A belated Key Largo Christmas to you and yours!
First, Merry Christmas to one and all! A bit late, but I was not well today and I also had something negative to say. But thank you God for making all things and making me and then providing for me a place with You for all time and beyond!
I love good movies! I could begin naming good movies and just go on and on and on. But most of the movies I really love were made long ago and often before I was even born. "Bringing Up Baby" is a hilarious romantic farce. "It Happened One Night" is a romantic comedy with tons of sex appeal even though no one gets naked or anything like that on the screen. In fact I think the sexiest movie of all time," To Have And Have Not", is a good example of romance and sex appeal and yet everyone keeps their clothes on. It was the first movie pairing Bogart and Bacall and also a boat and a few other wonderful actors, including the remarkable Walter Brennan.
Humphrey Bogart was the star of one of my absolute favorite movies ever, "Casablanca." The studio didn't realize what a fantastic hit it would be but it has become one of the all-time favorites of movie critics. Bogart's love interest in this one was Ingrid Bergman and I suppose the movie itself has become iconic. People always misquote him, Bogie does not say "Play it again, Sam" but rather he says "You played it for her, you can play it for me. Play it!"
Having discovered a formula for success, "Passage to Marseilles" with a very similar cast and premise was made but it did not compare to "Casablanca" in quality or story and was something of a flop. Perhaps Michele Morgan was too big a downgrade from Bergman? It really was not a bad movie but it has not stood the test of time as a popular classic.
On the other hand, the pairing of Bogie and Bacall was magic and they were happily married until his demise in 1957 from cancer. In the meantime, the movies loved them together and they did star in three subsequent movies, although Lauren Bacall became more involved with having children and being a mother and less concerned with career for much of their married lives together. She wrote a book about the experience of the filming of "The African Queen" as an observer, the movie that won Bogie his only academy award in an unusual role for him, a man neither tough nor hardened but rather just humbled and bored and retired from life in general. He and Hepburn made a marvelous screen couple but in real life Mrs. Bogart was there all the while, just not on the screen.
My personal interest in the movies may be in the genes. I had a great-grandfather and great-grandmother who worked in the movies as stage crew and if I remember correctly they met on a movie set...just like Bogart and Bacall...well, sort of like. By the time I was old enough to know them they were long-retired and I forget most of their stories. But there is Hoagy Carmichael, who was my Mom's second cousin if I remember correctly...a very distant relative that I never met. It just so happens that Hoagy was Cricket the piano player in "To Have And Have Not" and was an actor and famous song-writer back in the days before television. I suppose his most famous song would be "Stardust" but many people remember him for his movie appearances. My mother resembled Ida Lupino as a young woman and had a voice much like Rosemary Clooney but she chose motherhood over career and spent several decades as a local singing star rather than a Hollywood actress, which is of course much better for me. Thanks, Mom!
Anyway, Bogie and Bacall were paired in yet another movie involving a boat and drama in "Key Largo." By that time Bogart had become a huge star and although Edward G. Robinson had been a big name for a long time, Bogie got top billing and played the hero while Eddie wound up as bad guy.
The Robinson character utters these words during the movie: "You hick! I'll be back pulling strings to get guys elected mayor and governor before you ever get a 10-buck raise. Yeah, how many of those guys in office owe everything to me. I made them. Yeah, I made 'em, just like a-like a tailor makes a suit of clothes. I take a nobody, see? Teach him what to say. Get his name in the papers and pay for his campaign expenses. Dish out a lotta groceries and coal. Get my boys to bring the voters out. And then count the votes over and over again till they added up right and he was elected."
Does that sound familiar? Chicago politics goes that way. Now Chicago politicians and their compadres are in charge of the entire USA! No wonder the deficit is higher than ever, jobs are disappearing and the rotten politicians are working overtime passing laws that will give them more control over the common man and commerce. Think this is a coincidence?
I could not quite bear to post this until after midnight on Christmas. Negativity even though truth. Perhaps by next Christmas more responsible people will have been elected to both the House and the Senate and some of the damage the Obama Administration will have been undone? Now that would be a fine Christmas indeed!
And to all a good night!
I love good movies! I could begin naming good movies and just go on and on and on. But most of the movies I really love were made long ago and often before I was even born. "Bringing Up Baby" is a hilarious romantic farce. "It Happened One Night" is a romantic comedy with tons of sex appeal even though no one gets naked or anything like that on the screen. In fact I think the sexiest movie of all time," To Have And Have Not", is a good example of romance and sex appeal and yet everyone keeps their clothes on. It was the first movie pairing Bogart and Bacall and also a boat and a few other wonderful actors, including the remarkable Walter Brennan.
Humphrey Bogart was the star of one of my absolute favorite movies ever, "Casablanca." The studio didn't realize what a fantastic hit it would be but it has become one of the all-time favorites of movie critics. Bogart's love interest in this one was Ingrid Bergman and I suppose the movie itself has become iconic. People always misquote him, Bogie does not say "Play it again, Sam" but rather he says "You played it for her, you can play it for me. Play it!"
Having discovered a formula for success, "Passage to Marseilles" with a very similar cast and premise was made but it did not compare to "Casablanca" in quality or story and was something of a flop. Perhaps Michele Morgan was too big a downgrade from Bergman? It really was not a bad movie but it has not stood the test of time as a popular classic.
On the other hand, the pairing of Bogie and Bacall was magic and they were happily married until his demise in 1957 from cancer. In the meantime, the movies loved them together and they did star in three subsequent movies, although Lauren Bacall became more involved with having children and being a mother and less concerned with career for much of their married lives together. She wrote a book about the experience of the filming of "The African Queen" as an observer, the movie that won Bogie his only academy award in an unusual role for him, a man neither tough nor hardened but rather just humbled and bored and retired from life in general. He and Hepburn made a marvelous screen couple but in real life Mrs. Bogart was there all the while, just not on the screen.
My personal interest in the movies may be in the genes. I had a great-grandfather and great-grandmother who worked in the movies as stage crew and if I remember correctly they met on a movie set...just like Bogart and Bacall...well, sort of like. By the time I was old enough to know them they were long-retired and I forget most of their stories. But there is Hoagy Carmichael, who was my Mom's second cousin if I remember correctly...a very distant relative that I never met. It just so happens that Hoagy was Cricket the piano player in "To Have And Have Not" and was an actor and famous song-writer back in the days before television. I suppose his most famous song would be "Stardust" but many people remember him for his movie appearances. My mother resembled Ida Lupino as a young woman and had a voice much like Rosemary Clooney but she chose motherhood over career and spent several decades as a local singing star rather than a Hollywood actress, which is of course much better for me. Thanks, Mom!
Anyway, Bogie and Bacall were paired in yet another movie involving a boat and drama in "Key Largo." By that time Bogart had become a huge star and although Edward G. Robinson had been a big name for a long time, Bogie got top billing and played the hero while Eddie wound up as bad guy.
The Robinson character utters these words during the movie: "You hick! I'll be back pulling strings to get guys elected mayor and governor before you ever get a 10-buck raise. Yeah, how many of those guys in office owe everything to me. I made them. Yeah, I made 'em, just like a-like a tailor makes a suit of clothes. I take a nobody, see? Teach him what to say. Get his name in the papers and pay for his campaign expenses. Dish out a lotta groceries and coal. Get my boys to bring the voters out. And then count the votes over and over again till they added up right and he was elected."
Does that sound familiar? Chicago politics goes that way. Now Chicago politicians and their compadres are in charge of the entire USA! No wonder the deficit is higher than ever, jobs are disappearing and the rotten politicians are working overtime passing laws that will give them more control over the common man and commerce. Think this is a coincidence?
I could not quite bear to post this until after midnight on Christmas. Negativity even though truth. Perhaps by next Christmas more responsible people will have been elected to both the House and the Senate and some of the damage the Obama Administration will have been undone? Now that would be a fine Christmas indeed!
And to all a good night!