I sincerely hope you and your family, or family of friends, are having a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm welcoming this holiday with open arms. It's about time I get to spend the whole day doing "just whatever I like"!
Okay, I grabbed that line from Roman Holiday: I'm Princess Anne(or Audrey Hepburn or both for that matter) and a whole day of adventure and excitement awaits! Except in this case, substitute eating for adventure and catching up with family for excitement. It's still going to be a blast! If company goes home early I may even get a chance to sit down and watch Audrey Hepburn in this same film that became her big screen debut. It is definitely one of the classic movies I am thankful for, among MANY many others.
In case you haven't seen the movie, here's some background: Princess Anne (Hepburn) is touring Rome with her royal entourage when she gets frustrated with all the fanfare of being a princess and decides to runaway and spend some time exploring the city on her own. In the city, American journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) meets Anne, who is covering as Anya Smith, and figures he can get an inside scoop on the princess if he accompanies her and shows her around town on her "Roman Holiday". You can expect that eventually romance becomes the typical conflict of interest for both characters. Rest assured: the movie has a somewhat happy ending.
If you haven't seen this film yet, you're gonna love it! The cinematography of this film gives the audience a great view of and feel for the city. I only wish they could have made this one in color! Either way, it's pretty much guaranteed that the adventures Anne and Joe have will make you want to pack up and head to Rome for you're own fun! It might even spur you to book a trip for your next Thanksgiving holiday!
Here's a clip. Enjoy! and have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
If you haven't seen The Magnificent Seven (1960), you are missing out! Go rent it, get it on Netflix, find it on youtube, etc! I just watched it for the first time and it was sooooo good! Typically I don't start watching a western flick with high expectations. I just feel like it always takes too long for the story to get going, and I can't seem to connect with the time period that well. However, I have been pleasantly surprised on many an occasion, with 3:10 to Yuma, for instance, and High Noon. And now I am adding The Magnificent Seven to that list of impressive westerns. Not that I wasn't expecting it to be good. In fact I was expecting it to be VERY good, because I know it's a well known classic. Knowing that the cast includes Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen (two personal favorites) raised my expectations even higher. Then the movie started. Along came Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, Horst Buchholz, James Coburn, and a great plot with action, a little romance, and quality character development and dialogue. That was it. Director John Sturges went above and beyond in my opinion. Expectations were blown out of the water! I am NOT exaggerating.
Here's the trailer:
The plot revolves around a Mexican town that is being taken advantage of by a rogue bandit Calvera (Wallach) and his group of men. Some of the village men go to another town to buy and bring back guns to defend themselves for when Calvera returns. Instead, they run into Chris Adams (Brynner) who helps recruit six more men to fight Calvera and save the town.
There are some great action scenes. But, it isn't all shock and awe, so to speak. The plot shows how each member of the magnificent seven is recruited. Throughout the movie, you find out a little more about each of the men. All of the seven men are fighting for hire, but as the film goes on, their other motivations are revealed. The men are tough, but one scene strongly dispels any notion that these "tough guys" have it all. As the movie progresses, you see relationships form between the people in the town and the magnificent seven. If I can say one thing for sure, the film really does a great job of developing the characters.
The Magnificent Seven was actually followed by three sequels, none of which have I seen, but all of which I have heard are not so good (putting it lightly). Yul Brynner was the only actor from the original to play in any of the sequels, and he only did so for one of the following films (Return of the Seven). Without even a few of the original actors cast, I can see how it would be hard to replicate the success of this film. Take Steve McQueen out of the equation and you've already suffered a huge loss. When Yul drops out, its over. And when you have to get a new director, a sequel shouldn't even be considered (although as I say this I realize that the Harry Potter series and quite a few other series have been quite successful with different directors).
Three of the Seven...Still Pretty Magnificent
Elmer Bernstein's score for the film is quite famous, and was nominated in 1961 for the Academy Award for Best Music. This was the only nomination the film received. But awards aren't everything. The Magnificent Seven is going down in my book as one of the best westerns and classic movies I've seen to date (added to a ever growing list). As I said, you have to check this movie out! I'll keep my eyes peeled and post something on the "Coming Soon..." page if The Magnificent Seven is scheduled to play on TCM again.
Anatole Litvak's "The Journey" from 1959 is easily one of the best movies I have seen. It's suspenseful and passionate, and pulls at the heartstrings more than once before the end of the film. "The Journey" follows a group of travelers who have to leave Budapest for Vienna by bus, because of the ensuing Hungarian Revolution. [side note: The Hungarian Revolution took place in 1956 and was an effort to rid the country of Soviet control.] Along the way, the Soviets are taking steps to put down the revolt and catch all participating revolutionaries.
The travelers are a diverse group, from different countries. One of the woman travelers is Diana Ashmore, who is played by Deborah Kerr. Ashmore is of utmost importance to the story. She is trying to get to Vienna with her loved one, as is everyone else on the bus. One major difference: her boyfriend, Paul Kedes (played by Jason Robards) is a Hungarian. Not only that, but he is part of the revolutionary movement and was wounded before the start of the trip. AND, Ashmore and Kedes (known to the other traveler's by a British name Flemming) have decided to conceal their relationship and distance themselves from one another as much as possible, so that they appear to merely be acquaintances.
Almost at the end of the journey, the travelers are stopped at a small town just outside of Austria. There, the travelers meet Major Surov (Yul Brynner). Major Surov delays the departure of the travelers, and tension builds as Diana struggles to keep Flemming's identity hidden.
Basically, "The Journey" is brilliant! Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner act their parts superbly as can only be expected. Kerr plays a strong woman trying to the best of her ability to control the circumstance she finds herself in. Brynner plays the confident and reflective Soviet leader torn between his duties and his conscience. [side note: I found these two characters to be quite similar to the characters Kerr and Brynner play in "The King and I."] Without a doubt, you will be impressed by the ease with which they portray their characters. And on top of it all, their chemistry is electric! Brynner's character Major Surov has taken an interest in Diana, and while she has a greater love for Flemming, Surov's commanding presence is hard to ignore. That's all I'll say. You should most definitely put this on your list of movies to see!
Here's a trailer for the film, courtesy of TCM. It was hard to find this film on dvd (except for a version in Spanish), but I was able to track it down at the Warner Bros. online shop. You can also vote on TCM's website for it to be released on home video (I guess so that TCM will carry it as part of their online collection). I've put the link to vote below the trailer video.
Trailer for "The Journey"
This movie is amazing! You can read more and vote here:
Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope the weather's nice wherever you find yourself today! If not, it's a great day to sit down and catch up on some classics. I checked out TCM's schedule this morning and would definitely suggest you look at their lineup as well. You should for sure check out "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) with James Cagney, at 8:00pm PT. You have to spend at least one Independence Day watching this movie. I actually blogged about it a year ago, so check it out. I can't say enough about how great of a movie it is! "1776" (from 1972) is another classic I've seen TCM play on the Fourth of July, but I've never been able to sit through it. It's a musical set in the year 1776. What? I never would have guessed it. Haha. But, ya I'm not exactly one for a period musical and a comedy mixed in one. Whatever, I'm sure it's up someone's alley. Anyway, it's at 5:00pm PT. No harm in checking it out. Who knows, maybe you'll appreciate it a little more than I did. I'm sure the story is good, I mean it obviously covers what is arguably the most important year in American history. It's just men singing in between drafting and signing the Declaration of Independence that gets me. I mean can you imagine...
Okay. Maybe you can't imagine. Maybe you'll find this description of the movie intriguing enough to turn on TCM at the appropriate time and watch. Just thinking about it has made me want to give the film a second chance. Haha. Lastly, at 10:15pm PT. if you're not out at a Fourth of July block party or still watching fireworks and chowing down on a piece of American flag cake, grab your remote for some fun and follow the life and times of John Philip Sousa. The movie's called "The Stars and Stripes", obviously after the very famous Sousa-composed Stars and Stripes Forever that you're guaranteed to hear when watching the fireworks tonight. I've never seen this musical, but it sounds great! It's from 1958 and stars Clifton Webb. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a trailer to post. Sorry!
I know this isn't a food blog, but I just had to post this.
I mean, seriously? Can you imagine how talented this person has to be?
All I can say is yum, just yum.
(courtesy of chickabug.com)
So, again I hope you have an amazing July 4th! Throughout the day, I'd hope that you'd think about how lucky we are to live in America and of all those brave men and women who have fought for us to be free. That being said, I thought I would post some fun clips for you guys to check out and a couple nice pictures here and there. Hope you enjoy these couple clips!
The amazing James Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
Last scene from "1776"
Makes you realize how much the founders put on the line for what they believed in.
Words cannot describe how COOL this movie is. I know using this word, I risk sounding like an apathetic teenager who is trying to fake an interest in a conversation with some random classroom acquaintance. However, in this context the word is not to be taken as such. Rather, I mean for "cool" to be taken as "Wow, that's smooth."
Hence, there could not be a better description than "cool" for Norman Jewison's "The Thomas Crown Affair". Did I mention the male and female lead stars are Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway? They alone make the movie cool, but on top of that the plot is cool, the theme song is cool, the cinematography is cool, and the list goes on... Remember: cool meaning suave.
Even the trailer is cool. Take a look:
If the trailer was too vague for you, the plot entails a bored playboy millionaire businessman, Thomas Crown (who else but Steve), who, looking to add some excitement to his dull life, plans a bank robbery. So, the robbery is successful, and Crown gets away with a few million that he really didn't want (I'm sure he was thinking "Can't a guy rob a bank just for the fun of it anymore?"), but the excitement doesn't end there, it barely even starts there. So, "When DOES Faye Dunaway come into the picture?" you ask. We're just getting to that.
Enter bank insurance investigator, Vicki Anderson, a beautiful woman with a sharp mind. Almost immediately, she's onto Crown, and she tells him so rather bluntly. She follows him oh-so-closely, and he does just the same. From there on out, their relationship blossoms, all the while Crown knows Vicki is trying her best to pin him to the crime.
Dunaway and McQueen are quite the dynamic duo in this picture! They make every scene fun to watch, because they complement each other so perfectly. Few other film couples have been able to make their onscreen chemistry look as natural as these two do. This is true throughout the movie, but especially in the famous chess game scene. On a side note, the chess game in the film was modeled after a true 1899 chess game between two world champions. Interesting, right?
Surprisingly, the film was only nominated for two Oscars in 1969, both of which were in the Best Music category. "The Thomas Crown Affair" was awarded the Best Music Oscar for Original Song. The song, "The Windmills of Your Mind", is featured throughout the movie and in one of my favorite scenes seen below.
