You don't have to tell me were the gold is, just tell me when I'm getting warmer.

The only good thing about Escape to Athena was that it starred Telly Savalas. Everything else was bad they just took James Bond and dumped him into the middle of WW2 disguised as a Nazi.The only problem was that he had a strong British accent. How he fooled anyone I don't know. I am also wondering what in the heck David Niven was doing in this Guns of Navarone rip off. If your going to include him, then why not include Quinn, Peck, Baker and Quayle. And as always in war films they had one black guy Richard Roundtree. They should have had Jim Brown play the part instead since he had already starred in Ice Station Zebra and The Dirty Dozen.Don't watch this!!

Hey dad, you wanna hear something funny? There was a man who was drowning, and a boat came, and the man on the boat said "Do you need help?" and the man said "God will save me". Then another boat came and he tried to help him, but he said "God will save me", then he drowned and went to Heaven. Then the man told God, "God, why didn't you save me?" and God said "I sent you two boats, you dummy!"

On Friday I watched Pursuit of Happiness a true story about a man named  Christopher Gardner who is played  by Will Smith. Throughout  the film Gardner struggles to find a well paying  job and a home.  His job is going around San Fransisco selling a machine called a bow density scanner. It is to expensive so he has very few sales. Smith's son also comes along with him. It gives a good insight into what life is like for the poor in America and the struggles they face everyday. This is a much more mellow and serious role for Smith since he was mainly known for such Action and Science Fiction films like I Robot, ID4, Men in Black 1 & 2 and the Bad Boys trilogy. It is one of his better roles. The director Gabriele would work with Smith again in 2008 for the film 7 Pounds. Overall it was a good film.

When Lawrence finds what he's looking for, he will go home. When you find what you are looking for, you will go home.

Last week I watched 7 time Oscar and 5 time Golden Globe winning Lawrence of Arabia. The film was directed by David Lean also known for such films as Passage to India and The Bridge on the River Kwai both of which also star Alec Guinness as did many of his films. The movie revolves around the life of  T.E Lawrence(Peter O' Toole) a British officer during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule during WW1. Oddly he did not win best actor it instead went to Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mocking Bird. The Music composed by Maurice Jarre did win. Jarre scored most of Leans films. I really enjoyed the film. I thought  the cast which included Anthony Quinn and Claude Rains was well picked. The action scenes and march with the camels were really well done as were the scenes with the trains. The film really shows you what war can do to a man.

Married life is lots of fun / Two can sleep as cheap as one

The Pajama Game was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I would watch the tape all the time. So watching it brought back good memories. The film which was released in 1957 stars John Raitt and Doris Day. It was directed by the great musical  director Stanly Donnen  The film touches strongly on workers rights.  It has many great songs such as "I'll Never Be Jealous Again", "Once-A-Year-Day" "There Once Was a Man" ,"7 1/2 Cents" and "Hernando's Hideaway" to name a few. This has to be one of my top five musicals of all time.

Over my spring break I watched for the first time the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo starring the great James Stewart and Kim Novak. The film is about James Stewart as a former cop who has a fear of heights after a roof top chase which leads to the death of a fellow police officer when he plunges off the roof to the ally below. After that he gets a call from a old friend to watch his wife who has been acting strange lately. After that the movie turns in a romance with some thrills towards the end. I found the film to be very dense and boring. The score by Hermann and the fact that it starred one of my favorite actors James Stewart are the only two things that kept me from walking away.

KOWALSKI! The next time you touch a face darker than mine, you're out!

Just last week I watched a film which was released in 1974.  It was filmed at Pinewood studios in England has "gold" in the title and stars Roger Moore who makes love to women with a bottle of champagne near by.  Through out the film a group of villains using Goldfinger's Operation Grand Slam plan to destroy a large amount of gold. At the end of this film, the villain's car goes rolling down a hill and explodes in a giant fireball much like the death of the hit man  Locque  in another RM Bond film For Your Eyes Only.  I know what your thinking, I'm reviewing The Man With The Golden Gun,  which is almost as long and has the same rating.  But this film is called The Great Gold Conspiracy.  If you want to watch Roger Moore just watch Golden Gun. It has Christopher Lee with a golden gun. This film has no golden gun only a golden helmet instead. The film also has no appearance by Clifton James as sheriff J.W. Pepper which was one of the highlights of The Man With The Golden Gun. The film was too long and could have used a razor to shave off 30 minutes, 15 of those minutes love scenes. Elmer Bernstein's music is the only thing the film has going for it. We should also take a pause to remember Susannah York one of stars of the film who died on January 15 of this year at the age of 72 from bone marrow cancer.  

O Lord, without consulting with Thee, we have sent thy way some souls whose evil ways passeth all understanding. We ask Thee humbly to receive them... whether you want them or not! Amen.

Over my break I watched the film How the West was Won. It is like the Longest Day and Bridge to Far in terms of cast. The cast includes Walter Brennan, John Wayne, Karl Malden, James Stewart, George Peppard, Eli wallich, Debbie Renyolds, Carroll Baker, Greorgy Peck and Lee J Cobb to name a few. The film also has Lee Van Cleef in an uncredited role. The film is narrated by Spencer Tracy.   It revolves around one families journey to the west and the struggles they faced over the years.



The film was shot by different directors. The great John Ford shot the Civil war scene. Another great western director Henry Hathaway shot the  River, Plains and Outlaw scene. George Marshall shot the Railroad scene.The film was nominated 8 times at the Oscars in 1963 winning only 3. One for best writing for story and screenplay, best editing and best sound. The great score by Alfred Newman and Ken Darby was going to win for best original score but there was a mix up and the Oscar went to John Addison for Tom Jones. The mistake has never been fixed to this day. I have no complaints except that they killed off Karl Malden and Walter Brennan which was mean.  It was also a little slow at times. Overall it was good. 

Hell I've seen too many games in this Stadium.

Rudy(Sean Astin) was told all his life by his dad, brothers and teachers that he was to small to play football for Notre Dame. But after personal trouble and help from Father Cavanaugh (Robert Prosky),Fortune played by Charles S. Dutton and his best friend played by Jon Favreau he gets into Notre Dame. It seems like Robert Prosky is always popping up every where in the oddest places. The film was directed by David Anspaugh who also directed Hoosiers both of which are true stories. It is an inspiring and good sports film.