Dang. Did everyone but me know that all the movies in the 60’s were period pieces, musicals, or both?! I was blindsided.
So, Thursday night is movie night. Alec goes out and I schedule a cinematic masterpiece. I’ve invited over lots of friends, Julie McCoy style, but so far it’s been just me.
7/20 Ben Hur — Wow. Epic, good. Kinda cheesy in a theatrical sort of way that we’re not used to seeing anymore. Glad to have seen it.
8/2 The Apartment — I liked it. Easy to watch. Comedy. Good times and good acting. I’m sure I’ll experience this over and over, but it’s cool seeing some of these actors (Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon notably) so darn young.
8/9 West Side Story — How gay is this movie?! I dubbed it the movie that I really should have seen at the Castro theater. My friend Amanda joined me for the show and we chuckled the whole way through.
8/16 Lawrence of Arabia was cracked in half, couldn’t watch it
8/23 Lawrence of Arabia, again for real — it really seems like the 60’s were all about epics and musicals (I know that Sound of Music is coming up) — did moviegoers really have the attention span for something like this?! Truly interesting and captivating. I feel like I learned something, but it took me almost four days to get through it. It’s four hours long I think.
8/30 Tom Jones — really hard for me to watch. The sensibilities of the 60’s… hmmm, too goofy to explain. Also a period movie. I wonder if I watched all the best pics from now to then in reverse if I would have been more prepared.
9/6 My Fair Lady — A fun one to watch. Audrey Hepburn so young and in a story that I’ve known without ever seeing the movie before. Pretty Woman was clearly derived from this. Odd ending.
9/13 Sound of Music — Tried to watch this one as film rather than the movie that played on TV every year of my life around Thanksgiving. Is there anyone out there who hasn’t seen it? It’s great. And a musical. Set in the past. Surprise.
9/20 A Man for All Seasons — I gave this movie my best shot by not holding and using my laptop. Set in the past, circa Henry the 8th, it continues the streak of nothing modern. I dozed hard. I might have to give up on this one. But Alec’s dad assures me it’s a good one.
10/4 In the Heat of the Night — wow. A real good one. Current. Suspenseful. Highly recommended.
10/11 – 11/11 Oliver! — Reminds me of MFL in that its yet another period musical with songs I never knew how I knew ’em.
My two recommendations: I know y’all have seen Sound of Music so I won’t bother with that one, the best two that I hadn’t already seen were easily In the Heat of the Night and The Apartment. Both are selling for less than $5 on Amazon right now so if you have a movie collection, go for it!
My big take-away from this exercise: if you really want to get to know a year (or a decade), it’s probably better to watch all the nominees rather than just the winners. But as for me, I’m ready to take a break for a while from all this ummm… culture / homework and settle into the new TV season and watching Weeds on DVD.
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