Two Voices Separated by 1 Generation

Views: 1,365
Added: Tue. Jun 09, 2009 11:04am
Posted in: Movies

• » print
• » report
• » email

Summertime Cinema

 

The first summer movie I remember seeing was "Marjorie Morningstar" staring Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly.  My Grandmother and I walked to the little movie house (as it was called) on Main Street in Carmi Illinois, took our seats, and when the screen in front of me came alive my passion for summer movies was born.  I remember "Around the World in Eighty Days", "Good Neighbor Sam", "What's New Pussycat", "Passenger 54" (that's a whole other blog!), "The Terminator", and "The Little Mermaid" just to name a few.  When my children were little summer movies where as frequent as going to the beach for us but as they grew and continued going I realize that I have stopped.  Why?  Is it about me or the content of the movies? Perhaps both.  I often say to friends who invite me join them to see the latest offering "I don't enjoy seeing on a huge screen what I deal with in my office all week".  And while that is certainly true I think it's deeper than that.  Movies since the 1960's are no longer languid fantasies that have the ability to transport the viewer out of their own intense lives.  The occasional "Days of Wine and Roses" is fine but where did Gene Kelly go?  Reality, reality, reality.  Maybe we wouldn't have to escape it through drugs, alcohol, and other addictions if we could go singing in the rain for a few hours in a cool, dark, "movie house".  "Life is difficult" wrote Dr. Scott Peck in his book The Road Less Traveled and I don't know about you but I need a break sometimes.

Elizabeth, you are the movie expert. Comment please.

 

~Deedra Hunter

 

 

 

 

Deedra, I couldn't agree more. Summer movies used to be the thing I looked forward to the most once those school doors closed for three months. Today however the magic that brought Jurassic Park and Schindler's List to the big screen has faded over the years. I grew up watching re-releases of The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and The Little Princess on Tuesdays in Connecticut. That is when certain local cinemas would show the classics that were kid friendly. I now own these films and cherish them as some of my favorites. But where are these films today? How often does a really great script appear in Hollywood? Sadly, not often enough. The summer has become a marketing competition for studios and soda companies. Doesn't anyone care that they are making horrible films? When did the passion of story-telling go out the window?

 

The most interesting thing I noticed, rereading my entry, is that all the films I have come to love are based on books. Maybe that's the answer. Maybe good scripts are already down on the pages and the key to brilliant entertainment is following the lead of great authors without mucking it up with an over abundance of explosions and sex. We don't need to see someone get shot and bleeding all over the place to understand what is happening. We don't need to see an elaborate sex scene to get the relationship change between two characters. We as an audience are being spoken down to.

 

While I miss Gene Kelly, Carey Grant and Judy Garland, I can appreciate the amazing actors that are still around today. Dame Judy Dench, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Isabella Rossellini are some of the most incredible performers we have. And although I believe that the majority of summer films are terrible, there is still a few that make the grade. Here are a few that I would recommend. Even though all of these aren't based on books they are still wonderful:  Jaws, Star Wars, The Sound Of Music, Ben-Hur, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Lord of the Rings, Fahrenheit 9/11, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Harry Potter and the (insert whichever book title you please).

 

Be picky. It's cheaper to hold a video store card out than it is to let go of that $6-$14 per summer blockbuster. There are still superb movies every year, but we can all afford to be choosy when it comes to the greats.

 

~ELIZABETH WHITTEMORE