path40a

Nick, you are so right about SLIH. Although I enjoyed it, I think it was for more historical reasons than not. I know that I didn't laugh a lot watching it and was also surprised to see it top AFI's list. Additionally, I have seen it raved about by critics and moviegoers on other internet message boards and wondered why, and have said as much here already. Is cross dressing so so funny? Then again, I'd seen Tootsie first too (pretty good film), so maybe that's our problem;-) WRT Scarface ... I still wish TCM would show the 1930s Paul Muni version. I think the 1983 version is hilarious, perhaps unintentionally so;-)

Key Largo?

Well, I'm pretty excited about February's schedule myself. Not only are they showing The Little Foxes, which I requested recently, but from Thursday the 26th through the end of the month (29 days in 2004) they are showing 30 consecutive Academy Award Best Pictures winners. I don't know if those are all the ones in their library or not. But the fact that they're showing Cimarron (1931), which is one of only six (?) I haven't seen makes my day! Thanks TCM!!!

No offense, but I don't think I'll be able to stomach listening to what Cruise has to say about Kurosawa. I don't really think they're in the same league. I would liken it to listening to Adam Sandler tell me about the genius of Frank Capra.

Can you say ROAD TRIP!!!

And I thought you lived in Antarctica;-) Anyway, according to their website, they have one in Brookfield and West Allis.

Well, it's kind of like crunchy peanut butter on a celery stick, a dill pickle/peanut butter sandwich or even Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Sometimes strange combinations sometimes work;-) Hey, maybe peanut butter on a Krispy Kreme?

A glazed donut - the franchise began in the South, North Carolina I think, and went nationwide several years ago (and now Europe and parts beyond). Their stock went through the roof too! College buddies and I used to walk to one near campus at all hours for a sugar rush, it was open 24 hours, and it makes for a unique combination with beer too;-)

Mongo, I too like that film (Chariots of Fire) perhaps because I was a hurdler in high school a short time before that movie came out ... although the scene with the one Brit who practiced running the hurdles with filled wine glasses on them was pretty ludicrous;-) And yes, the soundtrack was great, a perfect fit for the movie. But, we've digressed from the topic ... BTW all, I haven't had the misfortune to see The Blair Witch Project. Sometimes you just know a film is going to Blow, which is ironically the title of another recent film I have no interest in seeing.

I have no idea. But I just wanted to note that this thread will soon be 2,500 messages long!!!

All my favorites have already been listed, so I'll just list my very, very best ... those, that if I don't get to see them during the Holiday period, I get grumpy;-) Miracle on 34th Street (big surprise, right?) It's a Wonderful Life Holiday Inn Almost any version of Scrooge Additionally, there are a lot of the 30 minute films that are traditions in our household (Rudolph et al). I'm planning to introduce the kids to Meet Me in St. Louis this season too. And, a guilty pleasure for me is Scrooged with Bill Murray.

Here is another piece I did for a different message board that I thought might interest y'all given the coming season;-) ----- This film is not just a kids' movie. I've just watched it again with my kids and found it to be much more entertaining than they did. Indeed, much of the dialogue and several subtexts within the film are too advanced for many children younger than ten (a lot of it bored my seven year old;-) The script is very well written which undoubtedly accounts for the fact that it won two Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story and Screenplay. Precise wording and deliberate interruptions (e.g. of characters who are about to do or say something "wrong") are techniques cleverly utilized throughout the picture enabling it to be viewed by children who still believe without upsetting them. It was also nominated for Best Picture but lost to Zanuck's Gentleman's Agreement (a story about anti-Semitism, ironically). Also notable is the fact that it was originally released in May. Though the basis of the film is belief in Santa Claus, the conflicts (e.g.) from the wannabe psychiatrist, responsible for institutionalizing Kris, and within the judge & district attorney as they try to at once uphold the principles of law and their reputations without alienating voters & their families contribute much (amusingly so) to the story. These storylines are seamlessly combined with the "love" story between the two main adult characters, parenting philosophy, the theme of faith ("believing when common sense tells you not to"), and the business/commercialization of Christmas. The plot's only flaw, IMO, is the lack of any real onscreen development of the love between the adults (who presumably are married after the film ends). Particularly memorable is young Natalie Wood's character's transformation from "practical", loner child to one that learns for the first time to pretend (to be an animal in a zoo), and the (sanity hearing) courtroom scenes including the DA being completely "disarmed" by his own son and, of course, when postal workers pour 50,000 letters on the judge's desk which prompts his well worded ruling "if a branch of the United States government recognizes this man as the one and only Santa Claus, I'll not dispute it ... case dismissed!). The acting is also superb. Edmund Gwenn won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award, probably in part because it was more of a Best Actor role given his screen time. FYI, Ronald Colman (A Double Life) beat out John Garfield (Body and Soul;-) and William Powell (Life with Father), among others, for the Best Actor award that year. I've seen each of these performances as well and would definitely recommend them, though I'd have given the nod to William Powell (that Irene Dunne was not nominated for her performance is a mystery unless they were trying to give someone else a chance for a change, but I digress). Maureen O'Hara is excellent as always (of course, I've only seen a little more than a dozen of her films) but I think John Payne's (underrated?, certainly under appreciated) "Fred Gailey" is what holds the film together. The incredibly talented supporting cast includes: Porter Hall (who also played memorable bits in several Preston Sturges films) as the "psychiatrist" William Frawley (later played Fred in I Love Lucy and Bub in My Three Sons) as the judge's campaign manager remember this marvelous scene - http://us.imdb.com/Quotes?0039628 - with veteran actor Gene Lockhart as judge, Thelma Ritter's debut film as the skeptical mother, and even Jack Albertson as the postal sorter I think that, compared to other more recently released comedy-fantasy "kids" movies also made for adults, it stands up quite well today. Wouldn't you agree?

Hopefully this is a new topic;-) I put this together some time ago but don't think I shared it with y'all. You might enjoy reading it: ----- What is it about these particular women? All three were successful blonde actresses of their time, they were sex symbols that played ditzy characters, each was linked personally and/or professionally with both Clark Gable and William Powell, and all three died tragically, prematurely. Of course, it is in part because they died prematurely that we remember them so fondly - there are no pictures, images, or memories of them as old, uncompelling, or unattractive. Jean Harlow, perhaps the first and arguably the stereotype's yardstick, starred in several memorable films. One was a recent viewing for me - Red Dust (1932) featuring Clark Gable, with whom she starred in several films. It's a terrific love triangle comedy with Mary Astor as "the lady". Harlow showed her comic flair playing "the floozy" and the film made her a star. Another of hers is Dinner at Eight (1933) which features many of the great actors of the 30's including John & Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, and Billie Burke. It's a story about social climbing, with Beery & Harlow portraying a "new money" couple trying to gain acceptance in high society. One of my more recent viewings was Bombshell (1933). Harlow plays a starlet whose fame and wealth are being milked by her family and friends. Apparently, this fictional role was similar to her own true story (e.g. her wannabe mother used "Jean" to gain entrance to Hollywood). The first film that I saw which featured Ms. Harlow is also perhaps her best, Libeled Lady (1936) starring Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, and William Powell. Powell subsequently became Harlow's real life love interest until her unfortunate death at the age 26 (uremic poisoning - caused by the platinum used to color her hair?). Carole Lombard actually had a very long film career but didn't really make much of a splash until she was 28 and starred in My Man Godfrey (1936) with William Powell (whom ironically Lombard had divorced three years before they made this film together). This is the film for which she received an Oscar nomination (the film received six, though not for Best Picture). It's a delightful film about a dizzy socialite (Lombard) who hires a "forgotten man" (Powell). Another of her starring roles which I've seen is Made for Each Other (1939) with Jimmy Stewart. It's about two people who marry after only just meeting and the turmoil that follows (mother-in-law, job loss, birth of a baby, etc.) before they predictably fulfill "the title of the movie". Lombard married Clark Gable that same year. She also has the distinction of being in Alfred Hitchcock's only (?) comedy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) with Robert Montgomery, a forgettable film he "directed" for her (a close friend of his) so that she could say she had been in a Hitchcock film. Ironically, these were short-lived bragging rights. My most recent viewing of Ms. Lombard was in Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942). It's a fabulous film, also starring Jack Benny and Robert Stack, about a troupe of actors playing spy games with the Nazis. It was recently featured as "an essential" on TCM. The film was released after her life was cut short (she was only 33) in a fatal plane crash. NOTE: Subsequent to writing this, I saw Nothing Sacred (1937), a film she made with Frederic March which is pretty funny if a little overdone. Marilyn Monroe played some juicy bit parts in a couple of 1950 "Great Movies", The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve , before she really made a name herself in 1953 (the year her nude calendar appeared in Playboy) starring in Gentleman Prefer Blondes with Jane Russell and How to Marry a Millionaire, with William Powell. Both of these flicks are similar - flimsy "plots" yet enjoyable to watch for other, obvious reasons. However The Seven Year Itch (1955), about fantasy infidelity with her married neighbor (Tom Ewell), is actually a pretty good movie in its own right. It also contains the famous "dress blown above her waist" scene. In fact, it is perhaps her best film besides Some Like It Hot (1959), although I haven't seen her critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop, which was released the year she married Arthur Miller (1956). Monroe's connection to Clark Gable was her last completed film, The Misfits (1961). Although I also haven't seen this one, Gable is reported to have said "Christ, I'm glad this picture's finished. She [Monroe] damn near gave me a heart attack" on the last day of filming and the next day suffered a massive heart attack from which he died 11 days later. As for Norma Jean, she "died in the nude" of an overdose at the age of 36. NOTE: Subsequent to writing this, I did see The Misfits which is an O.K. film thanks to Thelma Ritter and post accident Montgomery Clift. There certainly have been other "Blonde Bombshells" through the years, but few have captured our imagination as these three standard bearers did. In doing my research, I was fascinated by the similarities between them: their lives, careers, and the eerie connection they shared with two specific actors ... aren't you?

O.K. (by popular demand;-), instead of movies someone recommended to you that you didn't like, how about this? In other words, there are LOTS of movies I feel compelled to see because: it is highly rated on imdb or was given four stars in (e.g.) the TV Guide, it turns up on a top 10 or top 100 list somewhere, I read a compelling review about it, or a film historian I "respect" says it's a "must-see" for any serious moviephile. However, many times after taping or renting such a film, and then watching it, I'm disappointed because: my expectations were too high and it couldn't live up to them, it was tres boring or too dated, it was actually bad and/or I just didn't "get it". For whatever the reasons, I find this to happen more often than not with foreign films. Almost any Fellini, and especially 8 1/2, leaves me with the feeling that I must be missing something. Most Woody Allen films have the same impact for me. Almost any highly acclaimed movie since the mid-80's, especially since 1999, I'm left similarly wanting (e.g. Memento - it's just a gimmick!). I could go on, but would anyone else like to contribute to this topic?

Of course I didn't mean it, that's why I used a smiley. But come on mongo, you haven't seen Spartacus yet ... it's been on TCM this week! I'm sure each of us has films we've yet to see but haven't ... some we don't even WANT to see. I wish I hadn't seen Platoon, for example. There are dozens of movies I'm told I must see which, once I see them, I'm disappointed. Hey, sounds like a new thread we could start ... films that were recommended to us that we didn't think were so great once we saw them. I'd have to put Dr. Zhivago at the top of that list;-)

Yeah, surprisingly I haven't seen every movie yet;-) But I'm trying. And, "Now, Voyager" has been on my list for a while. When is TCM going to show it? BTW, I only REALLY started my movie watching quest and achieved TCM junkie status a couple of years ago. I guess every film has a different impact depending upon when you see it (e.g. how old you are/were), what was going in your life at the time, etc. and even seeing it again later will bring back those memories and dredge up those same emotions. Who knows? Anyway, you can kick me out of the club now mongo;-) Perhaps I'll qualify in a few ...

I don't know if anyone cares, but without trying to think of any other films than those on the list provided, I thought I'd post my comments: Terms of Endearment - certainly! Bambi - I guess Sophie's Choice - haven't seen it An Affair to Remember - perhaps It's a Wonderful Life - definitely, every single time at the end! Longtime Companion - haven't seen it Brian's Song - yes, but it was a TV movie so should it count? Ghost - barf! Field of Dreams - naw, never had any Dad issues to deal with ;-) Old Yeller - probably, too long since I saw it though Brief Encounter - haven't seen it Kramer vs. Kramer - don't remember crying during it Life is Beautiful - definitely!!! Titantic - no way Glory - don't remember crying during this either Love Story - no, but I saw it before I was of age ;-) Ordinary People - YES, I love this film too! Stella Dallas '37 - just saw it, liked it but didn't cry Steel Magnolias - double barf! Gallipoli - haven't seen it The Joy Luck Club - ditto Charly - ditto ditto Goodbye Mr. Chips '39 - don't remember crying during this The Great Santini - naw The Deer Hunter - I was very affected by this film, I probably did cry To Kill a Mockingbird - Love this one, but I don't remember crying The Way We Were - triple barf! Cocoon - I don't remember crying Romeo and Juliet '68 - haven't really seen this one West Side Story - love it but don't remember crying Imitation of Life '59 - haven't seen this one, saw the original though Philadelphia - no Jerry Maguire - definitely NO! The Wizard of Oz - no The Yearling - maybe when I was a kid, I don't remember The Iron Giant (animation) - haven't seen it The Champ '79 - ditto Umberto D. - didn't cry (btw, I know I'm supposed to like this film, I don't) Little Women '33 & '94 - only saw Kate's version, liked it but didn't cry Now, Voyager - haven't seen it :-( Sounder - I think I did cry all those years ago when I saw it. Dead Poets Society - maybe, but just a little Truly Madly deeply - haven't seen it Sense and Sensibility - haven't seen it but I think it's on TCM in January! The Sixth Sense - no Moulin Rouge '01 - HATED IT!!! other than that, no other strong emotions;-) Cinema Paradiso - haven't seen it Parenthood - cry? No laugh? Yes Rudy - haven't seen it E.T. - DEFINITELY, EVERY SINGLE TIME! Perhaps I've just revealed a little too much about myself?

I guess different people have different reactions to the same film, but I really don't know if I understand the context of this 50 greatest list. Do they mean the 50 films that best evoke tears? If so, I guess they aren't using a great film filter 'cause several on the list would be hard pressed to be called great IMO. In either case, there are several films that cause me to tear up EVERY TIME I watch them whether even if it's the 10th time I've seen it ... AND one of them is missing from this list! E.T.!!! Now who doesn't well up with tears when little Drew Barrymore gives E.T. the flower at the end or hugs Henry Thomas etc.? It's almost as good as the end of "It's A Wonderful Life" for me.

Yes, we have a winner. A really unusual Fritz Lang movie which I watched "live" earlier this week on TCM! Your turn, I've got to go now.

Welcome feaito, haven't seen ya in a while! Clue #8 - another (the only other?) western the lead actress made was with James Stewart in that golden year 1939

That should read ... even THOUGH the lead ...

Nope, Clue #7 - really lame soundtrack even the lead (and only?) real female part is played by an actrees somewhat known for her singing

Nope, and btw I read all the guesses so far and y'all still haven't got it. Clue #6 - a horse farm hideout

I apologize to all, I went to dinner. Clue #5 - A broach

O.K., welcome! Here's another: Clue #4 - love triangle