April 27 - May 3:
Fireball 500 (1966)
Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Fabian
Another winner from the Frankie and Annette DVD box set I got for my birthday! This one is set in the world of NASCAR, with champion racer Frankie challenging local favorite Fabian on his home turf. Fabian is also a moonshiner and Frankie reluctantly helps the FBI to catch him, lest he be arrested for moonshining himself (he got duped into unwittingly running booze by a pretty girl). They tussle a lot and it's fun to see Fabian play a hick (Frankie pretty much plays the same role he always plays in these films). The most amazing part, though, is that Frankie doesn't end up with Annette--Fabian does. Frankie ends up with Julie Parrish, the pretty girl who got him into trouble with the feds!
April 20 - April 26:
Almost Elvis (2001)
A documentary which follows a bunch of Elvis impersonators in the months leading up to the biggest Elvis impersonation contest of the year. It's amazing how much work and money they put in to coming as close to Elvis as possible. They and the fans take it very seriously. Very entertaining.
Our friend Jon brought his DVD player to the Northeast Tiki Tour, Jr. this past weekend and had with him Ride the Wild Surf, that Fabian/Tab Hunter/Shelly Fabares/Barbara Eden epic from 1964, which I've written about before, but which never gets old, due to the insipid characters, goofy plot, early-'60s fashions and Hawaiian scenery.
April 13 - April 19:
Teacher's Pet (1958)
Doris Day, Clark Gable, Gig Young
It's funny: now that I think about it, this tale of a journalism professor who doesn't know she's being had by a hard boiled newspaper editor posing as a student is more or less the same plot as a couple of of Day's films with Rock Hudson (maybe others, too). Nobody does indignant like Doris Day. I also enjoyed Gig Young as the psychology professor who's an expert at everything and Mamie Van Doren's performance of "The Girl Who Invented Rock and Roll."
Paul moved our small TV into the Blue Grotto, so I can have it on while I work, so this week I worked through TCM's rock and roll exploitation film day, featuring Go, Johnny, Go (1959), an Alan Freed spectacle about a young man, fresh out of the orphanage, trying to become a rock star, Cha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956), which tells the (no doubt fictional) story of how Perez Prado came to the US from Cuba, and Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957), which sounds the death knell for rock and roll and tells us that calypso will be even bigger! Yeah, we all know how that turned out. I also got to see The Misfits (1961), the last film for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, while sewing a pair of pants.
April 6 - April 12:
All About Eve (1950)
Bette Davis, Anne Baxter
The perennial favorite, wherein a manipulative young actress uses all of her friends in her climb to the top, made even more exciting by seeing it at the beautiful Loew's Jersey and an interview (by a twit, but at least she was there) with co-star Celeste Holm. Favorite lines (this time, anyway--I'll have different favorite lines next time I see it, I'm sure): Addison DeWitt: "You're maudlin and full of self-pity. You're magnificent." Margo Channing: "I'll admit I may have seen better days, but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut."
The Clock (1945)
Judy Garland, Robert Walker
I loved this wartime tale of a couple that meet, fall in love and get married in the space of two days. It was sad when he had to ship out in the end, but it was fun to experience New York in 1945 and they were so cute they just had to hook up.
Click here to see what we watched (or, rather, didn't watch) in March and early April 2008
Click here to see what we watched in February 2008
Click here to see what we watched in January 2008
Click here to see what we watched in December 2007 and early January 2008
Click here to see what we watched in October and November 2007
Click here to see what we watched in September and early October 2007
Click here to see what we watched in August 2007
Click here to see what we watched in July and early August 2007
Click here to see what we watched in June 2007
Click here to see what we watched in May and early June 2007
Click here to see what we watched in April and early May 2007
Click here to see what we watched in March 2007
Click here to see what we watched in February and early March 2007
Click here to see what we watched in January and early February 2007
Click here to see what we watched in December 2006 and early January
Click here to see what we watched in November 2006
Click here to see what we watched in October and early November 2006
Click here to see what we watched in September 2006
Click here to see what we watched in July and August 2006
Click here to see what we watched in June 2006
Click here to see what we watched in May 2006
Click here to see what we watched in April and early May 2006
Click here to see what we watched in March and early April 2006
Click here to see what we watched in February and early March 2006
Click here to see what we watched in January and early February 2006
