Thursday Movie Picks-Sweltering Heat

 

We are now enjoying ourselves looking at the scene you see in the picture. We are at my hubby’s Aunt and Uncle’s home on the Richeleau river. We have not seen them since before Covid and I have not been away from work for a week since I started so I’m happy. We have been dealing with hot and humid days so I thought I would choose movies that deal with the heat. Here are my 3…

1. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE-1951

I equate this film with the play movies that were big in the 50s as well as the “kitchen sink” films also prevalent in the 50s and 60s. These films were named this because the kitchen sink was often shown in the films and was not depicting the wealthy…unless they were slumming…which they weren’t. This film stars Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter as a married couple who take in her older sister, played so well by Vivien Leigh. Marlon is a brutish, dumb ass jerk in a dirty, white T shirt who berates the older sister who talks about being a lady from the genteel south. Her sister lets her be what she wants to be and Marlon’s friend, played by Karl Maldon, falls under Viv’s spell. It’s hot, sweaty and nasty much like Brando who screams, “Stella!” When his wife leaves him, albeit, not for long. It’s not an easy movie to watch especially knowing that Vivien Leigh was dealing with her own bi-polar disorder during the making of this film and when she starred on the London stage of this theatre production. The make up department and hairstylists would hide the burn marks created by the shock treatments she was receiving but she was ever the professional winning her second Oscar in the process. When you see her fragility in this film and compare it to her beauty only 12 years before from “Gone With The Wind”, you can see how much her disability affected her.

2. REAR WINDOW-1954

I love this movie and spoke about this more than once but I couldn’t pass it up. It take place during a heat wave getting very itchy when we see Jimmy Stewart in a wheel chair with a leg cast all the way up to his hip. He is a photographer who has ventured everywhere but is now stuck…in more ways than one. He is engaged to the lovely Grace Kelly who is a socialite and loves nice clothes and loves him. All he can do during this summer is watch all the people in his apartment complex because their windows all face the courtyard they all share. We meet the blonde dancer, the newlyweds, Miss Lonelyhearts, the musician, a husband and wife who sleep on the fire escape and a broody Perry Mason, I mean, Ironside…oops, Raymond Burr who is caring for his invalid wife. When the wife disappears, Stewart suspects foul play but everyone thinks the heat is getting to his brain. Soon, Grace and the great Thelma Ritter begin to think like him but they may all be a bit batty. Hitchcock directed this film with his usual panache and it’s one of his best films.

3. 12 ANGRY MEN-1957

I love this film! From the very beginning, you know, just from the scared look of the kid, that he is innocent of the murder rap. Now these 12 jurors must decide on the kid’s fate. Right off the bat 11 out of the 12 vote guilty except for 1…Henry Fonda. He is the lone hold out who questions everything and from the get go we begin to learn about all the the jurors from the lonely old man, the guy who wants to get to his baseball game to the bigot who only sees a criminal. It’s an excellent character study with the short fuses made shorter due to the heat. I love the many character actors in this film-Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam, Ed Begley, Jack Warden, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb etc.. it is so much worth the look.

Which movies can you think of that take place during a heat wave? 

So the answers from yesterday’s Oscar songs? The winner was “The Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe”. The nominated song was “All Through The Day” and the one that came up Nadda was “Put The Blame on Mamie”.