Tortilla Flat - 1942

Tortilla Flat is a movie based on the book of the same name by John Steinbeck.  It was directed by Victor Fleming and stars Spencer Tracy as Pilon, Heddy Lamarr as Dolores "Sweets" Ramirez,  John Garfield as Danny Alvarez, Frank Morgan as The Pirate, Connie Gilchrist as Mrs. Torelli, Harry Burns as Torelli, and Henry O'Neil as Father Ramon.

Tortilla Flat is about a bunch of lazy guys who lay around all day and drink Torelli's wine.  The leader of this group is Pilon.  One of his friends is Danny Alvarez who has most recently pawned his guitar so the group could buy more wine.  Danny is in jail when a lawyer appears out of the blue looking for him.  It turns out that a relative of Danny's has died and has left him two houses.  Pilon and his lazy band precede to use this information to their benefit and quickly move in with him.

Through this process Danny courts Dolores Ramirez despite Pilon doing his best to ruin the relationship.  When Danny begins to work with the hope of buying a fishing boat one day, Pilon mocks him.  During this time frame The Pirate is introduced.  He tries to sell the group wood.  The  Pirate is a hermit who lives in a shack with his many dogs.  Legend has it that he has buried all of his money from selling the wood in the woods somewhere and Pilon and his group conspire to steal it.

Pilon finds out that the money has been saved to buy a candlestick for St Francis so he rethinks stealing the money.  Eventually Danny is hurt in a fight that began because of Dolores and he is gravely hurt.  Pilon changes his ways and prays for his friend.  In the end his friend recovers and marries Ramirez.

I will discuss the nomination first and then go on to discuss what I thought about this movie.  Frank Morgan was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the hermit known as The Pirate.  Morgan is probably best known for his role as the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz.  This was his second nomination, he was given a nomination for Best Actor 8 years prior for his role in The Affairs of Cellini.  The other nominees for Best Supporting Actor this year were.

• William Bendix as Smacksie Randall in Wake Island
• Van Heflin as Jeff Hartnett in Johnny Eager
• Walter Huston as Jerry Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard in Mrs. Minniver

If you have read my blog before, and the stats tell me that you haven't read my blog, but nobody is reading it, you will know that Van Heflin won for his role in Johnny Eager.  I also mentioned in that blog that he was by far the most deserving of the award.  I still have not seen Wake Island or Yankee Doodle Dandy, so maybe my opinion will change after I view those two films, but until then I still think I called it right, and so did the Academy.

Morgan was superb in his role as the quirky and hermit like Pirate.  I certainly would not say that the nomination was not deserved.  Clearly he shone in the film, but I think it was more from the fact that his character was so different from the others.  Although poor, he did not think that sitting around drinking wine all day was the right thing to do.  Despite being mocked by the lazy he went about his ways undeterred.  It was refreshing to see that he didn't fall into that group but despite his naivete he ultimately was not taken advantage of by Pilon like so many others had been.

As far as the movie goes, I did not like it very much.  I came to loathe Pilon and everything about him.  His continuous usury and ability to take advantage of everyone he came into contact with combined with his ability to deflect any blame for misfortunes to anyone other than himself made him a vile person in my eyes.  When one of the two houses that Danny inherited burnt down, mainly on account of Pilon he quickly managed to talk his way out of it.  This made me despise him even more.

I realize that this is a story and these types of feelings about the characters are likely what the author hoped to achieve.  While that may be and should not diminish Spencer Tracy's role, it certainly diminished my enjoyment of the movie.  Frankly I am shocked that Tracy did not garner a Best Actor nomination for his role in the movie.  I have only seen one of the five movies that offered up a Best Actor nomination.  That was Mrs. Minniver and I think Tracy's performance was superior to Walter Pidgeon's in Minniver.

Maybe a "true" reviewer of film can separate his distaste for a character and the story from the fact that it was a really good film, but I can't.  As I have said numerous times a true reviewer I am not.  Pilon and his usury made me annoyed through a good portion of the film.  I find it difficult to enjoy a movie when I am annoyed.  This is the main reason I give this film 2.5 stars out of 5.

My Cousin Vinny - 1992

My Cousin Vinny starring Joe Pesci as Vinny Gambini, Ralph Macchio as Bill Gambini, Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito, Mitchell Whitfield as Stan Rothenstein, Fred Gwynne as Judge Chamberlin Haller, Lane Smith as Jim Trotter III, and Bruce McGill as Sheriff Farley.

My  Cousin Vinny is a story of two "yutes" who stop in a small town for a break and arrested for armed robbery and murder.  Enter Vinny Gambini who is Bill's cousin and is also a lawyer.  Problem is Vinny is very inexperienced and not exactly conventional.  Throw in a judge who isn't exactly fond of his style and don't forget about the North South angle either.  Then there is Vinny's fiancee Mona Lisa Vito.  A classic car expert who ultimately helps Vinny win the case.

Mona Lisa Vito played by Marisa Tomei is why we are here.  Comedies are rarely recognized by the Academy and the actors and actresses that appear in them are also rarely recognized, not to mention win.  However, in the case of My Cousin Vinny that was not the case. 

My Cousin Vinny made its way to our list by way of a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Marisa Tomei.  She was up against the following for the prize.

• Judy Davis as Sally in Husbands and Wives
• Joan Plowright as Mrs Fisher in Enchanted April
• Vannesa Redgrave as Ruth Wilcox in Howard's End
• Miranda Richardson as Ingrid in Damage

If you remove Vanessa Redgrave from the equation, the others have not seen that many nominations.  I have yet to see any of these other movies, so my critique may be a bit uninformed.  Marisa Tomei won the Oscar for her role in what is probably one of the most controversial picks of all time.  There has been tons of debate as to whether she deserved the accolade or not.  Hell my wife and I disagree on it as well.  She likens this win similar to Whoopi Goldberg's win for her role in the movie Ghost.  While I disagree with her on Tomei, I certainly agree that Goldberg shouldn't have won but shouldn't even have been nominated.

I for one think she is well deserving of the Oscar.  She is Pesci's perfect foil in this movie.  Nowhere is it more evident than when Vinny is trying to figure out what to wear to go hunting.  He asks her if the pants he is wearing are ok and what follows is Mona Lisa Vito's reply.  "Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water - BAM. A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?"

Not only is that my favorite line in the whole movie but it is just a little taste of how funny this movie is.  As much as I love lists, I am not sure where this movie ranks on a list of all time funniest movies, but clearly I would rank it very high.  If the movie is really funny, then doesn't it make it right that one of the funnier individuals in the movie should be rewarded.  I think Tomei is so deserving of her Oscar because of this.  Just because this isn't the typical artsy and serious Oscar type flick doesn't diminish her performance in the least.  In fact, I would maintain that your performance must be that much better in a comedy to be praised, because it is so uncommon.  If you haven't seen My Cousin Vinny yet, you really need to, you won't regret it.  5 out of 5 stars.

Cavalcade - 1933

Cavalcade is a movie that is based on the Noel Coward play of the same name.  The movie stars Diana Wynyard as Jane Marryot, Clive Brook as George Marryot, Frank Lawton as Joe Marryot, John Warburton as Edward Marryot, Una O'Connor as Ellen Bridges, Herbert Mundin as Alfred Bridges, Ursula Jeans as Fanny Bridges, Irene Browne as Margaret Harris, and Margaret Lindsay as Edith Harris.

I wonder how to handle the synopsis on this film without giving away too much, but I will start by saying the movie chronicles the Marryot family of London, starting on New Years Eve 1899 and ends on New Years Eve of 1933.  To describe this movie as a tragedy would be an understatement since it seems almost every one of the major character in the movie dies.  While that may be an exaggeration it isn't far off as many of the men in the movie come to untimely deaths.

While the Marryots are front in center in the movie, the Bridges are also front and center in the movie.  In the beginning of the movie, the Bridges are the Marryot families servants.  The other important characters are the Harris family whom are friends of the Marryot family.

The movie begins as I mentioned earlier on New Years Eve 1899 with the Marryot family ringing in the new century.  However, the celebration is short lived as England is involved in the Boer war being fought in South Africa.  Both George Marryot and Alfred Bridges are off to South Africa to fight the war.  Both end up making it through the war and benefit from it.  George Marryot is knighted and Alfred Bridges purchases a pub from an estate of someone he befriended during the war.

Time moves along and Alfred Bridges is killed in a tragic accident.  Queen Victoria also dies during this time frame.  They all view the Queen's funeral procession from the Marryot house.  The next scene is at the beach, where most of the kids have grown up  Edward Marryot and Edith Harris show their first signs of moving from childhood friends to young love.  They run into the Bridges who are also on holiday.  Fanny has won a prize for her dancing which continues the story line of her as a dancer.

Tragedy is just around the corner though as the next scene is of Edward and Edith on an ocean liner.  Before the scene starts the date April 14, 1912.  If you know your history you can guess what ocean liner they were on.  The famous liner sank the following day.  Edward and Edith both die.

Finally they move to World War I and Joe is of age to fight in the war.  Before he ships off to war he sees Fanny dancing in a club.  She has become a star but she does not recognize him.  During the war they fall in love and keep a correspondence going and he spends his time with her when he comes back to England on leave.  Of course he does not survive the war and is another person added to the tragedy that this movie portrays.

The rest of the movie is just kind of a collage of the main characters in certain periods of their life.  It was actually a waste of time, but probably was inserted because the play ends in the early 30's.  I think that the movie could have just ended after World War I and Joe's death.  There is really nothing meaningful shown after that.  With the notable exception of the final scene where the Marryots reflect on their lives, the good and the bad.  They do this on New Years Eve of 1932 and the movie returns full circle to another New Years Eve.

I was a bit worried because this movie started off awfully slow in my opinion.  I have also watched quite a few of the older movies lately and I think I may be getting a bit tired of the "golden era" of film.  I was unfamiliar with most of the actors and actresses in this movie as well.  All of these factors made me a bit apprehensive that I would be bored.  The only actor that was of recognition was Frank Lawton and only because I recently saw him in David Copperfield.

Cavalcade was a fairly successful movie and garnered four Academy Award nominations.  Three of them landed the movie on our list.  Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture.  Winning two of the three and winning a third for Art Direction.  The movie was actually featured in the Best Picture montage that was played during the 2008 Academy Award program.  Which I thought was interesting because half the time I see those old movies on the Academy Awards I rarely know which movie it is aside from the obvious ones.

Moving on to the Best Actress category.  Diana Wynyard was nominated for her role as the matriarch of the Marryot family, Jane Marryot.  This was her one and only Oscar nomination in her career.  I was unfamiliar with her prior to this movie, but I will talk about what I learned about her in my research for the blog.  It is important to note this movie was part of the 6th Academy Awards, back when they were in their infancy and therefore the number of nominations differed from what we see today.  Her competition for the statue was as follows.

• Katharine Hepburn as Eva Lovelace in Morning Glory
• May Robson as Apple Annie in Lady for a Day

This was May Robson's one and only nomination as well, though as most readers will know it certainly was not Hepburn's only nomination.  HepburnJack Nicholson.  They are both second only to Meryl Streep's 16 nominations.  This was also Hepburn's first nomination and ultimately turned out to be her first win.  I haven't seen either of the other two movies, so I can't really critique the decision, but if you are going to lose the Oscar, it can't be all that bad losing to Hepburn.  It is also interesting to note that back then they kept track of who came in second in voting.  Robson finished in second in voting behind Hepburn.

There seems to be a lot of speculation that Wynyard would have likely received more nominations given her performance in Cavalcade.  However, she was an English actress who started on the stage and prior to Cavalcade starred in one other Hollywood movie, Rasputin and the Empress which has the distinction of being the only movie all the Barrymore siblings appeared in together.

After Cavalcade she starred in a few other movies but the scripts were poor and they bombed so she opted to go back to the stage and was very successful there.  She worked primarily on the stage until her death in 1964.

As for her performance in Cavalcade I must say it was solid.  Looking back the suffering mother staying strong and taking every thing that comes her way with strength and dignity may seem to be a bit unoriginal now, but perhaps it wasn't as tried and tested back in 1933.  Then again that isn't her fault, that is the writers fault and she played the part superbly. 

The final scene is probably where she shines the most.  She is reflecting back on the years with her husband, the good the bad, the happy times and the sad.  Considering the losses she has held it together well and remains remarkably positive despite the bad things that have occurred in her lifetime.  Unfortunately I can't write as well as she performed in this scene.

On to directing of which Frank Lloyd was nominated for his effort.  Frank Lloyd is one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS).  He was a very accomplished director and has five nominations for Best Director overall.  Though in the early days there weren't official nominations and only the winners were revealed.  The AMPAS website doesn't explain how they came up with the people who did not win if only the winners were revealed, but the database does include movies that did not win.  I mention this because I don't want to give the impression that Lloyd won all of those awards.  He did win for Cavalcade and it was his second and final win.  His other win came for The Divine Lady and that win holds the distinction of the only time someone won the Best Director award when the movie was not nominated for Best Picture.  He also directed seven Best Actor or Actress nominees throughout his career.

The other nominees for Best Director that year were as follows.

• Frank Capra for Lady for a Day
• George Cukor for Little Women

Between those two there were 11 nominations and 4 wins, so he beat out some pretty exclusive company.  Capra was the more successful of the two probably best known for It's A Wonderful Life even though that movie did not bring him an Oscar.

Last but not least the Best Picture nomination.  Which despite the early years of the awards actually had a multiple of other pictures nominated.  The other movies were as follows.

• A Farewell to Arms
• 42nd Street
• I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• Lady for a Day
• Little Women
• The Private Life of Henry the VIII
• She Done Him Wrong
• Smilin' Through
• State Fair

Cavalcade won the Best Picture Oscar.  I have only seen Smilin' Through though I have read A Farewell to Arms.  I actually liked Smilin' Through better than Cavalcade, but I don't know that means I think Cavalcade did not deserve to win.  I'm sure there are many cases where the movie probably deserved the award but it didn't tickle my fancy.  In the end I give Cavalcade 3 out of 5 stars.

Up in the Air - 2009

Up in the Air is a movie based on the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn.  It stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran, Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener, Jason Bateman as Craig Gregory, Amy Morton as Kara Bingham, and Melanie Lynskey as Julie Bingham.  It received 6 Academy Award nominations of which the nomination for Writing is the only one that wasn't a requirement to make my list.  It earned a Best Actor, two Best Supporting Actresses, a Best Director, and a Best Picture nomination.

Of all the movies that made my list from 2009 Up in the Air and Inglorious Basterds were the ones I truly wanted to see in the theater, sadly it was not to be.  Having been a frequent business traveler in the past the movie intrigued me a bit.  Of course Ryan Bingham's job and the reason for his travel was even more intriguing to me.

What follows will be a rather short synopsis of the film with the goal to limit the spoilers to a minimum.  Ryan Bingham works for a company that specializes in firing and laying off people and providing them with the package to help them transition into their new careers.  To do this he must travel......A LOT.  He likes travelling, prefers it actually and has a very minimalistic life at "home". 

This all comes to a halt when Natalie Keener comes to work for the firm.  To save the company money she comes up with the idea to fire/lay off employees via video chat.  In between all of this there is the stereotypical infidelity on the road.  Beside all of that Bingham is lugging around a card board cut out of his sister and soon to be brother in law so he can take some pictures in various locations to make them seem more worldly.

The thing I found most interesting about this movie is that many of the people that are being let go seem to be more from a corporate downsizing program rather than being fired for cause.  I'd guess most of these jobs would be moving offshore.  While letting people go via video chat isn't moving jobs offshore, but it is threateningly close to making Bingham irrelevant.  It is almost as if Karma is coming around.  Although, I felt as if Bingham was more upset about the fact that his travelling may come to end is his biggest issue.  I think the job isn't as important to him as the flying and the perks he gains from it.

There was one issue I did have with the movie though.  Bingham has a fling with Alex Goran for a good portion of the movie.  I suppose I should have seen it coming or figured it out right away, but she was married as well.  Without revealing what happens, I had a real problem with her getting all pissy with Bingham.  She never once gave him any indication that she was married and for that matter who goes as a guest with her boyfriend to a wedding and is gone from her family for a few days.  She is just as guilty as he is but makes it out like he is the bad guy.  It just rubbed me the wrong way.

On to the nominations. I am starting with the Best Actor nomination.  George Clooney was nominated for his role as Ryan Bingham.  This was Clooney's third acting nomination.  He won for Syriana which I have not yet seen.  I did see Michael Clayton though and I must say that while he was excellent in this movie I don't think it was to the level of his role in Michael Clayton. 

As you probably guess from my previous paragraph he did not win for his role.  It isn't that old of a movie either so even if you aren't a huge movie trivia person you probably also knew that.  Clooney was up against the following for Best Actor that year.

• Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart
• Colin Firth as George in A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandella in Invictus
• Jeremy Renner as Staff Sgt William James in The Hurt Locker

Jeff Bridges won the award and I went into great detail about what I thought regarding that choice in my blog on Crazy Heart.  I don't have a problem with Clooney losing at all.  He certainly was not the best out of the five. 

On to the Best Supporting Actress nominations of which Up in the Air had the honor of getting two.  Vera Farmiga was nominated for her role as Alex Goran and Anna Kendrick was nominated for her role as Natalie Keener.  Their competition was:

• Penelope Cruz as Carla in Nine
• Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean Craddock in Crazy Heart
• Mo'Nique as Mary in Precious

Now Mo'Nique won the award and I have yet to see the movie so I can't speak to if she deserved it more than the others.  However, I wasn't overly impressed with Maggie Gyllenhaal's role in Crazy Heart so I don't think her not winning was an issue.

I will say that if I had to pick between the two that were nominated from Up in the Air I don't even think there is a debate.  Anna Kendrick's performance is clearly superior to Farmiga's.  Now just because I say there is not debate doesn't mean there can't be one, it is just my opinion.

I think KendrickBingham asks Keener to fire him and he easily points out the issues inherently wrong with her idea clearly speaks to the saying I mentioned above.  It is also Clooney's best scene in the movie in my opinion.

I don't want to ignore Farmiga here because she was also nominated.  I have made it clear that I wasn't wowed by her, but she had her moments.  To me her most compelling scene was when Keener broke down because her boyfriend broke up with her.  She and Clooney provide advice to her and it almost seems as if they are her mom and dad giving their child worldly advice.  It also stood out to me because I have witnessed on more than one occasion the young just out of college worker thinking they are going to change the world and having a plan.  Then the realization hits them, that it just doesn't work out that way.  It takes some longer than others, but what Farmiga says in this scene is pretty much what I would have told her as well.

I should mention that the nominations were the first for both actresses, in fact with the exception of Penelope Cruz they were all first time nominees.  Which makes you wonder if we can expect more great things from all of them.  I guess only time will tell.

On to the directing category, which I must be honest about.  I have the most difficult time critiquing this category.  I am a movie lover, but I don't pretend to know anything about directing.  I am sure as hell am not some pretentious asshole that speaks about the angle of a shot or what not when clearly I know nothing about it.  Jason Reitman was nominated for his job as director on this film.  He was up against the following.

• James Cameron for Avatar
• Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
• Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds
• Lee Daniels for Precious

 I don't know a whole lot about Jason Reitman other than he is Ivan Reitman's son.  He is obviously up and coming because this is his second nomination in the last three years.  He was also nominated for Juno back in '07.  Which I find a bit interesting when you consider that James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino are probably better known than Reitman, but have the same amount of nominations. 

I am not saying Reitman is superior or even in the same league based on this, but it speaks volumes to his potential as a director.  One would think that this bodes well for Reitman and his future as a director.

He didn't win, as you may recall 2009 was historic.  Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for directing.

On to the Best Picture nomination.  2009 was the year where they expanded the list of Best Picture nominees.  So rather than five it doubled to ten.  Aside from Up in the Air, the other nominees were as follows.

•  Avatar
• The Blind Side
• District 9
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglorious Basterds
• Precious
• A Serious Man
• Up

I have seen 7 of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture on this list.  The Hurt Locker ended up winning and I can't say that the Academy got it wrong based on what I have seen.  I have not seen Precious, An Education, or A Serious Man.  The Hurt Locker was fantastic, so I doubt that I will change my mind after I view the other three and it certainly was better than Up in the Air.

Although I would easily rate Up in the Air in the top four of the ten that were nominated.  I enjoyed the movie and it really brought home a lot of memories for me.  Especially the travelling although, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as Ryan Bingham did.  I certainly miss the losing of the Elite status I lost from not flying as much and the perks from the hotels.  Though I find it a fair trade off to spend more time with my family.  I give Up in the Air 4 out of 5 stars.

Johnny Eager - 1942

Johnny Eager stars Robert Taylor as Johnny Eager, Lana Turner as Lisbeth Bard, Edward Arnold as John Benson Farrell, Van Heflin as Jeff Hartnett, Robert Sterling as Jimmy Courtney, Henry O'Neil as Mr. Verne, Barry Nelson as Lew Rankin, and Charles Dingle as Marco.  It is a film noir movie about Johnny Eager who is out of jail on parole and is posing as a taxi cab driver to appear legit.  He has his parole officer fooled but has other issues.

He has someone in his gang that he believes is working on the other side.  He also runs into Lisbeth Bard and is smitten but quickly finds out that she is related to his nemesis John Benson Farrell, who is the D.A. that put him away.  Despite all of this he always seems to be one step ahead of his rivals.  The main reason for this is because of his second in command Jeff Hartnett.  Eager never has to question his loyalty.

When Eager admits to himself that he has fallen for Bard and he knows that she has fallen for him he uses her to get ahead and get the approval to have his dog track open.  He stages a fight with one member of his gang and Bard shoots him.  He uses this information to black mail Farrell but it ultimately proves his undoing.

As old gangster movies go this one wasn't half bad and I must admit that if I look at my list of films that I have watched, this may be the first one that qualifies as an old gangster film or in the genre of film noir.  It is a genre that I have seen and heard references to many many times.  So as firsts go it made a decent impression.

This film landed on my list because of Van Heflin in his role as Jeff Hartnett.  Unlike some films that I have seen in which the only nomination is an acting role or supporting acting role, this movie was fairly good.  I have watched a few where I can see why someone was nominated for a stellar performance, yet the movie as a whole was not a standout in my opinion.  Oddly, the one movie that I am thinking of that fits that description, I just watched the other day and also received a best supporting actor nomination.

Heflin was stunning in his role and thoroughly deserved the nomination for his drunken and cynical portrayal of Jeff Hartnett, Eagers right hand man and confidant.  He plays the perfect foil to Eager.  Eager has the street smarts and Hartnett has the book smarts.  He is well read and educated to the point that Eager derides him for his intelligent comments and quotes.  I wish I could pick out one particular scene to hammer home my point as to how good he was, but he stole every scene he was in.  Although, if I had to pick it would be the scene where he was a bit too honest with his boss and it earned him a punch.  He was particularly good in this scene, but will limit the detail because it would give away too much of the movie.

This was Van Heflin's one and only Oscar nomination.  Interestingly two of the other nominees that he was competing against this year obtained their one and only nomination as well.  Walter Huston and Frank Morgan were the only ones that would receive multiple nominations during their careers.
Heflin was up against the following for Best Supporting Actor

• William Bendix as Smacksie Randall in Wake Island
• Walter Huston as Jerry Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Frank Morgan as The Pirate in Tortilla Flat
• Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard in Mrs. Minniver

I guess it should come as no surprise based on my ravings about Heflin's performance that he won, but if you have read my earlier blogs, specifically the Mrs. Minniver post you would know this as well.  He certainly deserved the Oscar in my opinion.  I have seen three of the five films, with Tortilla Flat being the other one and clearly Heflin provided superior performances than the actors in the two films I have seen.  I have yet to see Yankee Doodle Dandy or Wake Island, but I would be surprised if Bendix or Huston performed better.

Morgan was quite good in Tortilla Flat but that is the movie I was thinking about when I mentioned the performance of one actor outweighing the film as a whole.  I did not like that movie much, although I may be a bit prejudiced, but I will save that for when I blog on that movie.  I will say that I thought Spencer Tracy was darn good in the movie.

But I am not here to talk about Tortilla Flat I am talking about Johnny Eager which I found to be a great movie.  A bit predictable at times but overall a suspenseful and intelligent gangster classic.  I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars and will go out on a limb and say you must see this movie, because Van Heflin's performance is THAT GOOD!

Saturday Night Fever - 1977



Who hasn't seen this movie?  That was my first thought, but then that is showing my age.  I was a young boy when Saturday Night Fever mania hit.  The teens and the twenty somethings have likely not seen the movie nor do they care to.  I am always amazed at how many in that age group haven't seen Animal House, but then again The Hangover is probably their generations Animal House.  No I don't want to get into the debate here of which is better.

I was seven when this movie was in theaters.  Far too young to see it in the theater, Although my wife who is two years older than me claims that she saw it in the theater.  The rated R version that is, I guess her parents were more liberal than mine.  I did see this movie in the theater though.  This movie was so hot they edited it and put out a PG version to capitalize on it.  That is the version that I saw.  I have since seen the rated R version and probably watched this movie at least five times.  I can say that rated R or PG this isn't a movie for a seven year old.  Aside from the dancing and the music, what themes in this movie can a seven year old relate to??  How about none.  Regardless, this movie was all the rage then and I remember my parents finally acquiescing and allowing us to see it.

Saturday Night Fever starred John Travolta as Tony Manero, Karen Lynn Gorney as Stephanie Mangano, Barry Miller as Bobby C, Joseph Cali as Joey, Paul Pape as Double J, Donna Pescow as Annette, Martin Shakar as Frank Manero Jr, Nina Hansen as Grandmother, and Val Bisoglio as Frank Manero Sr.

I am going to do a quick synopsis, because I think most people know about the movie even if they haven't seen it.  Tony lives for Saturday night so he can go out drinking and dancing with his buddies.  Tony is the self proclaimed dance king around his Brooklyn neighborhood. 

The movie deals with young adults and rebellion, social and class issues and racism among others.  It highlights the difficulty of a working class kid getting ahead.  Through it all they deal with pregnancy, girls, rival "gangs' and the like.  The only place that Tony and his friends do not feel inferior is at the disco mainly because of his dancing prowess.  Tony finds a dance partner in Stephanie who he hopes he will win a dance competition with.  Along the way he falls in love with her and is rejected by her.  It should be noted that she represents the promise of something better as she has managed to move up to that next class in society.

That is pretty much the movie in a nutshell although it certainly isn't the detailed synopsis I usually give.  I did this mainly because this movie landed on my list for one reason.  That reason is because Travolta was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Tony Manero.  It is the only nomination it received.  So despite its popularity it certainly wasn't endowed with awards and nominations.  Which I think is fair, because I think the story isn't really all that original.  The dancing may be, but kids struggling with things growing up, wanting more out of life etc, that is not.

Travolta was up against the following for Best Actor that year.

• Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in Annie Hall
• Richard Burton as Dr. Martin Dysart in Equus
• Richard Dreyfus as Elliot Garfield in The Goodbye Girl
• Marcello Mastroianni as Gabrielle in A Special Day

Woody Allen has 21 Oscar nominations in his illustrious career but this was his only nomination for acting.  All the others were either for writing or directing.  He would not win though.  This was the final nomination for Richard Burton, however he went 0 for 7 in his nominations of which six were for Best Actor.  The other nomination which was also his first was for Best Supporting Actor.  It was Mastroianni's second nomination and he would eventually get a third, not winning on any of them.  I must admit that I have absolutely no clue who he is and would guess that they were foreign films that he was nominated for. 

This was Travolta's first nomination and he would have to wait 17 years for his next nomination in Pulp Fiction.  Ironically, Richard Dreyfus who won the Oscar did so on his first ever nomination for his role in The Goodbye Girl and he only has two nominations.  He had to wait 18 years for his next nomination in Mr. Holland's Opus. 

Now I have seen The Goodbye Girl but have not see the other movies mentioned above.  I will say for certain that Dreyfus was deserving of the award over Travolta and unless the other threes performances were spectacular I can't imagine that he didn't deserve it over the others.  But, I am not here to talk about Dreyfus.  It is Travolta that needs to be discssed.

Maybe I am judging him unfairly here, because the movie is more of a pop culture icon than it is known for being a social commentary, but I am not overwhelmed by Travolta's performance in this movie.  Especially when his most memorable scenes to me beside the dancing are his Al Pacino, Al Pacino strut in his underwear to the bathroom witnessed by his grand mother, or his arguments with his boss at the hardware store because he wants an advance on his salary, or the classic, "You messed up my hair" in response to his father slapping him upside the head.

Despite all that I guess I can't say that he didn't put in a good performance.  I just struggle that it was exceptional.  Good, yes, above average, probably, exceptional, I don't think so.  To me his performance was similar to Harrison Ford in Star Wars and he did not get a nomination that year.  Now I am not saying Ford was snubbed, but I find the performances to be similar. 

If you compare his performance in Pulp Fiction to his performance in Saturday Night Fever, I don't think there is even a doubt that his role as Vincent Vega was far superior.  To be fair, he was older and more experienced then, but he had also gone through a long dry spell.  Maybe he was hampered by the fact that he was better known for his role as Vinny Barbarino in Welcome Back Kotter.  Or perhaps the music and the dancing over shadowed his acting.  Either way, I didn't think it was Oscar worthy.

All in all I liked the movie as a kid but when I watch it now I find it slow moving in parts.  The lead up to the final dance contest, especially the dance practice scenes drag.  If I see that it is on tv now it isn't something I find I have to watch.  I may put it on to catch the Verazanno Bridge scenes, which to this day amaze me.  I often wonder what would happen today if someone decided to park their car on the shoulder at night.  I can't imagine they would get away with what they do in the movie, but then again it is a movie after all.  I give the movie a 3.5 stars out of 5.

Test Pilot - 1938

Test Pilot is an original story that starred Clark Gable as Jim Lane, Spencer Tracy as Gunner Morse, Myrna Loy as Ann "Thursday" Barton and Lionel Barrymore as Howard B. Drake.

Jim Lane is a test pilot for Howard Drake and is considered the best in the business.  However, he is a hard drinking, irresponsible, living life on the wild side type of guy.  The typical stereotype of test and fighter pilots.  The movie starts with Lane trying to break the speed record for a flight from Los Angeles to New York.  Mechanical trouble throws a wrench in the plans he is forced to land in Kansas field.

He lands on Ann Barton's parents farm and a quick and short romance ensues between the two.  Gunner flies to Wichita to fix the plane while Lane is busy courting Ann.  When Gunner arrives he is not happy with Lane because he knows he has been with Ann all day.  Gunner tries to warn Ann off, but he is unsuccessful.  Even though Lane does leave without her, he turns around and comes back for her and they are married.

I am going to end the synopsis there because I have a bunch of things that I want to get to with this movie and it will mention a bit of what happens later on in the movie.  First I want to get to the nominations and then I will discuss the movie in a bit more detail.  Test Pilot was nominated for Best Picture and I think it was a worthy nomination.  I have read a bunch about the movie and some are a bit upset that Myrna Loy was not nominated in the actress category.  I have not seen any of the films that had the Best Actress nominations so I will have to reserve judgment on that until a bit later.  At any rate, the other Best Picture nominees were as follows.

• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Alexander's Rag Time Band
• Boys Town
• The Citadel
• Four Daughters
• Grand Illusion
• Jezebel
• Pygmalion
• You Can't Take it With You

If you have been reading my blog, you will know that You Can't Take it With You won the Oscar.  I still have yet to see it, but I will say that of the films I have seen from '38, Test Pilot is so far my favorite.

My first impression of this movie is that I really like Clark Gable.  He certainly plays the playboy quite well.  I certainly enjoyed watching him in this film.  Perhaps it is the type of character I have seen him play that I like, either way they cast the right person for that type of character.  I find him quite funny and confident and very charismatic.  I also think that he and Spencer Tracy made a great duo.  I have heard all the great things about Tracy, but this is the first movie I have seen him in, unless you count, It's A Mad Mad Mad World.  Hardly Tracy's best role.

The other thing that struck me is the ridiculousness of romance in movies from that time period.  Ann and Jim know each other for about twelve hours and they are telling each other that they love one another.  It is not just this movie but it seems like it happens in every old movie I have watched.  I just can't imagine any parents seeing a stranger land on their farm and then allowing their daughter to fly off with him the next day. Now I don't have a daughter but if I did, I sure as hell would not allow that to happen, but that is just me.

Later in the movie, Jim Lane wins a prestigious air race and he wins $10,000 for his troubles.  Now I will not get into how unrealistic I found it that he had an engine fire of some sort and not only continued on, but won the race.  I could point to hundreds of movies with other unrealistic events but it reminded me of the spin out scenes in Days of Thunder.  I have yet to witness a Nascar driver spin out and recover from the spin and then jump right back in the race.

That isn't the subject of my surprise.  I am more amazed by the fact that after winning the ten grand, Lane goes on a couple day bender and somehow ends up in Chicago, but he also spends the ten grand as well.  TEN GRAND!!!  In 1938!!!  That is a lot of booze.  I am not sure I could drink that much worth of booze in 3 days now.  OK maybe if I bought an old bottle of wine that was super expensive, but ten grand was a lot of money back then.  Hell, I think my dad made that annually when I was born.

Another observation is the triangle formed between Gunner, Lane, and Ann.  There is something like a partnership set up between Gunner and Ann.  Gunner earlier chastised Ann for not thinking through her decision to marry Lane.  Especially given the dangerous job he has.  Gunner understands that it is dangerous and that death is just around the corner and clearly Ann was not thinking about that when they got married.

It is very clear that Gunner loves Lane and he certainly has a fondness for Ann as well.  I was never able to tell if Gunner was in love with Ann as well, but just never acted on it.  I suppose it is possible, but I think it was more a partnership as I mentioned earlier.  A partnership born out of fear.  Fear that Lane would eventually die from a plane crash sooner or later.  My wife wondered if maybe Gunner not only loved Lane as a friend, but also as a lover.  I suppose that is possible as well, but I don't think society was progressive enough back then to handle such a topic.  So, I don't think that was the intention.

I also have a theory on why she might have thought that and suggested it, but I will save that for later.  Most likely when I blog about Brokeback Mountain. 

Finally, I want to talk about the very beginning of the movie.  There was a disclaimer prior to the start of the movie, mentioning the role of the test pilot and what information is gleaned from their jobs.  Test pilots do work for both commercial aviation purposes but also for military purposes.  There were some scenes in the movie where Lane was doing work for the military.  He was doing some test on what I believe was an AT6 Texan and a prototype of the B17 bomber.  The film makers were quick to point out that no secrets were let out because of this movie.  I found this interesting, because I doubt a film maker would write such a disclaimer these days or for that matter even care if they let any military secrets out.

In the end, I really enjoyed this movie.  I like planes and aviation so that may be part of it, but as I said earlier I truly like Clark Gable.  Aside from the realism issues I mentioned above I also found the story very entertaining.  Four out of Five stars for me.

Crazy Heart - 2009

Where do I start with this movie?  How about the fact that I fucking hate country music.  HATE HATE HATE!  So, I was not looking forward to this movie at all.  Top that off with Jeff Bridges mumbling incoherent acceptance speech for his Oscar.  I don't know maybe he was trying to act like a drunk just like Bad Blake, I don't know but oddly I don't remember many acceptance speeches, but I remember his.  If I had to make a top 10 list of the worst acceptance speeches ever, he would rank second right behind Halle Berry's tear filled ridiculousness.

Crazy Heart starred Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean Craddock, Jack Nation as Buddy Craddock, Colin Farrell as Tommy Sweet, and Robert Duvall as Wayne.  Sure there are a lot more people in the cast, but as far as I am concerned they are the main two characters.  The movie is based on the  Thomas Cobb novel of the same name.

Crazy Heart is the story of Bad Blake a washed up country star.  He used to play in major venues but now he is stuck playing crappy bowling alleys and little dive bars.  This is all since he made his split with his young protegee Tommy Sweet.

At one of these dive bars he meets Jean Craddock, a much younger woman with a son.  She is a small town reporter and gains an interview through a bit of nepotism.  The romance starts slowly, but when Bad is injured in a traffic accident she nurses him back to health.

Things are going fine with the two until Jean and her young son Buddy come to visit Bad in Houston.  Bad takes Buddy out with him in downtown Houston and he loses Buddy.  This is the last straw for Jean and she abruptly leaves and goes back home.  Not only is this the final straw for Jean but it is the final straw for Bad and he is determined to stop drinking and with the help of his friend Wayne he is successful.

That is pretty much the movie in a nutshell.  I left some stuff out here and there so as to not ruin it for those who have not seen the movie. 

As mentioned earlier Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for his role in this film.  He was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Bad Blake.  He was up against the following.

• George Clooney as Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air
• Colin Firth as George in A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Invictus
• Jeremy Renner as Staff Sgt William James in The Hurt Locker

The only one of these movies that I have yet to see is A Single Man, so I will take that out of the equation.  The only person that I could make a case that might have won over Bridges would be Jeremy Renner for his role in The Hurt Locker.  Despite that I am not appalled that Bridges won over him.

Jeff Bridges plays a drunk quite well.  Not too mention that he sings pretty well too.  As I understand it he sang all of the songs in this movie, which were only a few which suits me just fine.  I'd be happy with country and rap being wiped off the face of the earth.  I don't want to get side tracked though.  Back to playing a drunk. 

Two scenes stand out to me.  One is early on in the film where he is playing a gig in a West Texas bowling alley.  Ironically earlier in the day, the guy who owns the liquor store buys him a bottle of his preferred bourbon.  During the conversation he asks if Bad will sing a particular song and dedicate it to his wife.  Bad agrees and as he introduces the song and the dedication, the alcohol hits him.  With the backing band now singing the tune he runs to the back door to vomit, before returning to finish out the song and the gig.

The other scene is much more bittersweet to me.  It is when he loses track of Buddy and he frantically searches for him.  At this point in the movie, Bad is trying to reform his ways.  Like most alcoholics he mistakenly thinks he can control his drinking and to be fair he was to an extent.  Unfortunately for him, he loses Buddy when he stops in a bar to get Buddy out of the heat and to get him something to drink.  Despite his best intentions of trying to stop his drinking it takes a terrible turn.  I couldn't help but feel sorry for Bad during this scene, because he hadn't been drinking at this point and I think his drinking was unfairly blamed for losing him.  Despite this I also see the point that it could have been much worse and it would have only been a matter of time before drinking was going to hurt someone he loved.

As it turns out though this is the best thing that could have ever happened to him because it was that rock bottom that most addicts need to finally get clean.  Not only does he get clean but it sparks a new period of creativity in his song writing and leads to a very touching scene in the end of the movie that I won't give away here.

The second nomination that earned Crazy Heart on our list was the one for Best Supporting Actress.  Maggie Gyllenhaal was nominated for her role as Jane Craddock.  This was Maggie Gyllenhaal's first nomination unlike Bridges who finally won after his fifth nomination.  Gyllenhaal was competing against the following actresses.

• Penelope Cruz as Carla in Nine
• Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran in Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener in Up in the Air
• Mo'Nique as Mary in Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Mo'Nique took home the Oscar and to be fair I have not seen Precious yet.  I am sorry I am not going to write the rest of the title because 1.  it is too long and 2.  It seems awfully pretentious and looks to me like the author of the book was desperate to be noticed.

That being said, I don't get the Gyllenhaal nomination.  I don't think it would take much for Mo'Nique to beat her out and both nominees from Up in the Air were much better than her performance.  I am not trying to say her performance was horrible, but I just don't think it was Oscar worthy.  It certainly was not Meryl Streep in Kramer vs Kramer.

Maybe she got the nomination because of her admirable job trying to "fix" Bad Blake.  Which is the really the only reason I can see for the relationship between the two.  Both my wife and I could not figure out any reason for the attraction in the movie.  It just made no sense to us.  Maybe that is what clouds my judgement on her role.  I won't apologize for it anymore, I don't think the nomination was deserving and I'm not going to talk myself into changing my mind.

All in all I thought it was a pretty good movie, even with the country music theme.  I do have one problem with the movie though.  Maybe I missed it, but the Bad Blake and Tommy Sweet story line was not explored enough in my opinion and it certainly did not seem to be completely resolved.  Clearly there was some history there and in interviews Bad did not want to talk about it. 

When Bad did open for Tommy it was clear that Tommy appreciated Bad and that it seemed certain things were out of his control.  However, a lot of things were left to interpretation or presumption.  Perhaps that was what the writer wanted, and my problem lies with the fact that I want more information and a clearer picture.  It is very possible but if that is the case, it still does not change my opinion that a little more of the back story should have been shared.  For that reason and that reason alone I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Four Daughters 1938



The wife and I watched this movie the other day and it was very good.  Just like you can't judge a book by its cover, you really shouldn't judge a movie by the short synopsis provided by pressing the info button on your Direct TV remote.  I thought I was in for a long night, but was pleasantly surprised.

Four Daughters stars Priscilla Lane as Ann Lemp, Rosemary Lane as Kay Lemp, Lola Lane as Thea Lemp, Gale Page as Emma Lemp, Claude Rains as Adam Lemp, Jeffrey Lynn as Felix Deitz, John Garfield as Mickey Borden,  Dick Foran as Ernest Talbot,  Frank McHugh as Ben Crowley and May Robson as Aunt Etta and is based on a short story by Fannie Hurst titled A Sister Act

Four Daughters is a story about, believe it or not, four daughters.  Adam Lemp is a musician who is raising four musical daughters.  Three of the four sisters are actually sisters in real life.  The only non lane is Gale Page who plays Emma Lemp.

The Lemps run a boarding house in addition to being musical.  They live a rather normal life until Felix Deitz comes to town.  Felix is there and is participating in a musical competition.  Ann Lemp is the first to meet him and you can tell they will soon fall in love.  Thea and Kay are already practically married if not engaged, yet all the sisters develop a crush on Felix.

Eventually Mickey Borden comes to town to help Felix in the competition.  He is a piano player and despite being morose and a bit crass, the Lemps see through his rough exterior.  Borden develops a crush on Ann Lemp.  So when Felix and Ann announce that they are engaged it isn't a surprise that it creates such a stir.  If you want to know what happens next, watch the movie.  I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

This movie was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director and John Garfield was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mickey Borden.  I am going to start with Garfield, because he received great acclaim for this role, which from what I can tell was his first major role.  Garfield was up against the following for the Best Supporting Actor.

• Walter Brennan as Peter Goodwin in Kentucky
• Gene Lockhart as Regis in Algiers
• Robet Morley as King Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette
• Basil Rathbone as Louis XI in If I Were King

I have yet to see any of these movies so I can't say for sure that Walter Brennan who ultimately won, deserved it more than Garfield.  However, I found Jeffrey Lynn's performance as Felix better than Garfield's.  Garfield played a much more cynical and dark character than Lynn did, so perhaps that is why he got the nomination.  It seems to me that the more positive and upbeat you are as a character or in your role, the less likely you are to earn a nomination.  For some reason the Academy goes for dark and disturbed.  I guess they feel it is harder to act morose than it is happy.

Maybe it is a likability thing.  Felix is a far more like able character than Mickey so maybe that is clouding my judgement, but I don't think that is it.  Of course I didn't take acting classes and think a lot of analyzation to be pretentious bullshit.  Either way, Garfield got the nomination and Lynn didn't. While I think Lynn was better, I can't say that Garfield didn't deserve a nomination, because he was superb as well.

Garfield would get one more nomination in 1948, this time a Best Actor role.  He would not win.  He would die four years later but not before he was black balled as a result of Senator Joe McCarthy. 

Michael Curtiz directed Four Daughters and gained an Oscar nomination for his job.  Curtiz is probably best known for Casablanca.  He also does not get as much mention as other directors of his time mainly because he was one of the directors that was coined a studio director.  He would take on many jobs that others had shunned.  He directed well over 150 movies in his career and for this he took some criticism.  He is credited with three Best Director nominations, one for Casablanca and not only was he nominated for Four Daughters in '38 but for Angels With Dirty Faces as well.  In 35' he came in second but was a write in nomination for the movie Captain Blood.

The other nominees in 1938 for Best Director were.

• Michael Curtiz for Angels with Dirty Faces
• Norman Taurog for Boys Town
• King Vidor for The Citadel
• Frank Capra for You Can't Take it with You

If you read my blog on The Citadel you would know that Frank Capra ended up winning the Oscar in this category.  I haven't seen it yet but look forward to it because I have heard many good things about the film.

Finally we get to Best Picture.  Four Daughters was up against the following.

• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Alexanders Rag Time Band
• Boys Town
• The Citadel
• Grand Illusion
• Jezebel
• Pygmallion
• Test Pilot
• You Can't Take It With You

As often happens when a film wins the Best Director award, so too comes the Best Picture award.  1938 was no different with You Can't Take It With You earning the honor.  After watching Four Daughter I have seen three of the ten nominees.  I have yet to blog about Test Pilot, but that will be coming soon.  Test Pilot was easily the best of the three, so I can't say Four Daughters got the shaft. 

As I mentioned earlier I found the movie very entertaining and definitely enjoyed Jeffrey Lynn's performance.  All of the daughters were good as well, but Priscilla Lane as Ann was clearly my favortie as well.  The thing I love about these old movies is to see how things have changed.

One of the final scenes takes place in a hospital and my wife and I both found it amusing that while standing over a hospital bed, they thought nothing of lighting up a cigarette.  When the doctor comes in to console the character he carefully takes her cigarette and hold it for her.  He has no intention of putting it out never mind damaging it.  You can't even smoke in Central Park anymore and God knows if some of these film makers have their characters smoking too much or even glorifying it these day, they are dragged over the coals for it.

Now don't get me wrong I am not advocating smoking, but it amazes me how much smoking was a part of cinema back then.  At least one character in all of these black and white movies I watch smokes.  Although I don't really pay much attention to it unless I see them smoking in a place like the hospital or a doctors waiting room.

To conclude I would give Four Daughters 4 out of 5 stars.  I will say though that despite the fact that I enjoyed the movie, I am not sure I would agree that it was a best picture canidate.  Although, I think sometimes I am basing that on todays standards.

Toy Story 3 - 2010

Toy Story 3 being my first animated film to blog about presents a dilemma.  How do I add the cast.  Obviously they are all just the voices, so I guess I will just list the main characters and the actor/actress will be assumed that is is their voice rather than me typing it after each person.

Now that I have that out of the way, you have Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusak as Jessie, Ned Beatty as Lotso, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, Wallace Shawn as Rex, John Ratzenberger as Hamm, Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head, John Morris as Andy, Laurie Metcalf  as Andy's mom, and Blake Clark as Slinky Dog

I think I might have mentioned in my very first blog, that this was the only Best Picture nominee in 2010 that I actually saw in the theater.  Which I think is a perfect segue to the list of nominees for Best Picture in 2010.

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

Toy Story 3 did not win and frankly I can't imagine an animated film winning Best Picture, which probably is not fair, but I don't think that the Academy will ever take the animated film as seriously as others when it comes to Best Picture.  After all it won for Best Animated Feature Film after all, so I wonder sometimes if that is a factor.

I have seen Inception and The Kids Are All Right and if I had to pick between the three, I would vote for Toy Story 3 hands down.  It was that good of a movie.  I doubt it was better than The King's Speech so I won't go as far as saying it should have won, but I would rate it as a great movie.

Anyone who has kids has most likely seen this movie and one common mantra I hear about these animated movies is that they aren't just for kids.  There is always adult humor, that goes right over the kids heads and the stories are not only kid friendly, but speak to the adults as well.

Toy Story 3 is probably the best example of the Toy Story franchise that speak to the parents.  Andy is all grown up and is going off to college.  All parents deal with this issue.  Maybe not college, but there little ones growing up and moving on.  While I did not shed a tear during the movie, I can say I came close once or twice. 

The toys also go through a bit of soul searching as well.  The theme of children growing up and not needing their toys is continued from Toy Story 2, but this time it isn't just the threat of new toys.  The gang has not been played with in years and have to deal with being tossed out or making the trip to the attic.  It is eerie how it parallels death and getting older.  I kept on thinking of the attic as the old folks home and the garbage as death.  I don't know if that is what the film maker was getting at, but that is what struck me.

Mixed in to this you have to have some sort of struggle with evil.  That evil is represented by Lotso.  A toy that was replaced by his owner after he was lost.  Being replaced causes Lotso to snap.  He turns the daycare he eventually ends up at into his own little pyramid.  He puts the new toys in the younger rooms, where the kids are more destructive and don't play well with their toys, all the while those on the inside end up in the Butterfly Room with the older kids, who are much better with the toys.  In some ways it reminded me of those prison movies where certain people figured out the system and curried favor with the guards etc to make their time a little bit easier.

As usual the gang ends up victorious and the movie ends with a bittersweet moment of the toys being passed on to a new owner, who has an imagination similar to Andy's.  It is nice to see that they all ended up together, even Woody.  Woody did look like he was destined for college, because Andy originally separated all his toys for the attic, but put Woody in his college box.

If you haven't seen the movie this may give something away, but there was one scene in the movie that almost made a very big mistake with me.  This scene was near the end when all of the toys were at the dump and heading for the incinerator.  It appeared that they were not going to make it and the toys all held hands, accepting their fate.  This is where I came close to crying.  Imaging that a 40 year old man crying about toys of all things.  Well I gave it away in the last paragraph that they were not burned.

Which is a good thing for Disney, Pixar and my soon to be two year old son.  If they would have torched those toys, I would have boycotted all things Disney and Pixar and my two year old would have missed out on Disney World and many an animated film to come.  So, I am glad they didn't lose their minds, because I like Disney World, I can't wait to take my youngest son.  It would be a shame to deprive him of that, but I would have.

Mrs. Miniver 1942

Mrs. Miniver is a movie that is based on the fictional housewife Mrs. Miniver created by Jan Struther that ran as a series of stories in the newspaper in 1937.  It starred Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver, Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver, Teresa Wright as Carol Beldon, Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon, Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard, and Richard Ney as Vin Miniver.

I am going to do a rather quick synopsis, because I have other things I want to get to with this movie.  The story is based during World War II and chronicles the Miniver family as they live through the bombing of London by the Germans.  The Minivers have 3 children, a young son and daughter and one son of age to fight in the war.  He does fight as a pilot.  His love interest is Carol Beldon and they do get married prior to him leaving to fight.  There are also interesting scenes where Clem Miniver uses his family boat and joins many others in aiding in the British evacuation from Dunkirk.  The other scene is one that I mentioned in an earlier blog.  That scene being where the German pilot is shot down and ends up in the Miniver's kitchen.  I haven't been able to find any supporting documentation, but I am convinced it is the same set used in a scene in the movie Smilin' Through.

The movie was somewhat a surprise success by all accounts.  It received 12 Oscar nominations of which it bagged six and four in the categories that landed it on my list of movies to watch.  Walter Pidgeon was nominated for Best Actor, Henry Travers was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Greer Garson was nominated for Best Actress, Dame May Whitty and Teresa Wright were nominated for Best Supporting Actress, William Wyler was nominated for Best Director, and finally it was nominated as Best Picture.

I will start with Best Actor and Walter Pidgeon.  This was one of two nominations for him.  He would be nominated the following year for his role in Madame Curie.  Coincidentally Greer Garson would be nominated in the same movie playing opposite of Pidgeon.  They were cast together at least three times, I had trouble tracking down exactly how many, but have verified at least three.  Pidgeon did not win the Oscar and I have yet to see the other movies, I am not surprised.  That is not to say I did not think he did an admirable job, but the other nominees in the acting categories, far outshone him in my opinion.  Pidgeon was up against the following.

• James Cagney as George M Cohen in Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Ronald Colman as Charles Ranier in Random Harvest
• Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees
• Monty Woolley as Howard in the Pied Piper

James Cagney took home the statue for his role.  I have yet to see Yankee Doodle Dandy, but it is on my DVR as TCM showed it on July 4th.  I know, shocking!

Next up is the Best Supporting Actor nominee Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard.  He plays a lovable old man who grows a rose to compete in a competition.  This competition had been won by Lady Beldon many years in a row and is the impromptu reason for Vin and Carol Beldon meeting.  This was Travers only nomination in his career.  Despite this nomination he is probably better known for playing Clarence Oddbody, the angel in It's A Wonderful Life.  He was up against these actors for the Oscar.

• William Bendix as Smacksie Randall in Wake Island
• Van Heflin as Jeff Hartnett in Johnny Eager
• Walter Huston as Jerry Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Frank Morgan as The Pirate in Tortilla Flat

Van Heflin won for his role as Jeff Hartnett in Johnny Eager.  I just watched Johnny Eager a few days ago and while I haven't seen the other movies.  Head to head against Travers, Heflin should have won.  Heflin was stupendous in his role, but this isn't about him.  I'll get to him when I blog on Johnny Eager.  As for Travers, it somewhat surprises me that he was even nominated.  To me he didn't factor in the movie enough to warrant the nomination, but that is just me.

Next up is Best Actress and Greer Garson.  Garson was nominated 7 times in the Best Actress category.  She was nominated for her roles as an actress from 1939 to 1945 six times in that seven year span.  The only year she did not get a nomination was in 1940.  Her final nomination was in 1960 where she played Eleanor Roosevelt.  Her competition in 42 was as follows.

• Bette Davis as Charlotte Vale in Now, Voyager
• Katherine Hepburn as Tess Harding in Woman of the Year
• Rosalind Russel as Ruth Sherwood in My Sister Eileen
• Teresa Wright as Eleanor Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees

Greer Garson won for her role as Mrs. Miniver.  While I did not see any of the other movies as yet, I think she was deserving.  It is the role that she is best known for after all.  She was typically cast as the strong woman who was able to overcome adversity.   Mrs Miniver epitomized that.  I think her strongest scene is when she discovers the downed German pilot in her kitchen and though she is terrified manages to subdue him.  I found her performance to be outstanding. 

I think the most interesting thing about her winning though is her legendary acceptance speech.  Until I saw this movie months ago and researching Garson a bit, I was unaware of this infamous part of Oscar history.  I was aware that there is a time limit for the acceptance speech, but I was unaware of who was responsible for it.  Turns out it was Ms Garson, whose speech clocked in at five and a half minutes.  Legend has it she rambled on for hours, but it was only five and a half minutes.  Although five and a half minutes is a lifetime when it comes to an acceptance speech.  At least she got her moneys worth, because it was the only Oscar she won despite the numerous nominations.

Ironically, she only won one, but she accepted two others.  In 1952 she accepted Vivien Leigh's Oscar because she was not present and again in 1962 she accepted for Sophia Loren who also was not present.  I was not able to find how long either of these speeches were, but I am sure they were not very long.

Moving on to Best Supporting Actress.  Mrs. Miniver was graced with two nominations in this category.  Teresa Wright who had three nominations in her career.  She was nominated the year before for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Little Foxes and obviously for her role in Mrs Miniver.  She was also nominated as Best Actress and if you were quick you noticed she competed against Greer Garson this year for her role in Pride of the Yankees.  She is only one of ten actors/actress to receive a nomination for Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress in the same year.  Dame May Whitty was also nominated and it was the last of her two nominations.  She was nominated as a supporting actress in 1937 for her role in Night Must Fall.  Their competition was as follows.

• Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Vale in Now, Voyager
• Agnes Moorehead as Fanny Minafer in The Magnificent Ambersons
• Susan Peters as Kitty in Random Harvest

Teresa Wright won for her role as Carol Beldon and I thought she was good in her role as the doomed love of Vin Miniver.  However, I could make a case for Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon.  I feel that she was better. Her presence on screen was much more commanding in my opinion.  That is not to say Wright didn't do an admirable job.  Either way I am probably splitting hairs because they both were fantastic.  I guess I really can't argue much because she is the only actress to be nominated for an Oscar in her first three movies, so she must have been doing something right.

On to the Directing category.  William Wyler was nominated in this category for Mrs. Miniver.  William Wyler is among the greatest Directors of all time.  He is second only to John Ford who won four best directing Oscars with three wins.  Wyler was nominated for best director 12 times in his illustrious career.  His last win coming in 1959 for probably his best known film, Ben Hur.  Mrs. Miniver was his fifth nomination and his first win.  I will not go on and on because I have mentioned a lot of this in my blog about Dodsworth which was his first film that received a directing nomination.  He was up against the following.

• Sam Wood for Kings Row
• Mervyn Leroy for Random Harvest
• John Farrow for Wake Island
• Michael Curtiz for Yankee Doodle Dandy

Which brings us to Best Picture.  Mrs. Miniver was competing against the following films.

• The Invaders
• Kings Row
• The Magnificent Ambersons
• The Pied Piper
• The Pride of the Yankees
• Random Harvest
• The Talk of the Town
• Wake Island
• Yankee Doodle Dandy

Mrs. Miniver did win the Best Picture Oscar.  I have yet to see any of the other films but I can say that I thought the movie was quite good.  I wonder if it had some help because of its timing .  The war had begun in 39 and the US had just entered the war at the end of 41.  It has been credited with increasing support of the war in America.

The thing that struck me the most about watching this movie is that it came out when the outcome of the war was uncertain.  I know that there are other war movies that were made during this period, but this is the first one that made me think about it.  It made me wonder how someone sitting in the theater felt at the end.  It was filled with hope and promise yet the war would not end for another three years.  I also liked the fact that the retreat at Dunkirk was part of the film.  I think it added to the desperation and worry that the English must have felt during the Battle of Britain.

In the end, the thing I recall the most about this movie is that it was the first of the old movies that I watched when we started working on our list.  I had of course seen other older movies, but this was the first black and white era movie I got from Netflix when I embarked on this voyage.  To my surprise not only did I enjoy it, but I didn't feel as if I suffered throughout the film at all.  I truly enjoyed it and would give it 4 out of 5 stars.  I gave it 4 stars mainly because I just don't see it on the level of a classic like Gone With the Wind.