Before There Were Websites... (Pt 2)

...there were scrapbooks (prev. pt 1)

Let's continue that silly reveal of my "Movies of the Eighties" scrapbook. I'm still hoping to locate the "Movie Stars of the Eighties" companion volume in which I ranked all the actors and actresses of the decade. Wouldn't that be a ROTFL experience? If I can find it I will share, despite the loss of dignity it will surely occasion.

Behold! To your left is the tv guide cover that started it all. I guess it wasn't an actual TV Guide as my personal mythology has always relayed but whatever television magazine thingie was inserted into the Detroit Free Press back in the day. That cover right there started my whole Oscar obsession -- look how worn, damaged and fingered it is. I thumbed through it so many times. What is this naked gold man they call Oscar??? This cover unlocked my latent awards mania. I had seen Tootsie and E.T. (massive family friendly hits both) but it was the center statue that seized my imagination. Soooo shiny.

Shiny shiny sha-na-na-na.
Shiny shiny bad times behind me

From there I became more and more movie obsessed. Based on the "everything I've seen" scribblings it looks like I was seeing about 25-40 films a year. Not all of the clipping collages matched the screening lists. I can't recall exactly what dragged me to theaters back then, but Dennis Quaid was a factor.


Do you know the 14 films displayed there? Some of them I barely remember...

The 1988 and 1989 pages are heavily Burtonesque with a late blooming burst of Pfandom by way of The Fabulous Baker Boys. I thought this clipping below was an interesting time capsule: a note about who might play The Joker before Batman (1989) was even filming. It was superhero casting speculation before steroids the internet.



It's smudgy but it reads

Although an unknown will be considered for Batman, Jack Nicholson (far right) has been mentioned in connection with the Joker. _____'s personal picks for the role are Ray Liotta (Something Wild, left) or Willem Dafoe (Platoon, center).

For the Record: Heath Ledger was 10 years old when Tim Burton's Batman arrived in theaters. Who imagined that Nicholson's Joker would eventually have to stand down?

If you want to see more of this scrapbook, say so in the comments.

But I wanted to wrap up this part 2 peak with this: Lists! Apparently I thought the best "losing sanity" performances of the 80s were:

Jack Nicholson Batman
Meg Tilly Agnes of God
Glenn Close Fatal Attraction
Meryl Streep Plenty

With the distance of time, I'd only feel comfortable standing by the bunny boiler. Not that there isn't much to admire in Streep's 1985 performance. But why only four performances? The magic number is five, Nathaniel, hello. Everyone knows that.

Stranger still is the "best sequels of the decade" ranking

5. Superman II 4. Star Trek IV 3. Aliens 2. The Empire Strikes Back 1. Return of the Jedi

That order is ALL wrong: Jedi is a sorry sibling to Empire, The Wrath of Khan crushes other Trek adventures and sentient humans and drooling monsters alike recognize that Aliens is the sequel of the 80s as well as one of the best action flicks ever. I like to think that somewhere inside I knew this and thus felt compelled to scribble A-L-I-E-N-S in large capital expanding letters.

Finally, there's the list of the movies I saw most often, "Again and Again and Again" This one honestly surprised me. I don't remember seeing some of these movies multiple times. I never see things more than twice in the theaters now. Unless the movies are called Moulin Rouge!

(4 times) A Chorus Line, The Empire Strikes Back, Dreamscape, Fire and Ice, The Lost Boys, The Princess Bride, The Secret of My Succe$s, Romancing the Stone, The Karate Kid, The Little Mermaid, Beetle Juice and Ladyhawke
(5 times) A Room With a View, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Clue, St. Elmo's Fire
(6 times) Batman
(9 times) Return of the Jedi
(10 times) The Breakfast Club

You know what question I am forced to ask now: What movie did you see the most in grade school, junior high and high school?
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"Oh I know what y'all really want..."

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" ...is some gross, caricature of a woman to prove some idiotic point that power makes a woman masculine, or masculine women are ugly.

Well shame on you for letting a man do that, or any man that does that. That means you, dear. Miss Marshall. Shame on you, you macho shit head."

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RIP Sydney Pollack

This morning while brewing coffee and getting ready for the day, I've been listening to NPR reports about the passing of Sydney Pollack (yesterday, of cancer). The name fills me with so many memories. Tootsie came immediately to mind. I think it was the first film of his I saw and I fell absolutely in love. I didn't always enjoy Sydney as an actor -- probably because he played the same type of role frequently -- but his work as Michael Dorsey's agent remains my favorite of his supporting turns. The scene when Michael first approaches him as "Dorothy" is a perfect comic jewel. Pollack does flustered double taking with the best of them. I think about that scene almost every time I think of Pollack and it continually endears me to him. He must have been so proud of the scene and Dustin. He must have known that film was gold. But he's digging for his own there at the table.

I love so many of his films as a director. My other two favorites are They Shoot Horses Don't They (previous appreciation) and The Way We Were (with apologies to Out of Africa and This Property is Condemned --but mostly for Natalie Wood in the latter).

Regarding The Way We Were: I think it's one of the best romantic dramas Hollywood ever produced. When I first saw it in college --I'm not sure what prompted me, but it was probably one of my many aborted attempts to get through all nominated Best Actress Oscar performances -- I was completely wowed by how substantial it actually was. Romantic films are so often critically dismissed. Even the smashes are often scorned once there's a little distance (see Titanic appraisals for a modern case). I liken this to people being embarrassed about their initial openheartedness... sort of the way that most of us are so easily aggravated by our significant others after the heady rush of the falling in love phase passes. Surely the contempt with which many romantic dramas (and comedies come to think of it) are held with both the public and critics after the fact has more to do with human nature than with the work. Like any genre, romance has its masterpieces. I think it's better than the other Robert Redford picture that won Best Picture that year (The Way We Were was not nominated)

It's always interesting to see how people view the work of artists when they pass on. One of the voices on NPR was talking about the lack of auteurial signatures or visual flourishes in his movies. This was spun in the most flattering possible way. It went something like 'it makes you concentrate not on the man behind the camera but on the film itself' When people pass away, you should always go with the positive. In this case it isn't difficult.

Sydney Pollack, you will be missed.
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AFI: The New Top 100 List

The Revised Greatest American Films List
I'm happy to see Blade Runner, Nashville, and Cabaret added. They all hold high rank in my own favorites listing. What say ye about this new lineup? (To be helpful I've added their previous AFI ranking to the right --big changes in bold)

1. "Citizen Kane" (1941) same
2. "The Godfather" (1972) 3
3. "Casablanca" (1942) 2
4. "Raging Bull" (1980) 24
5. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) 10
6. "Gone With the Wind" (1939) 4
7. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) 5
8. "Schindler's List" (1993) 9
9. "Vertigo" (1958) 61
10. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) 6


11. "City Lights" (1931) 76
12. "The Searchers" (1956) 96
13. "Star Wars" (1977) 15
14. "Psycho" (1960) 18
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) 22
16. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) 12
17. "The Graduate" (1967) 7
18. "The General" (1927) new
19. "On the Waterfront" (1954) 8
20. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) 11

21. "Chinatown" (1974) 19
22. "Some Like It Hot" (1959) 14
23. "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) 21
24. "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) 25
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) 34
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) 29
27. "High Noon" (1952) 33
28. "All About Eve" (1950) 16
29. "Double Indemnity" (1944) 38
30. "Apocalypse Now" (1979) 28

31. "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) 23
32. "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) same
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) 20
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) 49
35. "Annie Hall" (1977) 31
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) 13
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) same
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) 30
39. "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) 26
40. "The Sound of Music" (1965) 55

41. "King Kong" (1933) 43
42. "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) 27
43. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) 36
44. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) 51
45. "Shane" (1953) 69
46. "It Happened One Night" (1934) 35
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) 45
48. "Rear Window" (1954) 42
49. "Intolerance" (1916) new
50. "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) new

51. "West Side Story" (1961) 41
52. "Taxi Driver" (1976) 47
53. "The Deer Hunter" (1978) 79
54. "M*A*S*H" (1970) 56
55. "North by Northwest" (1959) 40
56. "Jaws" (1975) 48
57. "Rocky" (1976) 78
58. "The Gold Rush" (1925) 74
59. "Nashville" (1975) new
60. "Duck Soup" (1933) 85

61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) new
62. "American Graffiti" (1973) 77
63. "Cabaret" (1972) new
64. "Network" (1976) 66
65. "The African Queen" (1951) 17
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) 60
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) new
68. "Unforgiven" (1992) 98
69. "Tootsie" (1982) 62
70. "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) 46 (i still don't understand how this one qualifies as American)

71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) new
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) new
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) 50
74. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) 65
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) new
76. "Forrest Gump" (1994) 71
77. "All the President's Men" (1976) new
78. "Modern Times" (1936) 81
79. "The Wild Bunch" (1969) 80
80. "The Apartment" (1960) 93

81. "Spartacus" (1960) new
82. "Sunrise" (1927) new
83. "Titanic" (1997) new
84. "Easy Rider" (1969) 88
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935) new
86. "Platoon" (1986) 83
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957) new
88. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) 97
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) new
90. "Swing Time" (1936) new

91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982) new
92. "Goodfellas" (1990) 94
93. "The French Connection" (1971) 70
94. "Pulp Fiction" (1994) 95
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971) new
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989) new
97. "Blade Runner" (1982) new
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) 100
99. "Toy Story" (1995) new
100. "Ben-Hur" (1959) 72

<---they're tearing him apart: James Dean lost BOTH his spots on the top 100. And Monty Clift too. Argh. The films that fell out were...Doctor Zhivago #39, North by Northwest #40, Birth of a Nation #44, From Here To Eternity #52, Amadeus #53, All Quiet on the Western Front #54, The Third Man #57, Fantasia #58, Rebel Without a Cause #59, Stagecoach #63, Close Encounters of the Third Kind #64, The Manchurian Candidate #67, An American in Paris #68, Wuthering Heights #73, Dances With Wolves #75, Giant #82, Fargo #84, Mutiny on the Bounty #86, Frankenstein #87, Patton #89, The Jazz Singer #90, My Fair Lady #91, A Place in the Sun #92, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner #99

weirdest entry: Sophie's Choice... almost never listed in any "best of", apart from Meryl Streep's astonishing performance, is in the top 100 --They collectively name it the 6th best of the entire 80s decade. Whaaaa?

lesson learned: nothing below the top 30 is ever safe. It all depends on who they poll and which way the winds blow.

1982: Terri, Jessica, Kim, Lesley, and Glenn

It's that time again. Last Sunday in the month = A "Supporting Actress Smackdown" with StinkyLulu and posse.


This months installment is very near and dear to my heart: 1982. Why so dear? Well, it's the first year in which I noticed that these golden thingamajigs called Oscars existed. I was staring at a TV Guide in March and there was this photo of an Oscar and behind it, pics from all five best picture nominees (Gandhi, ET, Tootsie, The Verdict, and Missing) --three of which I had seen and had "feelings" about. I had to watch. The rest is history. Oscar night immediately became my favorite holiday. Here's the 'NatReel'...



That's five clippy minutes with a high-spirited crop of Oscar Contenders, three of whom are in movies I never tire of (Tootsie & Victor/Victoria) so head on over and join in the discussion over at the "Supporting Actress Smackdown"

tags: Jessica Lange, Glenn Close, Terri Garr,Oscars, Academy Awards, celebrities, movies, cinema, films

Monologue Monday: "Julie Nichols"

I don't know how to say this...

I understand that you weren't able to tell my dad last night. So it'd be better for all of us if I tried to explain it to him.

Look, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you how much you've meant to me these past couple weeks. You taught me how to stand up for myself because you always do. You taught me to stop hiding and just be myself, because you're always yourself.

I'm grateful to you. But....

Well, I just --I just can't see you anymore, you know? I just feel it would be leading you on. It wouldn't be fair to you.

I really love you, Dorothy. But I can't...

I can't love you.

-Jessica Lange, just luminous as "Julie Nichols" in the comedy classic Tootsie, which has one of the best screenplays ever written by committee.

Don't Forget! On October 29th, the monthly Supporting Actress Smackdown will focus on 1982. So rent yourselves some Tootsie, Victor/Victoria, Frances, and The World According to Garp to brush up beforehand. It's more fun when you know the movies and it's a great batch. In the meantime head on over to StinkyLulu's tribute to Jessica Lange's work here .

Bonus: A video clip! Tootsie is pleasureable viewing for about 100 different reasons and 1 of those is that it brought Geena Davis to the cinema. Sure, she's a floundering TV star now but from Tootsie in 1982 through the early 90s she was one of Hollywood's bright lights. This 47 second clip is her delightful entrance into cinematic history.


Tags: blogging, tootsie, oscars, Academy Awards, Geena Davis, Jessica Lange, film, movies, blogs, 1982

An Illustrated History of...Gender Bending

It's Tuesday. Time for "A History of..." But today we're doing things a little differently. It's an Illustrated History of Gender-Bending @ The Movies. Today's topic is inspired in part by the fact that it's the birthday of one hit wonder Jaye Davidson who startled moviegoers in The Crying Game many years ago.

1930s Marlene Dietrich puts on a suit. Garbo strolls around like she has an extra bit between her legs. Millions swoon.

1959 Hollywood's first transgendered gay marriage

1970s Susan Sarandon squeaks. Tim Curry peaks.

1980s Hollywood's gender-bending apex.
Dustin hoffman plays "Tootsie", Streisand is "Yentl", Julie Andrews plays a woman impersonating a man impersonating a woman. and Daryl Hannah begins passing.

1992 oops...


1993 Kurt Russell discovers eyeliner in Tombstone. Val Kilmer still upstages him.

1994 Guy Pearce cannot find a copy of The Texas Chainsaw Mascara. Still looking. Has now also misplaced his career. I swear that Guy. If his head weren't attached...

2006 Amanda Bynes in She's the Man finally replaces Barbra Streisand in Yentl as the world's most unbelievable and ugly boy. Babs sends 'thank you' note.

If you're here for the first time...
please check out the blog entire, homebase, and some other histories...
Jodie Foster * Bald Women * Sarah Jessica Parker *
Gay Cowboys * Julianne Moore's Screen Kids * Gyllenhaal
Enjoy!

Tags: She's The Man, gender, movies, Amanda Bynes, Barbra Streisand, celebrities, Rocky Horror, gay, transgender

Thursday Triple: Great 80s Oscar Losers

You can't see me but I'm bouncing off the walls. Drinking whole pots of coffee before 8 AM. Planning my Oscar Party. Writing. Trying to push this hellfire and brimstone vision out of my head. But I can't stop ~ It's Oscar Week.

Because I'm so sweet (and over-caffeinated) you get a triple "triple" today. This is Part One. I dedicate this to the people who deserve to win on Sunday night but who will surely lose. Heathcliff, I'm speaking to you! You aren't the first. You won't be the last.

3 Great Oscar Losing Lead Performances of the 80s
(I've excluded Pfeiffer and Turner from the running since we've already discussed both -click their names for a refresher on the discussions, if you will)



Dustin Hoffman's "Tootsie" loses to Ben Kingsley's "Gandhi" in (82)
One of the many times when playing a historical character cinched someone an Oscar that woulda been otherwise hard fought. Sir Kingsley is a superb talent so this isn't a knock against him so much as a "hello, have you seen what Dustin Hoffman does in Tootsie". That's a miracle of a performance in an amazing American comedy. I think it's Hoffman's best performance. All-Time. One of the best comedic performances. All-Time. There's no convincing me otherwise.

Glenn Close's "Fatal Attraction" loses to "Moonstruck" Cher (87)
I was a Cher-aholic in 1987 along with the rest of the known universe. "Baby I Found Someone" rocked that silly portable radio ghetto blaster in my bedroom. She got me babe. I was all about Cherilyn's trifecta that year: Witches of Eastwick, Suspect, and finally the Cher-apotheosis known as Moonstruck. But 20 years later... I can still hear Alex Forrest's threatening voice, can't you? 'She's not going to be ignored.'

Glenn Close's "Liaisons" lose to "The Accused" Jodie Foster (88)
If you are Glenn Close, you are probably still pissed.
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Previous Thursday Triples:
Cross-Eyed Divas
Nature Boys