Grease 40th Anniversary

"Danny, is this end?" "Of course not, it's only the beginning." 

And what a beginning it was. Since it is the 40th anniversary of Grease this year, I thought it would be appropriate to write a post about why I love this movie and why it's still so popular 40 years later...

I can't tell you the age I was when I was first introduced, I think I was 7 or 8 and so most of the innuendos went over my head, but I loved it for the music. I have loved musicals since I was a child and ever since I first saw it, I liked it and it becomes even more awesome every time I see it.

Now, I know many people have opinions about this movie (especially the ending) and while I see where they are coming from, I have my own opinion of how I interpret it. Here we have this girl who thought she was going to move to another country after having the best summer of her life and then plans change and she goes to the same high school as Danny. He acts differently around his friends when they do reunite causing Sandy to respond with: "You're a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you." Which of course is completely understandable and I would probably react the same way, but then Danny wants to get her back and she wants him back, so the majority of the film is spent on just that. Changing for each other. Not in the sense that I have to change so the other person likes you better because Danny already liked Sandy the way she is. I mean they wouldn't have been together all summer if he hadn't. He is trying to show that he can be the kind of guy she met during the summer and she wants to shed her wholesome image and be more confident and bold. I don't see it as, 'I have to change my appearance for the guy and then we live happily ever after.' No, they did those things for each other. Not one person having to conform to what the other wanted and I think that's actually really sweet because like Danny told the guys, "I'm gonna whatever I can to get her." and he did. So did she. That's why I think it's so iconic. I mean, everyone is going to take it however they want to, but ulitmately it's a story about finding yourself. All of these characters were trying to figure out what was going to happen after graduation and were just trying to make the most of their senior year.

Now, I know people have issues with certain things in the movie and I understand that. Everyone has their own perspective, but it's really not supposed to be taken that seriously. Yes, we can learn from situations in the movie, but mainly it's supposed to be fun and silly and predictable. Most musicals are, and there is nothing wrong with that. For everyone that enjoys musicals, whether they are theatre musicals or movie musicals, let's all unite and keep Grease alive for another 40 years. GREASE IS THE WORD!

Best Picture Winners: The Deer Hunter

A movie that starts out with a wedding and then goes into the intensity and tragedy of war. 

The next film in my Best Picture Winner series is, The Deer Hunter directed by Michael Cimino is a story about humanity in a sense. It's basically about the lives of these men and their familes in a small town. We see them working in a refinery in the beginning and it's all leading up to a wedding of Steve and Angela and all of his buddies are in the wedding. At the wedding, which takes up the first 45 minutes of the film, it is annouced that they are going to war. 

Michael (Robert DeNiro) who is the strong one of the guys, he hunts deer, he doesn't like how fast things are changing, he is there for Steve and Nick when they are on the front lines, he shows incredible courage and tries to help his fellow comrads through the horror and violence going on around them. 

When he comes home, he has to deal with the aftermath of what we went through and he holds a lot of in and when he does go hunting again, he can't bring himself to shoot a deer. I love the symbolism in that and it shows that what he endured during the war means that he can't bring himself to take anymore life, or that is watch it die. Earlier in the film, we saw Nick shoot a deer and when the deer was falling down and dying, they focused on its eyes, which even though it was hard for me to watch, showed that he was essentially taking a life, even if it was for hunting puproses and an animal. It's still life and I think we see that throughout the whole film. 

At the end of the day, the movie is about humans and existence and survival and the realism that goes with that. This was the 1970s, these men lived this way then, they talked like that, they did those things, movies during that time were about the gritty, realism of life. That's why they tended to be filmed in more muted colors and the streets were more run down looking and things like that. It's about the trials that they faced, going to war, dealing with that experience and coming home and never completely feeling like who they once were. 

Maybe this movie didn't have a blantant message to it and maybe it was just supposed to be about existence and humanity, I don't know, but we all take something different away from films that we watch and for me, this is what I got out of it. 

While, the film was very slow paced, overall I think it was as good film. For being the type of film that it was, it deserved to win Best Picture. 

Time After Time

When I think of the title "Time After Time" I'm reminded of the 80's song sung by the eccentric Cyndi Lauper. However, the movie of the same name is about H.G. Wells and his time machine that uses to go after Jack the Ripper. 

The year is 1893 and H.G. Wells is talking with his buddies, one of whom is Stevenson (played by the amazing David Warner) about his predictions for the future and then finding out that Stevenson was Jack the Ripper and took the time machine, using it to go to 1979. So Wells gets in the time machine and follows him to the future. When he gets there he discovers that it is not the Utopia he predicted. However, he meets a woman named Amy (played by Mary Steenburgen) and they both try to search for Jack the Ripper. While Wells is after Jack, Jack is after Wells to obtain a master key to the machine. He continues his murderous ways and will stop at nothing to achieve his desires which puts Amy in danger. 

What I liked about the movie is that it deals with time travel and that is always interesting and fun for me. Also, how it was Jack the Ripper that was the villain of the story and he went by Stevenson, I liked that 'Jack the Ripper' aspect because I think it mirrored a lot of what is going on in the present just like what was going on in 1979. Overall, I would give this movie a 4 out of 5.

Best Picture Winners: Patton

Patton is a true story about a man who cared about his country and the troops that he commanded. While he was quite the controversial figure, he is well respected in history as the General who led his men to victory. Although, as seen within this biopic directed by Franklin Schaffner with a script co-written by Francis Ford Coppola - whose Oscar win gave him reign of the Godfather films - Patton wasn't without questionable methods as to how he treated the troops under his strict, abrasive and, in one pivotal scene, perhaps even abusive command.

Patton, the 1970 Best Picture Winner about his military career, deals with the General on and off the battlefield, in and out of backroom meetings, without delving into his personal life before or after the war. He was an intense man with a hot temper. In one scene, he starts firing at a German warplane with his own pistol. It's as if he felt he could win the war alone.

Part of the fun of Patton is witnessing this unpredictable behavior, often balanced by the loyal friendship between Patton and the more even-keeled General Bradley. played by Karl Malden, who could handle and stand by his friend even if he didn't always agree with his methods. Malden brilliantly underscores George C. Scott's mesmerizing performance.

Behind the scenes during the Second World War, General Bradley was probably a lot easier for the Brass to handle, and Patton isn't without his share of detractors. But cinema often provides the last word on legendary figures. Although his methods can be questioned, he was on the right side of history. And whatever you think of General George S. Patton after watching this movie, he was the man important, memorable and downright entertaining enough to base an entire epic motion picture on.