SPACE JAM vs CASABLANCA
The thought of a new Disney film being released, starring the most famous propagandist for China (also the most notorious advocate for the murder of police officers), led me to meditate on the state of the Hollywood movie industry in 2021.
For several years now, the main impetus for producing, writing, and releasing new movies has been to please Chinese audiences and to replace actual human dialog with computer generated nonsense. It appears that LeBron James and his followers have created a new genre: stupidity on steroids.
I tried to remember and choose my favorite ten movies of all time and was unable to reduce the list to ten. I have 13 favorite movies, just one of which was created in the 21st Century. They are THE THIN MAN (1934), THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937), HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940), THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1941), CASABLANCA (1943), A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1951), PSYCHO (1960), BLAZING SADDLES (1974) YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974), INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), and 2019's KNIVES OUT.
Of these, CASABLANCA and SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER are the standouts in my mind. What do all these movies have in common? Great characters, great actors, great dialog, wonderful writers, and creative directors. Just as our society has devolved from a unique and brilliant republic into vulgar and mindless tribes, the movie industry now settles for an endless caravan of useless imitations and sequels. How many Marvel superheroes will there be by the end of the decade? How many FAST AND FURIOUS movies will be made before all Americans over the age of 18 decide to just stop watching?
For those who remember that movies were once entertaining, here is a list of my favorite movies:
THE THIN MAN 1934 directed by W.S. VanDyke
Written by Dashiell Hammett. Starred William Powell and Myrna Loy
THE AWFUL TRUTH 1937 directed by Leo McCarey
won 1 academy award
Starred Irene Dunne and Cary Grant
HIS GIRL FRIDAY 1940 directed by Howard Hawks
Starred Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
THE MALTESE FALCON 1941 directed by John Huston
Starred Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Wilmer Cook
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY 1941 produced by Joseph Mankiewicz
3 academy awards, starred Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant
CASABLANCA 1943
3 academy awards, starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 1951 Directed by Elia Kazan
4 academy awards. Starred Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh
SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER 1959 directed by Joseph Mankiewicz
3 academy awards, starred Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift
PSYCHO 1960 directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Robert Bloch starred Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles
BLAZING SADDLES 1974 directed by Mel Brooks
Starred Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madelyn Kahn, Slim Pickens,
Alex Karras, Harvey Korman
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN 1974 directed by Mel Brooks
Starred Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr
INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK 1981
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen
KNIVES OUT 2019
Starred Daniel Craig
Why were so many great movies released in the 1930's and the 1940's? Was it that the pressure and worries of the Great Depression and the World War unleashed a burst of creativity to take people's minds off the horrors of life?
Maybe. If so, we may witness a return to great themes, great stories, great directing, and great movies in the next two years.
I'm not going to hold my breath waiting, though.
Great writing! I regret that I'm not familiar enough with any of those movies to offer any thoughtful commentary. Though I agree 100% that Hollywood creates movies to dumb society down and brainwash the youth. I get so upset when I get wrapped up into a series and then a favorite character comes out of the closet to try to desensitize viewers. This supports my rant about making American men weak. Who was Biden's largest campaign contributor? The same person that is a major contributor to the Actor's Foundation. A communist invasion is happening right now. But their methods don't require troops on our soil. Not yet. Divide and Conquer and make us weak. I'll go one step further and say that Bill Gates push against red meat is another attack on our strength. Trying to torn every one into weak vegans and literally got men lining up to have their balls cut off.
I describe the movie “Breaker Morant” as being the finest strip of celluloid through which light has ever passed.
and . . .
SPECIAL EFFECTS, n. : the stuff in modern movies that has replaced scripts, acting and direction
and . . .
OSCAR, n. : a trophy, the unabashed lusting for which has produced enough saliva to flood Arizona; The quest to obtain the shiny little man is so compelling, so vital, so crucial, so all-consuming that actors and producers will do anything to get him, even if it means making a good movie, which usually it does not.