I don't think I'd marry someone who's more than thirty years my junior.
The jury is probably still out as to how creepy this is.
I'm confining my remarks to our mutual taste in movies.
Particularly those of Billy Wilder's.
There is an interview of Woody Allen on his Facebook page.
He talks extensively about the disparity between how well a movie does at the box office, and
how good it is.
With Billy Wilder, he singles out two films:
A 1951 movie called "Ace In The Hole".
It is spectacularly dramatic, containing maybe Kirk Douglas's greatest performance.
It must be seen.
Woody Allen essentially said "You can't do better than this".
And he's right. You can't.
It is one of the great movies. Perhaps Wilder's best.
And it completely tanked at the box office.
It tanked so badly that they attempted to re-release it under a different title: "The Big Carnival".
How often did that happen? It didn't help.
It also did not garnish good reviews. It was considered too sardonic, too mean-spirited.
I guess for 1951, maybe it was.
I first saw it in the early 60's. It wasn't too mean-spirited for me. It was just awesome.
Woody also singles out "Some Like It Hot", which did great at the box office.
A lot of people consider it the greatest comedy ever made.
It is very well-crafted. Particularly the work of Ms. Monroe.
She is capable of breaking your heart in it.
Only one problem: It's not funny.
It never makes me laugh.
A lot of movies do make me laugh.
The greatest comedy ever made has to at least make me laugh at least once.
Hell, at least five times.
But this one, not once.
And Woody Allen agrees.
I've never expressed this out loud before, but Woody Allen has given me license to.
This is much akin to saying the emperor is naked, but at least now I feel free to say it.
More about Billy Wilder next time.
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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.,
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
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Posts
It looks as if you and Mr. Allen and I are on the same page.
ReplyDeleteI was in the newspaper business for 30 years, and when I see a movie about newspapers I can usually find problems with it, though as I writer I understand about poetic license.
But "Ace in the Hole" is a movie that nails it. Granted, a lot of the newspaper stuff is dated now, and I wasn't even born when it was made, but I got into the business early enough to have worked with teletype machines and how the business and mindsets still were at the time. (Aside from that, the "kneeling bags my nylons" line is deservedly famous.) You didn't ask, but my favorite realistic newspaper movie is "Deadline USA," with Bogart. "The Paper," directed by Ron Howard, isn't bad either, and the "Lou Grant" show provided a good snapshot of what the business was like at the time, though now, sadly, it seems like a period piece (though a well-done show).
I'm afraid I can't warm up to "Some Like It Hot" either, though I'm glad it provided at least something of a showcase for Joe E. Brown.
Speaking of whom....
Earlier this week at the bookstore I was examining a $27 book on the making of "The Pride of the Yankees." It's almost axiomatic that the more expensive the book is, the more embarrassing will be the howler or howlers you find.
In this case, the author is talking about baseball movies of the 1930s and mentions some films that featured "Joe E. Lewis."
Oh well. As somebody once said, "Nobody's perfect."
Totally agree about "Some Like it Hot." I always thought it was very overrated. To me Billy Wilder's best work is "The Apartment." A superb mix of comedy and drama, which is tough to pull off. And terrific performances all around.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. "The Apartment" is a much better movie than "Some LIke It Hot". My only reservation is Lemmon. I was never a fan. Particularly in the Wilder movies he did.
ReplyDeleteI always see the acting with Lemmon. I liked him in "Mister Roberts" which was all about overplaying. In "The Fortune Cookie" he phoned it in, enabling Matthau to walk away with it, all the way to an Oscar.