Before I start, I will let you know who won the Oscar from yesterday’s song post. Once again, Joel got it right…”I’m Easy” won the Oscar while the theme from “Mahogany” was nominated and the other song from “Nashville” got nuttin.
Now, there are a ton…a ton of romance films from all genres but it’s almost always with young people and I do think, at times, that love is wasted on the young. I decided to talk about films that deal with old love and I went with a theme within a theme choosing all TV movies. Here are my 3…
1. LOVE AMONG THE RUINS-1975
This stars 2 greats, Katherine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier and directed by the great George Cukor who directed Hepburn 10 times, I believe. Hepburn plays a woman who loves ‘em and drops them with her latest paramour, a much younger man, being upset and sues her. She decides to fight and hires a famous barrister, played by Olivier, forgetting that she did the same thing to him 40 years ago but he still carries a torch for her. This is a lovely movie that is romantic during the early years of the 20th century. It may not be the best of Hepburn’s films or Olivier’s but it is nice to watch.
2. SUMMER SOLSTICE-1981
I saw this film when it first came out and thought it was a great swan song for both of these great actors. This film was the last film for both of them but you wouldn’t know it because they acted so well together. It’s the story about a married couple of 50 years and the ups and downs they went through in their marriage. It is a very good film about marriage and the highs and lows. I always loved Myrna Loy who got a Great role in this film and she acted her heart out.
3. ONE SPECIAL NIGHT-1999
This is the 3rd and last pairing of James Garner and Julie Andrews who became great friends when they first met in the early 1960s and figured they must have kissed 500 times. In fact Julie Andrews always said Garner knew how to kiss because, in their first film, after he kissed her, her legs buckled. They decided to star in this TV movie about a man whose wife has dementia and is in long term care and Andrews plays a doctor. One snowy night near Christmas, his car get stuck and she picks him up only to get stuck herself. They find an unused cabin and spend a wonderful night, without any hanky panky, talking and find they actually have much in common. Unfortunately, a series of errors and misunderstandings, keeps them apart but you know something will happen to bring them together. Another sweet and touching film with a love that happens to people who are over 30.
What movies can you think of that deals with a love between 2 older people?
You did well. That's tough to come up with older romances.
ReplyDeleteIt is but they deserve love
DeleteI got the answers exactly backwards. I thought for sure Diana Ross would have won it, and in this day and age she probably would have....
ReplyDeleteShe would have for sure
DeleteI don’t know any of these, can’t think of anything g for your theme and i got yesterday’s answer completely wrong. Doing well!
ReplyDeleteHahaaaa...yes you're doing well
DeleteI'm 0 for 3 with these picks!
ReplyDeleteYes hard to do
DeleteI remembered correctly as well. ☺ There are many movies about old love - "It's Complicated" and "Something's Gotta Give" are both hilarious - but TV movies are a tougher category. I'm not familiar with your picks, but they sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteGreat choices and they are funny too.
Deletere: One Special Night. Kissing James Garner would have made me weak in the knees too. Heh.
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
I always wanted to be kissed by James Garner
DeleteWho's in Summer Solstice? Myrna Loy and who? I haven't seen any of your choices (although I've seen a couple with James Garner and Julie Andrews, just not that one).
ReplyDeleteOh God! I forgot to write...Henry Fonda! Sorry...that's what happens when one writes when one is tired
DeleteLove Among the Ruins is such a charmer!! Kate and Larry's chemistry is so wonderful to behold and thinking of their personas rather surprising. On paper they do not seem at all suited, his smooth continental cosmopolitanism would seem destine to clash with her brusk American forthrightness and yet they blend marvelously. It's that lightning in a bottle thing that you can never predict. Another example that comes to mind is Debbie Reynolds and Gregory Peck in How the West Was Won-again they seem polar opposites and yet they proved to be completely sympatico.
ReplyDeleteSummer Solstice is a lovely quiet little film with two acting titans at its core. Myrna and Hank Fonda again interact so well that you realize what a pity it was that they never worked together before this film. They’re terrific but so frail it makes you wonder what kind of electricity they would have generated in all their youthful vigor. They would have made a fantastic comedic duo in something along the lines of The Lady Eve.
One Special Night is the lesser of these three but absolutely worth seeing for Julie and Jim. The chemistry they displayed in The Americanization of Emily and Victor/Victoria hasn’t dimmed one iota.
A nice theme!! The first that popped into my head is the 1950 film “Louisa” wherein Spring Byington (ADORE her!) unexpectedly finds herself being courted by not one but two fine older gentlemen-Charles Coburn and Edmund Gwenn! It’s very sweet with the only drawback being the presence of pond scum Ronald Reagan in the cast.
My second is “Last Chance Harvey” from 2008 with another unexpected pairing that works-Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.
Thirdly is a personal favorite, the 1961 film “A Majority of One” starring Rosalind Russell and Alec Guinness as an initially bigoted Jewish widow and a mature Japanese businessman, a widower and the slow awakening of a romance between them. To be honest Roz and Alec are miscast (for the story to really make sense the leads should have been essayed by Thelma Ritter and Sessue Hayakawa) but because of their skillful acting the film is a genuine pleasure that I find more endearing with each viewing.
I'm gladvyou live my choices, as always. Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were the witnesses to Laurence Oliver's and Vivien Leigh's wedding. They were friends. I would love to see all 3 of your picks especially the first one. Let me know what you really think of Reagan..lol.
DeleteI would have loved to see Thelma and Sessue in that movie. Thelma would have been great in a touching love story
BIRGIT ~
ReplyDeleteI've not seen any of the three movies you listed here. But your mention of James Garner immediately reminded me of a movie I like a lot which fits in this category.
Here's a trailer for [Link> MURPHY'S ROMANCE.
And, surprisingly, it can be seen [Link> FREE @ YouTube.
If you've not already seen this one, it's definitely worth your time. It's a simple but charming story, and I like it so much that I even own the DVD.
~ D-FensDogG
This is a great movie! I love it and I totally forgot about it but it's perfect. I almost went with The Quiet Man
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