Stage Coach

In a time where movies were more bold and experimental creativity really thrived in this time period a movie called "Stage Coach" directed by John Ford elevated Western genre in movies to "A" movie status. John Ford wanted to have actors who were less known for this movie so he ended up giving the main role of Ringo to a man named John Wayne who at the time was a B-movie actor however, after his role in Stage Coach he became very famous and worked with John Ford on different movies 24 times. At first when Wayne met Ford he thought Ford was a hard guy to work with because of his personality. However, Wayne knew that Ford had the capability to make him into a star so he ended up dealing with all the struggles and conflict that came with working with Ford and just as he predicted he became a star. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/91227/Stagecoach/articles.html Some of the scenes that caught my interest during this movie was the one major stunt that had one of the characters slipping in between the horses on the carriage. It was amazing to see because the actual stunt was very dangerous and back then for that time they had no special effects or wires so everything that was done had to be legit. To me I feel because the stunt was preformed without the aid of anything just the pure skill of the stuntman, made the scene that much better and more realistic. Another scene that had me in awe was the indian chasing scene and Fords directing style and how he moved the camera to give the illusion of sharp turns and wide vast areas. The actual movie itself I found sort of boring the characters were definitely memorable though such as the drunk doctor he was my favorite character. I thought the movie was decent but once I learned the actual details of the behind the scenes I could appreciate the movie a little more.

God Father

If you talk about classic movies that set the genre for future movies like it you have to mention "The God Father." This was one of the most influential movies that basically set the tone for future "Mob" movies such as the tv series "The Sopranos," or "Goodfellas." This movie didn't use the traditional type of style that most movies would take, instead, the director Coppola made the villans of the movie into the protagonists and made the other families and cops seem like the bad guys. Instantly when you watch the movie you feel a connection with the Corleone family especially Don Corleone who is one of the main characters in the story. However tragically towards the middle of the movie he dies and his son Michael has to become his successor. It's very interesting to see the transition of Michael from being a War hero who doesn't believe in his families business to becoming the new Don ruling with an Iron fist when his father dies. http://www.history.com/topics/the-godfather-and-the-mafia-in-popular-culture According to www.history.com in an interview filmed for the documentary "Under the Influence" (2003), Francis Ford Coppola said he saw "The Godfather" as a classic Shakespearean tale: the story of a king and his three sons. According to producer Robert Evans, Coppola also made his Mafia story a metaphor for capitalism. Another fun fact is that in order for the actor Marlon Brando who played Don Vito Corleone, to get his voice and his face to have that distinct look for the part, he had to have a sponge in his mouth throughout the whole time when he was filming. To me I found this movie very interesting. It's always nice to be able to go back and watch a movie that you've seen a long time ago but wasn't able to appreciate it because you were a kid and understand the complexity that the movie actually possesses. Ever since watching "Goodfellas," I've always have been interested in Mob movies and I am glad I had the opportunity to be able to watch the movie that basically started the trend of making the villans of the movie into characters you actually care about. The main reason I think audiences are able to fall so easily for these characters is because they have family values so you can understand the struggle they are going through whenever one of the family members gets hurt or dies. For instance one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Michael is already the new Don and he orders the hit on his sisters husband because he has been physically abusing her. It shows that family value is really what this family is all about even if it sometimes means taking really drastic measures such as killing another human being. Although this movie was almost three hours long I found it easy to watch and really enjoyed it.

"Gone With the Wind" sets up an inner conflict within me. At first I could not decide whether or not I liked or disliked the movie because some of the characters drove me crazy. For example, Scarlet and her constant need to have Ashley's love and not realizing she had something incredible right in front of her with Rhett. Or just how annoying Prissy the house servant's voice was. However, as the story progressed you learn to love the characters and start to develop feelings towards them. What made this movie so great was the fact of its excellent filming and editing for a film shot way back in the 1930's. The music was excellent and it really captured the emotions that went with the scenes. Also this movie is known to be the longest movie up to 1939 and was the first movie shot in Technicolor. Being completely honest with myself the movie was actually surprisingly good. However, I say this because it was one of those movies that suck you into the story and makes you want to slap the characters (Scarlett) for being so stupid and I feel if a movie is able to fill you with these emotions, it could be considered a good movie. Usually I am not one for romantic movies but I do love the twist at the end with Rhett ends up leaving Scarlett because that is what any sensible man would do. However, I have heard that there was a sequel to this story written in book form and also projected through a T.V series. There was never a proper sequel to this movie. I thought it was excellent for a movie shot in the 1930's and deserves to be watched again (if you can spare almost four hours of your life.)

There are many comparisons between the real life of Charles Webb, the author of "The Graduate" and the characters that derived from the movie. However, obviously the movie characters and the Charles Webb's life have significant differences between not only the details of his life but also the people who he surrounds himself with from the parents down to his ex wife. Even the way he ended up marrying his college sweetheart because her parents wanted to send her to California in attempt to break them up is different from the movie. When Webb wrote his book, he wanted to get the approval of his mother and show his parents how they really are, however, being the type of person she is she never really gave him any approval. Also, his book aggravated his father because of how accurate it was to his personality. The family wanted to have nothing to do with the book until it was made into a movie then his both parents praised him and often said "that's my boy!" Charles and Mrs.Robinson were never actually sexually involved in real life, she actually hated him and didn't think that he was right for her daughter, however, according to this article Webb passed her room one day and accidentally caught her naked coming out of the shower which is what inspired her character. http://blogs.amctv.com/movie-blog/2008/04/real-life-parallels-graduate-charles-webb.php Even though this movie was well known won awards and is considered a "classic" I did not find this movie enjoyable. I thought that the main character was so annoying and basically a wimp the way he is always asking questions and is very submissive when other people command him to do something much like when Mrs.Robinson told him to be quite or sit down. Also the story itself I did not find particularly interesting. However, I definitely able to recognize the revolutionary style of directing this movie brought. Such as the way the dialogue starts without any characters being in frame giving a better transition between scenes. Or the way the song "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel became sort of the theme song for this movie and is used constantly throughout the movie which doesn't seem that mind altering however, many movies use these very techniques today and it's always interesting to see where these styles came from. I can appreciate the innovation used in this movie when it came to the directing process, but as for the story itself I did not really enjoy it.

When it came too the new era of film making one of the major break throughs was the edition of sound in your cinematic experience. However, including sound in motion pictures was very expensive at the time because it was basically adding sound to a silent movie. Some times the audio was not clear enough so a lot of editing was needed in order to make it sound crisp. Motion picture companies had to buy sound booths, sound stages and they had to build theaters that were wired for sound. Many of their actors could not make the transition from silent movies to sound so some of them were let go. However, even with some of these minor finical set backs, there was still plenty of profit to be made with the edition of new talent to be brought in the movie business. These would include voice actors and script writers. For the voice actors, casting directors had to find the perfect balance of someone with acting talent as well as a powerful voice in order to bring new life into the characters. For the script writers, it allowed for further plots to be made and ultimately made the stories in a movie much easier to follow as opposed to the silent movie where you had to assume what was occurring in the movie based on the actors actions and the occasional dialogue clip. With the edition to sound it also allowed the movie to go un interrupted and play smoothly through out instead of having to stop the movie so that a dialogue screen can inform you on whats going on. In the case of the movie "It Happened One Night," sound was used. Personally because of this, the movie was given many oscars due to its story and the actors within the film. On one particular article it states that this movie was pretty much low budget because of the fact that Columbia was not as prosperous as they are currently. Because of this fact most people believed that this movie was the underdog at the oscars but it ended up taking the prizes for best actor, actress, director and script. http://www.culturemagazine.ca/cinema/the_oscars_project_it_happened_one_night_1934.html Personally I think the movie was okay. I can not give my opinion of this movie without being biast because I am not really a fan of romantic comedies, however, for the time period this movie took place in I believe it was put together very well. At times the sound quality did sound a bit scratchy, however that was due to the lack of modern technology we have today. To be honest if this same movie came out today I dont think it would have won an Oscar however, for back in its time period it was basically revolutionary. It coined many famous scenes you see today like when Ellie stops the car by raising up her skirt, that same scene is used in the movie "Sex In The City 2." http://www.culturemagazine.ca/cinema/the_oscars_project_it_happened_one_night_1934.html Overall I think the movie was okay however, like I mentioned before, romantic comedy isn't my preference in movies.

There are many different types of new ideas that were created and used in the movie "Gold Rush." For instance before these particular type of movies, short films were usually shot with one view for a specific period of time. Directors would never cut in between scenes or use close ups for a more personal point of view. Also when it came to the movie itself the camera would usually stay with one set of characters on the same screen and that's how the story progressed. However, due to recent developments in the cinematic industry, directors realized that they can cut in between characters to make sort of a story within a story and make the general plot more interesting. The movie "Gold Rush," was one of the first films to perfect this new type of direction. In an article from http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2000/nov/27/artsfeatures1, it states how Charlie Chaplin, (the main star in the movie Gold Rush,)composed most of the music in his movies. Within the article it states "Chaplin's scores have a foot-tapping catchiness; they get stuck in your head and you find yourself whistling the tunes," which I actually found to be true. Most of the music from this movie had a catchy tune which sort of reminded me of old bugs bunny cartoons. Also the music that he composed went hand in hand with the emotions and what was actually happening within the plot of the movie. Music was very important to express pain, laughter, sadness, happiness, etc. because of the fact that back in those days there was no sound to the movies. Therefore I felt that Charlie Chaplin really took advantage of the music and made his movies something to be remembered by not only the quality of his productions but also the quality of his scores. Personally I really enjoyed this movie a lot. Restating my past words in a different context, it seemed to me that this movie was somewhat of a live action bugs bunny cartoon in the sense that Charlie's character is always getting into various situations that are humorous but could be potentially life threatening. An example would be the scene when he and his friend who was looking for his gold mountain are in the cabin dangling over a cliff because an avalanche unknowingly moved them to that location and they are trying to figure out why the cabin is rocking back and forth. Also I was very surprised at how through the music you can catch emotions of sadness when the girl that he liked stood him up on New Years Eve. Even with no words you could really feel the negative emotions coming from his character. All in all I really enjoyed his production and would be interested in seeing some of his other works.