#24: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Starring: Gregory Peck, Fredric March, Jennifer Jones
Dir: Nunnally Johnson (1956)

Bad: Long
Good: Intense! Gregory! Mad Men!
Stars: 3.5 of 5 - 4 really for quality, but deducting .5 for length

#23: Hud

Starring: Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Brandon de Wilde
Dir: Martin Ritt (1963)

Well this movie was good. I don't know how actors I really really really want to like can make me hate them. Paul Newman was successfully GROSS in this movie, and while the sight of him did make me put my dishtowel down more than once, he was such a jerk in the end that I just couldn't like him at all. He was every horrible guy ever. And God bless Patricia Neal for resisting him!

If this came into your room... would you punch it?

(For some reason I thought he was going to die? [Spoiler alert: He doesn't.] Oh well.)
Bad: The dad/granddad character seemed kinda cardboard and was completely uninteresting until the very end when he got really mad after he shot the longhorns. That was okay.
Good: Patricia Neal! SUCH a freaking badass. Her accent was patchy but apart from that I just really loved her, her bare feet, and her smartassery... and how much of a babe she was for resisting Hud. Just... something I couldn't do. Be proud, Pat.
Also good: Brandon de Wilde! He was kind of intriguing to watch, which is more than be said for Shane. Like, the entire movie. But in Hud I really liked him. I couldn't exactly figure him out. Plus he was cute in a blonde, silent kind of way.
Still good, or, Obviously the best: Pig catching.
Just...
Paul Newman.
Chasing pigs.
Yup.

Also I loved the look of this movie. It was filmed in black and white in the sixties, which is kind of interesting. Here are some pretty pictures -

singing

(I love the way they move around in this scene)

Hi. Hi studs. Hi.

Summary: Fine! Long, depressing, but fine... soooooo.... so... *ahem.* Fine.
Stars: 3.5 of 5

The Bolero

Dir. William Fertik, 1973.
Favorite composer, favorite conductor, neat little package...

#22: The Pirate

Starring: Gene Kelly and Judy Garland
Dir: Vincente Minnelli (1948)

Um. Oh my. Um, where... where was this movi--(pardon)--WHERE WAS THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS A HORMONAL TEENAGER?? WHERE?!? MY SOUL IS CRYING. GENE KELLY IN TIGHTY PIRATE CUTOFFS. ENTIRE YEARS WASTED. AN OCEAN OF REGRET! SO MUCH TO MAKE UP FOR!! HE EATS THE FREAKING CIGARETTE!!!!!!
First, let me just say, I'd always heard that this was one of MGM's biggest musical flops. I'd heard it was a box-office wreck. And having seen a few truly horrible musicals in my time (*cough*Athena*cough*), I thought it was best to be avoided. Besides, Gene Kelly with a mustache. But DAMN ALL OF YOU WHO LIED TO ME. DAMN YOU TO HADES!!
This movie was ADORABLE. It was hilarious and fantastic and not too long and the best kind of ridiculous and soooooooo incredibly cute. Okay so the musical numbers were horrendous (apart from the dancing) and I definitely expected more from Cole Porter, but the rest of the movie more than made up for that. Gene Kelly and Judy Garland were surprisingly endearing together, and watching Serafin scream his passionate declarations as Manuela stomped flat-footedly around her boudoir yowling like a banshee was easily one of my new most favorite movie moments, to be added to the mental list along with William Holden and Nancy Olson flirting on the edge of the bathtub in Sunset Boulevard. (I seriously need to make an actual list of these.)

I would be lying though if I didn't say that, apart from the obvious moneymakers like Tighty Pirate Cutoffs Dance, the real charm of this movie was Judy and Gene. The heart of their romance wasn't beautiful ballads and fifteen-minute Technicolor ballet sequences, it was screeching and throwing furniture and double-crossing and jittery, mustached attraction (respectively). And they were actually kind of believable.

I have no idea what the actors' relationship was like off set, but every shot of this movie looked like fun. I can never watch Singin' in the Rain without imagining Debbie Reynolds' bleeding feet, so I'd rather not look into the real story behind the scenes of The Pirate (Edit: I did. Wish I hadn't. Oh well), but just on the surface this movie seemed much more relaxed. Gene carried most of the big song and dance numbers, and Judy mainly had to sing (which was her thing anyway) and be funny. It worked. For some reason, watching it all felt like being in on the huge, over-budgeted musical parody.

Bad: The songs. Especially "Nina." I mean, if it wasn't for Gene's cigarette maneuver, just, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
Good: I always love Judy Garland as a comedienne. And... Gene Kelly is a fox.

'Nuff said.

Stars: 4.5 of 5