Casablanca

The first time I saw Casablanca was when I was living with my Aunt June in Canada.  She loved classic movies and was appalled when she learned that I had reached the ripe old age of eighteen without having seen what she considered to be the greatest movie of all time.  She made me watch it forthwith (I watched a lot of classic movies with her that summer) and, of course, I loved it because it is all about sacrificing love for a higher purpose and that really appealed to my idealistic younger self.  It was interesting to have the opportunity to see it on the big screen yesterday as someone older and a little more cynical (this time I think Rick should have chosen love but I understand that his choice made him a more noble character).  Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a hard-drinking club owner who is only out for himself in Casablanca, a haven for European refugees desperate for exit visas to escape the Nazis during World War II.  He ably navigates the world of black marketeers, corrupt officials, and German officers until Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) walks into his club with her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a hero of the resistance who is in need of safe passage.  Ilsa was once Rick's lover in Paris but she abandoned him and, even though he has documents that will ensure safe passage for them, he is bitter and refuses to help.  Ilsa loves Rick but admires and respects Victor and will do anything to help him continue his work with the resistance.  Even though I knew the outcome, I still found the final scene to be filled with intrigue and suspense.  In fact, I found some of the scenes to be even more poignant the second time around.  When Ilsa sees Rick for the first time in his club, the expression on her face was even more heartbreaking to me because I knew her past with Rick and I knew the outcome.  My favorite scene is when Victor has the crowd sing the "Marseillaise" to drown out the German officers singing a drinking song.  It is so incredibly powerful and it made me understand Victor's appeal for Ilsa despite her love for Rick.  I really loved anticipating all of those famous lines, and there are a lot of them, but I think my favorite one is said by the corrupt prefect of police (Claude Rains):  "I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling going on here."  I laughed out loud!  Seeing this movie reminded me that today's actors don't have anything on the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains.  Bogart is so handsome and debonair in a dinner jacket and I was captivated by the way Rains smoked a cigarette.  Definitely try to see this brilliant movie on the big screen on Nov. 15 (go here for tickets).

The Princess Bride

Thanks to the TCM Big Screen Classics series I got to see The Princess Bride, one of my all-time favorite movies, on the big screen again yesterday.  What a treat!  It is being screened in select theaters in conjunction with its 30th anniversary and I loved every minute of it!  I actually had to stop myself from quoting every single line out loud!  The Princess Bride is a spoof of traditional fairy-tales that is full of romance, revenge, and swashbuckling adventure.  Buttercup (Robin Wright) falls in love with a farm boy (Cary Elwes) who goes away to seek his fortune but is presumed dead when the Dread Pirate Roberts attacks his ship.  Buttercup, in despair, agrees to marry the nefarious Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon).  Chaos ensues when Buttercup is kidnapped by Vezzini (Wallace Shawn), Fezzik (Andre the Giant), and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), who turn out to be agents of Prince Humperdinck, as a way to start a war with neighboring Guilder.  I love Christopher Guest as the six-fingered man, Billy Crystal as Miracle Max, and Peter Cook as the Impressive Clergyman.  In my opinion, this movie is practically perfect and I highly recommend that you see it on the big screen (go here for tickets).

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

September has been Spielberg month for me!  Earlier in the month I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind for its 40th Anniversary, a few weeks ago I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark with the score played live by the Utah Symphony, and I got to see E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (celebrating its 35th Anniversary) yesterday thanks to the TCM Big Screen Classics series.  Seeing this wonderful movie on the big screen once again was such a delight and I loved every minute of it.  I remember two things very distinctly when I saw this movie for the first time.  The design of the alien was keep very secret until the movie was released and I was so excited to see what E.T. looked like.  I thought he was adorable!  I also remember that my sister threw up during the movie and we always reminded her of this every time we watched our VHS copy of it!  The story of the relationship between an alien accidentally left on Earth and a lonely boy dealing with his parents' separation is so lovely.  There are so many fun and iconic moments in the movie that made me cheer once again (there were many kids in the audience seeing it for the first time who squealed with delight at these same scenes): when Elliott uses Reese's Pieces to lure E.T. out of the woods, when Gertie dresses him up, when Elliott releases all of the frogs at school, when E.T. first says "E.T. phone home," when Elliott's bicycle is lifted in the air on the way to the mountain, and when E.T.'s heart lights up after it appears that he has died.  While E.T. needs Elliott to help him get back home I think Elliott needs E.T. just as much and their goodbye at the end of the movie made me tear up just a little bit!  Like Close Encounters, this movie was just as magical as it was the first time I saw it on the big screen and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so again.

Some Like It Hot

Sunday afternoon I got to see Some Like It Hot for the first time on the big screen and it was an absolute hoot!  This makes two Marilyn Monroe comedies this month!  Two musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), go on the run after witnessing a mob hit in Chicago.  They disguise themselves as women, Josephine and Daphne, to join and all-female band engaged for six weeks at a hotel in Miami.  Once they get there, they face a new set of problems:  Joe falls for the vocalist in the band, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), and Jerry becomes the object of affection of millionaire Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown).  Chaos ensues, especially when the mobsters they are running from show up in Miami for a convention.  This is a typical Billy Wilder farce with lots of physical comedy and sharp and witty dialogue.  All three lead actors give fabulous performances and I was especially impressed, once again, with Marilyn Monroe.  I laughed out loud so many times and my favorite scenes were when Jerry as Daphne wonders why men like her because she isn't pretty, when Joe impersonates Cary Grant the heir to Shell Oil in order to woo Sugar, when Sugar sings "I Want to Be Loved by You," when Jerry as Daphne tells Joe that she is engaged, and when Jerry as Daphne does the tango with Osgood.  It is just so funny watching Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon try to act like women!  Now I know why it is considered to be one of the best comedies of all time!  You have another chance to see this on the big screen June 14.  Go here for details.

The Godfather

I have a confession.  Before last Sunday I had never seen The Godfather!  I know!  When I mentioned this to my movie buddies there was a stunned silence as if they couldn't believe it!  It is widely considered to be the greatest film in American cinema so when I found out that it was going to be screened as part of TCM's Big Screen Classics, I knew I had to get a ticket if for no other reason than to be able to say that I had finally seen it.  Now I know what I have been missing.  It is a masterpiece!  The plot centers on the Corleone family, particularly the relationship between Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the head of the family, and his youngest son Michael (Al Pacino).  Initially, Michael is a disinterested outsider but is drawn in after Vito is gunned down by a rival and eventually becomes the ruthless leader of the family.  I found the story to be utterly compelling and my attention never wavered during its three hour run time.  I was very impressed by the performances of Marlon Brando (who won the Oscar for the role), James Caan as the oldest son Santini, Robert Duvall as the consigliere to the Corleone family, and Diane Keaton as Michael's girlfriend and, later, wife.  However, it was a young (and extremely handsome) Al Pacino who absolutely captivated me by his intense portrayal of a man who becomes more and more hardened by events.  The scene in the restaurant, with a close-up shot on Michael's face as he decides to kill two of the family's rivals, is brilliant.  You can literally see the exact moment when Michael makes the decision.  I also found the christening scene to be fascinating with another close-up on Michael's face as he recites vows in a church while his associates assassinate the leaders of all of the rival crime families.  The juxtaposition is so jarring but effective!  I think what I appreciated most about this film is that, even though it is about organized crime and there are scenes of violence (there is that famous scene with a horse's head), it is not excessively gory and there is very little profanity.  I loved the use of light and shadow to convey a mood and the score is also incredibly atmospheric.  At the end of the film everyone in the packed theater applauaded enthusiastically because it is a masterpiece!  I am so glad that I got to see it on the big screen.

Note:  I found it amusing that Sofia Coppola played the baby being christened!  I am so looking forward to her film The Beguiled.

Smokey and the Bandit

Sunday afternoon I went to see the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit on the big screen thanks to the free tickets I won from Classic Movie Hub.  I actually remember watching it on the big screen when I was a kid, fueling an obsession with my Dad's CB radio (his handle was Grapevine) and warning fellow motorists about the smokeys on the highway.  It was so much fun to see it again!  The premise of this movie is that a wealthy Texas businessman (Pat McCormick) and his son (Paul Williams) want to serve Coors beer at one of their events in Georgia but it is illegal to sell it east of the Mississippi River.  They offer trucker Bo "Bandit" Darville (Burt Reynolds) $80,000 to haul 400 cases of Coors from Texas back to Georgia in 28 hours.  He accepts the challenge and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reid) to drive the truck while he drives the "blocker" (a sweet black Trans Am) to divert attention away from the truck.  On the way back to Georgia, Bandit stops to pick up a runaway bride (Sally Field) and, in doing so, he attracts the attention of Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), a sheriff in Texas and the father of the groom, who pursues him all the way to Georgia.  There are epic car chases and crashes as Justice's police cruiser gets more and more banged up.  This movie is incredibly dated (with hilarious costumes and hairstyles from the 1970s) and the acting is a bit over-the-top, but I thought it was an absolute hoot and I enjoyed hearing all of the CB jargon from my youth.  I laughed out loud so many times (at just about everything Jackie Gleason said) as did everyone in the theater.  It is being screened for its 40th Anniversary in select theaters as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series and I recommend it to anyone who remembers it fondly.

The Graduate

I was quite young and very inexperienced, to say the least, when I began my teaching career.  One of my colleagues in the English department basically took me under her wing and not only became a much-needed mentor but also became a good friend.  Often, on the weekends, she would invite me to her house for dinner and a movie.  She loved movies, especially classic movies, and she had an extensive collection.  Most of the time she would let me pick and one night I selected The Graduate because I hadn't seen it before.  I remember my 21-year-old self being completely blown away by this movie!  Aren't all 21-year-olds particularly susceptible to themes of alienation?  I loved this movie so much my friend let me borrow it and I think I kept it much longer than is considered polite.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to see it on the big screen for the first time and I have to say that I was just as blown away by this screening as I was the first time I saw it if not more so.  It is amazing to see these classic films on the big screen as the were meant to be seen!  An angst-ridden young man (Dustin Hoffman) has recently graduated from college and is at loose ends when he begins an affair with a lonely and disillusioned older woman (Anne Bancroft) and then realizes that he really loves her daughter (Katharine Ross).  Hoffman, Bancroft, and Ross give amazing performances (all three were nominated for Academy Awards) which definitely stand the test of time.  Mike Nichols is a genius (he won an Academy Award) and so many of his choices still seem brilliant to me such as Benjamin's nervous tics and whimpers in his initial interactions with Mrs. Robinson.  I love the music by Simon and Garfunkel.  In fact, to this day I cannot use a moving sidewalk in an airport without hearing "The Sound of Silence" in my head.  I highly recommend this brilliant film which is being screened in select theaters for its 50th Anniversary as part of the TMC's Big Screen Classics series.

North by Northwest

Yesterday I had the chance to see North By Northwest on the big screen again!  It is one of my very favorite movies so I couldn't pass up the chance to see it as it was meant to be seen one more time.  It is the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I remember watching (on PBS late at night when I was in high school) and I think it is a great introduction to Hitchcock because it is a stylish and suspenseful action thriller with Cold War intrigue that is highly entertaining.  Cary Grant is Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue ad executive, who is inadvertently mistaken for George Kaplan, a nonexistent CIA agent created to protect a real agent in pursuit of a spy seeking to smuggle microfilm out of the country.  Eva Marie Saint is Eve Kendall, the requisite icy blonde who helps Thornhill elude the police.  In my opinion, almost every scene in this movie is absolutely iconic, including the kinetic typography in the opening credits, the drunken car chase along a winding coastal highway, the crop duster attack on a lonely prairie highway, and the final confrontation on top of Mount Rushmore.  I look forward to each of these scenes with anticipation.  I love all of the locations in this film:  the Plaza Hotel, the mansion in Glen Cove, the U.N. General Assembly Building, Grand Central Station, the cafeteria at Mount Rushmore, and the house inspired by architect Frank Loyd Wright.  The costumes are fabulous, especially the grey suit worn by Cary Grant through most of the movie, and those worm by Eva Marie Saint, which, apparently, she selected at Bergdorf Goodman.  I love the characters and I find Roger Thornhill to be the very definition of suave and sophisticated (all men should try to be more like Cary Grant).  The witty banter between Roger and Eve is so much fun.  Finally, the score by Bernard Herrmann, who scored many of Hitchcock's movies, is quite stirring and adds much to the suspense.  I love this movie so much!

Note:  It was screened as part of TMC's Big Screen Classics series.  Go here for more information about the upcoming movies in the series.  I am really looking forward to quite a few of them!