Black and Whites November 10, 2009

So recently I watched Street Car Named Desire. I was thinking of making that my movie pick for Louisiana for a couple of reasons; for one it’s a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tennessee Williams and as a general rule I like movies adapted from plays; case and point To Kill a Mockingbird. I love To Kill a Mockingbird. I know it was a book long before it was a play but it was a play long before it was a movie so there. Also, I had never seen a Marlon Brando movie and most importantly at the moment I have no desire to see The Big Easy which is what’s on the list for Louisiana. 

As I work my way down the list I have decided to really give the classic black and whites a try. I am not usually a big fan of the black and white film however, there are a whole list of actors that supposedly have done there best work in black and white films long before things were shot in Technicolor. Also, there are a whole list of classic films that you are just supposed to see and Streetcar Named Desire is one of those films. Here’s the problem: I hated Streetcar Named Desire. It was boring, long and drawn out and nothing happened. Maybe I just wasn’t smart enough to get it-to see what everyone loved about it. Maybe it is better in the theater format-I don’t know. If Streetcar has one saving grace it is Marlon Brando. God rest his soul he’s dead now but back in the day Brando had to be the Brad Pitt of his time. Not only was he handsome but a pretty good actor too. To summarize I hated the movie but loved Marlon Brando.

This got me thinking about black and white films and actors and movies that I do like and things I would recommend for other people to see. Here’s what I came up with; I love Carey Grant and Jimmy Stewart.

Here are my three favorite black and white films of all time:

1. It’s A Wonderful Life

 

An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1101988121/

 

2. People Will Talk

Successful and well-liked, Dr. Noah Praetorius becomes the victim of a witch-hunt at the hands of Professor Elwell, who disdains Praetorius’s unorthodox medical views and also questions his relationship with the mysterious, ever-present Mr. Shunderson. Fuel is added to the fire when Praetorius befriends young Deborah Higgins, who has become suicidal at the prospect of having a baby by a lover who has left her.

3. The Bishops Wife

 

A bishop trying to get a new cathedral built prays for guidance. An angel (Cary Grant) arrives, but his guidance isn’t about fundraising.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2106523929/ If you haven’t seen these I highly recommend them.

American Movie November 6, 2009

The movie for Wisconsin is American Movie.

This is the best trailer for a movie I think I’ve ever seen-it just sums up the film so well!

I love documentary films. I think watching real people telling their stories is just so much better than anything anybody could ever write in a movie. There are a couple of documentaries on the list but I was really looking forward to seeing American Movie and it did not disappoint me.

Here’s the basic plot:

With the help of his mother, his 82-year old uncle, and a local cast of hilarious and lovable characters, filmmaker Mark Borchardt fights his way through internal and external roadblocks to achieve his goal–to make his movie, his way.  Mark’s vision for his dream film is unlike most in independent filmmaking today. His inspiration comes from films as disparate as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Seventh Seal, as well as his experiences growing up amidst the grey skies, rusty cars, and ranch houses of Milwaukee’s Northwest side.

So here’s what I think, Mark Borchardt is just a guy who delivers newspapers and works as a grounds keeper of the cemetary but his ultimate goal is to make the best short horror film ever. He works for years, has no budget for the film, recruits all his friends and family to work as cast and crew and spends every waking minute trying to make his dream reality. The end result is Coven, a black and white horror film masterpiece and an instant cult classic. Yes, American Movie is a documentary about a guy’s dream to make a film at any cost but it’s also about how much Mark Borchardt’s friends and family love him. They are this colorful group of people that will do anything to help him because they beleive in him and that’s why I love this film.

Here are some web sites related to this film you should check out:

www.americanmovie.com

www.mikeschanksworld.com

Here is another great documentary recommendation:

Crazy Love

This documentary from director Dan Clores chronicles the disturbing true story of an obsessive relationship gone awry in 1950s New York between Burt Pugacha married lawyer, and his twentysomething mistress, Linda Riss. In a shocking reversal of the traditional “woman scorned” formula, it was Pugach who came unglued when Riss broke up with him and the subsequent fallout made headlines across the country.

I wont spoil it for you but this one is a crazy real life love story and if you like documentaries you will love this story.

Giant November 2, 2009

The movie for Texas is GIANT.

 

Plot Summary:

Ambitious Texas-style scale epic that traces the rising and falling fortunes of two generations of Texans. Miscegenation, moral dissipation, racism, the oppression of women….a variety of topics are brought forth during the film’s 201-minute running time. The core of the film is actually the relationship between Bick Benedict and his wife Leslie. It is through them that we follow the film’s themes of generation, conflict and social change. However, it is Jett Rink whom audiences remember, particularly in the early scenes when he is striding out on his small piece of land or when he comes to tell Benedict that “my well came in big.” He puts his oily hand on one of the white columns of Benedict’s porch and, unemphatically crystallizes the theme of the film – the muddy thumb prints of materialism on the pillars of elegance and the coming of conflict between the aristocracy and the nouveau riche. “You should have shot that fella a long time ago,” a friend says to Benedict about Jett Rink. “Now he’s too rich to kill.”

Here is the cast:

Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Benedict

Rock Hudson as Jordan “Bick” Benedict Jr.

James Dean as Jett Rink

Carroll Baker as Luz Benedict II

Jane Withers as Vashti Snythe

Chill Wills as Uncle Bawley

Mercedes McCambridge as Luz Benedict

Dennis Hopper as Jordan Benedict III

Sal Mineo as Angel Obregon II

Rod Taylor as Sir David Karfrey

Earl Holliman as “Bob” Dace

Paul Fix as Dr. Horace Lynnton

Judith Evelyn as Mrs. Nancy Lynnton

Fran Bennett as Judy Benedict

Elsa Cárdenas as Juana Guerra Benedict

I was so looking forward to this movie for a couple of reasons, for one I had never seen a James Dean or Elizabeth Taylor movie before. Two I have come to realize that old movies are great in a different kind of way, the story lines are more subtle. Love is shown without sex and violence is never a special affect but an important part of a story line. So much can be said with a look or lighting in a scene. I love a movie with a plot, good dialogue, characters you care about so I had high hopes for Giant.

In so many ways I can see why this is a classic movie. It is an epic movie 207 minutes long and it covers the story of generations of one family in Texas. It’s a love story between Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. It is a movie about race relations; class war fare between Texans and Mexicans. It’s a movie about old money vs. new money; cattle men vs. oil men and the older generations ways of thinking vs. the new generations ideals.

I love Elizabeth Taylor in this movie, her character really stands out on screen. There is a scene where she steals the movie for me; it’s her speech about the men being cavemen and the adults putting the babies to bed. She should have gotten the Rock Hudson pimp hand for that speech and I just loved it.

I did not love James Dean in this, I just didn’t see the greatness that everyone talks about. This was James Deans last movie role and he was nominated for an Academy Award for this film. He died in a car wreck shortly after filming. And I would say he is a good actor in this but not great. I’m not giving up on James Dean yet though I’ve put Rebel Without A Cause on my Netflix list and I will not past judgement until I have seen at least one more James Dean movie.

I’m not sure this movie paints Texas in a very flattering light. It kind of makes Texans out to all be racist money grubber red neck idiots which I know is not always true. I tried to keep in mind that this movie was shot in 1956 and that was just a different time. I do recommend Giant if you are in the mood for a classic film and have 207 minutes to kill.

Here are my other movie recommendations for Texas:

The Legend of Bille Jean

Average Texas teen, Billie Jean Davy, is caught up in an odd fight for justice. She is usually followed and harrased around by local boys, who, one day, decide to trash her brother’s scooter for fun. The boys’ father refuses to pay them back the price of the scooter. The fight for “fair is fair” takes the teens around the state and produces an unlikely hero.