my top ten

a movie can be perfect. when i began this blog i had a very long list of movies i wanted to share with you. i miss writing those postings full of the excitement of writing about movies i love. they are all still there to read about if you go to the early period of my blog. i hope you have enjoyed 'a look back in anger.' i surely have loved creating it.

movies!

nasty bit of work

what a beautiful actress anne bancroft was. actor frank langella, who knew her very well, reveals many sides of her character in his book, 'dropping names.' it seems that she was not thoroughly unlike 'mrs. robinson', the woman she played so perfectly in 'the graduate.'

thanks to simon and garkunkel's song of the same name, 'mrs. robinson' lives on when i tune into the sixties station.

bottle red

jean harlow was not only terrific as a blonde. i watched this fun film again today. she is undeniably adorable as a red headed gold digger.

1932's 'red-headed woman' also stars the intriguingly odd chester morris.

el sid

tailor made

he kids you/he kids you not

buster keaton.

and gorgeous off screen

sandrine bonnaire and her fella

lightweights

”This was one of the few photographs my mother kept of herself in a frame at home - probably because of Famous, her first Yorkshire terrier.”  - Sean Ferrer

beauty fades

however, it doesn't kill ya! val and kris were really darling looking guys when they were young. seems they got together and made a good film that i have never seen! today Kris Kristofferson turned 76. 

to be or not to be...

... an actress.

dietrich/icon

brotherly love

'i love you johnny. i've been looking in every ditch from fresno to here hoping you was dead.'

photo: lee marvin in 'the wild one' (1953)

the power and the glory

gorgeous, gifted, screen goddess gena rowlands. it is her 82nd birthday today. be brave and watch 'a woman under the influence.' your life will change.

i love how her husband, director john cassavetes, said that gena didn't have any urgent need to be in movies. she enjoyed shopping! i repeat, goddess!

super creeps

lee marvin was great in this.

the man looked great in an overcoat

at long last i have come to appreciate glenn ford. i watched 'the big heat' the other night, a movie i must have seen on t.v. a ton of years ago. i am a big fan a gloria grahame who co-stars in the noir classic with ford.

it isn't what i would call a great film but it has some terrific moments. that creep who throws a pot of boiling coffee in gloria's face had me hating his guts. plus, marlon's sister joyce has a good role in it as glenn's perfect spouse.

biting the hand

I made more lousy pictures than any actor in history.- Humphrey Bogart

and some classics as well.

love life

when i watch the film 'carrie', a very sad film that has a super performance by olivier, i am always struck by the beauty of jennifer jones. i know elizabeth taylor got all the applause for 'beauty' but if not for the slight age difference she would have had a serious rival.

jennifer jones had some serious marriages! her first husband was the impossibly great actor robert walker, winner of the 'psycho tuna' award for his performance as 'bruno' in hitchcock's 'strangers on a train.'

example:
Bruno Anthony: How do you do, sir? I'd like to talk with you sometime, sir, and tell you about my idea for harnessing the life force. It'll make atomic power look like the horse and buggy. I'm already developing my faculty for seeing millions of miles. And Senator, can you imagine being able to smell a flower - on the planet Mars? I'd like to have lunch with you someday soon, sir. Tell you more about it.

Robert Walker (m.1939-1945; divorced) David O. Selznick (m.1949-1965; his death) Norton Simon

photo: jones and walker

looney tunes

make love not war

eartha kitt was anti-war and not afraid to voice it. here are some interesting words she had to say regarding the great orson welles: "Orson spent most of his money on women.  That's why he didn't have the money to make films.'  what a terrific photo!