![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Dec. 4th, 2010 10:11 pmI have somehow managed to make it this far without seeing a good many classic films, or films that at least some feel are classic. To humour some of my friends, I watched one this afternoon, which I won't bother remarking on, as I thought it was at best boring and rather tiresome.
But to please myself, the other I watched this evening was "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". It would be easy to say that it's hard to imagine a time when race posed so difficult a social problem. If only the implication that race is now not a problem were true--of course, it's not; race remains a difficult and painful problem. We have made a little bit of progress in the past 43 years; couples like John and Jo are not in physical danger in most of the country (though there are still a few where they would be, and many where they would be unwelcome). And nowhere is it any longer true that, as Mr Prentice says, a dozen or more states where interracial marriage is actually illegal.
But it's a film about family dynamics as well as about race. And John's speech to his father, Mrs Prentice's to Mr Drayton, and Mr Dayton's at the end are powerful and moving and would be even in the absence of race.
Tracy. What a guy. Boys Town, Northwest Passage, Judgement at Nuremburg. And all the Hepburn/Tracy movies. Craggy, rough-hewn, grumbly--I wish I could grow up to be him. :-)
Poitier is amazing. I really need to watch some more of his films. I think the only other ones I've seen are "The Defiant Ones" and "To Sir, With Love".
And Katherine Hepburn, a woman I adore, already showing signs of the essential tremor that plagued her in her last years, does a truly star turn. The scene where she fires the manager of her gallery ("Don't speak, Hilary, just... {flips her wrist into an understated, dismissive point} go") is pure KH. I *love* her!
Speaking of her, it's strange to see her and Tracy so *old*. I'm so much more familiar with their earlier films. I think I may need to see On Golden Pond again; it says a lot (especially KH's amazing, Oscar-winning performance) about how to deal with courage with the changes and fears that growing old brings.
I shouldn't watch another film tonight, though. I need to get up early and finish my cleaning. I got some things done (MK will not be able to mock me about my box pile ;-), but there's still a good deal to do.
ETA: One of the things that surprised me about GWCD was the frankness of the language. Not the use of the word "negro", which today is one of those words that one is no longer supposed to think is acceptable to use, but which was perfectly common at the time. But several of the characters, especially Mr Drayton, say "hell" and "damn" and "screw" and refer to people as "bastards". Pretty strong stuff for the film industry of the 1960s.
But to please myself, the other I watched this evening was "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". It would be easy to say that it's hard to imagine a time when race posed so difficult a social problem. If only the implication that race is now not a problem were true--of course, it's not; race remains a difficult and painful problem. We have made a little bit of progress in the past 43 years; couples like John and Jo are not in physical danger in most of the country (though there are still a few where they would be, and many where they would be unwelcome). And nowhere is it any longer true that, as Mr Prentice says, a dozen or more states where interracial marriage is actually illegal.
But it's a film about family dynamics as well as about race. And John's speech to his father, Mrs Prentice's to Mr Drayton, and Mr Dayton's at the end are powerful and moving and would be even in the absence of race.
Tracy. What a guy. Boys Town, Northwest Passage, Judgement at Nuremburg. And all the Hepburn/Tracy movies. Craggy, rough-hewn, grumbly--I wish I could grow up to be him. :-)
Poitier is amazing. I really need to watch some more of his films. I think the only other ones I've seen are "The Defiant Ones" and "To Sir, With Love".
And Katherine Hepburn, a woman I adore, already showing signs of the essential tremor that plagued her in her last years, does a truly star turn. The scene where she fires the manager of her gallery ("Don't speak, Hilary, just... {flips her wrist into an understated, dismissive point} go") is pure KH. I *love* her!
Speaking of her, it's strange to see her and Tracy so *old*. I'm so much more familiar with their earlier films. I think I may need to see On Golden Pond again; it says a lot (especially KH's amazing, Oscar-winning performance) about how to deal with courage with the changes and fears that growing old brings.
I shouldn't watch another film tonight, though. I need to get up early and finish my cleaning. I got some things done (MK will not be able to mock me about my box pile ;-), but there's still a good deal to do.
ETA: One of the things that surprised me about GWCD was the frankness of the language. Not the use of the word "negro", which today is one of those words that one is no longer supposed to think is acceptable to use, but which was perfectly common at the time. But several of the characters, especially Mr Drayton, say "hell" and "damn" and "screw" and refer to people as "bastards". Pretty strong stuff for the film industry of the 1960s.
