What have you been watching?

I took a break from studying last night and watched Burgess Meredith in The Story of GI Joe. I enjoyed it but it was definitely a low budget effort with a weak supporting cast -- including Robert Mitchum who lacked the lustre of his later performances.

 

ww2,the scarlet and the black,starring gregory peck

 

The Story of G.I. Joe will grow on ya the more you see it. The first time I saw it I didn't like it. The next time I saw it-I said-hmmmm, some interesting things I missed the first time around. After that-everytime I have seen it-I notice more and more things as well as like it much more. I thought Burgess Merideth did a fine job portraying War Correspondant Ernie Pyle. I'd love to see a remake of this classic--but only if it sticks true to the story and only if the correct actors are in it. However, they could never match the realness of the original because the original was filmed in the actual bombed out towns and such that yu see in the movie. Mitchum was brand new and had little acting experiance-and was nice to see him before he became a mega-star.

 

Try giving both The Winds of War and War and Remembrance a try-the Concentration Camp scenes will make your eyes more than tear up-those scenes made mine do so.

 

She was the one and the same ;-)) I thought she did an excellent job of being the aide to Constance Powers? I think the DvD might have something in the Special Features about her Tennis Career? either that or I saw something about her on TCM when they played the movie.

Ah yesss, I like those Cadets scenes and they are playing Bonnie Blue Flag. "Hurrah hurrah, for Southern rights hurrah, hurrah for the bonnie blue flag that bears the single star." Great marching tune.

Correcto about the same jail being used in both movies. I can't pick one of those movies over the other-I love both but for different reasons. Dean Martin sure did have a great singing voice. I enjoyed his singing "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me." Ricky sang one of his signature songs--Cindy, Cindy--which actually went well in Rio Bravo though it's a modern type song. Did you know that Walter Brennan really played the Harmonica in that and many other movies. He and Gary Cooper always has a "Harmonica War" with each other on the sets of movies they made together. Both great actors were expert Harmonica players.

 

Just watched Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. Not a great movie but not horrible either.

Next up is Defiance with Daniel Craig. I've heard some good things about it.

 

No, I didn't know about the harmonica stuff. You can bet that modern day actors don't have much ability these days. They wouldn't make it in the "Golden Years" of Hollywood, and the great actors of the old days would be sick to death over what goes on now I bet. Thanks for the trivia, stuff like that is great to hear.

 

"they fought for their motherland",russian subtitled,I'm watching it now....report later....


now watched,typical russian movie,good scenes,battles and air raids worked well,rather a raw film,but worth watching,subtitles for the best part can ignore,and parts were slow,"the liberation" is the famous kursk tank battle..so that one next if I can get hold of a copy..

 

defiance! not one to recommend,having seen it,should stick to james bond,valkyrie was o.k.

 

No on Defiance? Yours is the first negative I've heard on that. What made it bad in your eyes?

 

it started well,and then just went on and on,ending was nothing special,to be fair it was a poor film interest value only,not for me..

 

R. Evans -- I really enjoyed Defiance. There are moments -- especially in combat -- when one has to willingly suspend one's disbelief but otherwise it was a fine film.

Carl -- I enjoyed The Story of GI Joe and I am sure I shall watch it again. Meredith did do a good job and I liked the set direction a lot. It was the supporting cast that just came up a bit weak.

Last night I watched Gung Ho!, starring Randolph Scott (with Noah Beery, too). It was about the 1942 Makin Island raid. The film came out in 1943 and it was very clearly (i) pulled together quickly, and (ii) intended to be a morale boost for the home front. Randolph Scott was rather stiff in his performance, but I always find him a bit rigid. The story was good and I found the film very interesting from the perspective that it was trying to educate the US population about GI training.

Not a great film, but a film that is interesting and more than capable of keeping my attention!

 

AMEN to all that you said ;-) Also, and sadly, Greats like Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Ronald Reagan, Bogart, Flynn and too many others to list-wouldn't make it in todays version of hollywierd-and to todays younger viewers--unless they happened to be raised on classic movies and music-such as I have been.

My Sister-the oldest of us off-spring-hates anything and everything in Black & White and refuses to watch anything not in color-even though she was raised watching the same stuff I was. My oldest Brother-hes the opposite and loves the classics as much as modern stuff. My now deceased "middle" Brother liked both old and new. My next Brother says he hates anything over a few years old-but I see him still watching old John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies almost everytime one is shown-which thankfully, is often. Me-I prefer the older stuff especially over most new garbage churned out by the greedy sickos who now run hollywierd.

Of the few more modern movies I love-are movies like: Behind Enemy Lines, Black Hawk Down, The Bourne Identity, and so few others.

 

Hi David, I admit that The Story of G.I.Joe is no Battlefield, but it did take me awhile to warm up to it. I guess that it helped having Robert Mitchum in it too ;-))

As for Gung Ho, I always liked that film too and it also took me awhile to warm up to seeing Randolph Scott in it as I was only used to seeing him in Westerns which at that time, I didn't like him-that is untill I saw him in To the Shores of Tripoli w/ Maureen O'Hara and John Payne. Thanks to that film, I started to become a Scott fan ;-)) Back to Gung Ho--though. I wanted to see it badly because of a young Robert Mitchum being in it. Its a darn shme that this film has not been restored by any reputable company that sells the DvD. I wish TCM would step in and restore and then release their copy of the film-so I can buy a copy to enjoy.

Im glad that a few years ago, someone finally did step in and restored their copy of Guadalcanal Diary-which had a young Anthony Quinn in it. Quinn is also another all-time favorite of mine. Too many great movies have gone Public Domaine-and crap companies (like Alpha Video) released unrestored versions on DvDs. One movie that was released but never restored-and SHOULD have been restored-is the classic Richard Basehart, Jack Webb classic: He Walked by Night. This movie inspired Webb to create his famed Detective Series-Dragnet. Richard Basehart should have won an Oscar for his portrayal as a Cop Killer/Thief. TCM had restored their copy of this great 1947 released film-but as far as I know-never released their copy on DvD.

My absolute favorite scene in that movie was when the Basehart character broke into the Whit Bissell characters home in order to terrorize him and get more money from him--all the while-knowing the house was watched by several Policemen as he broke into the home. He gets some money from Bissell-slaps him four times and then pushes him to the floor and then gives him a kick. Great Film Noir. The ending Sewer chase scenes are classic.

 

doc on rommel,late night viewing,but like most docs now on sky,its become too repetitious too often.. not enough new stuff...

 

I just got finished watching "Days of Glory"

AVOID THIS MOVIE AT ALL COSTS.

It's a French WW2 movie, subtitles in English. I won't spoil it, but it contains terrible mistakes and goofs. Just avoid it, and do yourself a favor.

 

Movie night at the Evans' must have been a sight to see in itself!

 

What are you studying now? I thought that you passed the bar already and are now a lawyer type....

 

movie night at the evans's...where the choice of yer channel was based on who was packing the biggest piece...popcorn anyone...

 

Hi A/Urgh, heh heh, if you ever are in the area-i'd challenge you two to try to pick just one over-all favorite from my collection-which takes up more than all of the shelf spaces in my walk-in closit ;-))

Indeed-Popcorn could be served (the only brand I get is Orville Reddenbachers SP?)--or we could eat some great local Pizza from a joint located about a miles from the house-called: Mama Mias.