That Time of Year Again

Rankin Bass movies are the best Christmas movies! It also can't be the holidays without watching A Christmas Story (1983) once, twice, or five hundred times.

                                              Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

                                             Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976)

                                                    Burl Ives, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

                                              A Christmas Story (1983)

Long Hair Lovelies-3

                                                       Lana Turner

                                                            Jane Fonda

                                                        Veronica Lake

                                                         Jean Simmons

                                                        Raquel Welch

                                                        Dolores Del Rio

                                                        Marion Davies

Underrated and It's a Shame

                                                    Tony Curtis (Bernard Schwartz) 1925-2010     

     
I just finished reading the autobiography of Tony Curtis called American Prince: My Autobiography. I liked it a lot and I must say that I am definitely guilty of not appreciating his talent for what it was. I always thought he was very good in The Defiant Ones (1958) with Sidney Poitier. That was a groundbreaking movie and the movie itself didn't get the honors and raving reviews it deserved when it came out. But, I guess I let his reputation as a womanizer and an absent father get in the way of seeing his talents as an actor. That's not to say he wasn't a womanizer because he ABSOLUTELY was. You just have to read his book to see how many actresses, models, and regular women he bagged. I almost couldn't keep up with it! He seemed to have fallen in love or fallen in lust with almost every leading lady he ever had! But, last week The Boston Strangler (1968) came on TV and I thought Tony was amazing in it. He plays the strangler in the movie and he was so wonderful. He played the part so well, you thought he might actually be mentally disturbed. He should have been nominated for an Oscar for that one but I think Hollywood didn't want to see him succeed because of his philandering and messy divorce with Janet Leigh. He also had to deal with antisemitism in Hollywood.

Anyway the book really helped me understand a lot about why he was the way he was. He really had a hard knock life growing up in a poor Jewish family in the Bronx.  He may have cheated on pretty much all of his wives and wasn't the best father but he should still be praised as the stellar actor that he was.

                                                   Tony on the set of The Defiant Ones (1958)

                                                    Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh

                                              Tony and Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones (1958)

                                           Tony much older and painting which was his life's passion other than acting.

What a Gal-3

Monica Vitti

Long Hair Lovelies-2

                                                            Ann Sheridan

                                                         Olivia Hussey

                                                         Julie Christie (above and below)

                                                              Yvette Mimieux

                                                       Katharine Ross

                                                                 Hayley Mills

                                                                    Sarah Miles

                                                                   Jeanne Crain

I forever hate Martin Sheen

I saw The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)  last night and I thought it was very intriguing. I was completely creeped out by Martin Sheen playing the child molester/pervert Frank Hallett. Everytime he appeared on the screen I wanted to throw up or scream. What a creep! But, I was so impressed by Jodie Fosters acting. She was so mature and you could tell she understood everything that was happening in the film even though she was fourteen years old during filming. She took control of every scene and held her own acting alongside adults as she usually does. Scott Jacoby who played her friend/ boyfriend Mario was also very good. Overall I can't believe they got away with making a film where a little girl has sex and appears nude (it was really Jodie's adult older sister who was her body double in the nude scene) but it was the 70's so what can you do? She also played a teenage prostitute in Taxi Driver (1976) but even that wasn't nearly as shocking as this film.  I'll just have to conclude saying it was a very creepy but interesting film and that I have a feeling that this is one of Roman Polanski's favorite films to watch.