Spencer's Mountain (1963)

Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) and his wife Olivia (Maureen O’Hara) live with their nine children and the senior Spencers in the Snake River Valley within the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. They are an uneducated, poor, but hard working people who are about to celebrate their eldest son’s graduation from high school. Clayboy (James MacArthur) will not only be the first of the Spencer’s to graduate but with his teacher Miss Parker’s (Virginia Gregg) encouragement, the first Spencer to go to college. Graduating with honors, Clayboy is very interested in continuing his education, however, paying for that education sets off a series of obstacles that tests the family’s strength and patience. Clay, a man who believes in God but not religion unknowingly signs an application for a clerical scholarship in order for his son to attend university. When Clayboy is denied the scholarship, Clay travels to the school to get to the root of the problem where he discovers the type of application he signed and Clayboy’s non-existent education in Latin that bars him from it. Striking a deal with the Dean for admission without a scholarship, Clay promises that Clayboy will pass the Latin exam by the end of the summer. Learning Latin is small potatoes for Clayboy who along with his family must figure out some way to pay for the first year of school. When Grandpa Spencer’s (Donald Crisp) dies in a tragic accident, Clayboy all but gives up his dream. With the encouragement of his father, he continues to work at the newly developed free library that his teacher Miss Parker has established for him. Despite that job, a little over five hundred dollars must be raised. After swallowing their pride and asking for a loan from a wealthier neighbor who denies them, Clay decides to give up a dream of his own for Clayboy.
Having long promised Olivia that he would build their dream home on Spencer’s Mountain with it’s grand views, Clay burns down the house they have been building all summer and sells the land to his boss Colonel Coleman (Hayden Rorke) at the quarry. Ironically, Coleman is the father to Claris (Mimsy Farmer) who is deeply in love with Clayboy and his family. Too impatient to wait four years for Clayboy to marry her, Claris has herself transferred to Clayboy’s university so they can be together. With the sale of the land, Clay will be able to pay for Clayboy to go to college with the hope that he will be able to assist his younger sibling and so on down the line.

A simple film with a simple theme combined with great performances by Fonda, O'Hara, MacArthur and Crisp (his swan song), there is a lot to love about Spencer's Mountain. It's both entertaining and endearing. It was also the pre-cursor to a favorite show of mine I used to watch as a kid in the eighties- The Waltons. Based on Earl Hamner, Jr.'s life growing up in Schulyer, Virginia during the Depression, the movie and the show differ greatly. For instance, director Delmer Daves did not to use the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop in the film (I am a Virginia girl and though Wyoming's nice, our mountains are nothing to sneeze at!) and some of the grittier themes of the book and film (alcoholism and infidelity) are seriously watered down in the show. The names also differ and in my family, when someone says Goodnight, John-Boy, we're all thinking about this scene:

Ach! Now I want to watch The Waltons.

Trivia:

Be on the look out for Maureen O'Hara's daughter Bronwyn FitzSimons as the Dean's secretary!

Spencer's Mountain was not a great time for Fonda whose new agent, unbeknownst to him, turned down an opportunity for Fonda to perform as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. Apparently, the black comedy by Edward Albee was written specifically with Fonda in mind.  Fonda also regretted not being able to perform in the film version which slated him and...wait for it...Bette Davis! Can you IMAGINE?? Bette Davis as Martha? How legendary would that have been? I mean, I LOVE Taylor and Burton in that film- they're fantastic! But Fonda and Davis?? Ach! For all you classic film buffs: Eve and Frank pitted against one another is what springs to mind.



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Joanne Woodward! Check out Rachel, Rachel and Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams! You won't be disappointed!

The Best Man (1964)

William Russell (Henry Fonda) and Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson) are the leading candidates for the presidential nomination. Russell is a man with principles, an intellectual who at times can be indecisive. His marriage is strained by past sexual indiscretion he regrets, but his wife Alice (Margaret Leighton) chooses to support him. Cantwell portrays himself as a simple man, a man of the people. He is patriotic, anti-communist, stubborn and ruthless. Along with the full support of his wife, Mabel (Edie Adams), he will stop at nothing to get the nomination. Thus the trouble begins.

Both Russell and Cantwell depend upon the support of former President Art Hockstader (Lee Tracy). Though Hockstader prefers Russell, he thinks his indecisiveness and principles may get in the way of making the decisions needed as a President. Hockstader does not particularly like Cantwell, but he appreciates how tough he is and his willingness to do what it takes. After conversing with him, Russell realizes that Hockstader is going to support Cantwell. Having heard this, Dick Jensen (Kevin McCarthy), Russell’s campaign manager, decides without Russell’s knowledge, to make a call to a source he’s kept in the dark. Sheldon Bascomb (Shelley Berman) served in the military with Cantwell, and is willing to link him to homosexual activity while stationed together during World War II.Cantwell, because he is so ruthless, already has a file he illegally obtained on Russell that testifies to a nervous breakdown he had a few years back. With this damaging information, Cantwell, who assumes Hockstader will throw his support behind Russell, threatens to use it if Hockstader does not support him. Hockstader tells Cantwell that “he doesn't mind a bastard, but objects to a stupid one”, revealing that he was going to support him but will now switch to Russell. However, in his opening-night speech, he endorses neither.

As the hours count down towards the nomination, a healthy game of outmanuevering ensues as Russell refuses to use slander to win the campaign and Cantwell relies on it, not only with Russell, but with other senators and people of power that he’s gathered files on to use against them. It isn’t till minutes before the crucial decision is made that one of the candidates will take a shocking tactic to make sure the best man wins.

An absolutely riveting film from end to finish, The Best Man gives the audience a glimpse into the seedier side of politics, more importantly political manuevering. Complete with intelligent dialogue and scenes that flow smoothly, Fonda, Tracey (the whole reason I wanted to see this film), and Robertson are phenomenal. The supporting cast which also includes a very domineering Ann Sothern, is nothing to sneeze at either. Definitely a must see!

 
 
Tonight on TCM! Um...yes please!
Richard III (1955) A hunchbacked madman plots to make himself king of England. Dir: Laurence Olivier Cast: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Claire Bloom.

Through the looking glass...

Brave, brave Beatrice Lillie

Charles Boyer

Deanna Durbin

Robert Taylor and Greta Garbo in Camille

Edward Arnold in a movie I have seen but cannot recall. Anyone? 

Henry Fonda in Grapes of Wrath

Ina Claire in The Quaker Girl

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Spend an evening with Esther Williams. Things are sure to go swimmingly!

Vintage Ads: Wet Your Whistle!

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Bing Crosby for Chesterfields

Bette Davis for Lustre-Creme
Henry Fonda for Camels

Joan Blondell for Reich- Ash

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. for Lucky Strike

Jane Wyman for Lux

Bob Hope for Kaycrest

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Cecil B. DeMille!

Happy Father's Day!

Gary Cooper and daughter

Vincent Minnelli and daughter



Mickey Rooney and son

John Wayne and daughter

Stan Laurel and daughter

Orson Welles and daughter

James Stewart and family

Humphrey Bogart and son

Henry Fonda and children

John Huston and children

Fred Astaire and son

Robert Montgomery and daughter

Leslie Howard and daughter

David Niven and daughter

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and son

Charles Chaplin and children

Cary Grant and daughter

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Vincent Minnelli!

Good and Awful...

My Reputation was a real tear-jerker. There were two scenes so well performed by Barbara Stanwyk, I have to consider putting her on my favorite actresses list, at least up to the 1940's. Jessica Drummond was a woman content with her safe life until her husband passed away leaving her with two tweener boys who are soon off to boarding school, an overbearing mother (Lucile Watson is about the same here as she was in The Women), and good friend and some really crappy friends. She finally breaks after too many lonely meals and a couple of unwanted advances from her friend's husband. When she confesses to her good friend how hard it is to be home alone, the emotion is palpable, it's no hard task to put yourself in her shoes and grieve with her. And then again, when she has to explain to her sons that she hasn't forgotten their father by finding new love, I found I was on the edge of my seat hoping they understood that she needed this new man in her life. That new man is Major Landis (George Brent) who plays a bit of an jerk at first- apparently grabbing women and smashing your face into theirs is a popular form of passion in the 1940's. If she likes it, all the better, if not, time to put on the asshat show. Very good movie.

Simply put, The Petrified Forest was poorly written for screen adaptation. I felt like I was sitting in an uncomfortable seat in a theatre somewhere watching this unfold on stage. Though Alan Squier (Leslie Howard) delivers his lines well, you can't help but wonder why Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) or his goonies don't make him shut him up. They're in an Arizona desert for corn's sake! Duke Mantee is on the verge of being caught and killed for his crimes. He simply wants time to rest, think, and plan but here is Alan Squier waxing romantic, wanting Duke Mantee to kill him so he can give over his life insurance to a girl he met hours ago. Why? Because he thinks she has potential. Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis- quite possibly in one of her worst performances) doesn't have potential. All she has is a desire to leave the Arizona desert and reunite in France with her mother and maybe paint, maybe carry on a few love affairs. So, why martyr yourself, Alan? The best performance was given by Humphrey Bogart who managed to look quite desperate and put out about the deal he reluctantly makes with Leslie Howard. Despite some really poetic lines about life and love, the movie was hokey and boring to watch. I did not enjoy it at all.

Period Pieces...