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| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof |
--The Wicked Witch of the West
Sorry for the delay. Work, work, work!
Let's get right to it. In our last episode, I had described the first two days of the TCM Classic Film Festival.
The Festival's third and fourth day proved several things. The old movie palaces beat the hell out of the modern multiplex. Their ornate decoration and majestic lines give a sense that the movie is an event, and not just something you do after dinner. One can have fun watching movies at the theater when its a quality movie, when noise-causing cretins don't attend, and the audience reacts audibly to the movie. For example, its more fun to watch a comedy when you're with other people than at your own house by yourself. And its more fun to watch movies when the others surrounding you appreciate and enjoy movies and have some sense for the movie's significance. All weekend, people generously applauded as main characters appeared on screen or in the credits. I talked to lots of people while waiting on line, and everyone seemed to possess a strong knowledge of and appreciation for classic movies. No one seemed pissed that they weren't watching a superhero movie (hey, once I turned 12 I lost interest in comic book characters...was I the only one who grew up?).
Here's how it went down.
Saturday after a great morning run down Santa Monica Boulevard from my Petit Ermitage command headquarters into Beverly Hills (ok, right away I acknowledge how spectacularly douche-ridden that sounds), I made it to Hollywood to watch Hannah and Her Sisters. Ok, ok, Woody Allen's non-perv status doesn't look so good these days, but I adhere to the "art is separate from the artist" rule and still enjoy what I regard as his most entertaining movie. Yeah, that's a handy rule. Its allowed me to enjoy countless movies and songs produced by people whom I regard as either personally or politically offensive. Besides, art stands alone, even from its creator. Getting back to the movie, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz introduced it and pointed out that Allen had originally offered the Mia Farrow role to Kim Basinger, who turned it down to star in 9 1/2 Weeks. I'm glad she did so-her physical appearance would have overwhelmed the movie, and we wouldn't have gotten to see her crawl across the floor in 9 1/2 Weeks. The audience obviously enjoyed the movie too. People clapped and cheered as one then-unknown actor turned big star appeared on screen: Julia Louise Dreyfus, Sam Waterston, John Turturro, Joanna Gleason, Daniel Stern, Julie Kavner, and Bobby Short. Allen sure could spot talent.
While standing in line for the movie, I connected again with an older lady whom I met yesterday while waiting for Meet Me In St. Louis. She said that Ryan O'Neal, who was supposed to introduce Paper Moon (which I skipped), was a no-show. Good thing I didn't settle on that show.
Next up was a movie I'd never previously seen-John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. Also known as the movie that won the Best Picture Oscar over Citizen Kane. This was shown in the El Capitan Theater, a true movie palace that more closely resembled an oversized Broadway theater. Its Hollywood in every way, right down to the gold leaf organ in front of the screen, on which an organist performs a short concert before each screening. I think Disney owns it (which makes perfect sense). Preceding the showing, TCM host Robert Osborne interviewed its star, 93 year old Maureen O'Hara. Let me just say, without any hint of sarcasm, this was one of the most touching and moving displays I've ever encountered in person. Ms. O'Hara, one of Hollywood's all-time most photogenic stars, had an amazing life and career, and is one of that Golden Age's last survivors. She spoke for nearly 10 minutes from her wheelchair, pretty much not prompted, about how we shouldn't fear old age but should embrace it. We shouldn't ridicule the old or make fun of old age, but should thank God for it and ask Him to give us a good old age. She spoke of missing those "on the other side" and her looking forward to seeing them again. Though 93, she still spoke with a very strong Irish brogue, just like in The Quiet Man. And she visibly cried several times as the crowd rose to its feet to cheer her and as Osborne lauded her with praise. You can watch this moving appearance by clicking here. The movie itself was quite good, if something of a downer. It involves a turn of the (20th) century Welsh coal mining town where the town's mine began to play out and as jobs became scarce. The declining economy took a toll on the town and O'Hara's family. Walter Pidgeon played a young Church of England vicar with whom O'Hara fell in love, though the two ultimately could not become married. Sad, but very compelling.
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| Kim Novak |
I wasn't sure I had it in me, but it was on to movie number 4 after that. The Women. This movie, about women who go to war with their rivals, makes Mean Girls look like the Easter parade. In short, it was awesome. Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick introduced the movie along with Ben Mankiewicz. She was absolutely delightful and has become one of my age-inappropriate crushes (TMI?). She was self-deprecating and funny, referring to her successful run on "BroadWAY!!" for example (she said "I can't even say that without being douchey"). Click here to watch the interview. A splendid way to end a classic movie-filled day.
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| Anna Kendrick |
Sunday it was back to work, watching Elizabeth Taylor wear a slip better than any woman in the history of women. And...those eyes. You could pretty much just have filmed her in a close up sitting in a chair for two hours and I'd have paid to watch that. Happily, we also had Paul Newman and Burl Ives, and a highly watered down script of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Ben Mankiewicz introduced this as well. He told a couple of great stories. This movie was originally set for black and white, despite the fact this would have wasted the pairing of Taylor's magnetic violet eyes and Newman's sea blue eyes. The director Richard Brooks complained about it through back channels, prompting a couple of younger studio executives to visit the set. They said, "why are you making this in black and white? Why not in color?" to which Brooks replied, "that sounds like a good idea." They then asked "if you switched it to color, would you have to change the wardrobe and the sets?" To which Brooks replied, "the wardrobe and sets are already in color, only the film is black and white." Mankiewicz recounted the story of how Mike Todd, Taylor's husband, died in a plane crash while the movie was filming, but she insisted on continuing filming. She absolutely lost her appetite, however, and was rapidly losing weight. Rather than try to force her to eat, Brooks replaced the prop food with real food in every scene where Maggie was required to eat, and shot these scenes several times hoping Taylor would eat something. It worked. You can't tell that she's abnormally thin. Finally, he said that the day she resumed filming after Todd's death, she had a scene where she had to say the line "I know what its like to lose someone you love." Eerie. The movie itself loses a lot of its punch by washing out the play's suggestions of Brick's homosexuality. But Newman playing Brick as straight gives Maggie the Cat license to be a...cat. What an underrated performance. I saw current sexpot Scarlett Johansson in a Broadway revival of the play a couple of years ago, and she was woeful compared to Elizabeth Taylor's performance. Johansson screamed just about all her lines in some weird half-Arkansas/half-Dutch accent I never could figure out. It basically just served to remind me how amazing Elizabeth Taylor was.
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| The Quiet Man |
Though it almost seemed a shame not to end the Festival right there, I stayed on for The Wizard of Oz, the last Festival showing. Robert Osborne introduced it, in the Graumann's Chinese where it too debuted in 1939. I noticed a number of things about the movie for the first time, which right away tells you that you're watching a fantastic movie. If it can reveal new things after repeated watchings, then it has meaning. And tonight I noticed that the "mission" to capture the Wicked Witch's broom didn't instill in the four principal characters the character traits they wanted. Rather, it showed them they already had those traits. The Lion did have courage, and he went along every step of the way despite his fears. The Scarecrow did have a brain, and I noticed he came up with the plan to rescue Dorothy from the castle and the idea to cut the rope holding the chandelier above the Witch's guards. The Tin Man did have a heart, persevering despite incredible odds and urging the party on despite adversity. And in the end, Dorothy learned not just that she wanted to go home, but what home meant. It meant all the people who loved her and missed her, and whom she loved. And missed. As she said near the end, "it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em -- and it's that -- if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!" Parents who object to the Wizard of Oz, and I've learned that many do, often cite the "scary" scenes during this part of the movie. Dorothy's abduction, the flying monkeys, Dorothy waiting to be executed as the hourglass runs. But I think we make a huge mistake in shielding kids from the reality that the world has unpleasant, even "wicked" things in it. This movie shows a pretty hapless bunch of losers somehow make it to Oz, then, only through love for each other and family, prevail despite long odds over evil. What better lesson can kids learn?
Another incredible print revealed some other points too. Did you know that when they head out to get the witch's broom, the Scarecrow has a gun? I never noticed or saw that. But sure enough, he's holding a revolver. And a butterfly net. Which begs the question, when the flying monkeys come to take Dorothy, why didn't just go all South Central and bust a cap in some monkey ass? That would have made for a different movie. And how lame was it that you could kill the Wicked Witch just by pouring water over her. She better not coach a winning college football team, she'd never survive the Gatorade bath. What happens when it rains? Does that kill her? Or when she brings a glass of water to her lips. I guess she never bathed either, which I suppose after awhile would make one pretty wicked. And what did all her evil henchmen do after she turned into a globule under that hat? They bow down to Dorothy, give her the Witch's broom, then Dorothy takes a breeze. What did all those guards do? Hang around? Go find another witch? I hope they invaded Munchkinland. That Lollypop Guild is obviously no match for the Witch's Guard. Finally, everyone forgets at the end that Toto is still wanted by the Sheriff. Remember, Almira Gulch had a warrant from the Sheriff to confiscate Toto (which, BTW, is ridiculous that a sheriff is going to give some private citizen a writ to take someone else's property. Hell, that so-called "order" allowing her to seize Toto looked like a scrap of paper someone scrawled something on, hardly an official "order"). Toto jumped out of her basket and ran back to Dorothy. Yeah, they went to Oz and then came back I know. But Miss Gulch still has an "order" allowing her to take Toto. So its off to the pound for him. Which I guess wouldn't be quite as good an ending as "there's no place like home!"
Well, mmmkay, that's pretty much it. After the last show I met the gorgeous Julie S., world's loveliest attorney, for a light supper at the award winning Bazaar in Beverly Hills. You know that's how I roll. The next day I flew home, tired but fulfilled at having seen old friends (errr, "long-time" friends), and great movies. Mission Accomplished!
NEXT-Jazz Fest has begun. Why aren't I there?
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