Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

Got a film you secretly enjoy even though most folks blanche when the title is mentioned?

Air your secret peccadilloes...here! We promise that not a breath of scandal will leave the room...

Most people have never heard of the movies I like, excluding members of this group. I rarely watch a movie more than once as there are so many to see, I need to keep moving forward. However, those I have seen several times are the following:

Lady for a Day (May Robson and Warren William): Makes me cry every time.

Saratoga Trunk (Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman): I find the interaction between Gary and Ingrid's characters so humorous, including the music that's played whenever Clint appears.

Going in Style (Art Carney, Lee Strasberg, and George Burns): One of the few "modern" movies I will watch. Both humorous and touching.

American Pie I & II

Michael Sarrazin, Raul Julia, and Tim McIntire in 'The Gumball Rally'. Was this the last time a movie about fast cars could be innocently enjoyed?

I am fascinated by the film Detour, the B classic starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage. It is poverty row but it has its moments.

Talladega Nights. I know, I know, but I laugh myself silly every time I stumble upon it.

Fletch

I also love Sweet Hostage, starring Linda Blair and Kurt Douglas. Melodrama at it's highest!

'Sweet Hostage' starring Linda Blair and Martin Sheen, you mean? Yes I like that one too. Some of those 'sleepers', those tiny little love-story movies (even made-for-TV movies!) were so well done. Another fave is 'Dragonflies' with Beau Bridges and Susan Sarandon. Or ''Old Boyfriends' with Talia Shire. Or 'The Promise' with Kathleen Quinlan. Its a shame she faded out.

A flick where Kirk Douglas kidnaps a woman (his ex wife) might be the one you're thinking of, 'Mousy' which is really an extraordinary performance. Kirk playing a weakling, a coward.

'Detour' yeah. Whew. No guilt about that one!

Feliks wrote: "'Sweet Hostage' starring Linda Blair and Martin Sheen, you mean? Yes I like that one too. Some of those 'sleepers', those tiny little love-story movies (even made-for-TV movies!) were so well done...."

No, you're right, It was Martin Sheen! I don't know what I was thinking. I love those old cheezy movies, despite not liking romance in general. I guess you shouldn't qualify that one as a romance anyway. O_o

I think I have the "so bad that they are good" movies syndrome!! Another bottom of the barrel one is Strangler in the Swamp...........lots of fog to cover up the lack of scenery but interesting.

My guilty pleasure revolves around 'creature features' such as Godzilla, Them, and Tremors. I watch them over and over.

They Live.

Them was really a pretty good film, Betsy but I was shocked when one of the main characters got killed in the end.

And I love the original Godzilla, the one which doesn't have the inserts of Raymond Burr added for American audiences.

Car Wash
Total Recall
almost anything with Goldie Hawn

Jill wrote: "Them was really a pretty good film, Betsy but I was shocked when one of the main characters got killed in the end.

And I love the original Godzilla, the one which doesn't have the inserts of Raymo..."

I agree about that scene in 'Them'. It was a surprise.

I like both versions of 'Godzilla'. Raymond Burr brings some stability in the movie compared to the overacting of Emiko.

Awk, speaking for myself 'big bug' movies have always been a labor to sit through even a few minutes of. It's so surprising to me, that they keep trying to re-do them. I guess its like I said elsewhere; such a dearth of ideas in Hollywood in our era. The whole system is screwed up when every release must be a blockbuster and small, honest, natural feelgood movies can't be funded.

Many of my favorite 'creature features' were hardly big budget. I'll never forget when my grandparents took me to see 'King Kong' (1933) because my mother had been to see it when she was a girl. I've seen it several times since then, but it still brings back memories. Creature features have their place just as 'feelgood' movies do.

Good point, Feliks. Hollywood thinks that blockbusters are the way to go when indeed a nice little film is much more welcome.....or at least by me.

You don't know anything about guilty pleasures until you hear my biggest secret guilt.

When I was a kid and allowed to stay up late to watch old film on television, my Mother heard me crying and came into the living room to see what what wrong. I was watching Naughty Marietta with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald and they were singing Sweet Mystery of Life. I thought it was so beautiful that I burst into tears. After that, I watched every one of their films whenever I could find them on tv. You have to admit that is a very guilty pleasure!

Why would that be a 'guilty' pleasure? I've watched them at times although I admit to liking her better than him. She did a rousing version of 'San Francisco' in 1936.

They were two of the biggest stars of their era but of course that style in music is long gone for most fans. But like I say ...the quality is there if one cares to look. Just because its no longer current doesn't mean it was at all 'bad' in its own period. I think this is 'nearly' a guilty pleasure but not quite. It's not lowbrow enough.

p.s. Nelson Eddy could belt out a song. And there's a huge hush-hush backstory about whether the songbirds were in fact, lovers.

A guilty pleasure for myself is hard to name. It's not like I can say, "I enjoy low-budget, exploitation horror" or "I enjoy 1970s kung-fu movies," Because across the board, I really don't. I've only seen a measly handful that somehow, stayed my hand from the remote control.

I like 'muscle car' movies I suppose --some of them are genuinely entertaining; even if totally sexist and stupid.

Burt Reynolds redneck movies ...I'd like to name as a guilty pleasure but nope. I don't like them enough for that.

Chuck Norris movies. Nope. They're just bad.

Ah! the Billy Jack series with Tom Laughlin. Yes, I like em. They're a guilty pleasure.

Disaster movies. No. Some are fully defensible. Some aren't.

Spaghetti westerns? I feel no guilt about liking them.

'Godzilla movies' would be a guilty pleasure if I enjoyed them. But I do not.

Mex-ploitation? Not a penchant of mine.

Bollywood? No, I turn up my nose at anything Bollywood.

Cannibal films: nope.

Hmmm....

A few of my guilty pleasures I like Hammer horror films, muscle car movies, and Shaw Brothers marital arts movies, Ang Lee's early movies, and most kungfu movies in general especially with Bruce Lee.

Though it's a new trend I do have a weak spot of cooking shows, be it in the kitchen preparing something or someone on the road do a travelogue on a county and it's cuisine.

I like lots of live Disney. That Darn Cat, The Absent Minded Professor, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Black Hole, TRON, Return to Oz....

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "Though it's a new trend I do have a weak spot of cooking shows, be it in the kitchen preparing something or someone on the road do a travelogue on a county and it's cuisine."

Although those aren't the purview of this group, I love certain types of cooking shows, especially the ones that travel to various countries.

Just so Feliks doesn't think we're too far out, I'll add that that it's really been only recently that cooking became part of movies such as 'Chef'. I was trying to think of a Golden Age example but can't off-hand.

In classic films everyone either ate in restaurants or had a cook!!

I'm not relishing the turn this conversation has taken! :p

I have a guilty-pleasure for Max Fleischer Cartoons, especially 'Betty Boop' and songs sung by Helen Kane (as Boop).

Boop

Boop boop-a-doop.

I am a Felix the Cat fan, as well as Krazy Kat.

Did you ever watch the Westling Women or the Santo films from Mexico? I don't know why wrestling was so popular south of the border but they are really a guilty pleasure for their bottom of the barrel badness.

Jill wrote: "In classic films everyone either ate in restaurants or had a cook!!"

Good point and the cooks were often African-American as in 'Holiday Inn' or 'Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.'

If You Ain't Eatin' WHAM, you Ain't Eatin' HAM"

Krazy Kat is great. Love the animated films.

Russ Meyers movies!

Amen. Love Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. And speaking of 60's camp, Wild in the Streets and Barbarella come to mind.

Corman is great, too.

We haven't even mentioned the world's worst director, Ed Wood. He tried so hard and I bet he would be thrilled at his popularity now with film buffs. If you have never seen one of his films, you are really missing something......but you have to approach the films as what they are.....lowest budget, worst acting, mistakes galore. nonsensical stories, and great quotable lines (such as this "this is murder and someone is responsible".)

Aye. But movies inherently have a way of just bluffing things past the viewer. That's why there's whole pages of documented bloopers and outtakes and backstage-trivia for almost every film ever made.

My fave flick of EW: 'Bride of the Monster'. Orig title: 'Bride of the Atom'

Arrr

Errr

Poor drug riddled Bela Lugosi. Wood used him several times but he died during the early shooting of Plan 9 From Outer Space and Wood used a double who covered his face with his cape but was so very obviously not Lugosi. Just another of Wood's little "tricks".

Wood didn't have the money to re-shoot scenes that went wrong and they are just part of the fun. No out takes with his films...they are made up of out takes!

Absolutely a classic of bad. Glen or Glenda is also pretty awesome.

Spencer wrote: "Absolutely a classic of bad. Glen or Glenda is also pretty awesome."

The angora sweater movie. It appears that Wood was a transvestite and worked that into a couple of his films.

Loved the movie, 'Ed Wood' with Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi though. That's about all I know about him. :(

Landau was amazing in the part and won an Oscar for it. I really enjoyed that film.

nineteen sixties 'mod' London films. Where to start? love em

That surprises me.....doesn't seem like your type of film or at least what I perceive would not be a favorite genre of yours.

A good travel film, starts off in London if I recall, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.

Ha! I know that one. Ian McShane and ...that brunette...dang...

This is what I mean when I say 'we need more passion around here'. The internet has a way of dampening down all truly vibrant...vibes. I hate it!

:(