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February is all about LOVE so what better time to recap some of the BEST and ROMANTIC movies made. And why not, with the Oscars around the corner. Whether it’s boy-meets-girl, boy-meets-boy or ogre-meets-princess, it’s always ALL ABOUT LOVE. This is the 1st of 3 Thursday’s Top Ten list to be devoted to the Best of Romantic Movies... The lists are in chronological order. …by the way, anyone having a party???
- Gone With The Wind (1939) How many of us swooned over Clark Gable in the role of Rhett Butler; his portrayal of a rich, handsome and best of all “a bad boy” had the ladies in the theaters sighing and crying as he swept Scarlett up in his arms and carried her up the stairs.
- Casablanca (1942) Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall brought the chemistry of their off-screen romance to their chemistry-infused but not-to-be love affair of the movie. The lines, “Of all the gin joints in town, why did you come here”? and “Here’s looking at you kid” entered our lexicon 70 years ago and are still with us. All that and set in an exotic (to Americans) land and in the midst of a war. We’ve all had what we sure was a “meant to be” love affair – how many of you married that person?
- An Affair To Remember (1957) Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr…you almost don’t have to say anything else. His voice, his looks, his manners and a shipboard romance to boot, charmed Terry McKay and every other woman since. An unfulfilled love affair between soul-mates. Do NOT see the remake, none of the above applies.
- Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) Who could imagine that a novella by Truman Capote (of all people) would become the must-see movie for young women all over the country and often a pre-requisite at fashionable bridal showers! George Peppard as the sensitive writer and Audrey Hepburn as the fragile soul hiding behind the party-girl exterior.
- Dr. Zhivago (1965) What could be more romantic than a doomed love affair played out against the back-drop of a Revolution and a Russian one at that. Omar Sharif and Julie Christie carry on in the midst of the beautiful and bleak Russian countryside and all the while our hearts and minds are humming along to Lara’s Theme, the movie’s signature song (and for me, my wedding song in 1968).
- The Sound Of Music (1965) On the eve of a world war, a former nun and a widower with kids – now there’s an unlikely but winning combination for romance and a true story too! Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews sing their way through love and who among us doesn’t know “…do a dear, re a spot of golden sun…”. As for me (again) my first date with my future husband was going to see this movie in Hartford, CT.
- Bonnie And Clyde (1967) With a tagline, “They’re young, …they’re in love, …and they kill people”, this offbeat romance shocked audiences with more graphic violence than had been seen before in a mainstream movie. Ahh, but Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were so gorgeous you had to love them and feel a pang or two over their ill-fated romance and doomed lives.
- Love Story (1970)You may not want to admit it but this saccharin and yet another unlikely and doomed romance won our hearts and the phrase, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” lives on. Preppy Ryan O’Neil and beautiful Ali MacGraw were perfectly cast in this “class”ic tale of lovers from both sides of the tracks.
- The Way We Were (1973) Along the same lines as #8, our 9th pick throws a very preppy writer, Robert Redford ooooohhhh, and a sassy left-wing activist, Barbra Streisand together. Opposites attract but they probably shouldn’t live together and this was a case of principles overriding love – how sad in a way. I wanted to see them together just because – although I knew she was way too smart for him and in the long run their love would have died a long and painful death.
- Grease (1978) It’s so easy to romanticize an era when you are at least 20 years beyond it and so the 50’s seemed like a fun time especially when greaser John Travolta met up with exchange student, Olivia Newton-John. Based on a hit Broadway musical, the movie was a smash hit and surpassed The Sound of Music as the highest grossing musical of its day.
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
Thursday’s Top Ten Oscar Upsets!
Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged Academy Award, Academy Award for Best Picture, Brokeback Mountain, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Humphrey Bogart, Jack Nicholson, My Cousin Vinny, Oscar, Ralph Fiennes, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Shakespeare on February 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »
So who do you think is going to win this year? Unlike some other years, there isn’t just one picture which will run away with all of the top awards. The field is open and the predicting is hitting fever pitch. Is it anybody’s guess? Maybe. I have my own predictions and I’ll post them before Sunday evening. Feel free to write in your own choices for Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress, Best Director, and any other BEST you want to pick.
Sometimes a dark horse emerges and at the last moment, streams past all the other contenders and snatches the top prize. Do you remember these well-known Oscar upsets?
1. 2006 – Crash beats out Broke Back Mountain for Best Picture! WTF? Crash was interesting and full of racial and social tension but when it was announced that it won Best Picture, there were some audible gasps and best of all, do you remember that Jack Nicholson, who announced the winner, raised one of his famous eyebrows in a betcha didn’t see that coming!
2. 1943 – What were they thinking??? Paul Lukas won the Best Actor Award for his role in Watch On The Rhine. And Humphrey Bogart LOST for his role in Casablanca. OMG!!
3. 1999 – Shakespeare in Love was a fine movie, with great costumes but did you expect it to beat out Saving Private Ryan? I mean really? Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Burns????
4. 2002 – Who beat out Nicholas Cage, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Michael Caine for Best Actor? Adrien Brody! He was relatively unknown compared to the heavy-hitters he was up against. If his win was a surprise, imagine what Halle Berry was thinking when he grabbed her and planted a great big kiss on her mouth and when they tried to stop his acceptance speech, he said NO. Then gave an anti-war speech and received a standing ovation for it.
5. 1994 – Schindler’s List won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing and 5 more Best categories, BUT Ralph Fiennes did NOT win Best Actor. Tommy Lee Jones took the top prize with his role in The Fugitive. Jones was good as a cop but seriously? Fiennes was Oscar-worthy as the odious Nazi, Amon Goth. I can only imagine how awful that night was for him as Schindler’s List racked up win after win.
6. 1991 – It was not a good night for Goodfellows! Dances With Wolves snapped up the Best Picture Award. The other nominees were Godfather Part III, Awakenings and Ghost. And yet another “you lose” for Martin Scorcese.
7. 1942 – Only time will tell and it did…How Green Was My Valley won Best Picture over……are you ready? Citizen Kane! Consistently on the top of greatest movie lists for years, in 1998 AFI declared Citizen Kane to be the number one greatest movie ever! Better late than never??
8.1977 – Should we have been surprised when a feel-good-loser-wins-in-the-end-against-all-odds movie punched its way to Best Picture and in doing so knocked out Taxi Driver and All The President’s Men? YES! OMG, Taxi Driver? DeNiro?
9. 1993- This was the night the wild card entry won! Marisa Tomei played the sassy and saucy Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny. And Vanessa Redgrave and Miranda Richardson went home empty-handed.
10. 2010– No list of Oscar upsets would be complete without mentioning Kathryn Bigelow. She was the first female to win Best Director for The Hurt Locker and truly upset her ex-husband James Cameron who was the favorite to win with Avatar!
Academy Awards night has been full of surprises and upsets many times over and this list is by no means complete. Perhaps I can post another list before the big night!
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