Bring Back The Old Movies

Written By: mike on September 21, 2010 No Comment

They were a great escape right from the beginning. They made us laugh. They made us cry. They brought us to far away places. The movies of the last 100 years have been a vehicle for all of these experiences and much, much more. From the early silent movies to today’s hi-tech adventures, movies have whisked us away from the joys and heartaches of our own lives to those of our favorite onscreen characters. Join me on a trip down memory lane, to explore and recall, to reminisce on the moments that made us fall in love, shriek in fear, clutch our seats in anticipation and smile ear to ear.

Rufus T. Firefly. George Bailey, Sean Thornton. Virginia Wolf, Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, just to name a few. They were among our favorites. Who could forget Groucho Marx and his greasepaint mustache? John Wayne’s knockdown-drag out brawl with Mary Kate Danaher’s Father. Jimmy Stewart running through Bedford Falls, wishing a Merry Christmas to his “old Building & Loan”. These were the moments, etched indelibly by the marvelous actors and actresses into our collective. They evolved over time. We quote their lines in real life. The phrases that have been coined, too innumerable to mention. Mae West uttering that famous line, “why don’t you come up and see me sometime”. Humphrey Bogart and his “here’s lookin at you kid”.Pick any line you want from “The Wizard of Oz”. More importantly, they touched our hearts and souls. Many of us remember where we were the exact moment we heard Jimmy Cagney exclaim “top o the world ma”!

We would be remiss not to mention the directors, for they are a creative bunch indeed. Cecille B. DeMille, Byron Haskin, William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock, D W. Griffith, Stanley Kubrick, Frank Capra and so on. Countless other directors with forgettable names, whose films and actors received all the adulation as they stood in the background orchestrating timeless moments. The audience was so mesmerized that they seldom contemplated what it took to immortalize a moment. Many directors moved heaven and earth just to get a few golden seconds in the can. Alfred Hitchcock worked miracles in “The Birds”. As spectators, we rarely know the difference between real and fake, but we don’t care because we are engulfed. Sometimes it looks as simple as the mirror scene in “Duck Soup”, which, as we all know, was far from simple. Other times, we see a stadium as though it is filled with fans, when it is really just a section. Directors are the reason we see certain characters as bigger than life. They are also the motivators of great performances that would otherwise be ordinary. They are the great experimenters, the kings of trial and error. Directors work a scene from every angle, yelling cut when it can be done better.

From Mutiny on the Bounty to Master and Commander, from The Ten Commandments to The Passion of the Christ, from Alcatraz to The Shawshank Redemption, movies thrill, scare, evoke and invite us. From the drive in to pay-per-view, we have enjoyed movies in every conceivable atmosphere. We get popcorn. We make a night of it. We turn off the lights to set the mood. We have gone to matinees. and double features. We’ve even gone to the movies dressed up as our favorite characters. (Rocky Horror Picture Show) Movies have inspired the construction of fabulous theatres. What else can be said? Go out and see a movie!