The Quiet Man

I've never been a big fan of John Wayne. I think that's mostly because he did westerns and I don't really care for westerns. However, he did make a few movies where he didn't wear a cowboy hat. The Quiet Man was one of them.

Many actors have a counterpart of the opposite sex that often play opposite them in many movies. There's Bogey and Bacall, Tracey and Hepburn, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. John Wayne's Katharine Hepburn is Maureen O'Hara. Her most popular movie was probably Miracle on 34th Street. Other big titles were Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, How Green Was My Valley, and the original The Parent Trap.

In The Quiet Man, Wayne is an Irishman, Sean Thornton, returning to Ireland after living most of his life in America, to reclaim his family's property. Neighboring property owner Red Danaher (Victor McLaglen) wants the property, but Sean outbids him. Meanwhile, Sean falls in love with Red's sister Mary Kate (O'Hara), but Red refuses to allow him to marry her.

Sean, a former boxer, eventually wins approval, but as Sean is unaccustomed to the pride of the Irish and their customs, he has a difficult time appreciating what is important to others, which strains his marriage. He eventually loses respect from many, in addition to losing Mary Kate, and must fight to win her and everyone's respect back.

The best line of the movie is when someone asks Sean Thorton where he lived in America. He said he lived in Pittsburgh, if you can call that living. Hysterical!

The movie was filmed in color, but not by a high quality color film, so by today's standards it looks pretty bad. I initially thought it was a colorized black and white movie. The movie was mostly filmed in Ireland, home to many of the actors, including supporting actor Barry Fitzgerald.

The Quiet Man is 2 hours and ten minutes long. The movie was made in 1952 and directed by the famous John Ford, often considered the best director of all time. In fact, he won an Oscar for Best Director in The Quiet Man. The movie also won an Academy Award for Best Cinemotography. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Victor McLaglen), Best Art Direction, Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

I found the movie to be a bit long and without a clear direction. As acclaimed as the movie was, I only thought it to be moderately good. I did, however, enjoy the culturally appropriate music. And I always enjoy Barry Fitzgerald, especially when he's been a wee bit to the bottle.

I give The Quiet Man an even 3 stars.

Union Station

William Holden is one of my favorite actors of all time. I really didn't know anything about him until I was watching an old rerun of Magnum P.I. and Thomas Magnum said that William Holden was one of his favorite actors and his favorite movie was Stalag 17. I then got Stalag 17 from the library and loved it. I then got other Holden movies such as Sunset Boulevard and Sabrina and decided that Thomas Magnum was right - this guy is a great actor. Since then I've seen about 20 or more of his movies. And this is one of them.

In this classic crime drama, Union Station starts with a train ride where a young lady (Nancy Olson, who also starred in Sunset Boulevard) notices two suspicious characters getting on the train that she is riding, then notices one of them has a gun. She reports the issue to one of the conductors, but gets little empathy. Begrudgingly, the issue is reported and Lt. William Calhoun of the train police is brought in to investigate. Once the police get hot on the trail, they realize that another young lady may have been kidnapped and it becomes a cat and mouse chase.

Made in 1950, Union Station is a classic film noir. These are the types of movies your parents grew up on. I'm acting more like my parent's age than my own - I really liked this movie.

The movie also stars the famous Irish character actor Barry Fitzgerald as Inspector Donnelly, whom you may recognize from The Quiet Man and Going My Way. Others include Jan Sterling and Parley Baer, probably best known as the voice of Ernie Keebler of the cookie world.

Union Station has a decent plot, though there are no dramatic plot twists or spans of anxious tension (by today's standards). However, for being a classic crima drama, Union Station fills that niche and fills it well. Holden, as always, is strong, yet romantic.

I give Union Station 4.4 stars.

Roman Holiday

Like the girls of our era that idle such movies as The Princess Bride and The Princess Diaries, I would image that girls of the 1950's worshiped Roman Holiday as their Princess movie.

Roman Holiday was released in 1953 and stars Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. Peck, known for such classics as Twelve O'Clock High, Moby Dick, the Guns of Navrone, and the original Cape Fear, plays a journalist covering the news in post-World War II Italy. One evening he runs into a young lady played by Hepburn, most noted for Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady, who had been drinking and was in no condition to be lying on a park bench in the middle of the night. He takes her to his place to allow her to sleep it off.

Before she awakes he hears the news that a visiting Princess is missing. He puts two and two together and realizes that she is the Princess, but he never lets on that he knows who she is. Meanwhile, his buddy, Eddie Albert, helped him conceal her.

To play the game, Peck takes the Princess on a wonderful 1 day tour of Rome. She enjoys herself immensely, but finally she must return and breaks her silence. The next day at a ceremony, the Princess is presented to the press and is asked light questions about politics and travel. Peck and Hepburn exchange knowing glances at each other, but their secret is maintained as she retreats from the gaggle in classic Hepburn style.

In an interview in the 1980's Gregory Peck said that he found out that Carey Grant was first offered the lead role but turned it down. When asked about this Gregory Peck commented that he figured every role he got was something that Carey Grant had turned down.

Additionally, when the movie was finished, Peck was to be the headline on the marquee above the name of the movie and Audrey Hepburn, who was only 24 at the time, was to appear below the name of the movie. Peck demanded that Hepburn be above the title with his name as he knew that she was going to be a star.

Roman Holiday satisfied two of my obsessions. First, I think Audrey Hepburn is one of the finest and most attractive actresses ever. Gregory Peck, on the other hand, is a respectable and classic actor with his distinctive voice and chiseled face.

Roman Holiday is nearly 2 hours long. It is too old to be rated, but would probably get a PG rating, not because of anything like language or violence, only because if it was G, no one would go see it! Easily one of my favorite movies from the 1950's, Roman Holiday gets 5 stars.

Stalag 17

I keep a list of movies that I want to see at some point in my life. This weekend I had the opportunity to knock out 2 of them. The first was the previously reviewed Pleasantville. The second one is a classic black and white movie. A talkie. It was Stalag 17.

Now I would image that most people are not familiar with this movie unless you lived in the 1950's or are a big William Holden fan. I certainly cannot claim the former, but I can claim the latter.

Additionally, this movie was the inspiration for the late 1960's / early 70's T.V. comedy Hogan's Heros staring Bob Crane (Hogan), John Banner (Schultz, who ironically is played by a Jewish actor), Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink - also a Jew), and Richard Dawson (Newkirk). In fact, the guard in Stalag 17 was also named Schultz, and was an overweight, somewhat bafoonish guy, just like the Schultz of the T.V. fame. You may recall his famous catch-phrases, "I know nothing. NOTHING!"

Stalag 17 is like a comedic drama. There are plenty of laughs in the movie, from Shapiro (Harvey Lembeck) and Animal (Robert Strauss), as well as drama from Price (Peter Graves) and Lieutenant Dunbar (Don Taylor). The underlying theme of the movie opens with a failed attempt to have 2 prisoners escape through a tunnel. These prisoners are shot and killed as they exit the tunnel. Immediately everyone in the camp suspects a mole. The sarcastic Sefton (William Holden) is an immediate suspect because he bet dozens of cigarettes that they would not escape. He then barters his reward with the soldiers for an egg, an exotic meal in the prison camp.

Meanwhile, 2 Americans are captured and brought to the camp suspected of sabotage. If this is the case they would not be considered prisoners of war and would be eligible for execution. The camp musters a plan to capture the detained Dunbar and get him out of the camp. Sefton, in addition to wanting to help get Dunbar out of the camp, wants to identify the real mole and untarnish his name.

The movie is too old to be rated by the existing totalitarian MPAA and their evil ways, but I suspect that if it was rated, it would be PG-13 for some violence and some thematic elements, meaning tense situations. The movie is exactly 2 hours long.

I already consider this one of my all-time favorite movies and give it 5 stars. If you are a war-buff, Americana-buff, or a William Holden fan, get this movie on your list and watch it. On a side note, Thomas Magnum mentioned it as his favorite movie in an episode of Magnum, P.I. So if Magnum thinks it's a great movie, you KNOW it's a great movie.

Operation Petticoat

I have been trying to see the classics for a couple of years now. I'm not so sure that Operation Petticoat is considered a classic, but it does star Tony Curtiss (father of Jamie Lee) and Cary Grant, who is a classic actor. The movie was directed by Blake Edwards, director of the infamous Pink Panther movies and Breakfast at Tiffany's. The movie even casts minor roles for Marion Ross (Happy Days) and Dick Sargent (I Dream of Jeanie).

Operation Petticoat is a comedy about the U.S.S. Sea Tiger, a U.S. submarine during World War II. The movie follows the zany adventures of the sub and it's eclectic and often times dysfunctional crew members.

The movie starts off with an attack on the naval base and the Sea Tiger is sunk. Cary Grant (Lt. Commander Sherman) is given permission to raise and repair his ship, but only with a skeleton crew. Furthermore, he is given Naval dandy supply officer Lt. JG Nicholas Holden (Curtiss). Holden's naval experience does not exceed organizing some social activities for the Officers' Ladies Club.

Because of the shortage of supplies, Cmd Sherman cannot repair his ship. Holden, however, uses ingenuity and comes up with the supplies through some creative acquisitions.

Once off at sea, they attack a ship near an island, only to learn that some American nurses are trying to escape. The rest of the movie deals with interactions between the men and the women and Captain Sherman trying to maintain some sort of normalcy on their voyage. Things are only complicated when the ship needs to be primed and painted because of the recent repairs. The paint situations causes them to paint the ship pink.

This movie is clever and classical funny from the days of yore, not the in-your-face kind of funny of today's movies. Operation Petticoat was made in 1959, the same year that Grant starred in the critically acclaimed North By Northwest. Had it been rated by today's standards, it probably would have been rated PG-13 for theatrical violence and some sexual undertones.

I give this movie 4 stars. I enjoyed it, but remember that I have a bias towards older movies. But this one is in color, so don't be too afraid to watch it.

Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing

If you've ever seen Grease with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta you'll be pleasantly surprised by the opening of Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. And if Olivia Newton-John married John Travolta, would her name be Olivia Newton-John Travolta? Or Elton John - Olivia Newton-John John. Or Wayne Newton - Olivia Newton-John Newton. Or John Wayne - Olivia Newton-John Wayne. Or if she married John Wayne first then married Wayne Netwon - Olivia Newton-John Wayne Newton?

Back to the point. Remember when Sandy and Danny were rolling around in the surf at the beach before the opening credits of Grease? I know you do. The song that was playing was Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, and you'll be surprised that it is the theme song to said movie.

The movie stars William Holden as Mark Elliott, a journalist during the Korean War, and Jennifer Jones who plays Dr. Han Suyin, a Eurasian doctor in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, at the time Asian or mixed-Asian actors were not widely used except for minor roles, so Jones had some eye-work to make her look slightly Asian.

The two stars meet, but find that society shuns them because of their different races. Holden continues to pursue her, but as luck would have it, she is fired from her job from the hospital. He meets her family but it is evident that they do not accept him. Finally, he is sent off to Korea as fighting increases and she longs for him to return.

I'm sure in the mid-1950's, this was a sad and romantic tale. By modern standards it is a bit predictable. To Jones' credit, she was nominated for Best Actress for the movie and the movie itself was nominated for numerous theatrical categories for a movie, including Best Music, Best Sound Recording, Best Cinematography, etc…

The movie was produced in 1955, well before the highly secret society called the MPAA was created. However, if it had been rated, I'm sure that it would have been PG. The most scandalous thing in the movie is them kissing on the beach and him having admitted that he was still married. I don't even think William Holden threw a punch. An interesting note is that the movie spawned the soap opera of the same name, which lasted from 1967 to 1973 and starred Donna Mills.

As classic movies go, this one is pretty good. There are others that I would recommend first, but if you ever come across it, it's not bad. I give this movie 4 stars.