Movies

"Allow me, if I may, to take you on a strange journey." - Criminologist, Rocky horror Picture Show

To talk about my taste in movies is to say the good the bad and the Limburger. I love a good bad movie such as 'Cannibal Women in the Avacado Jungle of Death', 'Kentucky Fried Movie', 'Airplane', and the likes. Then of course there are the Bert Eye Gordon films (pain parade as MST3K calls it), and Corman movies.
It is wise to recall that movies can tell us much about life at the time it was filmed. Take for instance 'It's A Wonderful Life'. Listen carefully to the words they use, and then ponder for yourself how the language would be changed for the times, and how it could be updated. Then take for instance almost any of the films in the very same genre today, and you'll see what i mean about a vast difference.
Comedy back in 'the day' was different too. Now i could go on about Abbott and Costello, the Stooges, and countless others but let's go with the so called rubber faced comedians. I am of course talking about the famous Danny Kaye.
Frankly I'm certain many of you have never heard of the man, but you know of his most famous scene I'm sure. Spoofed time and again in different movies the famous lines from the movies 'The Court Jester':

#1- I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right? #2- Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace! #1- They broke the chalice from the palace? #2- And replaced it with a flagon. #1- A flagon...? #2- With the figure of a dragon. #1- Flagon with a dragon. #2- Right. #1- But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle? #2-No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true! #1- The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true. #2- Just remember that.

Jim Carey does try very hard, and i admit does a good job being a rubber face, but in comparison with Kaye's works I feel that Carey tends to fall flat. Carey mainly plays for a vulgar laugh in his 'Ace Ventura' films, and thankfully has grown into a more serious actor that does a bit of slapstick.

Hollywood had high standards for tehir actors and actresses back in the day. They had to have a face, and a style that the people could fall in love with, or relate to in the realism of the characters. Today it seems that a name is supposed to carry the movie, one such flop 'Ghostrider'. Nicholas Cage may be a raving Ghostrider fan, but he did not play the character well. The character Blackheart was played better, and of course Caretaker was played to the hilt.
When I go to the movies these day I seriously wonder what I'm getting myself into. The actors today can take as many takes on a scene as they want because film is much cheaper today, adn they can digitally fix things. Back then it was quite precious and they tried very very hard to get it in only a couple of takes.
I was twelve when I began watching channels like AMC and TCM. Black and white or color never mattered but watching these people act with their whole body, face, and hands. They got into the characters and made you believe, one such is 'Dr. Zhivago'. I wish Hollywood would go back to the days of Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price, Betty Grable, Betty Davis, and Frank Sinatra.
Perhaps I am just a little too old school, and don't get me wrong I love some of the new movies, but they are few and far between. This of course is not even touching the animated movies.

So a challenge: next time you are in the movie rental store or checking out what is there on Netflix, try a Danny Kaye movie, or another 'old timer'. I think some of you might be plesantly surprised at the talent and the movies you find you love. best of all, most of them you can watch without fear of what your little kids may fear.

I did this challenge with my neice and introduced her via 'The Inspector General' to Danny Kaye. She loved it and was stunned when her mother (my sister who can't stand wide screen movies) that she had no idea who he was, or anything about the movie. From what i hear she is starting to sample more of the older films to find what she likes, but the comedy definately tickles her funny bone.