It sure is! Almost everyone has seen this movie, it's a Christmas classic. Which is funny because apart from the last quarter of the film being on Christmas Eve...and it being about redemption, etc - there's nothing about this film that says Christmas. Frankly, Easter would be the better Christian holiday to show this film around if we're talking about rebirth here. But this blog isn't about that. Did I like this movie?
Jimmy Stewart? Check. Christmas? Check. That's about all I need to enjoy a movie.
As stated before, this was Jimmy Stewart's first movie after coming back from the War. His favorite role, his favorite movie. Frank Capra's favorite movie as well (the Director). What else do you have to say about this movie?
One draw back of this film is how long it takes to get to the premise of it. Over an hour and a half is building of the story line, why George Bailey did this, how he got to this predicament, etc. Then the last 30 minutes Clarence arrives, sans wings (where's the Red Bull when you need it?), showing him how shitty Bedford Falls would be if he was never born. He figures out his life is far better off...bing bang boom, he lives happily ever after.
A few things of note: He names his youngest daughter Zuzu? Uhhhh, did Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow name this kid? Second, Mr. Potter just steals the $8K. Seriously, that's fraud, theft and just plain douchebaggery. Third, I was checking out the wikipedia page for the movie and it says that they're making a sequel???? Apparently it's the guardian angel of Zuzu, she's gone evil or something like that. I'm just hoping if Jimmy Stewart's ghost isn't in this, then at least Robocop or Chewbacca is.
Anyways, Jimmy Stewart....again....is phenomenal. I'm not going to go into detail about what he's trying to describe here....I'll let you use your imagination. He's probably explaining how wicked he is.
#19 - On the Waterfront
Finally another young Brando film on this list! While I don't think he's as good as he was in A Streetcar Named Desire (although he did win an Oscar for On the Waterfront), he's still pretty good in this one.
Damn Unions...always ruining the party. At least corrupt ones. So this is a pretty simple flick - guys working on the docks, run by a crooked Union boss who'll kill anyone who starts to think about going to the cops about the corruption. Along comes Marlon Brando, who awhile back was a great boxing prodigy but was forced to throw the fight so the corrupt Union boss could win some bets - which ultimately leads to the best scene between him and his brother in a cab ("I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody")
Long story short, John C. Reilly - in probably his second role, is a helpful (?) priest who tries to sway the dock workers to do the right thing and go to the police. Throw in a couple dead dock workers, a few pigeon races, a relationship of sorts (how did she win best actress for 10 minutes of screen time?) all leads to a pretty good confrontation at the end of the movie.
Pretty good movie, Brando is great. The acting in general is pretty good too. I'll never trust Unions ever again.
#18 - The General
Finally, another silent film shows up. Not that I was looking forward to it. I don't know what it is, I just can't get up for one of these. At least I could follow this one and watched it all the way to the end. And I guess it has a good story line.
Guy from the South is a good engineer, not a good enough soldier so can't fight in the Civil War. He overhears how the North is going to steal a train from the South which would break the war wide open. The train gets stolen, with this guys hopefully girlfriend on it (who looks like a dude I might ad).
Anyways, calamity ensues...some chuckles (not really, I'm being nice). And 75 minutes later the movie is over. Well that was easy.
How did this get on this list?
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