I guess it was around the time of the obvious ‘Me Too’ deflection/conflation that I parted ways with Hollywood, though the drift had been happening for a while.
Before I really woke up to, or could no longer push aside, things I’d read about the evils of the studio system and the idea of cinema as programming for nefarious purposes, I used to like to think of myself a bit of a ‘movie buff’.
I remember a childhood punctuated by Friday nights learning the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ catalogue with my mother. With my sister it was Saturday afternoon Elvis movie sessions, and Barbie doll games for which I sort of fancied myself as ‘director of stories’ (as well as set designer, costume designer, scriptwriter…what a bossy little pain I must’ve been!).
I might have chosen a perfectly respectable complete works of Shakespeare for school prize one year but the next I tossed aside any academic pretensions and snaffled a brazenfaced ‘hundred best movies’ book.
And later, as an adult, it seemed natural enough to be known as someone who might be interested in seeing that quirky new arthouse film.
Always I dreaded the cliche question, “What’s your favourite movie?” Sure, it’s understandable that people ask it to get some insight into your taste, but how to pick a favourite out of so many works you’ve enjoyed, in so many different genres? And should you have to anyway? So, a thread about some favourites – films, scenes, characters, soundtracks etc.
When forced to pick a favourite movie, I would usually, reluctantly, offer up… Tootsie … bracing myself for the slightly quizzical reaction of those unenlightened souls who thought of it as just another silly ‘men in drag’ frolic. (I’ve since wondered myself about the possible programming aspect of the ‘drag’ thing, but that’s perhaps a topic for another thread.)
No, no, you don’t understand. It’s not about the hilarious dress-up angle or even the fascinating precision of Dustin Hoffman’s imitation of female mannerisms so much as the rapid-fire witty dialogue reminiscent of the ‘Golden Age’; Bill Murray’s deadpan delivery; Teri Garr’s tantrums; the unlikely and surprisingly touching friendship-turning-into-love between Dustin Hoffman’s character and Jessica Lange’s, made possible for him not by ‘becoming a woman’ but by seeing the world through her eyes; the artistic struggle; the scenes of New York, and the contrast with life on the farm upstate (another question for another thread – were we meant to absorb a subtle mocking of the ‘simple farm life’ and traditional relationships?) …above all, the humour throughout (and yet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAat-T1uhE maintained it wasn’t a comedy for him).
“Tootsie” is the kind of Movie with a capital M that they used to make in the 1940s, when they weren’t afraid to mix up absurdity with seriousness, social comment with farce, and a little heartfelt tenderness right in there with the laughs. This movie gets you coming and going.
“New York is a coast too.”
…
“I will not get sucked into this conversation, Michael. I will not.” [Sounds a bit like “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not.”]
…
“Nobody wants to pay twenty dollars to watch people living next to chemical waste; they can see that in New Jersey!”
…
“Bulls are bulls, and roosters don’t try to lay eggs.” [cf. “How do you define a woman?”… *crickets*]
…
“People got it all wrong, you know? They say your health is the most important thing but I can lift this house off the ground – what good is it? Being with someone, sharing – that’s what it’s all about.” [cf. “Stay apart to stay together”]
… With Hollywood so overwhelmingly Jewish, the consequences were hardly surprising, and a huge cinematic genre soon developed. According to Finkelstein, Hollywood produced some 180 Holocaust films just during the years 1989-2004. Even the very partial subset of Holocaust films listed on Wikipedia has grown enormously long, but fortunately the Movie Database has winnowed down the catalog by providing a list of the 50 Most Moving Holocaust Films …
… Some 2% of Americans have a Jewish background, while perhaps 95% possess Christian roots, but the Wikipedia list of Christian films seems rather scanty and rudimentary by comparison. Very few of those films were ever widely released, and the selection is stretched to even include The Chronicles of Narnia, which contains no mention of Christianity whatsoever. One of the very few prominent exceptions on the list is Mel Gibson’s 2004 The Passion of the Christ, which he was forced to personally self-fund. And despite the enormous financial success of that movie, one of the most highly profitable domestic releases of all time, the project rendered Gibson a hugely vilified pariah in the industry over which he had once reigned as its biggest star, especially after word got around that his own father was a Holocaust Denier.
I saw it with my mother, and remember it seeming like a kind of ‘beautiful ordeal’- a very different viewing experience from Tootsie! – which I guess is fitting. Giving it four stars also, Roger Ebert noted how far the concept of ‘passion’ has strayed from its original meaning:
Although the word passion has become mixed up with romance, its Latin origins refer to suffering and pain; later Christian theology broadened that to include Christ’s love for mankind, which made him willing to suffer and die for us…This is the most violent film I have ever seen…It is clear that Mel Gibson wanted to make graphic and inescapable the price that Jesus paid (as Christians believe) when he died for our sins…What Gibson has provided for me, for the first time in my life, is a visceral idea of what the Passion consisted of.
On the accusations of ‘antisemitism’:
My own feeling is that Gibson’s film is not anti-Semitic, but reflects a range of behavior on the part of its Jewish characters, on balance favorably. The Jews who seem to desire Jesus’ death are in the priesthood, and have political as well as theological reasons for acting; like today’s Catholic bishops who were slow to condemn abusive priests, Protestant TV preachers who confuse religion with politics, or Muslim clerics who are silent on terrorism, they have an investment in their positions and authority. The other Jews seen in the film are viewed positively; Simon helps Jesus to carry the cross, Veronica brings a cloth to wipe his face, Jews in the crowd cry out against his torture.
He notes the rare personal commitment involved too:
The filmmaker has put his artistry and fortune at the service of his conviction and belief, and that doesn’t happen often.
Thanks, kaysee, and for setting it up with the cute graphics in the header! It is interesting to revisit old movies from an ‘awake’ perspective, still appreciating the beauty, humour, drama etc, but more alert to the social conditioning involved.
Tootsie was fun (putting aside the possible feminisation-of-men programming aspect) but, going back a bit further, there were characters who embodied some of the masculine qualities many women appreciate and admire as so wonderfully and necessarily complementary to our own (generalising, of course): physical courage and ability (possible ‘non-Hollywood movie’ idea: the story of the husband a woman never met, as he died too young in some futile war?); the instinct to provide and protect (wife, children, family, a helpless stranger); unflappability – that beautiful, steadying calmness to counter a female sensitivity and predisposition to anxiety (‘wiring’ for looking out for children?) …
My mother fancied Robert Mitchum in movies, other people loved John Wayne… Kaysee, you shared a classic clip of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
It does seem unusual to celebrate masculinity nowadays, doesn’t it? Funny – or tragic – when the complementarity of man and woman has been known since Eve was created as companion and helper to Adam, as that lovely quote goes:
The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.
Interesting to read that he was the actor Roger Ebert named as favourite, even though he shared my reluctance to choose:
All week people have been asking me who I liked better–Jimmy Stewart or Robert Mitchum? I wouldn’t play the game. They were both one of a kind. Each had a style, a grace, a bearing, a voice, a face, a walk, that was unmistakable and irreplaceable. To be forced to choose between them simply because of the unhappy coincidence of their deaths is meaningless. Who would you choose: John Wayne, or Jimmy Cagney? Bette Davis, or Marilyn Monroe. See what I mean?
…
Robert Mitchum was my favorite movie star because he represented, for me, the impenetrable mystery of the movies. He knew the inside story. With his deep, laconic voice and his long face and those famous weary eyes, he was the kind of guy you’d picture in a saloon at closing time, waiting for someone to walk in through the door and break his heart.
The point about Christians not having much of an ‘ownership stake’ in the films that have shaped and continue to shape popular culture is a good one, worth exploring, as you become more aware of all the examples of a ‘watering down’, a subtle mocking and undermining of Christian values in the films that do enjoy huge financial backing and industry support…There is power in storytelling, and a sly oppression in a people’s stories being ‘told against them’…
The cinema was considered a form of entertainment. You want to wind down at the end of the day or week and escape into another world.
You pick a genre: drama, action, fantasy, comedy, sci-fi, horror, western, musical, documentary.
And the popcorn.
Then switch off for a few hours of thrills, fantasy, knowledge, humour or self-inflicted Dracula horror.
Now we discover that it may not have been as simple as we thought. What do we do?
We have to find what is worth enjoying and avoid the ones we do not want to support. There are still actors, producers, directors and studio with values – past and present so we do not lose our sources of relaxation and get put off by the entire industry.
I can’t say that I enjoy guns and shooting (Bang! Bang!), cowboys and horses, for my relaxation. So I wouldn’t find this thrilling, if not for the music.
1966
What the movie included is this musical score composed by Ennio Morricone,
For this scene (Main Theme) in the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I posted this last month:
Over 50 years later, the same movie theme is played by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, at a Live Concert. The Wild West on a stage in Copenhagen, Denmark.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
A short documentary about the filming of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” including interviews with producer Richard Shepherd, director Blake Edwards, and partygoers Miriam Nelson and Fay McKenzie, among others.
Thank you for this. Just seeing the title made me smile. And then the interviews, seeming to sort of answer the start of the thread in a way.
George Peppard tapping away at his typewriter and then smiling softly down at Audrey Hepburn singing Moon River … “Hi.”… The two of them with rescued cat in the rain…
Made me think of another great romantic film reunion too – My Fair Lady
Maybe it’s just as well it’s nearly time to move on from this thread! I can see us easily getting stuck on the romance genre (I used to love ‘action’ movies too – and other genres, apart from comedy – but lately there’s more than enough of that in the ‘news’!)
Ten years ago, I read that Kiera Knightley was being cast as Elizabeth Bennett in the new film version of Pride and Prejudice. I had never heard of her but when I saw photos of her, I couldn’t see her in that role.
1995 BBC miniseries
Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Far closer to what one imagines when reading the book than the Matthew MacFadyen and Kiera Knightley 2005 film.
Set aside the romance part. There is more to the film (which is based on the book). Some of the commenters have analysed that scene and cast their verdict.
– My boy Darcy being an introverted social disaster before it was cool. Respect bro.
– This is one of the greatest, most satisfying resolutions in literature. Darcy is a true class act. He doesn’t use his actions as leverage to “convince” Elizabeth to accept him. He tells her plainly he still cares and asks if they have a chance. Elizabeth is great, too. Both of them are proud, good people but humble enough to own their mistakes and forgive each other. They deserve their happiness.
– To everyone who thinks there’s no emotion or chemistry in this (the BEST) version: You’re wrong. Kissing, hugging, and touching aren’t the only ways to show love. There’s body language, and it speaks volumes here. Look at his eyes when she declares her feelings…if that’s not a man in love I don’t know what is. Darcy and Elizabeth barely touch through the series, but the looks they give each other could melt steel. Now that’s some fine acting, and no other version even comes close
– The restraint shown by both of them is historically correct. They didn’t fall into each other’s arms and kiss passionately certainly not in public. This is where the 2005 version gets it wrong
– i love how there isn’t some overly dramatic declaration of love, the proposal is kept sweet an simple, literally how it would have been back then
– This scene is perfect in its simplicity! It captures the book and it just goes to show how much can be said without saying anything between people in love!
– I love how lowkey this moment is. The awkward silences, the side glances, the lack of music through most of the scene. It’s just… relatable! 😀
– If only we could bring Miss Austen forward in time so she could see her characters on the screen. She would be amazed and delighted.
One of the best things about movies is that they come in all shapes and sizes, with something for audiences both young and old, near and far, and here and there. Over the years, Best Picture winners have consisted of all kinds of genres ranging from dramas to musicals, biopics to comedies, and so much more.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about just some of the countless different genres, stick around. Let’s break down 32 different genres and an example of a movie that belongs to each.
1995 BBC miniseries
Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Far closer to what one imagines when reading the book than the Matthew MacFadyen and Kiera Knightley 2005 film.
I agree! The best version. I remember being quietly pleased when my sister said she thought I looked like Jennifer Ehle’s “Lizzie” at a wedding not long after the miniseries aired. I really did feel an affinity with the character, as I guess a lot of girls did, and do. And I loved that miniseries. I remember the simple happiness of hearing the music each week and knowing it was about to start – time to settle in for more of the story.
I truly find that, with everything going on in the world, I’m no longer interested in the other genres that used to interest me – they’re no longer ‘entertainment’ or a break from the ‘news’, which defeats the purpose of the Muse Room! 🙂 – so I would have to leave them to someone else to cover. Comedy, and drama – with or without romance, but without anything too much like the ‘news’ – is about all I’m good for now!
Not sure exactly why this one… maybe for the ‘escape’ (from the news etc) of the wide, open spaces… for the horses, a realistically aging Robert Redford, the idea of being a ‘horse whisperer’, the healing from trauma – human and animal… the not giving up on a traumatized, ‘uncontrollable’ creature… the idea of people ‘belonging’ to a place, city or country or wherever… On reflection, they’ve made a lot of movies like this – a bit slow, full of frustrated emotion… maybe that’s why I thought I liked comedy best!
Professor Higgins would have a tough time in 2024 trying to identify where people come from by their accents. And that is just those speaking some form of “English”.
Not under this name, kaysee. So there’s another “Esme”, then?
I recall seeing the name “Esme” on Sinc’s blog and thought you were the same person. If that was not you, it means that was someone else going by that name.
A long, long time ago I did post here, for a while, when it was Sinclair Davidson’s. I didn’t know him or any of the commenters, though, and didn’t handle the ‘rough and tumble’ of it too well!
“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”
A great quote. “…as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”
🙂
A long, long time ago I did post here, for a while, when it was Sinclair Davidson’s. I didn’t know him or any of the commenters, though, and didn’t handle the ‘rough and tumble’ of it too well!
Esme, though this blog looks similar to Sinclair’s blog, it is a different one. When Sinc announced that he would be closing his blog, Adam set up this one. As there wasn’t much time, the old blog was used to create this new one and have it up and running before the other one shut down.
I didn’t know you then, but I do remember occasionally seeing your name, as a commenter on Sinc’s blog.
Esme, though this blog looks similar to Sinclair’s blog, it is a different one.
It is quite different, yes.
I do remember occasionally seeing your name
It’s not my real name. (I’d like for you to use my real name, but…) Silly, isn’t it, or tragic, that we should feel the need to adopt pseudonyms to share our thoughts on these platforms. A small, Frenchish name (or Persian…or…) suitable for our modern-day version of “The Resistance”, such as it is (and how real was the ‘original’, or any of the ‘history’ we’ve been allowed to read, encouraged to learn as true? They’ve lied about so much). The “Freedom Movement” is neither very ‘free’ nor really ‘moving’ anywhere.
Like many people, no doubt, I haven’t ‘gotten over’ what they did, have done to us, which they continue to ‘play down’, project, deflect, pretend didn’t happen, isn’t happening – and about which none of the loud voices speak .
I know as a Christian I’m called to forgive. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” But it’s an everyday challenge, walking among the guilty and unrepentant, and the blind and asleep. I try to remind myself of the seriously physically injured and incapacitated, and their struggle. And I try to find relief in humour, and beauty.
Having ABC Classic FM on in the background, working from home, means navigating around the Welcomes to (our own) Country etc, but an education in classical music…
My mother loved this, the book as much as, if not more than, the film. And it is sumptuously beautiful, with characters sympathetic if not always completely admirable.
The story of the author is especially fascinating, the idea that he only became a ‘serious’ author in the last few years of his life, with the novel on which the film is based.
If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.
This quote reminds me of why I no longer identify as “Conservative”. I don’t subscribe to the di Lampedusa strategy of appeasing, “placating, appropriating and incorporating the opposition”. Surely things don’t “stay the same” in such a process; but rather, either a thing of value, to be “conserved”, is watered down – altered so as to be weaker in force, content or value; or a worthwhile, possibly necessary change is subsumed – absorbed, overshadowed – by something which may enjoy undue dominance.
And if we want things to (really change)? … they will have to change even more
It’s a shame I can’t link to James Delingpole’s excellent Psalms series (subscribers only). I’ve been learning a lot from it.
As someone raised Catholic, it was a revelation to me when my mother sort of ‘let me off the hook’, suggesting that my limited Biblical knowledge could be attributed in part to the fact that Catholic leaders didn’t really encourage Bible study – because they wanted to be the ‘source of truth’.
I’ve enjoyed James’ discussion of the Christian denominations, having questioned the various disputes and points of difference myself over the years. While I’m not ungrateful for having had a Catholic education (and certainly not ungrateful for my Christian faith), I found more simple, genuine fellowship at an Anglican Church that I ‘stumbled across’ (until it succumbed to Covid cowardice), and greater awareness of what’s really going on in the world in a small, independent church.
And it was a nun who gave, in my view, some of the worst possible (feminist) advice to my class of impressionable teenage girls, in cautioning us towards independence from men. We might have been better guided by Mrs Bennet!
To top it all off, we’re now witnessing a mysterious spate of celebrity ‘freedom prophet’ conversions to Catholicism, a Pope many simply don’t recognise as such, and Archbishops for Trump (never mind those little matters of genocide and abortion and so on).
Curiouser and curiouser for this Catholic-raised-and-educated Christian
Another movie connection – haven’t seen it as only really fancied Scarlett Johansson as an actress in Lost in Translation but the art, the artist… and the analysis in the clip
I like this from the Roger Ebert review:
“It becomes clear that Griet is intelligent in a natural way, but has no idea what to do with her ideas.”
There’s a good reminder from the guest in the latest Psalms podcast about God writing poetry and making art, making beautiful things, and it being “our job to express ourselves in any way that’s fitting with his character”, and to encourage each other in this.
. I remember a male coworker looking perplexed: “But nothing happens…”
Different, perhaps, if you’d experienced Japan as a young foreigner, like Charlotte, and if you liked Bill Murray the way Sophia Coppola did.
Just as Barbra Streisand was reportedly determined to have Robert Redford for The Way We Were , Sophia Coppola always saw Bill Murray in the lead role for Lost in Translation
“There’s just no one like him… This great combination of funny and sensitive and sincere, and I wanted to see him in this romantic part that I’d seen him have moments of in Groundhog Day and Rushmore “
I guess it was around the time of the obvious ‘Me Too’ deflection/conflation that I parted ways with Hollywood, though the drift had been happening for a while.
Before I really woke up to, or could no longer push aside, things I’d read about the evils of the studio system and the idea of cinema as programming for nefarious purposes, I used to like to think of myself a bit of a ‘movie buff’.
I remember a childhood punctuated by Friday nights learning the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ catalogue with my mother. With my sister it was Saturday afternoon Elvis movie sessions, and Barbie doll games for which I sort of fancied myself as ‘director of stories’ (as well as set designer, costume designer, scriptwriter…what a bossy little pain I must’ve been!).
I might have chosen a perfectly respectable complete works of Shakespeare for school prize one year but the next I tossed aside any academic pretensions and snaffled a brazenfaced ‘hundred best movies’ book.
And later, as an adult, it seemed natural enough to be known as someone who might be interested in seeing that quirky new arthouse film.
Always I dreaded the cliche question, “What’s your favourite movie?” Sure, it’s understandable that people ask it to get some insight into your taste, but how to pick a favourite out of so many works you’ve enjoyed, in so many different genres? And should you have to anyway? So, a thread about some favourites – films, scenes, characters, soundtracks etc.
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When forced to pick a favourite movie, I would usually, reluctantly, offer up… Tootsie … bracing myself for the slightly quizzical reaction of those unenlightened souls who thought of it as just another silly ‘men in drag’ frolic. (I’ve since wondered myself about the possible programming aspect of the ‘drag’ thing, but that’s perhaps a topic for another thread.)
No, no, you don’t understand. It’s not about the hilarious dress-up angle or even the fascinating precision of Dustin Hoffman’s imitation of female mannerisms so much as the rapid-fire witty dialogue reminiscent of the ‘Golden Age’; Bill Murray’s deadpan delivery; Teri Garr’s tantrums; the unlikely and surprisingly touching friendship-turning-into-love between Dustin Hoffman’s character and Jessica Lange’s, made possible for him not by ‘becoming a woman’ but by seeing the world through her eyes; the artistic struggle; the scenes of New York, and the contrast with life on the farm upstate (another question for another thread – were we meant to absorb a subtle mocking of the ‘simple farm life’ and traditional relationships?) …above all, the humour throughout (and yet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAat-T1uhE maintained it wasn’t a comedy for him).
Roger Ebert:
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Some favourite scenes
#1 George’s office
“New York is a coast too.”
…
“I will not get sucked into this conversation, Michael. I will not.” [Sounds a bit like “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not.”]
…
“Nobody wants to pay twenty dollars to watch people living next to chemical waste; they can see that in New Jersey!”
…
#2 On the farm
“Bulls are bulls, and roosters don’t try to lay eggs.” [cf. “How do you define a woman?”… *crickets*]
…
“People got it all wrong, you know? They say your health is the most important thing but I can lift this house off the ground – what good is it? Being with someone, sharing – that’s what it’s all about.” [cf. “Stay apart to stay together”]
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#3 Chocolate-covered cherries
“Why is he thanking you for a lovely night in front of the fire?”
“My mind’s a blank.”
[A comment below: “She was robbed of the Oscar for this performance!”]
…
Last scene and credits
“I just gotta learn to do it without the dress…The hard part’s over, you know? We were already… good friends.”
…
and the song too – corny? schmaltzy? Okay, okay. But…
It still gets me every time.
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Via Ron Unz
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I saw it with my mother, and remember it seeming like a kind of ‘beautiful ordeal’- a very different viewing experience from Tootsie! – which I guess is fitting. Giving it four stars also, Roger Ebert noted how far the concept of ‘passion’ has strayed from its original meaning:
On the accusations of ‘antisemitism’:
He notes the rare personal commitment involved too:
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Great start to the Musing series, Esme.
It shifts gears from the current news and takes a trek down memory lane. A chance to have chats about interesting topics.
Several good movies out there with memorable scenes in them. I’ve got a few clips saved somewhere and will add them here when I find them.
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Thanks, kaysee, and for setting it up with the cute graphics in the header! It is interesting to revisit old movies from an ‘awake’ perspective, still appreciating the beauty, humour, drama etc, but more alert to the social conditioning involved.
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Simon helps carry the cross
This is beautiful:
Veronica wipes Jesus’ face
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Mary comforts Jesus
Jesus and Mary Magdalene
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The Resurrection
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Tootsie was fun (putting aside the possible feminisation-of-men programming aspect) but, going back a bit further, there were characters who embodied some of the masculine qualities many women appreciate and admire as so wonderfully and necessarily complementary to our own (generalising, of course): physical courage and ability (possible ‘non-Hollywood movie’ idea: the story of the husband a woman never met, as he died too young in some futile war?); the instinct to provide and protect (wife, children, family, a helpless stranger); unflappability – that beautiful, steadying calmness to counter a female sensitivity and predisposition to anxiety (‘wiring’ for looking out for children?) …
My mother fancied Robert Mitchum in movies, other people loved John Wayne… Kaysee, you shared a classic clip of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
It does seem unusual to celebrate masculinity nowadays, doesn’t it? Funny – or tragic – when the complementarity of man and woman has been known since Eve was created as companion and helper to Adam, as that lovely quote goes:
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Robert Mitchum in Heaven Knows, Mr Allison
Interesting to read that he was the actor Roger Ebert named as favourite, even though he shared my reluctance to choose:
…
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The point about Christians not having much of an ‘ownership stake’ in the films that have shaped and continue to shape popular culture is a good one, worth exploring, as you become more aware of all the examples of a ‘watering down’, a subtle mocking and undermining of Christian values in the films that do enjoy huge financial backing and industry support…There is power in storytelling, and a sly oppression in a people’s stories being ‘told against them’…
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Holiday (1938) – Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
I loved this pairing. Cary Grant’s acrobatics a bonus.
Black Sheep
“And of course you’ve heard about me: I’m the black sheep.”
“Baahahahaha.”
“That’s a goat.”
…
“This is quite different. From the rest of the house, I mean.”
…
“Is this where the club meets?”
…
Playing on the car radio this afternoon:
You Can’t Take It With You
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The cinema was considered a form of entertainment. You want to wind down at the end of the day or week and escape into another world.
You pick a genre: drama, action, fantasy, comedy, sci-fi, horror, western, musical, documentary.
And the popcorn.
Then switch off for a few hours of thrills, fantasy, knowledge, humour or self-inflicted Dracula horror.
Now we discover that it may not have been as simple as we thought. What do we do?
We have to find what is worth enjoying and avoid the ones we do not want to support. There are still actors, producers, directors and studio with values – past and present so we do not lose our sources of relaxation and get put off by the entire industry.
Report comment
I can’t say that I enjoy guns and shooting (Bang! Bang!), cowboys and horses, for my relaxation. So I wouldn’t find this thrilling, if not for the music.
1966
What the movie included is this musical score composed by Ennio Morricone,
For this scene (Main Theme) in the movie
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I posted this last month:
Over 50 years later, the same movie theme is played by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, at a Live Concert. The Wild West on a stage in Copenhagen, Denmark.
2018
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
.
Some appreciative comments here.
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He also did Once Upon a Time in the West , didn’t he?
Chariots of Fire • Main Theme • Vangelis
“And when I run, I feel His pleasure”
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Barbara (2012)
Rembrandt: “The victim. We are with him, not with them.”
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The Age of Innocence ending
He could’ve at least gone up to say hello, after all that time.
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Because of the beautiful moon tonight, and since it’s a happy (Hollywood) ending…
Date at the Opera
This is sweet too:
Cosmo’s moon
“In that light, with that expression on your face, you look about twenty-five years old.”
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Opening Scene
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s:
The Making of a Classic
Part 1
.
Part 2
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Thank you for this. Just seeing the title made me smile. And then the interviews, seeming to sort of answer the start of the thread in a way.
George Peppard tapping away at his typewriter and then smiling softly down at Audrey Hepburn singing Moon River … “Hi.”… The two of them with rescued cat in the rain…
Made me think of another great romantic film reunion too – My Fair Lady
Maybe it’s just as well it’s nearly time to move on from this thread! I can see us easily getting stuck on the romance genre (I used to love ‘action’ movies too – and other genres, apart from comedy – but lately there’s more than enough of that in the ‘news’!)
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Pride and Prejudice
“You are too generous to trifle with me.”
[Sorry, mh – nearly last one, I promise 🙂 ]
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Possibly the only thing I really liked Bette Davis in…
Now, Voyager
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Ten years ago, I read that Kiera Knightley was being cast as Elizabeth Bennett in the new film version of Pride and Prejudice. I had never heard of her but when I saw photos of her, I couldn’t see her in that role.
1995 BBC miniseries
Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Far closer to what one imagines when reading the book than the Matthew MacFadyen and Kiera Knightley 2005 film.
Pride and Prejudice: Marriage Proposal
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Set aside the romance part. There is more to the film (which is based on the book). Some of the commenters have analysed that scene and cast their verdict.
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32 Different Genres And An Example Of A Movie That Belongs To Each
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I agree! The best version. I remember being quietly pleased when my sister said she thought I looked like Jennifer Ehle’s “Lizzie” at a wedding not long after the miniseries aired. I really did feel an affinity with the character, as I guess a lot of girls did, and do. And I loved that miniseries. I remember the simple happiness of hearing the music each week and knowing it was about to start – time to settle in for more of the story.
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We covered two of the movies!
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It’s “Lizzy”, of course, with a ‘y’. Like Anne with an ‘e’.
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I truly find that, with everything going on in the world, I’m no longer interested in the other genres that used to interest me – they’re no longer ‘entertainment’ or a break from the ‘news’, which defeats the purpose of the Muse Room! 🙂 – so I would have to leave them to someone else to cover. Comedy, and drama – with or without romance, but without anything too much like the ‘news’ – is about all I’m good for now!
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TRUE GRIT (’69) | The Final Shootout
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Amelie Likes…
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The Way We Were
Not really a fan of this Barbra. But his face in that bar scene. You can see why she was supposedly so determined to have him for the part.
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Knowing is the easy part – The horse whisperer
Not sure exactly why this one… maybe for the ‘escape’ (from the news etc) of the wide, open spaces… for the horses, a realistically aging Robert Redford, the idea of being a ‘horse whisperer’, the healing from trauma – human and animal… the not giving up on a traumatized, ‘uncontrollable’ creature… the idea of people ‘belonging’ to a place, city or country or wherever… On reflection, they’ve made a lot of movies like this – a bit slow, full of frustrated emotion… maybe that’s why I thought I liked comedy best!
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I did enjoy Blade Runner . Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Star Wars , probably my first movie crush.
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I thought you were a guy, lol
I wasn’t familiar with your name.
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Haha I’ll take that as a compliment, mh. The name could be either. Common for women to use a male name as pen name, too.
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Teri Garr
So sweet and pretty and funny.
“…if you can come back tomorrow, with a German accent, I’ll give you a chance at the lab assistant”
“Oh, yes, of course I can come back tomorrow wis ze Cherman aksent – I could be here later today wis ze aksent!” 🙂
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Esme, you were on Sinc’s blog too, weren’t you?
When I saw your first comment on this blog, I recognised the name.
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Not under this name, kaysee. So there’s another “Esme”, then?
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My Fair Lady
“Why Can’t the English Learn to Speak”
Professor Higgins would have a tough time in 2024 trying to identify where people come from by their accents. And that is just those speaking some form of “English”.
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I recall seeing the name “Esme” on Sinc’s blog and thought you were the same person. If that was not you, it means that was someone else going by that name.
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1964
“The Rain in Spain”
Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Audrey Hepburn
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A long, long time ago I did post here, for a while, when it was Sinclair Davidson’s. I didn’t know him or any of the commenters, though, and didn’t handle the ‘rough and tumble’ of it too well!
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I thought you were going to post this one
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I liked this
“I could have danced all night”
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Another professor. And again with the hands…
Little Women: “Not empty now”
“I don’t mind it either.”
Did every girl who was pretty good at English, and liked reading, imagine herself as Jo?
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A great quote. “…as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”
🙂
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Esme, though this blog looks similar to Sinclair’s blog, it is a different one. When Sinc announced that he would be closing his blog, Adam set up this one. As there wasn’t much time, the old blog was used to create this new one and have it up and running before the other one shut down.
I didn’t know you then, but I do remember occasionally seeing your name, as a commenter on Sinc’s blog.
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1959
Ben-Hur
The Chariot Race
The greatest action scene in cinematic history?
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It is quite different, yes.
It’s not my real name. (I’d like for you to use my real name, but…) Silly, isn’t it, or tragic, that we should feel the need to adopt pseudonyms to share our thoughts on these platforms. A small, Frenchish name (or Persian…or…) suitable for our modern-day version of “The Resistance”, such as it is (and how real was the ‘original’, or any of the ‘history’ we’ve been allowed to read, encouraged to learn as true? They’ve lied about so much). The “Freedom Movement” is neither very ‘free’ nor really ‘moving’ anywhere.
Like many people, no doubt, I haven’t ‘gotten over’ what they did, have done to us, which they continue to ‘play down’, project, deflect, pretend didn’t happen, isn’t happening – and about which none of the loud voices speak .
I know as a Christian I’m called to forgive. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” But it’s an everyday challenge, walking among the guilty and unrepentant, and the blind and asleep. I try to remind myself of the seriously physically injured and incapacitated, and their struggle. And I try to find relief in humour, and beauty.
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It is a good story, ‘happier’ than the modern Gladiator
The wheat field scene from Gladiator reminds me of the Sting song
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Having ABC Classic FM on in the background, working from home, means navigating around the Welcomes to (our own) Country etc, but an education in classical music…
Today the presenter with the lovely Scottish accent introduced me to Franz Liszt – Festklänge
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Cyrano … not the same
Cyrano de Bergerac
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The Princess Bride: “As You Wish”
(Better than “Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya…? 🙂 )
“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
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The Leopard
My mother loved this, the book as much as, if not more than, the film. And it is sumptuously beautiful, with characters sympathetic if not always completely admirable.
The story of the author is especially fascinating, the idea that he only became a ‘serious’ author in the last few years of his life, with the novel on which the film is based.
This quote reminds me of why I no longer identify as “Conservative”. I don’t subscribe to the di Lampedusa strategy of appeasing, “placating, appropriating and incorporating the opposition”. Surely things don’t “stay the same” in such a process; but rather, either a thing of value, to be “conserved”, is watered down – altered so as to be weaker in force, content or value; or a worthwhile, possibly necessary change is subsumed – absorbed, overshadowed – by something which may enjoy undue dominance.
And if we want things to (really change)? … they will have to change even more
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It’s a shame I can’t link to James Delingpole’s excellent Psalms series (subscribers only). I’ve been learning a lot from it.
As someone raised Catholic, it was a revelation to me when my mother sort of ‘let me off the hook’, suggesting that my limited Biblical knowledge could be attributed in part to the fact that Catholic leaders didn’t really encourage Bible study – because they wanted to be the ‘source of truth’.
I’ve enjoyed James’ discussion of the Christian denominations, having questioned the various disputes and points of difference myself over the years. While I’m not ungrateful for having had a Catholic education (and certainly not ungrateful for my Christian faith), I found more simple, genuine fellowship at an Anglican Church that I ‘stumbled across’ (until it succumbed to Covid cowardice), and greater awareness of what’s really going on in the world in a small, independent church.
And it was a nun who gave, in my view, some of the worst possible (feminist) advice to my class of impressionable teenage girls, in cautioning us towards independence from men. We might have been better guided by Mrs Bennet!
To top it all off, we’re now witnessing a mysterious spate of celebrity ‘freedom prophet’ conversions to Catholicism, a Pope many simply don’t recognise as such, and Archbishops for Trump (never mind those little matters of genocide and abortion and so on).
Curiouser and curiouser for this Catholic-raised-and-educated Christian
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La Mer – loose ‘movie’ connection via the English version
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Girl with a Pearl
Another movie connection – haven’t seen it as only really fancied Scarlett Johansson as an actress in Lost in Translation but the art, the artist… and the analysis in the clip
I like this from the Roger Ebert review:
“It becomes clear that Griet is intelligent in a natural way, but has no idea what to do with her ideas.”
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There’s a good reminder from the guest in the latest Psalms podcast about God writing poetry and making art, making beautiful things, and it being “our job to express ourselves in any way that’s fitting with his character”, and to encourage each other in this.
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Some people don’t really ‘get’
. I remember a male coworker looking perplexed: “But nothing happens…”
Different, perhaps, if you’d experienced Japan as a young foreigner, like Charlotte, and if you liked Bill Murray the way Sophia Coppola did.
Just as Barbra Streisand was reportedly determined to have Robert Redford for The Way We Were , Sophia Coppola always saw Bill Murray in the lead role for Lost in Translation
“There’s just no one like him… This great combination of funny and sensitive and sincere, and I wanted to see him in this romantic part that I’d seen him have moments of in Groundhog Day and Rushmore “
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Bob Takes Charlotte to the Hospital
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Groundhog Day
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