For the Boys || Five Really Manly Films

Okay, so there isn't going to be any Sunday Movie Review today. Not exactly: we are discussing films, not exactly reviewing them, but discussing them. I have committed myself to The Scarlett Olive's "For the Boys" Blogathon, and the topic is basically to discuss "manly classic films." The Scarlett Olive, which is hosting this blogathon, is a podcast run by Hilary and Katie. According to what they said on their site, they decided to host this blogathon because "there's a staggering amount of estrogen in our blogs and podcasts," and I can relate to that too.

I mean, my classic actresses tags are huge, but I find myself not even talking about the actors that much! Which isn't fair because I like them just as well, perhaps being a "easily influenced teenage girl" I pay attention to the actresses somewhat more simply because I can look up to them. I mean, I'm not afraid to admit it because they are my role models. However, I'm trying to shake up my content a little bit, which is one of the reasons I joined in on this blogathon. Hopefully this will help me get off to a good start to discuss men's roles in classic films a little more.

So for my contribution to this blogathon, we're discussing "five really manly classic films." These are a mix of war films and westerns, which are probably the two genres of classic film I watch the least. Yes, I much more compelled to the dramas, the women's pictures, the romantic comedies and the screwballs. So I actually needed my father's help when conjuring up this list. Excuse me because a lot of it's going to be very stereotypical... but but but in my defense, I'm not really much of a manly film watcher.

I think this blogathon should make a point, however, that classic films can be manly! I think that a lot of people assume that whereas men can enjoy classic movies, a lot of it will be more on the mushy side because classic movies just tend to be more romantic and lacking less in the areas of violence, gore, etc. that define a "manly" film. Not true.

Anyway, here's my list. This is all pre-1970 stuff, kind of co-written by my father because I haven't actually seen all of these movies... shh... don't tell!

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05.

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Cast: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan

Summary: Director Sam Peckinpah's brilliant 1969 Western epic tells the story of a bunch of aging outlaws, led by Pike Bishop (William Holden), whose botched plans to pull off one last job forces them to collude with a crooked Mexican general (Emilio Fernández) -- leading to ugly bloodshed. Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Jaime Sánchez co-star in this special edition, which includes never-before-seen outtakes and three exclusive documentaries. [from Netflix]

What makes it manly: Well, this obviously starts with the movie's title. With one like "The Wild Bunch", you should know what you're in for. Plus, you have the pretty manly talents of those like William Holden and Robert Ryan: you could easily call them some of the most manly actors from Classic Hollywood. But pretty much as my father told me simply, and the Netflix summary seems to agree, "it's got a lot of blood and gore in it!"

Watch the trailer

04.

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

Cast: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson

Summary: In this Academy Award-winning World War II action flick from director Robert Aldrich (The Longest Yard), a U.S. Army major (Lee Marvin) is handed a near-impossible assignment: Turn a group of conscripted convicts into a crack fighting unit and then send them on a mission to destroy a villa filled with Nazi brass. The "volunteers" include Archer J. Maggott (Telly Savalas), Victor Franko (John Cassavetes) and Vernon L. Pinkley (Donald Sutherland). [from Netflix]

What makes it manly: IT'S A WAR FILM. And look at that poster and all the bloodshed and the gore, now, if that isn't manly what is? Plus you add that title. A dirty dozen turned lose on "those Nazis." Yes, this is probably one of the best examples of a classic manly film.

Watch the movie

03.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins

Summary: Director David Lean's sweeping epic -- best known for a whistling work theme that became legendary -- is set in a World War II-era Japanese prison camp where British POWs are forced to construct a railway bridge as a morale-building exercise. Yet the real battle of wills is between a "play by the rules" British colonel (Alec Guinness) who's dedicated to the project and his American rival (William Holden), who vows to destroy it.

What makes it manly: I think William Holden must be the king of manly films. I think he is the one who appears most frequently on this list. Well, Ernest Borgnine too, but he doesn't come across as so... "manly" to me. ANYWAY, back to the film. Another World War 2 movie, with the promise of some more fighting and look, there isn't even a single woman in the cast. Welcome to camp 16 -A manly film for sure.

Watch a clip

02. 

Rio Bravo (1959)

Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson

Summary: Sheriff John Wayne has a problem: He must keep killer Claude Akins from escaping the town lockup (with outside help from his brother and a cadre of hired guns). The only people Wayne can call on for support are an alcoholic Dean Martin, a well-meaning Angie Dickinson, a crippled Walter Brennan and an eager Ricky Nelson.

What makes it manly: Well, this is one my father has been trying to get me to see for a long time and I keep refusing. Shh, I've got another secret: I don't really like Westerns. Anyway, I think Howard Hawks and John Wayne made this movie to counter "High Noon" (one that I actually have seen), because in the latter film Gary Cooper is asking his citizens for help to fight the bad guys. Hawks and Wayne didn't think this was right and so they came up with this, the exact opposite. Wait, that doesn't explain to you why this film is manly. Well, it's got John Wayne, and then Dean Martin trying to be manly, and what seems like the elements of a good Western. (If, I, well, actually liked Westerns...)

01.

The Searchers (1956)

Cast: John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Vera Miles

Summary: After his entire family is viciously wiped out, hardened war veteran Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) embarks on a long journey to find his only surviving niece, Debbie (Natalie Wood), who has been captured by hostile Comanche Indians. Director John Ford's richly scenic -- and controversial -- Western also stars Vera Miles, Hank Worden, Ward Bond and Jeffrey Hunter, as Edwards's riding companion, Martin Pawley.

What makes it manly: Okay, this is probably one of my favorite Westerns because Natalie is in it. I don't actually know how manly it is, but then again you have John Wayne playing this hardened maniac who wants to go and kill a bunch of people. He's kind of eccentric and there's a lot of scalping and you know, Natalie was quite good in it...albeit she was only on screen for fifteen minutes or so but really. Yeah, this is one Western I do like.

Watch a clip

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Okay, that's it for today. This was probably a weak post, because I really lack in the genre of manly films but also in my defense I'm actually feeling quite sick to my stomach today. I honestly don't know. So I hope this post wasn't that bad and now I'm going to go and crawl into bed. Thanks to Hilary and Katie for hosting this!

Ciao!

Sunday Movie Review: "Born Yesterday" (1950)

Bonjour!

I made some minor tweaks to my blog. I pulled the search bar just beneath the tab bars and I turned the blogathon banners into a moving sidebar - I'm not sure how I feel about the latter, though. I did it to make my sidebar less crowded and give it a neater feel, but the pictures are really tiny and you have to squint to see which blog is hosting what blogathon, and on which dates, and etc. Input on this, dear readers is encouraged. :]

It is finally October! It's nice and cold here ♥ in fact, yesterday it dropped into the forties and I spent the day in a leg warmers and a sweater. (You summer lovers must be shaking your head in disdain and wonder. Yeah, my mother can't figure out my affection for the cold weather, either.)

My goodness, I ♥ October. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays - it used to be my favorite when I was a little kid, the excitement of trick or treating and dressing up. I've decided my favorite holiday must be Christmas now, because I just adore that time of the year and I don't think you can really grow out of loving Christmas like you can grow out of trick or treating. But ANYWAY, I still really love Halloween and dressing up. And the spookiness. Yess, the more I will start talking about Halloween the more my heart will swell with love and affection for the holiday :]


So since it's October, I think I'm going to try and do some horror movie talk on Frankly, My Dear. I think horror movies are fun but believe it or not, I haven't seen that many. I truthfully don't know why. But now it's just the time of the year to do so, so keep a look out for those sort of films in the following Sundays of October.


Besides that, Frankly, My Dear will turn three months old on the sixteenth of this month! This is exciting and important because then we'll be eligible to join the LAMB (or Large Association of Movie Blogs). Of course, I can imagine it will be quite a while - perhaps a few months or so until we are officially accepted. Still. I was all revved up to join the CMBA (Classic Movie Blog Association), and then I discovered they aren't taking new members for the remainder of the year and I'll have to wait until 2012. :( You see, I'm not a very patient girl.


Anyway, October promises to be an exciting month here (the 60th annviersary of I Love Lucy is coming up, as well... *squeal*!), and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for new followers. Because you followers are lovely people and if I could I think I'd personally thank each of you. Yes. I would. :)


With all this talk of holidays, it's perfectly appropriate that I have a Judy Holliday movie to  review for you today.

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Boorish business tycoon Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) fears that ditsy fiancée Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) will prove an embarrassment in the presence of politicos he wants to influence, so he hires a reporter (William Holden) to tutor the ostensibly brainless blonde in the political and social graces. Brock gets more than he bargained for, however, when the journalist transforms Billie into the backroom dealmaker's most formidable foe. [summary from Netflix]

The cast has:

• Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn
• William Holden as Paul Verrall
• Broderick Crawford as Harry Brock.

And, it is directed by the always fabulous George Cukor. (Really. I was always annoyed that Selznick fired him off "Gone With the Wind" -- I mean, I'm not going to criticize Victor Fleming because my dear Ingrid Bergman liked him a WHOLE lot, but Cukor is awesome).

I am going to tell you straight off, I really loved this movie.

It's kind of like a screwball take on "Pygmalion" (like "My Fair Lady" was the musical, British twist on that). Actually, calling this "screwball" may be out of context. When I say "screwball", I usually think of something based on a misunderstanding with a series of pratfalls and physical comedy following it; there wasn't much of that in "Born Yesterday". 

But anyway, I don't care what you call it, just adored this movie. Let's talk Judy Holliday.

This is probably her best known film as it is the one that won her the Oscar. The only other movie I have seen her in is "Adam's Rib", and that was a while ago. So believe it or not, when she opened her mouth and that Lina Lamount voice came out, I was surprised and actually leaned over to ask my father if that was Judy's real voice. Yeah, I'm pretty stupid.

But anyway, her voice was just perfect for this character. And everything she did with the character was lovely and sharp and witty - her comedic timing was perfect. And this is coming from a person who uses Lucy as her standard of perfect comedy, and Judy really was at the Lucy standard here.

Because you see, she plays the character to perfection. She demonstrates quite exactly all the emotions we should feel for her character. I mean, I really loved her character. She was just funny and you wanted everything to land up okay for her in the end and she really was the perfect "dumb blonde" who was "born yesterday", except she wasn't annoying. Lina Lamount esque. (Except Lina came afterwards. So...)

Judy carries the whole movie. William Holden and Broderick Crawford are good, too, but it is her movie. She totally deserves the Oscar. Take this scene, for example, in which she is playing cards with Broderick Crawford. Not a word she says, albeit my father and I were laughing throughout the whole scene. 

She has really good chemistry with William Holden was well. You just want them to get together the whole movie through.

That brings me to Bill Holden. Like I said before, he is good, handsome, and helps Judy carry the movie. He doesn't exactly steal scenes or anything, but for his character and this particular movie that's okay.

Broderick Crawford is really good as Judy's boisterous boyfriend as well. I hated his character, but that was exactly what the role called for. Once again, he doesn't carry the movie off or anything but that is entirely appropriate because you want this to be Judy's movie completely.

In all fairness, it did start off kind of slow but it gets so much better. This review is entirely short, but there isn't much more that I can say, really, besides I loved it!

I'm going to give it a four and a half out of five stars. I encourage you to go and watch this movie right away, and you can do it this instant. It's right here on Youtube:

Just watch it. It's lovely, really.

***

I'm leaving you with this photo I found of Joan Bennett, from the movie "Scarlet Street", I believe. I LOVE it. It's film noir and spooky-esque, which is perfect for Halloween. I wish I would have found it while researching for my Anatomy of a Film Noir article. 

Au revior!! ♥ 

(Yes, I am in a French mood. And I'm in the mood for hearts, too.)

For my mom on her birthday... :)

Hi everyone,

Today's my mom's birthday. And though this is probably one of the biggest cliches to say, she IS the best mom EVER, not to mention she is one of the biggest supporters of this blog. Hurricane Irene has rained on our parade here (actually, she hasn't even gotten here yet but that's okay because I'm already DUNNE with her. Get it??? ;D) .... anyhow, I thought I'd write the loveliest mom in the world a birthday blog before Irene knocks out our power (God forbid).

I thought I'd tie Old Hollywood in with writing a birthday blog for her. So.... because it's her birthday, I decided to do a little picture gallery sort of thing with her favorite Old Hollywood stuff.

Roman Holiday - my mom's favorite movie

I guess it runs in the family...

Cary Grant. I guess that runs in the family, too.

She also loves --

And since it's her birthday, this also gives me chance to do a Cary Grant tribute I've been wanting to do for a while (since, after all, he is my favorite actor, too).... in dedication to her, of course.

Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all for today, and wish me good luck with Ms. Dunne... lol. ;)

Anatomy of a Film Noir

Okay, so this here is going to be my submission for the Film Noir Contest at film-classics.com (once I finish this nervous prattle) I joined the contest maybe about two weeks ago, so I've had a lot of time to think it over... you'd think. Maybe I was a bit gallant into just jumping into this contest, though I figured I'd have plenty of time to do a little research and watch some film noir and all of that fun stuff.

But you've heard me say it and I'll say it again: the end of August is always quite busy for me, and I probably should have taken that into consideration upon entering the contest. But it looked fun, and I was all what the heck, why not? and yeah....

Now here you find me on my last day to enter for this contest, and I'm going to tell you right now that this post is probably not going to contend quite well. I don't know how many people have entered, but I know there are at least two others and they probably know a lot more about film noir then I do and their posts are probably going to be a thousand times better and this is going to really suck (no, I'm not fishing for compliments). I'm usually quite confident in my writing ability (not to be arrogant or anything), but this time I'm just...

The thing is in many ways, especially when it comes to my writing, I am a perfectionist (here is one of those cases where I share a habit of that every so lovely Lucille Ball), and this is probably far from perfect. But oh, well. (I seriously wish this was "last season" at Film Classics. That topic was the screwball comedy, and I would've done quite a bit better with it.)

Okay, okay, okay. You're tired of me rattling on here and I'd better get on with it. So I was not confident enough in my movie reviewing skills, so I decided to take the plunge (why not? I'm already making a fool of myself) and do an anatomy of your average film noir, and all the little things that make it film noir... and all of that... and... yes.

Well, voting for this will begin tomorrow (I'll also post a little reminder in tomorrow's post with a link to do voting and all of that)... so if you can bring yourself to vote for this way too humble contribution, you know what to do. (More on that tomorrow).

***

Here's a spiffy little banner made by yours truly for the event. To try and win you all over. I chose Rita Hayworth from "Gilda" because it happens to be one of my first - and favorite - film noir.

The room is dimly lit as expected. He sits on the table making his way through the pack of cigarettes. The moonlight slips through the Venetian blinds, casting its shadow across his fedora- framed face. He stubs out the cigarette and reaches for a new one. The fiery ember of the match glows like a small beacon of light in the dark room as he holds it up to the cigarette and lets out a big cloud of smoke.

Suddenly, the door opens a crack and a little bit of light from the outside world dares to sneak in with her. She stands in the light for a moment, projecting a silhouette of her figure before his eyes. Quietly, he draws the cigarette away from his lips and says something smart. She shuts the door behind her and takes soft, swift steps toward him.

Now she stands in the glow of the moonlight. The striped shadows from the blinds obscure her face, but most of it becomes revealed  - full lips covered in rouge, and eyes downcast and lined with kohl, hair soft and in silky waves around her face. She says something smarter, then takes the cigarette out of his fingers and places it to her own lips. She blows smoke into his face with a smirk, then returns it to its rightful owner with rings of smeared lipstick on the cigarette.

This is a typical scene from a film noir movie. You may call it a cliche, but almost every film noir has got it and if the movie is any good, it becomes something less than stereotypical but something special and enchanting. It has all the ingredients. The leading man. He may have suave, cool exterior with a fedora on his head and a cigarette in his hand, but the fact remains that we're always watching out for him. We know how gullible he is and how he will succumb to the feet of the femme fatale - or, otherwise known as the curvaceous shadow across the room. She's more clever than him, you, and me combined. 

Film noir is an enchanting genre of film. It's the type you watch on a dark night. Not to scare yourself, but more or less to entice yourself. Each type of genre has a way of pulling you in - splashy musicals do so with big, obnoxious song and dance routines. Screwball comedy usually has the main players land up in some sort of a wild situation (maybe chasing after a leopard). However, film noir is a lot more subtle as it drags you in. It usually starts with the femme fatale.

We all like the guys, but let's face it: it's the femme fatale that really has us on the edge of our seats. As soon as she walks into the room under the shadows of those Venetian blinds, you know she's going to be trouble. You can tell by the way her lips curl up at the ends, or maybe it's something in her eyes, or maybe it's the fact you know you're watching film noir. But, if played right, the femme fatale will nearly fool you. When I first watched Double Indemnity, Barbara Stanwyck actually had me nearly liking the Phyllis Dietrichson character. I knew she was bad and I knew she was going to get Fred MacMurrary into some awful trouble. Yet, you almost want it to be that it's not so. You almost think that the guy, that he's doing the right thing by helping her out.

We're both rotten.

Only, you're a little more rotten.

Phyllis was really the perfect femme fatale. For those of you that are not familiar with "Double Indemnity" (though I can imagine there are not that many of you),  it stars Barbara Stanwyck as the fatale in mention and Fred MacMurray as Walter, the victim of her trap. It's pretty simple enough: Phyllis lures Walter into her web and ties him up quite awfully.... basically, she gets him to murder her husband. The results can only be dangerous.

femme fatale, noun - 

an irresistibly attractive woman, especially one who leads men into difficult, dangerous, or disastrous situations; siren. [dictionary.com]

Walter gets trapped pretty bad, as characters of his type usually do. The femme fatale have a mysterious attitude, but we know their tricks and why they do it (and in many cases, we know where it roots from), so we often feel like we know them better than their victims. Though us viewers often land up in the same boat as the Walter, he is usually a character without much depth. He's a nice guy, an ordinary Joe. The femme fatale makes him doing things he'd never consider, and suddenly he finds himself with a bullet in his side or a gun at someone's head, or something really awful or exciting like that.

Another good example of the femme fatale is Gilda from the movie of the same name. Played by Rita Hayworth, she is one of my favorite "hate to love" fatales. Though she does not exactly make Glenn Ford's character kill for her, she does emotionally drain him inside and out all while "putting the blame on Mame" for doing so.  Gilda also dressed as the perfect fatale, particularly in that famous scene where she is dancing in the  gravity defying, shiny black dress and tossing her perfectly conditioned hair.

A very crucial moment of the average film noir is when the fatale and her victim first meet. In "Double Indemnity", Fred MacMurrary walks into the room, looks up the grand staircase and finds Barbara Stanwyck in a towel with a bracelet around her ankle.

In "Gilda", Glenn Ford happens to walk into the room just as Rita is dancing about the room and flipping that hair. Once she comes up for air, she meets eyes with her victim for the first time.

This is a essential moment. And from now on, it doesn't matter if he's married or she's married or whatever else may stand in their way, you know they're going to (very drastically) land up together. Or rather, she's going to jump on him like a spider (in the words of Mammy to Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind").

When one thinks of the stereotypical film noir, these movies and these key players and moments and all of that comes to mind. Though film noir is not always limited to a femme fatale and her prey. Really, any other dark film with dark lighting and a breath of fatality in the air can be considered a film noir. Let's take a look at some less stereotypical film noir --

A very good example is the 1950 "Sunset Boulevard", with William Holden and Gloria Swanson. I really hope all of you have seen this because it is such an enticingly wonderful movie that really draws you in and everyone should see it. Basically, Bill Holden plays a scriptwriter who finds himself living in the home of aging film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), who wants him to take an idea she has for a comeback film and write a great script for it. This little task finds Holden's doomed character in a backwards love triangle... Norma's got designs on his character (as he discovers one painful New Year's Eve), but she's not really his type.

Too bad for him.

Once again, you have a victim and a femme fatale. Though Holden does make a great performance as the stereotypical victim, Gloria Swanson's Norma is not your usual femme fatale. She draws Holden into her trap in ways he didn't expect and nearly blackmails him into staying with her at the mansion. That's why I consider Norma Desmond a total femme fatale. Whether Holden's character likes it or not, he gets stuck in Norma's trap, and things get a little dangerous to say the least.

Mr. DeMille? She's ready for her close up.

Swanson's Norma may go completely against the typical typecasting for a femme fatale (sultry, cool, a little brazen), but a lot of the characteristics of the typical femme fatale exists in this character. For example - she's cunning and tricky. Though her methods may be different (she pulls on Bill Holden's emotions; Phyllis Dietrichson seduced Walter), she does land up trapping her prey.

They call "Mildred Pierce", the 1945 drama that won Joan Crawford the Oscar for the title character of the same name, film noir. The femme fatale can be identified in Ann Blyth as Veda, Mildred's selfish daughter who wreaks havoc for Joan Crawford -- who, in this case, is the victim. It is completed with low key lighting and a dark tone.

Mildred is compelled to love the conniving Veda because she is, above all, her daughter.

The dark, dimly lit lighting of a film noir cinches the deal. Take my the little tidbit I wrote earlier in the post -- this scene would not have the same dramatic effect if filmed in the regular black and white. Instead, a sharp, crisp contrast between the two shades (with a little gray in between), usually splitting a character's face into two, hams up the drama. Shadows are also often utilized - silhouettes add mystery and suspense. The smoke coming from the character's cigarettes add a smoky, clouded feel into already dark room. Select lighting on the femme fatale's eyes was also a commonly used trick.

Alan Ladd striking a sinister pose in a classic example of using lighting for an effect

We can learn a lot from the character and what role they will play in the movie from the first moment they appear on screen - and more importantly, the way they are lit. A character may be lit from the bottom to give a menacing look, or may be lit from behind to look vague or moody. Spotlighting the femme fatale's eyes are another commonly used trick.

To wrap up this post, let's take a quick look at the most familiar actors and actresses of the film noir genre. We can usually find

• Humphrey Bogart
• Lauren Bacall
• Barbara Stanwyck
• On occasion, Rita Hayworth
• Robert Mitchum
• James Cagney
• Joan Crawford

in film noir.

Does film noir still exist? To stretch the term, there are films that have been made post-Golden Era that people like to consider film noir.... femme fatale and all. However, the core of true film noir will always be in the 1940's and 50's, when it was at it's peek of highest popularity.... and besides. They don't make them like they used to.

Bogie

Film noir is really such an enticing, attractive style of film making. It offers us a different escape into the movie world - a world where there are really no happily ever afters and instead moody, manipulative characters who travel down darkly lit streets and damp alleyways into their own deathly fates. 

 Though I have not yet really journeyed far into this genre, researching and preparing for writing this post  have got me excited about watching more from this particular era of film making. I hope you've enjoyed my little two cents on the subject.

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Okay, that's all, folks. Polls open tomorrow and I'm inviting everyone to check out the other posts and cast your votes. I tried my hardest on this.... and well, I hope it wasn't too awful.

Thanks for bearing with me. :)