I Want to Live - 1958

Finally made it to this Susan Hayward gem- where she took home an Oscar. I was expecting a lot more drama based on the reviews I read. I huge let down for me- 1.5 stars. Simon Oakland did a good job in this movie based on a true story.

Random Harvest - 1942

My neighbor loves classic movies, so we got talking and she told me this was her favorite movie. So of course I had to try it out. It was okay- 3 stars for me. What really impressed me was actress Susan Peters and Greer Garson. I was familiar with Garson but not Peters. I went to IMDB to read about Peters and what I found was a very sad story which I will let you read. Very sad.

The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

The other night I was trying to find a film that my older boys and I could watch together.  We found this one On Demand and decided to give it a whirl.  Steve McQueen plays a naval lieutenant Fergusen 'Fergie' Howard during peace time.  While anchored in a Ventitan bay he decides to go a shore and rig some roulette games at the local casino using an on board computer from the ship.  Fergie wrangles a couple of buddies to go in on it with him.  They study the roulette wheel for hours tracking the numbers the ball is landing on, and then they relay those numbers back to the ships computer via Morris code with a blinker.  A short time later the ship signals back the results for the winning numbers for the wheel. 

Unbeknown st to the Lieutenant and his friends the Admiral was monitoring the ship as the answers came back to the shore, and he thought it was an inside job for a Russian attack.  The madness goes on from there.  I would not say that this is an Oscar winning movie, but it was a fun hour and a half; probably only 2 stars, but it was painless.

Cry Danger - 1951

Just a dumb noir film that I watched last night. 1.5 stars. Not worthy of a post.

Mission Impossible 3 - 2006

Just saw this for the first time. It was okay. Didn't like the girl playing opposite Tom C. I did like the plot and I loved P. Seymour Hoffman as the bad guy.

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin and Anne Francis all star in this interesting film. Spencer Tracy shows up one day in a one horse town that is hiding a horible secret. There is really only one way to get in to this town and that is by the train. The train has not stopped in this town for over four years, until Tracy steps off in this town. I will try not to give too much of the storyline away, but eventually Tracy gets to the bottom of the secret. This was an enjoyable film to watch in an afternoon. 3 stars out of 5, worth a watch.

When the Eight Bells Toll - 1971

I came across this British film on NF and gave it a whirl. Boy am I glad for that decision. A young Anthony Hopkins plays a very confident British secret agent and royal navy officer named Philip Calvert. Calvert knows he is good and pulls off a quiet arrogance equal to 007 himself. He takes no prisoners and he doesn't care is his approach is non-conformant. He doesn't respect his superiors and actually mocks them when sometimes they don't even realize that he is being so brash. After being beat up by a thug Calvert returns to the boat all covered in blood and mud and his secret agent partner says to him "What happened to you?" His response allows us to see an inside look to his egoistic sense of humor "I met a wild gypsy girl in the heather." I absolutely loved Hopkins and veteran British actor Robert Morley in this movie. They ham and egg it back and forth, neither one wasting a line in an effort to help build the character and to show us how different they are even though they both work for the queen. Calvert's one liners are just hilarious. Morley's character is just hilarious- always focused on food and comforting himself. The movie plot is simple- "Calvert must figure out how millions in gold bullion are being pirated. The obvious suspect is a tycoon whose yacht hosts a succession of questionable characters. All hell breaks loose when the yacht's hostess aids the investigation” I am not the only one that likes this movie- the reviews are fantastic. I like how Hopkins plays this role and quit honestly I don't know why he wasn't given a chance to play 007 in the 1970's- he could have done a much better job than Connery did. Hopkins arrogance is brilliant. 4.5 stars for me and a strong recommendation. I watched it with the captions on to catch all the British humor which is so deadpan at times I was missing it.

Red Dawn- 1985

When I heard a remake was coming out I had to rewatch the old one- haven't seen it in about 15 years. I was laughing out loud each time one of the 17 year old high school kids shot a missle or rocket launcher and the target (usually a jeep) that was a mile away would still be hit dead on. I like this movie and it was made at a great time in the 80's and I remember the movie offending a lot of people. It makes me appreciate my freedom. 2.5 stars for me. Lots of actors we know in this one- Thompson, Grey, Sheen, and Swayze.