laffite
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Posts
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Days Won
4
Posts posted by laffite
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>It seemed like a dirty stinky place
It's like that today but wasn't it a little less unpleasant back then. Anyway, there was a mystique about the place and it's a great venue for such a story.
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Land of the Pharaohs
water closet
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Just a comment or two...
I didn?t think the ending bad at all though I agree it happened rather in a flash. It may have lacked drama in some respects but the option to have an ending with a twist like that was meant to be just as satisfying and for me it was. I had come to like Boone so much that a bona fide confrontation between the two would have been a dilemma for me. The story may have been more about Brigade but I liked Boone better. He was the more interesting character, IMO. Had they dueled it out Brigade would have had to win and the story and depiction of Boone made me not want to see him as a loser. Boone had his past and kept us guessing a lot but he was likable and in the end he had become sympathetic. Both Boone and Brigade come out winners and I can see how that can be unsatisfying for some, like a football game that ends in a tie, ugh?... The ending was unexpected but Boone's burgeoning appeal as a decent sort nearly came to rival that of Brigades and I think that is what set us up for a draw. It was okay with me.
I liked James Coburn. I didn?t know it was him at first. Who is that, I kept saying. He was so young. I agree that Whit was not vicious but it takes a while to get that. The first time we see him (at the station) he appears almost demented, that craven, drooly laugh, as if he couldn?t wait to torture someone. Absolutely creepy. But, as someone as pointed out, he makes the remark about the Christian burial and then later he betrays a decency and soft core when he appears genuinely appalled that something bad might happen Mrs Lane when Frank and the boys come. Finally, there he is beaming boyishly practically overcome when Boone declares him a partner in the running of the ranch. I am probably being a bit too earnest here but I was actually a little moved by the exchange. It was a genuine friendship thing going on there between guys.
MissG, I know you said this was ?hilarious? and perhaps it is But I never for an instant felt that Boone was insincere and once again Boone is seen in a good light. Whit is not vicious. He is simple, a bit callow, maybe even a little wayward mentally. I almost have the impression that he might not be able to quite live on his own. So it?s generally agreed, then?Mrs Lane is in the movie out of mere convention. When I was a kid, a movie was ?dry? if a woman was not in it. So there she is?and, of course, she has to be pretty?with pretty eyes
. She may have been pretty but there were limits. Even the Mescalero didn?t come back for her. Oh, I know, they were ?shamed.? Too bad. Why don?t they just know that women act like that from time to time 
.Van Cleeve has always been ?flimsy? to me. He has the look of a bad man but and he tries hard to act that way but he never convinces me. He arrives late in the story (in person, anyway) and doesn?t have much time to show how despicable he is so I latched on to those ?barbaric? details about how he hung a woman and says he ?forgot about it.? I hated him all the more for it and I was able to imagine more vividly how Brigade must have felt (although to have known simply that your wife was killed by this man might have been enough). It would have been a different movie, of course, but at the end Frank might have temporarily withdrew from the scene, surmising that Brigade was unlikely to hang his brother in cold blood. Frank knew that it was himself, not his brother,that Brigade was after.
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Groucho Marx?
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White Wilderness
olive branch
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>There's a Yuku site that I frequent where the admins call you to task for NOT re-activating old threads. There are threads there that go on for over a hundred pages, having been started years ago. A wealth of info could be found there and continually be expanded upon or debated.
I like that.
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misswonderly, the thread had expired. If a thread is dormant for a year, a new thread must be started for that topic.
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Hi Gagman66
My browser won't give me that link, I get "file 404-not found."
This sounds like a fascinating project. I wish you would talk more about it. What are some of your selections? Too bad I can't get your link.
Best,
L
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I used to get mildly irritated in seeing the solitary "Interesting...," but had come of late to accept it because, after all, it had over time became a sort of signature, something that identified immediately it's initiator, and in a way that seemed to me over time to be acceptable. Something objectionable can become tolerable when it assumes an identity, when it become one's own and that others learn to recognize. If anyone else dared to start a thread like that, he/she would be roundly criticized for being a copy cat. And it would probably seem much less irritating now since the practice, through some gently prodding from the gallery, has been so graciously given up.
Edited by: laffite on Oct 16, 2010 2:13 AM
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Jackie, you always find the right picture! I love the booty there. Uh, the young lady is quite lovable as well. I may have to come out of retirement and resume my legendary plundering. (Now, let's see, where did I put my sword).
Who is she? She looks so familiar but my atrophied brain can summon no names.
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*misswonderly*, I liked your post about the Westerns. I didn't fully realize it for a long time but I had a similar view. Westerns were basically shoot-em-ups, a vehicle for certain macho types, slick with guns with impenetrable and formidable steely gazes, white horses (sometimes), and murky pasts that we never really discovered to us. Cardboard characters, especially the villians, who were straight out of melodrama, almost right down to the twitching of the mustache and the "heh heh" and although these cowboys were perhaps not as clever they had plenty of swagger and bluster. Westerns were for people who liked the era and presumably liked the idea of folks riding around on horses. Those old 50s Westerns were a dime a dozen and if they didn't have John Wayne or Randolph Scott, they were inferior still. You can see how primitive I was, it's almost shameful. There were the occasional good ones but as a genre I was out of touch. Then came TCM, and it took me a long time to finally see Stagecoach. This was so different I was not even getting it. By the time I realized that this was not a typical western, but one with motivation and character, photography, etc., I had to back up and start again. I think Stagecoach for me was a Hallelujah moment vis-a-vis the genre. I don't know the history of the Western but this must have been some sort of watershed moment, a blazing of a trail (haha) for a Western going from mindless bang bang stories to actual art. So I got better but I'm still backward. A potential Hallelujah movie for me might be The Searchers that everyone loves so much. I watched it once and it didn't do much for me and if I ever watch again my opinion can go no where than up though whether it reaches Hallelujah status remains to be seen. I used to say, "I love a good Western," with a sort of sigh with the implication that there so few good ones. But I sense the fault is mine now, finally. The dialogue that goes on daily down the Western thread in the genre forums are enlightening beyond description for me, where Hawks and Ford (no less than Gods, it seems), nonpareil masters of the genre are held up for what they are, no less than geniuses. Can I not but watch a few of their movies and by doing so develop a better appreciation for the genre? Let's hope I will not be afraid to try.
This is a good thread. I know I've had instances of these turnabouts, a couple off the top of my head, Pulp Fiction (I shut this movie down because of violence but later got through it and now I think it's a great movie) and Amadeus I didn't like Tom Hulce's portrayal of Mozart and didn't like the movie. Later, I saw the reason for it and though I still think it was exaggerated, Mozart had this upstart and child-like aspect to his personality, contrasting greatly with all stuffiness of the Court (and of course Salieri) but ironing out the Hulce problem opened my eyes to movie as a whole. I could really talk about this one. This thread could attain perennial status since one never knows when these Hallelujah moments will occur or when they will be remembered. I hope it flourishes.
Edited by: laffite on Oct 15, 2010 2:06 PM
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*Jackie*, that was so good. Your comments are so perspicacious (whew, how about that one)...seriously, though, you know how to see what's important about a scene, especially some of the more nuanced aspects, such as lighting, composition, and symbolism, so good. You revealed a lot about the story yet instead of feeling that the movie is "spoiled" I just want to run out and see it. That says something about your presentation. The screen caps are powerful. The next time you do this I'm getting the popcorn ready. It's (almost) like watching a real movie, the way you to take us through it.
Good *Maven* , thank you for the welcome. I want to post some Myrna Loy caps over on her thread in Favorites, sometime this weekend I hope. Hope to see you (and others) over there as I see you have made some recent posts.
Laffite
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*Heehee! The first time I saw it, I was so giddy, because I though Bob would actually end up with the girl in the end of Princess and the Pirate and then Bing had to show up and make me pout, but then I giggled. Heehee! Bing did a great job with the cameo, though. You don't expect it and I think that's one of the reason it is so fantastic!*
Uh, did you say something up there about a pirate? My ears perk up when I hear something like that especially if there is a princess involved. Not that I am so important that anyone would talk about me, mind you, but we pirates are often underrated (although in my case, underrated doesn't apply since it has been firmly established that I am simply lowly rated). How the heck are you anyway, Miss T? Quite good, I gather, since I see you are giggling.
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Thank you, Chris, nice for you to say that. BTW, I like your caption. Funny.
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Bonjour MissG, I am well, thank you... just busy. I'm going to try to poke around here a little more often. Maybe I can even think of something to say once in a while, that is, if the brain still works. Pirate brains tend to atrophy at a higher rate than non-pirate brains. They were going to do a study on this but after talking to me for 10 minutes, they had all the info they needed.
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Hi MissG, a very interesting pic of MM. I've seen other pictures of her at this time of her life and I've always had the vague impression that there is a sort of ugly-duckling look to her. I know that's an odd thing to say about MM but if there is anything to it, it certainly didn't last long. And I hope it isn't unpleasant to mention that this was prior to some work she had done to her nose, which, by all accounts (I'm sure) improved her rapidly blossoming good looks.
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Walk on the Wlld Side
nw(s) : maiden voyage
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"Harry, I know he's only eight years old, but I warned you to let him beat you at chess."
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What movie is this from? Miss Loy is dining with a colleague when she looks up and espies a young man with whom she will become involved. A wonderfully done interruption move coupled with an effective but mild double take. How Myrna could things like that! I don't think this movie is on DVD. I took this picture off the TV with a digital camera. She looks quite smashing, n'est-ce pas? Name that movie.
(This thread is being revived from quite a time back...in fact, too far back with respect to certain rules regarding such. I am hoping that the mods will overlook this in that this is not a discussion thread, rather a game thread...and that they will allow the thread to thrive...hopefully)
L
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Doris was SOTM in either April '94 or April '95, not sure which. If the former, she may have been on of the first SOTM on TCM. It's possible she may have had the honor since then as well.
My favorite DD movie is somewhat of a sleeper, I think. It's Move Over, Darling. I do not believe that it has ever been shown on TCM (I have always looked for it). And it's not talked about much. But she is (as usual) very good and there are some genuinely touching moments. The movie comes so close at times to becoming syrupy but is saved by a sudden return to reality. When she visits the children (they don't know that she is their mother) the scene nearly goes over the edge...but just then one of the kids is made to say something really funny and the scene is saved (IMO). Many love her movies with Rock but I prefer the ones she made with James. Doris is marvelous.
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Adventures of Tom Sawyer
wave
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105
"Gramps, isn't there a better way to get the tooth out...aarrrrrghhh!?"
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104
"Okay, that's step two, his neck is now broken. Now watch closely for step three...his head will come clean off..."
MissG, I know you said this was ?hilarious? and perhaps it is 
. She may have been pretty but there were limits. Even the Mescalero didn?t come back for her. Oh, I know, they were ?shamed.? Too bad. Why don?t they just know that women act like that from time to time 
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RAMBLES Part II
in Films and Filmmakers
Posted
*I didn?t even see this post! How could I miss this?! I?m sooooo sorry mon pirate!!!*
Pas de quoi, ma petite. You've been busy. Can you say a little more about this law business, ooh!
*I miss your pirate poems! Go ahead and chime in!*
My short career as a pirate poet laureate is happily over. Besides they were so bad
they made me walk the plank. I thought your poems were better.
*What?s new with you sailor?*
Well, since I never recovered the rum that so, uh, mysteriously disappeared, I have become a teetotaler and now just drink tepid tea and watch swashbucklers on TCM. Can hardly take the excitement.
L.
Edited by: laffite on Oct 23, 2010