Posted on November 26, 2009 at 6:00 am
One of my very favorite movies begins with Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the original Miracle on 34th Street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yTNW5a08ywHappy Thanksgiving, everyone! Best wishes to you and your families, and please know how grateful I am for the chance to be here on Beliefnet and for every one of your comments.
Posted on September 21, 2009 at 8:00 am
As we observe today’s International Day of Peace and A Million Minutes for Peace, an initiative to get 1 million people to pledge to pray for peace, I would like to recommend a film called Friendly Persuasion, set in the United States Civil War. It is the only movie I know where the characters not only pray for peace, they pray for guidance on how best to achieve it. Gary Cooper plays a farmer who struggles with his religious commitment to non-violence when his neighbors risk their lives for his family and property. All he asks is that “the will of God be revealed to us and we be given the strength to follow his will.” It is a beautiful depiction of a loving and respectful family who find strength in their faith during one of this country’s direst and most divisive moments. And it recognizes that prayer is important, but that it is the choices it inspires that make a difference.
Here is the peace pledge:
I will unite with people all over the world in observing the United Nations International Day of Peace. On September 21, I will pause at noon and, in my own way, pray for peace for one minute. May my one minute, magnified a million times, create a culture of peace that will change the future of humanity. My name will appear in the Peace Pledge Book to be presented at the United Nations on September 18.
Posted on May 10, 2009 at 8:00 am
Re-posting from 2008–Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and children! Here are 10 great movie mothers every family should enjoy. Many were based on real-life mothers, with stories and screenplays in some cases written by their grateful families. And don’t forget my all-time favorite, Mrs. Brown in National Velvet. 
1. There are three lovely movie versions of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, inspired by her own family, and they have three lovely performances as one of literature’s greatest mothers, the wise and patient Marmee. Spring Byington (also one of cinema’s best movie mothers in the delightful best picture Oscar-winner You Can’t Take It With You
2. Sounder
3. Mask Based on a true story, Cher plays Rusty Dennis, the mother of a teenager with a facial bone deformity. Many classic movie mothers spend a lot of time wearing aprons while they make soothing and supportive comments, but Rusty is a biker chick who likes to party and makes some questionable choices about her own life. She may not bake cookies for her son, and at times it seems like he is the parent in the relationship, but she is a fierce advocate and defender who makes sure that her son gets the most out of every moment.
4. I Remember Mama Kathryn Forbes’ classic book about her Norwegian immigrant family was successfully adapted as a play, a movie, and a television show. The movie stars Irene Dunne, very warm and loving and homespun, far from her usual glamorous roles opposite Cary Grant and other leading men. As Mama, with an apron around her waist and a braid circling her head, she raises her children with love, patience, good humor, and a reassuring “bank account.”
5. Places in the Heart
6. Sarah Plain & Tall
7. Cheaper By the Dozen
8. Dumbo
9. What’s Cooking?
10. Terms of Endearment
Posted on April 19, 2009 at 8:39 am
The New York Times interviewed me for its “Corner Office” section and asked me for a list of my favorite movies about corporate governance.
“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (2005). Must viewing for an almost operatic rise-and-fall story of greed and hubris.
“The Solid Gold Cadillac” (1956). Add a couple of zeros to the numbers and this classic comedy about a small shareholder who takes on a big conglomerate could have been filmed this year. Ripe for a remake!
“The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994). The Coen Brothers’ take on corporations is both spoof and satire, making some shrewd points about success and corruption.
“Roger & Me” (1989). Must viewing in the era of the bailout. Watch for the many indicators of poor business judgment, including a “Me and My Buddy” exhibit with a mechanized worker singing to the machine that put him out of a job.
“Startup.com” (2001). The go-go madness of the dot-com era amplifies the challenge of finding that fine line between vision and hubris. Unforgettable characters.
“Boiler Room” (2000). Set in an illegal pump-and-dump brokerage, this movie perfectly captures the adrenaline rush of money-making.
“Executive Suite” (1954). A rare movie that focuses on the boardroom with a post-World War II C.E.O. succession struggle between the green-eyeshade C.F.O. Fredric March and the stakeholder proponent William Holden. See also the terrific animated movie “Robots” (2005) for a similar struggle.
“Owning Mahowny” (2003). This fact-based film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a Canadian bank executive who embezzled millions of dollars and lost every penny in gambling casinos. What is fascinating is the way that every single person in the film, from the bank loan officers to the auditors and investigators and casino managers to the embezzler himself, are constantly assessing risk.
“The Corporation” (2003). A provocative documentary that measures corporate behavior against the standard diagnostics for human behavior and concludes that it fits the profile of a sociopath.
“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (1967). This outrageous musical comedy about a mail clerk’s rise to the top of a corporation is less of an exaggeration than it appears.
“Office Space” (1999). A cult classic about a Dilbert-ized world of workers oppressed by an endless series of management fads.
“Tucker: The Man and His Dream” (1988). A fact-based cautionary tale about corporations subverting the market. See also the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (2006) for an updated version.
“Sabrina” (1954). This elegant confection of a love triangle, with Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, also includes one of the most stirring defenses of the public corporation as a force for opportunity and creativity that has ever been put on film.
Posted on March 14, 2009 at 8:00 am
Cinematical has a great tribute to one of my favorites, Doris Day’s “The Thrill of it All.” Day was so wholesome that it is easy to forget how talented she was, but she could do it all — sing, dance, act, and above all, she is one of the best light comediennes in Hollywood history. I love The Thrill of It All!
Day plays the wife of a successful obstetrician (James Garner) who becomes an accidental media sensation when she starts doing ads for “Happy Soap.” This creates enormous upheaval at home — it was the pre-feminist era, and the movie’s ending is so unabashedly sexist it will have you howling with either laughter or disbelief. But if that message is outdated, its commentary on the “organization man” and manipulative marketing still feels very apt. And it is always a blast to see two of Hollywood’s most gifted performers doing what they do better than just about anyone. Plus, Garner drives his car into a swimming pool. The witty screenplay was written by Larry Gelbart (“Tootsie,” the “M*A*S*H” television series) and Carl Reiner (“The Dick Van Dyke Show”), who appears in the clever trailer and the film, and the capable co-stars include Arlene Francis (who is adorable in the first scene as a wife with some very good news) and many of the top character actors and comics of the 1960’s.
Many thanks to my wonderful daughter for showing me this fabulous compilation of Day’s “mad” scenes.
