Author Archives: Marya E. Gates
Movie Quote of the Day – October Sky, 1999 (dir. Joe Johnston)
Ike Bykovsky: What do you boys think about this? Isn’t that something?
Roy Lee: Let ’em have outer space. We got rock ‘n’ roll.
Movie Quote of the Day – Shadow of a Doubt, 1943 (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Uncle Charlie: What’s the use of looking backward? What’s the use of looking ahead? Today’s the thing – that’s my philosophy. [beat] Today.
The Oliviers Unhinged: A Streetcar Named Desire and Sleuth
Kendra over at Viv and Larry is hosting an Oliviers appreciation blogathon and I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for my contribution for awhile. Laurence Olivier was nominated for eleven Academy Awards over a five decades (nine for Best Actor, one for Best Supporting Actor and one for Best Director), as well as receiving two honorary awards. His only competitive win was Best Actor for Hamlet (the film also won Best Picture). Vivien Leigh was only nominated for two Academy Awards over the years, both for Best Actress: Gone With The Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire. She won both times. Two were married for twenty years (it ended in divorce), made a handful of films together and worked extensively together in the theater. Have you got all of that? So, obviously, there is a lot of material there and a lot of ways to approach writing about them, together or separately. I finally decided to take a look at two of their Oscar-nominated performances, in separate films, that touch on madness. Beware: there are quite a bit of spoilers after the cut.
Movie Quote of the Day – Strangers on a Train, 1951 (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Bruno Antony: Want to hear one of my ideas for a perfect murder?
Movie Quote of the Day – Touch of Evil, 1958 (dir. Orson Welles)
Tanya: Isn’t somebody gonna come and take him away?
Schwartz: Yeah, in just a few minutes. You really liked him didn’t you?
Tanya: The cop did. . .the one who killed him. . .he loved him.
Schwartz: Well, Hank was a great detective all right.
Tanya: And a lousy cop.
Schwartz: Is that all you have to say for him?
Tanya: He was some kind of a man. . . What does it matter what you say about people?
Movie Quote of the Day – Out of the Past, 1947 (dir. Jacques Tourneur)
Jeff Bailey: Nothing in the world is any good unless you can share it.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Terminator, 1984 (dir. James Cameron)
The Terminator: I’m a friend of Sarah Connor. I was told she was here. Could I see her please?
Desk Sergeant: No, you can’t see her she’s making a statement.
The Terminator: Where is she?
Desk Sergeant: It may take a while. Want to wait? There’s a bench over there.
The Terminator: I’ll be back.
Movie Quote of the Day – Chinatown, 1974 (dir. Roman Polanski)
Walsh: Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
Oscar Vault Monday – Born On The Fourth of July, 1989 (dir. Oliver Stone)
I think I first saw this film when I was in High School. If I remember correctly, I rented it because I was going through a Willem Dafoe phase (yes, really). My mother watched it with me because she had really enjoyed the film when it first came out. Then she told me about how she’d seen the real Ron Kovic speak at an event once and she thought Cruise had really captured his spirit. There’s a lot of themes in this movie; because it is directed by Oliver Stone, it isn’t particularly subtle with its point of view. But, from what I gather, neither was Ron Kovic. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning two: Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing (Won), Best Actor, Best Director (won), Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot and winner Driving Miss Daisy.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Patriot, 2000 (dir. Roland Emmerich)
John Billings: I say we drink the wine, eat the dogs, and use the paper for musket wading.
Reverend Oliver: [alarmed] Eat the dogs?
Benjamin Martin: [joking] A dog is a fine meal.
the diary of a film history fanatic 