12/1/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: How The Grinch Stole Christmas!

Hollywood Mondays

how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-movie-poster-1966-1020427389

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children’s story by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. In 1957 the book was published by Random House, and it also appeared in an issue of Redbook Magazine. The story criticizes the commercialization of Christmas. The 26-minute short directed by cartoon legend Chuck Jones and narrated by Boris Karloff was originally telecast on CBS on December 18, 1966.

Continue reading

11/23/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: Mary Poppins

Hollywood Mondaysmary-poppins-logo

Mary Poppins released August 27, 1964 to universal acclaim, receiving a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture an unsurpassed record for any other film released by the Walt Disney Studios and won five; Best Actress for Andrews, Best Film Editing, Best Original Music Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee”. Continue reading

11/17/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: Some Like it Hot

Hollywood Mondays 1301611428
Some Like It Hot (1959) film comedy directed by Billy Wilder; and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee and Nehemiah Persoff. In 2000 the American Film Institute listed Some Like It Hot as the greatest American comedy film of all time.
Continue reading

10/10/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: Gone With The Wind

Hollywood Mondays

Gone-With-The-Wind-Poster-gone-with-the-wind-33266928-333-500

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 epic historical romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel. It was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures and directed by Victor Fleming. Set in the 19th-century American South, the film tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, from her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, to her marriage to Rhett Butler.

The movie is set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, the story is told from the perspective of white Southerners. The leading roles are portrayed by Vivien Leigh (Scarlett), Clark Gable (Rhett), Leslie Howard (Ashley), and Olivia de Havilland (Melanie).  Continue reading

11/3/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: The King And I

Hollywood Mondays

ckM61pwGuaLf7Dj7uSuZxqP8yP8

The King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox. The movie was directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I. The musical starred Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. It was Brynner who pressed for Kerr to play the role. Marni Nixon provided Kerr’s singing for the film.  Continue reading

10/27/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: West Side Story

Hollywood Mondays

 

West-Side-Story-1

West Side Story is a 1961 romantic musical drama film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Picture (as well as a special award for Robbins), becoming the record holder for the most wins for a movie musical. Continue reading

10/20/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: The Godfather

Hollywood Mondays

The-Godfather-Poster

The Godfather (1972) is a crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola. The movie stars Marlon Brando ( Vito Corleone) and Al Pacino     (Michael Corleone) as the leaders of a fictional New York crime family. The story spans the years 1945-55, centering on the transformation of Michael from reluctant family outsider to ruthless Mafia boss while chronicling the Corleones under the patriarch Vito. Continue reading

10/13/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: Training Day

Hollywood Mondays

Training-Day-2001-movie-poster

Training Day is a 2001 film starring Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris, a corrupt Los Angeles police officer, and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, a new recruit looking to become a part of Harris’s elite narcotics unit. The entire movie takes place over a single, intense 24-hour period that forever changes the lives of both officers.
Continue reading

9/29/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: Cabaret

Hollywood Mondays

large_oE89VVdKLVuy8KyRUP9zoYgGUOCabaret is a 1972 musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey.  The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing Nazi Party. Cabaret holds the record for most Academy Award wins in a single year without winning the highest honor, Best Picture, with eight awards. The film won the Academy Award for Best Director for Bob Fosse, Best Actress for Liza Minnelli, Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey, and five more technical awards. It lost the Best Picture award to The Godfather, which won three awards.

Continue reading

9/22/14 O&A Hollywood Monday: Our Gang /The Little Rascals- Mush n Milk

Hollywood Mondays

nLTFV.St.4

Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach’s Rascals) began in 1922 as a series of silent short subjects produced by the Roach studio.  The series is about a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way, as Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. Continue reading