What Were The Best Films of the 60’s?

Posted on June 8, 2014 at 8:00 am

Many thanks to Sam Fragoso and his colleagues at Movie Mezzanine for including me in their round-up of the best films of the 1960’s. I really enjoyed reading through all the different selections. Check it out and add your own favorites to the list.

Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to check out CNN’s excellent series on the 60’s, from Tom Hanks’ Play-Tone production company. You can hear a snippet of my dad’s famous “vast wasteland” speech in the introduction to the first episode, about television in the 60’s.

List: Sarah Lawrence College and Movies

Posted on June 7, 2014 at 5:59 am

This weekend my husband and I are attending a reunion at our alma mater, Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Our son also graduated from Sarah Lawrence, and our niece will enroll in the MFA program in writing there in the fall.

Characters in movies like “Diary of a Mad Housewife,” “Baby, It’s You,” “The Notebook,” and “10 Things I Hate About You” and in the television series “Will and Grace” and “Entourage” attend or have attended Sarah Lawrence. By the way, any alum immediately spotted that “Notebook” scene set in a Sarah Lawrence classroom as a fraud. But Brian De Palma’s “Home Movies” had scenes actually shot on campus. Some very talented people in the entertainment industry are fellow alums, including:

1. Brian De Palma, director of films like “Blow Out” and “Scarface”

2. Oscar-winner Jane Alexander (“All the President’s Men”)

3. Cary Elwes of “The Princess Bride,” “Twister,” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmfl2NXkVg

4. Julianna Margulies of “The Good Wife,” “What’s Cooking,” and “City Island”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_3SxeR6d6s

5. Jill Clayburgh of “An Unmarried Woman,” “Rich in Love,” and “Bridesmaids”

6. J.J. Abrams, director of the two most recent “Star Trek” films and the creator of the television series “Alias,” “Lost,” and “Fringe”

7. Joan Micklin Silver, director of “Hester Street”

8. Holly Robinson Peete of “For Your Love” and “Celebrity Apprentice”

9. Writer David Lindsay-Abaire of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rabbit Hole”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxl39czBhsQ

10. Téa Leoni of “Spanglish”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvu1EorWGgQ

Other alums include Barbara Walters, who just donated her archive to the school.

List: Comedy Westerns

Posted on May 28, 2014 at 3:59 pm

Movies and westerns were made for each other. Hollywood came along not long after the era of westward expansion and access to the stunning landscapes of Monument Valley and endless vistas of desert and sagebrush was nearby. The earliest commercial films were cowboy stories and by the time Hollywood hit its stride in the 1930’s-50’s the western was the perfect metaphor for the American experience. Most were action films and dramas, but there were a few comedies, like this week’s “A Million Ways to Die in the West.” Some of the best include:

Cat Ballou Jane Fonda stars as a young woman determined to get revenge for the murder of her father (John Marley, the horse head in the bed guy from “The Godfather”).

A Big Hand for the Little Lady This neglected gem has an all-star cast and one of the greatest plot twists ever, in the story of a devoted wife and mother (Joanne Woodward) who takes over for her ailing husband (Henry Fonda) in a high-stakes poker game.

The Paleface and Son of Paleface star Bob Hope, Roy Rogers, and Jane Russell in a pair of western spoofs, with the Oscar-winning song “Buttons and Bows.”

Ruggles of Red Gap Charles Laughton plays a very proper gentleman’s gentleman who teachers the rough westerners a few things about their own heritage. It was remade with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball as “Fancy Pants.”

Blazing Saddles Mel Brooks’ classic is one of the funniest films ever made, funnier every time you watch it. My favorite part is Madeline Kahn as the dance hall girl.

The Five Meanest Mothers in Movies

Posted on May 10, 2014 at 8:00 am

I’ve posted several times about my favorite movie mothers, all loving, kind, supportive, and wise. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite mean movie mothers, too.

1. Now, Voyager Bette Davis is a repressed single woman who lives with a mother so controlling she literally throws herself down the stairs just to spite her daughter. Davis only survives with the help of a compassionate therapist played by Claude Rains, the love of handsome but unavailable Paul Henreid, and, perhaps most important, the opportunity to help another abused daughter.

2. The Manchurian Candidate Angela Lansbury was only three years older than Laurence Harvey, who plays her son, but that just adds to the unnerving evil of the mother she plays. Meryl Streep played the part in the remake and she was scary even crunching the ice from her drink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGqiVOqxpOo

3. Carrie Piper Laurie is almost as scary as Sissy Spacek in this story of a repressed and repressing mother whose fanaticism fuels her daughter’s telekinetic fury.

4. Precious Mo’Nique won an Oscar for playing a monstrously abusive mother because she showed us that she was a victim as well as a tormentor.

5. Mommie Dearest The memoir of the daughter adopted by Joan Crawford inspired this sizzling story with a dynamic performance from Faye Dunaway as the star who could throw a tantrum over a wire hanger.

And don’t forget that my ebook 50 Must-See Movies: Mothers is free through tomorrow.

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Kevin B. Lee Rates and Ranks Movie Explosions

Posted on May 7, 2014 at 8:00 am

Take a look at this exploration of movie explosions from Kevin B. Lee. I remember Sylvester Stallone on the “Expendables” panel at Comic-Con saying that they had to film in South America to evade US restictions on firepower. I like the way Lee looks at factors like who caused the explosion as well as quantity and quality.

Perhaps this is the explosion that had the greatest impact on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOFgFAcGHQc

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