Yearly Archives: 2013
Mel Brooks: Make A Noise
Mel Brooks is having quite a year. Last month his film The Twelve Chairs screened at the TCM Classic Film Festival, it was announced last week that Martin Scorsese will present him with the American Film Institute’s 41st Life Achievement Award in Hollywood on June 6 (the ceremony will air on TNT Saturday, June 15, at 9 p.m. and as part of an all-night tribute to Brooks on TCM Sunday, July 24, at 8 p.m) and last night a new documentary on the filmmaker entitled Mel Brooks: Make a Noise premiered on PBS as part of their American Masters series. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the DVD release of the documentary, which is available today form Shout! Factory.
Movie Quote of the Day – Here Comes Mr. Jordan, 1941 (dir. Alexander Hall)
Messenger 7013: I have an idea, Mr. Jordan, couldn’t we have him reborn?
Joe Pendleton: Nothing doing; I’m not gonna go through *that* again!
Oscar Vault Monday – Tootsie, 1982 (dir. Sydney Pollack)
I’m not sure when I first saw this film, but I think it was probably on television some time in the 90s. I didn’t do a good rewatch of the film until my first semester of film grad school. One of my instructors used it a lot in his teaching screenplay form (it really is a great model), so on the last day we watched the entire film. Having just rewatched it again, I can’t help but think it really is a perfect film. It’s not the most realistic film (far from it); but it is storytelling at its finest. Tootsie was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning one: Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress Teri Garr, Best Supporting Actress Jessica Lange (won), Best Actor Dustin Hoffman, Best Director and Best Picture. The other film nominated for Best Picture that year were: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, The Verdict and winner Gandhi.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Philadelphia Story, 1940 (dir. George Cukor)
Macaulay Connor: C.K. Dexter Haven! Oh, C.K. Dexter Haven!
C. K. Dexter Haven: What’s up?
Macaulay Connor: You are.
Movie Quote of the Day – Julie & Julia, 2009 (dir. Nora Ephron)
Paul Child: What is it you really like to do?
Julia Child: Eat!
From The Warner Archive: The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, 1963 (dir. Vincente Minnelli)
As many of you know, I really love Glenn Ford. Like, really love. I am so excited about all the Glenn Ford media hitting the home video market in the last few months. Enter The Courtship of Eddie’s Father from the Warner Archive Collection. This was such a great film; I can’t believe I had never seen it before.
Movie Quote of the Day – Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, 1936 (dir. Frank Capra)
Longfellow Deeds: People around here are funny. They work so hard at living they forget how to live.
Movie Quote of the Day – Edtv, 1999 (dir. Ron Howard)
John: Look, Ed, you put anybody on television 16 hours a day, at some point they’re going to wind up rolling off a table and squashing a cat.
Ed: Oh, man, that’s not my point.
John: All right, look. With no privacy, there is no dignity. Capisce?
Movie Quote of the Day – Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939 (dir. John Ford)
Abraham Lincoln: Law. “That’s the rights of persons and the rights of things. The rights of life, reputation and liberty. The rights to acquire and hold property. Wrongs are violations of those rights.” By jing, that’s all there is to it. Right and wrong.
Movie Quote of the Day – Niagara, 1953 (dir. Henry Hathaway)
George Loomis: Let me tell you something. You’re young, you’re in love. Well, I’ll give you a warning. Don’t let it get out of hand, like those falls out there. Up above. . .d’you ever see the river up above the falls? It’s calm, and easy, and you throw in a log, it just floats around. Let it move a little further down and it gets going faster, hits some rocks, and… in a minute it’s in the lower rapids, and. . .nothing in the world – including God himself, I suppose – can keep it from going over the edge. It just – goes.
Polly Cutler: Don’t worry. I’m one of those logs that just hang around in the calm.
the diary of a film history fanatic 