Summer of 2012

Ok, so I've been very remiss at keeping up with my "all movies all the time" blogging, so we'll play a little catch-up by talking about some key movie experiences and thoughts from the summer of 2012:

To start off - Is it just me, or have we lost quite a few film luminaries this summer?  Andy Griffith, Ernie Borgnine, Celeste Holm, Richard Zanuck, Marvin Hamlisch - and I'm sure I'm leaving out some more.  I might just mention some of my favorite performances and contributions from each of the above, may they rest in peace.

 Andy Griffith was known mostly as a TV star. But in the mid-1950's, he had quite a career going for himself in the movies.  A couple of cases in point - "A Face in the Crowd", and "No Time For Sergeant's".  In the former, he was a country boy who overnight becomes a TV star, and before long starts believing his own press, to the point where he becomes what he rails against on his show.  Andy Taylor he ain't, and he should have gotten a nomination for it.  In the latter, he plays an innocent and idiot bumpkin who goes into the service and gets in one ridiculous scrape after another.  This was the character that became the precursor to TV's Gomer Pyle.

Ernie Borgnine was not the handsomest of actors.  But he had heart, and you loved him, even when he was playing a baddie, as he did quite often. But check him out in one of my all-time favorites, "Marty".  Here he's a homely, lonely, lovelorn butcher, who meets a homely, lonely, lovelorn teacher played by Betsy Blair. They connect, and he realizes that "You and me, we're not such dogs as we think we are." Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, and impressive enough to earn him the Oscar.

Celeste Holm was originally a Broadway star. Casual fans may not know that she was the original 'Ado Annie in "Oklahoma".  But she later won an Oscar for a terrific film, "Gentleman's Agreement", the first of the post-war message movies, about a reporter (played by Greg Peck) who wants to know what it's like to feel discriminated against, so he pretends to be Jewish.  Celeste is his friend and fellow reporter. And she's fabulous.  Or, if you're looking for her in lighter fare, I personally adore her in "High Society", the musical remake of "The Philadelphia Story".  She and Frank Sinatra are reporters sent to cover Grace Kelly's society wedding, and get more than they bargain for.

Richard Zanuck was the son of one of the original Hollywood Moguls (Daryl F. Zanuck).  In the mid-60's, he took over for the old man as Head of Production of 20th Century Fox. He greenlit and produced such pictures as "The Sound of Music", along with "The Sting", "Jaws", and later, "Driving Miss Daisy".  Not a bad track record.

Marvin Hamlisch - composer extraordinaire.  A true prodigy, he composed the music for "The Way We Were", "Ice Castles", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Sophie's Choice", and a host of others.  His music was THE sappy soundtrack for movies in the 70's and early 80's.  And oh yeah, he arranged the music for another little picture "The Sting".  (See, you're humming "The Entertainer" right now, aren't you?)