#87- Rebel Without a Cause

Quick recap: Jim Stark is a troubled youth who moves into a new town to escape his troubled past. This lasts about 10 seconds before someone calls him chicken and then he’s ready to do anything to prove himself. And he TOTALLY has a cause, you guys.

Fun (?) fact: All of the main characters in this film met some horrible fate. James Dean was in a car accident, Natalie Wood ‘drowned’ and Sal Mineo was stabbed to death. Looking back, I guess that wasn’t such a fun fact.

Stop it, Bieber.

My thoughts: As I approach the ripe old age of 30, I am reminded more and more that I am no longer a youth. I’d like to think I’m more hip than others (notice my use of the word ‘hip’), but my mentality is alas that of an adult. So, although I can rightly say that Rebel Without a Cause was an enjoyable movie, its effect was mostly lost on me. I think if these teens had just played by the rules by turning that music down and getting off of those lawns, everything would’ve been ok.

This was such a movie made for teens. James Dean was certainly an icon and he played the role of Stark better than anyone else could’ve. At the same time, 3/4 of the movie (my rough estimate) was spent leaning against something or posing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Maybe leaning against stuff was the fad back then. Or maybe it’s what teen stars do. Back in my day, the teens were into Leonardo DiCaprio and Freddie Prinze Jr., who may or may not have leaned on stuff. But what they didn’t have that Dean did, was passion. Dean was a true teen. I also loved Natalie Wood, but I’d love her in whatever role she played.

At the same time teens could relate to this movie, so could parents. Stark’s life was messed up because of his parents, according to the movie. I really didn’t see the big deal, compared to, say, Judy, who’s father refused to show any sort of affection. In the end, it was the adults who were the true villains and these poor innocent teens were just misunderstood. Take Plato’s (played by Mineo) role. His story begins in the police station, when he is brought in for SHOOTING PUPPIES. But he only shoots puppies because his father abandoned him. So, if anything, this movie was one long PSA to adults to start paying attention to your kid or they will start shooting puppies.

or they will try to get high off of raisins.

Final review: 4/5. This is true American cinema, and so I really enjoyed the historical context. The plot was kind of silly and melodramatic, but what teen drama isn’t?

Up next: Salt of the Earth

#86- The Apartment

Quick recap: C.C. Baxter works for an insurance company and figures out the best way to move up in the business: by renting out his apartment to all the men in his office who are having flings. It’s like Mad Men, but told from the perspective of the lonely bachelor watching everyone else get lucky.

Fun (?) fact: During the scene where Baxter has to sleep outside in the cold, director Billy Wilder had to spray him with anti-freeze so that he wouldn’t get sick. I actually have no idea if this was true, but the trivia for The Apartment was rather dull and this is the best of the bunch.

I developed quite a crush on Jack Lemmon, except for his voice which grated on my every nerve

My thoughts: This past February 28th, I had the BEST.IDEA. EVER. to watch all Best Picture Winners that were also on my list and then try to decide if they were worth the Oscar. On March 1st, I promptly gave it up because there were only 4 movies that matched both lists on Netflix Instant. Not wanting to completely waste the month, however, I ended up watching the movies anyways. I’m sort of surprised The Apartment won Best Picture because it’s rather lighthearted and sentimental instead of pretentious and stuffy.

As mentioned above, watching The Apartment is like watching a very long episode of Mad Men. Except more depressing, if that is even possible. It seems as if every married man in the movie is having an affair and some of them, more than one. I’m pretty liberal when it comes to this sort of thing but even for a movie made in 1960, the way women were portrayed was atrocious. Every single woman gleefully let these men treat them horribly and didn’t think twice about hopping into bed with them. The one woman who had any sort of character development was Fran, and she ended up trying to kill herself over a serial cheater. Baxter wasn’t involved in any cheating but he didn’t do much to stop it either, until he could get the position he wanted. He felt little to no guilt until Fran took all the sleeping pills and at the end of the movie refused to hand over his key ,not out of some white knight complex, but because he had fallen for her. Sure, Fran ultimately left her relationship with Jeff Sheldrake, the cheater, but then moves on to someone else.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the movie. There were several legitimately funny scenes, especially between Baxter and his neighbor, who thinks he has several girls over every night. I’m not much for the romance genre but I felt The Apartment had heart. Baxter was so sweet to Fran as she recovered from her overdose and I think I may have swooned when he refused to take advantage of her and instead play a game of Gin Rummy. The ending where he confesses his love for her was a little hokey, but I loved her line, ‘Shut up and deal’ in response. As a side note, I had NO idea Fran was played by Shirley MacLaine until the end of the movie. She was so adorable and made me briefly consider getting a pixie hair cut (not going to happen, Andy).

Final review: 4/5. Sexism abounds but it was the 60s, so not unexpected.

Up next: Rebel Without a Cause or Salt of the Earth

#85- All About Eve

Quick recap: Margot Channing is an aging broadway star who meets a seemingly devoted fan, Eve Harrington. Feeling compassionate, Channing takes the woman in and entrusts her with everything.That turns out not to be a good idea once it is revealed Harrington has ulterior motives.

Fun (?) fact: Bette Davis was going through a divorce while filming, so her voice is hoarse from all the screaming she had to do with her ex.

My thoughts: All About Eve is interesting because I figured out the plot very early on, once I realized that it’s been done so many times in pop culture. The lack of surprise in no way diminishes the film, though.

For starters, the acting is top notch. And by acting, I’m really talking about Bette Davis. Her performance is one of the best I have ever seen in American cinema. It really surprised me to learn that she didn’t win Best Actress at the Oscars, so I’ll just add a point to the ‘Academy Awards are useless’ column that I have mentally been keeping. Part of the reason her performance was so well done is because she was given such a complex character. It would be one thing to dismiss Margot Channing as a stereotypical aging starlet, but there is so much more than that. As more facts were revealed about Eve, she became more of a person I could sympathize and identify with. We are all high maintenance at one point or another in our lives, especially when the flaw we are most self-conscious about is exposed. No one likes to be upstaged and it was admirable for Channing to drop the controversy like she did.

All the theatre talk got a little boring at times, mainly because I know nothing about the theater. It’s easy to see why it was chosen as Best Picture, which I suppose is another point in the ‘ Academy Awards are useless’ column, since actors like movies about themselves. On the other hand, it was legitimately a good film so they also made a good decision. So…..half point?

The only part of the film that I really didn’t like was Marilyn Monroe. I have never seen her act before and I was unimpressed here. Granted, she has a very tiny role, but her ‘dumb blonde’ act really grated on my nerves. She is gorgeous, yes, but playing yourself is nothing special. Was she considered a ‘dumb blonde’ in real life? I realize now that I know next to nothing about her, so I guess I’ll hold my judgement completely for future films.

Final review: 4/5. As wonderful as the film was, it was practically Oscar Bait so I can’t give it a full 5/5.

Up next: The Apartment

#84- Terms of Endearment

Quick recap: Terms of Endearment follows the 30 year relationship between a mother and daughter. When something bad-DAMMIT. I can’t do this. Damn you all to hell, Terms of Endearment. Evil incarnate is what this movie is.

Fun (?) fact: As a gift for directing the movie, Matt Groening gave James L. Brooks a book of ‘Life in Hell’ cartoons. Brooks loved it so much, he got Groening to create cartoon shorts for the Tracy Ullman show. And that’s how The Simpsons was created!

My thoughts: Before I go any further, I need to confess that yes, I did in fact cry. I’m not proud of it, but at least I fought hard until the very end. As you can probably pick up on, I’m not the most sensitive when it comes to schmaltzy things. Anything Nicholas Sparks makes me physically ill as well as movie theaters that have ‘girlie nights’. UGH. I mean, if you want to show Ferris Bueller, DO IT. Don’t label it ‘girlie night’ and slap on some discount wine special with the purchase of sushi. It cheapens the film and isolates a good portion of moviegoers who would’ve gladly gone otherwise. /rant

Back to the movie. If this film has any strength to stand up to other Oscar Winners, it does so with the strong acting. Every actor was believable which is probably why I was able to suspend my hatred for anything cheesy and let myself be free with my emotions. I absolutely loved Shirley MacLaine (damn you, James L. Brooks for making me love Shirley MacLaine). Debra Winger grew on me as the movie went on, but her laugh never did. I read that she was trying to get over a cocaine addiction while filming so I don’t feel so bad. Jack Nicholson of course was wonderful as well, but this ‘arrogant jerk who turns out to be a good guy’ is kind of his thing.

For all the ‘girlies’ who came here to read a gushing review of the film that totally destroyed their every emotion, it’s time to stop reading.

I was into the mother/daughter relationship from the beginning because I am a daughter who happens to be close to her mom. I totally got the endless phone calls and how much they shared with each other. The entire relationship seemed completely authentic, even leading up to Emma’s death. (Oops. SPOILER ALERT: Emma dies.) The plot started to fall apart towards the end as Emma got closer and closer to death. For one thing, making the decision as to who would keep the children seemed way over the top. Maybe that was a thing back then, but Flap was a perfectly decent father. He should’ve just sucked it up and raised his own children instead of pawning them off to Aurora so that he could continue his love affair with that other woman. Then again, that would’ve saved like 10 minutes of drama. The last 30 minutes of the film is basically, ‘are you crying yet? no? Let me put in a scene where Emma says goodbye to her children! That didn’t do it? How about Aurora screaming at the nurses to help her daughter who was in pain? No? Dammit. You are totally going to cry when Emma actually dies. There we go! Just in case, let’s add a few more scenes to keep you crying.’

Final review: 4/5. You couldn’t make me sit through that again, though.

Up Next: All About Eve

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1001 Movie Nights

Tag Archives: 4/5

#87- Rebel Without a Cause

#86- The Apartment

#85- All About Eve

#84- Terms of Endearment

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