Movies I Watched in September

This month I finally got around to watching The Three Faces of Eve as well as some Sidney Poitier films. Prior to this month I had only seen him in Lilies of the Field, The Defiant Ones, the last half of Duel at Diablo (on tv - really want to see the first half), and the very beginning of Paris Blues. He's such an incredible actor and I so I took advantage of watching several of his films while he was Star of the Month on TCM.

* means a rewatch

1. Shoulder Arms (1918) - Charlie Chaplin
2. *Merrily We Live (1938) - Constance Bennett & Brian Aherne, Bonita Granville, Billie Burke
3. Love is a Headache (1938) - Franchot Tone & Gladys George, Mickey Rooney, Virginia Weidler
4. *The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - Dana Andrews & Theresa Wright, Frederic March & Myrna Loy, Harold Russell, Virginia Mayo
5. Deadline at Dawn (1946) - Bill Williams & Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas
6. They Won’t Believe Me (1947) - Robert Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer
7. Highly Dangerous (1950) - Margaret Lockwood & Dane Clark
8. *A Millionaire for Christy (1951) - Fred MacMurray & Eleanor Parker, Richard Carlson
9. The Belle of New York (1952) - Fred Astaire & Vera-Ellen, Marjorie Main, Keenan Wynn
10. Angel Face (1953) - Robert Mitchum & Jean Simmons 
11. The Naked Jungle (1954) - Eleanor Parker & Charlton Heston
12. The Three Faces of Eve (1957) - Joanne Woodward, Lee J. Cobb 
13. 12 Angry Men (1957) - Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb 
14. *Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) - Debbie Reynolds & Leslie Nielsen, Walter Brennan, Fay Wray
15. God’s Little Acre (1958) - Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Buddy Hackett, Tina Louise
16. All the Young Men (1960) - Alan Ladd, Sidney Poitier
17. Madison Avenue (1962) - Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain, Eleanor Parker, Eddie Albert
18. *Follow the Boys (1963) - Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, Richard Long, Janis Paige, Russ Tamblyn
19. Looking for Love (1964) - Connie Francis, Jim Hutton
20. The Slender Thread (1965) - Sidney Poitier & Anne Bancroft, Telly Savalas
21. A Patch of Blue (1965) - Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman
22. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) - Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway
23. Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) - James Garner & Suzanne Pleshette
24. Snowball Express (1972) - Dean Jones & Nancy Olsen
25. *You've Got Mail (1998) - Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Dave Chappelle
26. Stardust (2007) - Charlie Cox & Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Strong, Robert De Niro, Henry Cavill
27. *Psych the Musical (2013) - James Roday, Dule Hill, Maggie Lawson, Tim Omundson
28. A Quiet Place (2018) - John Krasinski & Emily Blunt
29. The Legend of 5 Mile Cave (2019) - Adam Baldwin 

Least Favorite Movie: Definitely Love is a Headache. Franchot Tone WAY overacted. Snowball Express was a little too corny for me. The Belle of New York didn't have much of a story line but I wanted to watch it for Vera-Ellen. The cast of Looking for Love had absolutely NO chemistry.

Favorite Movie: So I've suddenly become a Susan Hayward fan lol. I've seen some of her later movies but she never did anything for me but this month I watched two noirs and was really loving her! And of course I was blown away by all the Sidney Poitier films I watched as well as 12 Angry Men. I don't do horror movies but A Quiet Place wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Emily Blunt is my favorite modern actress and I love the chemistry between her and her real life & on-screen husband, John Krasinski.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

I had just started blogging when I heard about Guess Who's Coming to Dinner for the first time. A friend of my mothers suggested it to me and, although the plot sounded interesting and I was interested in seeing something, anything from Sidney Poitier, it's only now that I finally decided to watch it.

The film follows 23-year-old Joanna Drayton (Katharine Houghton) as she returns home earlier from her Hawaiian vacation with her new African-American fiance, 37-year-old Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), so that he can meet her parents (Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn). Since they are liberals, Joanna expects them to approve of their relationship, but her father does have reservations about it. And so does John's father (Roy E. Glenn Sr.). 

The plot is very simple and quite unrealistic as the parents learn about the relationship and have to decide whether they approve or not in the course of a single day; also, it's pretty predictable. 

This, however, doesn't really take away from the film as the issues addressed with the story are way more important than having an intricated plot. The film tackles the issues of interracial marriage with depth and insight, in a subtle and very human way. It also addresses the issue of hidden prejudice in those who pride themselves on being anti-racist —the Draytons are very open-minded as they approve of racial equality, and yet they have an African-American maid and they both react pretty bad when they meet John— and shows that prejudice operates both ways.

The characters, however, I had a problem with them. They are quite stereotyped —whether it's the fathers being conservative and against the marriage, the mothers having more passion when it comes to love, or the drinking Irish priest— and don't always are very realistic. While I loved that Sidney Poiter's character is a God-like man with no flaw whatsoever —he is the perfect gentleman, with an education, the kind of man fathers would love for their daughters— as there was no other way of making the father's opposition entirely a racial issue, I highly doubt that a Catholic priest from the 1960s would not raise a single objection to interracial marriage, but actually approves of it.

Columbia Pictures

The acting, on the other hand, is spectacular. Spencer Tracy gives a poignant and Oscar-worthy performance. Joanna's father, Matt, is not against the union itself but he is only worried to what his daughter is going to face, what his grandchildren are going to face, and Tracy really delivers that. Kathrine Hepburn also gives a strong performance as the fierce mother. There's obviously a lot of chemistry between them as they were real-life husband and wife, and seeing her tear up during Tracy's beautiful final speech is heartbreaking. Sidney Poitier is a bit of a let down though as he sleepwalks for most of the film. The scene in which he confronts his father and says to him, "you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man", he is very charming and compelling there.

Ultimately, although the characters aren't that good and there are some cringy scenes that are dreadful to sit through —the delivery boy and the ice cream drive-in—, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is quite stimulating and entertaining, and, sadly, it's still relevant today.

Sidney Poitier & Denzel Washington: Oscar Legends

I was watching some old Oscar videos on YouTube and I wanted to share these three with you. The first is Sidney Poitier's win at the 1964 Oscars for his role in Lilies of the Field. I love presenter Anne Bancroft's reaction.

The second is Denzel Washington presenting Sidney Poitier with an Honorary Oscar at the 2002 Awards.

The third is Denzel Washington's second Oscar win, also at the 2002 Awards and his first Oscar in the Best Actor Category for Training Day. Why I'm sharing it? It has Sidney Poitier in it and Julia Robert's reaction is pretty much the same as Anne Bancroft's.