Thursday, September 17, 2015

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:)

84 comments:

  1. I don't believe I've seen any of those films.

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  2. I haven't seen any of these either, but now I'm thinking I should put It Happened One Night on my Blind Spot list next year.

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  3. "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"

    Sorry to be "that guy" but I think One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest also won the five major Oscar Awards for the year 1975 and then it was Silence of the Lambs.

    Anyway nice pick with It Happened One Night. I have seen it, but not for a while. Haven't seen your other choices, but Good Night and Good Luck is being picked a lot.

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    1. Oh blast! You are right!! I know better. Thank for pointing that out. Here I thought Good Night would not be picked a lot

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  4. I'm so far behind on the work of both Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. I've only seen Gone With the Wind from Gable and 2 or 3 of Tracy's flicks. So I need to see both of these. I have seen GN&GL. Great movie.

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    1. I like Gable in this film more than GWTW Spencer Tracy is great in this film

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  5. I've only seen the last one, it wasn't a bad movie indeed. Glad I never lived in those times, witch hunt central.

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  6. I'm kicking myself for not even thinking of It Happened One Night. Stone cold classic.

    So true about Murrow rolling over in his grave at the crap that gets called "journalism" and "reporting" nowadays.

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    1. I thought of IHON at the last minute. Murrow and the rest of the old school would be shaking their heads at the news media

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  7. Hi, BB! Movies with characters working as journalists and reporters are of particular interest to me because I had a career in that field. I am ashamed to admit that I haven't seen any of these films. I probably avoided the first two because Clark Gable, Tracy and Hepburn are not among my favorites.

    Thank you for the reviews, dear friend Birgit!

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    1. Whoops! Yes if you don't like those actors then those films are not for you-sad to say. You might just love Good Night and you should see it. It would be interesting to see your point of view

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  8. LOVE all three of these!! While Desk Set is my favorite Tracy/Hepburn film Woman of the Year is a great beginning to their partnership. Great supporting cast too, all three of these films have magnificent support in them.

    It Happened One Night is one of those films, like His Girl Friday, where the female lead was turned down by so many actresses before actually finding the actress who it now seems impossible wasn't considered from the very beginning so right are they for the role. Gable also seems so totally at home it seems incredible that he saw the film as a slog to be gotten through as quickly as possible.

    GN&GL looks to be one of the titles of the week and deservedly so. Great film and Strathairn is awesome in the lead, his misfortune that the competition that year was so strong he definitely was award worthy.

    This is a favorite genre of my so I actually am double dipping and doing two complete entries, I started off with 15 films!! My first choice is one of my top 10 favorite films.

    All the President’s Men (1976) - Compulsively watchable chronicle of Woodward and Bernstein’s relentless investigation of the Watergate break-in for the Washington Post. For a drama that is all talk this is a fascinating viewing experience with exceptional work from the entire cast and perfectly judged direction by Alan J. Pakula.

    The China Syndrome (1979)-While on location for a documentary on energy at a nuclear power plant reporter Kimberly Wells and her crew witness a near catastrophe which her cameraman secretly films. When they get back to the station and want to broadcast the story they hit a wall of resistance from both the network and the plant. During further investigation Kimberley discovers how much peril they, and the state of California, were in coming close to “the China Syndrome” and the fact that the issue has not been repaired and the threat remains. Incredibly timely on release, while this was playing in theatres the Three Mile Island accident occurred in Pennsylvania turning the film into a monster hit.

    June Bride (1948)-Carey Johnson (Robert Montgomery), a combat journalist just back from assignment is forced to take a job covering a June wedding for a bridal magazine run by Linda Gilman (Bette Davis), the fiancĂ©e he jilted, much to her displeasure. Off they travel to Indiana, with the rest of the crew, in the dead of winter for the “June” shoot. When they arrive Carey immediately starts looking for an angle to his story causing trouble for all involved but most of all for himself. Slight but breezy comedy with a great supporting cast including Mary Wickes, Fay Bainter and Tom Tully. Keep an eye out during the wedding scene and you can spot Debbie Reynolds in a wordless bit, her screen debut.

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    1. I thought everyone was going to pick His Girl Friday so i left that one out-it's a classic! I always giggle thinking of how these 2 great stars thought they were making crap when they made It Happened One Night. I have yet to see All the President's Men! I know-horrendous! I actually remember Watergate even though i was a kid. I thought The China Syndrome was very well done and Jane Fonda at her political best. 3 Mile Island was scary and so was The Love canal. I have not seen June Bride and I hope to rectify that one day

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  9. Broadcast News (1987)-Incisive look at the news division of a Washington D.C. station with a love triangle woven in. Hard driving and ambitious producer Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) is torn between her attractions to the handsome but cloddish Tom Grunick, a new reporter at the station who is on his way up and Aaron Altman a superior reporter who doesn’t have the right look for television despite his skill and who she sees as a brother figure. He loves her desperately and therefore feels a fierce competition with Tom who he sees as inadequate. Set against a station reorganization at a time when hard news departments were still bastions of respectability and fighting the incursion of entertainment news into their formats.

    The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)-An Australian reporter, a very young Mel Gibson, is on assignment in Jakarta during the political upheaval of Sakarno’s rule. He is taken under the wing of Billy Kwan, a brilliant Linda Hunt who won an Oscar, a photographer who worships the leader. Along the way he falls in love with an equally young and striking Sigourney Weaver. He is just starting to build contacts when the situation explodes and it becomes a race for life or death. Filmed with an oppressive atmosphere and tense direction by Peter Weir.

    Libeled Lady (1936)-When his newspaper accidentally prints a false story about an heiress and she threatens to sue for libel he concocts an elaborate scheme to make it appear true, pulling an old friend and his own fiancée into the plan. Things naturally go awry. Classic comedy with four great stars, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and William Powell working at the top of their craft. Harlow and Powell were engaged at the time this was made but she died the following year before their marriage could take place.

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    1. I have to still see all 3 of these. Broadcast News is on my list of films to see. I remember The Year of Living Dangerously but, to be honest, Sigourney Weaver always turned me off (she reminds me of my brother's first wife). Libeled Lady is another gem that I have not seen yet and it is sad that Jean Harlow died so young but what a short life she led!

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    2. I understand how a resistance to a certain performer can keep you from seeing certain films, in this particular case I am not a fan of Mel Gibson even more so now than when he was young but Living Dangerously is so well made and tense and Linda Hunt so extraordinary I found him easier to take in the context of the film. Sigourney's role isn't huge in the fabric of the story, it's much more focused on Mel and Linda's characters if that helps.

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  10. Haven't seen any of these, but at least I have heard of them; its a start right?

    betty

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  11. Ooooh I love It Happened One Night, what a charming film. I still need to see GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, that looks like something I'd enjoy, plus I like David Strathairn.

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    1. They are both great films-hope you get to see them

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  12. BIRGIT ~
    I definitely agree with your choice of 'IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT'.

    Another one that would definitely make my list is 'HIS GIRL FRIDAY', with the fastest, snappiest dialogue in Hollyweird history.

    'GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK' is one my most hated movies. Basically, the whole thing is a distorted lie. (I know the real story very well, and have debated many people about it, clobbering them every time.) The truth is, Senator McCarthy was the guy in the white hat, and Edward R. Murrow was the guy in the black hat.

    But, naturally, the mainstream media skewed everything and conditioned most of the Americonned Sheeple to believe that McCarthy was a wicked enemy of his country and a reckless accuser of innocent people. None of that is true, and I know, because I own and have read nearly every book ever published about McCarthy - pro and con - and also things published by him (Congressional speeches, a detailed overview of what was happening and what he was doing about it.)

    Murrow was working for International Bankers. McCarthy was working for the American People and the vision of the United States that its founders held. But the people got bamboozled by the mainstream media. "Looks like they got fooled again... I don't like it!"

    Not sure what my third journalism / reporter movie would be. I'd need to think on that a bit. I know there have been some other really good ones.

    ~ D-FensDogG
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    1. I almost picke His Girl Friday but I thought many would pick that brilliant comedy. I had a feeling it would bring up some passion in you about Good Night and Good Luck. I actually forgot about a great film-Citizen Kane! That film might be less about his publishing empire and more about the man.

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    2. Yeah, 'CITIZEN KANE' is a fabulous movie, but I think of it more as about a newspaper man than a journalism movie. ...No, check that! The ENTIRE story was told in flashback as a writer was trying to get the "real" story and the hidden meaning of his last word.

      Yeah, that would have been a great choice!

      I thought of another one I like a lot:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=363ZAmQEA84

      ~ D-FensDogG

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  13. Love It Happened One Night. Think I have seen Woman of the Year on Sunday afternoon TV when I was a kid. Don't know the other one at all - but 2/3 isn't bad!

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    1. Yes! Not too many people have seen Woman of the Year but it is a great film. I think you might like the 3rd one and hope you give it a try

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  14. I've seen all three and love the first two. I don't know why I didn't like good night, and good luck. I'm familiar with the events. It's the sort of thing I usually love. Did I say I love the first two? I enjoy your movie picks.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Thank you very much. Interesting that you disliked the 3rd film-was it too slow paced?? Just a wonderin")

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    2. Maybe that's it. The acting was good.

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  15. Everyone says Hepburn and Tracy had great on-screen chemistry, but I just don't like any of the movies they made together, with the exception of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

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    1. That is too funny:) I love them in this film because you can tell they have passion whereas in the later films you see respect but not the passion. I love them in Adam's Rib, Pat and Mike and Guess Who...

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  16. Love It Happened One Night. One of my favorites. Funny that you'd mention the HUAC trials with Good Night and Good Luck. I was just watching American Experience about Walt Disney. I was shocked to learn he testified. And named names.

    From an earlier comment, I must recommend Libeled Lady. Myrna Loy and William Powell together and it's not a Thin Man movie. Another favorite.

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    1. I have the Disney bio taped. I knew he named names and was avid in that belief-he was not mr. cuddly

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  17. The only thing I remember about the first one is the Walls of Jericho:) Classic.

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  18. Don't think I ever saw any of these - didn't they do a remake of It Happened One Night, slightly different version, but I seem to remember seeing it.

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    1. Oh yes I don't doubt it-it has been done in a variety of ways

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  19. What fantastic choices, Birgit! All these are worth watching anytime!

    By the way, It happened one night has been made over and over again in Bollywood - I've lost count how many times - but one thing is certain - the film has always been a superhit! There is something about the theme that is timeless.

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    1. Really! That is pretty neat and it is a classic to redo

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  20. I've definitely seen your first two, and I think I've seen the Murrow one, but I can't recall anything about it. It must've been through the period we had 3 Netflix films out at a time. The Colbert/Gable movie was so fun and cute. Colbert was adorable in it. As I was reading your snyopsis, I wondered if "Roman Holiday" may have been based on this movie.

    I think the same about The Woman of the Year. It felt so modern. All of the early Tracy-Hepburn movies did. All the Tracy-Hepburn movies are tops in my books. Kate's roles were good role models for me.

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    1. OMG-Roman Holiday is another one! man there are so many when one thinks about it. Hepburn was great for her day and today-very forward thinking woman.

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  21. YES to all three. Love the love for Woman of the Year. Such a great flick, and I love that it was start of such a wonderful onscreen (and off screen) pair. Great work!

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  22. I haven't seen any of these! I wanna see Good Night and Good Luck, but It Happened One Night sounds good, too!

    I think I'd probably pick Almost Famous, Fear & Loathing, and Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. Good movies!

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    1. I have seen all 3 of the films you picked and they are great! Fear and Loathing is just a head trip!

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  23. I don't recall seeing any of these films, but he first one, 'It Happened One Night", sounds the most fun. I shall look for it and watch when I get the chance. :)
    Thanks for sharing.

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  24. Hi Birgit, I just saw your comment about One Day More. She can look it up on you tube or you can copy the link.

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    1. I am trying to remember what I wrote but my menopausal brain is stuck on this...?? :)

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  25. Those are some good pics. Is the first one where they put the blanket between the beds? I remember my grandmother saying it was a very spicy scene LOL

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    1. Yes that's the one!-lol Love your grandmom's thinking. It was pre-code so yes-very spicy.

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  26. I haven't seen any of these (surprise, surprise). But- I added them to my list of movies to check out. I will need a movie marathon weekend. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. Hahahaaa-I know what you mean because others have picked films I have not seen

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  27. Love Good Night, and Good Luck. And I should probably put It Happened One Night on my watchlist. I've definitely heard much about that one.

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    1. Good Night is excellent and It Happened One night is also great. Hope you see it one day

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  28. My second favorite movie is "Slapshot" I played Ice Hockey for 19 years. "Slapshot" features Ice Hockey but, it is really about insanity.
    It was filmed in Johnstown PA. I lived in PA so it's cool to see places I've visited in the movie.

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    1. My brother loves that movie and I still have to see it! This is in my top 10 list of films to see

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  29. Kudos to Murrow for righting wrongs and I completely second the 'crap on tv now'. I'll have to rent Goodnight and Good luck if I can find it.
    Enjoy your remaining weekend, Birgit.

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    1. Thank you and this film is very intelligent, well-written and acted

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  30. Haven't seen any of these, but as a classic movie lover, I'm adding both It Happened One Night and Woman of the Year to my list. Especially One Night - it was the first one to win all five Oscars, sure, but this was also back in a time when the Oscars really meant something. Nowadays? Eh, not so much.

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    1. That film also upset the apple cart because MGM had such a power over the Oscars since it was the brain child Louis B Mayer. Columbia Pictures was known as poverty row and now they won all the Oscars!

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  31. Just when I think I've seen all the classics, I find out I haven't. I'm surprised I haven't seen any of these because my dad was a huge movie buff!

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  32. I've watched It Happened and Good Night. Both outstanding. I could watch the first over ad over again... but not the Good Night. It is a heavy movie, deep and . Must add your 2nd movie to my list ... your review has stirred by curiosity. Hope the weather is good over there.
    hugs Asha

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  33. Good Night is a heavy film for sure. I think you will enjoy Woman of the year and hope you get a chance to see it-it is beautiful here:)

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  34. I've seen the first two, but not the third one. Must check it out. Thanks, Birgit! What I remember most from It Happened is "The walls of Jericho". ☺

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  35. Oh, man... Good Night and Good Luck has got to be one of the best movies ever. Great, great film. Thanks for reminding me of it; it's about time to see it again, I think ;)

    Thanks for the visit over at Quiet Laughter , Birgit... I'm tallying up the votes now, should have results in a couple of hours :)

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  36. I can't believe this, but I've seen them all. I loved the Edward R. Murrow film! The others are true Hollywood classics to enjoy several times. Thanks for the stories about Gable and Colbert. Very interesting.

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    1. Glad to know you have seen all of them including Woman of the Year.

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  37. Just stopped by to say hey. Hope your Tuesday is going well.

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  38. I'm so ignorant about cinema, I'd not even heard of "Woman on the Year." Sounds very progressive, though. That alone makes it a winner. With that cast, it must be remarkable.

    Keep a smile, Birgit.

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    1. It is quite a great film but Hepburn balked at the ending as she wanted the original more but she didn't get her way which is a shame. Due to the censors, the times and the moguls, they had to have the Hepburn character try to cook for her husband even if she turned out to be lousy at it.

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  39. It Happened One Night. Going to have to see that one. My older brothers were woefully cruel when it came to classics, so I was relegated to boy movies entirely. And only modern ones. With action. Or dragons. Making up for it these days. =) Thanks for the heads up!

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    1. Oh-thank heaven my dad was a film nut and my brother was more into sports-I got the TV that way:)

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  40. I feel bad--I've been a reporter for years and have never seen any of those. I've always appreciated The Paper for its realism. Being a journalist isn't always that exciting, but the stress, dilemmas, and adrenaline rush of the job is accurately portrayed.

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    1. I bet and you would know...last week many people picked All the President's men which I still have not seen

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  41. I noticed the above comment. I bet you'd like it.

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  42. I think this is the first time I've seen all three of your choices, though I think only once each.

    A few previous commenters have mentioned a couple of my own faves: Almost Famous and All the President's Men.

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  43. I batted 666 this week having seen two of the three. The Tracy and Hepburn films are some of my favorites.
    I like the one about when he's a consultant charged with replacing Hepburn's office with a computer.
    R

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