women always surprise when they take off their shoes

Spoiler alert for the last review. If you want to see it, don't read it!

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) - "After a long career as a lawman that made him a legend, Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) decides to quit and join his brothers in Tombstone, Arizona. There, he would see them in a feud with the Clantons, a local clan of thugs and cattle thieves. When the showdown becomes inevitable, the help will come from Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas), a terminally-ill gambler who happens to be another Wild West legend."
source: streamed on Amazon Prime
I watched it because: I've seen several other versions of the story, and wanted to know where this one stacks up.
IMDB: 7.1/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 85% Audience: 69%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "'I'm a gambler. Money's just a tool of my trade.'

    'Of course, you will guarantee you won't lose.'

    'I never lose. You see, poker's played by desperate men who cherish money. I don't lose because I have nothing to lose, including my life.'"

MPAA rating: [TV-PG]

directed by: John Sturges

my notes: feh. Tombstone is the best (reviewed here and here), followed by the Kevin Costner version (here). This seemed excessively long, chock full o' dialog, and drawn out in a way that weakened the excitement. The notoriously quick and deadly gunfight itself seemed to take a third of the movie. Burt Lancaster is better in war movies, I think. Kirk Douglas is not a fave.

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Sound, Recording—George Dutton
• Best Film Editing—Warren Low

overall: only minimally recommended

The Blue Gardenia (1953) - "A telephone operator ends up drunk and at the mercy of a cad in his apartment. The next morning she wakes up with a hangover and the terrible fear she may be a murderess."

source: streamed on Amazon Prime
I watched it because: I have a nerd crush on Perry Mason-era Raymond Burr
IMDB: 6.9/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 85% Audience: 61%
my IMDB: 9/10

notable quote: "These aren't really drinks. They're trade-winds across cool lagoons. They're the Southern Cross above coral reefs. They're a lovely maiden bathing at the foot of a waterfall."

MPAA rating: [TV-PG]

directed by: Fritz Lang

my notes: I dug this one! Burr (Harry Prebble) plays a skeezy womanizer with delightful enthusiasm. Anne Baxter (Norah Larkin) is believable and sympathetic in the title role. And the hero, Casey Mayo, is authentic and nuanced as played by Richard Conte. Plus, there's a performance by Nat King Cole!

overall: enthusiastically recommended

Torn Curtain (1966) - "U.S. rocket scientist Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) and his assistant and fiancée Sarah Sherman (Dame Julie Andrews) are attending a convention in Copenhagen, Denmark. Michael is acting very suspiciously and Sarah follows him to East Germany when he apparently tries to defect to the other side."
source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: I'd never heard of it, and given the big three participants, that made me think there must be another story going on besides the one in the script
IMDB: 6.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 65% Audience: 53%
my IMDB: 4/10

notable quote: "'Oh, will you stop brooding?'

    'I like to brood.'"

MPAA rating: PG

directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

my notes: this is kind of a shitshow. Newman is completely wasted as the hero, which requires (and allows) none of his earthy charisma, just hyper-intellectual, moody (broody) Decision Making. Andrews is surprisingly awful in the role of (simultaneous) affectionate girlfriend/sexy vamp/scientist/skeptic/adventuress. There is some great use of creative camera-work, lighting, and the element of surprise, but the story itself isn't...Hitchcockian. That alone makes it disappointing.

overall: slightly recommended, only for completists

The Pilot's Wife (2002) - "Kathryn is distraught at the news of her husband's death delivered by a stranger from the airline for whom he was a pilot. She starts however to uncover information which leads to her arrival in London for further investigation...and further devastation."
source: streamed on Amazon Prime
I watched it because: the TV movie was based on a novel by Anita Shreve, a writer that I love to be annoyed by. She writes well, books that are easy to read and compelling, but the stories are inevitably missing something that they really need and also filled with something that chokes the life out of them.
IMDB: 5.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: N/A% Audience: 44%
my IMDB: 4/10

notable quote: "Let me ask you something: in a man's mind, who's more important—the woman he protects from the truth, or the woman he tells everything?"

MPAA rating: PG-13

directed by: Robert Markowitz

my notes: I liked the story, but.... Christine Lahti is not the best actress in the world, and this role requires a lot of crying and/or yelling, which hardly represents one well. Campbell Scott is good as the "stranger from the airline," and is essentially more interesting and watchable. However, the two have almost no chemistry and are hard to fathom together. Finally, the storyline is contrived in the extreme. SPOILER: the affair might have been enough, or the fact that the pilot had another family, or the completely insane idea that he maintained his "home life" in the U.S. while active in a terrorist organization. Together, it's too much to buy.

overall: barely recommended

[the title quotation is from The Blue Gardenia]