Is this the end?

things are not going very well for me right now. I will be taking a break from movie blogs. If you have read these blogs I do thank you.

August 4 Louis Armstrong

To celebrate Louis Armstrong’s birthday I watched A Song is Born. The film is a musical version of Ball of Fire. Danny Kaye and company are recording music. He realizes that they have been working for so long on the recordings that they did not know about jazz. Danny goes out into the world to hear it and invite the artists to the mansion to record. One of those musicians is Louis Armstrong. Louis basically is himself. He has a small role and a few spoken lines but is often on camera.

Enough is enough and there will be no more.

August 3 Delores del Rio

Happy Birthday to Tony Bennett and Delores del Rio

To celebrate Delores del Rio’s birthday I watched In Caliente. Pat O’Brian’s eyes glaze over for 2 things liquor and Delores del Rio. Pat plays an editor to a big New York magazine. Edward Everett Horton plays his friend and assistant. Pat is supposed to marry Glenda Farrell and Edward thinks she is a gold digger. Pat gets drunk and sleeps it off for over a day as Edward takes him unconscious to Caliente Mexico. Delores is a guest at the hotel, she is a famous dancer/singer. Her manager is a card cheat. Through a misunderstanding Edward thinks that she is an “adventuress” and hires her to entertain Pat, because upon seeing her Pat stated (paraphrasing) that was a woman he could give up drinking for. Delores agrees because Pat wrote a bad review of her performance in New York the year earlier. He called her “bag of bones”.

Pat falls for her. He falls in love very quickly. Edward tells Pat what he did. Pat still wants to marry her, but for revenge. Glenda then shows up when Delores and Pat are in an intimate moment. They argue and she won’t see him again. She decides to dance in the hotels show that night to prove to Pat that she is a good entertainer. In a very strange Berkley number there are horses and bandits as part of the production. Pat realizes he really is in love with Delores and chases after her. He gets her in the end and they marry.

The big production number is The Woman In Red. In the Berkley collection there is just a scene of the musical so I was interested in the movie. It is a 1935 release and I wonder how the costumes got through the production code. There is not a lot of skin showing but the gowns look like there is a lot of mesh with strategically placed embroidery.

Delores looks her best in this film. She is stylish and graceful. She flows when she moves. She has great facial bone structure. She pool dives a few times and seems like an expert, an arch down and there was very little splash.

July 31 Geraldine Chaplin

Happy Birthday to Geraldine Chaplin and Barry Van Dyke.

TCM showed Peppermint Frappe which stared Geraldine Chaplin technically the day after her birthday. This movie creeped me out a little bit. Geraldine plays a duel role. One as a brunette with a peaches and cream complexion, nurse who is somewhat dowdy and a wild blond, pale complexion who is married to the doctors best friend. The doctor seeing the similarities between the women seduces the nurse. The doctor invites the nurse and his married friends to dinner. The friends liberally drink. The nurse is late and the blond decides to go find her. She rides a bike with her husband following her. The nurse is hiding in the shadows of the house. The blond collapses and then her husband. The doctor follows in the car. He puts them both in the car. He drives to a cliff, gets out and then pushes the car off the cliff. When he gets back to the house the brunette is pretending to be the blond. They kiss. The end..

I really didn’t get the film. There was something about eyelashes and lipstick and legs (ok I get the legs) that was just weird. I don’t get why he spiked the drinks and killed the couple. I thought at first that maybe the brunette was jealous and spiked the drinks, but I watched the film again trying to understand the film and the doctor did not drink. He held the class but never actually drank.

August 1 Yvonne DeCarlo

At first I was worried about not being able to find most of the films for the August birthdays. There are two stars who have days devoted to them this month that were born in August, Lucille Ball (on her birthday) and Joan Blondell (not on her birthday). There are 8 others that have films being shown throughout the month. I am going to follow the order that is being shown, not necessarily the day.

To celebrate Yvonne DeCarlo’s birthday I watched Criss Cross. The beginning of the film shows her in the arms of Burt Lancaster in a parking lot. She goes inside club where her husband Dan Duryea is looking for her. In a flashback you find out that Burt and Yvonne were married. They talk about getting back together. Burt’s family and friends threaten her and tell her she is poison to stay away from Burt. She marries Dan, who beats her. Burt and Yvonne spend time together while Dan is out of town. Dan finds out and blackmails Burt who is an amour car driver into working on a heist. Something goes wrong and Burt’s partner is killed.

Burt is injured and hospitalized. The gang want the rest of the money and drag him out of the hospital. He convinces the man to take money and drive him to Yvonne. Yvonne is upset that he is there knowing Dan isn’t far behind. Yvonne packs to leave, taking the money and plans to leave Burt there, because you have to take care of yourself and an ill man would slow her down. As she leaves a car pulls up. It is Dan. Yvonne runs back into the house screaming Burt’s name. She runs to his arms, Dan comes in limping and he looks awful. Dan pulls out a gun and kills the couple. The sound of police sirens come closer and Dan leaves the house. The end. It seems to end abruptly. There are not really any good guys in the film, but there are different levels of badness. Burt who grudgingly went along. Yvonne is out for herself and will take what she can get. Dan who is just mean and nasty.

Yvonne will probably be most well known as Lilly Munster, but she is a talented beautiful actress.

July 27 Lynda Carter

Happy Birthday to Lynda Carter and Jennifer Lopez.

To celebrate Lynda Carter’s birthday I watched the first season of Wonder Woman. There are 3 Halloween costumes I remember wearing: a sailor suit (my dad’s), Cinderella and Wonder Woman. The last two were the plastic dress and cape and a plastic mask that had a string that didn’t stay connected and little holes for the mouth (which felt like it was hard to breathe) and eyes (which made it difficult to see).

I forgot the story took place as it was originally written in the comic books during WWII. Henry Gibson and Kenneth Mars play Nazi soldiers who plot to bomb NY with a plane and a submarine. Lyle Waggoner plays a US officer/pilot who goes after the Nazi plane. He shoots down the plane and looses his own plane in the process. He lands on a beach where Lynda Carter, a princess finds him. Her mother is played by Cloris Leachman, a well jeweled Queen who created the Paradise Island where there are no men, but the Queen acts like she misses one aspect of men.

To decide who will take Lyle back to his own country a tournament is held. The princess is not to compete and decides to go into the country. The women are masked per tradition. The Princess wins. She is given a belt for protection and a golden lasso which forces the person wrapped in it to tell the truth. She already has the bracelets that are bullet proof. She gets the flag outfit and the red boots and calls herself Wonder Woman. The outfit causes quite a stir on the 1940’ crowd.

Stella Stevens is a Nazi spy who is working as a secretary for Lyle at the defense department. Red Buttons is working with her, but you don’t know that at first. His part is as a theatrical agent who witnesses Wonder Woman take care of bank robbers including deflecting bullets. To get money she agrees to a show. An older woman working with Stella Stevens has a machine gun in her valise. Wonder Woman deflects all the bullets with a smile.

Wonder Woman takes down the Nazi plane and crashes it into the U boat. She takes down the Nazi spies and saves Lyle. Her secret identity is the secretary for Lyle at the defense department. Clark Kent glasses and all. I like the transition scenes Lynda spins to become Wonder Woman. If only it were that easy.

July 25 Walter Brennan

To celebrate Walter Brennan’s birthday I watched A Stolen Life. Walter plays a lighthouse keeper. A salty land sea dog. He agrees to pose for a portrait for Bette Davis for a ship in a bottle that he states was promised to him when his friend died.

Bette Davis plays twins. Kate and Pat. Kate falls in love with Glenn Ford, who works at that lighthouse with Walter. They go out on a few dates but Pat steals him away and Pat and Glenn marry. Kate throws herself into her painting to get over her broken heart. She meets Dane Clark a struggling artist who mentors her painting. When Glenn asks Kate’s help to pick out a birthday present for Pat she gladly agrees but is disappointed in Glenn when doesn’t say anything about her birthday. She goes back to her house where Dane is waiting for her. He comes on strong and kisses Kate and she runs away. She goes back to the cottage and Pat is there. She did not go away with Glenn on his new job. The woman go sailing and a big storm comes up. Pat slips overboard. Kate tries to save her but Pat slips away and the ring comes off Pat‘s finger. Walter sees what happens from his lighthouse. Pat’s ring is on Kate’s finger when she awakens.

Walter tells “Pat” it s not her fault that he saw what happened and that she tried to save her sister. Kate plays the role of Kate. When Glenn returns because of Kate’s death he states that after the affairs are settled that “Pat” should go to Reno to get a divorce. Turns out Pat is involved with another man and have been with others during her marriage. Kate decides to leave Glenn due to Pat’s past. She doesn’t want to put Glenn through anymore pain and humiliation. Kate goes back to the cottage and her guardian, Charles Ruggles suspected it really was Kate. Glenn knew it was Kate with her parting words.

I feel bad for the Dane Clark character. I think he was interested in Kate, but she was in love with Glenn and he never stood a chance with her. Dane Clark was equal to Bette Davis, where I don’t think Glenn Ford was.

July 27 Keenan Wynn

To celebrate Keenan Wynn’s birthday I watched The Patsy. Keenan, Peter Lorre, Everett Sloan, Ina Balen and John Carradine play the entourage to a star who dies and decide to create a new star based on what they learned. Jerry Lewis is that man, The Patsy. This is probably my second favorite Jerry Lewis film with the second best entrance.

This film like most of Keenan’s film he plays a supporting character. There are a lot of back of the head shots of him and the others as the center of attention is Lewis. Keenan is the public relations agent who wears the same grey plaid suit throughout the film. When Lewis laughs at Hedda Hopper’s umbrella stand hat Keenan goes up to her to “clean up”. When Hedda says he is a natural talent, Keenan takes the credit and boasts success.

At the end when Lewis is a smashing success in an unbelievable Ed Sullivan skit, when Lewis states that he will need a new secretary, Keenan is the first to stand up and defend her. When Lewis states he wants a wife that states he wants his wife to stay home and take care of the children the men scatter like leaves in the wind.

July 30 Peter Bogdanovich

To celebrate Peter Bogdanovich's birthday I watched They All Laughed which Peter wrote and directed. The first credit on the screen to dedicate the film to Dorothy Stratten. A woman takes a man in a cab to the docks listening to country music in New York City with the World Trade Center Towers in the background. There are a lot of great views of New York City. Long shots of people walking with music playing, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. Roller skating to Sing, Sing, Sing with neon lights and disco clothes seems surreal. John Ritter has a number of slapstick moments, tripping over his feet, a drinking straw goes up his nose, almost trips into a floor fountain, walks into a mannequin and he falls over skating. The stories all tie together as the main characters are detectives following women. The men fall for the woman they are following. Ben Gazzara for Audrey Hepburn and John Ritter for Dorothy Stratten.

The end credits list the actors name and a brief glimpse into the characters life. George and Ira Gershwin get a particular thank you in the end credits. And the last title is We thank the people of Manhattan, on whose island this picture was filmed.

The film is an interesting one but I am not really sure that I could explain the plot. In the special features Peter states this is his favorite film because it is most like him. It is his sense of humor, romantic, urban and in New York City. John Ritter plays Peter, glasses and all.

July 29 Theda Bara

Happy Birthday Theda Bara, Clara Bow, William Powell and Thelma Todd.

To celebrate Theda Bara’s birthday I watched A Fool There Was. Theda plays a Vampire (a seductress not the other kind that is very popular right now). She uses men for her own gain and doesn’t care what happens to the men. She uses all of her feminine charm to seduce men and make them bend to her will. A man pulls a gun on her stating he will kill her for what she has done. She very lightly pushes the gun away and he realizes that he cannot kill her and kills himself. Theda laughs as he pulls the trigger (we are told, this can’t be shown in 1915). She has a new victim, a happily married man who she seduces on the boat to Italy. When they come back the mans family and friends try to get him back but he is fully wrapped around her finger and falls weak and trembling to her.

I don’t get what makes her a seductress. The only thing I can think of is that she is an independent woman who cares about her own comfort and not others. She kisses in public where most don’t. Her cloths don’t seem fast but are bright and colorful compared to the white Victorian clothing the other women wear.

On the DVD a special feature has that Rudyard Kipling wrote is poem, The Vampire, based upon a painting. Porter Emerson Brown wrote the Broadway play based upon the poem which eventually became the movie. The poem was often read before the showing of the film (it is listed on the title cards).

Theda Bara was part of what may be the very first publicity stunts. The studio put out a fictional biography that she was an exotic Arabian actress. Later they made an intentional leak that it was a hoax.

July 28 Joe E. Brown

Happy Birthday to Rudy Vallee and Joe E. Brown.

TCM celebrated Joe E. Brown’s birthday with a marathon of films. I watched On With The Show. The film stars Arthur Lake stars as the leading actor in a local theater troupe. Joe plays the comedian in the same group. Most of the film takes place backstage before during and after a show. Joe’s big scene is a dance number where is energetic and stylish as Gene Kelly as leggy as Charlotte Greenwood and a hint of Buster Keaton. He does flips and cartwheels. You clearly see his face and know he is actually doing the moves. The film drags. But this scene and Ethel Waters make the film worth watching. Ethel’s scenes seem separate from the rest of the film. I wonder if like the Nicholas Brothers scenes in films, that Ethel’s scenes were edited out of the southern states releases. The other big scene rivaled a Ziegfeld number. Women in beautiful gowns and head dresses parading down steps and the stage. This is a 1929 film and they talk and talk and talk. I don’t recognize many of the actors. The film is based on a across stage musical, so most of the actors could be from the stage. One actor’s name is Thomas Jefferson. That is a name you won’t forget.

The first time I saw Joe E. Brown was in Some Like It Hot. My favorite movie line is “Well, Nobody’s Perfect”. He has the great honor of saying that line to Jack Lemon. Joe and Jack dancing is my favorite part of the film. I know people went to see the film for Marilyn Monroe and the barely there dress, but I just fast forward through that. Seduction you can see in any movie. Two men dancing, one in drag, you don’t see very often.

July 26 Jean Shepard

Happy Birthday to Blake Edwards, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Kubrick, Jason Robards and Jean Shepard.

TCM celebrated Blake Edwards birthday. TCM has not been showing a full day of films for directors lately. I like the directors day. There is usually a variety of films. Edwards directed comedy, drama and musicals. At the library this past weekend I found some Jean Shepard Cds. They are from 1960’s WOR New York radio broadcasts. Jan Shepard the writer and radio announcer not to be confused with singer Jean Shepard. As I was looking up some information I found out that his birthday was today. So I decided to write about him. I don’t know if the material is available to download so I am not downloading it on the site. I have written a few items, not word for word but close. I could not get the CD to pause and play very well on my CD player. The CD is full of philosophy and sociology and human nature told in a very humorous way. He talks a lot. There are a few commercial breaks (not aired) but it is mainly him talking the entire time with music occasionally playing. Shepard was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2005.

“Have you noticed the monster craze lately? There are kits that you can customize a monster. 75 to 100 years from now people are going to be collecting this clop. There is a monster kit that is fully transistorized. It looks like Dracula, Frankenstein and with just a little touch of the Thing with a little Debbie Reynolds thrown in. Disney and his monsters are all lovable you can’t worry about a Walt Disney monster and that is the Debbie Reynolds influence in a Boris Karloff world.” (this is probably my favorite.)

“Stuck in my mind since I first heard my mother say “There is no rest for the wicked” like a clove stuck in a piece of ham.”

“More and more we’re beginning to look upon our life, our whole existence as one slapstick comedy.”

He is probably most famous for narrating A Christmas Story (which he also had a cameo and worked on the screenplay), which was based upon his book In God We Trust (All Others Pay Cash. During a hot summer day (to paraphrase a local weather man that it is hot enough to pull the fish out of the lake already cooked) it is nice to think of the snow and the coolness of the Christmas season. I have seen a play and musical based on A Christmas Story. They lacked the charm and of the film. It is different to hear the voice of the adult than to see the adult reminiscing and of course Jean has a very distinctive style.

Every time I would think I had a favorite part something new would come up.

“Deep in the recess of my brain a tiny red hot little flame began to grow” and Ralphie fights the bully. “Something had happened and a fuse blew and I had gone out of my skull.” Poor Ralphie realized that he was not going to get his Red Ryder bee bee gun and the bulling had pushed him over the edge.

Ralphie climbs up the slide he has just been pushed to tell Santa that he wants a bee bee gun and Santa tells him that “You’ll shoot your eye out kid” Ralphie looks stunned and the music swells and Santa gives him the boot as he says Ho Ho Ho.. Haven’t we all faced that?

Ralphie wearing the oversized bunny costume.

Ralphie shooting his eye out, but actually just breaking his glasses.

July 13 Harrison Ford

To celebrate Harrison Ford’s birthday I watched Blade Runner. It took a while to get. The library has 3 copies and they are always reserved or checked out. The film starts out with a prologue, (high points listed), “Advanced robot evolution virtually identical to humans called Replicants. The Replicants were used for off world slave labor in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny the Replicants were declared illegal. Police squads, Blade Runner Units, had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection. It was not called execution. It was called retirement.” I liked that and settled in for a good film. The film is set in Las Angeles in 2019. There were great special effects. The set designer threw in everything in the sets. The sets were very busy with background. There were a lot of people everywhere. I really didn’t get the story. I can understand the Replicants and the Blade Runner Unit, but I think I missed something. Ford as a police man or Blade Runner was very focused and intense.

I think Rutger Hauer had the best line in the film “…all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain“. He said this after he saved Ford and then his soul or he himself turned into a bird then expired or was shot. I watched this scene several times trying to figure it out.

My mother’s birthday is also July 13. She is a few years younger than he. When Star Wars originally came out 1977 (and the other films) she would not go. My Dad took my brother, a few family friends and I. When the special edition of the films were released she agreed to go because of Harrison Ford and I could only get her to see Star Wars and not the other two. My mom does not like to go to movies by herself. If my Dad or I do not go with her she states she will watch it on cable, by that time she generally forgets what she wanted to see. I went with her to see Working Girl and Sabrina. For the record I am not going to see Cowboys & Aliens. I enjoy both actors work, but there is no way I am going to see this film.

July 22 Louise Fletcher

To celebrate Louise Fletcher’s birthday I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The beginning of the film the patients of the mental institution are given their medication. There is classical/elevator music playing and each person is handed their medication and water. They have to take the medication in front the nurse. It reminded me of Catholic ceremony. Louise plays the head nurse, Ratched. Jack Nicholson is the new patient. He is the timeline of the story. Ratched leads the group sessions soft spoken and stone faced, very little phases her. At Christmas the patients are left alone (which doesn’t seem right in the first place) and Jack Nicholson smuggles in girls and they bring alcohol. All have a good time. The next day when the staff comes back the place is in a shambles. One man is found with a woman. Ratched humiliates him by telling him she will tell his mother. He becomes very upset and is dragged away hitting himself. He commits suicide. This pushes Jack over the edge and he attacks and strangles Ratched. He is taken away and is forever changed. The next day everything is back to normal with Ratched wearing a neck brace.

In the special features the character is described as frigid and cold. I don’t see the character that way. I see the character as professional. The character is the villain because she represents authority, the man. Everyone acted really well in the story, it was almost too real. That is why I avoided the film for many years, thinking I could not handle the realness of the story. Also in the special features it was mentioned that the Jack Nicholson character was us, the audience. That is a very good statement and it makes sense. Nicholson can’t believe that the men are voluntarily committed and that the man wants his cigarettes and the nurse won’t give them to him, so he gets them for him. One person helping another to end suffering.

July 19 Kathleen Turner

Happy Birthday to Kathleen Turner, Pat Hingle, Anthony Edwards and Beverly Archer.

As part of the Arab images on film, Jewel of the Nile was shown on TCM so I decided to watch the film for Kathleen Turner’s birthday. I probably saw the film in it’s original release in 1985, but I didn’t remember the film and after I saw it I realized why, it is not a good film. Dr. Shaheen called it one of the 10 worst films of arab images.

The film starts as a scene of Kathleen Turner’s new story. The scene then switches to a modern story with Kathleen Turner writing a story on a typewriter on a boat. She has writers block and in a fit of frustration she throws the typewriter into the water. Michael Douglas tries to comfort her, but they argue about their future plans. Later that day is a party. At the party a man, Spiros Focas, approaches Kathleen to write his biography. He has been vilified in the press and wants to set the story straight. Michael is invited, but declines. Kathleen gets her things and goes with Spiros. On the way back to the boat Danny DeVito stops Michael on the dock. On the water the boat explodes and he decides to go after Kathleen.

The film goes downhill after that. Danny DeVito overacts, Michael Douglas as a drifter and protector is well acted. Kathleen Turner plays a curious/noisy American at the Arab compound taking pictures getting in things where she doesn’t belong also acts very well.

I am not a fan of friends. When I found out that Kathleen Turner was going to play Chandlers DAD I was intrigued. Kathleen played a drag queen in Las Vegas. She was a hoot. I think you have to have a really good sense of who you are as a person and an actor to play someone of the opposite sex.

July 20 Natalie Wood

Happy Birthday to Natalie Wood and Don Knotts.

TCM celebrated Natalie Wood’s birthday with a marathon of films. I watched Tomorrow is Forever. In this film Natalie was a young blonde Austrian girl. She had a small role, but she had a very good accent and spoke German convincingly. Orson Wells played her guardian who brought her to the USA after parents were killed by invading Nazi soldiers in front of her. Orson was an American who fought in WWI. He was badly wounded and stay in Europe, pretending that he was dead with the help of Natalie‘s dad, a surgeon, he was able to start a new life and identity. Claudette Colbert was his wife. Orson an Austrian chemist comes to America during WWII and works with Claudette’s 2nd husband. She recognizes him and confronts him stating that she wants the past but has a great present. He is ill and dies, Natalie is very upset over his death. My DVR cut out as Claudette was hugging her.

The second film of the day is the great film Miracle on 34th St. Not just a great Christmas film, but a great film in general.

July 21 C Aubrey Smith

TCM celebrated C. Aubrey Smith’s birthday with a marathon of films. I watched Daybreak. Smith has a small roll as an Austrian military commander. Ramon Novarro is a lieutenant under his command, who is also his nephew. Ramon has a $14,000 gambling debt, which he cannot pay. He does not want to go to other his uncle. But his uncle finds out. He offers the money but with condition that that Ramon marry a woman of the uncle’s choosing. Ramon is in love with a common woman and refuses. The uncle states he cannot have the money. When a military man comes to let him know that the leader is aware of the debt, Smith pays the debt, saying that the family was now involved.

Since this was a small part and short film I was able to watch Little Lord Fauntleroy. Freddie Bartholomew plays the boy who becomes the Lord, heir to an earldom. The Earl is played by Smith. He plays a tough man who loves the boy so much that when a another child of an older son comes forward, he is very upset. Freddie is the cutest, most charming child actor. The Earl has a Great Dane, that once he sees Freddie he starts following Freddie around. The only place I did not see the dog with Freddie was when Freddie was in bed.

July 9 Richard Roundtree

Happy Birthday to Brian Denney & Richard Roundtree.

To celebrate Richard Roundtree’s birthday I watched Shaft’s Big Score. I was expecting more violence than there was and I kept anticipating violence by closing my eyes. The film has great photography and editing. Shaft’s girlfriend’s brother is killed. At the funeral, the camera starts in the grave and comes up and over the actors, but it is off to the side so the actors are not looking at the camera, very unique angle. During a scene where Shaft is being beaten in the basement there is moment of fighting then a moment of girls dancing in the bar, then a moment of fighting and back to the girls dancing, this happens several times. It is a very long sequence, but seems to go very fast if that makes sense. Richard Roundtree seems to act with his whole body and eyes. You see everything the character is thinking and feeling on his face and in his body language. At the funeral Richard eyes all the men around the grave trying to figure out who killed the man while all the time comforting his girlfriend. He moves fast too. When they go back to her place after the funeral, the place is ransacked. He pulls out his gun moves throughout the rooms lighting fast.

The music is amazing. It is 1970’s music, but there is an influence of jazz. There is a theme song, but it not the original Shaft song, very similar, but not the same. The dialog is like a 1950’s film noir. You understand what is being said but people don’t use words in that way any longer.

I was 10 minutes into the climatic scene when I realized there had little talking for awhile after the film ended I went back to the start of the end. The climatic scene is about 17 minutes long. Action and music with very little words. This was great. It is difficult to explain action but here is the basic run down.

Starts as the grave is being dug up because they think there is money in the casket. The money is pulled out and put in a bag with several people being killed. Shaft gets the money and the head man and gets him in his car with his girlfriend driving. The man’s men follow and the car chase is on. Shaft aims the gun at the wheels and the front of the other car. The other man are careful to shoot because they don’t want their man shot. They try to ram the car off the road. With a helicopter following but having a hard time because of wires and high vegetation.

Shaft’s car is stopped and they get out on foot at the boat drive. Shaft forces the man onto a motor boat. He handcuff’s the leader to the boat. The helicopter follows the boat and flies very low and eventually strike the with bullets. Shaft gets out of the boat at a power plant (or ship building or construction, I can’t tell which) with the bag of money and leaves the man handcuffed and the boat explodes. The other car gets there along with the helicopter. One man gets out of the car and the other tries to ram Shaft, but Shaft shoots him and the car runs into a pole. The helicopter follows and tries to shoot him but can’t get close enough. Shaft leaves the bag of money on the ground.

Shaft is shot but still shooting. He gets the one man on foot. He runs into a building and the helicopter follows leaving a trail of sparks from bullets on the ground. The gunman is shot in the leg and Shaft goes out the door. The helicopter leaves the building looking for Shaft. The glass is shot out and the gun man falls. The helicopter seems to be floating for a few minutes and then Shaft fires and the helicopter comes down in a blaze of flame. The police finally arrive. Shaft states he doesn’t know where the money is, but the film cuts to where the bag is sitting.

July 17 James Cagney

Happy Birthday to James Cagney and Donald Sutherland.

To celebrate James Cagney’s birthday I watched Picture Snatcher. It is very fitting for the current times. James Cagney played an ex-con getting out of jail. He goes back to his gang where he tells them he is going legitimate and work for a newspaper. The newspaper is a rag where anything to get a story is ok. Ralph Bellamy works on the paper and originally wrote to Cagney in jail offering a job. Bellamy didn’t really mean it. When an assignment comes up that no one else can do, Cagney agrees to get a picture. He goes into a burned out apartment where the fireman could not save his wife from a fire and turns out she was not alone. Cagney poses as an insurance inspector to get a picture.

Cagney falls in love with a police captains daughter. The man who shot him that landed him in jail originally. A woman is being executed and Cagney, whose paper is not invited, steals an invitation and goes to the ceremony. No cameras allowed. The reactions of the newspaper men are varied: one gets sick, one states you see one you’ve seen them all. Most have a slight reaction to the switch being thrown, but Cagney is more worried about getting the picture and doesn’t react to the death at all. Once outside the camera attached to his ankle is reveled. The other newspaper men tell the police and the police state they are not going to get any further details or allowed back in for other stories. The reporters chase after Cagney, but he gets away and gets the picture to the paper.

The police captain was responsible for the reporters. He is demoted and his daughter breaks up with Cagney. Cagney falls apart. Cagney’s former gangs new leader is accused of killing a police officer and a large manhunt is underway. Cagney goes to his old girlfriend who is the girlfriend to the gang leader. He uses her to get the location of the man. He goes to him to talk to him and possibly get him to the police station. The police surround the building and start shooting. The man’s wife and children are in another room. He had planned to use them as a shield. Cagney tries to save them. While Cagney tries to talk to the man to get the family to safely the other man is shot.

As a kid I always liked Yankee Doodle Dandy. I avoided the ganger movies for a long time, but they are really good.
The intensity that Cagney brings to the role make you root for the man even when he is the bad guy. On William Bendix’s birthday I watched Time of Your Life. Cagney was the star and he is on screen most of the time, but he doesn’t move around much. He captures your intention the whole time.

July 18 Red Skelton

TCM celebrate Red Skelton’s birthday. I watched Three Little Words a musical biography of songwriters Kalmar-Ruby. Red plays Harry Ruby a theater stage hand who writes songs. Fred Astaire plays Bert Kalmar a song and dance man and song writer who plays the Palace with Vera-Ellen and decides to create a new act as a magician. Red acts as a backstage assistant one night and completely messes up the act. Red gets back with Vera-Ellen and plays the Palace once again. Stage hands moving a bed hit Fred and he hurts his knee and can’t dance for 1 to 2 years.

Fred goes to see his music publisher and Red is their trying to get his song heard. Fred rewrites the lyrics to the song. They sound really good together. Fred realizes who he is and crumbles the paper, throws the paper on the ground and leaves. Red takes the paper and the song gets published with Kalmar-Ruby name. Red tricks Fred into becoming a partner. There is a scene where Fred dances to see how his knee will hold up and when he does one move, you can see the pain on his face. You know that he has suffered that pain in real life.

Even though Red still does his comedy, both physical and verbal, he is more subdued and serious than any other film I have seen him appear.

Some of the songs included:
Sweet Tennessee
So Long, Ooh Long
Who Is Sorry Now
I’m In Love With You
Alone With You
I Wanna Be Kissed By You
I’m Up In The Clouds
Thinking Of You
Hooray for Captain Spaulding
I Love You So Much
Three Little Words