Thursday Movie Picks-Journalists/Reporters for Print/T.V.

It is another week and that means Movie Picks. Each week there is a topic where you can pick 3 films that work with that week's topic. The films can be ones you love, hate etc... This was created over at Wandering Through The Shelves so just wander on over and see what other people picked. Here is my List:)

1. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT-1934

I can watch this film over and over again, it is that good! This is the first film to win all 5 major Oscar awards (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay) which did not happen again until Silence of the Lambs. Colbert plays a spoiled rich heiress who literally jumps off her father's yacht and takes off. Gable plays the reporter who finds her, doesn't tell her who he really is, so he can get the "big story" as they say. She has no idea how to live in the real world which is in the throws of the Great Depression but she can rely on Gable to help her through. From the famous hitch-hiking scene to the Walls of Jericho scene, there are so many great parts it is sure to put a smile on your face! This came from Columbia Pictures which was known as the studio from poverty row. Gable was loaned out by MGM as a punishment, to Columbia to do this picture. Colbert thought she just made the worst picture in the world...boy were they wrong!

2. WOMAN OF THE YEAR-1942

This is the film that started one of the most respected love affairs in film history-Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. She stayed with Tracy through thick and thin until he passed away in 1967. In this romance, he plays a sports writer and she plays a political affairs columnist. They come from completely different parts of the industry but they fall in love anyway. The problem is when they start living together and he must deal with her hoity, toity friends. She even becomes a "mom" when she volunteers to care for a refugee child but she seems to love her job more than being a wife or mother and finds out the hard way. I actually found this to be quite modern in feel despite it being made in 1942 at the height of the censor boards. Great beginning to a film and personal relationship of these 2 great stars.

3. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK-2005

I truly enjoy this film because it is a step by step style docu-drama about Edward R Murrow-one of the best reporters ever (who must be rolling over in his grave with all the crap on TV now), publicly admonishing Senator Joseph McCarthy who, for a while, gripped the country in fear of Communism. Through Murrow's relentless but calm approach to discredit  this Senator, one can see how CBS helped stop the continuing witch  hunts that were happening across the U.S. Now despite  one's feelings about that time which is still  a hot topic, many innocent people ended up without jobs and many even committed suicide. I am not saying Communism wasn't around and that true spies were working against the country but the fear that was being created reached fever pitch. Many people, when young and full of idealism, joined the Communist party or wrote for some "leftist" paper, were basically tarred and feathered for something they were in 20 years before. Some film people committed suicide, some died from the stress (John Garfield) and some couldn't find work for years (Gale Sondergard). How sad is that? I find this film compelling.

What films would you pick? Have you seen any of these? Love to know:)