What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

Thomas Crown Affair.
So sixties...half-remembered names & faces.

I want to like this movie, but always find myself bored in it. Other the the McQueen cool factor, I'd probably have given up on it several viewings ago.

 

[2jakes]

I want to like this movie, but always find myself bored in it. Other the the McQueen cool factor, I'd probably have given up on it several viewings ago.

The only time I watched this from
start to finish was in the 60s at
the base theater.

This was in Castle AFB prior to
going overseas.

I only watched bits of it recently.

The song brought back memories
of "half-remembered names & places."

 

[Worf]

"Downfall" - Great film. Wonderful acting. Does NOT include the words "based on true events".

Worf

 

[Worf]

"Hidden Figures" - Another "hidden history" film from Hollywood. I'd heard of these women about a year or two ago... Wonderful story. I love the fact that John Glenn (yeah that one) is quoted verbatim, hopefully that'll dissuade some of those who love to rewrite history. Seems he wouldn't fly unless his numbers were checked by "the smart girl". I'd have enjoyed it better if I'd not been in such a rotten mood going in which wasn't helped by my flat tire found when going out.

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

I watched the first half of "Road to Singapore" (then had to leave to do something) in part because of a discussion we had somewhere recently in another thread about these Hope-Crosby movies.

While not really my type of movie - a little too much slapstick, for me - I appreciate that it had a bit of "cool" for its day. Crosby's character's "I don't want to marry, to work, to 'play the part society assigned me'," combined with his and Hope's "let's just have fun an see where life takes us" attitude was subversive for the time. And they pull it off with a lighthearted not angry spirit.

 

[BlueTrain]

I scarcely have the patience to watch even an hour long movie and sometimes not even a short. In fact, the last one I watched in full was "In the dough," with Roscoe Arbuckle. The ones I generally enjoy the most, though, are obscure movies set in the jungle, in the frozen north or the South Pacific, possibly because I don't live in any of those places. Throw in an occasional Lash LaRue and I'm happy.

 

[AmateisGal]

Zootopia. Such a great movie, and it's not just for kids. Highly enjoyable.

 

[Zombie_61]

I watched the first half of "Road to Singapore" (then had to leave to do something) in part because of a discussion we had somewhere recently in another thread about these Hope-Crosby movies...

I was part of that discussion, and mentioned the fact that I never "got" the attraction to Bob Hope. But I recorded the three "Road" pictures that TCM aired last Saturday because I had seen the promotional feature they showed earlier featuring comedians like Robert Klein, Richard Jeni, and Buck Henry, discussing why the chemistry between Hope and Crosby worked. By way of example this feature also included clips from some of the "Road" pictures, and I found myself laughing at some of them. That had never happened before. So, when the wife and I have the time, I/we will watch them. Maybe I've reached some form of "turning point", and I'll find them enjoyable; it's happened before.

 

[BlueTrain]

Sometimes, when watching a movie, you have to "forget" certain things in order to really enjoy the movie. That is, you have to go beyond other versions of the movie or what the actors were like in other movies or even what you thought the movie might be like before you can enjoy it for what it is, if you follow me. It's happened to me a few times. One was the animated Tintin movie. In reading the graphic novels, just as in reading books from which movies were made, you form mental images of the characters and how they sound and sometimes what they look like. In viewing the movie, you have to ignore all that.

Another instance was the movie "Elf" with Will Ferrell. I'm not generally a fan of his but I still enjoyed the movie on a company outing a year ago. But I wouldn't have even watched it otherwise.

 

[Fading Fast]

I was part of that discussion, and mentioned the fact that I never "got" the attraction to Bob Hope. But I recorded the three "Road" pictures that TCM aired last Saturday because I had seen the promotional feature they showed earlier featuring comedians like Robert Klein, Richard Jeni, and Buck Henry, discussing why the chemistry between Hope and Crosby worked. By way of example this feature also included clips from some of the "Road" pictures, and I found myself laughing at some of them. That had never happened before. So, when the wife and I have the time, I/we will watch them. Maybe I've reached some form of "turning point", and I'll find them enjoyable; it's happened before.

I felt I could appreciate them more, in part, because of our conversation, but they will never sing to me.

Over time and on the right days, I'll probably watch more of them - when one just happens to be on. But it will be to appreciate parts of them - Bing's cool, a song here or there, some of the period details (like the map on the wall in the Bing's father's office in "Road to Singapore") are FL eye candy - but I doubt I'll ever be a full-throttled fan.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of the Road pictures, I think "Road to Morocco" is probably the best -- it's basically a sideways parody of every desert-adventure movie you've ever seen, with all the stereotypical characters exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. Plus, Crosby saunters down a street in an ice-cream suit singing "Moonlight Becomes You" while wearing a *fez* and he practically radiates "I'm cool precisely because I do not give one eighth of a damn." Sinatra on his very coolest day was never that cool.

Another one I like is "Road To Utopia," which features Robert Benchley as a variation of his "How To..." character, narrating the film and commenting on its absurdity, with Hope and Crosby aware all the while that they're characters in an absurd movie. Meta upon meta.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ I plan to give more of them a shot. Crosby is the reason for me - as you said, cooler than Frank ever was.

That said, in "Road to Singapore," I thought Dorothy Lamour was a surprise upside. Yes, good looking, yes, (what's the word, oh yea) smokin' body, but what really made her enjoyable was that she handled her part - as the sometime straight guy / sometime the one saying "these guys are idiots" but in a nice way - really well.

Having never paid these movies much attention, I thought she added a lot of chemistry and glue that helped keep, at least, "RTS" from losing its way (at least in the half I saw).

 

[BlueTrain]

Now I'm anxious to see one of those pictures. I've seen bits of one or two but never a whole movie and it sounds like I'm missing something. I especially enjoyed Bing in Holiday Inn and White Christmas.

I think there was more affection between Hope and Crosby than people like to admit. After Crosby's death, when people were saying bad things about him, Bob Hope said in so many words, that some people are so low as to criticize someone after they've died.

 

[Fading Fast]

Now I'm anxious to see one of those pictures. I've seen bits of one or two but never a whole movie and it sounds like I'm missing something. I especially enjoyed Bing in Holiday Inn and White Christmas.

I think there was more affection between Hope and Crosby than people like to admit. After Crosby's death, when people were saying bad things about him, Bob Hope said in so many words, that some people are so low as to criticize someone after they've died.

If you enjoy Bing as an actor (and the two movies you mentioned are fun ones - "Holiday Inn," in particular) then I recommend a few more. For cool, good guy Bing, "Going My Way" is the one to see. For Bing is a real actor "The Country Girl" shows he had true acting chops. And for Bing as "cooler than Frank" - "High Society."

 

[BlueTrain]

I would judge no actor or actress beyond what they do on the screen or on stage, lest someone feels like judging me, too.

 

[Fading Fast]

I would judge no actor or actress beyond what they do on the screen or on stage, lest someone feels like judging me, too.

I really enjoy Crosby's body of work - his music and his acting. Of course, I heard all the stuff that was said after he died and some book came out and I heard some of the rebuttals, but chose to try to ignore it as I was and still am worn out by it all.

You never feel like you are really getting a true story as everything has a counterpoint and advocates for both sides. After awhile, you don't care because you can't care - was Elvis mean to his wife / Gleason spiteful to his / Hitchcock lecherous / Crawford abusive (that one is not hard to believe as she always scared me a bit on screen - but who knows)?

Sure, I could read enough, cross check it and try to separate out fact from fiction, but to what end? I have a life (at least I say I do) and it just isn't worth the effort. I personally wish actors would stop putting their private lives and political views out there as I just want to enjoy their work and not have nagging thoughts about this one being a cheater or that one a political nutcase, etc., when watching their movies or hearing their songs.

 

[BlueTrain]

You're at least a hundred years too late. Actors and actresses have always been public figures, which is one reason most of them are in the business, and believe me, there's nothing quite like being on stage doing something in front of a live audience. But they have just as much right as anyone to be involved in civic life as anyone else and if that weren't true, we wouldn't have had Ronald Reagan as president. But their private lives have also been the subject of gossip, just like the single lady down the street that always seems to have a lot of cars in front of her house.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Quite a few crooners were dinks. I don't know if that's just something that goes with the territory or what, but it's true. Rudy Vallee was a champion-level skirt-chaser and an obsessive control-freak; Dick Haymes escaped the WWII draft by claiming to be an Argentinian; even if the stuff about Crosby beating his kids wasn't true, he was hardly a model parent, and everybody knows about Sinatra.

The only crooners I can think of offhand who I'd want to know personally were Perry Como, who by every account was a genuinely nice guy, and Russ Columbo, whose only sin was not checking to see if the gun was loaded before handing it to his pal.

 

[Fading Fast]

Quite a few crooners were dinks. I don't know if that's just something that goes with the territory or what, but it's true. Rudy Vallee was a champion-level skirt-chaser and an obsessive control-freak; Dick Haymes escaped the WWII draft by claiming to be an Argentinian; even if the stuff about Crosby beating his kids wasn't true, he was hardly a model parent, and everybody knows about Sinatra.

The only crooners I can think of offhand who I'd want to know personally were Perry Como, who by every account was a genuinely nice guy, and Russ Columbo, whose only sin was not checking to see if the gun was loaded before handing it to his pal.

Only from "hearsay," and despite his public image, I thought Dean Martin sounded like an all-around nice guy and responsible family man (but again, this is not an informed opinion).

 

[Fading Fast]

You're at least a hundred years too late. Actors and actresses have always been public figures, which is one reason most of them are in the business, and believe me, there's nothing quite like being on stage doing something in front of a live audience. But they have just as much right as anyone to be involved in civic life as anyone else and if that weren't true, we wouldn't have had Ronald Reagan as president. But their private lives have also been the subject of gossip, just like the single lady down the street that always seems to have a lot of cars in front of her house.

Oh yes, I realize my wish is a pipe dream. And, I agree, they are entitled to speak their minds like everyone else. Their work just happens to give them a much bigger microphone.