Citizen Kane (1941)

#1 on Original, #1 on Anniversary

This is how IMDB describes the plot of Citizen Kane: “Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance.”  I'm not sure how else you could describe this film. That description tells you the whole story, and nothing at all, all at once.
Citizen Kane is number one on the Original list and the Anniversary list.  Some people understand why. Some don't. Citizen Kane does not appear on any of the other lists that make up The List. Because, to me, it defies categorization. There is mystery, comedy (or humorous moments), drama, romance (or lack there of);  its dark and light.  To sum it up: this film represents a human life.  

Never mind the fact that it is technically stunning and had so many film techniques that had never been used before.  Note the angles that Orson Welles used.  Characters that were supposed to be high, and mighty were shot from below.  Characters that were weak, or didn’t mean anything were shot from above, being looked down upon.  Welles loved his angles.  {When I write about the Third Man, you’ll hear more about this.}
Citizen Kane is Charles Foster Kane (Welles), who was taken from his home as a young boy in order to give him a better life.    We start the film with Kane’s death, saying one word, which is a mystery though out the whole film, "Rosebud".  We then are told the Cliffnotes version of Kane’s life through a newsreel.  Each section of the newsreel has the quality of a newsreel from the time it was suppose to represent.  Personally, I think this adds to the experience of the film, and was just an extra special touch of the film makers. 

 Kane was able to run his newspaper empire, and become a larger than life public figure. He flirted with the world of politics. Kane was a man who flaunted his money. He was a man who took on the world. Kane was a man who had ambition. He was a man who made mistakes. He was a genius, and he was foolish. He was everyman and he wasn't any man. He tried to have it all, and he still couldn't get what he wanted. 

Possibly the most famous image from this film

But was he ever happy? He had all these material things. He had everything he could have ever possibly buy.  But could he find and buy and OWN happiness?? 

The great thing about Citizen Kane is that its part mystery, part biography, part adventure. Really, it is what happens when you look in-depth into anyone's life.  You can't ask people who are gone what happened in their life. You can't always find out who or what everyone's Rosebud is or was. As someone who is up to my elbows in genealogy and questions I will never get answers to, I understand the reporters desire to find out about Rosebud.  That unanswerable question that could be nothing, or could be the key that opens a thousand doors.

This film  also makes me think about the importance we place on last words.  But that is an entry for another day.

Favorite Quotes (I couldn’t pick only one this time):

Rawlson : It isn't enough to tell us what a man did. You've got to tell us who he was.
~~
Mr. Bearnstein: Rosebud . . . maybe that was something he lost.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

#10 on Original, #5 on Anniversary, #16 on Laughs, #1 on Musicals, #16 on Passions

Recently thanks to TCM and Fathom Events, I was able to see this film on the big screen.  There is something so amazing about seeing a movie you love, in a theater full of people who also love that film.  I always forget how funny this film is. I’ve seen it so many times, that I know all the punch lines…and the dialogue….and some of the movements the actors make. Whatever. Don’t judge me.

 But being in the movie theater setting, I really paid attention to the dialogue, and little things, like props and the looks on some of the actors faces. It was like direct injecting the funny back into watching it. I hope never to lose it again, because the film is so enjoyable.

Plot recap if you don’t know:  Set in the late 1920s, a new menace is coming to Hollywood: talking pictures.  Will the silent film stars Lockwood and Lamont be able to make the transition successfully? 

The casting in this film is right on. Gene Kelly has a great balance of arrogance at the start of the film, and he can play humble by the end just as well; Jean Hagan is great as the dumb blond starlet; Donald O'Connor pulls off funnyman sidekick, without venturing off into goofy unbelievability. And Debbie Reynolds has a perfect amount of wide eyed innocence, while still being clever when she needs to be.

I think the only bad thing about this film is the editing. There are some really obvious cuts where the scene does not line up, or it repeats from a close up.  And in the middle of a gorgeous dance number, that annoys me every time.  Other than that? It is just an all around great film. 

I think this musical made so many lists, but particularly #1 on the Musicals list, because it is so accessible throughout the entire thing (and awesome).   “An American in Paris” (which is #9 on the musicals list, and often I hear from people could be #1) is fantastic, but the ballet at the end, I find, can turn people off.  But Singin in the Rain is so much easier for anyone to enjoy and understand, even if you don’t usually like musicals and dance.  There are places where you feel more like you are watching a comedy, or a romance, not a musical. And then the musical numbers come, and Bam! You can’t help but be in awe of strength and grace of Gene Kelly, or the commanding presence when Cyd Charisse comes on the screen for one dance number.  Or the ball of energy that is Donald O’Connor. How could a viewer not smile and enjoy it? 

(I  could do a whole post on just the musical numbers alone. I think I will. So, enjoy the overview post!)

Favorite Quote

Lina Lamont: What do they think I am? Dumb or something? Why, I make more money than - than - than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!

[Also, I had a really hard time picking a favorite quote for this one, there are too many great lines!]

Gone with the Wind (1939)

#4 on Original, #6 on Anniversary, #43 on Cheers, #4 on 10 Top 10: Epics, #2 on Passions

Any of the movies in the “10 Top 10: Epic” category are going to be a commitment.  You are committing time, and emotions to watch one movie, one story, for hours. In the case of Gone with the Wind, it is a 4 hour long commitment. Sometimes the movies marked as Epics feel like they take days to experience.  Luckily, with GWTW the time flies. 

But watching Gone with the Wind always makes me so conflicted. I can view it so many ways.  I can get lost in the romance of it all (big sweeping house, Clark Gable taking Vivien Leigh into his arms, etc). Or I can get turned off by the way certain groups of people are portrayed, and what a brat Scarlett O'Hara can be.  And sometimes she is being a brat because she is doing what has to be done to save her families property, and sometimes she is just being a brat because she can. 

Clark Gable gets one of the prettiest entrance shots in any movie, ever.  Standing at the bottom of the grand staircase, camera zooming in to his handsome face. Just a classic movie moment. Hattie McDaniel ties the story together for me, with her portrayal of Mammy. Mammy is an almost constant presence in the film, except when Scarlett goes to Atlanta. Olivia de Havilland as Melanie was great at playing sweet, with out venturing into saccharine. The character of Melanie really was considered to be almost a saint by everyone, so it would have been easy to go overboard, and almost mock the character, but de Havilland was able to walk that line with out going over. 

It is interesting to see history interwoven into Scarlett's story. Make no mistake, this is not a film about the Civil War. It is a film about Scarlett O’Hara; the war just happened to coincide with her life. 

Overall, GWTW really is a story of survival. Life will always have ups and downs and hardships. But no matter what happens, you have to get up and keep on living, one day at a time. Or as Scarlett says "After all, tomorrow is another day."

Favorite Quote:

Scarlett: Sir, you are no gentleman.
Rhett Butler: And you, Miss, are no lady.  Don't think I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any appeal for me.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

#60 on Original, #66 on Anniversary, and #10 on Thrills

I’m having a Harrison Ford movie week.  It started when I made the discovery about myself that if I find “Air Force One” on the TV, I can not turn it off.  Apparently for me, it is just one of those movies.   I continued with the original Star Wars trilogy, and then ventured off to a newer Ford film, “Morning Glory”.  From there, I’ve gotten to the film that this entry is about, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. 

I forgot how creepy parts of this film can be, when snakes are coming out of corpses in particular.   Also, a revelation from writing this blog, I guess I have kind of always thought of this as a semi-creepy film.  I think this is a hazard of first seeing the film when I was VERY little, and then not seeing it again until I was much older.  What can I say, first impressions die hard. 

And this was a great film to give a viewer a first impression of Indiana Jones: daring, intelligent, and adventurous.  I find it funny how almost timid he comes across when he is teaching a class, and how much of a badass he is when he is looking for an archeological treasure.   Sometimes environment really does affect your personality.   One of the things I like about Jones, and a lot of the characters Harrison Ford seems to play, they are flawed heroes.  Indiana does gets shot and screws up sometimes.  Han Solo does have issues with his ship and ends up trapped by Jabba the Hut.  These characters are not perfect, and that is what makes them the every-person kind of hero.

The score for this film is awesome, as it usually is with pretty much anything John Williams works on.  Just hearing the classic music piece, “Raiders March” or as we all probably call it, Indiana Jones’ Theme, invokes thoughts of daring and adventure.  

The character of Marion Ravenwood is something of a conundrum for me.  Sometimes she is totally self sufficient and fighting and protecting herself, and other times, she is screaming her head off as a damsel in distress.  I guess if you put it in the context of when the story is set, 1936, then it kind of makes sense.  But I want her to be so much cooler than she actually comes across.  Also, she had to run around for a good chunk of this film with no shoes on. What is up with that?

I’ve always said that the easiest way to get a villain into your film without having to give any explanation for why they are evil is to have the bad guys be Nazis. The writers actually noticed this very late into filming, and there ends up being only one reference to the Jewish people and the Nazi’s hatred for them in the whole film, and it doesn’t come until the film is near the end.

Favorite Quote

Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indiana: It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.

To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

#34 on Original,   #25 on Anniversary,   #2 on Cheers,   #1 on 10 Top 10: Courtroom Drama

  

What can I possibly say about such a classic film.  The story is heartbreaking and inspiring; the acting superb.  It reminds me of a time in this country when people allowed hatred to cloud their judgment.  (I’m sure this is still going on someplace, but I can hope it isn’t, can’t I?) It represents the people in this country that are willing to stand up for what is right, even when it seems that most of the world is against them. 

I have never read the book.  Most people read it in high school, but due to switching from regular to honors English classes, I somehow missed this and haven’t gotten around to reading it. So I don’t have the source material to compare the story to.  But this brilliant work portrays the story to me with such a kind of quiet forcefulness, I don’t think I would have needed to read the book to understand fully what was going on, like some other book to screen adaptations.  

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch is so amazingly good and believable.  I don’t know if any other actor could have played this part as genuinely as Peck did.   Atticus Finch makes me want to be a better person, and I think for a film to have that kind of an effect on a viewer speaks volumes all on its own.   Atticus’ strength lies in his inaction, in his ability to resist impulsive actions, and being the bigger person in situations with narrow minded people.   I think Peck as Finch could say almost anything and it would sound wise.  I’m not sure if this is because of Peck’s low pitched voice, or his way of speaking, but then again, I’m not sure if this matters.  I think it just matters that Peck was perfect in this part. 

There were other aspects to the film that helped to make it well rounded.  The interactions between Scout and Jem; the townspeople coming to the jail the night before the trial, and Scout not understanding really what was happening, but diffusing the tension with an innocence that it seems only a child can possess.  Being scared of their neighbor, Boo Radley, only to find out he wasn’t going to harm them. 

I was surprised to see that Boo Radley was Robert Duvall.  But I do think he was very good at portraying Boo’s “quiet way”.  Over all the casting on this film was pretty near to perfect.  Collin Wilcox as Mayella during her courtroom scenes was able to show exactly what her life was like simply in her eyes, even when her words were saying otherwise.  Brock Peters as Tom Robinson simply blew me away.  Peters portrayed the fear that Robinson must have felt, while still trying to maintain his innocence, perfectly.  You could see that he was not only scared, but he was angry that this was happening to him.  For an actor to be able to show that many layers of emotion takes great skill, and both Peters and Wilcox performed brilliantly. 

One of the other AFI lists that I do not include in The List, is AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains.  The number 1 hero is Atticus Finch.  With the 50^th anniversary of the movie being this year, AFI has uploaded the segment from that special to their YouTube page featuring Atticus Finch.  I suggest watching it, because this nicely sums up why I think in his own way, Finch is the bravest of all the film heroes.  And he shows this bravery without blowing things up, and without a lot of special effects and camera tricks. 

Every time I see Atticus Finch leaving that courtroom, with everyone in the balcony standing up to show their respect for him, my chest gets tight, and I feel the same pride that they must feel watching him help someone who deserves it. 

Favorite Quote

Rev. Sykes: Miss Jean Louise. Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing.