Happy Birthday, Lauren Bacall

Posted on September 16, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Has there ever been a better movie entrance line than “Anybody got a match?” delivered by 19-year-old Lauren Bacall to 40-something Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not? Bacall said her iconic look, head tilted a little downward, glancing upward, came from her nervousness. She was so terrified that her head was shaking, and that was the only way to hold it steady. But it was dubbed “The Look” and it made her a star.
Director Howard Hawks nicknamed Bacall’s character “Slim” after his wife who discovered Bacall on a magazine cover. Hawks told Bogart he was going to do something that had not been tried before. “We are going to try an interesting thing,” he told his star. “You are about the most insolent man on the screen and I’m going to make a girl a little more insolent than you are.”
Bacall played a woman who knew enough to teach Bogart a few things, including how to whistle. She won her co-star’s heart in this film, on and off-screen, and how could he resist? Happy birthday, Ms. Bacall!

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Tribute: Patrick Swayze

Posted on September 14, 2009 at 10:43 pm

Patrick Swayze died today as he lived and performed, with class and grace.

Swayze’s association with iconic appearances in Dirty Dancing, Road House, Point Break, and Ghost
are so towering that we forget sometimes what range and skill he showed as an elegant drag queen in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, as a motivational speaker with a dark side in Donnie Darko, and as an eager finalist for a job as a Chippendale’s dancer on “Saturday Night Live.” No one could say that line about putting Baby in the corner and make us believe it like Swayze. He was a superb performer and a class act. He handled his illness with dignity and courage. I wish there was a psychic like the one Whoopi Goldberg played in “Ghost” who could bring him back for just one more dance.

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Tribute: Larry Gelbart

Posted on September 12, 2009 at 6:50 pm

Larry Gelbart, one of the most acclaimed and prodigiously productive writers of almost seven decades died this week at age 81. If you’ve laughed since the 1940’s, you almost certainly know his work. He got started as a teenager writing for Danny Thomas’ radio show and went on to work with Neil Simon, Woody Allen, and Mel Brooks on the legendary writing staff of the Sid Caesar show. He went on to co-create the television version of “M*A*S*H,” to co-write the script for “Tootsie,” and to write the Broadway hits “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (made into a movie with Zero Mostel) and “City of Angels” (now being adapted into a film).

And as this lovely tribute by Bob Elisberg notes, he was also a man of great principle and kindness.

There may have been more renowned writers in a single medium, but his versatility was breathtaking, and so he may have been the most successful and best writer ever in America who wrote in all three major media — the theater, movies and television.

Be sure to read Elisberg’s piece, especially the quote at the end from Gelbart about being a writer.

Here is Gelbart, talking about how television has changed society and how he’d like to be remembered.

Here is my favorite scene from “Tootsie” (second on the American Film Institute’s list of the hundred funniest American films of all time).

And here is the trailer for the hilarious “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

NPR’s Scott Simon also has a fine essay about Gelbart, describing him as “a great wit, who wrote with great heart.” It’s good to know that we still have another movie from him to look forward to.

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Beth Grant

Posted on September 7, 2009 at 3:51 pm

Two awful movies released last week, “Extract” and “All About Steve,” give me an opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics, character actors. One of the best appears in both of them, the wonderful Beth Grant. Character actors are those people who seem vaguely familiar, but don’t often get mentioned in reviews or photographed on red carpets. They play the family members, best friends, thorns in the side, co-workers, explainers, or, often, the fiances/fiancees who get dumped so that the big romantic arc of the movie can reach a successful conclusion.

Beth Grant works steadily and often plays high-strung, picky types, as in “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Donny Darko.” Her appearances in these two most recent films provide some of the very few bright spots. I especially liked seeing her in “All About Steve” in a less straight-laced role.

Here is one of her most famous scenes, from “Donnie Darko:”

I was lucky enough to meet her at the Critic’s Choice awards in January of 2007. I made a short video of her dancing at the party afterward. She was gracious and completely charming.

So, cheers, Beth Grant! I hope you’re in a better movie next time, but know whether it is as good as “Donnie Darko” or as awful as “All About Steve,” you will never let me down.

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Back to School Movies

Posted on September 6, 2009 at 8:00 am

Last year, I made lists of great movie college professors, and high school and grade school teachers. In honor of the first week of school, here are some of my other favorite and family-friendly classroom classics:

1. The Magic School Bus Oh, if only every school field trip could be as exciting and informative as the ones the indefatigable Miss Frizzle goes on with her students. From the farthest reaches of the solar system to the smallest cells of the human body, Miss Frizzle and her students take us with them.

2. Miss Nelson Has a Field Day Miss Nelson is a sweet-tempered soul, but when students do not behave, watch out! Miss Viola Swamp is the substitute teacher. Between them, they teach their students many very important lessons.

3. High School Musical Go Wildcats! Jocks and brainiacs find common ground in singing and dancing in these tuneful, irresistibly disarming instant classics from Disney.

4. Lucas Everyone — yes everyone — feels like an insecure outsider at some point in school. I like the way this film shows us from the beginning that while its main character may still be a caterpillar, we know he will be a butterfly long before he does. Great performances by all, including a young Charlie Sheen, and props to the film-makers for staying far away from easy stereotypes.

5. Mad Hot Ballroom A program to teach ballroom dancing to New York City 5th graders in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens sounds like the last thing in the world that would be interesting or relevant to today’s 5th graders. But the beauty of this movie is the way that it shows that grace, dignity, elegance, and pride in mastering a skill are important, thrilling, and transformational.