Haven’t stepped on anyone in a while, so I thought I would break Tamara in.
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by John Cole| 36 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Haven’t stepped on anyone in a while, so I thought I would break Tamara in.
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Steeplejack (phone)
You magnificent bastard, Cole! Damn you to hell!
TaMara (BHF)
Oh, sure now you show up.
RaflW
And you got stepped on by cheesecake, John. 1 minute later. Love it.
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (BHF): And then I stepped on both of you. My sincerest apologies.
ThresherK
Lindsey Lohan’s outfit looks like the love child born of the closets of Esther Williams and Laugh-In era Goldie Hawn.
ThresherK
@efgoldman: These are both passed-down cultural references. I am a budding movie geek, specializing in the studio era, before I was born.
Hey, that faux drug ad is twice as funny when my wife (LCSW) reminds me that Abilify is an actual psychotropic drug. “See your doctor…Bobby Jindal!”
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@ThresherK:
When I write it, my website is all about Pre-Code movies that were produced before my father was born. So, yeah.
ThresherK
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Whoohoo, Pre-Code! Ahhh, that’s the stuff.
TaMara (BHF)
@ThresherK:
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
For reasons I cannot explain, I’ve developed an unhealthy obsession with The Philadelphia Story. With the exception of a very weird monologue by Seth Lord, it’s a near perfect movie that captures a moment in time. Watching scenes with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart, it’s magic. And Katherine Hepburn…well she’s just radiant.
I only learned recently that Cary Grant donated his hefty salary to the British War Relief campaign.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@efgoldman: How ’bout it? “Lindsey Lohan”? Plug in, Gramps. What are you, like 30?
I thought Hillary Clinton acquitted herself ably, nice cameo by that guy which also showed some good humor by HRC. If I had placed a bet, I would have lost because I thought for sure that there would be a three-way Hillary-off between Clinton, McKinnon and Poehler. Still could happen.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@TaMara (BHF):
I have to confess, I tend to hate-watch “Philadelphia Story” (I’ve seen it abkut a dozen times) because the whole subplot where Tracy’s father says that Tracy is responsible for the fact that he cheated on her mother is just weird and creepy. But I do like the acknowledgement (voiced by Jimmy Stewart) that there at least *used* to be rules about taking advantage of drunk women — not sure when that got dropped.
My favorite Hepburn/Grant movie is probably “Holiday.” It’s not at all subtle about showing that Grant’s dilemma is that he’s having fabulous sex with Hepburn’s sister but doesn’t particularly *like* her, and he’s not sure he should give up great sex for a more compatible relationship where the sex probably won’t be quite as great.
ThresherK
@TaMara (BHF): There’s an unhealthy level of obsession with this masterpiece?
TaMara (BHF)
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Creepy is being kind. That whole weird monologue about needing an affectionate daughter – I usually fast forward through it and pretend it never happened.
Also see: Donovan’s Reef and that whole spanking scene at the end.
I find quite a few old movies I like I have to be in denial about some things or I couldn’t enjoy them. I chalk it up to understanding the time period in which it was made and making allowances.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@efgoldman:
Not necessarily — I think Grant was a big enough star that he was essentially a free agent at that point. He definitely was not an MGM contractee.
One of my favorite WWII movie star stories is that while Boris Karloff was on Broadway in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” he also served as a (civilian) air raid warden. I’m guessing that when Karloff showed up at your door to tell you to turn your lights off, you did it!
(Karloff was pushing 60 when WWII broke out, so he couldn’t have enlisted if he had wanted to.)
Aleta
@TaMara (BHF): My, she was yare.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@TaMara (BHF):
That is definitely a problem with old movies. Sometimes they’re surprisingly progressive, but a lot of the time they have at least a few cringe-worthy scenes (I’m looking at you, Preston Sturges, and your embarrassing black characters).
TaMara (BHF)
@efgoldman: He negotiated $100K, almost unheard of then, and his name as the lead – all so he could donate it, which Hepburn gladly supported (even though it is clearly her movie).
TaMara (BHF)
@Aleta: I’ll tell you what you can call her if you like…in fond remembrance of me, the Easy Virtue.
Pogonip
Who has Thurston?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TaMara (BHF): she pretty much bankrupted herself to buy the movie rights to the play, didn’t she? and that speech by Tracy’s father…. Oy.
@efgoldman: (Snarking on ThresherK who confused his (his?) downward-spiraling former child stars, Miley Cyrus is the one trying way too hard to be Lady Gaga on SNL tonight. Unless Lindsey Lohan was on and I didn’t recognize her.)
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She did, but she also got a big percentage of the profits in her deal with MGM and it was a monster hit, so her gamble paid off.
TaMara (BHF)
I’m off.I have an early morning neighborhood meeting to attend (thanks Bixby, until the last year, no one even knew my name). I made “Puppy Chow” – the rice chex chocolate peanut butter snack. Not my best effort, but it’s portable and easy to make. You don’t get my best efforts until I know you’re worth it.
Next time there is dead air here, we’ll do a true movie thread.
PurpleGirl
@TaMara (BHF):
Also see: Donovan’s Reef and that whole spanking scene at the end.
Yes. I also find the age differences between Wayne’s character and Elizabeth Allen on the creepy side. But there are a few scenes I really like to watch (the parade, Christmas mass, any scene with Dorothy Lamour). It’s the only John Wayne I can watch.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@PurpleGirl:
What do you think of “The Quiet Man,” with Wayne and Maureen O’Sullivan? Molly Haskell defended it as a movie with a feminist message, and I think she made a lot of sense.
Aleta
@TaMara (BHF): I read the play a million times as a kid before I ever saw the movie.
TaMara (BHF)
@PurpleGirl: I hate watch HellFighters every once in awhile, mostly for Jim Hutton. But the script is so gawd awful it’s difficult to get past. The cast is worth it and I like Wayne in it. I have a soft spot for True Grit because my dad and I used to go to movies together and that was the first (Butch Cassidy and Jaws were two other notable ones) I was pretty young, too, but it was so much fun.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TaMara (BHF): No lovelier sight in all this lovely world that the sight of the privileged class enjoying its privileges.
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I’ve never actually seen it all the way through and not sure why. I should watch it some time. I guess I’ve just been put off by John Wayne. Donovan’s Reef had enough other actors I liked that I watched it all the way through.
PurpleGirl
@TaMara (BHF): I remember my father wanting to see only one movie — Advise and Consent. Have no idea how old I was when he took us to see it. Don’t think he ever went to another movie, ever.
ETA: I was 11 when I saw it.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@PurpleGirl:
It depends on your tolerance for twee Irishness. You either love Barry Fitzgerald’s character, or you want to drop him off a cliff. Wayne is surprisingly sweet and charming as a guy trying to escape his violent past.
Another Wayne movie you might not hate is “Rio Bravo,” which has one of the weirdest-sounding supporting casts of all time — Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Angie Dickinson. Somehow, Howard Hawks makes it all work.
Aleta
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Lydia the Tattooed Lady
Aleta
Link didn’t go in. http://youtu.be/d15JOd75uG8
trollhattan
@Aleta:
Utterly show-stealing scene. And wow, does that song play differently sung by a girl instead of Groucho.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: You should hear it done by a rugby club.
Anne Laurie
@trollhattan: Yet another version of Lydia, from one of my favorite movies.
Cervantes
@efgoldman:
Would have been ’36 or early in ’37.