West Side Story (1961)

I was introduced to Romeo and Juliet when I was about 13 years old. I think this is the appropriate age for a girl to read the story because as she gets older, she realizes how stupid it is. Juliet was around 13 and at that age, a girl has yet to be completely let down by her fair share of suitors. Romeo is a 15 year old guy (need I say more?) and is in love with one woman in the morning and in love with another that very night. The only way for this tragedy to happen is to make the leads young and therefor, very stupid. Oh yeah, and they come from rivaling families. I am sure that when Shakespeare wrote this story, it was gripping stuff (as we learn in Shakespeare in Love) but by 1961, people were ready for a film that brought the musical version of this story to life.

The musical is not about two Italian families who hate each other. Instead it features an Irish-American (Jets) gang and a Puerto Rican-American (Sharks) gang in New York City. They of course are rival gangs. So one of the "Irish" guys falls in love with a girl named Maria. Maria is Puerto Rican, played by the Russian-American Natalie Wood, with vocals by Marni Nixon. Rita Moreno really is Puerto Rican and won an Oscar for the role without singing. I thought that was illegal? George Chakiris is really Greek-American but he really sang his songs and he also won the Oscar. And do not even get me started on the bad fake tans they gave the "Puerto Ricans" in this movie. I imagine today it would be border-line racist.

(Spoilers) Anyone who knows Romeo and Juliet can figure out what happens to the characters in this film, with one change at the end. "Juliet" somehow manages not to die. I like that ending better. No man you have known for a few days is worth shoving a dagger through your heart. If he wants to die for you, by all means let him. Don't be such a wimp! You got along before he came into your life, you will be fine without him.

There is a Dirty Dancing tie to West Side Story. One of the songs Lisa comments she may sing in the closing show is "I Feel Pretty" and it is from this musical.

Unforgiven (1992)

Last night I watched my fifty-fourth Best Picture. I really do not care for westerns so I generally do not watch them. Unforgiven was alright. I feel sure I will never watch it again but it was an okay film that I do not feel I wasted my time watching.

(Spoiler Alert) The story begins in the late 19th century in a small town in Wyoming. A cowboy maims a local prostitute and the lawman in charge feels if the cowboy and his friend, who was innocent, pay the "pimp" with horses, it will make up for the violent act. So the other women working in the brothel feel unavenged. Between them, they come up with some money and offer $1,000 to anyone that kills both men involved. When the cowboys bring in the horses as payment, the innocent cowboy offers a better horse to the woman who was attacked because he felt she deserved something. Unfortunately, the "good" cowboy is the first killed by the men willing to take on the job. I will watch any movie that deals with someone taking revenge on people who have done them wrong. I especially like movies that show women taking revenge on evil men.

Gene Hackman plays the lawman and received his second Academy Award for the role. Clint Eastwood is also credited with two Oscars for the film, Best Director and Best Picture. Eastwood was nominated for Best Actor but lost out to Tom Hanks for his role in Philadelphia. This is only the third Eastwood film I have seen and the only western featuring him. Every time I hear his name, I think of Back to the Future Part III. As one of my followers has yet to see the Back to the Future series, I will leave it at that.

Amadeus (1984)

Amadeus is easily one of my favorite films and high up on my list of favorite Best Pictures. I think I first saw the film in a class I took in high school - Music Appreciation. That was my favorite class I ever took.

I realize I am odd in that I am 27 years old, cannot play any musical instrument, and I honestly enjoy classical music. The fact that listening to classical music actually makes your brain work more efficiently is just an added bonus.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a rock star of his time. Before the likes of Elvis and The Beatles, he was one of those legends. However, Mozart lived well beyond his means and died penniless and in debt to many.

The film is told through the memories of Antonio Salieri, a contemporary of Mozart. It is a perfect blend of late 18th century life, culture, and music. It also brings forward a deep, psychological obsession and Salieri's extreme jealously, yet admiration, of Mozart. We clearly know that Salieri has at least begun to lose his mind as he tells the story years later.

Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, the same place The Sound of Music was filmed. What a musical city indeed! Mozart died when he was 35 years old. It must be a curse to be so talented and groundbreaking because that gift seems to have an uncanny link to early death. Beethoven was kind of the underdog to Mozart, always living in his shadow. If anyone can put Beethoven to shame, you know they must have been amazing. I have to admit that I tend to prefer Beethoven over Mozart. I am sure it has something to do with Beethoven being linked to several women with the name Therese. One of his most famous compositions, Fur Elise, was actually misread years after Beethoven's death. The original title of the song was Fur Therese but the general public are rarely aware of that little piece of information. I can only hope someday a movie as spectacular as Amadeus will be made to honor Beethoven.

Both main actors in Amadeus were nominated for the Best Actor award for the film. F. Murray Abraham (Salieri) won the award. Maybe the Academy was finally letting Salieri have a moment over Amadeus? Two years after the movie was released, a musician named Falco had a hit song called "Rock Me Amadeus," an homage to Mozart. Falco's song was one of only two songs in the 1980s to be successful in the United States and performed in German. (The other was "99 Luftballoons" by Nena.)

I currently own 6 Best Picture Winners and Amadeus is one of them. Any person who can appreciate music, likes history, or wants to see a good movie really should consider Amadeus.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Okay, first of all it is heartless of the Academy to award any film that is THIRD in a trilogy the coveted award because it means the viewer needs to sit through the first two to understand the winning picture.

I am not a fan of science fiction or fantasy. I draw the line somewhere after Harry Potter. A coworker was nice enough to lend me her copies of the Lord of the Rings films. There is only one thing that got me through all three films without wanting to harm myself...Viggo Mortensen.

The storyline of Liv Tyler and Viggo (yes, I consider myself to be on a first name basis with him) was enjoyable. Also appearing in the films were Orlando Bloom as an albino, Elijah Wood as a little person, a very plump Rudy, and one of the crawlers from The Descent.

I just watched these films less than a year ago and they have made such a little impression on me that I have already forgotten what the purpose was. There was an evil ring, a tower with a creepy looking eye at the top that I swore was going to shine the Bat Signal at any moment, and a bunch of battles in something called Middle Earth. I think they may have misread the script and it should have been the Middle East. I also seem to recall several little people riding trees that were mobile. Maybe I should have taken a dose of an hallucinogen to help the experience.

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

The first Best Picture Winner I watched in 2011 was How Green Was My Valley. The story is about a Welsh coal mining family around the turn to the 20th century.

As seems to be the theme of any movie dealing with coal mining, this is a sad story. (SPOILERS) The father and one of the older sons both die in separate mine explosions/collapses. Four of the other adult brothers are forced to leave the valley in search of work elsewhere. The youngest son loses the use of his legs but regains it, only to go on to be a "scholar" and being beaten up by the school bully. Then there is the beautiful daughter who is in love with the preacher but he does not want her to live the poor life of a preacher's wife. The preacher turns her out and she enters an unhappy marriage with the boss of the coal company's son. While she is indeed rich, she is miserable.

I kept waiting for John Wayne to come into town and start arguing with Maureen O'Hara but it never happened. The film also starred a very young Roddy McDowell. I could see a very strong resemblance between him and the younger version of Anna Paquin, which is very odd.