Just having debates with myself and discussing movies and shows with Chrisanne, Mitchell, and Eric. Have I written about Eric Holt yet? I will.

Chrisanne and I saw "Broadway Legends" not too long ago, and marveled at the careers of some of the finest screen actors and how they got their start. Mitchell and Eric and I just got finished watching "Party Monster" and Eric commented before we flipped in the tape, that his friends walked out of this film. I thought about that as we sat and watched Macaulley Caulkin and Seth Green give wonderful, interesting, an innovative performnaces in a film that wasn't a classic, but that I certainly wouldn't have walked out of. Well, one person's classic is another person's bathroom break, I guess. Then, about a week or so ago, Sheila (Blogger Goddess) had the 50 greatest movies of all time posted on her Blog, and so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. I love movies, and having made...oh, let's see...ONE, I can honestly say it's a fascinating and extremely difficult medium. Very, very different than the stage. So I have total respect for the craft, but let's face it, sometimes they work, and sometimes they're Madonna's. My list is in no particular order, and will sometimes veer more into the performances than the actual film, but hey- it's my list.

Let me know what you think.





1) THE WIZARD OF OZ

I thought I might as well just get this one over with. Not only does this hold a personal place in my life, but it's arguably the best film ever made. Having memories of sitting on the edge of the bed, with my feet dangling over the edge, eating a TV dinner next to my Mom, and clutching on to her when the flying monkeys swoop in to capture Dorothy is something I treasure. Before the invention of the VCR you had to wait an entire year before you could see this. Even now, I won't put this movie in at random, it has to be a very special time for me. I usually wait until Christmas, because the film has so much hope, and heart to it, it reminds me what to really look for. Everything I have, everything I own, or want, or need, is usually right under my nose. I wanted to marry the perfect mate and spend my life with someone that was not only a partner, but a soulmate. That was Chrisanne. I searched, and searched, and went through the ringer only to find she had been standing next to me for almost 20 years. Magic.

As a film, it was the first to use black and white and color as an accent not just as a device. When we see the dreary, dull, and grey Kansas that Dorothy's stuck in, we realize her yearning for going over the rainbow is true and feasible. Then she opens the door, the film changes to spectacular color, and we are transported to a place beyond imagination. This effect has rarely been duplicated.

Then ofcourse there's the magnificent performance by 16 year old Judy Garland. This movie catapulted her into an International celebrity, and begat a marriage between singer and song that has reached iconic proportions. You don't think of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and not think of Judy Garland. How many times can you say that about a singer?

A true classic.

*Oz Side Note: "Rainbow" was almost cut out completely, because the producers thought the film was too long, and it wasn't glamorous to see an MG start sing in a barnyard.



2) GONE WITH THE WIND

Well, if I'm going to name one blockbuster, I might as well name the other one that came out that same year. Chrisanne and I had the unbelievable thrill of seeing this in the movie theatre on the big screen. No, we're not that old, they happen to release it a couple of years ago, and we ran (almost skated) to the Century theatre. The funny thing was, that when Gable gets his first close up, as Leigh comes down those infamous stairs, every woman in the audience (including Chrisanne and myself) AUDIBLY gasped. Then ofcourse, we giggled. Like school girls. None of us could believe, being 21st century women, independent, self assured, reliable, responsible humans, that when we saw "Clark Gable" The Movie Star, all that went right out the collective window. Yup. We swooned.

This is truly one of the first epics ever made. It never feels long to me, and it's a film that holds so much pride, and honor in it. It's directed by a man's man, but for some reason, seems light and sweet at times. Gable is charisma plus, and then ofcourse there's Vivian Leigh at her electrifying best. I have to say, I have a soft place in heart for the always lady like, and unconventional Olivia DeHavilland. She is touching and self assured, never once robbing Melanie of the sugary sweetness she needs to have, yet instilling a brain and an intellect in her that defined who she was. The movie was a mega hit, and is rich in Southern style, and direct story telling. Although it does turn off into a war story on occasion, it never loses sight of what it really is, a gigantic love story between two people who are undoubtedly made for each other.



3) ALL ABOUT EVE

Without question the best movie about the stage on film. How many nouns are in that sentence? Also- John Mercurio's favorite film. I would quote it for him constantly during Diva rehearsals. One day, I'll do the entire Marilyn scene for him, and he may give me a prize. I hope it's edible. Very rarely do films have a dialog that is fast paced yet provocative in it's style and wit, and this one certainly has it. It shows a dark side to what makes actors do what they do, and why people fall into the trap of what fame can be. There's is an intense quality to the film that resonates throughout, and it never once becomes preachy or tired. To this day it crackles and spits fire.....well, Fire and Music, actually.

Then we have the two Dames who define the word Dames: Ann Baxter and Bette Davis. There's no getting around Davis. Try as you might, you cannot find your way out of her shadow in this flick. And she knows it. By the end of the movie the scenery has huge holes in it from being chewed up so badly. Baxter is ofcourse quietly, and stealthily intense. Her seething Eve is a revelation and an unforgiving role, but we love her for it. Just when you're rooting for her, she whips out the pin sharp knife, and let's you have it right between the who-ha's. And I couldn't leave out Celste Holm, or the monstrously talented George Saunders (Oscar winner), and the luminous Marilyn Monroe.

*Eve Side Note: Davis was so struck by Monroe's beauty that she knew when Marilyn appeared in a scene with her, that she'd immediately be knocked off. The scene where Monroe was to come into Davis' house for a cocktail party was blocked having Bette center, Saunders to the right and Monroe to the left. Bette demanded Marilyn take center shot: "If I don't, who the HELL will look at me anyway!" Very generous of a star of that quality at that time in her career. It gave Marilyn the boost she desperately needed.



4) SOPHIE'S CHOICE

I thought I'd mix it up a little here. This is only the beginning of what I'm sure will be a Meryl Streep tribute, but I'll try and stick to my reasons for liking the films as well. There are many great movies made about the Holocaust and the survivors and the millions we lost, and this one not only contains unbelievable film making but one the greatest tour de forces by any American actress. Well...I tried. I made it almost 3 lines before I talked about The Streep. The movies not only weaves in and out of the horrors of that war, but the horrors of the people in it, and what happens afterward. The struggle of the three fractured people in the center of their own Holocaust, and the choices they must all make, culminate into a modern day classic. It's seemless in it's story telling, and never gets sloppy or sudsy.

Then there's Kline who is literally on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and Streep who is, without question, the actress of our generation. Her performance is perfection.

*Sophie Side Note: The scene with the gold watch was improvised by Streep and Kline. Watch it again. Genius.



5) TRUE GRIT

Now, I know how odd this may seem for ME to put this on a list of the greatest movies, but I really believe it belongs here. Needless to say, westerns are not my cup of tea. I'm not an outdoorsey Lass, to say the least, but when they have this much insight and this much excitement, I'm all for them. True Grit makes you care about Rooster and what he's like, and more importantly, WHY he's doing what he's doing. My problem with most westerns is that we go from meeting the good guy, meeting the bad guy, meeting the blonde girl, meeting the harlett (starring Alexandra Billings), and then killing them all off, with Good Guy and Good Girl trotting off into the sunset. I couldn't care less. I always leave those films thinking: "But....why? What was wrong with the Harlett?" True Grit takes us into the phsyce of the old, washed up Sheriff and his last battle between good and evil. Although shot by shot, it certainly is an undeniable western, at times, you could swear you were peeking into the window of Rooster's life.

John Wayne has never impressed me as an actor, and to his credit, he never impressed himself either. He never claimed to be anything other than what he was: A lucky cowboy. But in this, he is wonderful. He fills each moment with a truth and a wisdom that can only come from 3 decades on the screen. He took some real chances with this role, and I appreciated all of them.

*Grit Side Note: "Fill your hands you Sonofabitch!" was improvised by Wayne himself.



6) SINGIN IN THE RAIN

Well, come one. I mean really. Do I have to? We don't need a big manifesto about this, do we? Ah well...what the heck? The best musical ever filmed. It's creative, sparkling, has exquisite dance sequences, and a moment by the brilliant Donald O'Conner that to this day, is the funniest dance recorded. Gene Kelly's masterful tale of what happens when talkies invade the silent screen era is a gem. Most musicals, up until that time, were becoming tired and worn. They simply showed number after number after number with very little (if any) plot to fill in the blanks. Kelly's idea to attach a real story with over the top characters (played by over the top actors) was inspired and became a wonderful marriage. It's still as fresh today as it was 30 years ago.

*Rain Side Note: Debbie Reynolds once said in an interview that Gene Kelly rehearsed "Good Mornin'" so many times, her feet were literally bleeding in her shoes by the time they actually did the first take.



7) HALLOWEEN

To me, still the most frightening slasher flick. Although, the interesting thing is, there is little to no blood in this movie, You can't really categorize it in the "slasher" domain, because no one really gets hacked to pieces. Carpenter's bizarre tale starts with a brutal murder, and through the rest of the movie, we never get an answer as to why. It's mortifying. The driving and incessant beat of the music, the constant long shots of the killer in the mask, and the use of primal fear instead of blood and gore adds up to more of a thriller than a slasher film. It begat many copycats, but nothing has frightened people more than Curtis in the closet as the killers arm thrashes about wildly, knife in hand. Terrifying.

Jamie Lee is fully aware she's not doing Shakespeare. She's one of my favorite actresses, and she played it smart. She was direct and composed until the big chase at the end when she was able to scream her head off. It served her well. Although she became known as The Scream Queen for a while, she soon proved she had come from good stock. Her parents were the recently deceased Janet Leigh and the underrated Tony Curtis.

*Halloween Side Note: The mask the killer wears is a Captain Kirk Halloween mask bought by John Carpenter at a local Walgreens the day before filming.



8)THE BELLBOY

I may get hostile letters about this, but I don't care. I'm one of the few Americans who think Jerry Lewis can be funny. I don't think he's ALWAYS funny, but I think he CAN be. Now that I've officially qualified my feelings here, this movie of his (I believe his directorial debut) is truly wonderful. If you can look past the bits, and the gags (although there are some brilliant ones) and give credit to a man who was years ahead of his time as a film maker, you can see the art in this particular comedy. For one thing, not one word is spoken in 2 hours. The film takes place is a fancy Hotel, and centers around the day of an usually clumsy (color me surprised) bellboy. Lewis uses innovative camera angles to set up what would be, a routine pit-in-the-face comedy, by for instance, shooting horizontally, or from above the actors, or across the lobby from the action. It takes you by surprise, and the fact that it's shot all in black and white, and no one ever speaks a word is a testament to the kind of clown he was. The ending has a bit of a jolt as well. Maybe not THE greatest comedy ever made, but certainly one of th bravest.

*Bellboy Side Note: Lewis sold his house to pay for this one. He never recouped his money,or his house.



9) CRUMB

In all fairness, I can't tell if it's the subject matter of this one, or the actual film itself. Being a documentary I can't really rely on the acting, and there was no real script,so perhaps what struck me about this was the twisted, obsessive. sometimes terrifying world we were drawn into. Having never been a comics reader, I didn't know much about Crumb, or his life, or his phsycological insanity. This was a deep, and introspective journey into madness, and I was riveted. It never made me feel as if he was being exploited, and maybe that's saying something about the film itself. It could have easily turned into a pitiful plea for acceptance or aggrandizement. It just painted the picture, and we left with our own conclusions. Wonderful and deeply disturbing.



10) WHAT'S UP DOC?

There are comedies, and then there's this. It's insane, unpredictable, outrageous, hilarious, and above all, has a smart, vivacious script that's rare in funny movies. We have mistaken identity, mistaken bags, mistaken jewels, and a car chase to end all car chases culminating in a river with a Chineese dragon. The wonderful ting (and there are too many to mention) is that every moment of this movie is believable. By the end, after all is said and done, you can truly imagine how you got where you got. There's never a false moment. Where a film like this could have gone too far over the top, this one reaches the top, and then slides back down. The shot of Streisand walking across the street and the 3 car pile she causes is a masterful use of camera angles and slick timing. It also, in one shot with no words, defines a character: the mark of a great director at the height of his powers.

The there's the delectable Ryan O'Neil doing his level best to remain the straight guy to Streisand's wildly impulsive and inventively hilarious clown. Together they are reminiscent of some the great comedy teams of the 30's and 40's. O'Neal's never been more in control as an actor, and Streisand is brilliantly funny, but never loses sight of where the heart of her character truly lies. But I must say, in her film debut, it is Madeline Kahn that outshines practically everyone on screen. She is at once outrageous and bizarre, and simultaneously sincere and heart breaking. Her chat with her betrothed (O'Neal) in her hotel room before the big banquet as she stands in her turquoise moo-moo is comedy at it's finest. She is a marvel.

*Doc Side Note: Streisand was terrified throughout filming. She kept asking Ryan O'Neal every time a scene was completed: "Is this funny? Are you sure we're funny?"




.....................to be continued.