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rohanaka

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Posts posted by rohanaka

  1. You tell him there is always cereal. These movies don't come on every day

     

    Ha.... he DOES like cereal.. what was I THINKING?? ha.

     

    Chris... I have not seen any of the ones you listed except Fail Safe... but I don't remember too much about it... I should likely see it again as I think I watched it back before I was willing to give Fonda a fair shake. ha.. I might not have given him a chance and that is why it doesn't stand out much for me...

     

    And I worry I have not got the right "sense of humor" for Dr Strangelove I guess.. ha. Because everytime I see clips of it I am scratching my head saying... "I don't get it" ha. Maybe I should give it try.. ha.

     

    And PS: April.. I have TRIED to watch The Manchurian Candidate a couple of times.. but it creeps me out.. ha.

     

    Yikes.. I am starting to sound like a lost cause here.. ha.

  2. Howdy friend Molo.... it is good to see you out and about and unburied from all the white stuff (you guys out east.. I am SO sorry for your mess... We have had it here... but NOT nearly so bad.. stay warm and safe everybody)

     

    WOW... The Univited... ha. I will come uninvited into this conversation and say that this is one of my alltime fave ghost stories..

     

    I am NOT a huge horror fan.. but I do like a good "chill" once in a while.. and BOY oh boy.. this one does it... (Jackie.. those screencaps... YIKES!!)

     

    It did mix up the light and the dark pretty well. Frank was commenting on that earlier. There was a general scariness during some of the scenes. Just the opening narration kind of gets you in the mood for a good ghost story. The seance turned really spooky for me

     

    You folks have nailed it. (And ps.. if it were NOT for the light hearted parts.... the rest would be almost TOO scary for me.. ha) The seance scene was creepy.. but OH me.. even the part where the nice ghost flips the pages of the book so they can find the right entry.. UGH.. that one gives me the chills.. ha.

     

    I was watching it in the dead of night, all alone on the sun porch with the chill of winter snow in the air, in the night. in the dark

     

    HA..Are you CRAZY?? (boy.. they don't call you mad hat for NUTHIN' you brave soul.. ha.) The first time I saw this film I was alone in the living room.. everyone else had gone to bed.. and the lights were out and I just kept hugging the pillow on the couch til I thought it would bust wide open.. ha. Then when I got to bed.. ha.. I pulled up the magic sheet. ha. (you know.. the sheet on your bed.. if you pull it up OVER your head.. it is magic and wards off any evil ghosties etc.. ha.) But I have to leave a little gap at the top.. In order to sleep comfortably.. I need my fresh air. HA.

     

    OH golly.. just thinking of this movie.. now I am going to have to get that sheet pulled up extra high tonight.. ha

     

    PS Chris... I am with April... your thoughts and posts are always a welcome sight. :-)

  3. Oh April... I missed this one.. bah. I did get to watch the OTHER two movies that came on ahead of it... but when this one came on I got interrupted about six or seven times w/ "stuff" and then the QT came home... and imagine this.. he wanted SUPPER. ha. (he works all day... overtime hours... and here I have been home all day just sitting around watching movies... and gee... how DARE he think he should be entitled to a hot home cooked meal... HA!) Poor guy.. how he puts up w/ me is a mystery...

     

    At any rate.. I do wish I had gotten to see this. And of course... I did not bother to tape it either. duh.

  4. As the resident hostess of this thread... I have to agree with Arkadin that I don't see this film as a Noir.. HOWEVER... I don't mind discussing it here one bit. (it would not be the first time a chat in this thread flew under a different banner than Noir (ha)... so I don't mind taking a little detour on our walk here)

     

    (And PS: I am no authority on what should or should not be called a Noir... so I am basing my "this isn't what I think of for Noir" comment soley on just that... what I think) But I can say that this film did have a lot of "noir elements".. some that have been listed here already. But I think the basis of the story is likely more in drama than perhaps some of the themes that are typically included in Noir films.

     

    Now... having said all that... WHAT about The Seventh Cross...

     

    OH my golly. I got a chance to see only a part of this film some time ago when TCM aired it in the past... and I have been hoping to see it again ever since. It really was a very thought provoking film.

     

    I have to say that although Tracy was the main character of the story.. in that the story seemed to revolve around his character... he was not the main actor... I am trying to think of a better way to say it... I guess I am say that the events of the story played out around him as the tale unfolded along his journey.

     

    I really liked the Hume Cronyn role. His part in the story really made me think. He seemed to be so willfully and happily ignorant of what was going on around him... So long as he was able to work and support his family... he did not want to KNOW what was really happening... until Tracy more or less brought reality TO him... and then he had to choose what to believe and think about it. I really liked the way his part in the story played out for him and his wife.

     

    I regret that I did not get this film on tape as I think it would be a good one to pull out and re-examine from time to time. (I also got to see Hangmen Also Die today for the first time.. that one to me also almost seems closer to a "Noir" than TSC did... but still I don't think it quite hit the mark) at any rate... both films were similar in their themes..... it was a very interesting and thought provoking afternoon.

  5. Forgive me for breaking in here folks, but it is late and I wanted to get this posted....

     

    I want a ramble from you about this movie before the month is over. Oh yes...that's an order, Ms. Ro-ha-na-ka.

     

    OH my golly, Miss Maven, ma'am. Your directive put the ?Fear of Maven? in me (ha) and I did something I should have thought of on my own anyway.... I don't know HOW many times I have thought of this only AFTER I open my yap about "I've never seen this film but will look for it someday, blah blah... IT"S ON YOUTUBE for crying out loud. (all except for about 10 minutes that is missing near the early part of the story. I don?t know just what happened, but there is one segment that is gone. But the rest of it was there)

     

    Golly, as many times as I have FOUND a movie on youtube after wishing for forever that I could see it.. you'd think I'd be smart enough to just LOOK there first... but alas... I am not known for my brainpower these days....

     

    At any rate... I watched it all the way through today... and... well.... wow. I am sort of all choked up at the moment, but will try to put my thoughts into some sort of coherent ramble here. (But did I mention wow??) And I say that in a hushed and reverent tone.. not a big loud WOW, by the way.... just wow.

     

    OH Ms Favell... you were ever so right... I DID need the kleenex. I didn't even last past the first ten minutes or so and I was already bawling.... when Homer got out of the cab and his little sister came running to him... OH me.... the water works just started overflowing.

     

    I know so many of you have written VERY eloquently on this film already, so by rights I likely should respond to all your comments FIRST instead of flooding you with my own... but if you will permit me... my heart is just so heavy with all these thoughts and emotions... so I will try to make comments about your previous posts at a later time.

     

    Right now I just want to say... (and as you know... I am very much a "this is what I saw and this is how I felt about it kinda gal) this film just took over my heart. I cannot recall a time in the recent past where a story affected me on such an emotional level as this one did.

     

    In reality, it is almost like three seperate movies all in one. (but it is also very much ONE movie about three seperate men just all tied together beautifully.) And it is not just about the men.. it is about them.. their families... and also about ALL of us. (did someone already say that?) I always personalize movies that affect me this emotionally and I can tell you I had a LOT of personal moments in this film. The "what if... what would I do... that reminds me of..." thoughts were running rampant in me as I watched this story unfold... but more than that... it really affected me how TIMELESS this story was as well. This same film could be made this very moment about the men and women who are serviing today and all the various themes, emotions, and even the side stories that go along with it would be JUST as accurate now as they were back when the men in this story came home from that war.

     

    It hit me on a very emotional level to think how much like modern times some of these scenarios must be. Trying to relate to your past life after being gone so very long in such circumstances as a war must bring about is beyond me. And yet people that I know and love have done this in the past... and are doing it yet today. And the families that waited (and those who did not) for their loved ones to return... the struggles they must face too as they try to adjust to their loved one being home... but having been changed forever by their experiences. OH me. I appreciate all the more the sacrifices my own parents made (when I was a child and my dad did two tours in Vietnam) just thinking about how it must have affected them.

     

    If I can put this on a very personal level... and forgive me, but I am going to be doing that off and on in this ramble so bear w/ me... but some of the things in this story remind me so much of stories that my parents told of my dad and mom... and the first days after he came back home the first time... we'd been living w/ my grandmother while my dad was gone... and so that was where he came back to meet us. And my Grandma lived in this tiny town that had a whistle that blew three times a day (think of the modern day Tornado sirens.. that was the sound of the whistle I am referring to) It blew early morning, noon, and evening.... And early that first morning.. whistle blew and my dad (who was still asleep) was up out of the bed like a shot, and had turned over the mattress and had my mom on the floor pinned under his chest for safety before either of them knew what was what. They laugh about it now... but I imagine it was a very emotional and traumatic thing for BOTH my parents... and I can only try to imagine the thoughts that must have been racing through my dad's mind... as he realized he was home and safe and that he had just responded by instinct to the training he once trusted to save his life on a daily basis.

     

     

    I don't know why... but I thought of that story as I watched this film and tried to imagine the life these men led... on the battlefield.. in the air... on the lower decks of a big aircraft carrier.... and the rigors they must have faced on a daily basis and all they endured.. and then to be sent back home.. to pick up where they left off, almost as if nothing had ever happened. And yet... knowing full well ALL that had happened to them...and their brothers in arms... and perhaps only realizing (as Al did while looking at his children) how MUCH they had missed out on back home while they'd been gone. (I said it earlier... but will say it again.. with the same hushed reverence... wow.)

     

    And what about the women? OH ME. All very different. All very specific in the way they had gone on with their lives while still marking time waiting for their loved ones to return,(well all of them but one was "waiting and marking time") They each had a story representative of what likely were countless scenarios that took place before, during, and after that war. I LOVED the way they were all played... even the selfish, self centered, wife. She was who she was... and although she was not the sort of person I could ever say would be my favorite character in a film... she was a true sort of character... and she seemed very much like I would imagine a lot of women in her circumstances may have been like.

     

    It makes you wonder what sort of lives these men would have had if they had never left. Al likely would have gone on in the same role as wealthy business man/family man... and I imagine his wife would have stayed w/ him as the years rolled along.. but would they have stayed together? I like the story that Millie tells Peggy about all the different times they hated one another and took each other back... I imagine there would still be days like that for them, but who knows how much deeper their relationship will be now that he is a changed man. (or if it will someday crumble due to his drinking?) I like to think that he has found the courage to be a better man than the one he might have been had he never left... but I also think he has still got a ways to go to get there (due to all the drinking) and I like that she was mindful of his need to drink. And I imagine someday there will come a day when he will no longer be so dependent on alcohol... and that her influence on him will start to prevail in that regard. Perhaps even by the end of the film that day was getting there. It seemed like it anyway...

     

    And what about Fred and Marie... I wonder... if he had not been in the service would they even have married at all, and I doubt it. (as much a "sucker" as she was for a man in uniform) And what sort of future might he have had if he HAD never married her and gone to war? I wonder how long he would have stayed in the drug store and if he would have gone for the job that his former "weasely" co-worker ended up getting? I just don't know what to think about that one... but my guess is no.

     

    I really liked the scene of him in the airplane grave yard... it was like it was HIS grave yard too. (I may have read one of you saying that.. so forgive me if I repeat you) Each of those planes was like an empty shell of it's former 'glory" and I suspect he too felt that way as he was looking out the window while sitting in that plane out in the field... and I like how he suddenly got "new life" in him as he realized that what he only THOUGHT was a junk yard was really a supply yard and that there still WAS a purpose waiting for those planes. Perhaps now HE could have a future too... it was a nice parallel...

     

     

    And then there is Homer I have more to say about him in a moment, but for now I just want to wonder what sort of young man would he have turned out to be and would he EVER have realized what a TRUE GEM of a wife he had in Wilma if he had just married her as a young man w/ out having the experiences he had first?

     

    To borrow a line from my favorite classic Tootsie Pop Commercial.. The world may never know.. ha

     

    The bottom line is... all three of these men were changed forever and their futures were not ever going to be what they would have been had they never left. And it made for a very interesting thought process to see who these men had become by watching their families (and the men themselves) respond to the changes that were now affixed permanently in their lives.... War really does change everything. Even things we don't suspect.. or expect.

     

    Now getting back to Homer... OH golly. I knew that Harold Russell was a real veteran and that he actually had the prosthetic hooks, but wow... what a performance. Very moving. His role was decidedly smaller than the other two men's roles in this story as a whole... but it was a very well placed character within the story line and extremely well thought out conflicts and situations for that part of the story.

     

    You know... I mentioned this earlier.. I love the way the little sister just ran up to him with love and excitement. OH my gosh... I started crying the moment she came a runnin'. And then when his parents greet him.. and the mom gets a first look at her son's missing hands.. OH ME. As a mother I TOTALLY got it.. she was not "repelled" so much as she was in agony. Her baby had been hurt... and it broke her heart to think of his pain.

     

    (Again with personalizing) When the kidling was not quite two... we had to stay in a hotel overnight when we were visiting somewhere and she got her finger caught in a dresser drawer... OH MY GOLLY was it ugly... we had to take her to the doctor... and they had to drill a tiny hole in the nail to let the blood out... and it was just horrific.. and I tell you... LONG after she stopped crying.. and it no longer bothered her anymore... it was STILL ugly to look at and of course a couple of weeks later.. the nail came off... but I am telling you... EVERYTIME I looked at her sweet little hand throughout that entire process... something welled up inside of me and I cried to think that my baby had had to suffer any sort of pain like that.

     

    So when the mom let out that gasp when she saw Homer... in my mind it was not so much about thinking his "future" was ruined and how he was never going to be the same... but to me I imagine that as much as anything else, it was the sense of pain she must have felt knowing the experiences he must have endured and the pain he must have gone through. It is a "mom" thing...

     

    But it was also likely an awkward time for all of them to adjust to one another and the new reality that was going to be a part of their daily lives... I thought the scene later that evening where the sister was curious about the hooks, and the dad stops her from looking at them was very well done. I thought of all the people sitting in that room... SHE was the only one being honest at the moment. They were all just sitting there struggling to make polite conversation and as the expression goes... totally ignoring that 800 lb gorilla.... I imagine that if the dad had not discouraged her from looking and asking questions then and there... that maybe things might have progressed a lot faster and a bit more easily for all of them... but I also imagine that sort of "open" communication about those sorts of subjects in a family setting were not the norm for that day and age.

     

    And WHAT about that Wilma????? OH wow. I love how she loved him... and I don't want to make TOO big an issue out of it.. because it SHOULD be a natural thing to fully accept someone you love even if they have had a life altering injury like the one he had. But the truth is... it WAS a lot to consider... and not every person has it in them to accept (or embrace) that sort of change in their life... especially when they have not married the other person yet. So... Wilma COULD have been the sort to walk away... but she wasn't. And wow... (there's that word again.... I whisper it this time) wow.... how beautiful.. she was not just in love with Homer... she LOVED Homer... and it meant something to him to see the difference.

     

    When she was in his room and asking him not to send her away... OH GOLLY. It made me think of something (again on a personal level) from my own wedding ceremony. It is a common scripture that gets used in weddings from time to time... and although taken from a story about a daughter in law staying faithful to her mother in law after both their husbands die... the words of the scripture fit SO perfectly with a wedding vow... and the deep commitment that is a part of what real marriage is all about... so with your permission... if I may (close your eyes if you do not want to read a Bible verse) THIS was what I was thinking as I watched that scene play out where Wilma tells Homer she is not leaving him:

     

    *Ruth 1:16-17* (KJV) And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

     

    THAT to me is what a wedding vow is all about... and that to me is what I saw in Wilma's love for Homer... OH MY GOLLY.. the kleenex box is almost empty now. (I told you that this film really affected me on a LOT of levels)

     

    So.. ok.. if you are still awake now.. I likely have gone on FAR too long about stuff that probably had NOTHING to do w/ the movie.. ha. It is Kathy's old home nostalgia sob fest here.. ha. But gee... I am so grateful for your EXTRA nudge Miss Maven... I truly am glad I got to see this film.

     

    I still want to comment on some of the things you folks have said, but I do not think I will keep yammering on and on and on (and ON) any more this evening... I will save that for another time. At any rate.. thanks for letting me ramble here.... and may I just say again... once more in whispered tones... wow

    • Like 1
  6. Hey my little OK Kid...

     

    Where have you been dahlink

     

    I have been hanging out in DULLSVILLE, kiddo... NOTHIN' to report... all's quiet on the midwestern front. But I am glad to see you out here a ramblin' away...

     

    I think you would like it a lot. Make sure you have kleenex

     

    I will keep an eye out for it.. andyou know me.. ha. I have ALWAYS got a good stock of kleenex (I have learned my lesson from hanging out around here.... I am a sucker for the sob stories..ha)

     

    Keep up the good work, little gal. :-)

  7. Careful Bronxie! First the stalking frog, then the ants, now the birds! It just never stops.

     

    Don't forget Night of the Frozen Falling Iguanas..... BOY... Boca must be the Nightmare Animal Capital of the WORLD... (poor Bronxie!)

     

    HEY there Molo... sorry about your snow... better you than m.. Um... I mean.. OH I hope it melts off for you folks soon.. :P

     

    Seriously, kid. Take care... and watch your step. You Virginnie folks aren't used to all that white GOO. Hang on... Spring will get here SOMEDAY. :-)

  8. You have a keen eye, little gal. I am not ANYWHERE near to being as "up" on my silents as you and others around here, so that one is not even on my radar... but just reading what you wrote and looking at your post I can certainly get a feel for why you made the comparisons. (did I mention your keen eye???) :-)

  9. just wish she and Duke had made TEN movies together instead of only FIVE!

     

    Now THAT would have been something. I wonder if they had the chance to do more films together and had to pass it up because they were working on other projects.. I would have loved to see more films with the two of them. They had such a good chemistry together... even when she was raking him over the coals. (HA!)

     

    grew up with him as "Jock Ewing" in "Dallas I only watched that show occassionally.. and it has been a LONG time, so I just had forgotten his name. (ha... but I knew it was "Jock"... ha.)

     

    Richard Boone is sooo mean. He and Lee Marvin are tops in that department.

    Boone has such a smart mouth way about him in this film... I think overall Marvin was scarier..ha. But Richard Boone ran a REAL close second. ha.

     

    Whenever my parents were scolding me they'd talk just like Boone when they'd say "Do you understand? Say it, then." ha!

     

    Ha... It is a "mom" thing for sure... ha. When the kidling is "skating on thin ice" and I tell her to do something... if she even LOOKS like she wants to disobey.. ha.. I make her repeat back what I said... and then ask.. "Do you think I mean it?" and when she says yes, I tell her.. "Good, because I do". (That USUALLY wipes out any of those "I forgot" or "I don't remember you telling me" excuses in one fell swoop.. ha. I am such a mean mom, sometimes. Ha.) :-)

     

    recent picture of Ethan (L) and Patrick ®:

     

    Wow... now I had seen more recent photos of Patrick... but I don't think I'd have known Ethan at all if I had not seen him w/ a reference like that... (but his eyes do look just the same) ( HA!! I bet if he saw photos of ME at the age he was in the movie.. and then compared them to a picture of me now..ha.. he'd say the same about ME too...ha.)

     

    OH the years do have a way of catching up to us... don't they??? ha. :-)

  10. The opening almost makes you think you're in for a comedy like McLintock!

     

    Ha.. you are right, I kept waiting for them to start singing "Love in the Country" HA! :-)

     

    The ending at least. It cried out to return to the ranch where she was waiting. I can't think why they didn't do that

     

    *Just a little spoilage:* You are exactly right. I don't know if they just decided the film was too long or what.. but to have it end so abruptly.. well we got the kid, the bad guys are dead... let's go home. They could have brought her in as a final scene somehow.

     

    HORRIBLE is right!!! Is there even a strong enough word in the English language to say HOW horrible???? :P:P

     

    I thought Jim DAvis was going to be around more than he was but it was nice to see him.

     

    I have to confess... I had to look him up. ha. You know I have seen him in a gazillion things and I don't think I ever knew his name before.. ha.

     

    I missed that dialogue this time

     

    (Mini spoiler alert: This is listed on youtube as the Big Jake Trailer... but it is the very exchange we are mentioning.. how lucky a find is THAT??) ha.

     

     

     

    I think I was paying more attention to Pat Wayne and Chris Mitchum . Oh, and little Ethan

     

    Doggone... ALL THREE were just too cute... ha. (though I have to say.. Pat and Chris were cute ONE way.. and little Ethan another.. ha. But I bet he is a looker now that he is all grown up.) :-)

  11. Kim... I know you do not know me... but I want to tell you sincerely that I have prayed for you on several occassions in the recent past. And will keep on praying as well. (And not to try and sound too "mystical" in any way, but... I never even saw this thread until just this evening, so I did not know you had these experiences recently)

     

    One other thing I will tell you, and I mean this with all respect and only out of sincere concern... sometimes our greatest needs have nothing to do with our physical circumstances... and I just want to say (without trying to sound too theological) that I can tell you from personal experience that there is a way to know peace despite whatever situations we may find ourselves to be in... And it has been to that end I have been praying for you in the past...

     

    I will add your prayer requests here to the things I have been praying for already... and will continue to lift you up. I hope it helps (even a little) to know that folks care for you, even when you think you are alone.

     

    May God richly bless you, now and always.

  12. How many people do you estimate got shot, stabbed or pitchforked in Big Jake? Forty? Fifty? Dang

     

    Never mind the people.. first Hondo.. and then Big Jake... the most dangerous job in showbiz had to be : portraying JOHN WAYNE'S DOG!!! :D

  13. Hi There Miss G... I WISH I got that channel... I still would like to catch that show... (someday...)

     

    Glad you got to see Rio Grande again... OH gee. what a movie... (sniff)

     

    RE: Big Jake... you are right.. it is a violent opener (once you get past all that beginning narration... (that is one of the things I would change about the movie... all that narrating gets on my nerves...ha...)

     

    (And I am with you.. not having enough of sweet Maureen would be the OTHER thing I wish was different about this film too)

     

    I love Maureen's line about her husband: "This is a ruthless and horrible situation that calls for a ruthless and horrible man." And then it cuts to a close-up of John Wayne

     

    HA... "a ruthless and horrible man"... without the right context... ha.. we COULD be talking about... the GREY guy.. ha. :P

     

    I don't know what there is about Big Jake that I have always liked... but it is one of the EARLIEST memories I have of John Wayne in any film (maybe because it came out when I was a kid, and I used to watch it w/ my dad whenever it came on tv... so maybe that is where I learned to like it so much) It is not a "mushy movie" ha.. but it is a sentimental favorite. I like to watch it whenever it is on.

     

    And lucky for me, the QT likes it too... we love the whole exchange between the Duke and Boone... and whenever we want to give each other grief, we go back and forth making each other say, "I understand" ha. (but you have to say it in that quiet, begrudging "I WISH I didn't have to say it " kinda voice.. ha.

  14. OH MY GOLLY (sorry Lynn, to interrupt your birthday wishes) I just realized I am MISSING Man of the West.. ha. (thankfully I did get to see it the last time... and got it on tape too) And then to my surprise... RIO GRANDE AND BIG JAKE are on later today as well... (and of course I am going to be gone... but my VCR is at the ready!!)

     

    HEY... I know we have rambled on both MOTW and RG... but have we ever rambled BIG JAKE???

     

    This is one of my most fave Duke westerns ever... OH and that Richard Boone... good gravy, what a monster!!! (but he is SO good at being bad... "I understand".)

     

    Ok... we now resume the birthday wishes, already in progress... :-)

     

    Edited by: rohanaka on Jan 16, 2010 2:45 PM

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