Hooray For Hollywood
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| HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD PODCAST - Chatting about movies of past and comparing it to the now! |
HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
By Daren Foster
**Mining the movies' past for gems.**
The Brown Derby. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Swimming pools. Movie stars.
Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve been traveling down memory lane, brushing up on my classic American cinema knowledge which was woefully lacking for someone who likes to think of himself as, well, not a cinephile as that’s a little pretentious, don’t you think? Movie savvy? Too producerial. A film buff? A little gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that if you’ll excuse my Seinfeldian appropriation, which brings me back to pretension territory.
Maybe I’m just bored with what’s currently on offer from Hollywood. FXed numbed and Apatow cowed, I’ve sought to fill my increasingly gaping entertainment maw with some of the tried and true golden oldies of the past. A little vibrant b&w to tone down the sickly richness of enhanced, digitized colour. Some refined classic classiness to counter the unhinged modern crassness.
It could be that as middle age settles in, I’m experiencing a tweak of existential crisis and find myself fondly looking back to more youthful days. Not my youthful days, mind you, but my grandfather’s, and not even my grandfather but some mystical, mythical grandfather who spent his adolescence sitting in the front row at the Bijou or Rialto or Majestic, watching newsreels, serials, animated shorts all before the double feature with nary a car commercial in sight. Lucky grandfather. At least, lucky before he got called up to fight for his country and died on the beaches of Normandy. Or so I’ve seen it told in the movies.
The point I’m trying to make here is that I’ve been watching a lot of old movies recently. Forgive me my Christmas prose bloat.
Anyone with even a passing interest in the movies has taken time to watch (if not enjoy) the biggies of yesteryear; your Gone With the Winds, Casablancas, Citizen Kanes. Over the holidays, most of us stop flicking through the channels, at least briefly, for a peek at It’s A Wonderful Life or The Wizard of Oz. I’ve taken this a step or two further and plan to fill up on an entire era. To immerse myself in the cinematic exploits of our forefathers. In with the old, out with the new. Jimmy Cagney would so kick your ass, Bruce Willis. Look at me, ma! I’m on top of the world!!
Think director Howard Hawks from The Dawn Patrol and the original Scarface through to Red River and Rio Bravo. Hollywood’s first Golden Age is what I’m referring to, circa the advent of the talkies to the election of JFK. Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Preston Sturges and Ben Hecht. Screwball comedies and film noir. Alfred Hitchcock’s first American directorial effort during WWII -- not that more than a few of his earlier British efforts were slouches -- through to North by Northwest -- not that a couple of his 1960s films were slouches either.
In fact, it was that 1959 film that alerted me to the possible treasures I might uncover if I did a little digging. North by Northwest epitomizes everything Hollywood once did right. High, slick production values. A smart, tight story that juggled smooth comedy with a menacing air of tension that culminated in a beautiful stunt-filled fight atop Mount Rushmore. Cary Grant would so kick your ass, Bruce Willis!
Ahh, Cary Grant. I used to think I had a man-crush on George Clooney but I’ve come to realize that, in fact, I was merely channelling my man-crush on Cary Grant through George as Clooney clearly calibrates his career to the notion of being the new Cary Grant. He does a pretty good job of it too, although he hasn’t yet acquired Grant’s unbelievably light but devastating comedic touch. That’s no knock at Clooney as no one has come close to matching Grant in that aspect.
To make an even bolder, broader claim, Cary Grant may well be the finest film actor that has ever flashed before our eyes. Eminent film critic, David Thomson, called Grant “..the most intriguing actor in the history of movies.” Note that neither of us said he was the best actor ever but the finest and most intriguing. The distinction is what draws me to the older films.
More than an actor, Grant was a movie star. While that may sound like a backhanded compliment in these days of exhaustively over-hyped and empty-headed celebrity, it is meant as the highest of praise. In his movies, Cary Grant was always Cary Grant (like John Wayne was always John Wayne) with only slight modulations in tone and mood depending on the story at hand. He never lost himself in a role. Audiences wouldn’t have put up with that. They paid their money to see Cary Grant not to see Cary Grant act like he wasn’t Cary Grant.
Arguably, the expectations are still the same for movie stars. Audiences go to see a Bruce Willis or a George Clooney or a Tom Cruise (you can fill in the blank from here) film to see Bruce Willis or George Clooney or Tom Cruise. But what exactly is a Bruce Willis or George Clooney or Tom Cruise film? Aside from a bankable star vehicle, what do their particular brands actually convey? I ask non-rhetorically as I have no answer.
For me, watching a Cary Grant movie ultimately means revelling in the playfulness and artifice that I love about movies. Whether at his silliest (Bringing Up Baby, I Was a Male War Bride, Monkey Business) or most debonair but possibly sinister (Suspicion, To Catch a Thief, even The Philadelphia Story in a way), he projected a sense of fun and breeziness that seemed effortless. We’re making a movie here, folks, not curing cancer or resolving international conflicts. 
But, we’re making a movie like nobody’s business!
If it seems like I’m falling back on that old they don’t make movies like that anymore trope that is not my intent. They do. Only it’s few and far between. Recent films as wildly divergent as Napoleon Dynamite and Magnolia spring immediately to mind as examples of films recognizing that, above all else, they are just movies; narratives with pictures, done with care and personal integrity. Sounds easy and straight-forward enough but how often do you come away from a movie with that sense?
READ MORE COLUMNS BY DAREN FOSTER
December 29 2008 - REKILL THE BATMAN - Fingers crossed for a Dark Knight free 2009!
December 22 2008 - KEVIN SMITH CONUNDRUM - Why such love for a mediocre talent?
December 15 2008 - PUSHING UP DAISIES - Let's doff our caps for TV shows few will miss.
December 8 2008 - THIS JUST IN - The media just loves a good tragedy!
December 1 2008 - UNDER THE RADAR - The curious career of Albert Brooks.
November 24 2008 - PULP FICTION FOREVER - Once exciting filmmaker now never fails to disappoint.
November 17 2008 - CHARLIE KAUFMAN UNLEASHED - Brainy scriptwriter goes for broke in directorial debut.
November 10 2008 - A GOLDEN AGE - TV's renaissance amidst the ruins.
November 3 2008 - POLITICS AS UNUSUAL - Media tales fail to take flight.
October 27 2008 - EYES HAVE IT 2 - Joe the Plumber 4 President!
October 20 2008 - EYES HAVE IT - You say pollster. I say huckster.
October 13 2008 - MUSLIM COMEDY REVIEW - Ahmed's now your wacky next door neighbour!
October 6 2008 - BVLGARI VVLGARIS - Celebrity overseas whoring.
September 29 2008 - COMEDY TODAY
September 22 2008 - FALLEN SEASON EXPECTATIONS
September 15 2008 - CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
September 8 2008 - KILL THE BATMAN - Seriously. Put him out of his misery.
September 1 2008 - MY SUMMER VACATION
August 25 2008 - PHONING IT IN
August 18 2008 - GUNGA GULUNGA
August 11 2008 - EMMY DAZE - Where is The Wire
August 4 2008 - ME TALK GOOD
July 28 2008 - TAKE THE CANNOLI
July 21 2008 - TECHNO BEAT 2
July 14 2008 - TECHNO BEAT 1
June 30 2008 - KING GEORGE
July 7 2008 - THE INDIGESTIBLE HULK
June 23 2008 - PLAYING ONE ON TV
