coopsgirl
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Posts posted by coopsgirl
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I was surfing at lunch and found the cover art for the newest Gary Cooper dvd set at the Golden Silents website.
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Miss G I love your pic of Miss Piggy. I've been a Muppets fan since I was a toddler and I have a Miss Piggy doll that I got when I was two and it's one of my most prized possessions.
Dan - As far as other actors/actresses go Jimmy Stewart is probably my 2nd fave to Coop. I'm not sure if you've mentioned anything about him before but he also made tons of great movies and like Coop was nearly always the good guy. Some of my faves of his are Vivacious Lady, Harvey, and You Can't Take it With You with the lovely Jean Arthur who was also in a lot of good non-Coop movies like The More the Merrier. I have seen several of Frank Capra's films too and have loved them all. It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert is great.
I also watched Arsenic and Old Lace about a week ago and this one had me in stitches. I'm not a huge Cary Grant fan but I do like his comedies like Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Father Goose, and Bringing up Baby. I've gotten so used to watching Coop with his laid back style and then watching Cary act a frenetic pace in Arsenic had me worn out by the time the movie was over
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Well said Dan. I especially agree about if you like one of his movies then you will probably like them all. I've seen about 60 so far (including silents) and have only disliked The Fountainhead. I have an account at amazon and things are slow at work today so I'll go post some reviews for his upcoming releases.
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I love the poster for Blowing Wild too
Thanks Mrs. Coop for posting all that good stuff. I'm glad to know when the Coop/Hemingway documentary is coming out. I hope we'll be able to see it somewhere like on TCM or something. I scanned a bunch of pics from the Films of Gary Cooper book and another paperback I have yesterday but photobucket is being real slow so I'm having a hard time getting them uploaded. Hopefully I can get them up later today. Here's one though from A Man From Wyoming. 
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That's right girl. Only people who have this 37 year old out of print book can be real fans
Since it can be hard to find I'm gonna try to scan and post as many of the pics from as I can that we haven't already seen. There are a lot in it that I had never seen anywhere so I'll try to post those for your viewing enjoyment 
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It is a great book. I especially like that it gives you info about whether the movies were sucessful or not b/c I like them all pretty much but it's interesting to know which ones did well and which ones didn't. I found my copy at alibris.com real cheap (just a few bucks). I got a first edition from 1970 so if you can't find it at amazon check at alibris. They specilize in out of print books. I'll see if I can scan some more pics from it this afternoon.
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I got the book "The Films of Gary Cooper' today and it's great. Mrs. Cooper recommended it and it's filled with pics from all his movies along with a list of everyone in them, a synopsis of the plot, and interesting notes about what critics said and stuff like that. I have a scanner but it was easier to just take pics of the book and don't think I didn't feel silly doing it but I knew y'all would enjoy the pics. They're kinda big so I'm just posting links to them.
And I saved the best for last!!
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I've seen Some Like It Hot, but it was a few years ago and I forgot he was in that. I'm so excited to see Morocco and Man of the West (can't wait until sunday afternoon). I've got a bunch of movies coming from Mrs. Cooper too so I'm in for a lot of good stuff.
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I don't think I've seen Raft in anything else but I've heard that about him. He was very good in this movie though. I should be getting my set with Morocco in it tomorrow and I can't wait. I only work 6 hours on Fridays (leave at 12:30) b/c I work longer M-Thurs so I'm gonna watch it as soon as I get it.
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He plays the first mate who took charge and started throwing people overboard. They changed the story quite a bit in the movie but I like what they did with it. They set it up so that Coop and Raft's characters are working on slave ships but really Coop is sabotaging the missions and freeing the slaves. They also throw in a love interest for him and it's very touching and doesn't take away from the overall story. I really like this one and the shipwreck scene looks very realistic and was well done. It also doesn't hurt that this is one of his best looking movies. About half way through it my mom nudged me with her elbow and told me to blink
I'm pretty much that way during all his movies though. He's just got such a screen presence (like all the great ones do) and you just can't take your eyes off him. -
I found some info about the sinking of the William Brown which Souls at Sea is loosely based on. It's pretty interesting and makes you wonder what you would do in a similar situation. Personally I don't like boats so hopefully I'll never find myself in this particular situation.
The ship WILLIAM BROWN of Philadelphia sailed from Liverpool in March 1841 with 65 steerage passengers, nearly all Irish, and a full cargo, bound for her home port. The captain was George L. Harris and the first mate Frances Rhodes. The crew numbered 17.
The ship hit an iceberg and sank. The ship's jollyboat (commanded by Cpt. George L. Harris) and its longboat (commanded by ship's mate Frances Rhodes) were both crowded, the longboat dangerously so. In addition, the longboat was leaking due to its excessive weight, which portended the death of everyone aboard. The commanders of both boats decided to head for a landing in Newfoundland.
It became clear that the longboat would not go far unless it were made lighter. So the mate and some of his sailors started throwing some of the others overboard, both passengers and crew, but chiefly targeting males for getting the toss. It's not that they were heavier, exactly, since among those ejected were two boys, one of them 12 years old, the other being 18 and skinny. The older boy didn't have to be tossed. When he was "chosen," he cooperated, jumping overboard after being allowed to say his prayers. The younger of the boys saved his life by stealthily hanging on to the rear of the boat, keeping his head above water.
The first man to be thrown over was an obedient sailor named Riley. The mate asked him to stand up, and he did. Then the mate or someone assisting him grabbed Riley and tossed him into the ocean, where he drowned.
One man, a sailor named Charles Conlin, tried to appeal to the mate and his helpers through friendship, saying: "Holmes dear, sure you won't put me out?" (Holmes was Rhodes' main assistant in the toss party.) Conlin was tossed out.
One man, Frank Askin, tried to buy his life with gold, offering the mate five large coins as a bribe. But in that situation money was worthless, and Askin was grabbed and tossed overboard.
But another man, a sailor named John Messer, successfully prevented his own tossing by menacing the mate and his party with a knife. He had to be ever-vigilent, of course, and it turned out that Messer was the one who, the following day, first sighted the sails of the Crescent (Cpt. S.J. Ball), whereupon the threat to him ended.
By the time they were finished, the mate had thrown overboard 16 men and boys, and 2 women. The women were the sisters of Frank Askin, and it is said that they jumped voluntarily after the mate tossed their brother into the sea. All together, these sacrifices made it possible for the longboat to remain afloat, which enabled the other 23 passengers to be rescued.
It appears that Holmes was convicted of manslaughter for tossing Frank Askin, being sentenced to six months in prison and to pay a fine of $20. The penalty was later "remitted," which in this context probably means that it was commuted to a suspended sentence. Yet another source claims that only the fine was forgiven and that Holmes had to serve the six months jail time. Interestingly, no charges of murder or manslaughter were brought against Holmes or Rhodes for tossing anyone out of the longboat other than Frank Askin, which makes inquiring minds wonder what was so special about Frank Askin.
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The courtroom scene was perfectly done (but since it's one of my very faves all time I think the whole movie is perfect). The witnesses and doctors definitely paint a convincing picture of Longfellow as being a nut. When he finally defends himself it all makes complete sense. He was drunk for the first time when he was feeding the horse doughnuts, there's nothing wrong with playing the tuba (I was a band nerd from 5th grade through college so I love that he plays the tuba), and the two old ladies think everyone is "pixilated". Longfellow is such an innocent and really a sweetheart and that could have easily come off hokey if not for such a spot on performance by Gary. One of my fave parts (besides the swanee river scene which is my fave) is when Walter is helping him get dressed and he's holding the end of his pants and Longfellow just gives him this look and asks what he's doing. He tells him he doesn't need help getting dressed. I wouldn't want somebody helping me dress either, that's just weird. I think it's cool that even though he has a butler he won't let him do much for him and he's just totally unaffected by the whole experience of being wealthy.
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Smallville is great and Superman is my fave of all the superheroes. I haven't seen Eastenders in years but I used to watch it when I was in high school. I actually ended up living in the East end of London when I was in grad school. It's not quite as depressing as that show but it's not far off
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I have a couple manic depressive relatives (who don't take their meds) and if they acted anything like Longfellow, life would be much easier (ha!).
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Here are the lyrics I found to a song Rush wrote in '77 about Mr. Deeds. It's pretty cool.
Cinderella Man
by Rush
A modest man from Mandrake
Travelled rich to the city
He had a need to discover
A use for his newly found wealth
Because he was human
Because he had goodness
Because he was moral
They called him insane
Delusions of grandeur
Visions of splendor
A manic depressive
He walks in the rain
Eyes wide open
Heart undefended
Innocence untarnished...
Cinderella Man
Doing what you can
They can't understand
What it means
Cinderella Man
Hang on to your plans
Try as they might
They cannot steal your dreams
In the betrayal of his love he awakened
To face a world of cold reality
And a look in the eyes of the hungry
Awakened him to what he could do
He held up his riches
To challenge the hungry
Purposeful motion
For one so insane
They tried to fight him
Just couldn't beat him
This manic depressive
Who walks in the rain
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Some of my favorite shows are also from the 50's and 60's especially I Love Lucy, Beverly Hillbillies and Andy Griffith (Don Knotts is one of my fave actors of all time). I have a few shows seasons on dvd of Lucy and Andy but since I've been buying so much Coop stuff lately I've fallen behind on those. Seinfeld is also one of my very faves and I could watch them over and over and laugh my behind off every time. Smallville and CSI are the only new shows I watch which leaves a lot of time for TCM and all the other movies/shows I have on dvd.
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I hadn't thought of it either b/c I'm just staring at him eating that apple. He gets a little piece of it on the corner of his mouth and he has to get it with his tongue and he's doing this all very slowly. Dang I can't wait to get this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I love that picture
I love all the stills I've seen from Morocco. That's the scene that's up on doctor macro's website and I've lost track of how many times I've watched it. The way he slowly bites into the apple he buys from her at the end of the clip just about makes me melt. I can't wait to see it on my big tv -
Thanks! It looked like we might break a thousand today and sure enough we did. That's a great pic you posted Miss G and very appropriate
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I got a chance to watch A Man From Wyoming (1930) last night and it's another good one. America enters WWI and Gary who is an engineer from Wyoming enlists and he helps builds bridges to get troops and equipment across the battlefields. During one of their missions they run across a woman (June Collyer) who is also in the service. She's the daughter of a wealthy general and wanted to see what the front line was like so she goes AWOL and just wanders out there. Coop has to save her and he's furious with her b/c she gave their location away to the enemy and they have to move out. He takes her as his prisoner and she has to march with them for a couple of days until they get back to a small french town where they are staying. He comes respect her b/c she has spirit and is a good soldier. He puts her on a truck that will take her back to her father (it's clear from his body language that he doesn't want her to go) where she'll face a court martial but instead she hides out in a canteen and later that night she sneaks into the little house he's living in. At first they don't know what to say to each other but then she tells him that she just couldn't leave. She says that normally it would take months to get to the point they were at now but b/c of the war she doesn't care about societies norms and rules and she loves him. He loves her too and they get married that night. Normally in these old movies when the characters get married after knowing each other very briefly it seems unrealistic but here it's explained well and there is good chemistry between Coop and his costar. They only have three days together (with her hiding in his house) before his troop (he's a captain) are sent out on another mission. There's a very sweet moment when he's getting ready to leave and he has his coat on and she's trying to sew a button back on it. He tells her that his company is assembling outside and he has to go and she looks up at him and real pitifully says it'll just take another minute.
She cries once he's gone and she heads back to her station where she is court martialed. Right before her trial she reads in the paper that Gary has been killed in action. During the trial she's just in shock and passes out at the end of it. B/c her father is a general she is giving linience and is discharged (I think I was distracted during this part by a car alarm outside). Anyway she goes to her father's beautiful mansion in Nice and decides to throw lavish parties for the wounded soldiers that are recovering there to take her mind off Gary. He's not really dead but just wounded and winds up at the hospital in Nice.
**************Spoilers below in case you haven't seen it******************
He sees that his name is in the paper under KIA and he writes a letter to his wife but she never gets it. So once he gets to Nice (he's still recovering from a leg wound and has to walk with a cane) he hears about the parties his wife is throwing so he goes to her house. When she sees him she's stunned and she rushes to him and throws her arms around him and cries. He just stands there very coldly b/c right before she saw him she was flirting with another man. They go into a room to talk and he tells her that maybe they made a mistake by getting married. He's a lower class guy who lives out in the wilds of Wyoming building bridges and that she's used to fancy mansions and parties. She tries to explain to him that she thought he was dead and that she loves him. But he keeps on about how they are too different and wouldn't have even met if not for the war. She's hurt by this and so she tells him maybe he's right and that she won't give up her fancy lifestyle and he leaves. Even though he's not fit for duty he has himself declared so and goes back to the front. Shortly after this though the war ends and he heads back to the little town in France where they were earlier in the film. June finds out about him going back to fight and also goes back to the little town hoping to find him there. He goes into his house and sees her standing there in her uniform instead of a fancy gown and she tells him they are headed back to Wyoming and they kiss.
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Phillips is a good brand so I would think that would be a good one. The first player I got was a GE in '02 or '03 and my dad got it for me for Christmas and it was $200. It's still works great too but my mom got me a dvd recorder this past Christmas and that's the one I use now. It's a brand I've never heard of (SV2000) and it was only $99. I love it though and it works great and plays all the dvd-r's that I have without missing a beat. I liked it so much that after Christmas when they marked them down to $70 I bought another one for our downstairs livingroom. It has a vcr too and you can copy from vcr to dvd which is great b/c I had lots of old horror movies that you can't buy on dvd and now I have dvd copies of them.
It reminds too of how expensive vcr's were when they were new (early 80's). My mom wanted some new furniture and my dad wanted a vcr so we got both. The vcr was around $1000 (not sure how we afforded that and new furniture) but somehow we got it and my whole family came over and the first movie we watched was Going Ape! (1981) with Tony Danza. Not a classic but it had monkeys in it and my and my young cousins loved it.
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Morocco is the only movie I wanted from this set too so I hope it plays okay. I've never really liked Marlene or Garbo (I know they're both very popular but I could take or leave them). I also ordered a copy of Desire from forgotenfilms.com for like $13 a few days ago and hope to get it soon.
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It's region 1 and it's the Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection with Morocco, Blonde Venus, The Devil is a Woman, Flame of New Orleans, and Golden Earrings. I'm so excited to see Morocco. I've seen a clip of it and Gary is eating an apple and it's just mesmerizing
It's funny too b/c I've noticed people either love that one or hate it. To me it looks like some great eye candy and that's always good every now and then My bedroom is decorated in a Moroccan style and even though I'm sure it's a very charicatured Hollywood 'Morocco' I bet it still looks cool. -
Those are great choices too. Sgt. York is just a phenomenal movie and if you didn't know it was based on a true story you probably wouldn't believe that one man could do all that he really did. I get teary eyed at the end every time when he sees his farm. Another movie I could watch a million times is Dallas. I just love that one. I will normally watch movies over and over and pretty much all of his that I've seen so far have great re-watchability (if that's a word).
Brennan and Coop had great screen chemistry and he does seem to be at his best with Coop. If Brennan's in it, I know it's gonna be a great one.
About Mae West, she was attractive and it's so funny if you compare her to the female stars of today. So many of them are so skinny and bony. It's alright to be thin and in good shape (I'm thin myself but thankfully not bony) but it's quite another when I can see all your ribs and count your vertebrae. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Mamie Van Doren but she's like the poor man's Mae West or Jayne Mansfield. I love Mystery Science Theater and Mamie was in a couple of their movies and they just drooled over her and were also griping that women didn't look like that anymore.
Since it can be hard to find I'm gonna try to scan and post as many of the pics from as I can that we haven't already seen. There are a lot in it that I had never seen anywhere so I'll try to post those for your viewing enjoyment 
Any Gary Cooper Fans?
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How could I forget about Gregory Peck?!? We watched To Kill a Mockingbird and The Yearling when I was in elementary school and they are just such touching movies and every time I watch them I get all choked up. I love Roman Holiday and Spellbound too. You know he was the first choice for Will Kane in High Noon but he felt it was too similar to a movie (forgot the name) he'd done a couple years earlier.
Dan - it's funny what you said about Grant's voice. The way he talks has always kinda rubbed me the wrong way but he is growing on me too. I got excited too when I saw they had cover art for the set and I was hoping that was a good sign. I have already pre-ordered mine and May can't come fast enough. I posted reviews for several of his movies on amazon this morning and one on dvd empire for the new box set. They have to go through their approval process but they should show up soon.