TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Suzn]

On 7/19/2019 at 2:31 PM, mariah23 said:

It’s not a 50’s soap, but 1961’s Susan Slade is a cheesy laughfest.  Plus it’s got Troy Donahue!

"Cheesy laughfest" is right!  Without giving a spoiler, there is a scene that should be tragic and harrowing, that is hilarious because of an obviously fake something.

Troy Donahue - all the animation of the average pet rock.  But he was tall and blonde and apparently the dream of teenage girls.  Not me, but then I always had different taste.

[benteen]

59 minutes ago, Lokiberry said:

Yeah, I loved it! It was a really well made B movie. There was a remake in the 50s (can't remember the title) but this is the good version.  

This one also has Chester Morris and Allen Jenkins, two actors I just enjoy in everything. I was watching Pillow Talk off my DVR a few days ago, and the old man operating the elevator seemed awfuly familiar. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out who it was and then suddenly I was like, "OMG, it's Allen Jenkins!" 

I was reading that Back from Eternity was the name of the remake.

Yeah, the cast in Five was really good and the film was well-made.  The runtime is just right and never outstays its welcome.

[Charlie Baker]

TCM Albert FInney Memorial 7/25

[ratgirlagogo]

4 hours ago, benteen said:

I was reading that Back from Eternity was the name of the remake.

Remade by the same director, John Farrow.  IMO Five Came Back is the superior film.

[Suzn]

1950s movies - The ones I think are the very best are early 50s: Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve and for a complete change of pace, Harvey.

Peyton Place had to be toned down a lot from the book to get past the censors, but it really went pretty far for a movie of that era.  It's very soap opera-ish and I can see why it's compared to Douglas Sirk movies.  I don't think it is nearly as vivid as a Sirk movie though.

I've always liked Kathryn Grayson and in particular, Irene Dunne.  It's a matter of taste and maybe I just don't know any better, but I like their voices.

[Terrafamilia]

Just saw The Thing from Another World for the first time since I was a kid. I was pleasantly surprised by the writing. Though there was some tropiness with single-minded scientist doing things for SCIENCE! the love interest wasn't there to just stand around and scream and the dialog was pretty well done.

[Spartan Girl]

Okay, this is been bugging me for a while. I saw The Yearling with Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman on TCM a couple of weeks ago, and I've noticed that in all the film adaptations when Jody runs away after his mom shoots Flagg  and makes Jody finish him off, the mom goes out to search for him. But in the original novel, that never happens. They don't look for him at all, they just assume he's dead. The only reason his mom isn't there when Jody returns to the cabin is go out and sell grain or something.

Granted, they are happy when he comes home safe and all, but geez. Even in frontier days you'd think that parents would move heaven and earth to search desperately for their child. I know times were tough and everything but still!

So I guess this was one case where the movie version improves on the book.

[Luckylyn]

On 7/22/2019 at 10:27 AM, Suzn said:

"Cheesy laughfest" is right!  Without giving a spoiler, there is a scene that should be tragic and harrowing, that is hilarious because of an obviously fake something.

Troy Donahue - all the animation of the average pet rock.  But he was tall and blonde and apparently the dream of teenage girls.  Not me, but then I always had different taste.

I know the Susan Slade scene you’re talking about and it’s supposed to be so horrific but the prop totally undercuts the drama making it funny.  Plus the gauzy camera filter they use for the mom is so distracting.

I have a soft spot for Troy Donahue that I can’t justify because he’s such a limited actor.  I will happily watch Parrish or Rome Adventure anytime they are on tv.  Yet despite my Troy fondness I was only able to sit through Susan Slade once.  It might work nicely for a MST3K movie night with friends.

[voiceover]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:44 PM, Suzn said:

I've always liked Kathryn Grayson [...] It's a matter of taste and maybe I just don't know any better, but I like [her voice].

Countdown to @Rinaldo's head exploding in 3, 2,...

[Rinaldo]

Nah, I've said my piece on her in this topic, more than once I think, and there's no need to restate it. I'm not out to ruin anyone else's good time.

[ruby24]

Watched The Train last night. GREAT movie. Burt Lancaster at his peak. That last scene of him facing down Paul Scofield was pure Indiana Jones badassery. Loved it.

[Suzn]

20 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I know the Susan Slade scene you’re talking about and it’s supposed to be so horrific but the prop totally undercuts the drama making it funny.  Plus the gauzy camera filter they use for the mom is so distracting.

I have a soft spot for Troy Donahue that I can’t justify because he’s such a limited actor.  I will happily watch Parrish or Rome Adventure anytime they are on tv.  Yet despite my Troy fondness I was only able to sit through Susan Slade once.  It might work nicely for a MST3K movie night with friends.

That's the scene I meant!  I think Susan Slade would be great for MST3K because it is hilarious and takes itself seriously.

I don't mind Troy Donahue.  The roles he had didn't call for anything more than a pretty boy.

[Charlie Baker]

Book recommendation: The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith.  This is a novel about the director of the fictional titular lost silent (as so many real films have been) tracked down by a film scholar. In that framework we get the man's story which started out with the Lumieres, moved on to a skirmish with Edison after the release of his master work, and into WWI.  Fascinating stuff for silent fans, and great characters (the director's partners include a famed French actress, a Brooklyn kinescope parlor operator, and an Australian daredevil stuntman).  A bit of a dense read, maybe, but I was very much drawn into it.

[voiceover]

So you've already taken it out on me and you don't need to do it anymore. I get it 😬

Trust me @Suzn.  I'm *so glad there are two of us! Kiss Me Kate is my favorite pre-60s movie musical; I love Grayson and Keel together; and every time I watch them singing & waltzing to "Wunderbar", I swoon all over again.

[Suzn]

15 hours ago, voiceover said:

So you've already taken it out on me and you don't need to do it anymore. I get it 😬

Trust me @Suzn.  I'm *so glad there are two of us! Kiss Me Kate is my favorite pre-60s movie musical; I love Grayson and Keel together; and every time I watch them singing & waltzing to "Wunderbar", I swoon all over again.

It's nice to know I'm not alone!  I think she was at her best in Kiss Me Kate.  That movie had the added bonus of Bob Fosse dancing with Carol Haney, not to mention Ann Miller.  Glorious!

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, Suzn said:

That movie had the added bonus of Bob Fosse dancing with Carol Haney, not to mention Ann Miller. 

... and Tommy Rall and Bobby Van and Jeanne Coyne. Everybody in that fabulous "From This Moment On" number, in fact.

[Suzn]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

... and Tommy Rall and Bobby Van and Jeanne Coyne. Everybody in that fabulous "From This Moment On" number, in fact.

I shouldn't have left them out.  What a mother lode of talent that number had!

[Spartan Girl]

Watching the end of The Heiress. I can't believe the aunt bought Morris's sob story and thought Catherine should have taken him back. And this after the aunt chided Catherine for "not being smarter" and telling him that her father would cut her off. Yes, because when guys are assholes, it's still somehow the woman's fault. Baloney. Baloney sandwich.

Thank God the new harder Catherine didn't buy it was knew that she could be just fine without any guy.

[ruby24]

Watched a couple more. 

Dangerous with Bette Davis and Franchot Tone. Most memorable thing to me in this was the oddly hot chemistry between Davis and Tone. Wasn't expecting that, but they seemed really into each other. Or maybe it was just my mood.

The Black Swan with Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. This was a fun, classic pirate movie and boy did I see the influence of this one all over the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Some of the rapey stuff with O'Hara is uncomfortable, but on the other hand these are pirates.

[fairffaxx]

4 hours ago, ruby24 said:

... Dangerous with Bette Davis and Franchot Tone. Most memorable thing to me in this was the oddly hot chemistry between Davis and Tone. Wasn't expecting that, but they seemed really into each other. Or maybe it was just my mood. ....

According to "Why did Bette Davis and Joan Crawford Hate Each Other?" at Black and White Movies.com  :
 

"Tone, who was dating Crawford, was Davis’s leading man in Dangerous. Davis fell in love with him, but he married Crawford."

[Vixenstud]

13 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Watching the end of The Heiress. I can't believe the aunt bought Morris's sob story and thought Catherine should have taken him back. And this after the aunt chided Catherine for "not being smarter" and telling him that her father would cut her off. Yes, because when guys are assholes, it's still somehow the woman's fault. Baloney. Baloney sandwich.

Thank God the new harder Catherine didn't buy it was knew that she could be just fine without any guy.

Love, love, LOVE this movie!  I love her icy 'Come in, Morris.' when he came back....he had some balls thinking she was the same naive girl he cruelly dumped before.

[jah1986]

4 hours ago, Vixenstud said:

Love, love, LOVE this movie!  I love her icy 'Come in, Morris.' when he came back....he had some balls thinking she was the same naive girl he cruelly dumped before.

I never get tired of this movie. I love how, after she saw him the final time she said something along the lines of he came back with the same lies and how she'll make sure he never knocks on her door again. 

I first saw this movie on TCM in my late teens/early 20's and remember saying to myself "I hope she won an Academy Award for that".  True classic.

[Wiendish Fitch]

The Heiress is a flippin' masterpiece. Devastatingly good acting by my girl Olivia de Havilland, even if Montgomery Clift didn't think so. He had this to say:

"She memorizes her lines at night and comes to work waiting on the director to tell her what to do... Her performance is being totally shaped by Wyler."

So he basically criticized de Havilland for... being an actress. Fuck you, buddy.

Speaking of douchebags, Ralph Richardson is utter perfection as Dr. Sloper, one of cinema's worst fathers. The scene where he explodes at Catherine and tells her exactly what he thinks of her both breaks my heart and angers up my blood. I also believe that had his wife lived, Dr. Sloper would have eventually treated her as badly as he would Catherine. After all, it's much easier to love an idea of a person than an actual person (though a fat lot of good it'll do you on your deathbed).

[Vixenstud]

4 minutes ago, jah1986 said:

I love how, after she saw him the final time she said something along the lines of he came back with the same lies and how she'll make sure he never knocks on her door again. 

My sister likes to say that to me....."He came back here with the same lies. The same silly phrases. He has grown greedier with the years. The first time he only wanted my money. Now he wants my love, too. Well, he came to the wrong house. And he came twice. I shall see that he doesn’t come a third time."

[MissT]

The Heiress is my all time favorite movie.  The scene that hits my heart is when she is waiting for him to come and when she realizes he's not coming, the pain she feels is so overwhelming.  OMG it gets me every single time!!    Then watching her walk up those steps so defeated and heart broken. 

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

The Heiress is a flippin' masterpiece. Devastatingly good acting by my girl Olivia de Havilland, even if Montgomery Clift didn't think so. He had this to say:

"She memorizes her lines at night and comes to work waiting on the director to tell her what to do... Her performance is being totally shaped by Wyler."

So he basically criticized de Havilland for... being an actress. Fuck you, buddy.

Speaking of douchebags, Ralph Richardson is utter perfection as Dr. Sloper, one of cinema's worst fathers. The scene where he explodes at Catherine and tells her exactly what he thinks of her both breaks my heart and angers up my blood. I also believe that had his wife lived, Dr. Sloper would have eventually treated her as badly as he would Catherine. After all, it's much easier to love an idea of a person than an actual person (though a fat lot of good it'll do you on your deathbed).

Clift said that?! Fuck him indeed!!

And agree on Dr. Sloper. Loved the moment when the maid tells Catherine he's on his deathbed and asking for her, and she's just done. "I know he wants me. It's too late." Good job, girl.

Moral of the story: treat your kids right, because if you don't, it won't matter how much you regret it later.

[Wiendish Fitch]

2 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Moral of the story: treat your kids right, because if you don't, it won't matter how much you regret it later.

That, and sincerely apologize for hurting someone before you're too close to death to do so! It's telling that even looming death wasn't an impetus for Dr. Sloper to get over himself long enough to make amends with his daughter. Who knows? If he had, maybe Catherine would have been at his side at the end. 

Instead, by preferring the idealized memory of his dead wife to his flesh and blood daughter (or to anyone, come to think of it), Dr. Sloper died as he lived: pretty much alone. 

[Spartan Girl]

42 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

That, and sincerely apologize for hurting someone before you're too close to death to do so! It's telling that even looming death wasn't an impetus for Dr. Sloper to get over himself long enough to make amends with his daughter. Who knows? If he had, maybe Catherine would have been at his side at the end. 

Instead, by preferring the idealized memory of his dead wife to his flesh and blood daughter (or to anyone, come to think of it), Dr. Sloper died as he lived: pretty much alone. 

I personally think he only tried to reconcile with her because he was afraid she'd marry Morris and give her his fortune after he was dead.

Honest opinion: is The Women worth watching tonight? I know it was considered a classic but I just have a hard time with the ending with the spurned wife going to win back her husband, even though he cheated on her and married the other woman. I know it was the 30s but just...ugh.

[mariah23]

12 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I personally think he only tried to reconcile with her because he was afraid she'd marry Morris and give her his fortune after he was dead.

Honest opinion: is The Women worth watching tonight? I know it was considered a classic but I just have a hard time with the ending with the spurned wife going to win back her husband, even though he cheated on her and married the other woman. I know it was the 30s but just...ugh.

Spartan Girl, are you a fan of funny catfights?

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, mariah23 said:

Spartan Girl, are you a fan of funny catfights?

It varies. I don't know, I might take a peek.

I just tried to watch The Black Swan. I love Maureen O'Hara and Tyrone Power was dashing, but NO. JUST NO. I could not get past all the rapey stuff. I know they were pirates and everything, but you can't watch a bunch of guys kidnap girls while looting their towns and killing their families and then root for them as the heroes of the movie.

And yes, Pirates of the Carribean was different because we didn't see them kill innocent people and rape women. The worst they did was steal stuff. And if Jack tried to come on to a woman, he got slapped around and rightfully so. JMO.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I still love The Women, warts and all... but I 100% get why it rubs people the wrong way. I love it for the witty banter, costumes (especially Paulette Goddard's dress at the end!), and the pointless-yet-fabulous fashion show sequence.

But to each their own, watch at your own risk. That is all.

[Spartan Girl]

31 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I still love The Women, warts and all... but I 100% get why it rubs people the wrong way. I love it for the witty banter, costumes (especially Paulette Goddard's dress at the end!), and the pointless-yet-fabulous fashion show sequence.

But to each their own, watch at your own risk. That is all.

The outfits are fabulous. And the dogs are cute.

[LilWharveyGal]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

The outfits are fabulous. 

I have a weird fascination with Rosalind Russell's eyeball blouse. It's just so avant garde. Even today I feel like it would be ahead of its time.

Oh, and every time I get a manicure I think of Jungle Red.

[Spartan Girl]

Okay, The Women was entertaining. Even the ending didn't bug me as much as I thought, even though I stand by what I said: it's one thing to get back together with a cheating husband, but it's quite another to get back together with an ex TWO YEARS after he remarried the other woman. 

Also I had a hard time buying that anyone would leave Norma Shearer for Joan Crawford. I know she was supposed to be one of the It Girls of that time, but all I could think whenever I saw her was "NO WIRE HANGERS!" Plus all the shit she supposedly pulled in the Bette and Joan: Feud miniseries.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

9 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

The outfits are fabulous. And the dogs are cute.

And who should be one of the first dogs shown onscreen in The Women? Toto herself, Terry!!

8 hours ago, LilWharveyGal said:

I have a weird fascination with Rosalind Russell's eyeball blouse. It's just so avant garde. Even today I feel like it would be ahead of its time.

Ooh, that blouse is incredible, and Roz Russell is one of the few human beings who can truly pull it off. I could see Lady Gaga attempting it (but Roz still owns it).

I know some people pooh-pooh her, but am I the only one who thinks Little Mary is one of the best characters in the movie? She has a strength and insight that most of the adult characters lack! Virginia Wiedler was such an underrated child actress, it's awful she isn't better known and died so young.

[Spartan Girl]

I agree @Wiendish Fitch, little Mary was the best character in the show!  And that's awesome about Terry/Toto. We recognized him in Bright Eyes earlier this week too. 

[Milburn Stone]

21 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Clift said that?! Fuck him indeed!!

Not to mention, "waiting for the director to tell you what to do" is not at all a bad idea when the director is William Wyler!

We have no idea from that quote whether Clift ever saw her process under a different director. (Although, parenthetically, I just looked at her filmography on the imdb and she worked with very few slouches.) 

[Wiendish Fitch]

6 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

Not to mention, "waiting for the director to tell you what to do" is not at all a bad idea when the director is William Wyler!

Damn skippy. Wyler is one of the great, unsung directors. Seriously, while every film he directed wasn't a classic, many of them were, and there were very, very, very few stinkers in the lot.

8 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

We have no idea from that quote whether Clift ever saw her process under a different director. (Although, parenthetically, I just looked at her filmography on the imdb and she worked with very few slouches.) 

Ol' Monty must have fancied himself quite the maverick, which is just ridiculous. For God's sake, even Marlon Brando had to occasionally reign it in and listen to the damned director. 

[ratgirlagogo]

7 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

even Marlon Brando had to occasionally reign it in and listen

If only he'd done it more often.  I've never been on board with the Brando Is God thing.   When he was good he was great (Streetcar named Desire, On the Waterfront, The Wild One) but more often than not he was mumbly and peculiar (Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Caesar. The Missouri Breaks) or wildly miscast (Teahouse of the August Moon, Guys and Dolls, Bedtime Story).  

I'm aware this is my Unpopular Opinion and believe me I have listened to decades of intelligent informed opinions from people I respect who have tried to change my mind on this question.  So I know your mileage may vary and all that.

[Lokiberry]

1 minute ago, ratgirlagogo said:

If only he'd done it more often.  I've never been on board with the Brando Is God thing.   When he was good he was great (Streetcar named Desire, On the Waterfront, The Wild One) but more often than not he was mumbly and peculiar (Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Caesar. The Missouri Breaks) or wildly miscast (Teahouse of the August Moon, Guys and Dolls, Bedtime Story).  

I'm aware this is my Unpopular Opinion and believe me I have listened to decades of intelligent informed opinions from people I respect who have tried to change my mind on this question.  So I know your mileage may vary and all that.

Count me in on that Unpopular Opinion. Sometimes Brando was great, other times he chewed the scenery, the props, the other actors. It was always a crap shoot on what you'd get with him.

[Wiendish Fitch]

15 minutes ago, Lokiberry said:

Count me in on that Unpopular Opinion. Sometimes Brando was great, other times he chewed the scenery, the props, the other actors. It was always a crap shoot on what you'd get with him.

Yay, my "Marlon Brando is overrated" people!

[Spartan Girl]

11 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Yay, my "Marlon Brando is overrated" people!

Not only did I think he was overrated, I never even found him attractive. Even before he got old and fat.

[Sharpie66]

You have to admit, Brando is awesome in The Freshman! That’s one of my favorite comedies from the ‘90s, and one that doesn’t get mentioned often at all.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Sharpie66

[Rinaldo]

If it's August, it must be TCM Summer Under the Stars. This year's lineup has the usual provocative combination of names, some immortal and some deserving to be remembered better (and some, perhaps, neither, but that's the pleasure of investigating for oneself). A PDF with all the details can be downloaded here.

1. Henry Fonda
2. Ruth Hussey
3. Marlon Brando
4. Shirley Temple
5. Melvyn Douglas
6. Lena Horne
7. James Stewart
8. Ava Gardner
9. Red Skelton
10. Rita Moreno
11. Humphrey Bogart
12. Ann Sothern
13. Brian Donlevy
14. Liv Ullmann
15. Rod Steiger
16. Irene Dunne
17. Errol Flynn
18. Audrey Hepburn
19. Buster Keaton
20. Dorothy McGuire
21. Joel McCrea
22. Leila Hyams
23. Fred Astaire
24. Shirley MacLaine
25. Dustin Hoffman
26. Mary Astor
27. Walter Brennan
28. June Allyson
29. Paul Lukas
30. Susan Hayward
31. Kirk Douglas

[Rinaldo]

Brazenly responding to my own list (I wanted to keep the information separate from the opinion), I'm happy to see my guy Joel McCrea on here, and his three sublime titles (The Palm Beach Story, The More the Merrier, Ride the High Country) included.

When I called my mother today, I asked her about Leila Hyams (whose vogue would have coincided with my mother's early-adolescent movie fanaticism, when her family went to the pictures twice a week), and she had no recollection of such a name at all.

Liv Ullmann Day includes the Western that killed her attempt at American stardom, Zandy's Bride, but stops short of Forty Carats, which is at least more fun to sit through.

Susan Hayward gets her late obscurity The Honey Pot. It's another version of Volpone, and I'm tempted to recommend it as an oddity (planned as a big release, and then it vanished in a flash)... but not as a piece of entertainment.

We'll each have our own, but for me the most egregious omission is that we have a whole day's worth of programming devoted to Audrey Hepburn... and no Two for the Road!!

[Spartan Girl]

A Place in the Sun and An American Tragedy are on tonight! I'm eager to compare and contrast.

Yet another movie with Montgomery Clift playing a gold-digging asshole. And I really hate how both versions skew the narrative as "oh poor George/Clyde is a hapless victim of ambition and greed getting railroaded by a vengeful legal system wanting to make an example of him." To quote Murray on Stranger Things: oh spare me, spare me, SPARE ME! He arranged the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, then "accidentally-but-really-on-purpose" let her drown!

Never fails to piss me off that Angela gives him that loving goodbye at the end after knowing what he did. Sondra in AAT did not,but she did send him that tender goodbye letter and he didn't deserve that either. Know what I wish what that letter had said? "I'm engaged to a better guy. Enjoy frying in the chair and burning in hell. Deuces, bitch."

I'd like to think the real Liz Taylor would have approved.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

A Place in the Sun and An American Tragedy are on tonight! I'm eager to compare and contrast.

Yet another movie with Montgomery Clift playing a gold-digging asshole. And I really hate how both versions skew the narrative as "oh poor George/Clyde is a hapless victim of ambition and greed getting railroaded by a vengeful legal system wanting to make an example of him." To quote Murray on Stranger Things: oh spare me, spare me, SPARE ME! He arranged the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, then "accidentally-but-really-on-purpose" let her drown!

Never fails to piss me off that Angela gives him that loving goodbye at the end after knowing what he did. Sondra in AAT did not,but she did send him that tender goodbye letter and he didn't deserve that either. Know what I wish what that letter had said? "I'm engaged to a better guy. Enjoy frying in the chair and burning in hell. Deuces, bitch."

I'd like to think the real Liz Taylor would have approved.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: Alice is the victim, not George!!!

I don't care how annoying she is, I don't care how plain and frumpy she is compared to barely-an-adult Elizabeth friggin' Taylor, Alice is George's victim.  Oh, you think she's ruining his life by trying to get him to marry her?! GOOD FOR HER. He ruined her life first by knocking her up!

George is a craven, cowardly, irresponsible, social-climbing, two-faced shit-weasel who killed an innocent woman and her unborn child. He deserves the chair, and I hope he looked like a burnt chicken nugget after they were through with him.

The moral of the story? Never shit where you eat.

Spartan Girl, I love the idea of Angela giving George a withering kiss-off before he was marched off to his final reward. Alas, some stories just can't end the way you want them to. 

Edited July 29, 2019 by Wiendish Fitch

[Spartan Girl]

Damn skippy @Wiendish Fitch. And I might be in the minority but I didn't find Alice frumpy and annoying at all. She was a nice girl that got in a bad situation. She had every right to keep the baby if she wanted to -- although she basically got guilted into it but by those asshole religious doctors. And as for getting George to marry her, well THAT'S WHAT YOU DID BACK THEN. Any pregnant girl that couldn't get the guy too stupid to wear a condom to marry her would have been written off as a whore. Can you blame Alice for not wanting that? No!

And the worst part is that if George had been a woman that killed her poor boyfriend to marry a rich guy, NOBODY would have felt sorry for her. She would have been the gold digging floozy. I don't care if you're a man or woman, gold-digging is gold-digging. Nobody likes to married just for their money!

I wonder if the filmmakers of Poseidon Adventure purposely tried to give Alice justice by casting Shelley Winters as the badass awesome swimming champion (who dies of a heart attack soon after but still)?

[Suzn]

5 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: Alice is the victim, not George!!!

I don't care how annoying she is, I don't care how plain and frumpy she is compared to barely-an-adult Elizabeth friggin' Taylor, Alice is George's victim.  Oh, you think she's ruining his life by trying to get him to marry her?! GOOD FOR HER. He ruined her life first by knocking her up!

George is a craven, cowardly, irresponsible, social-climbing, two-faced shit-weasel who killed an innocent woman and her unborn child. He deserves the chair, and I hope he looked like a burnt chicken nugget after they were through with him.

The moral of the story? Never shit where you eat.

Spartan Girl, I love the idea of Angela giving George a withering kiss-off before he was marched off to his final reward. Alas, some stories just can't end the way you want them to. 

I agree completely.  I just can't like this movie or feel any sympathy for George - that is A Place in the Sun.  I had not seen An American Tragedy before and just found it unpleasant.

Marlon Brando - I thought he was wonderful in On the Waterfront, he seemed vulnerable and genuine in it.  Otherwise, I've really not been impressed at all.  Late in his career, The Freshman and The Godfather were quite a good fit.

The Women - one of my absolute favorite movies.  I absolutely don't care if Mary acts like women are supposed to act in 2019.  It is glorious, glamorous, funny and makes some very good points about relationships of women - still in 2019.

And now for a potentially unpopular opinion:  I hate An American in Paris except for the exquisite, fantastic ballet at the end.  Gene Kelly could dance, but he was equally adept at being an asshole.  While making myself a target for thrown produce, I don't like Singing in the Rain either.

[Sharpie66]

American in Paris also has the utterly charming “I Got Rhythm”, but otherwise, yeah, the final ballet is its only truly redeeming musical number. 

I will defend Singin’ in the Rain to my dying day, though! I truly love that film beyond any sense. I am sure it has flaws a-plenty, but I am damned if I can come up with them. The music, the dancing, the writing (it is one of the most quotable films ever), the cast, all just amazing. Kelly, O’Connor, and Reynolds are all great, but even the secondary characters like the studio head and the director are hilarious. And then there is Jean Hagen as Lena, who nearly steals the entire movie as the epitome of the “dumb blonde” who is actually craftier than she appears. She gets the best lines in the script. “I am a ‘bright shining star in the cinema fir-ma-mint.’ It says so, right here.”