Tony Curtis

Well it's true, people, Tony Curtis is gone from us forever. It's too bad because he was a funny, inappropriate old man. It's always hard to lose one of those.

I got to see him a few years ago at a movie theater near me and he was very entertaining. I took some terrible quality, illegal videos, but you get the idea:

Sound of Music Happenings

 Well, this year marks the 45th anniversary of The Sound of Music and to celebrate, Oprah is hosting the entire cast on her show on October 29th. Even Christopher Plummer will be there, which should be interesting since he's generally offensive and bratty when discussing the film.

They're also releasing a 45th anniversary edition of the DVD/Blu Ray to add to the 85 previous copies that you've already had to buy because they had new extras. But I'm sure this one will be even better and more necissary.



"Quit stealing my Captain"



Finally, the film itself will be showing in a number of theaters in sing-a-long form October 19 & 26. I've been to the sing-a-long maybe 4 times and it's fun, but one thing has always bothered me. One of the sing-a-long activities is hissing at the baroness every time she's on screen. First of all, this is annoying because she's on screen a lot. That's a lot of hissing. Secondly, I understand we're not really supposed to like her, but what did she ever do to us? What are her real offenses in the movie? Ok, she tries to get rid of Maria. Who wouldn't do that if the nanny was making a play for your dream-boat captain? It's somewhat less forgivable when she talks about sending the kids off to boarding school, but seriously people, there's seven of them. I bet even Maria wanted to send them off to boarding school sometimes.

Fast Forward

The other night I was watching the classic, Annie, with my husband.

Sidenote: Yes, I made my husband watch Annie. I felt it was important for him to see this movie that I watched many, many times as a child.

Anyway, to make it a little less painful for him, I told him we could watch my "edited" version in which I fast forward through all the parts I don't like. This appalled him.

The thing is, I've spent most of my movie-watching years fast forwarding through the parts of movies that I don't like. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to watch the entire film. Or sometimes there are some just plain boring parts that I don't want to waste my time on. Once you've seen a movie enough times, it's easy to find some fast forward moments.

So I thought I'd compile a list of my top fast forward moments from some of my favorite movies:

1. The Sound of Music. To be honest, I fast forward through a lot of this movie. Basically any scene without Maria is a good candidate for some fast forwarding. Also, pretty much anything after Maria and The Captian return from their honeymoon.

2. Summer Stock. That terrible dog song at the very end. Also the Howdy Neighbor reprise with those truly awful outfits.

3. Easter Parade. That scene when Judy and Peter Lawford are in the restaurant and the waiter goes into way too much detail about their salad. It literally takes 10 minutes. Fast forward.

4. My Fair Lady. This is probably my least fast forwarded movie, but I've never been a big fan of the part when they go to the embassy ball. It's just a bunch of rich people dancing for like 10 minutes. I also don't usually watch the parts with Eliza's father. They're silly, but not that great. I have more important things to do.

5. Mary Poppins. Anything before Mary shows up is subject to skipping. Also when the dad brings the kids to the bank and they sing that dumb song. Actually, it's possible that the taped-off-TV version I had as a child cut out that song, so now I just don't see a point in it.

6. The King and I. This goes without saying, but the Uncle Tom's Cabin part. I don't know that I've ever watched more than 30 seconds of it and it literally goes on for 20 minutes. And this leads me to ...

7. Oklahoma. What's with the super weird, long ballet/interpretive dance in the middle of the movie? Fast forward.

8. Singin' in the Rain. My favorite part of this movie, when Cyd Charisse shows up in her green dress, is followed by my least favorite part: when the dance sequence goes on for an hour and a half!!

9. The Parent Trap. Any parts involving camp or camping.

10. The Music Man. One word: Shipoopi.

Truthfully, my list could go on and on. Am I the only one who likes to fast forward? I doubt it.

What do you fast forward?

Ode to Netflix

Last week my husband and I signed up with Netflix and so far it's been life changing. I read this ridiculous "poem" and it inspired me to become a poet, because it clearly doesn't take much. Here's my Netflix poem.

Judy Garland
Cary Grant
I know I should stop
But I can't

Streaming live
Always connected
My husband wishes
He wasn't neglected

The Seven Year Itch

I just got Netflix. It's becoming a bit of a disturbing obsession, but on the bright side, I think it will allow me to watch more old movies than I ever thought possible.

My first Netflix old movie was The Seven Year Itch. I'd never seen it before, which is probably bad since it's so iconic, but honestly I just haven't watched that many Marilyn Monroe movies and I have a sneaking suspicion that none of them will live up to Some Like it Hot.

But I watched it anyway because I was curious and my husband was up for it. Basic premise: Nerdy middle-aged man lives in New York City with his wife and son. Wife and son shove off for the summer leaving nerdy husband at home by himself to work (and maybe have an affair) which was apparently the norm. Nerdy man, home alone, suddenly realizes there's a super hot blond living in the apartment above him. Nerdy man spends the rest of the movie trying to have or not have an affair with hot blond. The End.

So first of all, did this actually happen in the olden days? The women and children leaving for the entire summer? Don't get me wrong, it sounds fabulous and I think if it still happened many more women would be stay at home moms. It's just not anything I'd heard of and the insinuation that all the men were going to go have affairs with the hot single women that were left behind for the summer was a little disturbing.

But anyway, the movie ... It was ok. I wasn't blown away by it, but there were some funny moments. Half the movie was spent inside the nerdy man's quite delusional imagination where he was fawned over by every woman who came along. But when he finally gets attention from the hot blond, he gets a little freaked out and has a serious moral dilemma.

Marilyn played her usual ditzy blond character, so if you're a fan of that, you'll probably like the film. She had some cute outfits which I also enjoyed. And yes, she shows some leg in the skirt-flying-up scene, if that's your sort of thing.

But other than that, it just didn't feel like there was much to the movie. It's some light entertainment if you're interested in a Marilyn Monroe film, but don't expect it to change your life or anything. Unless, of course, you're a nerdy NYC man left all alone for the summer.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Old Movies

10. Corny jokes. Sometimes you just need a corny joke in a world where everyone's always trying to be clever and witty and off-color. Yes, a corny joke may be super cheezy and kind of embarrassing, but I bet you'll still laugh at it.

9. Gayness. Yeah, they say "gay" a lot in old movies. It's a little bit funny every time.

8. Memories. No, I don't have memories of seeing these movies when they originally came out in the theater, but I do have great memories of watching them as a child and singing and dancing along with the musical numbers. Every viewing brings back some warm fuzzies.

7. Trailers. Have you watched some old movie trailers? They're almost as entertaining as the movies themselves. Especially when they're announcing "the most unusual picture in many years."

6. Cary Grant. What else do I have to say?

5. Scary, but not too Scary. I can't watch these new-fangled horror movies. They are violent and disturbing and give me nightmares. But I can take some Psycho any day. Old scary movies are scary, yes, but not so gratuitously graphic.

4. Singing. Old movies have great songs. And great singers. They can't be beat by these wannabe singers/actors who come around today with their mediocre voices and lack-luster songs. MGM Musicals especially had it down. They knew where to place a song in the movie and how to stage a highly entertaining musical number. Perfection!

3. Dancing. Kind of goes with the singing. But seriously, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly? It doesn't get much better.

2. No sex. I'm not that into watching people have sex. I appreciate that in old movies, I do not have to witness this.

1. They make me happy! Probably for all the reasons listed above.

Why do you like old movies?

Vincent Price + Tim Burton

A friend of mine sent me this video, knowing my affinity for Vincent Price. It's kind of awesome and definitely worth a watch. Or two. Or three.



Meanwhile, last weekend I thoroughly enjoyed watching House on Haunted Hill on TV. It had been awhile since I'd seen it, so I was overjoyed when I happened to flip to it. It was fantastic, as always, and even more-so given the fact that I was rather over-tired and a little loopy. Old movies are always better taken that way.

The only downside was it was playing as part of one of our local channel's ridiculous "Svengoolie" programs which featured multiple airings of the most terrible commercial I've ever seen, advertising a t-shirt with a giant chicken shooting lasers out its eyes.