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What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

BegintheBeguine

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Patrick Murtha said:
I'm not sure if "vivacious" is the word I would use for the Virginia Mayo character... :)

In any case, the "cheating" by the husband doesn't progress beyond a kiss, and the wife walks out on the husband of her own volition and for her own reasons (and there's a strong suggestion that her "cheating" has gone much, much farther than his).

Those quickie wartime weddings didn't always work out so well.
Agreed, but still they could have worked it out. Frank and Peggy say they love each other. That's worse than physically cheating. Marie is willing to keep working. She admits she's mercenary. Peggy wants a nice home in the suburbs. Yes, I'm a snob against girls who don't have to work for pay and the suburbs. I've even been called vivacious ;), and it irks my goat to see the perceived good girl pitted against the perceived bad girl who married the wrong guy. The movie was a lot deeper than I was afraid it would be! Frank's a cad. But I wished them all the best of luck as I was blowing my nose.
Their situation mirrors my own in many ways, but the War's not over yet in mine.
It is interesting that Butch said next war we'd all be blown to bits at the start. Obviously he meant World War, thank goodness.
 

Patrick Murtha

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BegintheBeguine said:
Agreed, but still they could have worked it out. Frank and Peggy say they love each other. That's worse than physically cheating. Marie is willing to keep working. She admits she's mercenary. Peggy wants a nice home in the suburbs. Yes, I'm a snob against girls who don't have to work for pay and the suburbs. I've even been called vivacious ;), and it irks my goat to see the perceived good girl pitted against the perceived bad girl who married the wrong guy. The movie was a lot deeper than I was afraid it would be! Frank's a cad. But I wished them all the best of luck as I was blowing my nose.

Well, but. If Peggy just wanted a nice house in the burbs she could have married monied Woody, and she doesn't have the least interest in him despite the fact that he's handsome to boot. By marrying Fred Derry, she is marrying down -- that's part of why her dad has such a rough time with the concept. Recall that the last words of the movie are Fred's to Peggy: "You know what it'll be, don't you, Peggy? It may take us years to get anywhere. We'll have no money, no decent place to live. We'll have to work, get kicked around..." That's what Peggy is going in for, and that's what Marie wants no part of -- although I admit that Fred's unwillingness to let Marie continue working is sexist. The guy that Marie departs with is depicted as doing fine financially because he has no scruples and is undoubtedly criminal.

One irony is that the suburbs will exist because the Freds will build them!
 

BegintheBeguine

My Mail is Forwarded Here
I won't argue. Heck, I can't even get the guy's name right! lol As I said in another thread it was my granmere's favorite movie, and I also thoroughly enjoyed it.
I re-watched a favorite film noir Phantom Lady the other day and I suspect I'm much too sensitive for some reason lately. I found holes and discrepancies galore, which either I'd never noticed in the dozen times I'd seen it or more probably hadn't cared, and it bugged me. Well, I'm coming off of a bad cold and flu it made me all cranky and on edge. Now that I'm better I think I'll have a drink.
On to-night's bill, another one I've never seen, worth the 10 mile drive to procure it: Nightmare Alley.
 

Quigley Brown

Call Me a Cab
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Des Moines, Iowa
Last night I watched 'Disturbia' (2007). It's a very clever film about a high school kid who, because of the death of his father a year earlier had become sort of a problem student. After slugging one of his teachers the judge puts him under house detention (the ankle bracelet) and can't leave his yard. Going nuts at first he starts observing his neighbors and all their habits ...sort of a modern Rear Window...and thinks one is a serial killer. It's a very entertaining film. If you liked Rear Window, you'll really like this one, too.
 

Jovan

Suspended
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Gainesville, Florida
Speaking of classic films, can't wait to see him in Indiana Jones. The slicked back hair alone does a lot more for him than some of the modern stuff he's been put in.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
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5,252
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Hudson Valley, NY
I showed my teenage daughter the classic 1960 Ingmar Bergman film The Virgin Spring, which I recently got as part of a boxed set of early Bergman masterpieces. Alas, she didn't like it. Not because she has a problem with b/w, subtitles, heavy symbolism, etc., but it just didn't move her. (Geez, it always moves me!)
 

Corto

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I just finished watching Torn Curtain, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Cool Hand Luke and Damn the Defiant.

Torn Curtain was ok...but it was missing that Hitchcock "zing". Still, an interesting take on the Cold War from the Master of Suspense.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold paled in comparison to the novel (obviously), but Richard Burton was brilliant as Alec Leamas (he gave an intense delivery of Leamas' soliloquy on what it means to be a spy...). It was also fun to see the first screen version of George Smiley. A little flat, but that's a hard novel to put on the screen- as are all of Le Carre's works.

I know the 60's generation must've found Cool Hand Luke to be a powerful statement on authority and non-conformity- but I found it a little heavy handed (Holy Christ imagery, Batman!). I can appreciate it for what it must've meant to the kids watching it in the theaters during the Vietnam-era.

Damn the Defiant will be a lot of fun for those of you who're Master and Commander fans. If you're like me and are waiting (apparently in vain) for a sequel, this movie will soothe that ache. Obviously they pushed the special effects and fighting scenes to the envelope for that time (early 1960's). If you've read a bunch of the "Aubrey and Maturin" novels (I'm on volume 10), I'm sure you'll find yourself barking commands at the screen ("C'mon! Beat to quarters already!) seconds before they happen. Lot's of fun. A little predictable. Alec Guinness does very well playing the unflappable commander of a ship with a simmering mutiny and an insubordinate XO.
 

Patrick Murtha

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Wisconsin
Doctor Strange said:
I showed my teenage daughter the classic 1960 Ingmar Bergman film The Virgin Spring, which I recently got as part of a boxed set of early Bergman masterpieces. Alas, she didn't like it. Not because she has a problem with b/w, subtitles, heavy symbolism, etc., but it just didn't move her. (Geez, it always moves me!)

Give it time. Bergman is a director for adults, I think, the sort of director you grow into.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
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5,252
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I dunno - she had previously liked Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, and Wild Strawberries. This one just left her cold.

My kids are third-generation film buffs, and I've been feeding them a steady stream of classics for years now. It's my own little corrective to the general lack of exposure to unusual fare that most kids seem to have nowadays - which is so ironic, considering how much stuff is instantly available compared to when I was a kid and had to haunt museums, revivial houses, and late-night screenings on the single PBS station we had on broadcast TV.

I constantly see posts from young folks on places like the TrekBBS with comments like, "Well, my dad's favorite film is Star Wars." which just make me cringe! Geez, despite the incredible access to knowledge and culture provided by satellite/cable/DVD video and the Internet, most Americans seem to be dumber Philistines than ever!
 

Patrick Murtha

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Wow, that's great. Kudos to you for giving them that exposure. Maybe The Virgin Spring is just a little severe -- it heralds Bergman's Sixities phase of increasingly challenging "chamber" films.

You make a good general point that just when technology and niche commerce are making more of the riches of the past and of the entirety of world culture available to a general audience than ever before -- the "long tail" effect -- the majority of that audience is more and more fixated on crappy pop culture (not even good pop culture). It's distressing, but at least those of us who are inclined can make a feast.
 

SamMarlowPI

One Too Many
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1,761
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Minnesota
KY Gentleman said:
I'm watching "Cobra" on HBO right now. Stallone at his campy best.
"You're the disease, I'M THE CURE!".

oh yah...lol you should check out the message boards on IMDB and check out "things i learned from watching cobra" that is the funniest thread in the world...
 

zaika

One Too Many
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Portlandia
wasn't feeling well today, so TCM was my best friend. The Essentials played one of my faves, "The Apartment" (they're right in that Shirley McClaine is totally underrated as an actress). Then it was "How to Succeed in Business..." I'd never seen it before...and it was...interesting. I LOVE musicals, but this one was kind of hard to really like.
Then they showed "Baby Face" with Barbara Stanwyck. I had forgotten that I'd seen this movie a million times, but it's still heartbreaking.
I wish I could make a career out of watching old movies. lol
 

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