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Female Filmmaker Friday: Girlfriends, 1978 (dir. Claudia Weill)
I first saw this film last fall and I fell head over heels for it. It was directed, produced and co-written by Claudia Weill, who collaborated with friend Vicki Polon on the screenplay. Weill directed the film on weekends over a the course of a year. Somehow it got picked up by Warner Bros. and was given a limited run. Stanley Kurbick saw the film and said in a 1980 interview that it was one of the most interesting American films he had seen in recent years. Anyone who enjoyed last year’s Frances Ha, will love this film. They’re surprisingly similar and I wouldn’t be shocked if Baumbach and Gerwig drew some inspiration for their film from it. 
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Movie Quote of the Day – The Magnificent Seven, 1960 (dir. John Sturges)
Calvera: What I don’t understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hmm? Why, huh?
Chris: I wonder myself.
Calvera: No, come on, come on, tell me why.
Vin: It’s like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, “Why?”
Calvera: And?
Vin: He said, “It seemed to be a good idea at the time.”
Movie Quote of the Day – Baby Doll, 1956 (dir. Elia Kazan)
Silva Vacarro: You make me think of cotton. No. . .no fabric or cloth. . .not even satin or silk. . .no kind of fiber, not even a cotton fiber. . .has the absolute delicacy of your skin.
Baby Doll: Should I say thanks, or something?
Silva Vacarro: Just smile. You’ve got an attractive smile. . .and dimples. . .oh, yes, you do. Smile, Mrs. Meighan. There, you see, you do have them.
Baby Doll: Please, don’t touch me, I don’t like to be touched.
Silva Vacarro: Why do you giggle?
Baby Doll: You make me feel kind of hysterical.
Silva Vacarro: I do?
Baby Doll: Mr. Vacarro. . .
Silva Vacarro: Yes?
Baby Doll: I think I’ll go and make us some lemonade. [he stops her] What did you do that for?
Silva Vacarro: I don’t want to be deprived of the pleasure of your company. Not yet.
Baby Doll: Mr. Vacarro, you certainly are getting familiar.
Silva Vacarro: Don’t you have a little fun-loving spirit?
Baby Doll: This isn’t fun.
Silva Vacarro: Why do you giggle, then?
Baby Doll: Because I’m ticklish.
Silva Vacarro: Ticklish? Don’t be so skittish.
Baby Doll: All right, I’ll get up then.
Silva Vacarro: Go on. . .
Baby Doll: I feel so weak.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Holiday, 2006 (dir. Nancy Meyers)
Arthur Abbott: You know what I’ve been asking myself all night?
Iris: What? Why I’m bothering you with all these questions?
Arthur Abbott: I’m wondering why a beautiful girl like you would go to a strangers’ house for their Christmas Vacation, and on top of that spend Saturday night with an old cock-up like me.
Iris: Well, I just wanted to get away from all the people I see all the time!… Well, not all the people… one person. I wanted to get away from one… guy.[sobs] An ex-boyfriend who just got engaged and forgot to tell me.
Arthur Abbott: So, he’s a schmuck.
Iris: As a matter of fact, he is… a huge schmuck. How did you know?
Arthur Abbott: He let you go. This is not a hard one to figure out. Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.
Iris: You’re so right. You’re supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god’s sake! Arthur, I’ve been going to a therapist for three years, and she’s never explained anything to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1966 (dir. Sergio Leone)
Blondie: You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.
Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard and Eli Wallach to receive Honorary Oscars
The Envelope reports that:
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that it would present “The Godfather” director-producer Francis Ford Coppola with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and give honorary Oscars to British film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, French “New Wave” director Jean-Luc Godard, who made his feature directorial debut 50 years ago with the seminal “Breathless,” and veteran actor Eli Wallach, who has appeared in such films as “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
I really love this selection. I love all three of these artists and I look forward to their montages, etc. at the ceremony next year!
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