1.'The African Queen' - Bogart and Hepburn-- they are good, he won a Best Actor Oscar as 'Charlie' in this film, but I hate the way the movie is underscored, musically-there are unintentionally bad, melodramatic and too-loud musical interludes that are utilized to 'tell you' what you are 'supposed' to feel in the upcoming scene, in the coming moments...it was a technique that was used typically in 70's tv melodramas, where the musical score was almost a character in 'Charlies Angels', 'Kojak' and such tv shows - screechy violins, or 'dum-dum-dum' suspense music loops, and such. To see, and hear, this used so blatantly in a John Huston movie really surprised me and really ups the cheesy factor, of which I was expecting none.
--$40ish, amazon,com, deluxe edition with lobby cards and a Hepburn 'making of' softbound book, and other stuff (film cells)
2.'Michael Clayton'- on sale, crazy cheap at Best Buy last week, 3.99. Seems very good but I haven't finished it yet. I usually like George Clooney, and the price was right.
Next, I'd like to hunt down whatever the name was of that football movie set in the 1930s that came and went a cpl years ago, the film which made him quietly quit The Writers Guild when they didn't allow him a screenwriting credit he seemed to have deserved.
Did anyone know (I didn't!) that if you ever dare to quit The Writers Guild (of North America, I believe, is the organization's full-name)---- that you may NEVER be re-admitted as a member?! That seems soooo wrong to me, like if you dare to dispute them, and have good reasons and quietly resign, as GC did, that you may never rejoin.
3. Almost finishing up, finally, with The Paul Newman Tribute Collection, about $50 at Costco around Christmas, " a collection of 13 of his best films on dvd, accompanied by a bee-autiful 136 Page Book" to quote (with spelling liberties taken) from the back of the box set. Enjoyed 'The Verdict', 'The Hustler' and 'From The Terrace' the most, maybe. Still have yet to view 'Quintet' and 'The Towering Inferno'- the latter which I'm curious to see because of Faye Dunaway and a name-heavy 'A-List' early '70s cast. Somehow I expect a lot of cheesy, melodramatic music in it, though!
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