[/nobr] -
>>>>In doing the Coop/Hem doc, I asked several of the talking heads if they could ever imagine a Cooper or Hemingway hero putting a gun to a man's head, grin cruelly, and say: "Go ahead, make my day." Most said no, their heroes played by a different set of rules. But Elmore Leonard thought otherwise. He could picture it, especially Cooper. As he pointed out, Cooper is a cold hard controlling man in The Hanging Tree, having murdered his brother and caused his wife to commit suicide. In Man Of The West, he's a vicious ex-murderer. Given the change in the Cooper hero -- he even owned the rights to Ride The High Country, had already asked Joel McCrea to be in it with him and had also met with Sam Peckinpah, but his cancer forced him to sell the rights; yet it's intriguing to think of a Cooper film directed by Peckinpah! -- and given the societal changes in the sixties, perhaps Cooper might have changed. <<<<
John, my mouth almost waters at the possibilities---I am not a fan really of Sam's pictures, he's just too violent for my tastes, but I think Gary Cooper directed by him would be a cat of a different stripe. He couldn't, as you say, portray a man who gets satisfaction from killing (the way, for instance, Clint Eastwood's anti-heroes seem to), so he could only bring a more human and complex character to any Peckinpah scenario. As much as I like both McRea and Scott, I would give much to have seen Gary in either role.
I'm just too excited to see the Coop/Hem documentary, it sound like it will shed much needed light onto Gary's neglected talents as an actor, one who passed from us at the peak of his craft.
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Wow, Theresa, I had no idea Gary was considered for The Best Years of Our Lives...that is the only thing I can think of that would have improved the otherwise perfect film. And I think Freddie March did a great job, it's just that I would finally have gotten my wish of seeing my two favorite Montanan's, Coop and Myrna, play together in a film.
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Very interesting post on Friendly Persuasion, Jemnyc! While I don't agree with the masculine/feminine points of view (I dont' think killing is a masculine characteristic, although perhaps in America it seems so---remember, the females in the animal world are the predators) I do think Gary had the unique ability to show the inner workings of a man who acts on principle, as opposed to the gut-reaction of anger or retribution. His performance in They Came to Codura underlines similar qualities even more strongly.
I can see already your posts will be a stimulating addition to this thread, and I look forward to reading more of them, especially as you seem so knowledgable about Ford's films, too (like Dan said, I'm a "Fordian").
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Angie----Isn't that this second time Invasion of the Body Snatchers was remade? Wasn't there one in the 1970s, with William Hurt? I love the original.
I think remaking movies that were successful the first time is a mistake, unless you are simply trying to do a new version of a classic story (i.e., a new Shakespearean film of Hamlet).
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>>>Yes we talked about it before but it is good to read about it again for all the newer viewers to this Gary Cooper thread. As a guy I would have to be of a different type to be obsessed with Gary's looks, but do love talking about his movies and acting abiltiy with you all. I am quite obsessed with all of his movies though and for what Gary Cooper was as an actor and as a person. <<<
Dan, I just had to say your post tickled me.
I am so glad to know someone who realizes what a fine actor he was. The public and critics in general need to be disavowed of certain misconceptions on that score. They are missing alot, by dismissing his skills. -
>>>Does anyone else know of a better replacement for that part? I didn't even know that there were girls out there that were big fans of his looks. But I guess that there are people that have a variety of tastes in men actors.<<<
Hi Dan---I believe I can claim to know one of the few women on earth who not only likes how he looks, she'd have married him if it had been possible.
A dear friend of mine, who is my Mom's age by the way, has always been kookoo for the guy and I think it's so funny. That her favorite actor and mine are in the same movie is funny, too, but I try not to be cruel to her about unfavorable comparisons....LOL! -
> Hi, all. My first post here. Name is John and I've
> been
> exchanging e-mails with a couple of gracious posters
> on this thread -- Dan and Angie. Their enthusiasm
> for
> GC and this thread is contagious ... so, here I am.
>
> Figuring I'd scan the thread and catch up on your
> comments and angles and avenues of pursuit in a
> few minutes, I soon learned otherwise. Have to
> set aside days, not moments.
>
> But the passion for GC and so many of his films
> is truly impressive.
>
> Certainly hope to become as equally passionate
> and involved a presence here.
I'm off the board a couple of days and this place just "mushrooms"! I'm slowly making my way through eight pages of Cooper postings! This thread is really something---TCM must have thought of us when they made TODAY GARY COOPER DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me add my own words of welcome, Jemnyc! I hope you will be here often.
Miss G
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I like that he was conservative in his values, too. I think Eddie Cantor was adorable. I would love to have seen him on stage or in a nightclub, especially with his pal, Jimmy Durante (my personal fave of that bunch---how I adore Jimmy!)
Miss G
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The leading man in the musical looks bland and colorless.
As I posted in another thread to Pktrekgirl, I cannot bear tragic endings in movies, especially when it's a character or performer I really care about. If Capra had gone with the downer ending on Doe I would have jumped like Doe.
Miss G
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I agree with you about those kinds of endings. I hate them! I went through all that turmoil with the heroine, only to have her commit hari-kari????? It's a gyp. Lately I try to stop the movie before it ends when I know what's coming. However, Waterloo Bridge is one of the most melancholy movies from start to finish and not a good choice to watch if one is blue and gas ovens and razor blades are nearby!
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Makes me wish I lived back on the West Coast.
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I'm glad to know that, thanks.
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I'm so pea green for you all who have The Western Channel!! I just have to get it one day, bother the cost!
Thank you so much for posting the notice, Anne.
Miss G
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That version of Jane Eyre is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I'm terribly excited about receiving the dvd soon, which I pre-ordered. Thanks for the picture!
Message was edited by:
MissGoddess
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What a gaff!
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Thank you for the link.
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Cantor was one of those unique personalities from the old vaudeville circuit who developed a persona that made him an audience favorite. The expressions he makes with those eyebrows when singing "Makin' Whoopee" say it all! Those old pros had so much energy---positive energy---it's amazing the contrast to today's performers, who seem almost sluggish in comparison!
Miss G
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thanks for the tip!
I am so glad to know someone who realizes what a fine actor he was. The public and critics in general need to be disavowed of certain misconceptions on that score. They are missing alot, by dismissing his skills.
A dear friend of mine, who is my Mom's age by the way, has always been kookoo for the guy and I think it's so funny. That her favorite actor and mine are in the same movie is funny, too, but I try not to be cruel to her about unfavorable comparisons....LOL!
Any Gary Cooper Fans?
in Your Favorites
Posted
Frank---the closest Gary's movies come to noir I think would be in his last film, The Naked Edge (co-written by Hitchcock Psycho screenwriter, Joseph Stefano) and to a lesser degree, Cloak and Dagger and The General Died at Dawn (the latter mainly for the cinematography, which is somewhat expressionistic). You can probably find The Naked Edge on vhs from Ebay or Amazon's marketplace, but it's not on dvd.
Gary's personality is not really suited to gritty, urban noir I think, unless it's in the guise of an innocent man caught up in forces beyond his control---a noir component that would work in his case. The Naked Edge fits that bill.