There is a contest running at the moment by CineTv and I hope I didn't miss the deadline for it. I don't think I did, if you haven't seen it here's a link and hopefully you can also enter it.
@cinetv/cinetv-contest-your-most-favorite-classic-films
When I hear the words classic film, I think of two things. Classic as in timeless, something that no matter when you watch it, the film can still be enjoyed by an audience. Then I think Classic as in the golden age of Hollywood, some of those old school movies that still hold up after all this time.
So, for this, I've chosen two, which I love. They are comedies and I think can be enjoyed by anyone who watches them. First I'll talk about the 1959 Film.
Some Like It Hot
Some like it hot, stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.
The story starts with some men riding along in a hearse, being pursued by the police they have a shoot-out along the road. The gangsters make it away and duck into a funeral parlor, where a detective enters under cover knowing that there is a speakeasy using the funeral parlor as a front.
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon playing in a jazz band for the club notice the detective badge and pack up their sax and double bass and make it out just as the police raid it. With no money they take some work going in Florida, for a band looking for a bass and sax player, but, the catch is. The musicians they want are woman. They refuse that for some other work going nearer to them, so they make their way to the venue, they get to a garage to borrow a car to get to the venue and while there they witness a mod hit. By the gangsters who ran the speakeasy from the start of the film.
Spats the mod leader recognises them and after a narrow escape their only choice is the disguise themselves as women and take up the work in Florida.
They make it to the train under the new identities of Josephine and Geraldine and meet the traveling band of other women and that's where they meet Marilyn Monroe's character Sugar Cane.
I find a lot of things great about this movie, I love the setting I assume that the time this movie is meant to be set is the 1920's during the prohibition. I find the movie very funny and well written as well as that, I like it because it was the first black and white film I watched when I was fairly young.
It's one of my dad's favourite films and he introduced me to it, I remember saying that I didn't want to watch it because black and white films are boring, but, I'm glad I did watch it back then. Within the first few minutes, I remember being hooked. Since then I've watched it a bunch of times and I think it's the first movie that let me know that black and white films aren't boring.
The Music
The music plays such a large role in the film, as you can imagine it would considering it's following a bunch of musicians. But, even musical cues that happen during certain moments enhance the comedy of certain scenes a lot.
The Cast
The cast are all great and really work well together I think. I've always liked Marilyn Monroe as an actress and I'm pretty sure this is the first film I ever saw her in. She's so funny in this and for anyone who's never seen it, I think it is well worth watching.
Also as a comedy, I think it has one of the strongest and funniest endings to any comedy I had/ have ever watched. Which is I think one of the things that left a big impression on me of the film. It's a classic for the reasons of having such a strong start that hooks you, characters and a story that keeps your attention throughout, and a final scene that leaves you laughing as the credits begin to roll.
I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't heard of it because I think it still holds up today. 63 years later.
The Marx Brothers
More films that my dad introduced me to, which I often go back and watch are the kings of comedy themselves the Marx Brothers. Groucho, Chicco, Zeppo, and Harpo
I just wanted to add them in as an honorable mention to this post but they deserve a post of their own, really. They were active from 1905 to 1949 and essentially wrote the book on comedy I think each of them had a big influence on all kinds of comedy which we have today and have had over the years. One of my favourite films they did was the 1931 release Monkey Business.
I think what's great about them is that each of them had their own style of humour which made it easy for audiences to laugh at each of the films they released. As we all know comedy is subjective.
Groucho, being the king of witty one-liners, one of my favourite lines that Groucho says is when he tries to take a glass of champagne and the waiter tells him no. So he pulls out a bill and says "You see this." takes a glass and drinks it. "Come back in twenty minutes and I'll give you another look at it." as he puts the note back in his pocket.
Harpo, being one of the greats of slapstick humour. I'm not a huge fan of slapstick but, I love any of the scenes where he is playing, especially when he plays the harp. It's one instrument I've always wanted to play but, haven't... yet. One day hopefully I am somewhere that has a Harp I can mess around with.
Trivia
I heard a couple of things about The Marx Brothers, so I'll just throw them in here.
I liked the Rob Zombie film, The Devils Rejects, but, I remember there was a character who was a ranger pursuing the family of serial killers who hated Elvis because the ranger was such a huge fan of Groucho Marx. The reason he hated Elvis so much in the film was that Groucho died the same day as Elvis but, nobody paid any mind to Groucho because Elvis took all of the media attention. I thought that was interesting and something I didn't know before watching that film.
I heard that Groucho had to wear a fake mustache because the real one he grew looked fake on camera, which I thought was funny. His look aided by the mustache is essentially what spawned those typical joke glasses, with the eyebrows and mustache. Maybe it's not the biggest accomplishment for some, but, I think over 100 years later to have that recognition is pretty cool.
Harpo was such a great musician and never spoke while in the films, I heard it was because he had a really thick New York accent and nobody liked it. So from then on, he decided not to speak on film.
Conclusion
Those are my picks for my favourite classics, hope you enjoyed the read.
