Monthly Archives: September 2012
Oscar Vault Monday – A Thousand Clowns, 1965 (dir. Fred Coe)
This is a film that I think has really fallen between the cracks of history, despite its Best Picture nomination. I first saw it when I was going through a Jason Robards phase (which, incidentally, is actually just called life). I think part of the problem, now anyways, is that it is not on DVD, meaning the only way to see it is if you can catch it on TCM or find it somewhere on the internet. If you can, though, I think you will fallen just as much in love with it as I did. Despite a Golden Globe nomination, Jason Robards was NOT nominated for Best Actor for his performance. Also, Fred Coe, though nominated as producer, was NOT nominated for Best Director. In fact, two of the films up for Best Picture, this and Ship of Fools, were not nominated for Best Director. Instead, the two nominations went to Hiroshi Teshigahara for Woman in the Dunes and William Wyler for The Collector (this was his last of a whopping TWELVE Best Director nominations, the most of any director. Billy Wilder is the only director to even come close, with eight nominations. He also received Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award that year as well.) A Thousand Clowns was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one: Best Score – Treatment or Adaptation (this is a category that is really confusing and I suggest you read the Wikipedia page to learn alllll about how many different score categories there have been over the years), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor Martin Balsam (won) and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were Darling, Doctor Zhivago, Ship of Fools and winner The Sound of Music.
Movie Quote of the Day – Hard Eight, 1996 (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Sidney: You know, the first thing they should have taught you at hooker school: you get the money up front.
Clementine: Fuck you!
Movie Quote of the Day – Charly, 1968 (dir. Ralph Nelson)
Charly Gordon: What’s enough love?
Alice Kinnian: Always a little more than anyone ever gets.
Movie Quote of the Day – Being There, 1979 (dir. Hal Ashby)
President “Bobby”: Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben, or do you think that we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?
[Long pause]
Chance the Gardener: As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
President “Bobby”: In the garden.
Chance the Gardener: Yes. In the garden, growth has its seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.
President “Bobby”: Spring and summer.
Chance the Gardener: Yes.
President “Bobby”: Then fall and winter.
Chance the Gardener: Yes.
Benjamin Rand: I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we’re upset by the seasons of our economy.
Chance the Gardener: Yes! There will be growth in the spring!
Benjamin Rand: Hmm!
Chance the Gardener: Hmm!
President “Bobby”: Hmm. Well, Mr. Gardner, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I’ve heard in a very, very long time.
[Benjamin Rand applauds]
President “Bobby”: I admire your good, solid sense. That’s precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill.
Movie Quote of the Day – Wild River, 1960 (dir. Elia Kazan)
Carol Garth Baldwin: When you go. . .take me with you. One day soon, you’re gonna come to me and say, “Carol, I have to go.” There won’t be time to talk or to think of anything. And there’ll be a car waitin’, and then a plane, and you’ll say “Carol, honey, I have to go. . .” Isn’t that right?
Chuck Glover: Yes, that is right.
Carol Garth Baldwin: Take me with you.
Movie Quote of the Day – Gods and Monsters, 1998 (dir. Bill Condon)
James Whale: You might not think it to look at me now, but there was a time when I was at the very pinnacle of my profession. The horror movies were behind me. I’d made Showboat. Major success. Big box office. So now I was to do something important. The picture was called The Road Back. It was an indictment of the Great War and what it did to Germany. It was going to be my masterpiece.
Clayton Boone: What happened?
James Whale: The fucking studio butchered it. They took the guts out of my picture. They brought in another director to add some slapstick and the movie laid an egg. A great, expensive bomb for which I was blamed. And after that I was out of fashion. I could no longer command the best projects, so I walked away. Why should I spend my time working in this dreadful business?
Clayton Boone: Do you miss it?
James Whale: Mmm. Oh, it was all so long ago. Fifteen years. Making movies is the most wonderful thing in the world. Working with friends, entertaining people. Yes, I suppose I miss it.
Movie Quote of the Day – Beetlejuice, 1988 (dir. Tim Burton)
Barbara: Adam, is this what happens when you die?
Receptionist: This is what happens when *you* die. [points at a gaunt man smoking] That is what happens when *he* dies.
[points at a woman cut in half on the sofa reading] And that is what happens when *they* die. It’s all very personal. And I’ll tell you something: if I knew then what I know now. . .I wouldn’t have had my little accident.
[the dead people laugh]
Movie Quote of the Day – Barton Fink, 1991 (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
Charlie: I could tell you some stories. . .
Barton: Sure you could and yet many writers do everything in their power to insulate themselves from the common man, from where they live, from where they trade, from where they fight and love and converse and, and, and. . .So naturally their work suffers and regresses into empty formalism and. . .well I’m spouting off again, but to put it in your language, the theatre becomes as phony as a three-dollar bill!
Charlie: Well I guess that’s a tragedy right there!
Barton: You’re alright, Charlie. I’m glad you stopped by.
Oscar Vault Monday – Lost in Translation, 2003 (dir. Sofia Coppola)
I first saw this movie in 2010 in preparation for the release of Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (a film that I love dearly), but I wasn’t really sold on its merit at that time. I think some of that had to do with my dislike of Scarlett Johansson (I’m warming up to her a bit these days, but I could still take her or leave her). However, with every rewatch of this film I find more things to love about it. It’s kind of a distant film, but when you warm up to it, or rather it warms up to you, you’ll find it’s a real gem. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one: Best Original Screenplay (won), Best Actor Bill Murray, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films up for Best Picture that year were Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit and winner The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Movie Quote of the Day – Kicking and Screaming, 1995 (dir. Noah Baumbach)
Max: I’m too nostalgic. I’ll admit it.
Skippy: We graduated four months ago. What can you possibly be nostalgic for?
Max: I’m nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I’ve begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I’m reminiscing this right now. I can’t go to the bar because I’ve already looked back on it in my memory. . .and I didn’t have a good time.
the diary of a film history fanatic 