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Reefer Madness The Movie Musical Poster

Not really a Halloween movie, but continuing with our recent theme of the dangers of ignorance, we recently rented Reefer Madness The Movie Musical (2005) through Netflix.

I’ve been meaning to see this movie ever since I heard about it. First of all, it’s a musical – not too many of those being made anymore. Second, it features Alan Cumming and Steven Weber, two actors I really like. And although I didn’t even know who she was when I first heard about this movie, we also rented it for Kristen Bell.

I know acting in and of itself is an art form but I always have even more respect for actors who can do something else – especially singing and even more dancing. We had heard Bell sing a few times on Veronica Mars but only briefly but I could tell she was good. Reefer Madness certainly proved this.

A parody remake of the famous 1937 propaganda film of the same name, Reefer Madness the Movie Musical is a message movie about a message movie. I’ve never partaken in any illegal drug and have never really wanted to but even I know that the ‘dangers’ of marijuana are terribly exaggerated and always have been. The original film depicted all the terrible things that could happen if children get hooked on ‘the stuff’ and this musical depicts just how ridiculous believing this nonsense truly is.

The production values of this movie are top notch, the performances spectacular and the songs are – well, they’re pretty good. There a few stand-out numbers such as “Little Mary Sunshine” but in all honesty the songs are adequate at best. However, the staging of the songs is fantastic and make all of them something to look forward to.

And, personally, I think the songs would have worked better if they had been written in the 30′s/40′s style, but that’s my personal preference in music anyway, so take that observation with a grain of salt.

I highly recommend this movie even if you’re not musical buff. The comedy and absurdity of the entire situation is worth it.

Purchase Reefer Madness – The Movie Musical

And, here are a few visual highlights:

William Randolph Hearst is his Hero (Alan Cumming)

Mary Lane, the picture of good ol' U.S. of A wholesomeness (Kristen Bell)

Amy Spanger as Sally

No, Mary Lane, don't do it! (Kristen Bell with John Kassir)

The Effects of the Reefer (Kristen Bell and John Kassir)

The hippest Jesus I've ever seen (Robert Torti)

Continue reading »]]> I’m a huge fan of classic films of all genres and across all studios. However, there’s a special place in my heart for MGM musicals. With production values above and beyond almost all other studios, even the worst MGM musical had something going for it.

Kathryn Grayson was one of the many stars in the MGM musical stable. She left us today at the age of 88.

Continue reading »]]> Sad news today. Cyd Charisse has passed away at the age of 87. Read the AFP article HERE.

Fred Astaire only made two films with Cyd but the impression these two films made on me were significant. The Bandwagon – arguably Fred Astaire’s best film – and Silk Stockings are filled with humor, great music and, of course, wonderful dancing. Cyd was one of Fred’s best partners and he was generous enough to let her show it. When she danced with Gene Kelly it always seemed that all Gene wanted to do was lift her and carry her around. Fred let her keep her feet on the ground and actually dance.

And, wow, could she dance. I have no problem understanding what Fred meant when he said, “When you dance with Cyd Charisse, you’ve been danced with.”

Continue reading »]]> I’m not feeling well today and i’m stuck at home in bed so I thought I’d make another entry in my ‘series’ of favorites. Today’s entry is the third actor in my trio of number ones – James Cagney.

Two posts ago I told how I first became interested in James Cagney via Michael J. Fox. As I wrote then, my first encounter with James Cagney was not through a gangster film filled with sneers, smacks on the chin or the ventilation of snitch-filled car trunks. Mine was of a short, well-mannered man in a tux dancing around an overly-done art-deco night club. Something to Sing About is not one of Cagney’s best films, but I’ve always liked it very much.

After I saw that movie back in high school, I didn’t really go out looking for Cagney films. I did, however, watch them when I happened upon them. The second Cagney film I saw was (a badly colorized version of) Yankee Doodle Dandy while I was in college. This one wasn’t hard to come by – it plays on many stations every Independence Day. I liked this one even more than Something to Sing About and I was a little miffed at my roommate at the time who made fun of his stiff-legged dancing. His style wasn’t as graceful as Astaire, but that didn’t make it bad and I liked it quite a bit.

It wasn’t until a few years later, when I did start seeking out Cagney films, that I finally saw the type of movie Cagney is most famous for and, to be honest, I don’t remember which one it was. Maybe The Roaring Twenties but I know it wasn’t Public Enemy. The first time I saw Public Enemy I was a little shocked at how brutal it was (this was before I knew about ‘pre-code’ films and how they differed from the ‘post-code’ films I was used to seeing) and just how damned scary Cagney could be. Before these gangster films, the worst I had seen Cagney’s characters behave was due to an overabundance of self-confidence.

I love Cagney’s gangster films – or, at least, I love him in these films – but I personally prefer the non-gangster roles. The musicals, the comedies, the straight dramas. When I hear people talk of Cagney today, it’s always in reference to his tough guy roles.

“Does anyone know what a Jimmy Cagney love scene is? It’s when Cagney lets the good guy live.” – Shoot ‘em Up, 2007

His comedic, (non bad-guy) dramatic and musical talents are rarely mentioned in pop culture. I know what a James Cagney love scene is and so did Ann Sheridan, Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Olivia DeHaviland and countless other leading ladies.

(As an aside, I actually really like the movie that quote up there is from. It’s spoken by a really, really bad man so I can’t expect him to know any better.)

To get a really well-rounded look-see at what Cagney was really all about, I would recommend the following:

• Public Enemy (as Tom Powers) – Cagney’s break-out role. He was originally cast as the ‘good’ best friend but it was soon clear that he was better suited to the intense role of Tom Powers.
• The St. Louis Kid (as Eddie Kennedy) – A schizophrenic film that starts off as a romantic comedy but turns into a heavy pro-labor union drama.
• The Irish in Us (as Danny O’Hara) – Sharing the screen with two of his best friends, Pat O’Brien and Frank McHugh, Cagney plays the irresponsible brother to Pat O’Brien’s good brother – a pattern that repeated in almost all the movies they shared (one really good exception – Torrid Zone)
• Angels With Dirty Faces (as Rocky Sullivan) – One of Cagney’s most famous roles, which is very much deserved. He is again playing a gangster but this time he is endangering children by encouraging them to follow in his footsteps. He best friend, the priest (Pat O’Brien once again) who looks over these youths, asks him to make a huge sacrifice that goes against Rocky’s very being.
• The Oklahoma Kid (as Jim Kincaid, The Oklahoma Kid) – Yep, this is a western. Cagney made a few more westerns, but not until he was much older. Cagney’s image was very urbane, but his first choice of career was to be a farmer so this role actually felt natural to him and he was disappointed that the public didn’t agree. The bad guy in this movie (complete with an all-black outfit, including his hat) was equally urbane Humphrey Bogart. Not a bad movie and a hoot to watch just for the stark differences in role types for both of these icons.
• The Strawberry Blonde (as T.L. ‘Biff’ Grimes) – A romantic comedy, one of the few Cagney made, this is one of my favorite Cagney films period. The plot isn’t all that original (boy loves the wrong girl – the right girl loves him – the boy finally realizes the wrong girl is an utter bitch and falls for the right girl after having been married to the right girl for years) but the period setting and wonderful performances help it rise above all of this. Rita Hayworth is utterly gorgeous (of course) and can even make the beautiful Olivia DeHaviland look plan in comparison, but we all know which one is worth Cagney’s time, right?
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (as George M. Cohan) – Everyone knows this one, but in case you don’t this is the biographical film of one of the stage performer/composer/director greats. Fred Astaire was Cohan’s first choice, but Cagney was the bettert choice for the role. Fred was a good actor, but Cagney was much better at playing the brash, egotistical, in-your-face – but still likeable – jerk.
• White Heat (as Cody Jarrett) – Yes, another gangster role but this time he’s a ruthless, insane Mama’s boy – a dangerous combination if there ever was one. This was Cagney’s return to a genre he wasn’t thrilled to go back to, but at least he came back with a bang…literally.
• Love Me or Leave Me (as Martin Snyder) – Another bio-pic about a stage man, but this time he’s an ‘agent’ and not the performer. This movie is more about Ruth Etting, played wonderfully by Doris Day, than it is about Snyder, but Cagney’s performance as the brutal and insanely jealous manager is as scary of his role as Tom Powers in Public Enemy. Only, this time, he charms his prey to trap them instead of gunning them down.

There are many others that are just as good, but the above roles are different enough from the others and do a good job at showing just what Cagney was capable of. Not all of these films are available on DVD but you might be able to catch them on Turner Classic Movies if you keep an eye out. Hopefully they will all be available soon.

Continue reading »]]> If you want to hear me go off on a rant, mention Fred Astaire’s widow. If you want to piss me off, tell me Fred Astaire was a no-talent hoofer. If you want to be my friend forever tell me Fred Astaire was the best dancer in musical films ever.

Strangely enough, however, I did not start watching Fred movies because of his dancing. I started watching his movies because he made me laugh.

Back in high school when my parents got divorced I got a bit depressed. Both my mother and I tended to watch  and listen to entertainment that made us laugh. (We both went through a big Ray Stevens kick, but that’s another story I may never tell.) So, I was home alone one day, flipping around the channels when I came upon an old black and white movie. There was this skinny man dressed to the nines sitting on a couch, not speaking and obviously thinking things over. The way he moved his eyes as he did this made me laugh out loud so I finished watching The Gay Divorcee even though I had no idea what was going on.

Over the next month I kept an eye out for that movie (it was on AMC, back when their name actually meant something) and I kept catching snippets of it here and there but those snippets confused me even more. Turns out I was catching bits of The Gay Divorcee and Top Hat. Both have the same cast, minus one, and the plots were so thin that it was understandable.

I finally caught both movies from the beginning and watched them in their entirety. I suppose I was lucky that those two films were my first Fred films – they’re considered two of the best of the Fred and Ginger (Rogers) series – because from then on, I was hooked.

I have always wanted to know how to dance. I don’t know if this actually happened because memory is such a tricky thing, but I remember this vividly: When I was very young my mother told me I could take tap dancing lessons as long as I also took ballet lessons. I told her I wouldn’t take ballet lessons so I didn’t get any lessons. I really wish she had made me take both because I now have a deep appreciation for both styles of dancing.

So, Fred got my attention with his comedic abilities and he held it with his wonderful dancing. Every new film brought new dances and even in the worst of them his performance brought those clunkers up to a higher level. Blue Skies has the amazing ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz‘ number where he dances with over a dozen mirror images of himself. The Belle of New York has the understated soft-shoe ‘I Wanna Be a Dancin’ Man.’ And Let’s Dance has ‘Oh Them Dudes‘ – a very guilty pleasure of mine.

I’m very close to my goal of having everything Fred ever appeared in, including his non-musical performances, but there are several things that aren’t available. I highly doubt we’ll ever see his television specials he made with Barrie Chase on DVD – the music rights issues would only be one of the major obstacles – but I can still keep hoping.

Here’s to you Fred – may there never be a time when the world is deprived of your talents.

Continue reading »]]> The pictures below are random shots of the film. Click the images to see them larger.

I saw the trailer for this film sometime last summer and have wanted to see it ever since. We rented it Thursday night and watched it last night.

Kind of odd, really. I normally hate covers of Beatles songs. I never saw the point of remaking a Beatles song. The one exception that I can think of is Joe Cocker’s With a Little Help from my Friends. It’s just a great arrangement.

Eddie Izzard Sings ‘For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’

But this movie had me intrigued. An entire movie musical made up on nothing but Beatles songs set during the turbulent 1960′s. It sounded like a perfect match and, for the most part, it is.

NYC dances around JoJo as he arrives in NYC to ‘Come Together’

The plot of this movie isn’t highly original. Boy meets girl – boy loses girl to the anti-war movement – boy gets girl back. (Sorry if you think that’s a spoiler, but if you watch the movie you’ll realize it couldn’t end any other way.)

Fortunately, the characters are fleshed out enough and the performances so good that the viewer cares about them despite their familiarity – or perhaps because of it.

Uncle Sam ‘wants’ Max

The blending of the songs and the inventive visuals along with some superb acting and sometimes amazing singing make this a great film experience. If going to theaters weren’t such a pain nowadays, I would have loved to see this on the big screen. However, I know that it would have been ruined by narcissistic humans who can’t stand not being the center of attention for more than 30 minutes at a time.

(I tend to bitch about that a lot – sorry.)

She’s So Heavy

The main character, Jude (Jim Sturgess) is from Liverpool (natch) and even looks quite a bit like a young Paul McCartney. He goes to America in search of his birth father. He achieves this goal but more importantly he finds his best friend in Max (Joe Anderson) and the love of his life in Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), Max’s sister.

Max, Jude and Lucy sing to ‘Dear Prudence’

After moving to New York city, their tight-nit group is filled out with Sadie (Dana Fuchs – whose voice is frakkin’ amazing), Jojo (Martin Luther McCoy) and Prudence (T.V. Carpio).

Along with the music and the obvious names, there are many other nods to the Beatles: Max is once seen fixing a fan with a silver hammer; Prudence meets the gang when she comes through the bathroom window; Jude draws a still life after slicing a green apple in half…you get the idea.

The best name ever for a restaurant

There are several nice cameos that really work in the film – Joe Cocker plays three different characters and sings Come Together (probably the best musical number in the film). Bono plays Mr. Robert and sings I Am the Walrus and Salma Hayek plays the Bang, Bang, Shoot, Shoot nurse in Happiness is a Warm Gun.

My husband’s favorite part of the movie

The film was written and directed by Julie Taymor (Frida) and she did a terrific job. The movie is visually beautiful – even in the non-fantastic scenes – and from what I saw in some of the behind-the-scene footage included on the bonus disc, she really knows how to get the best from her performers.

So, if you like the Beatles, musicals or are interested in America during the 1960′s I suspect you would really like this movie.

JoJo, Sadie and Jude sing ‘All You Need is Love’ while Max looks on

Continue reading »]]> I know Audrey Hepburn is the star of the movie, but I am not happy with this cover for the new 50th Anniversary Edition DVD of Funny Face.

Audrey has not only a full body shot but a HUUUGE head shot, and there’s Fred Astaire, over in the corner, as if he’s just a minor plot point. Hell, he’s hardly recognizable.

….

I take it all back.

I just looked up the original poster art for this movie, from 1957. Fred didn’t fare any better in that artwork either. In fact, he did much worse.

<– It’s not a particularly flattering picture, but Fred does appear in this poster.

He does not for the other two I found.

Poor Kay Thompson, who is the second best thing in the movie, doesn’t appear in any of them. (I don’t think I have to tell you what I think is the best thing. )
C’est la vie, I suppose. Audrey was ‘it’ in 1957. I still don’t get the appeal – she was a decent actress, but nothing all that special that I’ve seen. Maybe it was more about her personality than her acting prowess. I wasn’t around at the time and she’s one I’ve never taken time to research.

I guess it’s good that a DVD that’s getting this special treatment includes Astaire. I can’t be too angry with anything that ‘spreads Fred.’