I hate this heat! We have had over a week of very hot, very humid weather even mentioning over 40 C! I hate it!! Ok, I am done bitching, now, I love travelling and I feel so good when I can travel and can’t wait to go back to Europe. It won’t happen any time soon, not just because of COVID19 but a little thing called money...but it will happen. This week, Wandering Through The Shelves chose globetrotting and there are so many good films to choose from but I decided to stay in Europe and I wanted to choose films that did not stay in just one country so here are my 3...
1. IF IT’S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM-1969
This is a favourite film of mine even though it is not a great film but I love it because you can take all the places these people go to and look at and nothing, I mean, nothing has changed. Any tour one takes today, they still visit The Tower of London, a cheese factory, a trip down the Rhine, see a Venetian glass blowing factory all within a little over a week. The wondrous tourists can then claim they have seen Europe...hahahaaa. I will never take a trip like that on a bus in Europe because you don’t see much at all. In this film you have the tour director, played by Ian McShane , who has girlfriends in every port, but has taken a liking to Suzanne Pleshette, a very nice tourist. On the same bus, you have a husband and wife taking their dumb ass daughter to see the sites when all she wants to do is go home...idiot, a World War 2 vet, a nice older lady, a creepy guy who is a kleptomaniac and Norman Fell and even Donovon of "Mellow, Yellow" fame. All is well and good until Ian realizes he has fallen for husky voiced Suzanne.
2. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY-1981
What would James Bond be if all he did was stay in London? This is one of the best James Bond films starring Roger Moore in the leading role, who has to retrieve some scientific thingy under the Mediterranean Sea before the Commies get it. Of course there is a girl but this time, the girl has some brains and is deadly with a crossbow. She is seeking revenge for the murder of her parents but she just screwed things up for Jimmy. Poor Bobo must travel to Northern Italy to meet the nasty a hole who would sell his mother for more..er...money. Anyway, the mean guy happens to be rich (what else) and the benefactor of a future Olympian figure skater who is very young but has to hots for Bobo. Now, Jim Bob realizes she is just a bit too young for his purple headed warrior and will not entertain this gal’s fantasies, but this does not mean he will not stop seeing her since he is after her benefactor. Ok, not in that way, but to kill him, kind of way. With a Greek man, and his minions, who hates the mean guy’s guts, in tow, they go to Greece, specifically Metorea. This place is a very unique set of cliffs with monasteries set on top of each craggy edifice. It is something to see for sure and is on my bucket list. This is a fun film that brings Bond back to being more mortal.
3. EUROPEAN VACATION-1985
If you can’t stand Chevy Chase then don’t bother but gosh, golly gee how I love this movie and laughed so hard when I first saw it in the theatre. The Griswald win a trip to Europe after winning it by being on Pig in a Poke, a thinly veiled game show that looks like Family Feud, Let’s Make a Deal and Jeopardy all rolled up into one. John Astin plays a brilliant part as the lecherous host of this show making the moves on their daughter( anyone remember Richard Dawson??). They end up in Britain first where the quaint place they stay in is truly a dump and the kids have only 3 stations to watch which all show cheese. They end up meeting Eric Idle by, literally, running into him but he is very polite about it. They end up in Germany, with my favourite moment being when Clark ends up pissing off the men in a folk dance and they must leave quickly before they are pitchforked..I laughed so hard at that scene because they got this spot on. The Ugly American( sorry guys) is truly captured when they are in France and in Rome dressed to the hilt as tourists thinking they fit in. when they finally are in Rome, all hell breaks loose and it is quite funny. It is not rocket science, it is dumb and I love it. Oh, When I last watched it I recognized the German town they were in...It is actually in Northern Italy called Brixen and I have visited this beautiful town more than once because I have relatives there.
I could have chosen so many more films but these are my 3...so which 3 would you choose?
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteYou say you really really love heat and humidity, dear friend? Well then, come on down to Florida where you get H & H, bugs, skeeters, snakes, gators, hurricanes and, as an added bonus, COVID.
I haven't see any of these films but, based on the clips, I would probably most enjoy If It's Tuesday. Some of my favorite actors and actresses are in the cast beginning with Suzanne Pleshette. I immediately recognized Murray Hamilton, an actor who made quite an impression on me with his role in Anatomy of a Murder and as the mayor of Amity Island in Jaws, plus he and Norman Fell both appeared in one of my favorite movies The Graduate. I tend to like color films in which nicely dressed people travel to foreign lands I'll never see. Therefore If It's Tuesday goes on my watch list.
I saw all the early Bond films starring the REAL 007... Sean Connery. I have not seen any films of the series with Roger Moore or any of the other Bond actors. R.I.P. Pussy Galore.
I saw the first Vacation, tolerated Christmas Vacation but have not seen Euro Vacay. Yessum, I remember Richard Dawson from Hogan's Heroes, Laugh-In and "The Feud." Your review has me convinced that this chapter in the life of the Griswold clan might be worth watching. Thanks!
Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend BB!
You will really like If It's Tuesday especially when the young gal takes in a "party" love in with Donovan. Sean Connery is THE best Bond but I love all of them. Roger Moore put more humour into his Bond as if The Saint had another personality but was still spying. If you ever watched a Moore Bond film, this one and Live and Let Die are the 2 to watch. I love The Vacation films but this one especially because they travel everywhere and the stereotypes are hilarious. The scene in Paris where they are sitting down to have a meal had my dad crying from laughing. It's stupid comedy but I love most comedy styles
DeleteMy friend and I went to see If It's Tuesday... when we returned home from our European adventure in 1969. We recognized some of those folks and figured we could make our own movie. She actually met her husband on the trip.
ReplyDeleteLove the James Bond but never saw the Vacation movies - just not my thing.
Stay cool. It is blistering here too though we did get a quick pop-up thunderstorm yesterday.
That's so cool that you saw the film after returning from Europe. How sweet that your friend met her husband on the trip. I almost chose Two For The Road starring Audrey Hepburn where she meets her husband in Europe. I saw the darkening sky but we didn't get one drop
DeleteJames Bond films were the first thing to come to my mind with this topic. I've seen all of them and there is indeed a lot of traveling in them. I know I've seen many other films with "globe-trotting" as a major aspect, but off hand no specific titles come to mind. They are typically thrillers with plots involving international intrigue or show biz pictures where characters are touring the world. My memory for movies is becoming lousy, but I guess I've never been that good at retaining film titles.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
Tossing It Out
This can happen for sure and, no doubt, you will be watching a movie in the next couple of months and have an Eureka! moment:)
DeleteThe Bond flick is the only I've seen and I don't remember anything about it. I didn't even remember it's one of Moore's.
ReplyDeleteoh my...hahahaaa. You are not a Bond freak like me
DeleteI LOVE If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium too!! Mostly because I adore Suzanne Pleshette but it is a sweet, gentle comedy (eventually repurposed and reworked into My Life in Ruins). Ian McShane is SO young in it! A definite charmer.
ReplyDeleteI don't love the Roger Moore (or to be honest Pierce Brosnan) Bond films. They are mostly passable entertainments which includes For Your Eyes Only but without Sean Connery, Daniel Craig or George Lazenby in the role they don't really work too well for me. Good fit though.
European Vacation is goofy fun but like all the Vacation movies one viewing was plenty for me.
I'm a little surprised you didn't choose Around the World in 80 Days. It was my first impulse but I hate every version of it I've ever tried to watch but particularly the one that won Best Picture, the worst winner in the category in my opinion.
So I moved on and was able to come up with three that interrelate.
The Great Race (1965)-Spoof of old time serials with the hero-The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) all dressed in gleaming white and his sidekick Hezekiah (Keenan Wynn) going head to head with snidely Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon chewing on every piece of scenery in sight) all in black and his faithful assistant Max (Peter Falk) in a continent spanning motor race from New York to Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. Complicating matters is fellow racer, journalist and suffragette Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood-never lovelier) who butts heads with Leslie as they head over land and sea to their goal. Shootouts, duels, pie fights and all manner of complications ensue!
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)-In 1910 a wealthy British newspaper publisher Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) offers 10,000 pounds (about a million today) to the winner of an air race between London and Paris, a great distance at the time. The contest draws an eclectic and eccentric gaggle of fliers and amateurs including Rawnsley’s rebellious daughter Patricia (Sarah Miles) who compete in all forms of airborne crates including hot air balloons!
Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969)-The 1,500 mile Monte Carlo rally passing through England, Paris, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monte Gelato Falls, the Treja River, Italy, Åre, Jämtlands and län, Sweden in the 20’s is the setting for this wacky sequel to Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines with some of the characters returning plus Tony Curtis from The Great Race as a brash American.
You know what? I have yet to see any version of Around the World in 80 Days because I just can't feel the want. Maybe one day I will. OMG! why I didn't think of your picks, I have no idea why and they are brilliant. Jack Lemmon really does chew the scenery and is great in it and my dream, one day, is to be in a pie fight! I love Those Magnificent and daring people who dared take to the skies and roads...who doesn't love Gert Frobe:) Great theme within a theme
DeleteI saw the first two! LOL! Hot humid heat is the worse! Stay hydrated and as cool as you can!
ReplyDeletebetty
Wow! Good for you! I am in the AC where I can breathe
DeleteI do. I do. I remember Richard Dawson. Waving wildly. The Griswald movies were a hoot.
ReplyDeleteWishing you cool breezes and days without pain.
When I used to watch Family Feud I thought he was just so icky wanting to kiss all the women.
DeleteWow, for the first time I've actually seen one of your movies--European Vacation! Woo-hoo! I feel like I should get a prize. :)
ReplyDeleteI've also been to Metorea. It is beautiful, but be prepared to climb.
My picks would be Under the Tuscan Sun, Out of Africa, and Eat, Pray, Love. There's plenty I don't love about the last one, but the Italian scenes and characters make up for it. Also, Richard from Texas--loved his character. It's really the Bali romance stuff that doesn't do anything for me. I was thinking, "Haven't you learned anything? Stand on your own two feet, woman!" Plus, the romantic interest was creepy, and there was no chemistry between them.
This is great..break out the bubbly! Oh I know one has to climb plus the heights..I would need to take a few shots of valium but somehow I will get there. I love Under The Tuscan Sun and dream of doing just what she did without finding a man. I so agree with you about Eat, Pray, Love...The Love one seemed like she just forgot everything about what she was trying to learn. Javier Bardem is ok but he was so not right with Julia Roberts. I don't care to ever see that film again except for the Italian scenes
DeleteI haven't seen any of these but itinerary wise, the first one sounds like a solid vacations plan lol
ReplyDeleteIf It's Tuesday, It Must be Belgium is among my favorite movies, too. I was a teenager when I first saw it. I wanted to be Suzanne Pleshette and to become a tour guide. Was the creepy guy the one who took toilet seats for souvenirs? Or, am I thinking of another movie? The Husband and I actually watched the movie within the last year or so. Still held up for me.
ReplyDeleteI do like Chevy Chase, but I did not like European Vacation. Too stupid for me. I have a low tolerance for movies like that. (It's a failing, I know.)
ReplyDeleteAs for the first movie, I haven't seen it, but I know of it. My father referenced it as he took a similar trip with his parents at 16ish. And he hated it. (I guess he was away from my mom, who he had started dating. Of course, they're now divorced and have been for almost 35 years.)
Unlike you, I love the heat, but we have the travel addiction in common. ☺ Your first choice of movie is one of my favourites, also. Huge James Bond fan as well, but Roger Moore, not so much. Still, the movies are always exciting. We have been to Meteora (I wrote a travelogue about it). It is an incredible site and I hope you get there one day, Birgit As for Chevy Chase, some of his movies are okay, but I'm not a huge fan of the Vacation series. For fabulous Greek locales, check out "My Life in Ruins", starring Nia Vardalos and Richard Dreyfuss.
ReplyDeleteAh, For Your Eyes Only. I liked that film as it's one of my favorite Bond films. I love the James Bond films, well most of them. I'm glad we match on European Vacation as that was a fun film. My father loved Chevy Chase. The Vacation movies (well, the first 3) are like staples in the family. Especially the first one as whenever it's on... we stop what we're doing and just watch the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteI've not seen any of these movies, either, but I invite you to visit Kansas and enjoy the heat, humidity, tornadoes, high wind, and a recent spike in COVID, too.
ReplyDeleteHi Birgit - I've not seen these ... but fun ones to know about ... also to know about to watch when the dark closes in. Stay safe - Hilary
ReplyDeleteSeen 2 outta three. I can watch his movies , even if Chase is a douche in real life. Mission impossible movies come to mind too.
ReplyDeleteI loved Susanne Pleshette. One of my all time favorites. I didn't see If It's Tuesday, but it sounds like a fun film.
ReplyDeleteStay Cool. Stay Safe. Be Healthy.
PS Hope your infusion helped.
ReplyDeleteSo who was your favorite James Bond actor?
ReplyDeleteThe infusion helped and I feel better. I can now walk without feeling like I am walking on broken glass and the pain is easier. As for my favourite Bond..Sean Connery..then Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Daniel Craig and George Lazenby
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