Answer to the question of the week

So for the past week I have tried to think about what else I could possibly want to learn about in film class. Truth is, I can’t think of anything else. I feel like I actually learned more then I ever expected to learn already in the past few months.

Hollywood in the 1970’s

Movies being introduced in the 1970s only continued with the different pattern the 1960s created. In 1972, The Godfather came out. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and stared Marlon Brando and Al Pachino. The Godfather won 3 Oscars and gave people a impression of Italians that still lives on today.

In 1975, Jaws came out in theaters and forever changed people’s minds about swimming in the ocean. Jaws was literally terrifying. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws is is about a small beach community that deals with a shark attack. When one young boy is attacked and killed, his mother offers a reward for whoever can catch the shark. This causes the town of Amity Island to be filled with hunters and fishers all hoping to capture the Great White shark. Jaws is not only remembered for it’s intriguing and scary plot, but for it’s music. The score for Jaws is known by literally everyone.

Spielberg and Coppola were each up and coming directors from the New Hollywood generation. Along with Martin Scorsese, they are some of the most influential directors in the history of Hollywood.

New Hollywood

The 1960’s started a change for Hollywood. Many new filmmakers were becoming big in Hollywood and this sparked a “New Hollywood” because they were all so young. The young new filmmakers produced films unlike the films from the past. They started a “New Wave” and began going outside of America’s comfort zone. The films made during this time became part of the studio system and they all introduced subjects and styles that set them apart from normal films before this time.

New Hollywood was becoming filled with filmmakers who were educated at film schools. They were more well rounded and diverse then the filmmakers from the 1920’s-1950’s which helped their popularity among young Americans. Hollywood was starting to loose their high audience attendance but with the help of the Film School Generation, they gained it back. The Film School Generation was made up of actors, writers and directors that created movies with new energy and covered subjects that would of been unheard in the previous years. They had more of a drive to take their fresh ideas and make them into movies and also appreciated the artistic values of film making as well.

Bonnie and Clyde was perhaps the biggest movie that introduced change in Hollywood at this time. Between the sexual tension and massive amounts of shooting, it took Hollywood to a whole new level. After watching films such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Sound of Music, I would think audiences at this time were taken back by a film like this. But this was only the beginning of more daring movie plots to come.

The Hills are Alive…

The Sound of Music is a classic movie. I am pretty sure everyone has seen it. It was released in 1965 and stared Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The storyline is pretty easy to follow. Maria (Andrews) had plans to become a nun but that all changed when she was offered the job to become widower Captain Von Trapp’s (Plummer) governess for his 7 misbehaved children. The children have figured out ways to get rid of each previous nanny because they have been resentful to the fact that they do not receive attention from their own father. Captain Von Trapp runs the household very strictly, pretty much like one of his own naval ships but Maria helps change all of this. Between her joyful attitude and how understanding she is, the Von Trapp family falls in love with her, even including the Captain himself. Set on the brink of the Nazi invasions into Austria in the 1930’s, the Von Trapp’s need as much happiness as they can get and Maria definitely brings this in musical ways.

I have seen this movie many times, mostly due to the fact that my autistic brothers loves musicals and this happens to be one of his favorites so it has been played throughout my house too many times to count. If you enjoy musicals, this one in particular will hold your attention very well and you will find that the songs never leave your head. The Sound of Music won 5 Oscars and had 10 other nominations.

Shakespeare Movies

This semester I am taking a Shakespeare class to fulfill my literature requirement. The other night in class we watched Titus which was based off of the play “Titus Andronicus”. It was released in 1999 and stared Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange.

When Titus returns to Rome from war, he brings hostages with him, Tamora, queen of the Goth and her sons. Titus orders the oldest son to pacify the Roman dead. He refuses and instead suggests the last ruler’s venal oldest son, Saturninus. In order for Saturninus for get back at Bassaianus, his brother, he demands the hand of Titus’s daughter, Lavinia. Bassaianus, Lavinia, and Titus’s sons leave in a protest but Titus stands up to them and kills one of his own. It is a very confusing movie if you ask me. We have not yet read the actual play in class so maybe that will help understand what exactly went on. The movie is kind of scary because at one point they cut off Lavinia’s hands and replace them with tree branches and then cut out her tongue.

I personally did not enjoy this movie at all. I do not care for Shakespeare plays being turned into a movie. It is hard enough to figure out what the characters in the play are saying while reading it, but watching it does not make it any easier.

Here is the trailer for Titus:

Titanic

So not only did I see The Hunger Games this weekend but I also saw Titanic in 3D. I never go to the movies twice in one week but this was a rare occurrence. Titanic 3d was not as impressive as I thought it was going to be. I expected more of 3d effect throughout the whole movie. With the 100th anniversary coming up in the next week, I think it was a good idea to put Titanic back in theaters. It has also been kind of cool to see what the stars look like now, compared to back then. Kate Winslet has done a few interviews about the re release of Titanic and has even said how different she and Leonardo DiCaprio look now compared to back then. I also read that she and DiCaprio both agree that this was the hardest movie they had ever filmed.

Re releasing Titanic was a good idea in a way because it brought in even more money for the movie because not only did viewers who had already seen it go, but new teenagers went as well. Teenagers right now were too little to see it when it originally came out in 1997 so for some people it was their first time ever seeing it.

The Hunger Games

This past weekend I saw was The Hunger Games. My friend had read the book and asked me to go with him to see it. I was sort of reluctant because to be honest, I did not really get the point of all the hype about this movie. But after seeing it, I know understand why The Hunger Games has become such a craze.

I had not read any of the Hunger Games books but after seeing it, I am actually intrigued by the series. It was a very interesting movie as well as a concept. I personally did not understand the way everyone dressed but maybe I should read the book and it may answer that along with some other questions. I was kind of shocked by the ending because I felt like it left us on a cliff hanger. But I guess that was the point to get viewers to come back for the next movie. All in all, I would recommend The Hunger Games to everyone.

Bonnie and Clyde

In 1967, Warren Beatty (who played Clyde) and Faye Dunaway (who played Bonnie) stared in Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie was a small town girl who becomes involved with Clyde who was a bank robber. She leaves town with him on a adventure she never dreamed of having. The two face start violent robberies and make various newspaper headlines eventually becoming quite well known. Bonnie and Clyde were joined by Clyde’s brother, Buck, and his wife, Blanche along with C.W. who they picked up along the way in order to help with all the robberies they performed. The dangerous group faced many situations that almost had them killed. The stress of it definitely got to Blanche and Bonnie and the fact that they weren’t fond of each other did not help. Bonnie and Clyde turns out to be a somewhat twisted love story in which Clyde and Bonnie fall in love along the way. The duo ends up being shot to death at the end which really was their fate since the beginning.

Bonnie and Clyde was ranked the 42nd Greatest Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute in 2007. It was also considered one of “The 25 Most Dangerous Movies”.

I Love the 1950’s

In the 1950’s, Hollywood was dealing with a new enemy, television. TV was becoming more and more popular and was now taking away business from movie theaters. People now had the mentality that it was great that they were now able to be entertained by a screen without actually leaving their house. From 1946 to the 1950’s, Paramount lived through the biggest decree in sales due mostly to television. One women specifically changed television though, Lucille Ball.

Lucille Ball was the star of I Love Lucy which ran on television from 1951 to 1957. Lucille Ball played Lucy, a housewife who strived to be a star with her bandleader husband (Desi Arnaz) but would always end up in funny situations instead. Desi Arnaz played Ricky Ricardo who performed at the Tropicana and just wanted to make Lucy into a normal housewife. I Love Lucy was not filmed like most TV shows. Instead the comedy was filmed more like a movie.

Lucille Ball and Desi Aranz were actually married in real life for about 20 years and had 2 children together. Here is one of the most classic scenes from I Love Lucy:

The Front

In 1976, Martin Ritt directed The Front which focused on blacklisted authors in the early 1950’s. Woody Allen stared as Howard Prince who gained major fame by pretending to be a writer. Little did producers know, all Howard was doing was putting his name on black listed writers work. By doing this, Howard was gaining profit from it which helped him pay off various debts he was in. But this also put him in great danger. Most of the writer clients he took on wrote about controversial ideas which could only end up getting Howard blacklisted as well. While working for the TV station, Howard falls for Florence who also works there. Florence ends up quitting the TV station herself over the fact that Howard was now on the blacklist and she disagreed with the reasons. When all this happens, Howard starts to reconsider what he is doing and in the end comes out with the truth to Florence.

Many people involved in making The Front were actually blacklisted themselves. Director Martin Ritt, writer Walter Bernstein, along with actors Zero Mostel (who played Hecky Brown), Herschel Bernardi (who played Phil Sussman), Lloyd Gough (who played Delaney) and Joshua Shelley (who played Sam) had all been on the McCarthy era blacklists.

I thought The Front was an interesting movie. I had actually never heard of the blacklist before learning about it in class and watching this movie.