Thursday, August 11, 2022

Thursday Movie Picks: Old Coots Playing Along Much Younger Tootsie Rolls

 


Actually, the title is, “ Ageing Leading Actors Cast as Much Younger Men Playing Alongside Much Younger Actresses.” But it still applies. I decided to go with one lady, no, not Grace Kelly since she actually did sleep with almost everyone of her co-stars, because she was so young but seemed to exude a grace and poise that worked well with the old codgers she was paired with. Check out Wandering Through The Shelves to see what everyone else has chosen, here are my 3...

1. SABRINA-1954

Audrey Hepburn, a beautiful actress with such grace, poise and beauty that she just makes you believe in love and all that is good. In Sabrina, she plays the daughter of a chauffeur, to this very rich family, who is sent to an all girl’s school in Paris. When she returns, she is  every inch the beautiful young lady who immediately attracts the attention of the young rascal brother, played by William Holden. She is ecstatic since she has had a crush on him since she was a little girl but older brother, played by Humphrey Bogart decides to intervene so his younger brother gets in tune with his business side rather than his playboy side. This is a lovely comedy which introduced Audrey to her lifelong friend and clothing guru, Hubert De Givenchy. Audrey and Holden actually had a steamy affair  but, when she found out he had a vasectomy, she called it off. Bogie was 30 years older than  Audrey but, hey, it works in the movie.

2.  FUNNY FACE-1957

In this musical, Audrey plays a bookish waif who is greatly irritated when a troop of models with their boss lady and their premier photographer, played by Fred Astaire, come to her book store. Astaire is loosely based on Richard Avedon who was a free lance photographer for many major magazines but that is where it ends. Astaire sees a future model in Audrey who only believes in books but when she finds out she would be going to Paris and could meet her bookish philosophy Idol, she agrees. Off they all venture to Paris where she is groomed into a major model, becomes disappointed in the philosophy jerk she wanted to meet and finds out she is falling for Astaire and vice versa. In this instance, yes, once again, there is a 30 year age difference but, this time Astaire was uncomfortable playing her love interest because of his age. I like this movie which is beautifully filmed. 

3. LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON-1957

In this film, Audrey plays the daughter of Maurice Chevalier whohas been hired by a husband to get the dirt on his wife who has been having an affair with a devil may care cad, played by Gary Cooper. When she finds out the husband wants to kill Cooper, she prevents Cooper from being harmed and soon falls in love with him and he realizes he has feelings for her. Her dad is not amused. This is a nice film but, even then, it did not do well at the box office because the public did not take well to t(sir age difference. Cooper liked his role but when it came out why the film was not doing well, he went and got a terrible face lift. ..ughh, they never learn.  Cooper was the youngest..only 28 years apart.


Funny, how many old buggers found their true love in much younger women. I call it the Tony Randall syndrome. He is an actor famous for playing Felix Unger in the TV Show, "The Odd Couple", with Jack Klugman in the 1970s plus in the comedies with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. When his first wife died of cancer, he met a young actress  who was 25...he was 70 and, yup, they married and had 2 kids! The poor kids never could get to know their dad since he was already quite old. 


Which movies can you think of that fits this bill?

25 comments:

  1. Hi, Birgit!

    Happy movie day, dear friend! I enjoyed your May-December movie match-ups.

    I have seen the 1995 remake of the 1954 Billy Wilder film Sabrina, because I like all three stars: Harrison Ford as Linus, Julia Ormond as Sabrina and Greg Kinnear as David. I need to get a move on and watch the original. I'm sure I'd love it.

    Nor have I seen Funny Face, mainly because the people in it keep bursting into song instead of hiding from inbred geeks with chainsaws, a scenario I prefer. I am beginning to sense a pattern in these Audrey Hepburn movies. She starts out as a plain Jane, undergoes an extreme makeover and catches the eye of an older, wealthier man. Like that ever happens in real life! :) And do you notice how glamorous, romantic Paris figures in both pictures? As a result of stories like these along with similar Disney rags-to-riches movies depicting ordinary girls attracting wealthy princes, etc., it's easy to see how some young women could be led to believe that trading on their beauty and sex appeal is their ticket to a happy life.

    Nor have I seen Love In The Afternoon. Looks like I avoided romantic Audrey Hepburn films altogether, but I did enjoy her in Wait Until Dark (1967). I also like Cary Grant and Gary Cooper, and didn't know that Coop got a bad facelift. I also liked Tony Randall, and didn't know that he robbed the cradle to find a wife.

    I managed to come up with one film recommendation in this category - Danielle Steel's A Perfect Stranger, the 1994 romantic drama TV movie that starred Stacy Haiduk, the actress who played Paul Williams' sister Patty on The Young and the Restless. Stacy was born in 1968, and Darren McGavin, who played her elderly husband in the film, was born in 1922. Spoiler: young wifey has a fling with a somewhat younger man played by Robert Urich.

    Thanks for the morning entertainment, dear friend BB. Please scratch my buddy Harley's belly for me and have a delightful day!

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    1. I'm so late but I'm here and I would see the original Sabrina...far superior to the remake. There are dome funny bits to Funny Face like the scene with the water. Yes, Gay Paris is always shown in a romantic light. I don't think people want to see Astaire and Hepburn didestepping the dog poop.
      I think I saw your pick when it came out. Those were the days of the rich bitches with sequins and shoulder pads

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  2. LOL at your title! The only one of these I've seen is Funny Face, which I adored.

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    1. Glad I made you laugh and glad you liked Funny Face

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  3. If I were rich and became available I'd be looking for someone younger most likely. Just seems like the way a man thinks and it does kind of make sense in a way that probably seems shallow.

    Your picks are perfect for this concept. I'm not coming up with anything at the moment. I'd have to start researching to come up with something and I feel like this thing is something where the films should come up in my own mind and nothing is.

    But it is an interesting theme.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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    1. If one goes to animal ainstincts, men want to spread their seed which they can't if with an older woman. Also, if a 70 yr old woman was interested and so was a 25 yr old with double Ds I bet men would pick the double Ds even if that included her IQ. I've seen Pretty Woman mentioned

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  4. Seen all of these. Nothing with a 30 year age difference comes to mind.

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  5. I've seen Funny Face but it was a long time ago.
    How about As Good as it Gets?

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  6. OHHH a theme within the theme!! Love those!

    Adore Audrey, she did fall prey to the widespread practice of the time of pairing the hot new sensation with established stars despite the age disparity. Funnily enough you listed your choices in my order of preference as well.

    Sabrina is divine regardless of the ages of the male leads, though Holden was only about 10 years Audrey's senior, and he was so sexy it didn't matter. It has a lovely gossamer air with Audrey exuding charm and glamour effortlessly plus having a nice chemistry with John Williams as her father.

    Funny Face is quite the soufflé which probably would have worked just as well if they had disposed of the romance between the leads. However, if you are going to fall for an older man the elegant gracious Fred Astaire comes in only second to Cary Grant I'd say!

    Love in the Afternoon is one of the classic romances that I don't have much affection for though there is nothing expressly wrong with it. Audrey and Coop share little connection and that is fatal to a love story. It's not even that Cooper was unappealing to younger women, look at his serious involvement with Patricia Neal who was 25 years his junior, but he just feels wrong here.

    Reading your list inspired me to think of a comparable situation though I went to the male side of things. Clark Gable's final films are a near perfect example of the younger woman/older man playbook though in his case they resulted in two good films and a borderline great one.

    The least of them is 1960's "It Started in Naples" with current IT girl of the moment Sophia Loren. It's a sweet little comedy of opposites attracting shot on location in Naples, Rome and Capri so the scenery is lovely. It was Gable's last picture released during his lifetime.

    The next would be his film previous to Naples-1959's "But Not for Me" where the plot refers to the May/December romance element. Clark (58 at the time) is a theatrical producer without a new play who is inspired when his secretary Carroll Baker (28 then and still with us at 91!) tells him she loves him. Despite there still being an attraction to his former wife (the lovely and much more suitable Lilli Palmer) Gable gets swept up in the heady admiration of young Carroll but sense reigns at the end. This even has a theme song sung by Ella Fitzgerald!

    The last is his posthumously released "The Misfits" costarring Marilyn Monroe (her last completed film as well) and while it fits in with the theme (Gable was 59 and Marilyn 34) since the film is all about sorrow, displacement and despair their kinship really has more to do with the recognition of one damaged old soul finding solace with another not their ages. Still, it is a near masterpiece with award level work from both as well as Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach.

    Just a quick note. I don’t want you to think I’ve forsaken you, but I will not be commenting next week. I must have a couple of surgeries that will affect my eyesight temporarily, but I’ll be looking in when I’m healed (which might take a couple of weeks…. but hopefully not!)

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    1. I hope all goes well with your eyes. Thanks for giving me the heads up and I would send you an ecard if I knew your email. I am with you o the movie dept with Audrey. She had no chemistry with Cooper which is strange because I thought she had chemistry with everyone.
      I think Cooper was uncomfortable in his role to be honest. I like your choices especially The Misfits which was a pretty good acting choice for MM. Gable looks older than his 59 years. I liked Naples but I don't think the 2 leads liked each other much off screen. I would throw Teacher's Pet in there as well

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    2. Oh I didn't think of Teacher's Pet but that would definitely work as well!

      Bad news/Good news on the surgery front. Bad news-The doctor's office for the first surgery screwed up and didn't get the preapproval from my insurance company so both surgeries had to be postponed since the first was a set up for the second and now both will happen the beginning of October. :-( The good...I'll be around tomorrow to read this week's theme!! :-)

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  7. Gigi / Daddy Longlegs. Both Leslie Caron. Would count as grooming now - quite distasteful!

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    1. That is perfect and you are right...grooming. blecchh even though I love the movies

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  8. Loved Sabrina and Funny Face;)
    Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com

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  9. Blogger is so unpredictable, sometimes I think I'm already logged in, but I get "Anonymous".
    Anyway Sabrina is the only one that I've seen along with its remake. But aren't those male actors' characters suppose to be much older than Hepburn's character? So they were the right age to play the characters?
    My theme is suppose to be more of a criticism of ageing actors getting hired to play young male characters. While the actresses who are hired to play the young female character are the young age they are suppose to be playing.
    Because the reverse hardly happens right. You won't get a 50 year actress playing a 30 year old woman acting alongside a 25 year old actor as a 25 year old male love interest.

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    1. You are right but my brain was not engaged and then I thought these old coot are trying to play younger men. Tge women always seemed a bit older. You are right about the opposite not happening

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  10. I have seen all three of these. I just recently saw a documentary on Audrey Hepburn. Fascinating woman. (I think it was on Netflix.)

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    1. She was..magical. brave when so young and so giving

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  11. Mom and I both liked the original "Sabrina" exactly because the age difference was so obvious between Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. With the remake, you didn't get that sense as much.

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    1. Bogie never looked 25...even when he was 25

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  12. Terrific list, BIRGIT!

    Here's the funny thing: when I saw what the theme was, I immediately thought of Audrey Hepburn, even BEFORE I saw that she was your "theme within the theme". However, the Audrey movie that came to my mind immediately was NOT one of the three you selected.

    According to what I've read, originally, the Hollywood powers that were wanted Cary Grant to play opposite Audrey in 1953's 'ROMAN HOLIDAY' (which, by the way, I completely love and which is my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie).

    But Cary Grant wasn't comfortable with the age difference, so he turned down the role, which wound up going to a younger Gregory Peck.

    Ironically, ten years later, in '63, Grant and Audrey DID play opposite each other in a romantic movie, 'CHARADE'. But Grant agreed to take the role with the stipulation that in the movie, Audrey would be chasing after him, and not vice versa, because he didn't want to appear to be a creepy, lecherous old man.

    ~ D-FensDogG

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    1. You're absolutely right! I love Roman Holiday and GregorybPeck insisted she has her name right up there with him. What a man! Cary did not want to chase her but who could resist working with such a great lady.

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  13. I have seen all of your picks - I adore Audrey Hepburn.
    When watching them especially for the third film the age difference stood out to me. That one felt really weird and they had zero chemistry

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