I'm gonna start this and attempt to keep it up.
A little reasoning first.... I have a hard time watching modern TV and Movies because I have inadvertently DE-programed myself. This accidental purge started when I picked up watching old westerns about 10 years ago. I remembered all of these great westerns from my childhood and it was like seeing an old friend again. I think AMC was the start of it because on Saturdays they sometimes do Cowboys all day. After several "Cowboy Saturdays" I began to search them out on any channel that was showing them (like a crack addict). I found that AMC, THIS and religious channels like INSP showed them... and them I found TCM.
Turrner Classics would show a few Westerns and I was on it. After a while I found myself lingering for a war picture after the western I had watched. Then it got worse. I started to watch any old movie that I could find and soon had began a stint with Silent Cinema as well. I quickly found that I liked the old films and TV shows better than anything that's coming out of Hollywood today. I felt I could relate more to the "real men" of old and the absence of political correctness that was old Hollywood. The lack of CGI helped too.
Fast forward to present day, TCM is almost all I watch. I'm hard pressed to find anything modern that I can actually relate to. And no, it's not because I'm old (for you youngsters out there). It's because I'm not as mesmerized by the shiny new effect or pitiful writing or agenda filled crap that is today's mind numbing block-buster. I do like some modern stuff, "The Walking Dead" is a big favorite of mine simply because I started my Zombie love with George Romero's 1968 "Night Of The Living Dead" and I liked the Christopher Nolan Batman series and a few others... so I'm not totally out, but I feel it's very hard to go anywhere without knowing where you've been first.
So with all of that, I start this. This is a guide to film and TV that I think some of you may enjoy and may already know, but may need a re-introduction or an introduction too. I focus a lot on "Family Friendly" and if it's not I'll tell you so the little ones are not harmed.
First up this Saturday May 24 at 7pm eastern time on TCM is a must see!!
THE DIRTY DOZEN
Now this one is not that family friendly but what a great film!
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich, released by MGM, and starring Lee Marvin. The picture was filmed in England and features an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M. Nathanson's novel of the same name that was possibly inspired by a real life group called the "Filthy Thirteen".
In England, in the spring of 1944, Allied forces are preparing for the D-Day invasion. Among them are Major John Reisman (Lee Marvin), an OSS officer; his commander, Regular Army Major General Sam Worden (Ernest Borgnine); and his former commander Colonel Everett Dasher Breed (Robert Ryan). Early in the film the personalities of the three men are shown to clash and the characters of the individualistic Reisman and the domineering Breed are established. Reisman is aided by his friend, the mild-mannered Major Max Armbruster (George Kennedy).
Major Reisman is assigned an unusual and top-secret pre-invasion mission: take a small unit of soldiers convicted of felonies and turn them into a commando squad to be sent on a special mission, an airborne infiltration and assault on a chateau near Rennes in Brittany. The chateau will be hosting a meeting of dozens of high-ranking German officers, the elimination of which will presumably hamper the German military's ability to respond to D-Day. Those felons who survive the mission will have their sentences commuted. It quickly becomes clear that both Reisman and his superiors regard the operation as a near-suicide mission and expect that few, if any of the felons will return.
Reisman is assigned twelve convicts, all either serving lengthy sentences or destined to be executed. Notable members include slow-witted Vernon Pinkley (Donald Sutherland); Robert Jefferson (Jim Brown), an African American soldier convicted of killing a man in a racial brawl; Samson Posey (Clint Walker), a gentle giant who becomes enraged when pushed; Joseph Wladislaw (Charles Bronson) a taciturn coal miner recruited for his ability to speak German, convicted of shooting his squad's medic; A.J. Maggott (Telly Savalas), a misogynist and religious fanatic; and Victor Franko (John Cassavetes), a former member of the Chicago organized-crime Syndicate who has extreme problems with authority. Under the supervision of Reisman and military police Sergeant Bowren (Richard Jaeckel), the group begin training. After being forced to construct their own living quarters, the twelve individuals are trained in combat by Reisman and gradually learn how to operate as a group.
As a side note, the two movies directly following this one are as equally fantastic. "Where Eagles Dare" 1969 Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood and "Kelly's Heroes" 1970 Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. Check em' out!
On TCM Sunday May 25 at 7pm eastern time is a great comedy!
No Time For Sergeants
This one is great for the whole family!
No Time for Sergeants is a 1958 American comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy starring Andy Griffith and featuring Myron McCormick, Don Knotts and most of the original Broadway cast. Warner Brothers contract player Nick Adams joined the cast as Stockdale's fellow military draftee Benjamin B. Whitledge, as did Murray Hamilton as Irving S. Blanchard. The film is based on a play inspired by the original novel. The original Broadway play is where Andy Griffith and Don Knotts first met and became best friends.
Will Stockdale is a backward, backwoods rube from outside Callville, Georgia who may or may not be smarter than he looks. Accused by Mr. McKinney (Dub Taylor) the head of the draft board of being a draft dodger, it turns out that Stockdale's draft notices have been hidden from him by his father, who doesn't want the boy to leave home and be ridiculed. His father tells Will to be careful going to big cities like Macon and Atlanta. Pa Stockdale says he has been to those cities many years before and he was ridiculed.
Wrongfully shackled by McKinney, Stockdale joins a group of new United States Air Force draftees being transported to basic training. They include the obnoxious bully Irving S. Blanchard, who having undergone ROTC training, volunteers to be in charge. (Stockdale hears that Irving had ROTC and thinks it's a disease.)
They report to boot camp, where Stockdale and his equally dim, but smarter friend, Ben Whitledge, begin the struggle to join the infantry.
And don't forget the famous toilet seat salute!!!
I genuinely hope that some of you take a chance on some of these classics. I'm sure you'll find them very enjoyable and a great family experience. Try it you'll like it!
I'll try to do this on a weekly basis and comments before and after the films are very welcome!
