Welcome to the 169th Edition of my series. I featured one person from
the Random Myspace Profile selection. It has been hard selecting movies
withing my rules this week but I'm here now. Thank you everyone for your
support. Congratulations to the Steelers for their 6th Super Bowl win.
Okay, here are my 10 for the week.
Neptune's Daughter (1949): I
start this week with part 3 of my Esther Williams series. Williams stars
as fashion person Eve Barrett, who sister Betty, played by Betty
Garrett, makes a move a man who she believes is Jose O'Rourke, played by
FANTASY ISLAND alum Ricardo Montalban, but is really Jack Spratt,
played by Red Skelton. Jack plays along with the mistake but Eve does
not know if he is right for her and makes a meeting with O'Rourke, not
knowing he is not the one Betty loves. It has the great musical number
BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE and has a great finale. Esther was actually
pregnant during the filming. Also look for an amusing performance from
Mel Blank who is most known for his voices in Looney Tunes and Looney
Tunes fans will recognize which voice he is using.
The Wizard of
Oz (1939): I have used a couple other versions lately that were before
this one but this is the version of the L. Frank Baum classic novel.
This was a pretty groundbreaking film which stars Judy Garland as
Dorothy Gale, a Kansas girl whose life seems to going downhill and
dreams about going over the rainbow hence the infamous song number
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW. After a big cyclone, she finds herself in a
strange world called Oz where she and her dog Toto meet the Munchkins,
the good witch Glinda and and the Wicked Witch of the West. Along the
way, Dorothy meets her friends the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack
Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Burt Lahr). Together, they must make
their way to see the Wizard to get certain things out of life. Margaret
Hamilton was great at the Wicked Witch of the West and lives on as a
very iconic witch in our history. However, anyone who has seen WICKED
knows she is not such a bad person. Frank Morgan plays the Wizard and
four other roles which age great. This show went through 5 directors
which Victor Fleming being the one who is creditted along with the other
1939 classic GONE WITH THE WIND. This movie stands tall in the golden
year of film. All the actors in this are associated with their
respective characters. This is also a timeless family film which the
whole family can enjoy and will continue to enjoy. I had a dvd which had
a nice documentary hosted by Angela Lansbury on the history not only of
this movie but the whole franchise starting with the many Oz books from
L. Frank Baum.
The Right Stuff (1983): This, along with my last
feature are two of my Dad's favorite movies. Philip Kaufman directed
this film which documents the original Mercury 7. They were a group of
test pilots in the U.S. quest to beat the Russians into space. Sam
Sheperd stars as Chuck Yeager, who is shown to have broken the sound
barrier. Ed Harris plays John Glenn and Fred Ward plays Gus Grissom who
was from my state of Indiana. Other people include Dennis Quaid, Scott
Glenn, Barbara Hershey, Donald Moffatt and many others. It takes a look
at their bond and the competition between one another. Based on the
novel by Tom Wolfe. I admit, Dennis Quaid really annoyed me at first,
maybe he was supposed to be but I guess I am always bothered by him in
the 80s and like him better now. This is a nice film on the American
Dream. Look for a cameo appearance from the real Chuck Yeager. All the
actors, even Dennis Quaid who grew on me through the movie, were great
and like my last movie featured, it will live on through generations.
The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): This is my silent film for the week
which stars Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari in this early horror film
where he is a hypnotist who has Cesare under his power to do whatever he
wants and does some very bad things. It was a pretty groundbreaking
horror film which still gives some scares today.
Superman and the
Mole Men (1951): This movies was brought from the tv series starring
George Reeves as Superman/Clark Kent and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane.
Clark and Lois investigate strange happenings and the town encounters
people of the title name. There is no real villain that Superman must
face except the angry mob who fears the unknown and must stop the mole
men from doing something extreme. It's a fun movie and if you can take
more of a mystery than anything which is what the tv series was about,
you might like this one.
Pizza (2005): I found this one on IFC
and took interest. Ethan Embry stars as a Pizza Delivery boy who
considers himself the "Pizza King" and named Matt. Kylie Sparks is Cara
who is an overweight teen who is one day away from turning 18 and is
invited by Matt to accompany him on his pizza run but pizza deliver is
not all he does. She then is exposed to many things she has never seen
but the two make an interesting couple trying to make the most of their
lives in that small town. The plot is rather weak but Embry and Sparks
are able to carry it to make it worth a watch.
The Owl and the
Pussycat (1970): Herbert Ross directed this raunchy comedy based on a
Broadway play. George Segal plays Felix, a struggling writer looking to
get a novel published. Barbra Streisand plays Doris, an actress who does
about whatever she needs to for money. Felix's life takes an extreme
change when Doris joins his apartment and is at his throat about
everything but is there more to them. This is probably my favorite
Barbra Streisand movie I have seen and is just absolutely hilarious in
my mind. This was a very controversial movie at the time of its release,
still a bit extreme today.
The Sword of the Strange (2007):
This is my anime samarai film for the week which they did a special
showing at my local movie theater. This is the story of a swordsman with
a dark past who reluctantly decides to protect a young boy and his dog
and get them to a buddhist island. The dog was a very noble dog and the
movie had a lot of good swordfights and a nice bond between the boy and
the swordsman. The animation is great and does not look too
computerized. The musical score also wins with me but I'm a sucker for
that Asian music. I am a casual Anime watcher and I know Anime lovers
will like this one.
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of
Jasper Morello (2005): This is my animated short film for the week. This
documents the title character who is a disgraced aerial pilot flees his
plague-ridden home in search for an end to the plague. He then learns
more about himself that he wanted to. This movie had some very strange
animation and imagery and was an Oscar-nominated short film, one
absolutely worth checking out.
Cemetary Man (1994): This is part
17 of the Random Myspace Profile selection and for this week I chose
Lady Katanga. This is one of those I had never heard of until now.
Michele Soavi directed this Italian horror film which stars Rupert
Everett as Dellamorte Dellamore, a cemetary worker who along with his
dim partner, must watch for people resurrecting as zombies and kill
them. He never really questions what he does or why it happens, he just
feels obligated to destroy them. I really enjoyed this zombie film and
really liked Everett in this role. It has some great imagery, music and
is very atmospheric while darkly comic. Zombie film buffs will love this
one. Not really for everyone though.
Well, that is it for this
week. I see I had a couple pretty known movies but the rest really
aren't so known so get out there. Please leave comments on what you like
and what you don't like and I will be back next week which will include
late director Claude Berri, Mickey Rourke, and Alan Rickman.
FUN LITTLE FACTS
Esther
Williams (Neptune's Daughter) was Sheila Brooks in ANDY HARDY'S DOUBLE
LIFE and Judy Garland (Wizard of Oz) was in many Andy Hardy films as his
friend Betsy Booth in a handful of Andy Hardy movies.
Judy
Garland (Wizard of Oz) played Esther Blodgett in the 1954 film A STAR IS
BORN and Barbra Streisand (Owl and the Pussycat) played the Esther
Hoffman Howard in the 1976 version of the film.
Margaret Hamilton
(Wizard of Oz), plays the Wicked Witch of the West in this week's
Feature and in 1974 she did the voice for Aunt Em in the 1974 animated
sequel JOURNEY BACK TO OZ
I was in a Muncie Civic Theater version
of THE WIZARD OF OZ where I was the Winkie General. It also included my
facebook and myspace friends Lindsey (Dorothy), Corey (Scarecrow), Ryan
(Tin Man), Marty (Cowardly lion), Lisa, Missy, Lauren, Katie, if I have
missed anyone my apologies.
Dennis Quaid (The Right Stuff) plays
Doc Holiday in the 1994 film WYATT EARP and Fred Ward (The Right Stuff)
was Doc Holiday's friend Wyatt Earp in FOUR EYES AND A SIX GUN
My facebook and myspace friend Doug Jones played Cesare in the 2005 remake of this week's feature THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI.
My
facebook and myspace friend Ashlee played Barbra Streisand (Owl and the
Pussycat) in a Mainstage Theater Production called BEEN THERE, SCENE
THAT which was a little variety show deal on tv nostalgia.
George
Segal (Owl and the Pussycat) plays Nick in the 1966 film WHO'S AFRAID
OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. My facebook and myspace friend Eric, who may be the
most frequently mentioned people in facebook friends, played the role in
an Anderson Mainstage Theater production.
No comments:
Post a Comment