Reviews

First of all, I love this movie. Secondly, to all of those who insist on comparing it to Gone With the Wind I say, please stop! Davis' Julei is not in any way Leigh's Scarlett. All the misinformation about this being Davis' revenge picture for not getting GWTW etc. really detracts from a superb motion picture. For starters, when moviegoers were asked who they'd like to see as Scarlett, THEY unanimously voted for Davis. Jezebel was already in the can! So actually, if you think about it, perhaps Vivian Leigh was out to copy Davis! Besides, none of the situations in Jezebel bear much resemblance to GWTW. Fonda's character is hardly a Rhett Butler; Davis' character doesn't endure poverty or the loss of her home or the death of a child. Julie is manipulative like Scarlett for their motives are quite different. Scarlett's seems to be for survival whereas it truly seems to be Julie's nature. The supporting cast is superb headed by the always excellent yet perpetually underrated George Brent. Davis herself gave much credit to William Wyler and deservedly so. And to those who don't think Davis was very physically attractive, I bear to differ. I would go so far to say that she was quite lovely. Finally, not to take anything away from Leigh's Scarlett which was indeed a superb portrayal and Oscar-worthy, Davis's Julie is every bit as magnificent. Whoever the reviewer was that said the film is too long, etc. must have seen a different film. They didn't make standard 2-hr movies back then; in fact Davis was the first star whose movies went to what is now considered the standard 2-hr film and she had to fight for that since it was thought no audience would sit still that long. And how can you say Jezebel is too long when compared to that behemoth GWTW anyway? Yes, Jezebel is in black and white but the camera work is so good it doesn't matter. And if you ever get a chance to see an original cut of the film you will be quite surprised at many of the camera tricks employed in the film, in particular the scene where Julie is at Madame Culotte's trying on gowns. It's a great film. See it. Oh, and one more thing THIS IS NOT GONE WITH THE WIND, IT CAME OUT BEFORE GONE WITH THE WIND. Why did Julie go with Pres to Lazaret Island? Because SHE LOVED HIM. I'm sorry, but after reading some of the other comments, it seems some of the reviewers just DON"T GET IT.

If you know anything about the Wayans Family (headed by brother Keenan) you know that they have a way of spoofing that is at once offensive and hilarious at the same time. I missed this little feature but caught it on cable recently. The subject matter is totally off the wall but the actors really make it work. Lisa Kudrow is very good and shows her Friends "Phoebe" character to a tee. Christine Baranski is also a hoot as are Kudrow's princess friends. The fashions are hilarious as well. Damon Wayans does some characters that I don't particularly care for -- the disabled super hero is one -- and his younger brothers also are not my favorites. Remember, they also do the Scary Movie parodies. This one, however, is reminiscent of Bamboozled but better since Spike Lee has a tendency to lose his vision in the final third of a movie. This little film should be taken just for what it is - a broad parody with some genuine laughs. Dick Benjamin is also excellent in a dead pan role as Kudrow's father. I wouldn't buy this one but would definitely watch it again. If you liked BAPS (which I didn't particularly) then this one will work. Also in the same silly vein as the one about the white dude from Malibu who thought he was so down. I could also recommend a movie called Jackie Washington, another parody that is pretty funny.

I caught this little number the other night and, well, because I like Jack Carson, I'll give it a passing grade. Besides that, however, it really doesn't have that much to offer. For starters, I wasn't convinced at all by the male lead who plays a radio singer -- I'd never seen him before -- who is he? Secondly, Doris Day's personality is always sparkly when she plays this kind of role but I for one have never really understood her appeal as a singer although it was interesting seeing her attempt bouncy jive songs more suited to Betty Hutton. And like I said, Jack Carson, like George Brent, seemed to be in every Warner movie but never got the respect they deserved. I've seen Carter in many and he's a great singer/showman as well. As for SZ "cuddles" Sakall, a little of him goes a long way with me. Finally, maybe I dozed off but somewhere the movie lost me; just when did Doris fall in love with Gary? And then she conveniently ends up with Carter. Too pat. She should have liked Carter all along. All in all, not a total turkey, but not that great either. And poor Eve Arden - she could phone these parts in.

A few years ago, one of the cable channels ran a marathon of The Fugitive. I actually watched every, single episode for something like 3 days straight! I had loved it as a kid but seeing all the episodes again made me appreciate it that much more. At the time of the marathon, they were promoting a new series starring Tim Daly from Wings as Kimball. I knew it wouldn't work out and it didn't. I think today's audiences (kids mostly) are too impatient to watch a show that they don't think will ever end. I can remember the original airing of the finale -- boy we were glued to our sets. I hadn't seen anything like it since Wilma Flintstone had Pebbles! Can you imagine? In any event, I think Jannsen's brooding portrayal was just perfect. It was always a treat when he'd let a little smile crack through but that was almost never. And even though we knew he'd always have to keep on the run at the end of every show, you still held out hope that maybe, this time that nasty old Girard wouldn't show up and give this guy a break. The movie had a lot of the same suspense but for my money, the original series will always be tops.

I caught this one on Turner Classic Movies the other night and was quite pleasantly entertained. I had heard that Paul Muni was a great actor and now I am a believer. In reading books by Bette Davis who was one of his Warner Bros stablemates, I can see where Muni influenced her a great deal: Davis like Muni used to drive wardrobe people crazy with her perfectionist attitude and like Muni, it is said that Davis would stay in character even when she was away from the studio which drove her husbands batty. Anne Baxter is in this one too. I never was a great fan of hers but in this one she is very good. I don't like to discuss plot on these sites like a lot of people do who really tell you the whole script. I am more interested in the players themselves. Muni really does an excellent job of showing the different emotions of his character. I also like the character Smiley and was surprised to find out he ended up a professor at UCLA. Muni I am told was kind of a nut job who made a surprisingly small number of films given the number other stars churned out in those days. Still, if this one is any indication, he deserves all the accolades for he really is a very good actor. Claude Raines is in it too; sometimes I like him but most of the time his style grates (see Now Voyager). All in all, Warner Bros was my favorite studio and I only wish there was more written about it as opposed to all the hoopla given to MGM.

For starters, this is one of those flicks that I could never imagine seeing in a theater -- it is strictly straight to video material. I should have known it was junk because my cable service featured it -- they never give you anything you'd actually PAY to see, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I was really expecting a kind of poltergeist-type movie but ended up with a combination of Friday the 13th and The Shining. I agree with another reviewer who said they were rooting for the villain. The only smart one in the movie is Christopher Plummer - he had the sense to not even be recognizable. The plot is simple enough but the execution is nonsensical. It is never really explained how the handyman got away with killing his wife and kids nor is there any sense to the plot that this town supports the killer no matter what he does. His girlfriend even puts flowers on his grave after he has killed her sister! To top it all off, the family stays in the house after all this has gone on. Oh I can't go on -- the movie stinks.

This show was the best back when Rachel was scheming to get Mac Cory. Boy o boy, when Mac's daughter Iris found out the show was absolutely great. Rachel was so good at scheming though and she could manage to take any girl's man -- even getting Steve Frame away from poor, goody two Alice, I think her name was (nurse). There wasn't anything that good on TV until All My Children and the whole Palmer Courtlandt/Phoebe Wallingford thing. Of course who can forget General Hospital with the whole Greg/Jenny/Tad/Jesse/Angie/Liza thing? Ah for the good ole days. I must be getting old because I remember when some soaps were 15 minutes long!

I can recall watching this during summer vacation when I was a kid. My mother loved it. That was when Lisa was still in high school and hadn't even married Bob yet. Back then, Bob and his brother Don (the lawyer) had a sister named Penny. My mother always said she liked Nancy because, although she was usually found in the kitchen, she also seemed to really pour coffee instead of other shows where it was obvious the cup held nothing. Over the years, I watched Lisa marry just about every man in town and, like Erica Kane on All My Children, age never seemed to be a hindrance to childbirth. I know they say men don't like soap operas, but believe me, you can get hooked on them. In the 70's when I was in college it even became sheik to watch AMC and GH with the whole Luke and Laura thing. I don't know any of the characters on the shows anymore but there was a time when I knew them on The Edge of Night, Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, Another World, Days of our Lives. They didn't have any TV judges then, so just soaps and a few game shows to watch back then. Of course things don't change that much: staples are still hospitals and courtrooms, whose baby is it, and the ever-popular coma. You gotta love em.

I used to watch this show, along with Edge of Night,As the World Turns and Guiding Light when I was a kid during the summer vacation with my mother. Back then, they stayed on for only 15 minutes each. I can still hear that organ playing every time a reaction was required and the actor would freeze. Classic. There didn't seem to be as much sex back then -- I mean the plots were similar in that at least once Erica Kane-type character seemed to marry every man in town at least once and children had a knack of growing 10 years in a week but the sex was more implied and I think that was better. Nowadays, well, you know how it is nowadays.

I saw this movie when I was a kid and thought it was pretty good. As an adult, however, I think it pretty much stinks. Natalie's character is just too much to take -- the writing is very bad. The guy chosen to play her husband shows no chemistry with Natalie whatsoever. Natalie is gorgeous of course and the clothes show she was the original "That Girl." Peter Falk is his usual glib self and with Dick Shawn I thought I was watching It's a Mad Mad Mad World. I've read that Natalie hated this movie and it almost seems to show in her performance. You can tell she and her co-star didn't have much going either; if you check the camera shots closely, it appears as if they shot a lot of their scenes separately. It's pretty sophisticated -- if you're 12 -- otherwise, save this one for when your're sick in bed with a fever.

I've seen this film a few times; every time I swear I won't watch it but I do anyway. Like Leaving Las Vegas with Nick Cage, this film depresses the hell out of me. Having spent a fair amount of time on bar stools at seedy joints (when I thought they had atmosphere) it is very difficult to see Rourke blowing his money on "all his friends." Friends? Yeah, right. Both movies also prove that no matter how much of a lowlife one is, there is always somebody willing to go down with you. I'm only glad I saw the light and gave all of that up. That said, it is still a superb movie and should be shown to aspiring alcoholics as court-ordered viewing.

I have mixed emotions about Kevin Spacey; he seems to specialize in a kind of serious "David Spade" character -- sarcastic and kind of smarmy. It was good to see him toned down a bit for this film. Haley Osmont is very good too but Helen Hunt is the treasure for me in this film. Not being able to stomach her on TV's Mad About You, I find her big screen endeavors very enjoyable indeed; especially when she has some meat on her bones (she has at times seemed a bit anorexic). I agree with another reviewer who would have liked to have seen more characters a la Angie Dickinson and James Carvezial. The ending did take me by surprise; I'm not sure it was necessary but afterward, I was able to relax and forgive the writer. It's good.

I really enjoy this movie no matter how many times I see it. I always seem to notice something new too. For instance, in the scene where Selena first goes to the park, I never noticed that she goes behind a tree to relieve herself. Elizabeth Hartman, who plays the blind lead, is outstanding. The chemistry between her and Poiter is very good. All the leads are good; Shelly Winters especially. The score to the movie is also a standout; the musical accompaniments are excellent. I highly recommend this film. It shows the quality of films made by Poiter during this period (In the Heat of the Night, etc.). These kinds of films don't seem to get made anymore.

I always thought Mickey Rooney could do it all and here he is very good as an American who gets uprooted to England. It's pretty funny to see how he contrasts his Americanness (slang etc.) with the stuffy British ways. The the girl who plays the visiting American snob is a little too much though. The best scenes are Rooneys when he is battling the school system though I was annoyed with him when he took the prize horse out of the stable -- you just knew something bad was going to happen. I also like Ian Hunter as his stepfather; His films are always good too. Freddie Batholomew showed why MGM had great child stars. A nice diversion.

I have read many reviews of this film by the pros and almost without exception they marvel at Crawford's "stealing" the picture. I have never agreed with this opinion. Crawford's "Crystal" is fun, sure, but I can imagine any number of actresses could do the part as well (just take a look at her co-worker at the perfrume counter who gets in a few good lines too). For me, it's Norma Shearer's picture from start to finish. Yes, she's grand in the old Hollywood tradition with that upper crust manner of speaking they liked to affect back then (her mother is even worse) but I suppose that kind of drama is needed to put over such an anti-women's lib script as this one. I don't understand how so many reviewers cite her arm-stretching gesture at the end as over-dramatic silent-film acting. She is afterall going back to her husband who we have never seen. What was she supposed to be reaching for? On that same note I still cringe whenever Mary decides that even after two years of her ex-husband's philandering, she can't wait to take the jerk back. And the way the women are so spoiled is outrageous too. Even the Catholic one who does nothing but have baby after baby (thank God she's rich!!) gets to have enough maids and servants so that the children are more of an annoyance than a responsibility. Any even though everyone seems to rave about Rosalind Russell, I find her part the most over the top. And whoever thinks this movie is as timely today as it was in 1939 must really be living in la la land. Can you imagine the reaction of today's women to these five who do nothing but live for their husbands? There'd be a riot at the movie house! Nevertheless, the real gem of the picture is the Countess De Lav. I always get a kick out of when she says on the train to Reno "I don't pick them for character. I'll bet you picked yours for character and where did it get you? On the train to Reno." A great rainy day movie.

I'm amazed that so many reviewers comment on the amount of smoking in the picture. Big Deal! I can't really say I was crazy about this movie and actually started it (only to stop it) at least three times before I finally got around to finishing it. It just wasn't that captivating. The style of George Clooney is definitely artistic in his own noir way but there just wasn't much about the story to keep me glued to the screen. David Straitharn as usual is great; what Robert Downey, Jr. was doing I don't know - he didn't seem to have much to do. Neither did Jeff Daniels. Frank Langella's Bill Paley was odd to say the least since he (Paley)has ususally been eulogized as such a teddy bear. The whole thing about Downey and Clarkson being married was another weird point to make in the film. Best Picture? Not to me. I could have easily chosen Brokeback Mountain or Walk the Line. I can see this film being shown on HBO for the next century, kind of like they did Quiz Show, another generally boring film.

Phillip Hoffman gives a standout performance as Truman Capote. That said, I still have a hard time enjoying Hoffman on the screen. I don't know, maybe it was that Flawless thing or even Twister. He's good no doubt about that. I, however, enjoyed the surrounding characters more than him, eg Chris Cooper as Alvin and Collins as Perry. The atmosphere was very good and rich and the screenplay was also excellent. I was surprised to see that Dan Futterman from Judging Amy and La Cage au Follies wrote it. Good job. As for winning an Oscar as best actor, I guess so, but I enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix or even Heath Ledger's performances in Walk the Line and Brokeback Mountain respectively, more. I also thought including so much of Harper Lee was helpful. I'd recommend the movie definitely.

I caught the film on DVD recently and thought it was very, very good. Better than Ray (storywise)and the equal of Coal Miner's Daughter. Joaquin Phoenix gets better with each role. I thought he was stellar and should have gotten an Oscar for Gladiator and the same goes for this one although between him and Phillip Hoffman and Heath Ledger's knockout original performance in "Brokeback" there could have been the first 3-way tie. In any event, I like Reese Witherspoon, that's for sure, but I saw her role as more a supporting one than a starring one and she was more or less "Reese Witherspoon" if you know what I mean. Not too much different than her "Legally Blonde" persona albeit in a different setting. I'm not suggesting someone else should have played the part but if Phoenix didn't win best actor then I certainly don't think she should have one either. Still, Phoenix is A-1 as Cash. In the scene in the diner when he tells June that he no longer talks about his brother because other people tired of it, I'll bet he channeled memories of his own brother, River. I also appreciated the way Cash's contemporary stars (Jerry Lee, Elvis, etc.) were used. Good enough to own at home.