#45: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Emily Says:

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film and the discussion that Paul and I had about it. I read this play as part of my high school curriculum, but apparently they don't do that north of the Mason-Dixon line, so Paul had never read the play or seen the movie before.

What I enjoyed the most about the movie was the classical questions of Southern class systems - the confrontations between a genteel but penniless southern bell and her brutish immigrant brother-in-law.

Vivian Leigh makes a fantastic Blanche du Bois - she embodies the character's fragility and relentless desire to be properly pleasing just the way I had imagined it from the play. I was surprised by the ending of the film. While the play ends with Stella being embraced by her abusive husband, the movie ends with her running upstairs vowing to never return. This is just one of the ways that the movie is much less troubling than the play.

Paul Says:

#47: Taxi Driver (1976)

Paul says:

Emily says:

We've had a lot of sad movies lately, it seems. I enjoyed Taxi Driver - especially seeing De Niro's performance at such a young age and, of course, the phenomenal acting of the 12-year old Jodi Foster. The point that the movie tried to communicate about De Niro's purposeless existence - and the loneliness of his life was sort of interesting, but I wish his character had developed a bit more, instead of just becoming bitter over the loss of a woman. The sheer gore of the ending scenes was a bit too much to handle - I can understand why they had to make the colors more muted - in full color it would have been even harder to watch. I'm glad I saw it, but wouldn't watch it again.

#51: The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Emily says:

I hadn't seen this one for quite some time and enjoyed watching it again. Once you get used to Katherine Hepburn's somewhat-annoying portrayal of a Philadelphia socialite, the humor in this movie really comes out. It was fun to see both Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant alongside her, but my all time favorite character in this movie will always be the younger sister who's impish schemes never fail to make me laugh. This is one I'd watch again for sure.

Paul says:

#52: From Here to Eternity (1953)

Emily says:

"From Here to Eternity" follows the relationships of Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) and Warden (Cliff Lancaster), two members of the same army company stationed in Hawaii before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Warden, a lieutenant, pursues a relationship with the captain's wife. Prewitt's relationship is with "Lorene," a woman really named Alma who works in a club in town as a kind of escort for the army men who visit the club.

When Alma ("Lorene") declares to Prewett that her plan is to save up some money and go back home, buy a house, join the country club and be "proper" I cringed a little bit, but her next declaration was the one that really floored me: "proper people are safe." The 1950's morality in this movie trumped any interest that I had in the development of the characters and their relationships with one another.

One final observation: it sometimes concerns me that in 1950s movies I can't tell when the characters are madly in love with one another and when they are angry with one another.

#53: Amadeus (1984)

Emily says:

I liked pretty much everything about this movie. I enjoyed the characters - even the ones I didn't particularly like. I loved the music, the costumes, and the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri. It was interesting because when I read about this film before we watched it, I expected it to be ridiculously hoakey, but it was quite well done. I really enjoy movies where the lines between "good guys" and "bad guys" are blurred and in this movie, I couldn't help but both admire and detest Amadeus. At the same time, I felt for Salieri but was disgusted by his actions at the same time. Both of these characters had so much depth, and the music and theatrics were fun to watch.

Paul says:

#54: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Emily says:

I had low expectations for this movie because I read the book in High School and I remember it going on and on for ages and not enjoying it whatsoever. The movie is a big improvement on the book though (or maybe if I read the book now I'd feel differently). I don't remember the book being so anti-war, but the movie does a great job showing the war-mongering of society through the schoolteacher's character. The training of the enlisted classmates and their deployment shows how the civilian mentality and the soldier mentality are totally different from one another, and how war really changes those who take part in it. I particularly enjoyed how the filmmakers showed the passage of time in the boots passed from one dead soldier to another, the brutality of trench warfare, and the tragic ending with the butterfly. This is a movie that reminded me of how quickly we can get swept up into nationalism and militarism as humans, and even though it was made after the First World War, it is applicable today as the US fights 2 wars abroad, and I am saddened to know that the brutality of war will continue into our futures.

#55: The Sound of Music (1965)

Emily says:

I really advocated skipping this one, because I've seen the Sound of Music about a trillion times. I probably know every word of every song in the whole movie, but Paul talked me into watching it again for the sake of the project, and I'm glad we did. I was more sensitive to the historical questions in the movie this time, and I enjoyed reading up on the real Von Trapp family on wikipedia while watching.

My mom and dad went to Austria a long time ago, where they went on the Sound of Music tour. One of my favorite parts of re-watching this movie was imagining my parents on this tour together. For those of you who know my mom and dad, you can imagine my mom's boisterous enthusiasm for the movie along with my dad's introverted lack of enthusiasm for feel-good musicals. Oh, what I would give to have been a fly on the wall for that tour.

I was surprised, by the way, to find out that the remnants of the family live in Vermont now, where they run what seems to be an overpriced vacation destination. Strange.

#56: M*A*S*H (1970)

Emily says:

I thought MASH lent itself better to a TV show format than to this feature-length film. Even though I enjoyed the characters I know and love from the TV show, the plot was at best meandering and perhaps better described as non-existent. It had its funny moments, and was fun to watch since it shows some of the origins of the TV show, but I'd pick the show (at least the first few seasons) over the movie any day.

One perk of watching the movie is that now I will always picture the dentist's suicide scene from the movie when I hear the song - the last supper, the earnest words of the characters as they pretend to say goodbye to the dentist as he commits suicide (by taking a sleeping pill - unbeknownst to him) - so hilarious.

#57: The Third Man (1949)

Emily says:

This British film-noir about an American who arrives in Venice to find that his friend who invited him has recently died is a satisfying mystery with a good plot twist at the ending. I enjoyed watching the main character, Holly Martins, a pulp fiction writer, be misunderstood to be a great American author.

I wasn't crazy about Martins' love-interest, Anna Schmidt, and found her character to be a bit lacking, and I'm not sure exactly why this movie made it onto the AFI's list since I'm pretty sure it is British, but it was fun to watch and a great mystery film.

Paul says:

#58: Fantasia (1940)

Emily says:

This movie has another funny "Dad story." When I was in elementary school, my dad took me and Gracie to see this movie. I'm not sure why we wanted to see it, and I'm not sure why he took us, but about 20 minutes into the movie my dad was taking a nap and my sister and I were complaining. Shortly thereafter we left. Upon watching it again (and most of it for the first time), I marveled at how obtuse it is. I mean this in the nicest way towards Mr. Walt Disney. Often I think of Disney as this man who wanted to make a ton of money by having kids' marketing empire, but Fantasia is just the opposite. It's artistic and not commercial. In fact, by pretty much all counts, Fantasia was a commercial failure pretty much until Fantasia 2000 came out. Not a movie for kids, but I really enjoyed the music, the animation, and of course Mickey as the Sorcerer's apprentice is always wonderful!

Paul says: