Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Yes, this is the 50-years-later remake of the 1957 movie of the same name, which I also own and appears below. I hadn't intended to add both to my collection until I was perusing the reviews for the first, kept running into reviews for the remake, became intrigued and thought, "Hmmm, it's cheap enough, think I'll add that one to my collection, too." Plus, you know, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles? And, considering that probably all men in the world are fascinated by and envious of the Western history of the United States. And, Australia, in particular, Russell Crowe's country, has it's own Western history, a few movies about which I own. Yes, yes, yes. I want to consider both of these iterations.
    As always, more later.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Russell Crowe	Ben Wade	Christian Bale	Dan Evans	Logan Lerman	William Evans	Dallas Roberts	Grayson Butterfield
  Ben Foster	Charlie Prince	Peter Fonda	Byron McElroy	Vinessa Shaw	Emma Nelson	Alan Tudyk	Dr. Potter
  Gretchen Mol	Alice Evans	Lennie Loftin	Glen Hollander	Johnny Witworth	Darden	Kevin Durand	Tucker

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2007
    Directed by James Mangold.

Labels: christian-bale, russell-crowe, van-heflin, western

# posted by gail @ 02:03    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Astonishing, I understand, me being a movie buff and all, but not only do I not, at this moment (10/7/23 @ 1:48 p.m.), own a copy of this movie, I've never seen it! I first heard about this movie when I was 10 or 11. My neighbor and best friend, who was the same age as me, loved this movie, talked about it whenever she got the chance and urged me to see it if I ever got the chance. This was back in the early 1960's, on Guam, that had 1 channel television from 5:45 p.m. (5:30 p.m. on High Holy Days) until maybe midnight but usually not, if those with televisions were even watching. The thing was, because television wasn't much of a resource and movie theaters were very few and very far between, almost no one watched television or went to the movies on Guam until sometime in the very late 1960's, when more channels were obtained and more theaters had been built. We played, or read, or, you know, all the other things people do when they're not watching television or going to the movies, only we did those things all day and evening long, if we weren't in school or doing homework. Or doing chores, or delivering newspapers, or sleeping. Even when more TV and movie fare was available, I never got the hang of watching TV or "going to the movies" and, frankly, didn't have a TV or watch TV until around that expansion-of-TV time in the late 1960's, but, even then, it wasn't a habit that myself or any of my sisters developed until several (and I do mean several) years later. So, no Shane, not for me, until well, sometime Monday, 10/9/23, when the blu-ray of this movie will arrive on my doorstep. I've even decided not to read the two reviews I've attached to this write-up, or any others, or the Wikipedia description below, until after I've watched the movie.
    It's supposed to be the greatest and most lauded movie ever. And, I'm not really what you'd call a fan of Westerns. So, stay tuned. All things, including my proclivities, considered, I'm looking forward to this.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Alan Ladd	Shane	Jean Arthur	Marian Starrett	Van Heflin	Joe Starrett	Brandon deWilde	Joey Starrett
  Jack Palance	Jack Wilson	Ben Johnson	Chris Calloway	Edgar Buchanan	Fred Lewis	Emile Meyer	Rufus Ryker
  Elisha Cook Jr.	Frank "Stonewall" Torrey	Douglas Spencer	Axel 'Swede' Shipstead	John Dierkes	Morgan Ryker	Ellen Corby	Mrs. Liz Torrey
  Paul McVey	Sam Grafton	John Miller	Will Atkey	Edith Evanson	Mrs. Shipstead	Leonard Strong	Ernie Wright
  Ray Spiker	Axel Johnson	Janice Carroll	Susan Lewis	Martin Mason	Ed Howells	Helen Brown	Martha Lewis
  Nancy Kulp	Mrs. Howells	Alana Ladd	Little Girl	David Ladd	Little Boy	Howard Negley	Yank Potts

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1953
    Directed by George Stevens.

Labels: jack-palance, van-heflin, western

# posted by gail @ 14:03    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    If you have a "thing" for Barbara Stanwyck, and I do, you might want to check out the following two articles containing in depth critical consideration and praise for her body of work: Utterly Modern: The Charisma of Barbara Stanwyck by Nell Minowand Bow down to Babs by Jim Emerson.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Barbara Stanwyck	Martha Ivers	Van Heflin	Sam Masterson	Lizabeth Scott	Antonia Marachek	Kirk Douglas	Walter O'Neil
  Judith Anderson	Mrs. Ivers	Roman Bohnen	Mr. O'Neil	Darryl Hickman	Child Sam Masterson	Janis Wilson	Child Martha Ivers
  Ann Doran	Bobbi St. John	Frank Orth	Hotel Clerk	James Flavin	Detective 1	Mickey Kuhn	Child Walter O'Neil
  Charles D. Brown	McCarthy	Blake Edwards	Sailor	Robert Homans	Gallagher	Gladden James	John

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1946
    Directed by Lewis Milestone.

Labels: barbara-stanwyck, film-noir1, goflexB, kirk-douglas, melodramaB, van-heflin

# posted by gail @ 09:57    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction, except to say, I was so gobsmacked by this film's portrayal of how an oligarch is made, and that this film was released in 1956, that I recommended it to MFS to watch. It seems, people, that the evil of oligarchy was a substantial subject "even back then". Of course it was. It's been a subject of concern since oligarchy began. And, since it began, it hasn't not been raked over the coals by all sorts of people, not just us plebes.
    The story, screenplay and teleplay from which the screenplay was adapted is by the amazing Rod Serling.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Van Heflin	Fred Staples	Everett Sloane	Walter Ramsey	Ed Begley	William Briggs	Beatrice Straight	Nancy Staples
  Elizabeth Wilson	Marge Fleming	Joanna Roos	Margaret Lanier	Valerie Cossart	Martha Stevens	Eleni Kiamos	Sylvia Trammel
  Ronnie Welsh	Paul Briggs	Shirley Standlee	Miss Hill	Andrew Duggan	Harvey Jameson	Jack Livesey	D.J. Vandeventer
  John Seymour	Ed Gordon	James Kelly	Jim Latham	John Shelly	Edgar Grannigan	Sally Chamberlin	Mrs. Jameson

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1956
    Directed by Fielder Cook.

Labels: boardroom, goflexB, van-heflin

# posted by gail @ 09:31    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
• 
  Commentary:  Yet another one of Mom's "jesus-dvds" (I use this term tongue-in-cheek, as I also consider The Ten Commandments a "jesus-dvd"). I didn't think we'd ever own it because the last time we watched it on TV I noticed there were no English subtitles, which is essential for my mother's enjoyment of any movie. I found a cheap copy of it at the grocery store today, though, with closed captioning (although no English subtitles, which is unfortunate since closed captioning is sometimes kind of iffy on our set) so decided I'd get it for Mom. I think this is one of her favorites of this genre; not because it features yet another Nordic Jesus, but because of the scope and grand presentation. And, it's length. Weighty movies work better for her when they go to extreme lengths. This is not my favorite, but I am attracted to it's spectacle.
    Now all we need to do is procure a copy of The Last Temptation of Christ [we finally did procure a copy of this movie] and Mom will figure we're set.
  Update 2/7/18:  Yes, I donated this movie to my local library. In the end, I knew I would never watch it again. Funny, because there are several jesus-dvds and bible epics in my/our collection that I enjoy, even when they are clearly cheesy. But this one? No can do. Sorry, Mom.
  Update 5/16/2022:  The cast in this movie is stupendous. Take a look at the Wikipedia segment about it; not the listing, but the paragraph below. An even better, more complete, list is the one at IMDb, as it attaches more actors to their roles than Wikipedia. It's a lot of fun to go through it. It was as though the production company decided to corral every actor signed to the overseeing studio into one movie before they started dying off. I mean, Pat Boone as The Angel at the Tomb? Really? Clearly, I mean, clearly a vanity project, and an unsuccessful one, at that. But, Mom loved it. I have a feeling there were, and are, a lot of Christian women "of a certain age" that feel the same.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Max von Sydow	Jesus	Dorothy McGuire	The Virgin Mary	Charlton Heston	John the Baptist	Claude Rains	Herod the Great
  José Ferrer	Herod Antipas	Telly Savalas	Pontius Pilate	Martin Landau	Caiaphas	David McCallum	Judas Iscariot
  Donald Pleasence	The Dark Hermit - Satan	Michael Anderson Jr.	James the Less	Roddy McDowall	Matthew	Joanna Dunham	Mary Magdalene
  Joseph Schildkraut	Nicodemus	Ed Wynn	Old Aram	Pat Boone	Angel at the Tomb	Shelley Winters	Woman Who Is Healed

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1965
    Directed by George Stevens.

Labels: bible-movies1, charlton-heston, claude-rains, drama8, jesus-dvds, max-von-sydow, mom-favorite1, period4, spectacle2, van-heflin

# posted by gail @ 13:47    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  Neither
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  This came as one of five in a Joan Crawford Collection (Click the part of the title that says "The Joan Crawford Collection" for a different summary and review). Yet another in the we haven't watched, although it sounds as tantalizing as the rest.
    We finally watched this film and it had the same effect on us as The Damned Don't Cry. It's not only fascinating to watch Joan Crawford emote her way through this movie, the breadth of this movie is huge, which makes it treacherously engaging. I mean, if you think you can watch bits of it here and there, forget it. Once you start this picture, you will be cancelling whatever activities you had planned to interrupt the film into sections.
  Update: 9/23/21:  I've watched this film many times since Mom's death. For some reason I find the old style psychiatric babble spewed as Louise is being diagnosed fascinating. It's pretty much old school, now, but it's, hmmm, educational, I guess, to listen to. In addition, Louise's murderous rage seems likely to this day, and, yes, Louise, David is surely a cad, you should have given him up, but it's hard, isn't it, when you love someone and even you can't explain why, because he's a cad. Plus, there's all the drama going on with the man she marries, Dean Graham, and his daughter, who is maturing before her eyes and becomes an imaginary threat to Louise. Such a delectable movie! So full of Louise's internal histrionics! This one's a keeper!
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Joan Crawford	Louise Howell	Van Heflin	David Sutton	Raymond Massey	Dean Graham	Geraldine Brooks	Carol Graham
  Stanley Ridges	Dr. Willard	Nana Bryant	Pauline Graham	Peter Miles	Wynn Graham	Griff Barnett	Coroner

  
    Here you can find a link to the Wikipedia write-up on this film. The first link attached to the title of this post will take you to TCM's article on this film. In addition, if you move your cursor through to the second link in the title above, you will find DVD Savant's review of this movie in second place on the page.
    Release Date: 1947
    Directed by Curtis Bernhardt.
  

Labels: dramaA, film-noir2, joan-crawford, melodramaA, van-heflin

# posted by gail @ 02:25    0 comments    email......this post