Starting Monday... it's Tennessee Williams Week! The great American playwright's centennial is on March 26th and since his stage work has had such crucial impact on the big screen especially for actors, since Nicole Kidman and James Franco will soon attempt to revive Sweet Bird of Youth on Broadway, and since his writing has influenced other legendary writers or filmmakers like John Waters, Edward Albee, Tony Kushner and Pedro Almodóvar, why not a whole week?
For those of you who haven't seen any of the movies based on his work, why not rent a couple? On Wednesday night we'll celebrate A Streetcar Named Desirewith "hit me with your best shot" but other films we hope to touch on include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Fugitive Kind, The Rose Tattoo, Baby Doll, Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth and Night of the Iguana. If you have a blog, tumblr or whatnot and you do anything to honor him this week... make sure to let us know and we'll check it out.
Netflix has Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Summer and Smoke and The Glass Menagerie (TV version) available on Instant Watch. TCM is showing A Streetcar Named Desire (Tues at 3:45) though strangely they have no centennial programming this month for one of the artistic giants of the 20th century.
Crimes of the Heart is for people who love Steel Magnolias, who can't bring themselves to change the channel when The First Wives Club plays on cable, and who can't resist a small handful of emotive, big-name actresses playing off each other courtesy of a witty, womanly text. Now that I have the attention of what I'll dare to guess is about 89 percent of you, allow me to resurrect this twangy, dysfunctional black comedy, which turns 25 this year. Directed by Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy), it's one of those films whose title is so generic you'd swear you've seen it a dozen times, and yet its drop into the proverbial cracks has all but erased your knowledge/memory of it.
The film's official release-date birthday isn't until Dec. 12, but it's fresh in my mind because I just caught a fine stage rendition of playwright/screenwriter Beth Henley's source material – a Pulitzer Prize-winning work that draws its power from Henley's keen ability to mash the comic and the tragic with the frequent spikes and dips of a heart monitor (think Rachel Getting Married with more irony and fewer shattering tears). The story takes place in Hazlehurst, Miss., where the MaGrath sisters – Babe, Lenny and Meg – are reuniting at their childhood home under characteristically eccentric circumstances. Babe, the youngest, just got out of jail for shooting her husband in the stomach (she “didn't like his stinkin' looks”). Lenny, the melancholic eldest, just turned 30 and is nursing her pent-up sexual frustration with cookies and self pity (a shrunken-ovary problem makes her think she's useless to men). Meg, the rebel, has returned from L.A. with nothing to show for her singing-career ambitions but the after-effects of a nervous breakdown.
What's more, Lenny's horse was just struck dead by lightning, nosy and pushy cousin Chick is nagging outside the screen door, the girls' granddaddy/surrogate father is ailing in the hospital, and then there's the memory of the suicide of their mother, who, years ago, hung herself along with the family cat. You get the picture.
At first, it seems this movie – which is available to watch in its entirety on YouTube, btw – doesn't have much to offer in regards to justifying the play being committed to film. Despite its undeniable retro charm, the Plain-Jane opening is super indicative of the film's subsequent obscurity, from its credits (which could make a Power Point presentation look masterful) to its score (best described as low-rent Kenny G.). It doesn't take long, however, for the hooks to dig in. Turns out Crimes is quite the watchable little gem, thanks mainly to its four lead stars: Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek and a marvelous, neglected old Victorian that serves as the tack-tacular setting.
Diane Keaton as Lenny
The actress who portrayed Lenny in the stage version I saw was by far the funniest cast member because she was able to nail her character's emotional volatility and spastic, hysterical neuroses. Naturally, this is a role for Diane Keaton...
Keaton, Lange and Sissy's Oscar-nominated work after the jump.
2011 is the 25th anniversary of Pixar Animation Studios (they opened their doors in February 1986!) so I wanted to look back a bit at their marvelous output. I enlisted some other people from around the web to chime in too, so we'll have the results of an informal poll later on. But to start, let's look at the ten best moments from their first full length feature, TOY STORY (1995). Do these choices line up with yours?
TOP TEN MOMENTS IN TOY STORY (1995)
Hey Etch, Draw!
10. I almost went with Mr Potato Head's "Hey look I'm Picasso" bit but Woody's showdown with Etch-a-Sketch is the best visual gag during the movie's extended opening scene. It's a perfect illustration (nyuck nyuck) of Pixar multiple joke approach. It's three gags in one: visual, verbal, cinematic.
09 INSIDE BUZZ'S VISOR. Pixar's always been adept at endearing you to their stable of characters. But one of the most confident things about Toy Story -- remarkably confident given that it was their first feature -- is that both Buzz and Woody are pitched as hero and villain at some point. Woody is selfish and bossy (especially in the first half) and they don't really soften that and your first moment "inside" Buzz's persona, a great point of view shot, is from inside his bubble where he's breathing like he's Darth Vader. It's a fun reference but it also sets up the possibility that he's the antagonist that Woody's protagonist believes him to be.
08 YOU'RE A TOY. Buzz Lightyear seeing himself on TV. A shock to his senses (of self.)
Buzz is greater than Woody and here's why. Woody is a dog; he's desperate for Andy's love and affection 100% of the time, content to follow. Buzz is a cat; he enjoys Andy but his sense of self worth comes from his actual sense of self.
07 "MRS NESBITT"
Poor Buzz. He's never been able to roll with improv like the other toys. My other favorite part of this scene is the headless dolls "Marie Antoinette and her sister"
06 CODE RED The opening birthday party reconaissance mission. The monkeys and the green aliens have since replaced them as this franchises' favorite multiple character gag, but The Bucket of Soldiers are so endearing in their complete lack of humor. They have some weird old school pull, don't they? The're not brightly colored or showy of personality or funny looking. The mission is everything!
05 Sid performing 'double bypass head surgery.' Buzz's indignant response is so hilariously straight-faced.
I don't believe that man has ever been to medical school.
04 "WILL ANDY PICK ME?"
Sometimes Woody's three film flipflopping between "favorite toy" confidence and disabling insecurity annoys, but this scene, is so beautifully lit (the magic hour) and it makes so much of such a tiny thing (who will Andy take to dinner at the Pizza Palace?) that it sends you right back to any childhood or adolescent (or vulnerable adult) moment where some minor thing was THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERED, LIFE OR DEATH. But it's really the use of the Magic 8 Ball that sends the scene to movie perfection. "Don't Count On It."
Goddamn it that Magic 8 Ball is a bitch.
03 The repeated shot of "ANDY" written on Woody and Buzz's shoes. In permanent ink! Aren't you jealous of every boy named Andy who can watch these movies and pretend it's literally their toys that the movie is about?
02 SID'S COMEUPPANCE
We toys see everything...
...SO PLAY NICE.
The follow up shot of him terrified of his sister's doll is the perfect capper. "Don't you wanna play with Sally?"
01 "THE CLAW" Subsequent Toy Story's have regurgitated the joke too often, dulling its neon bright genius, but I still had to give this absurdly clever Pizza Planet flourish the top spot. Everything about the sequence works wondrously starting with Buzz Lightyear's entrance, which is the best kind of pop culture comedy. It plays off universally understood genre tropes -- in this case sci-fi -- rather than referencing one specific property and therefore dating itself.
I come in peace.
And then it soars ever higher. "The claw!!!!" Pixar's process must allow for a lot of brainstorming because you rarely feel they haven't explored every comic possibility of a scene or a character or an environment.
One of the unsurpassable joys of moviegoing (and live theater) is the communal rush you can feel when a piece of art is connecting with everyone in the room. I saw Toy Story on opening night at a huge packed theater in Utah with my brother. Had the theater been empty I'm sure we would have laughed heartily. But would the mad euphoria have set in? We were giggling so hard, we couldn't stop; the laughs were ricocheting back and forth like they were made of rubber. (It wasn't until I saw the film a second time that I remembered anything about the next couple of scenes.) It's not only one of my single favorite moviegoing memories, it's one of my single favorite memories of my brother.
Woof! Guess which Disney classic is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year?
Yep, that's One Hundred and One Dalmatians which debuted fifty years back, January 25th of 1961 to be exact. Let's discuss with 50½ quick thoughts as 101 would send most of you clicking immediately away. The Film Experience shan't ask that much of your patience though perhaps you could share the article with 3½ friends if you enjoy it, or leave 1½ comments behind before you go. The more the merrier, you know? And doesn't the movie wag its plentiful tail at that very motto?!
01 The first charming thing is its sketchy, spotty, doggy opening credit sequence. It's a prime candidate for "Art of the Title Sequence" if only they'd do more classics.
02 The movie was released in the early 60s and takes place in London. I can't think of another animated Disney feature off the top of my head that's this British but then, "The British Invasion" was just around the corner so maybe America's Anglophilimaniac phase was already in the air in the late 50s when Disney started storyboarding this feature?
03 One can't help but notice the immediate resemblance to the palette and cityscapes for Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist.
04 Pongo, the first (of many) dalmatian narrates and refers to Roger as "my pet". Animated movies have anthropomorphized animals since the creation of the form but one wonders when people started joking about the inner lives of animals? Maybe Adam & Eve even chuckled about how bossy the garden creatures were?
05 Though the movie feels more leisurely than today's animated features, from its opening frame, it's giving you the narrative and characterizations pretty quickly.
06 Pongo wants Roger to settle down. The scene where he's judging human/dog pairs from the window is like one of those now cliché comic audition scenes where you see a few obviously unsuitable candidates before you get to the real goods, the final auditioner, the one you're supposed to root for.
08 If you give it more than a second's thought you realize it's an odd cliché since it doesn't really occur in real life. You can take it from someone who used to do corporate recruiting. You can't really stop the auditions as soon as you love someone. There are these pesky things called politeness, appointments, and bosses who'd like a few options later on. Sometimes you end with a real dud, not the superstar! And it's not true of dating either. Most people don't settle down with the first person that isn't totally unsuitable ;)
09 Although maybe it's truthy for cutthroat Hollywood? Perhaps casting directors boot out every starving actor in the hallway as soon as they get their first wow?
10 This post: Too fancy? Much too fancy?
11 The pan around Roger's apartment is so evocative, funny, super detailed and gorgeous. It's busy and messy and bachelor chaos without being overbearing. Those background painters really outdid themselves back in the day.
12 This post is set to publish at 5:14 by Pongo's request.
13 If you haven't left work yet maybe you should right now? The weekend is upon you. Take your furry friend for a long walk in the park.
16 How adorable is it that Pongo talks like a dog when he's with humans and we only get the translation with the animal-only scenes. The sound work is pretty strong. You can actually distinguish between the "voices". The movie is full of strong line bark deliveries.
17 The heavy ink lines around the characters are a thing of the past. When I was a little kid I bought "how to animation" books and I remember that the ink lines had something to do with the outlines for cel animation being one job and the painting of color being another entirely. Different people did different jobs though I don't remember what the various positions were actually called although one was named "inbetweeners" I think, which is such a great job title. In some scenes the heavy ink lines are much more prominent than others which I can't quite figure. Was it a quickie production? Did it change hands? Were there different teams for the different "chapters" of the movie? Any Disney historians reading?
18 Is this one of the best "meet cutes" in film history? Pongo wraps the leash around the humans and sends them tumbling into the pond. Pongo thinks it is. He's very proud. It's a sly move and he gets his own wife (Perdita) in the bargain. There's a double wedding... and soon Perdita has 15 buns in her oven.
19 Speaking of ovens... "Nanny" is the stock plump "help" Disney character -- it's like they don't even redesign them at all between movies but for their clothes -- but she's adorable.
Today for the International Women's History Centennial, a few "firsts" in movies. Add some in the comments if you want! I was 2/3rds done with this when I spotted Cinematical's "women in cinematic history but I wanted to make this a little more "first"y and loopier and obviously a bit more awardsy in nature since we play it like that.
A Mary Pickford biography | Florence Lawrence "The Biograph Girl"
Silents
First movie star: That's "The Biograph Girl" Florence Lawrence OR... First "Oprah" i.e. first woman in entertainment to basic control the universe: Mary Pickford was, like Florence Lawrence, famous by sight before actor names went in credits. Pickford was also known as "America's Sweetheart" a title that the media has virtually never tired of passing on down to newish popular actresses ever since. Mary was one of the founders of AMPAS and a studio founder too. She also commanded astronomical wealth. In a time when average US incomes were somewhere around $3,000ish, she was pulling in $10,000 a week plus a $300,000 annual bonus plushad her own production company plus co-founded movie studios and AMPAS. One can only imagine...
First woman to direct a full length feature: Lois Weber for The Merchant of Venice (1914) First woman to go nude in a motion picture: Audrey Munson in The Inspiration (1915) playing an artist's model. She did it for the art, you see!
1920s
First woman to win an Oscar: Janet Gaynor, Best Actress on May 16th, 1929. She was a new 22 year old sensation, beating out veteran movie queen Gloria Swanson establishing Hollywood's voting preferences for the Best Actress category for the next 82 years! Gloria declined her invitation to pick up "honorable mention." I'm not begrudging Gaynor her statue -- she's pretty terrific in her 1929 trio Seventh Heaven, Sunrise and Street Angel but I'm just saying... ;)
the die is forever cast: ingenue vs. seasoned pro.
Gaynor also held the status of "youngest best actress winner" for five decades until newbie Marlee Matlin won at 21 for Children of a Lesser God in early 1987 triumphing over seasoned movie queen Kathleen Turner.
1930s
First woman to receive a "special" Oscar: Shirley Temple, miniature superstar in 1934. It was a miniature Oscar. No child star has ever rivalled her popularity since. She was the #1 box office attraction for years. First Oscar win for Katharine Hepburn: Morning Glory March 16th, 1934. She'd go on to 3 more wins making her the numero uno Oscar Actress First woman to win Best Supporting Actress Oscar: Gale Sondergaard for Anthony Adverse (1936) First woman to win Back-to-Back Best Actress Oscars: Luise Rainer (The Good Earth and The Great Ziegfeld). Katharine Hepburn later repeated the trick in the 1960s. Luise is currently the oldest living Oscar winner. First marriage for Zsa Zsa Gabor: 1937. She's still ahead of Liz Taylor by one (9:8) for the title of Most Married Hollywood Actress
Michele Morgan in La Symphonie Pastorale
1940s
First actress to become an elected US official: Helen Galaghan, the wife of Oscar winner Melyvn Douglas (and stepgrandmother to Ileanna Douglas) played the dangerous title character in scifi cult classic SHE (1935) see my review. In the 40s she served in the Congress for California and gave Richard Nixon that derogatory nickname that stuck "Tricky Dick" but her political career was destroyed during the McCarthy era witchhunts. A more recent example of an actress going into politics: two time Best Actress Oscar winner Glenda Jackson gave up the movies and became a Member of Parliament in Britain. First winner of Cannes Best Actress: Michèle Morgan for Jean Delannoy's La Symphonie Pastorale (1946). She played a blind girl whose sight is miraculously restored but which destroys her happiness.
1950s
First woman to receive an honorary regular-sized Oscar: Greta Garbo in 1954. Yep, after 20 or so men had been given one. After another 15 or so men were given non-competitive statues the next woman was Onna White for choreographing Oliver! (1968).
The ratio continues this way: 1970s men: 14; women: 3; 1980s men: 8; women: 1; 1990s men: 9;women: 3; 2000s men 12: women: 1; This year men: 3; women: 0; What the hell is AMPAS's problem with women, exactly?
First woman to win Best Actress for her debut performance: Shirley Booth for Come Back Little Sheba (1952). She only made 3 more features and was largely a stage and TV star. She remains the only woman in her fifties to ever win Best Actress. She's one of 12 women to have won Oscars for their debuts on the big screen. Only two men have ever managed that feat, Dr Haing S Ngor for The Killing Fields and Harold Russell for The Best Years of Our Lives, both wins often associated with their non-acting backstories. (The reason men rarely win or even get nominated for their debuts -- the ratio is crazy to compare -- has to do, obviously, with Oscar's whole thing of valuing men for their experience and longevity and valuing women for... other reasons.)
First black woman nominated for best Actress: Dorothy Dandridge for the musical Carmen Jones (1954) First savvy woman to popularize the dread "DeGlam" Oscar trick:Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954) in which a lesser performance beats a miraculous one (Judy Garland, A Star is Born) because the lesser one features a great beauty pretending to be plain... ACTING! First (and most) pregnant Oscar winner: Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront in April 1955 who said
I may have the baby right here!
She gave birth two days later by some accounts. Other sources say two weeks. First (and only) Asian woman to win an acting Oscar: Miyoshi Umeki for Best Supporting Actress for Sayonara (1957) First women on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Joanne Woodward (aka Mrs Paul Newman) in September 1958 is the most famous of the first batch of 8 recipients barring Burt Lancaster. Two other actresses represented that day were from silent films: Olive Borden and Louise Fazenda. The myth that Woodward received the first star ever, is according to Wikipedia, because she was the first celeb to have her photograph taken with her star. That's now the only way it ever happens, as a big photo op.
1960s
First woman to win the "Triple Crown" of acting, Emmy/Tony/Oscar:Ingrid Bergman completed the feat in 1960 with an Emmy but the Oscars were first (and last) in her career. She won three, second only to Katharine Hepburn. First woman to be paid $1 million for a single film: Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra (1963). Despite the film being a huge flop on a cost-to-gross ratio, she actually earned $7 million all told due to various contractual bits and bobs.
1970s
First woman to win the EGOT:Barbra Streisand completed the quad by 1970... though some claim she's not a true EGOT'er since the Tony was a non-competitive prize. If you don't count Babs the first woman to achieve showbiz's Holy Quad is Helen Hayes who had all four by 1976. Rita Moreno was the first (and only) Hispanic woman to do it the following year. First woman to win an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year: Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Liza with a Z (1972). For what it's worth LIZA WITH A Z is an absolute must-have on DVD. It is amazeballs.
First woman to win Best Picture at the Oscars: Julia Phillips for The Sting (1973). She later wrote the very bitchy tell-all Hollywood bestseller "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again" First woman nominated for Best Director at the Oscars: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976). She was nominated against luminaries like Ingmar Bergman, Alan J Pakula and Sidney Lumet. Rocky's John G Avildsen won the Oscar. First woman to say "no" to Warren Beatty: I'm joking. He can't have never been turned down given how often he made advances but the legend holds that he did ask Julie Christie to marry him and she refused. First Meryl Streep Oscar Nomination: The Deer Hunter (1978). She'd go on to a total of 16 making her the most nominated actor, male or female, in Oscar history.
1980s
First actress on a US postage stamp: I believe it's Ethel Barrymore in 1982. Some sources online say Grace Kelly in 1993 but maybe they mean a solo stamp. Ethel shared hers with two other members of the Barrymore dynasty. First actress to create a fitness empire: Jane Fonda.Workout Starring Jane Fonda is still the best selling fitness video of all time. She was 45 when she made it. First (and only) back-to-back Best Actress Cannes winner: Barbara Hershey for Shy People (1987) and A World Apart (1988), both of which are little seen now which is a real shame. At least she's back in the public eye a bit with Black Swan. First woman to direct a blockbuster: Penny Marshall, former television star (Laverne & Shirley), directed Big (1988). It wasn't even her only blockbuster. A League of Their Own later crossed the $100 million mark in the 90s.
1990s
First African American woman to direct a movie that won general theatrical release: Julie Dash had a success d'estime with Daughters of the Dust (1991) First woman to get properly laid by Brad Pitt onscreen: Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise (1991)
2000s
First African American woman to win Best Actress: Halle Berry in Monster's Ball on March 24th, 2002. First American woman nominated for Best Director: Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003)
2010s
First (and only) female winner of Oscar's Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker on March 7th, 2010.
Firsts we're still waiting for...
a woman to direct a Pixar movie
a woman to be nominated for Cinematography at the Oscars
an out gay woman being nominated for an acting Oscar. It's pretty empy on the male side as well though as least we've had Sir Ian McKellen.
an Asian woman to win Best Actress. Only one has even been nominated (Merle Oberon who hid her ancestry for years back when racism was a much bigger problem that it is now)
Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 1:50PM 
Starting Monday... it's Tennessee Williams Week! The great American playwright's centennial is on March 26th and since his stage work has had such crucial impact on the big screen especially for actors, since Nicole Kidman and James Franco will soon attempt to revive Sweet Bird of Youth on Broadway, and since his writing has influenced other legendary writers or filmmakers like John Waters, Edward Albee, Tony Kushner and Pedro Almodóvar, why not a whole week?
