Fred MacMurray

[TopBilled]

It seems lavender isn't the only one lately who isn't "quite" getting the point of my (attempts at) humor lately.

 

Ya see TB, I ONLY inserted that little Beatles selection there in HOPES to GET this baby back on track.

 

(...'cause ya see, I was attempting to make light of all this talk about "heavy", and THEN move on)

It wasn't necessary, Darg. All you had to do was discuss a Fred MacMurray performance that means something to you. That would be code that the thread was already back on track. See how easy it is?

 

Instead, your music clip would inspire someone else to post a music clip and then the discussion would again not focus on the topic at hand. See how predictable it is?

[TomJH]

My top ten list of MacMurray films.   

 

Double Indemnity

Hands Across the Table

Remember the Night

The Apartment

Swing High,  Swing Low

The Caine Munity

Pushover

The Princess Comes Across

No Time for Love

Take a Letter Darling

 

Ok, the list if heavy on Lombard,  but I love them as a team.

Ah, James, I see that you are an admirer of Hands Across the Table, too.

 

But no Murder He Says. Was that intentional or have you not seen it yet?

 

I have not seen Take a Letter Darling, which you included.

[TopBilled]

If anyone feels they have a better top ten list than mine, bring 'er on. 

 

Murder he Says is a particular favourite of mine, MacMurray's best comedy in my opinion.

Right-- but is MURDER HE SAYS a film you like because of Fred MacMurray or because of the cliched hillbilly characters?. Also, how come you do not have one rare Paramount film on your list that could inspire a programmer to try and rescue it from Universal for a TCM premiere? In my opinion, if we're pushing Fred, we should really push Fred in new ways.

[Dargo]

If anyone feels they have a better top ten list than mine, bring 'er on. 

 

Murder he Says is a particular favourite of mine, MacMurray's best comedy in my opinion.

 

Yep, I agree, Tom. That ending hay baling machine scene is well choreographed and especially funny.

[TopBilled]

My top ten list of MacMurray films.   

 

Double Indemnity

Hands Across the Table

Remember the Night

The Apartment

Swing High,  Swing Low

The Caine Munity

Pushover

The Princess Comes Across

No Time for Love

Take a Letter Darling

 

Ok, the list if heavy on Lombard,  but I love them as a team.

 

Glad to see TAKE A LETTER, DARLING. It will be in the top five of my Essential MacMurray list. I cannot rate SWING HIGH, SWING LOW because TCM always airs the vastly inferior public domain print. My annoyance with such a dark scratchy print and a mostly undecipherable audio track gets in the way of my actually viewing the film as it was meant to be viewed. Someone please do right by it and screen a decent version of it in the future.

[Dargo]

It wasn't necessary, Darg. All you had to do was discuss a Fred MacMurray performance that means something to you. That would be code that the thread was already back on track. See how easy it is?

 

Instead, your music clip would inspire someone else to post a music clip and then the discussion would again not focus on the topic at hand. See how predictable it is?

 

Uh huh...like MOST of my posts around here are "necessary", eh TB???!!! LOL

 

I mean you must remember here that MY usual m.o. around here ISN'T exactly some "studied and "serious" offerings about TCM fare, ya know.

 

(...nope, it's USUALLY some attempt at "comic relief", now isn't it?!)

[lavenderblue19]

Dargo, no response from you on this thread is necessary. I'm going to pm you Tom btw, already got the thread back on track without any help

[Sepiatone]

The problem is we have too many personality clashes going on around here lately. And we have people that deliberately sidetrack threads, because they are not here to discuss classic film-- they are here to waste time. 

 

I bet half the people who post here do not have TCM, and if they do, they barely watch it. Because if they were watching it and focusing on the films, they would be posting more about it. And that's why these message boards were created in the first place. So if Turner decides to do away with these boards, it won't be because of budget-- it will be because there is little return on the investment. 

 

I can agree with some of that.  To a degree.  I see the same thing in FACEBOOK a lot.  there are a couple of pages there that center in on my hometown(in which I still live), one of the schools in that city, and the memories past and present residents have of the place.

 

Since most of us are of a certain age range, and have had differing experiences, our memory of things might not be totally clear.  But often, if I ask, "Does anyone remember...." it's sometimes because MY memory of whatever isn't clear, and I ask mostly for clarification.  But arguments often erupt in these discussions, because there ARE some who feel the need to turn such things into some kind of P I S S I N G contest, and to prove THEY KNOW more than someone else, or REMEMBER better.  And I've sort of seen the same thing here.  I don't fault Dargo with injecting a bit of levity possibly in an attempt to cool things down.  I myself tried and flopped with my remark that MacMurray didn't look that fat to me.(in referrence to him being a "heavy").

 

I think it best that we remember we're here with a common interest, and there's NO prize to win, because it ISN'T a contest.

 

 

Sepiatone

[TopBilled]

TopBilled's Definitive Very Truly Essential Fred MacMurray from Wisconsin Playlist:

 

1. PARDON MY PAST

2. DOUBLE INDEMNITY

3. REMEMBER THE NIGHT

4. SMOKY

5. TAKE A LETTER, DARLING

6. THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE

7. ALICE ADAMS

8. THE EGG AND I

9. DIVE BOMBER

10. SING YOU SINNERS

 

Honorable mentions: THE MIRACLE OF THE BELLS; THE FOREST RANGERS; and GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING.

[TomJH]

Yep, I agree, Tom. That ending hay baling machine scene is well choreographed and especially funny.

And let's also not forget that classic slapstick bit in the barn, Dargo, after Fred knocks out one of the lunkhead twins. He is awkwardly standing over top of the twin, the twin's legs dangling over a board, giving the mistaken appearance that those legs belong to Fred to the just-escaped-from-prison gun moll who then bursts in upon him.

 

The twin begins to kick his legs up and down as Fred tries to control them, looking like a short guy who can't control his own limbs. The gun moll at one point hits one of the legs with her gun. There's then a delayed reaction on Fred's part before he then yells out loud faking that he's in pain as he rubs the twin's leg.

 

It might not read so funny as I just related it but it's hilarious stuff.

 

And Marjorie Main's sort of homicidal Ma Kettle (two years before she first played Ma Kettle) adds to the fun as she literally cracks a whip on her sons.

[Richard Kimble]

 

 

8. Remember the Night (1940)

 

Yet another romantic comedy-drama, penned by Preston Sturges, with Fred and Barbara Stanwyck making a good team.

 

 

This is my third favorite FM film, after the two Wilders. I've never understood why it isn't better known.

 

I find Murder, He Says very overrated. For me it's a lot of running around and eccentricity without any actual comedy.

[Dargo]

Dargo, no response from you on this thread is necessary. I'm going to pm you Tom btw, already got the thread back on track without any help

 

Well, yes, Tom did.

 

But in MY "defense" here, I started my little "segue back on track usin' the Beatles thing" before Tom had entered his back-on-track post. And sooooooo, I didn't know that Tom was about to DO that until AFTER I had entered my post, ya see.

 

(...man, I tells ya...sometimes I think some folks around these here parts take this place JUUUUUST a "little" too seriously...maybe I just need a "new audience", EH?!) LOL

[TopBilled]

 

 

This is my third favorite FM film, after the two Wilders. I've never understood why it isn't better known.

 

I find Murder, He Says very overrated. For me it's a lot of running around and eccentricity without any actual comedy.

 

And that is exactly why I don't like MURDER, HE SAYS. It tries too hard. It relies on stereotypes to get laughs (the MA AND PA KETTLE movies do it better) and the filmmakers think weird is entertaining. Weird is entertaining in film noir, but weird is dull in comedy. 

 

REMEMBER THE NIGHT is third on my list as well.

[TomJH]

Right-- but is MURDER HE SAYS a film you like because of Fred MacMurray or because of the cliched hillbilly characters?. Also, how come you do not have one rare Paramount film on your list that could inspire a programmer to try and rescue it from Universal for a TCM premiere? In my opinion, if we're pushing Fred, we should really push Fred in new ways.

I like Murder He Says for its successful combination of slapstick comedy and mystery thriller (a little reminiscent of Ghost Breakers in that respect). But then, both of those films had George Marshall as director.

 

I'm also listing MacMurray films that I've seen and like (it is, after all, a Top Ten list, not an agenda for pushing little films no one has heard of - that can be done elsewhere).

[lavenderblue19]

Well, yes, Tom did.

 

But in MY "defense" here, I started my little "segue back on track usin' the Beatles thing" before Tom had entered his back-on-track post. And sooooooo, I didn't know that Tom was about to DO that until AFTER I had entered my post, ya see.

 

(...man, I tells ya...sometimes I think some folks around these here parts take this place JUUUUUST a "little" too seriously...maybe I just need a "new audience", EH?!) LOL

STOP ALREADY- You just keep getting your digs in, and WHY? is that important to you. STOP PLEASE. I'm not sensitive I'm getting P-I-S-S-E-D. Stop using me so you can post, find someone else to pick on.

[TomJH]

Maybe it's time for everybody to start rolling those little steel balls again.

 

See Bogie? We're thinking of you, too, here. 

[Sepiatone]

Well, my MY!

 

It IS getting like Facebook in here, ISN'T it?

 

There, some get together and form little "cliques" of mutual admiration and symbiotic comeraderie and to hell with everyone else!

 

For God's sake, Lavender, just hit "ignore" on Dargo and let it go!  All this whining is unbecoming of you.  You're BETTER than that!

 

Sepiatone

[Dargo]

Maybe it's time for everybody to start rolling those little steel balls again.

 

See Bogie? We're thinking of you, too, here. 

 

LOL

 

HEY now, Tom! Stop tryin' to sidetrack this discussion with all this talk of BOGART!!!!

 

(...'cause as I recall, Fred wasn't even in that courtroom when Bogie goes off the deep end while on the stand!) 

[TomJH]

LOL

 

HEY now, Tom! Stop tryin' to sidetrack this discussion with all this talk of BOGART!!!!

 

(...'cause as I recall, Fred wasn't even in that courtroom when Bogie goes off the deep end while on the stand!) 

Yeah, but the spirit of Fred was there (and he was smiling).

[Dargo]

Yeah, but the spirit of Fred was there (and he was smiling).

 

The "SPIRIT" of Fred???

 

Well, as I recall(again), Fred doesn't die in that flick! 'Cause if he DID, then Ferrer couldn't have thrown that drink in his face later on!

 

(...maybe you're just confusin' this whole thing with all those "ghost" threads o' yours, eh?!)

[TomJH]

The "SPIRIT" of Fred???

 

Well, as I recall(again), Fred doesn't die in that flick! 'Cause if he DID, then Ferrer couldn't have thrown that drink in his face later on!

 

(...maybe you're just confusin' this whole thing with all those "ghost" threads o' yours, eh?!)

How about this then? Fred was in the courtroom in spirit. Or is that still too ghostly? 

[Dargo]

How about this then? Fred was in the courtroom in spirit. Or is that still too ghostly? 

 

Hmmm...well, I suppose once Bogie does go into his crazy man act on the stand, then "Fred's spirit", in other words, his earlier armchair psychological analysis of Queeg is confirmed. Might this be your thought here?

[TopBilled]

Hmmm...well, I suppose once Bogie does go into his crazy man act on the stand, then "Fred's spirit", in other words, his earlier armchair psychological analysis of Queeg is confirmed. Might this be your thought here?

Why are we off topic again? Is it that difficult to stay focused and keep a discussion on Fred MacMurray going. This is absolutely ridiculous.

[TopBilled]

A (nice) note to everyone:

 

If you do not intend to discuss Fred MacMurray and his films, then you really have no business posting in this thread. Go off and make threads about what you want to discuss. And for those that insist on discussing non-classic film related items, a special area was created for Off-topic chit chat. Thanks.

[TopBilled]

STOP ALREADY- You just keep getting your digs in, and WHY? is that important to you. STOP PLEASE. I'm not sensitive I'm getting P-I-S-S-E-D. Stop using me so you can post, find someone else to pick on.

lavender,

 

I may send you a PM later, after I have had time to reflect about why this thread keeps getting hijacked. Hopefully TCM Moderator1 will step in and either issue a warning or else lock the thread.