High and the Mighty

[ken123]

I didn't know that the " High and the Mighty " was a political film. Sidney Blackmer's character's name is " Humphrey Agnew ". .

[Web]

Well, having a character named that doesn't make it a "political" movie. But I've been watching it the past hour and it's boring the heck out of me. I was looking forward to it because I like Wayne, but it's so predictable and the characters are just annoying. Once again, confirmation for me that 50s movies just don't have the magic that 40s movies do. Rarely do I turn away from a 40s film no matter how low-budget it is.

[sweetbabykmd]

I'm watching it for the nostalgia factor. Love looking at what planes used to look like - lots of room, larger seats, etc. And flight attendants don't dress as nice or treat passengers like that anymore..... light your cigarette, feed you steak, ....

[ken123]

Jan Sterling is nice to look at as are Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Julie Bishop, and Ann Doran as Phil Harris's wife.

[FredCDobbs]

> I'm watching it for the nostalgia factor. Love

> looking at what planes used to look like - lots of

> room, larger seats, etc. And flight attendants don't

> dress as nice or treat passengers like that

> anymore..... light your cigarette, feed you steak,

> ....

 

This was a big movie back in '54. Lots of publicity. The airlines hated it.

 

According to the navigator, it takes them about 12 hours to fly from Hawaii to San Francisco.

[sweetbabykmd]

I heard that, they must be flying real slowww.

[FredCDobbs]

I didn't mean to start a second thread on the same movie. You just beat me by a few seconds.

[FredCDobbs]

Those old prop planes were really slow. I flew on a few of them at the beginning of the jet era. They were noisy too.

 

I flew on a DC 3 in the early '60s. Very primitive. One row of seats one the right side, and two on the left side. We had to walk up some short steps to get into the rear of the plane, we had to bend over so we wouldn't hit our heads on the top of the door opening, and then we had to walk up the center isle which was like a ramp going up a 20 degree grade.

 

The noise was very loud and we couldn't talk much to each other. And it was so slow. That's why it had a big wing area. But it was fun.

[ken123]

Using the " Humphrey - Agnew " angle was just a way to start a thread. When this film was made Hubert Humphrey was a U.S. Senator, and I don't believe that Spiro Agnew held any office at that time. I saw this film, at the movie theatre, as a 6 - 7 year old, and I fell asleep watching it.It's almost as bad now. No problems about the number of threads. The movie does have a number of healthy looking women in it and that is always nice.

[sweetbabykmd]

They look classier than today's planes though.

[ken123]

Another political angle to "THatM ", William Campbell who plays the young ( co - pilot ? ) was the husband of Judith Campbell Exxner,a girlfriend, or so it was said, of JFK And Giancana. Mr. Campbell was also in " Man Without A Star ", a good Kirk Douglas Western.

[FredCDobbs]

> They look classier than today's planes though.

 

I agree. I love the look of a two-engine DC 3.

 

This airplane was used in a lot of movies in the late '30s and all through the '40s.

 

Some of them are still flying as airlines and cargo planes in third-world countries. They are apparently easy to repair.

[bradtexasranger]

it's

> so predictable and the characters are just annoying.

 

I think a lot of these "airplane in danger or hijacked" movies spend way too much time on the personal stories.

[ken123]

" Phone Call to a Stranger " with Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, and Shelley Winters was better.

 

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ken123

[FredCDobbs]

> it's

> > so predictable and the characters are just

> annoying.

>

> I think a lot of these "airplane in danger or

> hijacked" movies spend way too much time on the

> personal stories.

 

Lol, what else is there to do on a 12 hour flight?

 

Audiences in 1954 couldn't handle the plane almost crashing every minute during a 2 hour movie. The audience would just get up and walk out of the theater back then if they showed all-disaster movies like they do today. They needed about 10 minutes of personal stories, 2 minutes of near disaster, then 10 more minutes of personal stories, etc. Then the last 10 minutes of near disaster.

 

What I wonder about is the very first movie that used this "personal stories" technique? Grand Hotel has that reputation, but I wonder if there were others before it? The German "Titanic" movie used the "Grand Hotel" technique, and so did most of the other Titanic movies.

[bradtexasranger]

> What I wonder about is the very first movie that used

> this "personal stories" technique?

 

That technique always reminds me of Love Boat and Fantasy Island................LOL

 

That's a good point about audiences back then not being able to take constant danger. That makes sense.

[FredCDobbs]

> That's a good point about audiences back then not

> being able to take constant danger. That makes sense.

 

This type of all-thrills films like the Jurassic Park series gradually evolved in the '70s through the '90s. As an older guy, I don't really like all action all the time, but the kids seem to love it.

 

For example, "Saving Private Ryan" seemed to have much more continuous battle action that most WW II war movies.

[bradtexasranger]

By the way, John Wayne and Claire Trevor seemed to be in quite a few films together. There's this one, Dark Passage this morning, Key Largo, Stagecoach. Any others?

[ken123]

> By the way, John Wayne and Claire Trevor seemed to be

> in quite a few films together. There's this one, Dark

> Passage this morning, Key Largo, Stagecoach. Any

> others?

 

Not " Dark Passage ", the film was " Dark Command, directed by Raoul Walsh. John Wayne was not in " Key Largo ", Bogie and Eddie G were. Allegany Uprising starred Calire and Wayne, I don't think that it has been on TCM lately .

 

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ken123

 

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ken123

 

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ken123

[ken123]

I am glad that it is over. The last 1/2 hour really dragged !

[bradtexasranger]

> Not " Dark Passage ", the film was " Dark Command,

> directed by Raoul Walsh. John Wayne was not in " Key

> Largo ", Bogie and Eddie G were. Allegany Uprising

> starred Calire and Wayne, I don't think that it has

> been on TCM lately .

 

OMG, you're right. I knew all that too. My mind must be shutting down earlier than usual tonight. :-)

 

But Claire Trevor was in Key Largo.

[ken123]

Claire Trevor won the AA for best Supporting Actress in " Key Largo " .

[mrsl]

Well . . . . I liked it.

 

This movie proved the point I made a few months ago about womens' makeup in the 50's. All the red lipsticks, and blue eye shadow, gave a harsh look. The amazing thing is Claire Trevor was 11 years older than Jan Sterling, yet Claire looked 10 years younger than Jan in this movie. She had a better make up artist, I guess, hers was softer.

 

As much as I've been around, I was never in an airplane until my mid-30's (the 70's), so what was the reason for asking the passengers their age? Also, I got a kick out of them having to go through immigration before boarding, since Hawaii wasn't part of the U.S. then. And how about the smoking on the plane? Things have really changed.

 

Even though the movie kind of dragged, I like the human interest parts, because you don't care about the passengers unless you know a little about them. I thought the character studies were well done, but I wish they had gone a little more into why Stacks' character was such a snit from the beginning. I couldn't make up my mind if he was just a loser, or a chicken.

 

Anne

[MrBoynton]

I thought there was one unintentionally hilarious moment, when Robert Stack explains why he's not afraid of flying --

 

"I've made almost 200 flights across here, and I feel a lot safer than if I were driving my car."

 

I agree. It's much safer to fly from Hawaii to San Francisco that it is to make that same trip by automobile.

 

I don't know why it struck me that way, but it did. Maybe from watching too much MST3K.

 

BTW, I really, really love that theme music. Can't get it out of my head.

[vecchiolarry]

Anne,

 

Claire Trevor may have had a good make-up artist, but she's a woman who aged very well; she held on to her looks well into her eighties.

She died at about 90 or 92 (I'm sure Mongo could tell us) and I have an LA friend who saw her enter the Century Plaza Hotel about a year before she died.

She had slowed down and there were two gentlemen on either side of her and she had a cane, but she looked spectacular, I'm told, in a beaded evening gown and fur stole and rubies. She looked older but still attractive and she looked like a star. She still turned heads.

I saw her on an old 'Murder, She Wrote' and she looked better than Angela Lansbury.....

 

Larry