route66

> I watched The Great Moment and it was not what I expected. It's not bad but it sure is different. As others have mentioned, the studio took the movie from Sturges and did some heavy recutting. I think there's even scenes in the trailer that are not in the movie.

> This is not an uncommon theme in war movies. The Longest Day and others about D-Day have plenty of themes about guys who can't wait to get into things but when they do.... The other theme is the pointless battles that cost lives to no end. See Pork Chop Hill for a good example of that theme. It makes a lot of sense that common themes would develop with a lot of the war movies. You gave some very good examples. One might even say some of this has become cliche by now. "Flyboys" was a good example of a recent movie that was well made technically, but many found the plot to be creakier than a WW1 airplane.

Oh, I don't know about a crime punishable by death. According to the last paragraph, they just want to "trim" tobacco references, not prohibit them altogether. Personally I don't know if it makes much of a difference. Young people are still under a lot of peer pressure in many cases, just from watching friends and schoolmates.

*But the early boid catches the woim* I think I'll have a nice little ramble to go with the woim!

When the Oscar salute doesn't include everyone you hoped, what is there to do? Actually, you can insert the footage you want and put it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ByLMsKl48

Cigarettes in New Film Stir Anger at Studio By BROOKS BARNES LOS ANGELES ? Angry at Warner Brothers over images of cigarettes in the comedy ?He?s Just Not That Into You,? an arm of the American Medical Association is demanding that the studio step up its policing of tobacco images on screen. The American Medical Association Alliance said it intends to lodge an official complaint on Thursday with Warner Brothers and its corporate parent, Time Warner, over ?disturbing images of specific cigarette brands in this youth-rated movie,? said Melissa Walthers, director of the health advocacy group?s effort to reduce teenage smoking. Among other things, the group wants Warner publicly to certify that it received no payment for the product placement and is asking all Hollywood studios to ban filmmakers from showing specific tobacco brands in their work. ?There is absolutely zero artistic justification for this,? Ms. Walthers said in a telephone interview, adding that various studies estimate that smoking in films prompts 200,000 young people annually to start smoking. A Warner Brothers spokesman declined to comment. ?He?s Just Not That Into You,? a PG-13 hit which has sold more than $100 million in tickets worldwide since its release on Feb. 6, does not depict anyone smoking, and there is a prominent story line placing cigarettes in a negative light. A character played by Jennifer Connelly leaves her husband (Bradley Cooper) not because he cheated on her ? which he admits to her that he did ? but because he lied about quitting smoking. But there are numerous shots of Natural American Spirit Lights, easily identifiable by their bright yellow box. The alliance, the 27,000-member volunteer arm of the A.M.A., also spotted a ?highly recognizable red Marlboro carton,? although a person who worked on the film disputed this. As for the story line discouraging smoking, Ms. Walthers said, ?It doesn?t really matter if the story line is negative or not in terms of the impact on kids.? Ms. Walthers has an ally in the fight that may strike some as unusual: Santa Fe Tobacco, the maker of Natural American Spirits. ?We respect artistic license, but we have to agree that our cigarettes should not be shown in films,? said Mark Smith, a spokesman for Santa Fe Tobacco. ?It is something we absolutely do not condone.? He added: ?We were never contacted about using our brand in this film, and we sent no product.? ?He?s Just Not That Into You? came to the studio a year ago after Time Warner ceased operating its New Line label as a stand-alone unit. As it struggled to absorb New Line projects ? some of them in disarray ? scrutiny of ?He?s Just Not That Into You? by Warner?s standards department came later that usual in the production process, according to two studio executives who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The Motion Picture Association of America in May 2007 said it would consider portrayals of smoking alongside sex and violence in assessing the suitability of movies for young viewers. Meanwhile studios, under pressure from health groups, have been trying to pressure filmmakers to trim tobacco sequences from their movies, but have balked at an outright ban, citing the need for artistic license.

A really GREAT ramble! B-) The comparison to "GWTW" was very interesting, it's not something that would have occurred to me. But they're both, after all, set in the middle of war.

Great photos! Gotta dig those sideburns, baby! B-) And I also kinda doubt they would sell at this price, but you never know.

> Has anyone seen the new movie version of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED? It came out on DVD about a month ago and is a BBC coproduction. Haven't seen that one yet, but the reviews were pretty bad from what I remember. It seems many compared it unfavorably to the earlier TV version.

Oh, I get a better picture now. It was sweet of your mother-in-law to have played matchmaker, if you could even call it that. Maybe she knew or suspected her daughter was having doubts? At any rate, it sounds like the proverbial match made in heaven. Not many couples are blessed with so many years of marital happiness. As for the job security, I hear ya. Being self-employed is probably not ever perfect, either. Sometimes, though, I'd guess the pros outweight the cons.

> I lived at home until I got married. I was so inconspicuous (read dull) I wonder if they knew I was there. At the point when I got engaged there seemed little point to move so we could save some money and were able to put some things together for when we moved out after we were married. If I understand you correctly, then you never had to move to go to college and married someone from your hometown? I think that's great, it's old-fashioned in the best possible sense of the word. Sometimes when you see the shape the world is in, well, I don't know about you but some of us pine for some of the old-fashioned stuff we could still use. > It must have been ok. My father and I have worked together for 21 years. It's been great. So I take it you're in a family business/practice? That's also terrific. You probably never worry about job security.

Oh and I would agree with JF about living at home. In some countries it is considered perfectly normal for young adults to live with their parents until they get married, and few go off to other cities or countries to attend college. Sometimes I wonder how many people are _really_ ready to leave home and go off to college by the time they're 18.

> During Alien . I know, sexy, huh? Aren't scary movies the best for those kinds of moments? It would probably be weirder if someone did that during a Disney movie

> Also, Friendly Persuasion is available on dvd if anyone missed it or wants a copy. That's the main reason I didn't bother to record it when it was on just the other day. A long time ago, I couldn't find the movie at any video store so I ended up doing a special order and paying $40 for a VHS tape, for some reason it was more expensive than most other movies at the time. Do you have the DVD? If so, how is the image quality?

Those are both great choices, visualfeast. I've loved Dillon since "Drugstore Cowboy" and Taylor since the wonderful "Dogfight".

Yikes, I can't believe I forgot "For Whom the Bell Tolls". I like "The African Queen" well enough as it is, but it is interesting to imagine what it could have been like with Coop and Ingrid. I just wonder if they'd have been fine with shooting on location, like Huston did when he filmed it. Can you imagine all those leeches or whatever they were from the river, all over poor Coop? I wouldn't have wanted him to go through that!

> I totally agree about Gary?s character?s name, it?s terrible! Well, the Maginnis isn?t that bad but ?Spinal? has got to go!! I'm really glad you think so, too. I didn't want to single out the "Spinal" and maybe it's just that it brings to mind a famous "mockumentary" but I think they could come up with a more heroic name. Your choices for Louise sound great to me, I know Merle was British but didn't she ever play any parts which required an American accent? For Amy, the first thought that came to my mind was Natalie Wood, but she was already too old in the 50s. When she was a little older than on "Miracle on 34th St." would have been fine. The only problem is she wasn't a blonde.

I had never heard the Bergman anecdote, either. It's that kind of noble attitude that makes me admire both actors so much. (And I guess it also shows they must have really hit it off when making "Saratoga Trunk")

I don't know if it qualifies as a movie from Blighty properly speaking (it's an Irish-UK coproduction) but "My Left Foot", for which Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar, is being shown tonight. Many actors get knocked for playing physically-challenged characters as a ploy to win an Oscar, but this movie truly raises above that. Of course, it also put Day-Lewis on the map, since most of the other movies he was in before this didn't get much distribution, at least in the U.S.

I think it's a good story, coopsgirl. I like the character Coop would have played (the name sounds kind of funny, but that's just a minor quibble). Who do you think should have been cast as Louise, Buck, Spencer, and Amy? And just as importantly, who'd you have liked to direct this, if it had been made?

My apologies for not checking on this thread earlier. I'll make sure to include a new clue next time around.

I was looking for an old essay I'd read somewhere about "TWE" and found the following: http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/They_Were_Expendable.html It's not the one I had in mind, however it does include in its bibliography two sources by Lindsay Anderson: "About John Ford" and "The Method of John Ford," in "The Emergence of Film Art". I'd love to read both of them some time, if I can find them.

Good point about Wayne's body language. I think a lot of people make fun of the way he walked sometimes, but don't give him credit for the more subtle ways in which he used body language to help define his characters. I admit I've probably never given it much thought, and it does make me wonder to what extent this was something that Ford taught him or whether he learned it on his own.

> I think that was one of the "dopiest" moments in the whole film.... but the only thing I could chalk it up to was that Bonnie really seemed to have an "impulsive" side to her nature... And also... when it comes right down to it... sometimes (especially early on in a relationship) "True Love" CAN make you "brain-dead!!" once in a while! Ha. That is _another_ way to look at it, with which I would agree. Yes, I think I can relate to the experience of feeling "brain-dead" over affairs of the heart. :x