Oldies at The Grammys

I watched the Grammys last Sunday night for three reasons: Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and Neil Diamond. (Yes, I like Neil Diamond. I've come to terms with it and you can too.)

I was pleased that they chose to bring back some of the oldies for those of us who have no idea what these new songs are. I kissed a girl and I liked it?! No, give me Neil Diamond. I was a little concerned that they stuck poor Stevie Wonder with those Jonas Brother kids, but I think it turned out to be one of the best performances of the night. Stevie can make anything amazing.

Paul's performance was decent. Not amazing, but Paul is always cool.

Neil Diamond started off a little questionable. I was worried he was going to do that weird talk/sing business for the entire song, but luckily, things got better. The crowd was very into it and it was overall a pretty good performance for a corny old man.

And here's Stevie and those Jonas kids.

The Lady from Shanghai

It's been awhile since I've posted about an Old Movie Night viewing! Last weekend we watched The Lady from Shanghai. This wasn't necessarily my first choice, but a friend had been wanting to watch it for quite some time. I was a bit hesitant since we'd watched another Orson Welles movie, Touch of Evil, last year and it didn't really go over that well. Actually, I have no idea what it was even about. Luckily, The Lady from Shanghai turned out to be better.

In it Orson Welles plays a sailor, Michael O'Hara (with a painfully fake Irish accent), who meets a really hot chick, Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth), in Central Park, I believe. When he's later approached by her old, creepy husband to work on his yacht, Micheal can't refuse. While working, he of course gets just a little cozy with Elsa. Soon he finds himself mixed up in some crazy murder plan involving Elsa, her creepy husband, and this crazy weird man, George Grisby, culminating in an interesting scene in a fun house involving guns and a lot of mirrors. I won't give away the end.

So if you're a fan of Orson Welles or murder mystery type movies, I'd definitely recommend this one!

Summer Stock

I can't believe I've never written about this movie. It was #1 on my Top Ten Judy Garland Movies list, and even though I made that list 2 years ago, I still have to say Summer Stock is my favorite.

This movie is great for a few reasons:

1. Judy wears overalls in it and rides a tractor ... all while singing! It doesn't get much better than that.

2. There's a character named Orville and he's everything you'd hope for in a character named Orville.

3. Gene Kelly.

I'm the first to admit that the movie is extremely corny and kinda lame. I mean really, it's about Judy running a farm and her flakey sister who invites her theater friends to put on the show in their barn. It's basically a Judy/Mickey movie with 30 year olds. Also, most of the songs are pretty lame, except of course for Get Happy, which is pretty popular, I think mostly because Judy doesn't wear any pants during the number. (Sidenote: when I was a kid watching Summer Stock, I was very confused as to why Judy was rather heavy (for her) through most of the movie, but then in Get Happy she was quite thin, as usual. I came to find later in life that Get Happy was filmed a couple weeks after regular filming ended and after Judy was back on a regular diet of pills and booze and whatever else it was that made her too skinny.)

Anyway, I recommend Summer Stock if you're a fan of MGM musicals. It's silly and overall a good time.

And now, my favorite Summer Stock moments:

- Judy singing on a tractor (of course). Especially when she's holding a note at the end and makes some insane face. I'd like to note that one of the lyrics in this song (Howdy Neighbor) actually goes, "and if the weatherman won't upset us, mister you can bet us you'll have lots of crispy lettuce in your jeans!" This has always baffled me. Crispy lettuce in my jeans?? Doesn't sound appetizing. I'd also like to point out that I just quoted that line completely from memory.

- When Marjorie Main (who plays Judy's hired help, as usual) is in the barn with the sleeping actors and she attempts to wake them up at the crack of dawn by ringing a large bell. The bell ringing itself is not terribly funny (just a little), but she starts to ring violently and it is then that her hair, in a bun on top, flies back and forth on her head like I've never seen before. It's a small moment, but amazing.

- The Portland Fancy. My cousins and I watched The Portland Fancy so many times that the tape got fuzzy. Stupid VHS. But anyway, some great dancing from Judy and Gene. It's worth watching the movie just for this part.

- When Judy and Gene sing You Wonderful You alone in the barn. So cute.

- When Judy tells off Orville, particularly when she tells him to "Go away!" and "Go home!" with crazy eyes.

Since Summer Stock is a pretty cheezy old musical, it also has a number of cringe-worthy moments:

- Any scene with Phil Silvers

- Most of Judy's outfits.

- The terrible, terrible, song at the end with the dogs. I don't think I've ever actually watched that part so I have no idea what the song is. I just know that Gene sings it with Phil Silvers and they're dressed like mangy old farmers, they're missing teeth, and I think they have sweat stains on the fronts of their shirts.

- Everyone's outfits in the final song.

- "Friendly Star." I believe this is my cousin's favorite song in the movie, but I'm not sure if she's joking or not. Plus Judy's wearing a dress with snowflakes on it while she's singing and it's clearly not winter.

This turned out to be a long post and I'm slightly disturbed that I have this much to say about Summer Stock.

I Didn't Kill Van Johnson!

Good news, it seems that my reign of terror may be coming to an end. Last week Van Johnson died and I had absolutely nothing to do with it! I'm thrilled. I mean, about the fact that I didn't cause it ... not Van ... yeah ...

Meanwhile, poor Van Johnson. However, he was like 92 ... a good long life. Anyway, I've only seen 2 Van Johnson movies in my life: In the Good Old Summertime and Yours, Mine, and Ours.

In the Good Old Summertime is one of my favorite Judy Garland films ever. The teaming of Judy and Van is a little strange, I admit, but it's never bothered me too much. He's no Gene Kelly, mind you, but he was pretty funny and entertaining.

I think that's all I really have to say about him. There are some actual good articles about him here and here

The Best Christmas Movie You Haven't Seen

Good News: One of my favorite Christmas movies—a little gem called Holiday Affair—is finally out on DVD! It's not one of the most popular Christmas movies, but I think it should be. I happened to catch it one day a few years ago on TCM, and having never heard of it, I was surprised at how fabulous it turned out be. I definitely recommend making it a regular party of your Christmas movie line-up.

Janet Leigh stars as a young widowed mother who's working as a comparison shopper during the Christmas season. After a salesman, played by Robert Mitchum, finds her out and doesn't turn her in to the authorities, he gets fired and she feels guilty so she tries to be nice. Then he buys her kid a train set and things get quickly out of hand. Robert Mitchum develops a bit of a crush and finds ways to see Janet Leigh and her kid. To complicate matters, Janet Leigh is engaged to this very dorky but dependable fellow, Karl. (Or Karrrllll if you're her mother-in-law.) To be honest, Karl might be the best part of the movie. He's a total nerd, but kind of great.

The strange thing about this movie is it brings together two people who I primarily know from horror films. The only other Janet Leigh movie I've ever seen is Psycho, (and Bye Bye Birdie, but that's in color so it doesn't count.) so it was a little weird to see her in a light romantic holiday movie where she doesn't get murdered.

Then there's Robert Mitchum. Cape Fear, anyone? He does creep me out just a little in this film, partly because he's borderline stalking poor Janet Leigh and her son. He's just one creepy man.

But the horror film images associated with these two don't hinder Holiday Affair. In fact, they may make it even more amazing.

Jimmy, Stop Being Crazy!

I watched Vertigo on Monday. I've seen it many times and every time I wonder why I continue to watch it. But every time I have a chance to see it, I want to. I think I keep watching it because the story is so dang complicated that I forget exactly what happens and I feel I need to see it again in order to remember what the heck it's about. After seeing it many times, I think I finally have it down.

It starts Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. In it Jimmy is, in a word, crazy. He starts going crazy at the beginning and gets progressively crazier, partly on account of Kim Novak and partly on account of him being him.

I'm not going to divulge many details of the story. It's complicated and has a number of twists. But the gist is Jimmy Stewart follows Kim Novak around. There are some good Hitchcock-style disturbing moments, and an incredibly strange dream sequence that makes the movie truly worth watching. Also, Jimmy has a friend, Midge, who's in love with him and is rather desperate. But with a name like Midge, you can't blame her for being desperate. (I apologize if you're name is Midge. I'm sure you're not desperate.) She may also contribute to Jimmy's craziness.

The first ... two hours of the movie are pretty slow. They involve a lot of long driving shots. Driving through San Fransisco. Driving by the ocean. Driving through the country. You name it, they drive there. There are also many long shots of Jimmy observing Kim Novak in a slightly creepy way. Observing Kim at the museum. Observing Kim in the cemetery. Observing Kim in the garden. Lots of observing. Finally, towards the end, things pick up, questions are answered, and everyone's happy. Or disturbed.

Incidentally, if you've seen this movie, I highly recommend watching it with someone who hasn't seen it and trying to convince them that various people in the movie are going to kill Jimmy Stewart. It works surprisingly well depending on who your victim is. I really had my roommate going on Monday.

Wizard of Oz Halloween

After the whole McDonald's/Wicked Witch of the East debacle, and inspired by a pair of black and white striped tights at Goodwill, I decided to be the Wicked Witch of the East for Halloween this year. But I knew I had to do it right: with a house on top of me.

My wonderful boyfriend (who may or may not think I'm totally nuts) offered to make me a house to wear. After carefully considering my request that it not be a box, and that it allow me to move around freely (I'm not high maintenance) this is the amazing costume we ended up with:


Yeah, that's me, dead. My shoes are in fact red, even though they don't look it.

We also made my boyfriend an awesome Wizard costume, consisting mostly of green duct tape: