The Silver Screen Oasis

Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 6:04 pm Dargo -- Vince Edwards, UGH!!! Hirsute City!!! I have never been attracted to hairy men. I like them blonde and relatively hairless. My teenage crush was James Franciscus as the teacher in Room 222.

I think you meant to say James Franciscus as the teacher in 'Mr. Novak' here, Bronxie.

Actor Lloyd Haynes was the good looking male teacher in 'Room 222', but he wasn't blond of course...



(...but then again, he wasn't particularly hairy as I recall, either)

One of Woody Allen's earliest films,What's Up Tiger Lily? features a Japanese James Bond-type film, overdubbed by Woody's hilarious dialogue. My favorite lines:

"Gangsters have stolen my secret recipe for egg salad. And not only that, they kill, they maim, and they call Information for numbers they could easily look up in the book."

Here's a description of the film:

"The country of Rashburg (which is NOT YET on the globe) has hired Phil Moscowitz, a secret agent, to find the recipe of the great egg salad - which had been stolen by an extortionist, Sheppard Wong. Two sisters from Rashburg, Teri and Suki Yaki, are assigned to help Phil bring back the recipe. But another swindler also wants his hands on the recipe... Wing Fat. Can Phil, Teri and Suki succeed in bringing the recipe safely back in the hands of Rashburg?"

Quite an experimental film for that time. Woody Allen is certainly a unique artist imo.

Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 6:04 pm . . . I have never been attracted to hairy men. I like them blonde and relatively hairless . . .

(Ahem!) Present!

Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 6:15 pm My favorite scene in any Woody Allen movie: From BANANAS -- Woody, joining the revolutionaries, goes into a jungle shop and proceeds to order for the hungry group as if he were at a New York deli.

Again, for me, Woody Allen's pre-Annie Hall comedies are my favorites in his oeuvre. I consider him the preeminent comedian and humorist of his generation. In his prime, Allen's jokes, one-liners, and wit (in literature and cinema), IMO, were nonpareil and in a singular class by themselves. Case in point from Bananas, the dialogue of which sometimes deftly mimics the droll, fast-paced wordplay in early Marx Brothers comedies:

Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen): "I once stole a pornographic book that was printed in Braille. I used to rub the dirty parts."


Rebel Leader: "You are accused of killing over a thousand people in your term of office . . . of torturing hundreds of women and children. How do you plead?"

Diaz: "Guilty . . . with an explanation."


Rebel Leader: "In event of snake bite, you make an incision and you suck out the poison. Remember, you must suck out the poison. What do you do?"

First Rebel Soldier: "Suck out the poison."

Second Rebel Soldier: "Suck out the poison."

Third Rebel Soldier: "Suck out the poison."

Fielding Mellish: "I will not, I cannot suck anybody's leg who I am not engaged to."

Snake Bite Lady: (running topless through the camp, clasping her breast) "Snake bite! I got bitten by a snake! I got bitten by a snake! Help! Snake bite! Help!"

Mellish and his fellow rebel soldiers instantly run after her, in hot pursuit.


Fielding Mellish: "I was a nervous child. I was a bed wetter. When I was younger, I . . . uh . . . I used to sleep with an electric blanket and I was constantly electrocuting myself."


Esposito: "You have a chance to die for freedom."

Fielding Mellish: "Yes, well, freedom is wonderful. On the other hand, if you're dead, it's a tremendous drawback to your sex life."


Prosecutor: "Your witness."

Fielding Mellish: "Officer Dowd, have you ever had sexual relations with a girl with really big breasts?"

Policeman: "Yes, Sir. I did."

Fielding Mellish: "Mmm-hmm. And how did you find it?"

Policeman: "Very . . . erotic."

Fielding Mellish: "I was just checking."


Fielding Mellish: "I move for a mistrial! Do you realize there's not a single homosexual on that jury?"

Judge: "Yes there is."

Fielding Mellish: "Oh, really! Which one? Is it the big guy at the end?"


Fielding Mellish: "I had a good relationship with my parents. They very rarely h . . . I think they hit me once, actually, in my whole childhood. They, they . . . uhh . . . started beating me on the 23rd of December in 1942 and stopped beating me in the late Spring of '44."


Fielding Mellish: (nervously speaking at a fundraiser dinner, while posing as the San Marcos president) "Although the United States is a very rich country, and San Marcos is a very poor one, there are a great many things we have to offer your country in return for aid. For instance, there . . . there are locusts. We have more locusts. There are locusts of all races and creeds. These, these locusts, incidentally, are available at popular prices. And so, by the way, are most of the women of San Marcos. Now then, despite the tiny size of our nation, few people realize that we lead the world in hernias. They also fail to realize that before Columbus discovered your country, he . . . he stopped in San Marcos and contracted a disease which today can be cured with one shot of penicillin."


Fielding Mellish: "I'm not suited to this job. Where do I come off testing products? Machines hate me. I should be working at a job that I have some kinda aptitude for, like donating sperm to an artificial insemination lab."


Roger Grimsby: "Fielding Mellish, the President of San Marcos, goes on trial tomorrow for fraud, inciting to riot, conspiracy to overthrow the government, and using the word 'thighs' in mixed company."


Fielding Mellish: "I love you, I love you."

Nancy (Louise Lasser): "Oh, say it in French! Oh, please, say it in French!"

Fielding Mellish: "I don't know French."

Nancy: "Oh, please . . . please!"

Fielding Mellish: "What about Hebrew?"

Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 5:42 pm Andree, have you ever seen the screaming Lee J. Cobb Christmas tree on YouTube?

Now, for screeching, I nominate James Stewart. No one screeches like Jimmy.

I just checked it out. A Douglas fir no less. Pretty funny, but there's nothing like the real deal.
I love Cobb going over the top, though he's done many fine roles where he is fairly restrained.



Another things Jimmy is good at is the sudden psycho eye movement. He starts out calm, then gets angry and all of a
sudden he's looking around, often in closeup, like a rabid dog trying to bite his foot off. And sometimes there's a
screech too, like the boy next door just went totally nuts. Twisted, baby.

I was planning to watch The Yearling tonight anyway. I've tried to ignore it. A boy and his deer. Get me outta here.
Of course much of the photography is wonderful and as a piece of country cornpone it's relatively charming, if rather
unoriginal. I'm not a zoologist, but instead of all those life lessons and homilies, why not move the deer miles away or
do deer act like homing pigeons? I have nothing against deer. A half dozen or so are in the backyard three or four times
a week and they're interesting to watch.

Dargo wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 6:42 pm

Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 6:04 pm Dargo -- Vince Edwards, UGH!!! Hirsute City!!! I have never been attracted to hairy men. I like them blonde and relatively hairless. My teenage crush was James Franciscus as the teacher in Room 222.

I think you meant to say James Franciscus as the teacher in 'Mr. Novak' here, Bronxie.

Actor Lloyd Haynes was the good looking male teacher in 'Room 222', but he wasn't blond of course...



(...but then again, he wasn't particularly hairy as I recall, either)

LOL!

Andree wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 10:25 pm

Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2023, 5:42 pm Andree, have you ever seen the screaming Lee J. Cobb Christmas tree on YouTube?

Now, for screeching, I nominate James Stewart. No one screeches like Jimmy.

I just checked it out. A Douglas fir no less. Pretty funny, but there's nothing like the real deal.
I love Cobb going over the top, though he's done many fine roles where he is fairly restrained.



Another things Jimmy is good at is the sudden psycho eye movement. He starts out calm, then gets angry and all of a
sudden he's looking around, often in closeup, like a rabid dog trying to bite his foot off. And sometimes there's a
screech too, like the boy next door just went totally nuts. Twisted, baby.

I was planning to watch The Yearling tonight anyway. I've tried to ignore it. A boy and his deer. Get me outta here.
Of course much of the photography is wonderful and as a piece of country cornpone it's relatively charming, if rather
unoriginal. I'm not a zoologist, but instead of all those life lessons and homilies, why not move the deer miles away or
do deer act like homing pigeons? I have nothing against deer. A half dozen or so are in the backyard three or four times
a week and they're interesting to watch.

Haven't seen the film in awhile, but I think the kid does take the deer out in the forest but he finds his way back (free eats!).

Hibi wrote: ↑March 24th, 2023, 11:17 am

Haven't seen the film in awhile, but I think the kid does take the deer out in the forest but he finds his way back (free eats!).

He does take the deer away and it does come back. Then Big Mama shoots it, but just wings it and Jody then shoots it to
put it out of its misery. But he feels so bad he runs away, but eventually is retuned home and reconciles with his father and
mother. so then he can take over the farm someday and become a man. Hey, whatever. I think it works best as a mostly
charming tale of rural life in that time period. I could do without the moralizing streak that runs throughout.

kingrat wrote: ↑March 24th, 2023, 11:28 am

I see 12 Angry Men quite differently. Henry Fonda is a master manipulator, realizing just who to go after at each point in the proceedings. The way Fonda makes Lee J. Cobb break down is as effective as it is cruel and ruthless. This is not at all what the script intended, but that is what is up there on the screen. This is Survivor or Big Brother played out in a jury room.

Of course, in real life there would have been a mistrial because of Fonda's purchase of a duplicate weapon.

Yes, I'm sure that wasn't the message Fonda the producer wanted to get across. His character is a very talented manipulator
of others. I guess one could give the excuse that being initially outvoted 11 to 1 he had to work hard to gradually turn the tide,
usually one at a time. I think some of the late holdouts like Jack Warden really didn't care anymore about the verdict, they just
wanted to get the heck out of there. And there are a few shots of Fonda sort of grinning to himself as if he's thinking one more
down, another getting ready to go. I enjoyed E.G. Marshall's character. Cobb is the muscle and emotion for the guilty verdict
while Marshall is the brains. He does put forth a lot of good counter arguments against Fonda. Then comes the glasses marks
on the side of the nose theory, and it's all over. Cobb is such a mean guy for much of the picture that when Fonda breaks him down,
it's hard to feel much sympathy for him, at least for his actions prior to his breakdown. Even with all those caveats I still see
Fonda as the hero of the movie, if a flawed one.

Andree wrote: ↑March 24th, 2023, 3:50 pm

kingrat wrote: ↑March 24th, 2023, 11:28 am

I see 12 Angry Men quite differently. Henry Fonda is a master manipulator, realizing just who to go after at each point in the proceedings. The way Fonda makes Lee J. Cobb break down is as effective as it is cruel and ruthless. This is not at all what the script intended, but that is what is up there on the screen. This is Survivor or Big Brother played out in a jury room.

Of course, in real life there would have been a mistrial because of Fonda's purchase of a duplicate weapon.

Yes, I'm sure that wasn't the message Fonda the producer wanted to get across. His character is a very talented manipulator
of others. I guess one could give the excuse that being initially outvoted 11 to 1 he had to work hard to gradually turn the tide,
usually one at a time. I think some of the late holdouts like Jack Warden really didn't care anymore about the verdict, they just
wanted to get the heck out of there. And there are a few shots of Fonda sort of grinning to himself as if he's thinking one more
down, another getting ready to go. I enjoyed E.G. Marshall's character. Cobb is the muscle and emotion for the guilty verdict
while Marshall is the brains. He does put forth a lot of good counter arguments against Fonda. Then comes the glasses marks
on the side of the nose theory, and it's all over. Cobb is such a mean guy for much of the picture that when Fonda breaks him down,
it's hard to feel much sympathy for him, at least for his actions prior to his breakdown. Even with all those caveats I still see
Fonda as the hero of the movie, if a flawed one.

Yep. Cobb is a bully (as he so often is in movies). Fonda's breaking the bully down makes for entertaining viewing.

Dargo, thanks! I got my back-in-the-day school series mixed up -- it was Mr. Novak. (Lloyd Hanes was good-looking too. Wasn't Karen Valentine's character a little infatuated with him?)

THE YEARLING has a beautiful musical score. Not that I necessarily think Peck's Penny Baxter was Oscar material; after all, who could compete with THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES post-WWII zeitgeist, but, I do so love Greg in the role.

Millstone, it is obvious you love BANANAS as much as I do. The Latin supporting cast is perfect. The dictator excoriating Woody's manners: "He comes here with pastries but doesn't even offer an assortment" Allen may have a problematical relationship with his ethnic heritage but its idiosyncratic humor is always present.

Andree, I was watching DEAR BRIGITTE not too long ago (it is on the Fox Channel rotation) where Jimmy lets out an unexpected shriek on the college campus where his character teaches poetry. (he's upset because the faculty emphasizes science over art) Good call on Stewart's eye movements. I recall he makes fine use of those blue orbs in THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER.

I've noticed it on the FX schedule but never was that interested in watching it, though I've seen parts of it over the years.
Danger, Will Robinson! The psycho moment about to begin is most noticeable to me in It's a Wonderful Life and to a lesser
extent in Vertigo. It's especially shocking in the former, as Jimmy is a regular guy with some degree of frustration about
how his life turned out, then it all explodes in his eyes. Yikes, pretty frightening.

Intrepid37 wrote: ↑March 25th, 2023, 12:04 am

Yep. Cobb is a bully (as he so often is in movies). Fonda's breaking the bully down makes for entertaining viewing.

Yeah, Cobb's character is hard to sympathize with and Fonda has to give him one last push. It's obvious that part of
Cobb's stubbornness is due to the issues he's having with his son. He does bully some of the other jurors, those he sees
as weaker than himself. But this time he doesn't have extra muscle behind him like Johnny Friendly did.