Thursday, September 16, 2021

Thursday Movie Picks-Outlaws

 


Guess what? Yesterday, at 1pm, I had a zoom meeting where I was told that due to restructuring, they must let me go from my employment! I am given a severance package but, due to less people going on our payment program thereby losing money, they have no choice but to let me go. I have been with Credit Counselling since May 27, 1991...over 30 years so this came as a complete and utter shock. I did a write up about more shit that has happened to me  as of late (Wrote that this past Tuesday) so I am just about done with bad news now. I need a break. I hope they do not find any cancer at all when I have my hysterectomy on Oct. 12th. I can't grasp my mind around everything but I thought I would let you know. Now on to better things...

I had no idea in which direction I Wanted to go...westerns, hoodlums...politicians(yuck, nyuck) but I do hope you like my theme within a theme. Check out Wandering Through The Shelves to see what everyone else has chosen...here are my 3 plus 1...

1. GUN CRAZY-1950

This is considered a B picture but it is a real gem. A young boy ends up in juvenile jail due to a botched robbery but has the support of his 2 best friends and his family. When he comes out, his fr8ends take him to a travelling amusement park where he meets crack shot Annie, a beautiful but nasty gal. He is a crack shot himself and quickly is hired to tour with the troupe. Of course the 2 fall in love and, after being fired by the boss, she  urges him to hold up banks or else she will leave him. What’s a guy to do but agree with his nasty gal. Well acted and an excellent story by blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. 

2. BADLANDS-1973

Sissy Spacek, in her 2nd film, plays a naive gal who is living with her abusive dad when a James Dean looking hood, played by Michael Sheen, comes to the doorstep and woos the young lass before killing her dad and they both set fire to the home to make it look like the old bugger killed himself. Now they travel across the lands as he seems to take pleasure in killing and she is hooked on him. This was a film I was never interested in seeing but I was glad I finally did. It’s not batshit crazy like that stupid Oliver Stone flick, Natural Born Killers, but done with more intelligence and excellent cinematography.

3.  BANDITS-2001

Now, this is a film I really enjoy and can watch over and over again because it’s funny and quite engaging. It stars Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton as best friends who escape from prison and engage on a bank robbing spree becoming known as the “sleepover bandits” because they sleep over at the bank managers home the night before robbing the bank. They are polite and well liked and people like them. They get help by a very dumb, wanna-be stunt man who drives the the getaway car. Enter unhappy housewife, played by Cate Blanchett, who comes across the robbers and soon develops a relationship with the Bruce Willis character who seems to be the more put together guy. When the troop must separate, she must go with the Billy Bob character who is brainy but also a hypochondriac and major worry wort. They develop a relationship and soon they realize that they are all in it together and she loves both men. How will it end? Will it be a fun ending or be met with disaster? You just have to watch it.

One I want to see...

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE-1937

This is on my must see list because I love Fritz Lang films and I love Sylvia Sidney(The old lady in Beetlejuice) and I like Henry Fonda. Fonda plays a hard luck outlaw who meets his defence lawyers secretary played by Sydney. She believes in his goodness and as a result he is given a second chance and their life is a happy one but it is short lived. When Fonda is in the wrong place at the wrong time, he is framed but no one believes him but his wife. They go on the lam as she will never leave him. This is a hard hitting film for the 1930s and Lang made these 2 very pretty people believable. I love to see this film and I will one day.

Which 3 would you choose?


20 comments:

  1. Dear Birgit,

    I am very sorry t learn that you received bad news this week on top of everything else you have on your plate. Being laid off after all those years of dedicated service is exactly the kind of unpleasant surprise you didn't need at this point in time. Again, I am so very sorry, dear friend.

    I love the hulky, bulky old cars the two leads are driving in that clip from Gun Crazy (1950). I haven't seen the movie, but it looks like my kind of film - "a masterpiece of flash and trash" - as is stated in graphics of the trailer I watched just now on IMDB. Irish actress Peggy Cummins, the tough cookie - Annie Oakleyesque sharpshooter in the film, lived to the ripe old age of 92 and died in 2017. I see that she appeared in a string of edgy films during her career, the kind I like to watch. I know I saw her in the British horror flick Night of the Demon a.k.a. Curse of the Demon (1957).

    Badlands looks like another movie I'd enjoy. I am drawn to anything in which Martin Sheen appears, and he looks convincing as a young punk. Sissy Spacek is well cast as a naive country gal who decides to run with him. Question: Why are so many women attracted to bad boys? I notice in films #1 and #3 how the couples grab each other and kiss furiously. I'd like to get in on some of that action, BB. I tried being good... and I tried being bad... but nothing works! :)

    You Only Live Once looks like another film I'd appreciate. That's the youngest I ever saw Hank Fonda looking.

    My selection in this category is a cult classic starring a wonderful actress, one of my top favorites, Cathy O'Donnell, along with co-star Farley Granger, in the highly regarded 1948 film noir They Live by Night, the directorial debut of Nicholas Ray.

    Again, I am so sorry you received bad news, Birgit, proving that bad things can and do happen to the nicest people. I hope circumstances turn around for you soon. I'm thinking about you. Try to have a good day and I hope to connect with you again soon, dear friend BB!

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  2. Well, I can't think of any movies after reading your first paragraph. I hope they gave you a great severance package. That really sucks!

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  3. Oh my gosh, that's awful. I'm so sorry to hear about your job. I hope you can find something new and fulfilling quickly. Unemployment is scary.

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  4. I am really sorry! That sucks. Is there retirement with that?

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  5. Oh dear Birgit I am so sorry to hear this news about your job….let’s hope the severance package allows you to retire and take it easy especially after your operation…I shall be thinking of you xxxx

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  6. Oh Birgit! That's rough, I sincerely hope they are doing right by you with your severance package. On the bright side you have oodles of experience and you're tech savvy so those things are strongly in your favor! Best of luck.

    On to your choices! I thought of Gun Crazy right off and was mighty tempted to use it but since it would be a repeat I moved on. But it's a perfect fit and Peggy Cummins is wonderful in the lead, her English Rose beauty a fine counterpart to the ice cold malice of the character.

    Badlands is a tough watch despite brilliant work by both Sissy and Martin Sheen (BTW you said it was Michael not Martin in your description) especially knowing it was based on a real couple of savage youths.

    Bandits was fine. I enjoyed it when I saw it in the theatre, got up and promptly forgot all about it until just now.

    You Only Live Once is a powerful piece of filmmaking that I rarely return to. Great performances, wonderful direction, interesting story, hopeless nihilistic viewing experience.

    I did a bit of a theme within too though it's not quite as complete as I planned since my last has a male outlaw along with the female. It was tough because a couple I thought of I'd used before and some others I wanted to hold on to for next week's Femme Fatale theme.

    Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)-Pussycat Club go-go dancers Varla (Tura Satana), Rosie (Haji) and Billie (Lori Williams) head out to the desert to drag race and raise some hell. When they meet a young hot-rodding couple they dispatch the guy, take the girl hostage and head to the hills on the hunt for rumored hidden fortune guarded by a disabled old letch (Stuart Lancaster) and The Vegetable (Dennis Busch) his hulking infantile son. They blaze in figuring an easy score, but the men have plans of their own. Pure exploitation is one big wild ride.

    Deadlier Than the Male (1967)-Glamorous paid assassins Irma (Elke Sommer) and Penelope (Sylva Koscina) entice prominent businessmen with their wiles then off them for big bucks until insurance investigator "Bulldog" Drummond (Richard Johnson) and his mod nephew, Robert (Steve Carlson) jump on their trail. The twosome circles the globe hopping from one exotic locale to the next to bring the lethal lovelies to justice!

    The Getaway (1972)-When career criminal Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is refused parole he convinces his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to strike a bargain with corrupt businessman Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson). Benyon agrees to get him sprung on the condition Doc pulls a bank heist with his gang. All goes as planned but double crosses and betrayals abound. The result-Doc and Carol try to flee to Mexico with both the money and their lives crossing Texas as both cops and outlaws pursue them, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. McQueen and MacGraw fell in love during the filming, left their respective spouses and embarked on a high profile tempestuously short-lived marriage.

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  7. Hi Birgit, oh I am so sorry to hear this latest bit of news, what a shock for you. I hope that your redundancy pay will at least give you enough money to be able to retire after your operations. It's been a really awful time for you Birgit, I can only say hang in there and hope that life gets better soon, take care,Kate x

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  8. Oh no, just what you didn’t need on top of everything else! Sending even more hugs than I was before x

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  9. Sorry to hear. Hopefully things work out from this point.

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    1. Also, please do not choose to become an outlaw because of it.

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  10. I am so sorry. That sucks. I hope you find a much better job that you love all the more, and you find that this was a good thing. Eventually.

    I love Bandits, too. There was something about it... Great film.

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  11. Oh Birgit, having just read your other post, I cannot imagine how you can withstand yet more bad news! Stay strong, my friend. There has to be a silver lining somewhere, and hopefully, that will mean NO cancer is found. Re: your severance, getting some legal advice might be helpful in obtaining a bigger settlement.

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  12. Are you vested with that company, or is the severance package all you can expect? Will your insurance cover the operation, since it was scheduled before you got the axe? I'm not quite sure how much more you can be expected to accept in life, but I am there for you dear. I think Debbie's idea of getting legal advice might be wise.

    Needless to say, I've never even heard of any of these films, but I sure appreciate the synopses. Stay strong, dear.

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  13. BIRGIT ~

    Bad news on top of bad news! Damn! So much for employer loyalty, eh? You're in a bad cycle, but it can't last forever. I sure hope you land on your feet quickly and well. And that your surgery turns out to be standard with no unexpected complications!!

    GUN CRAZY was an excellent choice! Definitely an underrated Noir.

    I've seen BADLANDS, but I don't remember anything much about it, which means I found it essentially forgettable.

    BANDITS I have not seen, but it sounds like something that might appeal to me. I generally like Bruce Willis projects.

    My #1 choice would unquestionably be THE WILD BUNCH. It's such a deep story, with all kinds of interesting character relationships. Easily the most complex Western movie ever made and the performances were universally brilliant; a career high point for every actor in that film, in my opinion.

    #2 FALLING DOWN. Another movie that's on my 'All-Time Top 25 Favorite Movies' list. I've watched it countless times and never tire of it. It's basically one fantastically memorable scene after another after another after another...

    Not 100% sure what I would put at #3, but maybe THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN. Let us not forget that "Beano" was really an outlaw on the run, before he decided to call himself a judge and start dispensing "justice" according to the law that was in his own weird, warped heart and mind. (Such a fabulous and funny movie that comes damned close to making my 'Top 25' list.)

    Hang tough, Birgit! Lean on your Creator and He will help you through these tough times!!

    ~ D-FensDogG
    LEARN THE HOLY BIBLE IN 15 MINUTES!

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  14. Haven't seen the last two, but the first two are good ones. Lots of good films about bandits. I like Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid but I'm not sure who wouldn't like that one.

    I've always enjoyed the gangster movies about the roaring twenties. Lots of those from which to choose.

    The other day we watched Drive a Crooked Road with Mickey Rooney and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a big Mickey Rooney fan--he did a few good gangster type films.

    Sorry to hear about your job loss. I've been there and that's what eventually landed me in retirement. Losing a long time job when you're older isn't a good position to be in unless you've got skills that are in high demand which I don't.

    Good luck with your situation.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  15. Not familiar with these ones. Like Arlee, I was a big fan of BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.
    Hope you are having a decent day.
    Thinking of you.

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  16. That really sucks about your job. Boy, when it rains, it pours.

    What a fantastic film category! I also love Bandits - one to share with our daughter soon, pairing it with the Sting, I think.

    The Usual Suspects is one of my all-time Top 3 so obviously, that's one for me.

    The aforementioned Sting

    The Italian Job - I prefer the original but the remake isn't bad.

    Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

    Snatch

    Layer Cake

    The Thomas Crown Affair - both, I suppose, but I prefer the later one.

    Pulp Fiction

    GoodFellas

    I could go on. In truth, this is sorta my genre...

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  17. I'm so sorry about the job. You've been there forever!

    Love,
    Janie

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  18. Birgit, all these recent circumstances are simply challenges... you will find a way to prevail!

    Three outlaw movies? Well someone already mentioned "Falling Down," an underrated Michael Douglas masterpiece. I also can't help but mention Bonnie and Clyde from 1967. That movie touched on delicate subject matter that had rarely been presented previously. And just for fun, I'll reference "Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry."

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  19. Hi Birgit - as I was told ... well it'll work out - just have faith and hold true ... you need a rest that's obvious especially with the op coming up. Just relax and I'm sure things will turn out - opportunities. Stay safe and all the very best - and keep positive ... cheers Hilary

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