Movies (copied from Forum)
This was originally posted in the Forum, but since we now have a Group, I decided to move it here so all MOVIE discussions can be under this umbrella.
I thought it might be interesting to start a discussion of movies----old, new, bad, good, and those cult films or classics that might be hard to find on video.
I love movies. As a nine-year old I looked forward to Saturday mornings when school friends and I would mount our bicycles and ride the mile or two to the neighborhood theatre. So long as you didn't leave the theatre management never tried to restrict some of us who might hang around to see a double feature twice. The theatre always ran a serial, too.
I began my personal collection of movies when the first video recorders came out in the 70s. By that time I was in TV and had done a documentary or two on my own, so I began collecting documentaries on subjects that interested me and to evaluate production styles and techniques.
Citizen Kane (1941) has long been touted by critics as the best film ever. Some of you may have seen AMERICAN EXPERIENCE when they reported on the battle over Citizen Kane. That two-hour documentary, made in 1995, is included in the two-disc Special Edition DVD of Citizen Kane.In 1999 there was a made-for-TV movie based on the research that went into that AMERICAN EXPERIENCE episode. RKO 281: The Battle Over Citizen Kane features Liev Schreiber as Orson Welles and James Cromwell as William Randolph Hearst.
Still on the subject of adversarial relationships: A 1960 Stanley Kramer B&W film adapted from the stage play Inherit The Wind starred Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond (Attorney Clarence Darrow) and Frederick March as Matthew Harrison Brady (William Jennings Bryan). Song and dance man Gene Kelly, making the most of a dramatic opportunity, played the cynical newspaper columnist E.K. Hornbeck (H.L. Mencken of the Baltimore Sun). This film rings as true today as it did in 1960. It's based on the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton Tennessee. In that small town in 1925 a 25 year old science teacher was placed on trial for violating a Tennessee law against teaching the Theory of Evolution. TV re-made Inherit The Wind twice. In 1988 Kirk Douglass played Matthew Brady, Jason Robards played Henry Drummond, and Darren McGavin played E.K. Hornbeck. Eleven years later, 1999, Jack Lemmon chewed up the scenery as Henry Drummond, George C. Scott was Brady and Beau Bridges played Hornbeck. I'm partial to the 1960 original, although Lemmon, Scott, and Bridges come in a close second. A few months back I pulled out my copy of Inherit The Wind (I generally watch it a couple of times a year. Tracy is fantastic as Drummond/Darrow, particularly when he cross-examines March's Bryan. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it, but this time I was compelled to check the accuracy of the script v. transcript from the trial. I love the Internet! Within a couple of minutes I was reading the Scopes Trial transcript of that heated exchange. Much to their credit, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, who'd written the play lifted that scene almost verbatim. Unlike so many writers they had the wisdom, in this particular case, not to tamper with reality.
I think one of the reasons why I've been so fascinated with this trial is because it happened in the state where I grew up, and because one of my first interview assignments as a radio reporter in Knoxville, TN (while still in college) was to track down and interview John Scopes, the unassuming science teacher who was found guilty. The trial site, Dayton TN, is about an hour-and-a-half west of Knoxville. It's where Kramer chose to have the premier of his movie. Scopes did literally hundreds of interviews that year. He had become a geologist and was working in Shreveport for United Gas. He never sought publicity and seemed uncomfortable whenever interviewed. My interview with him was no exception. He politely answered my questions with unmemorable answers. He still hoped that someday Tennessee's law would be stricken from the books. That didn't happen until 1967.
Enough old stuff---how about you? Are there any movies you are anxiously awaiting? (4th Indiana Jones?) Any you've seen recently that rise above the clutter?
I hope many of you will join the MOVIES discussion. Who knows, maybe if there's enough participation we'll get our own Category some day :-)
I thought it might be interesting to start a discussion of movies----old, new, bad, good, and those cult films or classics that might be hard to find on video.
I love movies. As a nine-year old I looked forward to Saturday mornings when school friends and I would mount our bicycles and ride the mile or two to the neighborhood theatre. So long as you didn't leave the theatre management never tried to restrict some of us who might hang around to see a double feature twice. The theatre always ran a serial, too.
I began my personal collection of movies when the first video recorders came out in the 70s. By that time I was in TV and had done a documentary or two on my own, so I began collecting documentaries on subjects that interested me and to evaluate production styles and techniques.
Citizen Kane (1941) has long been touted by critics as the best film ever. Some of you may have seen AMERICAN EXPERIENCE when they reported on the battle over Citizen Kane. That two-hour documentary, made in 1995, is included in the two-disc Special Edition DVD of Citizen Kane.In 1999 there was a made-for-TV movie based on the research that went into that AMERICAN EXPERIENCE episode. RKO 281: The Battle Over Citizen Kane features Liev Schreiber as Orson Welles and James Cromwell as William Randolph Hearst.
Still on the subject of adversarial relationships: A 1960 Stanley Kramer B&W film adapted from the stage play Inherit The Wind starred Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond (Attorney Clarence Darrow) and Frederick March as Matthew Harrison Brady (William Jennings Bryan). Song and dance man Gene Kelly, making the most of a dramatic opportunity, played the cynical newspaper columnist E.K. Hornbeck (H.L. Mencken of the Baltimore Sun). This film rings as true today as it did in 1960. It's based on the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton Tennessee. In that small town in 1925 a 25 year old science teacher was placed on trial for violating a Tennessee law against teaching the Theory of Evolution. TV re-made Inherit The Wind twice. In 1988 Kirk Douglass played Matthew Brady, Jason Robards played Henry Drummond, and Darren McGavin played E.K. Hornbeck. Eleven years later, 1999, Jack Lemmon chewed up the scenery as Henry Drummond, George C. Scott was Brady and Beau Bridges played Hornbeck. I'm partial to the 1960 original, although Lemmon, Scott, and Bridges come in a close second. A few months back I pulled out my copy of Inherit The Wind (I generally watch it a couple of times a year. Tracy is fantastic as Drummond/Darrow, particularly when he cross-examines March's Bryan. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it, but this time I was compelled to check the accuracy of the script v. transcript from the trial. I love the Internet! Within a couple of minutes I was reading the Scopes Trial transcript of that heated exchange. Much to their credit, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, who'd written the play lifted that scene almost verbatim. Unlike so many writers they had the wisdom, in this particular case, not to tamper with reality.
I think one of the reasons why I've been so fascinated with this trial is because it happened in the state where I grew up, and because one of my first interview assignments as a radio reporter in Knoxville, TN (while still in college) was to track down and interview John Scopes, the unassuming science teacher who was found guilty. The trial site, Dayton TN, is about an hour-and-a-half west of Knoxville. It's where Kramer chose to have the premier of his movie. Scopes did literally hundreds of interviews that year. He had become a geologist and was working in Shreveport for United Gas. He never sought publicity and seemed uncomfortable whenever interviewed. My interview with him was no exception. He politely answered my questions with unmemorable answers. He still hoped that someday Tennessee's law would be stricken from the books. That didn't happen until 1967.
Enough old stuff---how about you? Are there any movies you are anxiously awaiting? (4th Indiana Jones?) Any you've seen recently that rise above the clutter?
I hope many of you will join the MOVIES discussion. Who knows, maybe if there's enough participation we'll get our own Category some day :-)
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by John Alexander on -
Permalink Reply by Irene Matthews 14 hours ago
Each year Turner Clasic Movies (TCM) puts on their "31 Days of Oscar" and it's a great opportunity to see some of the real classics. In my case re-see them!
My all time favorites....The African Queen with Bogart and Hepburn, Casablanca with Bogart and Bergman, The Caine Mutiny with Bogart, Van Johnson and Jose Ferrer (do you see a pattern here?).
Then once in a while my insomnia gives me a great gift - like the film I watched recently in the middle of the night. "Mephisto" is a 1982 film starring Klaus Maria Brandauer (Karen Blixen's rascal of a husband in Out of Africa) as an actor during the rise of the Nazi's in Germany. It was quite good, and I never knew it existed before. What a treat!
-
Permalink Reply by John Alexander on
-
Thanks for joining Irene, we'll both look forward to more members. I've moved my original discussion and your reply into our New Group: MOVIES so it should be easier for anyone else interested to read everything in one place.
I too enjoy the African Queen, Casablanca and the Caine Mutiny. Turner did an excellent made-for-TV feature several years back on the Nuremburg Trials. Fortunately, I recorded it because I don't believe I've seen it in the video stores.
Since the Westminster Dog Show just announced a Beagle had won for the first time, I think it's appropriate that I recommend Best In Show to you and others who may not have seen this "Mock-U-Mentary." It's from the same people who brought us This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman, etc. Best In Show, in my opinion, is the best of them.
Sponsors
How to Advertise on iMatthews
How to Advertise on iMatthews iMatthews Website Built and Maintained by Parker Web 
© 2010 Created by Darryl Parker.
