children can be nasty, don't you think?

Old movies give me joy.

Gone with the Wind (1939) - "A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods."
source: DVD
I watched it because: it's an example of what I love about Hollywood movies (previously reviewed here)
IMDB: 8.2/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 90% Audience: 92%
my IMDB: 9/10

AFI: 100 Years…100 Movies (original list 1998) #4

    100 Years…100 Passions (2002) #2

    100 Years…100 Cheers (2006) #43

    100 Years…100 Movies - 10th anniversary edition (2007) #6

    10 Top 10 (2008) Epic #4

notable quote: "Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly."

MPAA rating: passed (PG)

directed by: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood

my notes: long, charming, impressive. And Clark Gable is hot.

Academy Award winner:
• Best Actress—Vivien Leigh

• Best Supporting Actress—Hattie McDaniel (first nomination and first win for an African American actor)

• Best Director—Victor Fleming

• Best Writing, Screenplay—Sidney Howard (first posthumous nomination and win)

• Best Cinematography, Color—Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan

• Best Art Direction—Lyle R. Wheeler

• Best Film Editing—Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom

• Best Picture

• Honorary award for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood—William Cameron Menzies

• Technical Achievement Award for pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment—R.D. Musgrave
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actor—Gable

• Best Supporting Actress—Olivia de Havilland

• Best Sound, Recording—Thomas T. Moulton

• Best Effects, Special Effects—Jack Cosgrove (photographic), Fred Albin (sound), Arthur Johns (sound)

• Best Music, Original Score—Max Steiner
overall:  recommended

The Lost Weekend (1945) - "The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout."

source: DVD
I watched it because: it won the Best Picture Oscar, but I had never heard of it!
IMDB: 7.9/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 97% Audience: 90%
my IMDB: 8/10

notable quote: "She knows she's clutching at a razor blade, but she won't let go."

MPAA rating: passed (TV-PG)

directed by: Billy Wilder

my notes: awesome film. Heartbreaking, cringe-inducing, funny, devastating. Ray Milland is terrific as Don Birnam. A real eye-opener.

Academy Award winner:
• Best Picture

• Best Actor—Ray Milland

• Best Director—Wilder

• Best Writing, Screenplay—Charles Brackett, Wilder
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Cinematography, Black and White—John F. Seitz

• Best Film Editing—Doane Harrison

• Best Music, Score—Miklós Rózsa
overall:  recommended

The Bad Seed (1956) - "Christine Penmark seems to have it all: a lovely home, a loving husband and the most 'perfect' daughter in the world. But since childhood, Christine has suffered from the most terrible recurring nightmare. And her 'perfect' daughter's accomplishments include lying, theft and possibly much, much worse. Only Christine knows the truth about her daughter and only Christine's father knows the truth about her nightmare."
source: DVD
I watched it because: recommended by Joe the Barber
IMDB: 7.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 63% Audience: 82%
my IMDB: 7/10

notable quote: "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't feel any way at all."

MPAA rating: approved (TV-PG)

directed by: Mervyn LeRoy

my notes: oh my lord, what a film! Patty McCormack, as the creepy little Rhoda, is perfectly terrifying. This is the sort of movie that could absolutely cause nightmares.

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actress—Nancy Kelly

• Best Supporting Actress—Eileen Heckart

• Best Supporting Actress—McCormack

• Best Cinematography, Black and White—Harold Rosson
overall:  recommended with strong reservations

42nd Street (1933) - "When the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show."

source: DVD
I watched it because: it's on an AFI list that I haven't exactly plowed through
IMDB: 7.3/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 96% Audience: 74%
my IMDB: 6/10

AFI: 25 Greatest Movie Musicals (2006) #13

notable quote: "'It seems that little Loraine has hit the bottle again....'

    'Yeah, the peroxide bottle.'"

MPAA rating: passed

directed by: Lloyd Bacon

my notes: Busby Berkeley created and staged the dances and ensembles, and this film is a classic example of his work. The story, while brief and not at all deep, is engaging enough. Bebe Daniels, as leading lady Dorothy Brock, is the best of the bunch. Fans of early musicals will love it.

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Picture

• Best Sound, Recording—Nathan Levinson

overall:  recommended

 

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004) - "A small-town girl wins a date with a male celebrity through a contest. When the date goes better than expected, a love triangle forms between the girl, the male celebrity, and the girl's best friend."

source: DVD (also reviewed here)
I watched it because: I'm listing it and wanted to see it one last time before doing so
IMDB: 5.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 55% Audience: 47%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "'I could never break Rosalee's heart, okay?'

    'Good. Because if you do, I swear to God I will tear you to pieces with my bare hands. Or vicious rhetoric.'

    'You're a good guy, Pete.'

    'Well, yes. Apparently not good enough.'"

MPAA rating: PG-13

directed by: Robert Luketic

my notes: a silly, simple story that's easily watchable but not too memorable.
overall:  recommended

The Green Berets (1968) - "Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General."
source: DVD
I watched it because: I will watch pretty much anything with John Wayne
IMDB: 5.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 23% Audience: 61%
my IMDB: 5/10

notable quote: "'It's strange that we've never read of this in the newspapers.'

    'Well... that's newspapers for you, ma'am. You could fill volumes with what you don't read in them.'"

MPAA rating: G

directed by: Ray Kellogg, John Wayne, Mervyn LeRoy

my notes: jingoistic to the point of obtuseness, it was hard to watch without wrinkling my nose. Considering my devotion to history (especially military), and war movies in particular, that's saying a lot.

overall: not strongly recommended

 

[the title quotation is from The Bad Seed]