Let's Spam About Gary Cooper - The TCMR Edition

jdb1 · Post by **jdb1** » April 19th, 2007, 11:27 am

pktrekgirl wrote:You got him confused with CARY GRANT???

Well, I can assure you that if you continue to hang out here in this thread, you will never have that confusion again.

Tell me Ken, what Gary Cooper films have you watched besides PRIDE OF THE YANKEES?

Which by the way is a great film! So sad...I cry at the end each time I see it.

Don't yell at Ken too loudly. I suffered from the same confusion when I was a little one, as I also confused Gregory Peck with Kirk Douglas, if you can believe such a thing. It's true. Part of the confusion stems from the way classic film actors were dressed, made up and lit on screen (especially since most of my experience of classic film was via television, and television reception was all that wonderful back in the day). By the time I was 11 or 12 I had figured it all out and gotten them straight.

bobhopefan1940 · Post by **bobhopefan1940** » April 19th, 2007, 11:27 am

It is hard to believe Gary playing a gangster, but I couldn't believe seeing him in The Westerner that he could play a convincing professor, but he certainly does in Ball Of Fire

I love Franchot Tone, too... He really is a scene stealer, even as he got older. You're absolutely right, he stole the show in The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer. That movie is one of my faves, because all the acting is really top notch. I didn't like much of his [Tone's] acting in Today We Live, I found it a bit odd the way he looked at Joan Crawford, his character's sister. I know he was in love with her at the time in reality, but play it down a little will ya?! Or maybe I was imagining things, what do you think? I liked Robert Young in that one, though.

Those girls sure can talk up a storm over there, but I commend them for staying on subject... Sometimes I'd go in there just to see how they could make that many posts referring to one person, but sure enough - Always about the Coop. One post made me angry, I have to be honest. I can't remember who posted, but they said something was odd about Cooper because he wore make-up in the pre-codes. Uh, didn't everyone? That's just specific to that era, it's not odd or strange and Cooper was no different from Bing Crosby (I've never seen one person wear so much make-up in a pre-code!)... or all the rest of them. Ok, I'm done venting.

lol

sugarpuss · Post by **sugarpuss** » April 19th, 2007, 1:18 pm

pktrekgirl wrote:I like The Plainsman. Don't expect it to be historically accurate or anything...but I think it's a good film.... I tend to enjoy his romantic comedies quite a bit...especially the ones where he plays this adorable innocent sort of character like in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Ball of Fire, and Meet John Doe.

Then I'll definitely be checking out The Plainsman. I've been hemming and hawing over it for awhile.

And I agree, from all the Gary Cooper movies I've seen, I love the ones where he's "adorably innocent". The only thing is that I felt so bad for him in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town! How everyone tried to make him out as this weirdo, when he was just merely eccentric! I like Jean Arthur, but I could have slapped her every time she wrote another one of those stories about him.

I've seen Meet John Doe, and while I enjoyed it, I have to admit I loved the Stanwyck/Coop paring more in Ball of Fire. I LOVE the scene where she kisses him for the first time! And then the expression on his face where he opens the door to fire the maid! Priceless. And where he catches himself bopping along to "Drum Boogie". He's really perfect in that role.

I've never seen The Cowboy and the Lady, so I'll have to check that one out. I know I kept meaning to watch it, but I always forgot that it was on. The same goes for Sergeant York.

A Farewell to Arms is really good too. I've seen the Coop version and the Rock Hudson version and really, the remake doesn't hold a candle to the original.

I also read her autobiography....or at least the parts related to Gary Cooper. And she is astonishingly frank about the whole thing. Which leads me to believe she is telling pretty much the whole truth about everything.

Now I want to read Patricial Neal's autobiography! What I really liked about her is that she seemed really honest about Coop. And she talked about him so fondly, it was hard for me not to enjoy her reminicing about him. Oddly enough, I've never seen The Fountainhead, just because the book turned me off so much. That's another one that keeps popping up on TCM and I never remember to tape it.

I thought they made a good looking couple though.

jdb1 wrote:as I also confused Gregory Peck with Kirk Douglas, if you can believe such a thing.

I can believe it, because it's happened to me too! It's taken me years to stop confusing David Niven and Alec Guinness. They were both tall men with English accents and it doesn't help that the first movie I saw was Murder by Death, where they're both cast. The list of actors that I've confused with other actors is just ridiculously long. Some of them are too embarrassing to mention here.

MissGoddess · Post by **MissGoddess** » April 19th, 2007, 2:44 pm

*Takes a BIG breath and lets her fingers fly*

Well how happy can a girl get, logging on and seeing the first Cooper thread already had two pages!!

And without a single post contributed by moi---yet!!

I'll soon make up for lost time. Lost time, indeed! I had WORK to do today! Who do they think they are??? Don't they realize I serve a strictly decorative function at the office?

Anyway, I will be posting in both forums for as long as I can, showing no favortism except toward the handsomest, most talented, most enchanting man to ever grace the silver screen.

Pktrekgirl: Thanks ever so for starting things off with a bang, especially with that rather fetching picture. Every girl I've shown it to has gasped at his charms...

Ken: I love The General Died At Dawn, so glad to see you enjoy it too. I actually tend to like Coop in his more serious, or naughty modes, and so I'm not as big a fan of Ball of Fire as I am of, say, Morocco. However, The Cowboy and the Lady may just be my favorite of all his comedies. It's a film that was plagued with problems and endless changes behind the scenes, but like other classics with similar troubles, it emerged very nearly perfect. Merle is exquisite in it, and she and Coop play off of one another with lightness and grace.

Sugarpuss: I can add my own endorsement of The Plainsman---Coop and Jean spat and play with one another, but the deep affection underneath is palatable. A romping good western.

Miss G

MissGoddess · Post by **MissGoddess** » April 19th, 2007, 2:48 pm

movieman1957 wrote:I don't think anyone mentioned (here) "The Private Lives of A Bengal Lancer." Really good action picture.

Tall, good looking and talent. No wonder you ladies like him.

It's really been a long time since I've seen Lancer, I may have to get it out this weekend. I love his adventure movies.

Has anyone seen Ronald Colman's silent Beau Geste? I wonder how it compares. It's supposed to be really superb, as I can imagine.

MissGoddess · Post by **MissGoddess** » April 19th, 2007, 2:55 pm

I hope no one minds, but I just have to post this. It's one of my all time favorite shots of Coop, along with the one Pktrekgirl debuted earlier.

pktrekgirl · Post by **pktrekgirl** » April 19th, 2007, 3:57 pm

^ That photo (and any others) are always appreciated. Post away! The only ones I have online are my own desktops and avatars...but I know you have more of an arsenal at your disposal.

One of these days I need to get a PhotoBucket account.

As for Ronald Colman's Beau Geste, it just so happens that I got this film in the mail over the weekend. Got it in a trade, in fact.

I'm exceedingly curious about this film for many reasons:

1. Want to compare the character with the Gary Cooper version.

2. Want to see if the story itself is any different/better.

3. While Gary Cooper is clearly my first obsession....Ronald Colman is not exactly far down the list of spongeworthy classic film stars.

Wouldn't exactly kick HIM out of bed for eatin' crackers either, if you know what I mean.....

JulieMarch4th · Post by **JulieMarch4th** » April 19th, 2007, 6:25 pm

Hi - I have to post here, too, and hopefully here I can keep up!

I LOVE Bengal Lancers. I think it's just about the perfect buddy picture. In fact, if I could find a picture of it, I'd like it for my avatar. I looked around yesterday and didn't find a good one. With all three heros.

It's interesting about Ball of Fire. I've seen it (or at least listened to the dialog in the background) several times, since it's been on TCM a lot lately. One thing finally struck me. . . Here's Coop, this extremely focused intelligent professer, and here's Barbara, undoubtedly a gorgeous woman. . . But she's not not just bringing looks to the table. . . that scene in the bedroom, when he's trying to give her the ring? And she says something about what she'd been reading the night before, because she had some time before she went to sleep. Bingo. She is not just a beautiful dancer. I always consider this an interesting twist on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. . .

Julie

feaito · Post by **feaito** » April 19th, 2007, 9:28 pm

What can I add to all that's been said? I have liked many actors & actresses of the Classic Era, but something different happened to me with Gary Cooper.

As a kid and a teenager I mostly knew Cooper through his later roles in films like "High Noon", "The Westerner", "Man of the West", "Pride of the Yankees" and "The Unconquered", in which his definitive persona was established. While most of his films from this period (1940-1961) are very good, I feel there's something repetitive in many of his wonderful performances ....

The biggest pleasure came when I began discovering Gary's films from the 1930s, especially from before 1937...I think he was such a talented, versatile, sensitive, skilled actor, before he was kind of streotyped in this sort of heroic, shy, even naive guy....so different from the (for example) kinky, playful, object of "desire" (of Eve Southern, Juliette Compton and of course Marlene) tongue-in-cheek rascal he played in the sexy "Morocco"; or the idealistic, eternally romantic architect he played in the ethereal "Peter Ibbetson"......or the earthy, passionate, romantic soldier he played in "A Farewell To Arms".....or the apt sophisticated comedian he became in "Desire" and in the ultra-sophisticated "Design for Living".....or the idealistic, sophisticated writer of "The Wedding Night". These are Gary's film in which I, at least, discovered his real versatility and talent as a full-fledged actor.

There is o denying that in his later films he did very good and he became an icon; I love many films of this Era, like "Meet John Doe" or "Ball of Fire"......but he lost in versatilty and variety.....he lost that "fresh" quality he had in his younger days in the 1930s.....Just my two cents.

pktrekgirl · Post by **pktrekgirl** » April 19th, 2007, 9:48 pm

JohnM wrote:All of my life, I listed Gary Cooper as one of my least favorite actors. As a kid, I thought he was the most boring screen personality I ever saw; but, recently, I watched BALL OF FIRE, and I loved it and thought he was great! I'm looking forward to, not exactly searching-out his films, but no longer avoiding them. Should be fun.

Glad you are willing to give him another chance. Hopefully you will continue to like him more as you see more of his films.

I never find him to be boring. Sometimes understated...but quite often even that is in a really fun and cute/awkward kind of way that is very entertaining and endearing.

If you liked BALL OF FIRE, give some of the other romantic comedies mentioned in this thread a chance...and see what you think then.

pktrekgirl · Post by **pktrekgirl** » April 19th, 2007, 10:00 pm

JulieMarch4th wrote:Hi - I have to post here, too, and hopefully here I can keep up!

I LOVE Bengal Lancers. I think it's just about the perfect buddy picture. In fact, if I could find a picture of it, I'd like it for my avatar. I looked around yesterday and didn't find a good one. With all three heros.

I actually have one photo of all three of them together...but the copy I have is very small...and wouldn't make a very good avatar. In the one I have, they are all leading against a wall...but Franchot Tone has on a hat and it it taken from a distance in any case...so you can barely tell who they are.

Maybe Miss G might have a better one.

MissGoddess · Post by **MissGoddess** » April 20th, 2007, 10:46 am

pktrekgirl wrote:^
As for Ronald Colman's Beau Geste, it just so happens that I got this film in the mail over the weekend. Got it in a trade, in fact.

I'm exceedingly curious about this film for many reasons:

1. Want to compare the character with the Gary Cooper version.

2. Want to see if the story itself is any different/better.

3. While Gary Cooper is clearly my first obsession....Ronald Colman is not exactly far down the list of spongeworthy classic film stars.

Wouldn't exactly kick HIM out of bed for eatin' crackers either, if you know what I mean.....

I'm currently reading Juliet Colman's biography on her Pop so I naturally was curious given she says it was one of his earliest big hits with the public. When Gary took up the role, the audiences at the time would doubtless remember Colman's version.

I really admire Colman's unique personality and gentlemanly qualities, which were the real thing. Very unusual anywhere, anytime, but particularly in Hollywood.

P.S. Dang! They've got me busy at work again today, and I'm peeved. Just when a new GC thread gets started, I have to be distracted by anything so mundane as earning my bread!

MissGoddess · Post by **MissGoddess** » April 20th, 2007, 10:52 am

JohnM wrote:All of my life, I listed Gary Cooper as one of my least favorite actors. As a kid, I thought he was the most boring screen personality I ever saw; but, recently, I watched BALL OF FIRE, and I loved it and thought he was great! I'm looking forward to, not exactly searching-out his films, but no longer avoiding them. Should be fun.

Hi John! Believe it or not, I had rather the same reaction to him previous to about as recent as two years ago. He just wasn't even on my radar of favorites. I don't know if it was seeing some knock-out still photographs or suddenly perking up and taking notice of his work in For Whom the Bell Tolls and Saratoga Trunk that did the trick, but I did a 180 turn in my opinion. Now, alas, I am a slave to my passion. Well, that is an exaggeration I assure you, but it's still inexplicable how I came to make such a vivid awakening in my opinion of one star.

I don't think Gary's skills are the fireworks type which calls attention to itself. He is so self-effacing and seemingly controlled in his demeanor, not to mention he does not use a wide range of vocal inflections, so it's easy to dismiss him as "wooden" and not exciting. It's when you take the closer look and the time to pay closer attention that you realize the magic at work. I wonder if part of the problem in my case, anyway, is seeing his movies on TV. I bet I would have "gotten" his star quality sooner had I seen him on the big screen from the start.

Miss G

MissGoddess · Post by **MissGoddess** » April 20th, 2007, 10:59 am

feaito wrote:What can I add to all that's been said? I have liked many actors & actresses of the Classic Era, but something different happened to me with Gary Cooper.

As a kid and a teenager I mostly knew Cooper through his later roles in films like "High Noon", "The Westerner", "Man of the West", "Pride of the Yankees" and "The Unconquered", in which his definitive persona was established. While most of his films from this period (1940-1961) are very good, I feel there's something repetitive in many of his wonderful performances ....

The biggest pleasure came when I began discovering Gary's films from the 1930s, especially from before 1937...I think he was such a talented, versatile, sensitive, skilled actor, before he was kind of streotyped in this sort of heroic, shy, even naive guy....so different from the (for example) kinky, playful, object of "desire" (of Eve Southern, Juliette Compton and of course Marlene) tongue-in-cheek rascal he played in the sexy "Morocco"; or the idealistic, eternally romantic architect he played in the ethereal "Peter Ibbetson"......or the earthy, passionate, romantic soldier he played in "A Farewell To Arms".....or the apt sophisticated comedian he became in "Desire" and in the ultra-sophisticated "Design for Living".....or the idealistic, sophisticated writer of "The Wedding Night". These are Gary's film in which I, at least, discovered his real versatility and talent as a full-fledged actor.

There is o denying that in his later films he did very good and he became an icon; I love many films of this Era, like "Meet John Doe" or "Ball of Fire"......but he lost in versatilty and variety.....he lost that "fresh" quality he had in his younger days in the 1930s.....Just my two cents.

Hi Featio! Thank you for summing up so well Gary's appeal and wide-range of characters in the 1930s. Some of my favorites by him are from that period, and you named several but I'll also add The General Died at Dawn---an exciting adventure/spy story but with bits of humor to lighten it up. It reminds me of an early pre-cursor to Indiana Jones.

Many people don't realize how talented he was to perfectly embody two vastly different personas: the naif to whom things happened and the determined hero who made things happen.

Miss G

The Silver Screen Oasis

The Silver Screen Oasis

Let's Spam About Gary Cooper - The TCMR Edition