These are a few of my favorite things...

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday afternoon is tune in to a James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, or William Powell oldie or even a Clark Cable goldie  as long as they do not get too "sappy."

Don't misunderstand, I like love as well as the next person as long as the next person doesn't like really sappy love scenes (teary goodbye speeches, etc) with mushy, unrealistic, ridiculous dialogue. Most movie watchers enjoy a good heart tug, but there must be some limits.

The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Alnut) and Katherine Hepburn (Rose Sayer) ( love Katherine), is among my favorites because they had a very special way of falling in love and being absolutely offended by each other at the same time--at least at first. Too, this movie confirms anything is possible if you are stranded on a river with someone long enough and, that even mud, leeches, and Nazi Legions can't kill the real thing! How's that for romance?

Scarlett O'Hara, in Gone With The Wind, (and for all you really young and tuned out people, this is not the story of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit....no matter what people say) with her antebellum charms and her near-harlot ways could have learned a couple of things from the staunch missionary, Rosie.

Of course, Jimmy Stewart seemed quite adept in the heart-string tuggers. I suppose everyone has seen It's a 
Wonderful Life starring Jimmy with Donna Reed. While I can appreciate the intent of the message and while I watch it at least once every yuletide season, it is so "socially moralizing," with such redeeming value, I prefer Stewart in Zotz, or Harvey, or The Cheyenne Social Club.  Now, nobody get your dander up...I do like "socially moralizing" movies...it is just after you have watched it 3,000 times, you can't help but to root for the character to get on with his life and leave town like he always wanted to do...at least once. THEN, he can come back and save humanity!

I have never been a real big fan of westerns, not even John Wayne, but there are a few that fall in that category I find particularly entertaining. But, in most cases I'd rather get my early-American exposure from the likes of Oklahoma, Paint Your Wagon, (I know a lot of LDS people do not care for this movie...and it does kind of scrap your sensitivity...but it is only a movie...and we know better) or The Unsinkable Molly Brown.  Wyatt Earp and Jesse James hold little appeal for me as they were both outlaws...Earp just got into law enforcement...made a good cover and James held truer to his outlaw ways. If I am going to watch historical events, I would prefer they be real life not fiction.

Since war is beyond my comprehension, war movies hold no appeal for me at all and gutsy, muscle-bound heroes with extremely limited vocabularies, which have erupted at the box office in the past several years, only reinforce my Saturday afternoon fondness for Jimmy, Bogie, or even Cagney or Astaire.  Actually if faced with having to choose among, Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Francis the talking mule....well, at least Francis talked in whole sentences....

Catastrophic movies, i.e. Towering Inferno, Volcano, Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, et al, rate very low as entertainment, but the most catastrophic thing on celluloid has to be slapstick comedy!  I find it quite frustrating! Just tell me what is funny about three ugly men poking eyes, slapping faces, and smacking each other in the head. Falling down or being hit with a board is not funny....that is why I deplore America's Funniest Home Videos! But lest I should offend those of you who enjoy the slap-stick stuff...that's all I got to say about that---yes, I did love Forrest Gump.  Because life is indeed like a box of chocolates......

The last time I went to see a science fiction movie, it promised to "go where no man had gone before."  It turned out to be a documentary on Ellen Degeneris' bedroom. Today's movies just are not the same as my oldies and goldies!

Give me a good mystery or thriller, and I am set. I'm disappointed, however, if I can figure out "who dunnit" in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I would like to be able to at least be kept guessing until the opening credits are over.

Hitchcock was indeed a master of mayhem and macabre. Sometimes his movies worked as a cardiovascular exercise as the heart did tend to speed up at times while watching some of his work. As a teenager, I liked horror flicks, but today's veg-a-matic movies...i.e. Scream, Saw, etc... are absolute turn-offs. I like a discernible plot and these body-to-body contacts are ridiculous. Ah, give me "Sound of Music"  that is as bad as I want to get.


Today's multi-million dollar extravaganzas tend to pale in comparison with the older productions.

Suppose Gone With The Wind had been made present day rather than in the '30s---Mammy originally played by Hattie McDaniel, would be, no doubt cast as a wise-crackin', head-knocking, independent woman about town, who only works nine to five with Thursday and Sunday off. She would have a hollowed out rolling pin with a fillet knife hidden inside, a .380 semi-automatic nestled in her cleavage, and poison dart pen in her hair do! She would be played by Queen Latifah--or perhaps Mo'Nique.

Prissy, played by a tiny-voiced Butterfly McQueen as a simple-minded, sniveling girl in the '30s version, would be played by Whoopi Goldberg (only because she would be so good at it...Loved her in The Color Purple) responding to Scarlett's plea for help for Melanie Wilkes with "Girl, you know I don't do windows, I don't iron sheets, and I DON"T do  no babies!  My manicure, you know."

Scarlett O'Hara would be played by Megan Fox or maybe Fergie, Taylor Swift would make an excellent Miss Melanie while Brad Pitt would do an outstanding job as the notorious Rhett Butler. The fine featured Ashley Wilkes would without a doubt bring out the best in Chase Crawford...something should...and Father O'Hara would be wonderfully portrayed by Russell Crowe!  Oh, what images we can conjure!

It would more aptly be named "Scarlett Fiddles Around While Atlanta Burns."  Atlanta, of course, would be played by Jorge Garcia...I really like him...I remember when he did a recurring character part on the TV series Becker.

Our values have changed; our senses are being dulled by the entertainment we choose. Suggestive is no longer pertinent; everything must be explicit. The trend in movies, however, seems to be the same trend in society...all down hill...and, that is really too bad.


But Rhett, wherever shall we go and whatever shall we do? .....