Today is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and here I am reading the reviews of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and listening to the CD of the Broadway musical, which I saw 14 years ago tonight in NYC. "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" is a movie that I've loved ever since my Mom dragged the whole family to see in 1964 when it came out. My reaction after reading a lot of these reviews is that most of the naysayers should lighten up. It is a musical COMEDY film made right at the end of the studio era in Hollywood. In comedy performers are quite broad. This wasn't a film that was supposed to be sophisticated...remember that one of the biggest TV hits of the time was "The Beverly Hillbillies." In my opinion Debbie Reynolds should have taken home the Oscar for Best Actress as she nails the part in all 3 aspects--singing, dancing, and acting. If you disagree with me about the acting, just re-watch the scene in Europe when she encounters Gladys MacGraw in the fancy restaurant while she's missing Johnny. Julie was wonderful too, but her character of Mary Poppins was rather a one-note one. She won simply because she was denied the role of Eliza Dolittle by Jack Warner, and she was much, much better that year in "The Americanization of Emily" and in 1965 in "The Sound of Music." "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" is one of the last of the old-style Hollywood musicals and rates as the 7th best film of 1964 on my 10 Best List for that year. (Yes, "My Fair Lady," "Dr. Strangelove," and "Mary Poppins" are 1, 2, and 3) And in 1989 I got to see Debbie and Harve repeat their roles from this film LIVE on stage and they were just as wonderful!
Reviews
7 Reviews
The Birdcage
(1996)
What a Hoot!
10 April 2012
I saw the original French film in 1979 - it was good, but not all that memorable. I saw the Broadway musical in 1983 - liked "I Am What I Am" and that was about all. But this version is just wonderful, probably because Mike Nichols and Elaine May who've known each other since forever worked on the script and Nichols can direct anything, especially with the cast he has here. They're all great, but Nathan Lane and Hank Azaria steal the show, and I don't think I've ever seen Gene Hackman as funny...I didn't know he could do comedy. What a collection of award-winners we have here, and thoroughly deserving of their SAG award for ensemble work.
Three Penny Opera
(1963)
Great Poster Artwork - Extremely Poor Film
12 January 2007
This film was picked up for distribution in the United States by Joseph E. Levine through his Embassy Pictures, and it premiered in a number of cities including Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, Milwaukee, and Oklahoma City on October 14, 1964. The advertising campaign was conceived to make the film look like one of the big "roadshow" musicals of the era--indeed, the artwork used in the posters, newspaper ads, and the eventual RCA LP album is probably the best thing about the film. Business was terrible, in part because the film was dubbed and the synchronization between the sound and visuals was off, as well as the "washed out" look of the color. Some of the theaters pulled it after several days of poor business, in others it lasted only for a week, and it only got a few sporadic openings thereafter. I do not believe that it ever made it to a theater in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, or Washington, DC.
Angels in America
(2003– )
A MAGNIFICENT WORK OF ART - BEST FILM IN YEARS
15 December 2003
This is without a doubt the finest thing committed to celluloid in years. I can't understand why HBO Films, knowing what they had, didn't set a precedent by booking the film (even though it was 6 hours in length) for two showings a day for a week in a Los Angeles theater BEFORE it ran on TV in order to make it eligible for this year's Oscars. It would certainly have taken Best Picture, Director, Actor (Pacino), Actress (Streep), Supporting Actor (Kirk or Wright), Supporting Actress (Parker), and Adapted Screenplay, among others. Oh well, I usually don't watch the Emmys, but will have to next September. And the Golden Globe and SAG awards DO honor TV, so I'm sure "Angels" will win many statuettes at both of those ceremonies.
What makes the film so moving and so important is that it chronicles a real time in our country's recent past, a time that could almost be considered the beginning of the current war over America's values, spiritual and cultural, that persists today. Although it uses the AIDS epidemic as its main theme, there is so much, much more here, and anyone who fails to look beyond that is missing the entire point that Tony Kushner is trying to make. America is ALL of us: straight, gay, male, female, black, white, protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish...whatever one chooses to be, and ALL of us deserve to be loved and respected for that choice. Real people, I among them, lived through that time and experienced the sadness and sorrow of having one's friends die while the bigoted Reagan Administration was busy "just saying no." It was not pleasant, but Nichols' brilliant film twenty years later now provides a sort of capstone to a horrible era. It is dramatically rich, funny, and wonderful--the perfect catharsis for those of us who survived and remember. (For Eugene Joseph Wichert)
What makes the film so moving and so important is that it chronicles a real time in our country's recent past, a time that could almost be considered the beginning of the current war over America's values, spiritual and cultural, that persists today. Although it uses the AIDS epidemic as its main theme, there is so much, much more here, and anyone who fails to look beyond that is missing the entire point that Tony Kushner is trying to make. America is ALL of us: straight, gay, male, female, black, white, protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish...whatever one chooses to be, and ALL of us deserve to be loved and respected for that choice. Real people, I among them, lived through that time and experienced the sadness and sorrow of having one's friends die while the bigoted Reagan Administration was busy "just saying no." It was not pleasant, but Nichols' brilliant film twenty years later now provides a sort of capstone to a horrible era. It is dramatically rich, funny, and wonderful--the perfect catharsis for those of us who survived and remember. (For Eugene Joseph Wichert)
Mother
(II) (1996)
Debbie Reynolds Should Have Won an Oscar
26 March 2003
My mother was always a fan of Debbie Reynolds, so I took her to the theater to see this film when it came out. I must agree with everyone else who states that Debbie Reynolds should have been recognized by the Academy for this film. She nailed the part so perfectly, that sitting there, watching her on the screen with my own mom in the seat next to me, all I could think of was "My God, they're twins!"
This summer's fun movie!
11 June 1999
Having waited at least a year for this film, I can truly say that if you liked the first Austin Powers movie, you'll love this one, and if you didn't...then you have no sense of humor--just like a turnip! This sequel is more fun than the first one. My one complaint: Not enough screen time for Mr. Bigglesworth!
A very perverted experience!
25 May 1999
I once had a roommate in New York City who said this was the greatest film he had ever seen. So, the next time it was shown at the Cinema Village revival house on E. 12th Street, I went to see it. Watching it made me feel like a true pervert, and I ran when I got out of the theater so that as few people as possible would see me exiting. Sorry, but this is one of the stupidest and sickest movies ever made.
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