What classics did you see last week ? (9 Dec - 15 Dec 2018)
Dec 18, 2018 1:02:50 GMT
spiderwort, teleadm, and 3 more like this
Post by marianne48 on Dec 18, 2018 1:02:50 GMT
Two classics, one new one:
Neptune's Daughter (1949)--I watched this primarily to see the performance(s) of its Oscar-winning song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (since it's been in the news lately). MGM made a few great musicals, and many, many run-of-the-mill ones; this definitely falls into the latter category. Esther Williams runs a swimsuit company (what else?) and has to fend off the advances
of South American polo player Jose O'Rourke, played by Ricardo Montalban (who used that same surname for his role years later in
Fantasy Island--was O'Rourke a typical South American name of that time?) Her sister, played by Betty Garrett, is crazy for men and will pounce on any one that comes into her vicinity. There's some silliness about mistaken identity, and of course the requisite swimming pool scene, which seems a little tacked on at the end, as if someone suddenly remembered that this was an
Esther Williams vehicle. The song is sung twice, first with Montalban pleading with Williams not to leave his apartment, then with Garrett pursuing a reluctant Red Skelton, who pleads with her not to stay. Both times it's cute (for its era), if a little icky even back then. Interestingly, this song was a replacement for another song intended as the big number, "Slow Boat to China," which was pulled from the film for being too risque (the line "I'd like to get you on a slow boat to China" seemed too
sexually suggestive). At any rate, the stars singing about the blizzard outside (in balmy California?) add even more absurdity to the tune. Watch this if you have a high tolerance for fluffy musicals.
Dragnet (1987)--I rewatched this more than 30 years after seeing it brand-new in the theater. It definitely plays like an old "classic" now. The central character, Dan Aykroyd's Joe Friday, is an homage to Jack Webb's original Joe Friday in the classic TV series. If you're not familiar with that character's singular line delivery and persona, as well as the format of the show, you might not get all the humor here. Co-starring is Tom Hanks, back when he was still playing easygoing goofy comic characters and was not yet known for his heroic/tragic roles. There's lots of dated 1980s touches--public phone booths, punk outfits, and the sex scene that includes a prominent display of a box of condoms (many films of that era made it almost a requirement to show responsible condom usage during sex scenes, one of Hollywood's few nervous responses to the AIDS crisis of the time). In the pre-CGI era, the big action scenes consist, of course, of wild car chase scenes--tiresome and cliched, but still
more fun than today's CGI fakery. Worth watching for a few laughs (and now I remember where the name "Pep Streebek" came from).
Leave No Trace (2018)--sad, depressing, and beautifully poignant. It plays out almost like a documentary, as no one here seems to be really "acting" and their faces have the look of those Depression-era photos of the 1930s. Some reviews of this film
have complained that the movie is boring because "nothing happens," there's not a lot of exposition to explain everything for them, and it doesn't have the slick feel of a typical Hollywood movie. Ignore these reviews; this is one of the best films of the year.
Neptune's Daughter (1949)--I watched this primarily to see the performance(s) of its Oscar-winning song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (since it's been in the news lately). MGM made a few great musicals, and many, many run-of-the-mill ones; this definitely falls into the latter category. Esther Williams runs a swimsuit company (what else?) and has to fend off the advances
of South American polo player Jose O'Rourke, played by Ricardo Montalban (who used that same surname for his role years later in
Fantasy Island--was O'Rourke a typical South American name of that time?) Her sister, played by Betty Garrett, is crazy for men and will pounce on any one that comes into her vicinity. There's some silliness about mistaken identity, and of course the requisite swimming pool scene, which seems a little tacked on at the end, as if someone suddenly remembered that this was an
Esther Williams vehicle. The song is sung twice, first with Montalban pleading with Williams not to leave his apartment, then with Garrett pursuing a reluctant Red Skelton, who pleads with her not to stay. Both times it's cute (for its era), if a little icky even back then. Interestingly, this song was a replacement for another song intended as the big number, "Slow Boat to China," which was pulled from the film for being too risque (the line "I'd like to get you on a slow boat to China" seemed too
sexually suggestive). At any rate, the stars singing about the blizzard outside (in balmy California?) add even more absurdity to the tune. Watch this if you have a high tolerance for fluffy musicals.
Dragnet (1987)--I rewatched this more than 30 years after seeing it brand-new in the theater. It definitely plays like an old "classic" now. The central character, Dan Aykroyd's Joe Friday, is an homage to Jack Webb's original Joe Friday in the classic TV series. If you're not familiar with that character's singular line delivery and persona, as well as the format of the show, you might not get all the humor here. Co-starring is Tom Hanks, back when he was still playing easygoing goofy comic characters and was not yet known for his heroic/tragic roles. There's lots of dated 1980s touches--public phone booths, punk outfits, and the sex scene that includes a prominent display of a box of condoms (many films of that era made it almost a requirement to show responsible condom usage during sex scenes, one of Hollywood's few nervous responses to the AIDS crisis of the time). In the pre-CGI era, the big action scenes consist, of course, of wild car chase scenes--tiresome and cliched, but still
more fun than today's CGI fakery. Worth watching for a few laughs (and now I remember where the name "Pep Streebek" came from).
Leave No Trace (2018)--sad, depressing, and beautifully poignant. It plays out almost like a documentary, as no one here seems to be really "acting" and their faces have the look of those Depression-era photos of the 1930s. Some reviews of this film
have complained that the movie is boring because "nothing happens," there's not a lot of exposition to explain everything for them, and it doesn't have the slick feel of a typical Hollywood movie. Ignore these reviews; this is one of the best films of the year.