|
|
Post by lune7000 on Apr 1, 2021 1:50:51 GMT
After watching "On Golden Pond" the other day, it occurred to me that films dealing with the relationships among old people are pretty rare- Cocoon, and Whatever happened to Baby Jane are the only films I could think of. Old people relating to other old people as the main body of a story almost never happens. Old people are usually accessories at best and, if they are main characters, they relate mainly to middle aged or young people (Trip to Bountiful, the War with Grandpa). But people here know a lot more about film than I do. So I have three questions:
1. What are the films that are centered on a storyline involving relations between old people?
2. Were any of these made in the classic period? Was old Hollywood even more youth centric than today?
3. Do you think a movie like On Golden Pond would ever be made again? Hollywood has always been youth centered and the trend is very intense now. I rarely see old people in film anymore unless they are accessories. When they assume a larger role it is often of a fool (in comedy), ghoul (in horror) or villain. I never see a movie focused on the lives and relations among the elderly. Thanks for any replies.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Apr 1, 2021 2:22:27 GMT
There are plenty of movies about old folks. I'm not very familiar with a lot of "classic film," but The Notebook an Away from Her immediately come to mind. And anything with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.  |
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Apr 1, 2021 2:22:54 GMT
Two with which to begin: Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)  When financial calamity befalls Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi, they become inconveniences to their grown offspring and their families. For a director as sentimental as Leo McCarey, this is a surprisingly candid and hard-hitting story, with neither the old folks, their children nor grandchildren let off easily, and their flawed personalities and conflicting priorities fully examined with no neat resolutions to be found. The final scene is powerful enough to wring emotion from a stone. The Millionaire (1931)  Auto magnate George Arliss, forced into retirement, finds himself in danger of ossifying. With prodding from a go-getter salesman (James Cagney, above, on the brink of stardom and with this one brief scene in the entire film), Arliss finds ways to remain vital, while concealing his doctor-defying activities from his over-solicitous family. For anyone unfamiliar with him, this is as good an introduction to the great Arliss as any, with all of his crusty and impish charm on display. |
|
|
|
Post by marshamae on Apr 1, 2021 3:30:30 GMT
The sunshine boys
Going in style a great favorite
Harry and Tonto
Grumpy old men
Louisa
As Young As You Feel
|
|
|
|
Post by marianne48 on Apr 1, 2021 4:08:30 GMT
My Love, Don't Cross That River is a touching documentary about the final months in the 76-year-marriage of an elderly South Korean couple. Sometimes difficult to watch, but a moving viewing experience.
|
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Apr 1, 2021 5:58:12 GMT
I imagine this one is something of an obscurity: Strangers In Good Company (1990 - AKA: The Company Of Strangers)  A small bus traveling through the Québec countryside breaks down and strands eight women, all senior citizens but the driver, near a remote and long-abandoned house miles from anywhere. That's all there is to the premise, and dealing with their predicament in the most practical of manners - arranging shelter, finding food, trying to repair the bus and getting to know one another in the process - is all there is to the plot. This is a film that truly deserves description as "unique," and both it and the characters are at once open yet enigmatic; what they deliver is compelling and fascinating because it's so real. If you can seek this film out, you'll find yourself in the very best of good company. |
|
|
|
Post by jeffersoncody on Apr 1, 2021 7:38:04 GMT
STILL MINE (2012).
|
|
|
|
Post by jeffersoncody on Apr 1, 2021 7:40:55 GMT
AMOUR.
|
|
|
|
Post by mattgarth on Apr 1, 2021 9:38:47 GMT
the recent 45 YEARS -- Tom Courteney and Charlotte Rampling (Oscar nominated)
|
|
|
|
Post by wmcclain on Apr 1, 2021 11:57:57 GMT
The Whales of August (1987), directed by Lindsay Anderson. Given the cast, all near the end of their lives, I tend to neglect the simple plot, adapted from a stage play, and marvel over their long fruitful careers. What a long strange trip it was. In order of seniority we have: - Lillian Gish (94), her last film.
- Bette Davis (79), her second to last film.
- Ann Sothern (78), her last film.
- Vincent Price (76), ten more credits over the next six years.
- Harry Carey Jr. (66), lived and worked another 25 years.
They speak and move like elderly people and the acting is "large", but that may be realistic. Old people sometimes do speak with exaggerated emphasis. Favorite moment: the two sisters are reminiscing about their long-dead husbands and the days of passion. Bette Davis: "You two didn't have to go off and make whoopee every hour". Lillian Gish looks away and sighs. Ann Sothern had 106 IMDB credits and I cannot remember the last time I saw her. I'll have to revisit A Letter to Three Wives (1949) soon. I only know Lindsay Anderson from such oddities as if... (1968) and O Lucky Man! (1973) and this was an unexpected subject for him. Produced by Alive/Island Alive Films who also gave us so many 1980s indie films: Insignificance (1985), The Hit (1984), Choose Me (1984), Trouble in Mind (1985) and The Moderns (1988). Available on Blu-ray from Kino. The commentary track is a conversation with Mike Kaplan, the producer who conceived the project and got it made. He knew Lillian Gish and wanted a vehicle for her. He says - Vincent Price's role was meant for John Gielgud, who was otherwise engaged.
- Bette Davis was high-maintenance and always accompanied by a lot of drama, but Price and Sothern tended to keep her in check.
|
|
|
|
Post by Isapop on Apr 1, 2021 13:34:27 GMT
This recent one, with the aged Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. www.imdb.com/title/tt5034266/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_5But I think you're largely correct about a dearth of such films during the "classic" years of Hollywood. You might find a few over four decades beginning in the 30s. But a relative few. |
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Apr 1, 2021 13:49:30 GMT
The most widely acclaimed movie about old people must surely be Tokyo Story Tôkyô monogatari (1953) dir: Yasujirô Ozu. Typical is this article:
Fourth-best arthouse movie of all time (Not sure I like the classification "arthouse" though). Can anyone point me to a comparison with Make Way for Tomorrow? Must have been a big influence, surely?  |
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Apr 1, 2021 14:05:29 GMT
My favourite film of all time is entirely focused on one old person and his encounters with old and new friends, acquaintances and family members. There are a couple of scenes with his elderly housekeeper and his very ancient mother. Not sure if it qualifies for the OP, but I never miss a chance to cite it. Hardly surprising it is my favourite movie now, as I am much the same age as the protagonist. But it was also my favourite when I was 19 and has remained so. Wild Strawberries Smultronstället (1957) dir: Ingmar Bergman   |
|
|
|
Post by marianne48 on Apr 1, 2021 14:22:13 GMT
I think old Hollywood was definitely more youth-centric, especially where female performers were concerned. Many actresses complained of being steered away from romantic roles and into more "mature," non-sexy parts (mothers, bitter old maids, schoolteachers, and...LIBRARIANS!  ![]() ) once they hit their mid-thirties. It's jarring to see Teresa Wright as the youthful college-age girl in Shadow of a Doubt in 1943, and just ten years later, as Jean Simmons' mother and Spencer Tracy's wife in The Actress, but that's pretty typical of a lot of actresses' career paths back then. Bette Davis was in her mid-'50s when she played dried-up old hag Baby Jane Hudson, and a lot of her contemporaries were playing similar crones in horror movies in the 1950s-'60s. The idea of a 35-year-old actress like Goldie Hawn playing a naive young woman in Private Benjamin would have been a hard sell back in the 1940s. As far as centering on older people back then, there were fewer movies on that subject, maybe in part because the mindset was that older people just weren't interesting enough. Nowadays, with all the baby boomers reaching late middle age and senior citizen status, movies about geezers will likely become more popular (hopefully, not just films about Alzheimer's, though). The Whales of August is a good movie, but it's sad to see how frail Bette Davis had become by then; Lillian Gish, 15 years older, looked so much more robust and, IIRC, was supposed to be the younger of the two sisters. All that smoking really took its toll on Davis, apparently. |
|
|
|
Post by marshamae on Apr 1, 2021 15:46:23 GMT
The Whales of August is a good movie, but it's sad to see how frail Bette Davis had become by then; Lillian Gish, 15 years older, looked so much more robust and, IIRC, was supposed to be the younger of the two sisters. All that smoking really took its toll on Davis, apparently.
When Bette made this film she had survived breast cancer and a stroke. The breast cancer metastasized and eventually killed her. She was in pretty frail health but still seemed tough. Lovely film
|
|
|
|
Post by lune7000 on Apr 2, 2021 16:19:20 GMT
Thanks for all the replies- I noticed that a lot of these films are foreign. Maybe America has little interest in old people. In some ways this is a little surprising today. The USA now has the highest percentage of seniors than at any time in its history and I would have thought this would lead to some additional interest in the struggles of the elderly.
Maybe we are all just scared to death of becoming old (and what comes after). But I feel a well made movie can help people deal with these fears. Most portrayals of the elderly on the screen are pretty negative.
|
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Apr 2, 2021 17:12:10 GMT
Thanks for all the replies- I noticed that a lot of these films are foreign. Maybe America has little interest in old people. In some ways this is a little surprising today. The USA now has the highest percentage of seniors than at any time in its history and I would have thought this would lead to some additional interest in the struggles of the elderly. Maybe we are all just scared to death of becoming old (and what comes after). But I feel a well made movie can help people deal with these fears. Most portrayals of the elderly on the screen are pretty negative. Most traditional societies had respect, sometimes even reverence, for the elderly. Before writing was invented they were considered the repositories of the family/clan/tribe's accrued experience. As we move towards the idea of all information being instantly accessible to everyone, that role is no longer needed. They are just a burden consuming others' productivity. The USA has advanced (if that is the right word) further along that path than most other nations, so it is natural that US film output would reflect that. Americans do indeed hold a terror of ageing, hence their vast expenditure on cosmetic repairs to their bodies, false hair, false teeth, false breasts, etc., and do not want to be reminded of what ageing and death looks like. But the problem is increasingly prevalent in other countries. Two films already cited, Make Way for Tomorrow and Tokyo Monogatari illustrate this situation of aged parents being an economic burden on their children, as does a wonderful film I added to my collection yesterday: Mahanagar (1963) dir: Satyajit Ray.  On the other hand, the definition of "old" is changing. If you look at films from the 1930s, men and (especially) women in their fifties looked like those in their seventies today. So many of the "high percentage of seniors" of which you write do not consider themselves old. Where I live in the Caribbean we have many men in their sixties and seventies visiting and sometimes immigrating so that they can drink and fornicate like teenagers for as much as remains of their lives as possible. (It is cheaper than North America and without the tradition of Puritan disapproval). Most of them would laugh at being called "old".
|
|
|
|
Post by kijii on Apr 2, 2021 17:32:28 GMT
Two with which to begin: Make Way For Tomorrow (1937) When financial calamity befalls Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi, they become inconveniences to their grown offspring and their families. For a director as sentimental as Leo McCarey, this is a surprisingly candid and hard-hitting story, with neither the old folks, their children nor grandchildren let off easily, and their flawed personalities and conflicting priorities fully examined with no neat resolutions to be found. The final scene is powerful enough to wring emotion from a stone. The Millionaire (1931) Auto magnate George Arliss, forced into retirement, finds himself in danger of ossifying. With prodding from a go-getter salesman (James Cagney, above, on the brink of stardom and with this one brief scene in the entire film), Arliss finds ways to remain vital, while concealing his doctor-defying activities from his over-solicitous family. For anyone unfamiliar with him, this is as good an introduction to the great Arliss as any, with all of his crusty and impish charm on display. (1937) One of the best from classical period.
|
|
|
|
Post by DanaShelbyChancey on Apr 2, 2021 23:26:30 GMT
 I don't see it on TV much, but if you have a chance to see Lovely, Still take it. It stars Ellen Burstyn and Martin Landau, and has a devastating twist about halfway through. It is marvelous. |
|
|
|
Post by teleadm on Apr 3, 2021 17:23:44 GMT
Tell Me a Riddle 1980 directed by Lee Grant and starring Melvyn Douglas and Lila Kedrova as an elderly couple who go on one last journey across the USA. 
|
|
