From Here to Eternity (1943)

I think I was supposed to love this movie. I have certainly heard it mentioned a lot. I think the problem is that I just don't tend to enjoy war movies (I Was a Male War Bride notwithstanding). How did I not know that this movie involved the bombing of Pearl Harbor? How did I not know so many sad things would happen? I thought it was a love story...

Is this not the only picture anyone ever shows us from the movie?  It is definitely mostly a war movie.  So I guess I will not be seeing it again, but I will give it four stars for being cast entirely of brilliant actors and actresses.

My ambivalence toward war movies allowed me to get the following things done:

*Start sweet potato fries.
Wait, is this a war movie?  How did I not know this was a war movie?  Is that BurtLancaster or Montgomery Clift?

*Organize spice drawer.
Debra Kerr's husband is a real jerk.  Who's going to have an affair with Deborah Kerr?  Oh, Burt Lancaster.  Why does everyone want Montgomery Clift to box so much?  Why are they torturing him like that until he agrees to be on the boxing team?  What's the big deal?

*Make ingenious cardboard inserts to keep spice drawer in order.
So that famous scene on the beach is only five seconds?  Hey!  That's Donna Reed!!!  Is she a cooch dancer, or just a companion?  Oh, Montgomery Clift, does Donna Reed really love you?

*Prepare dinner.

Oh Frank Sinatra.  Things just aren't going to end well for you.  You can't run off and get drunk during guard duty.

*Eat dinner.
Oh no!!!  Oh no!!!  Frank Sinatra!!! I didn't know this was going to be a sad movie!!!

*Pack up left-overs to put them in the frig.

Hey, it's the night of Dec. 6th.  The Japanese are about to bomb, aren't they.  How did I not know this was a Pearl Harbor movie?  Oh no!!!  Why is Montgomery Clift doing that???  Why is he being so stupid?  Now everyone's going to be unhappy.  It's one of those movies.

If all of that sounded a little disjointed, it's because that's how my viewing was.  Thank you to my roommate Barbara for being so willing to answer all of my, "Wait, wait, what just happened?"s.  Maybe I should give the movie another chance.

A Place in the Sun (1951)

We flipped to this after Heroes didn't record...it was already about halfway through. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor - famous for being young, beautiful, famous and...just friends.



Rose McGowen was guest programming with Robert Osbourne (and looking great doing so). Robert talked about how there is chemistry between Taylor and Clift here but not in their later films together - he thought because later they were too close as friends to have chemistry.

Hmm, Robert, I don't know, do you think that could be because Clift was showing the unabashed admiration, flattery and tender attention that only a gay man (not risking any real rejection) can lavish on a woman? And, not knowing he was gay (yet), Taylor was very naturally responding warmly to this attention and showing him that sensual and openly affectionate side that unreserved adoration from a beautiful man can bring out in a woman? Making beautiful screen chemistry. And they do have chemistry but - it's all in Taylor's eyes! She does have beautiful eyes.



And legs.

That must have been hard for Liz - being best buddies with the most beautiful young gay man in the world. I guess River Phoenix was my generation's Montgomery Clift. Why is it that famous young lesbians run around Hollywood racking up DUIs and indulging in dangerous fashion combinations while famous young gay boys run around Hollywood racking up scandals and indulging in dangerous drug combinations?

I guess it's still harder to be a macho gay man that it is to be a come-hither lesbian. Or you could be a macho-lesbian a la Jodie Foster...but I digress.

The movie's about a young man from the wrong side of the tracks who falls in love with a girl from the right side of the tracks but - oops - he's knocked up his old girlfriend already. So he 'finds a way to get rid of her' as Tivo euphemistically puts it.



This movie has a doomed, guilty mood to it - a real melancholy, dark feel.

You can see how Montgomery Clift fed this role deeply from his own life - his passion and his guilt all mixed up to make a kind of exquisite private torture for him. I wonder if having a tragic life counts as acting? Anyhow. Like James Dean and Brando I'm sure he's really good and everything, but I just can't pretend I enjoy watching his performance. He's tortured, we get it, can we cut to the chase?

Coming in halfway through, we weren't sure if he was really guilty or just guilty of wanting her dead.

Do you think she thinks he's innocent? I asked Kim.
Yeah, she said.
Do you think he is innocent, I asked.
I don't know, Kim said, I'm kind of iffy.
We decided we thought he was guilty.

Two stars, for Elizabeth Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor's legs. Will not watch again.