Busy, crazy week! But finally able to dish about our movies this week….
Movie #1: Sorry, Wrong Number (1948, with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster)
Take one spoiled, attention-hungry, melodramatic, hypochondriac heiress. Yank one good-looking, prideful working man from the slums, marry him to the heiress, and thrust him suddenly into Chicago’s high society. Throw into this mix the overprotective, condescending drug-tycoon father. Meeting of the minds? No way. Joining of two lives? Not happening. Happily ever after? Ha! You end up with a woman so desperate for attention that she fakes heart attacks to manipulate the men in her life to do what she wants. The decent, humble husband becomes so consumed with his new rich life he convinces an innocent, non-descript company chemist into setting up an illegal drug-trafficking enterprise backed by unsavory mob-like characters. And the father—he’s completely clueless, living up life with parties and buxom blonde bimbos. Throw in an ultimatum from the mobsters, a contract hit on the wife for money, and a determined, young District Attorney seeking to make a name for himself by busting the drug-traffickers. The conclusion—a suspenseful and regrettable ending that cannot be stopped.
Things we liked: 1) The fact that most of this story took place on the phone—not knowing the people on the other end, half-heard conversations—genius directing maneuver. 2) Barbara Stanwyck’s wardrobe—she had some of the most beautiful clothes in this movie. 3) The cinematography—we love black & white movies because the shots are just great. Light, dark, the play of shadows…there is just something instinctually eerie and primal with those shadow shots. 4) Barbara Stanwyck’s performance—she was fabulous in this role. 5) Her ring (see picture above)--I want that ring! It'd look great on my hand. Seriously. I want it.
Ratings: Jason 3.5; Kathy 3.5; Me 3.5 (good solid movie)
Movie #2: The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992, with Rebecca de Mornay, Annabella Sciorra, Matt McCoy, Keith Hudson)
The nanny movie to end all nanny movies!
Okay, this is a repeat for all three of us, as we’ve each seen it before. However, we were discussing great movies some time ago, and this one came certainly came up. Rebecca de Mornay is just pure evil. Pure evil. And to contrast her evil, Keith Hudson's performance in this movie is really great. A total departure from his typical character roles. He really made you sympathetic for Solomon and had you pulling for him throughout the movie. Regular readers know I like to put in a synopsis with a lot of the older movies because many folks haven’t seen them, let alone heard of them. This movie, however, I will not synopsize because most folks have seen it or know of it, and secondly, if you haven’t seen it, I can’t give anything away to you—it would ruin it. For the sake of the blog though, a few “morals of the story” courtesy of this movie:
1. If you are a woman watching this, you will forever be in mortal dread of going to your OB/GYN (as if that yearly visit weren’t bad enough on its own).
2. Don’t marry a schmuck—if he’s a dud/idiot/moron/weakling on a regular day, then when the “shitake mushrooms” hit that proverbial fan, you can forget getting any help from him.
3. Do not dismiss the mentally disabled in your community—they’re actually smarter than you are most of the time, you self-righteous know-it-all.
4. Always check your references. If the potential hire gives you a prepared letter, call the freaking people and verify. ALWAYS. CHECK. THE. REFERENCES.
5. Do NOT hire a nanny—just raise the dang kid yourself…unless you want to lose friends, alienate your husband, and cause irreparable damage to your children emotionally and mentally….
6. For the love of humanity—throw away the “mom jeans”!
Ratings: Jason 4; Kathy 3.5; Me 4
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