Thanksgiving Special: Paul Newman in the Navy

Yeah, sometimes I really have nothing to add.

Public Service Announcement

Today I went to the Esplanade Library to hunt for a textbook for my online class, only to discover that, drumroll, please, they allow basic members to borrow 2 audio-visual materials each now. So I trotted over to the DVD section to see if there was anything worth borrowing. And lo and behold, there was! I had completely forgotten this since my hanging-around-Esplanade-desperately-searching-for-plays-for-TSD days, but they have a really interesting DVD collection - a ton of old movies, foreign movies, and random rare movies, with the odd recent release thrown in for good measure.
You should've seen me, it was like a cartoon. A real "KA-CHING!" moment. My eyes grew to the size of saucers. I used my mom's and brother's library cards and borrowed 5. Am now trawling through the library's online catalogue to see what else I can get my grubby hands on. I mean - they have Cat On a Hot Tin Roof!



Oh. The glory. Yes, I realise that some of us have already seen that movie. I realise that some of us already own the DVD. But it's the principle of the thing! Aren't you excited? All those DVDs - some of them Criterion Collections, which they sell at HMV for like 80 bucks - at your very fingertips - and free! Well done, Library! Times like these, I love this country.

On the New Orleans set of Blaze, 1974:

Perhaps it was the food or the Cajun accents, but Newman found himself, once again, pining for Joanne, whom he had openly courted on a Bayou State film set three decades prior. Joanne was, in fact, enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College during that spring term - she'd been attending on and off for more than a decade, hoping to finish the college degree she'd abandoned in Louisiana in the early 1950s. And then she got a pleading phone call from her husband. "He asked me to join him because he missed me," she remembered. "There's no academic degree in the world that can compare in importance to the fact that the person you've loved for thirty-one years is missing you." She put her educational plans on hold and went to join him on the film set.

- Shawn Levy, "Paul Newman: A Life"

DHFF Pt.4

Finally I'm wrapping this baby up. My Netflix trial ended on Wednesday; I need to get back to some real work.

13) Empire Records, 1995, directed by Allan Moyle
The adventures of a bunch of grungy misfits who run a vintage record store. Despite the young Liv Tyler being incredibly gorgeous, I did not like this at all. Lame.



14) Marnie, 1964, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Sean Connery marries and tries to cure a pretty blonde kleptomaniac tormented by a strange psychological mystery. Sean Connery is weirdly attractive throughout - another strange psychological mystery.



15) The Hustler, 1961, directed by Robert Rossen
Talented but weak pool shark Fast Eddie Felson battles it out with his rival, Minnesota Fats, the greatest pool player in America, and thus grapples with the cost of winning and losing. Possibly Paul Newman's best performance ever. I mean look at him.



16) Whip It, 2009, directed by Drew Barrymore
Ellen Page is one of those people whose actual physical beauty I always seem to forget unless I'm actually looking at her. She's very pretty, no? Anyway while watching this I really wanted to be a roller derby girl. Who doesn't?! The outfits, the make-up, the names, the bad-assery (Juliette Lewis could be sisters with Elle Driver from Kill Bill) and the awesome skating!



17) The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975, directed by Jim Sharman
A nice young couple, Brad and Janet, find themselves, one dark and stormy night, in the castle of a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania. As that summary would suggest, a very very awesome movie. I want to be part of that cast so bad - it just seems like the funnest thing ever to make.



18) Vertigo, 1958, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
A detective with a fear of heights is hired to spy on the beautiful wife of a friend; said wife seems to be possessed by the ghost of a long-dead ancestor. Supposedly Hitchcock's best, and one of the greatest movies of all time... well, it pretty much lived up to expectation. Beautiful, harrowing, haunting; I really loved it.







18) Clash of the Titans, 2010, directed by who cares
Sam Worthington continues his reign as the most boring human being alive. Screenwriters continue to butcher the time-tested institution of classic mythology. I continue to believe that all fantasy movies should be made by Guillermo del Toro and him alone. Why not? Also, converting all movies into 3D continues to be completely redundant and infuriating.

Perfect Paul

"Paul was 76 when I worked with him on Road to Perdition. Conrad Hall, another great man who is now sadly gone, was the cinematographer. He was about Paul's age, and he'd also shot Harper, Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so they had been shooting together from their mid-thirties to their mid-seventies. They had grown old together. At one point he was shooting a close-up of Paul looking into a fire and I turned around to find that Conrad was crying as he lit the shot. I asked him what was wrong and he just said, 'He was so beautiful'. And I said, 'Well, he's beautiful now,' and Conrad repeated, 'Yes, but he was so beautiful.' I think he was crying for both of them. But unlike Conrad, who fought the idea of death, I always got the feeling that Paul was at peace with it. He knew what an incredible life he had led and how fortunate he had been. 'Yeah, I've had a great innings; it's about time I give all this up. It's all a bit silly.'"

- Sam Mendes

DHFF Pt. 3

8) Torn Curtain, 1966, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock directs Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in a Cold War spy thriller. If that sounds like a really odd match to you, you're right.

9) Bring it On, 2000, directed by Peyton Reed
Oh why not. Oldie but goodie. "It's only cheerleading." "I AM ONLY CHEERLEADING!!!"

10) Wings of Desire, 1987, directed by Wim Wenders
Gorgeous. A poem. A million times better than that shitty Hollywood remake (City of Angels). And the lead actress Solveig Dommartin is absolutely beautiful. What lovely eyes. She died in 2007 of a heart attack, which sucks, because she didn't work nearly enough.



11) Notorious, 1946, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
I was watching the special features on the DVD after the movie and guess who kept being interviewed for a feature about Notorious's influence on the spy genre? Professor Kuntz! Ol' Ned Flanders himself.

12) Cool Hand Luke, 1967, directed by Stuart Rosenberg
He can eat fifty eggs! Great movie. Love the scene with his mother, especially. Very touching.



All right, I'm off to San Diego for the weekend.

More Paul and Jo(e)

The Newmans have taken over my brain. I can’t believe my mother allowed me to live 19 years without seeing a single Paul Newman movie. I consider that to be bad parenting! Basically he's just the best human being of all time, no? I mean, if life is a contest, he's the winner. (Yes, Huimin, I will watch Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as soon as possible.) (Also am really craving some Newman’s Own cookies right now. Damn it, Newman! Assaulting all my senses!)
I spoke to my family on Skype just now - Me: "I went to a free test screening of The Wolfman on Tuesday! And a reading by Neil Gaiman!" My brother: "I went to a Muse concert." Me: "... oh. Right."
Also, am especially in love with all my professors this week. The film history teacher, Kuntz, is exactly but exactly like Ned Flanders, voice, moustache, glasses, clothes, everything - but the cuter and un-irritating version. He even says things like gosh darn it! Flat-out obsessed with him. And my cinematography teacher, McDonald, is such an awesomely nice man. On Thursday I arrived at the Film building only to find the door locked. He appeared, looking rather pleased with himself, and let us into the sound stage where we found a bag and a pen carefully arranged atop each chair in the room – gifts from him to apologize for having to cancel class last week. What a sweetheart. First The Piano, now this, it's like he's trying to make me adore him. And it's working.

The Good Ones

In honor of Valentine's Day coming up this month, and in the face of all the various bizarre couplings that have ever emerged out of celebrity-land (eg. January Jones and Ashton Kutcher, Devendra Banhart and Natalie Portman, Russell Brand and Katy Perry - sorry, I find that one weird, Marilyn Manson and both ERW and DVT), we are celebrating "The Good Ones", those rare moments when two celebrities came together and the sum was more than its parts. In a perfect world, when I'm all grown up and living in a suburb somewhere in America, these will be the neighbors and we'll all have pool parties together and play golf at the club and stuff.

1) H.Ledger//M.Williams
Too perfect to last.



2) P.Newman//J.Woodward
Just the sweetest couple of all time(look at them!). And I was going to say, massive points for the 50-year marriage... although on second thought who wouldn't stay married to Paul Newman for fifty years? a hundred? for eternity?



3) J.Depp//Anyone
He has good taste.



4) D.Aronofsky//R.Weisz
Single-handedly saving the human race by producing incredibly intelligent and good-looking offspring.



5) K.Bacon//K.Sedgwick
These two always look so cute together on the red carpet.



6) D.Rice//M.Laurent
This is apparently on. If it is, the world will be blinded by their combined amazingness. I'm highly jealous of both of them - although I think this would be a much hotter relationship in many ways -



7) (Imaginary) C.Waltz//M.Laurent.
Forget the fact that he's exactly twice her age. This is too awesome a relationship to not happen. DO IT.
(It appears I possess some kind of strange Nazi/Jew Holocaust fetish. Where did that come from?)

I'm pretty sure I've overlooked some worthy candidates (Dancy & Danes? Beatty and Bening? I was considering it.) and if you can think of any, please tell me!

Crushes of the Month

Guilty for being so late on the Paul Newman/Warren Beatty boats. I mean I knew they were awesome people, but it’s only now that I’m watching Bonnie and Clyde and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that I am faced with the full, undiluted, sickening awesomeness of these men.

Choice bits from Paul Newman’s lengthy and accolade-studded Wikipedia page:

• He was married to Joanne Woodward for 50 bloody years. “Paul Newman was well known for his devotion to his wife and family. When asked about infidelity, he famously quipped, "Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?"”

• “For his strong support of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California) and his strong opposition to the War in Vietnam, Newman was placed nineteenth on Richard Nixon's enemies list, which he claimed was his greatest accomplishment. ... Newman was also a vocal supporter of gay rights, including same-sex marriage.”

• “Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of October 2008, these donations had exceeded US $250 million.”

• Oh yeah, and 9 Oscar nominations. Oh yeah, and this:
  

And then Warren Beatty, who is just sexiness, charm, talent and intelligence personified. He’s one of only 2 people to receive Oscar nominations for acting, directing, writing and producing in the same year. And he did it in 1978 and 1981. What a freak. (I saw his wife perform Medea last week in the school theatre. Perhaps he was in the audience too? Mindblowing.)

Two more entries in the "Fuck you and your frightening amazingness, I'm just trying my best to live over here" category of human being.