I love it when a plan comes together
Originally published at Ms. Amused. You can comment here or there.
Earlier this year, I decided to make it a mission to fill in some big gaps in my pop culture knowledge and finally watch old classics so that I’d know what people were talking about or referring to!
Last week I watched Singin’ In The Rain and in love! Now I see why Gene Kelly was thought of so much. And wow does George Clooney look a lot like him.
The girl was adorable and I was tickled later to realize that was Debbie Reynolds in her first acting gig!
Donald O’Connor isn’t a name that was familiar to me but IMO he stole the show repeatedly!
I’ve always loved musicals and why did I wait so long to get into the best musical era of them all?
I’ve got Anchors Aweigh waiting for me now but first…
Last night I watched “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”, which filled in a lot of gaps for me. I noticed that it’s based on a story by Truman Capote. Ahh so that’s what he wrote. Ironically I’m at the tail end of reading To Kill A Mockingbird by his best friend, Harper Lee!
I don’t recall if I’ve watched Audrey Hepburn in a movie before but wow I can see why she was so popular.
Now I understand why people want to be Holly Golightly. But even before Paul’s big speech at the end, I was wondering whatever for because she’s not “free” at all! She’s so busy running away or towards things that she doesn’t ever seem to just be.
And perhaps I’m jaded but I found myself being annoyed because this is how love is being portrayed but they’re leaving out all the hard parts
Here’s the shocker for me about BaT… Paul Varjak. At first I thought, wow he looks like my neighbor Dan, kind of. But then it was starting to bug me that he looked like someone else. Earlier during the credits, I’d noticed a name that was familiar but I couldn’t place. But it all came together when I realized that Paul was none other than Hannibal of the A-Team!! One of my favorite shows to watch in the 80s!
So very weird to see him as a young man playing a lovelorn suitor. Not at all like the confident, always has it together, man with a plan Hannibal!
This has definitely been fun for me, to take this trip down vintage lane past when I was born. Netflix emailed me an hour ago to tell me that I’ll have My Fair Lady tomorrow. I’ve seen bits and pieces of this and probably in school as a girl but I don’t think I’ve ever really seen the movie.
There’s also Casablanca. And I haven’t even begun to crack open a dvd set I’ve owned for 8 years: Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals containing many classics including the uberclassic: Sound of Music. All of which I’ve never seen.
I also need to watch the three Mae West movies I also bought back then. And after watching Debbie last week, I want to see Annie Get Your Gun which I know I bought but I think I got rid of last year
Plus my friend Jen, recommended a bunch more!
Almost forgot, while watching Breakfast… I was struck by how much some of the people in the bit players or even just background looked like people from today. For example, the drunk lady crying in the mirror at herself: Alison Janney. The black man in the library the first time they go there, you see him at the edge of the screen as he watches Holly & Paul walk away from him and I had to convince myself that Tim Meadows was not an immortal vampire who remains eternally young.