The month of May is a busy month for me as there are 8 birthdays with my hubby’s 68th birthday on the 25th and mine coming up June 2nd. Ok, yes, June, but it’s so close to my husband’s so I just include it in the 8. Friends, my brother and the 2 of us went out to a nice restaurant for dinner which is a tradition we do with my friends, Peter and Ron, both born in October. So I chose 3 films that are about birthdays and hope you enjoy the read…
1. ON GOLDEN POND-1981
This was Henry Fonda’s last film but it’s a good one with Katherine Hepburn, playing his wife and Jane Fonda playing his daughter which was not out of keeping since she is Henry Fonda’s daughter. The old couple travel to their cottage to hear the loons and celebrate Fonda’s 80th birthday. He is a curmudgeon and talks about death while his wife tries to make him believe in life. Their daughter( Jane Fonda) comes with her fiancée ( Dabney Colman who just starred with Fonda as her sleazy boss in 9 to 5) and his young son. It’s a tense time since father and daughter had a difficult relationship, very similar to their real life relationship, and are unsure how to be with each other. They celebrate his 80th birthday before taking off to Europe for a month leaving the kid with the old couple. From there, the kid and the old man develop a special bond and the young kid learns so much. Both Fonda and Hepburn won Oscars for their roles but, I believe, Fonda won because, he never did and was going to die so better give one to him now. Jane Fonda credits Hepburn for helping her heal the wounds between her and her dad. It’s a nice film worth seeing.
2. 16 CANDLES-1984
I think this is the first film directed by John Hughes who also wrote this and stars many of his ensemble cast including Molly Ringworm..oops…Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, John Cusack and Joan Cusack. Molly plays the younger sister to her older sister who is getting married. She is just happy that it’s her 16th birthday but her happiness is dashed when she realizes that none of her family remembers her birthday because they are all consumed with the wedding. At school, you realize she has a crush with the football guy but she is pursued by the nerd who thinks he’s the coolest thing since nightmare whip. Enter her grandparents who say the most inappropriate things and bring their foreign exchange student whom they help out. There is the teen dance followed by a big party where Duck Dong enjoyed along with booze, Molly loses her panties to the nerd for a favour and the wedding day turns into a bit of a clown show. It’s a good movie even though I don’t care for Molly Ringworm and never got how she made it big. I don’t care about how bad it was to show Dong as a typical gag or that the popular girl is so drunk she could be taken advantage of because it’s just supposed fun so just enjoy and fast forward through the parts you dislike.
3. 13 GOING ON 30-2004
Jennifer Garner is a 13 year old who is having her birthday but is frustrated with her life and wishes she could be 30. When she awakes ( in a closet) she is 30 and is, at first scared but later embraces being 30. Somehow, she meets up with her childhood chum, played by Mark Ruffalo, convincing him she is the 13 year old whom, he thought, disappeared all those years ago. She gets a big job and is able to resurrect a dull executive party by dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I just watched this a couple of months ago and it was better than I thought it would be. It’s cute and fun and forgettable so perfect when you just need to unwind.
What birthday movies can you think of? I can’t wait to hear some of your choices.
Sixteen Candles came to my mind immediately!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that’s one of the go to teen movies of the 80s
DeleteHi Birgit,
ReplyDeleteI also have many birthdays happening over the May/June period, probably over twenty!! Thank goodness all of them don’t require a gift!
I like “On Golden Pond” without loving it. All the performances are good (Oscar level I don’t know but solid work) though as big a fan of Kate Hepburn that I am I do wish that Barbara Stanwyck had been successful in her bid to costar with her old buddy Hank Fonda. They always had such wonderful chemistry.
Ya 16 Candles has a lot of things in it that are considered inappropriate now but it’s still funny and charming all these years later with some real glimpses of how families interact with each other.
13 Going on 30 was a pleasant enough watch…. once! I’ve never had any desire to return to it.
My three use the birthday as more of a launch pad than a pivotal event in the story they are telling.
The Boys in the Band (1970)- Michael is hosting a birthday celebration for a pal when he gets an unexpected visit from old friend Alan. The problem is, Alan is straight -- and extremely straitlaced -- and everyone else at the party is gay. Michael hopes to conceal his sexuality from Alan, but this charade doesn't last. After being outed, Michael turns on Alan, accuses him of being a closeted gay and forces him to partake in a revealing party game that has devastating consequences. Revolutionary in its day (based on the stage play) and still potent but terribly downbeat.
The Game (1997)- Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker who keeps mostly to himself. When his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) returns on his birthday with an odd gift -- participation in a personalized, real-life game -- Nicholas reluctantly accepts. Initially harmless, the game grows increasingly personal, and Orton begins to fear for his life as he eludes agents from the mysterious game's organizers. With no one left to trust and his money gone, Orton must find answers for himself. A tie-in with one of your picks-Carroll Baker (who turned 94 yesterday!) who plays Micheal Douglas’s secretary is the mother of Blanche Baker who plays the older sister in 16 Candles.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)- After Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman) injures himself while drunkenly revisiting his high school sports-star days, he and his tempestuous wife, Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor), visit his family's Mississippi plantation for the 65th birthday of his hot-tempered father, Big Daddy (Burl Ives). Cantankerous even with declining health, Big Daddy demands to know why Brick and Maggie haven't yet given him a grandchild, unlike Brick's brother Gooper (Jack Carson) and his fecund wife, Mae (Madeleine Sherwood). Even though it is a watered-down version (thanks to the Production Code) of the Tennessee Williams play, this is still an excellent film with splendid work across the board. Liz’s performance is even more remarkable since she was widowed during production but insisted on finishing the film.
I love your choices! I never saw your first choice or the 2nd but I want to see them. That’s pretty cool that the elder sister, who was so funny in 16 Candles and deserves accolades, was the daughter in the film you chose. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof is one I almost chose but I wanted films that the birthday was the film. Cat was all about this very caustic family that I would never want to know. Burl Ives was excellent as Big Daddy and Madeleine Sherwood was so good as a relative you would never want to know. The shrew married to poor Jack Carson who should be the son who inherits all but it’s his little brother, played by Paul Newman. I’m not sure why but Paul Newman irritated me in this film. I feel like he over-acted a bit, but maybe that’s just me. Yes, I know that Liz just lost her husband Michael Todd, in a plane crash and she was lucky to not have stepped foot on the plane which she was supposed to do. Sadly, she ended up in Eddie Fisher’s arms which created a huge conflagration sending Liz into box office poison. Anyhoo, I am one of the many women who wants that dress! It’s timeless and was also a big hit. Glad to see you here
DeleteOh yes, the Asian kid I. 16 Candles would never be made today but I love that character. I agree with you about the film 13 Going on 30. I only would watch it again if there was nothing else on.
When I saw the topic, I immediately thought of 16 Candles. I was obsessed with that back in the day. (I was definitely the target demo when it came out.) I saw On Golden Pond in the theater. This was before I learned about classic movies, so I had no idea who Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn were. (I was a child, so we can forgive it.) No other birthday films come immediately to mind.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you saw the films and, like Joel, I would have preferred Barbara Stanwyck in the Hepburn role. I knew all these people because of my dad. He was a big movie fan and I would ask tons of questions when watching an old film. I think I started this when I was 5 or so. Who is that? Is he still alive? How old was he when he died? What did he die of? Was he married? To who? Etc… how I wish I could ask my dad today.
DeleteBIRGIT ~
ReplyDeleteNeat theme choice! I saw 'On Golden Pond' once, a godzillion years ago. It didn't really grab me in any way. Never saw your next two cherces.
Two movies came to mind for me:
HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943). The movie shows how life changes for Don Ameche's character from one birthday to the next. I love everything about this movie -- the story, the characters, The Gorgeous Overbite, and Charles Coburn, who is one of my two all-time favorite character actors! I probably watch this movie once every year or year and a half.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND, the 1951 animated Disney classic. No, the story doesn't primarily revolve around a birthday, but there *is* that very memorable Unbirthday Party scene, which includes the voice of Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter. I absolutely love Ed Wynn's crazy voice. (The impersonation of Ed Wynn's voice in the Top 40 hit 'Ballroom Blitz' by Sweet is my favorite thing about that song! It always puts a smile on my face.)
~ D-FensDogG
Oh yes! I love Heaven Can Wait! It is such a great underrated film and, I too, love Charles Coburn. I love that song but I don’t recall the reference. I have to check it out. I have only seen the weird Johnny Depp version of Alice. Ed Wynn would be perfect as the Mad Hatter. I should watch the Disney version and the weird one from 1934..or 1935 where the major stars of the day dressed up in weird outfits. I can’t imagine Cary Grant as the Turtle,
Delete"You old poop" from "On Golden Pond." I've said that more than once...lol. Not as much lately, though. Considering I'm now an old poop.
ReplyDeleteHahahaaa…yes, that saying and “suck face” were 2 I actually don’t care for. I just turned 61 and…it sucks because I think I am only 34
Delete