This blog is dedicated to the memory of David Weintraub, who took on insidious astroturfers and won.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

They Don't Make Movies Or Skits Like They Used To

Maybe it's because I'm getting older that I've been watching a lot of classic movies lately. Perhaps this is some attempt at turning back the clock or making up for lost time, for when I thought such things were outdated and didn't give them much of a chance. Great movies are simply not made anymore. The ones with scripts, actual dialogue and plots that make you think, are long gone.

A lot of good movies show up on youtube for free. Many remain, but the greats are eventually taken down due to copyrights. Some like Sunset Boulevard I did see years ago. I tried finding it, but unfortunately it's a no go. If you find a classic like that, watch it when you can. It might not be there the next day.

I did get to see most of the best pictures done by Montgomery Clift. I even got to watch The Misfits. Talk about a script being a bit too close to the truth for Monroe, Clift, and Gable.

I've been into Charles Boyer flicks. His thick French accent surprisingly enough isn't too tough to understand. Gaslight was very good. I also saw him with Bette Davis in All this and Heaven Too. That one is very good and based on truth. I think one thing a lot of young people don't get is that this modern age is not as old as it seems. You can watch a 1940's flick taking place in the 1800s. From there, one's not too far from the Industrial and Political Revolutions.

Bette Davis was proud that she never played the same character twice. It's true. Even with some movies where she played the same kind of person, there was something different to it. There's also something to be said for her longevity, as she had some mighty fine roles even into the 1980's. Somehow she was a player for seven decades.

It was amazing to finally see her play those wretched villian roles. One of them was in an epic called Whatever Happened To Baby Jane. That one was similar to Sunset Boulevard in how it attacked Hollywood in and of itself.

I've got two clips for you. The first is from the Baby Jane movie. Very scary stuff. Better than any of that goofy Halloween or Elm Street crap. The second clip is an adaptation of that Bette Davis/Joan Crawford movie starring legendary actors Sir Edward Grimley and Boris Burgess.






SCTV, 3/18/83 - "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY ED"

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