Skip to main content

Readers Asked: Gerry Maxey Choices of Films to Watch on Valentine's Day

 America in 2024 is a strange, thread bare society;  which believes, that because you have an opinion or skill in one field, you are omniscient in all fields.

Because this Blogger believes William Tecumseh Sherman, fresh from an insane asylum,  was the best General of the American Civil War, Readers have asked him to suggest which films to watch on Valentine’s Day.

And since this Blogger is a 2024 American; he cannot limit his opinions to General Sherman.

Here Goes-

1-   RANDOM HARVEST- THE BEST ROMANCE FILM EVER- a 1942 Black and white film, starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson. The plot is totally BONKERS…..and yet, it uplifts the power of devotion in love.

2-   PERSUASION- This Blogger once knew a bona fide natural born killer. He was a tunnel rat during the Vietnam War. His favorite all time novelist was Jane Austen. Why? In his words “ She is the greatest novelist who has ever lived who believes in happy endings; therefore, by default, she is the greatest novelist ever.”

There have been a number of film versions of Austen’s novel, PERSUASION; including a recent modern version, which is a joke. The best is the 1995 British version; you can feel the ache and the all consuming desire to correct mistakes.

3-A MAN AND A WOMAN- French, 1966…..the joys of being in love and the perils involved.

4-THE QUIET MAN- The joys of falling in love with a headstrong woman, and the perils.

5- THE END OF THE AFFAIR- perhaps one does not want God to answer one's prayers. Graham Greene is one of this Blogger’s favorite novelists. There is a 1955 film based on his book, THE END OF THE AFFAIR…..the film is putrid, with a miscast Van Johnson, in a role slated for Gregory Peck. Greene, an English Catholic, has come closest to figuring out the psychology of God, since the Old Testament. Forget the movie, and READ THE BOOK.

6 -HOW TO STEAL A MILLION with Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn; and how real was their love scene in the closet?

7-ANNA KARINA- the Greta Garbo version; Vivien Leigh also did a version; she was terrific, but her leading man was a dud. Tolstoy is the greatest influencer of  artistic thought in the 19th Century( John Ford holds that distinction for the 20th Century; AI will hold that distinction for the 21st Century). His genius in ANNA KARINA is that the Ibsen like heroine wants some passion in her life. She finds it when a rich, handsome, honorable, dashing young officer falls in love with her. And he really loves her. And she is still not satisfied. As Freud said on his deathbed” What do women want?”

Freud must have read ANNA KARINA.

8- NOTTING HILL -Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, the apex of the myth movie stars have souls.

9- THE NAKED JUNGLE- Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston find love as killer army ants attack.

10-WINGS OF DESIRE German, 1987- even an angel can fall for a gorgeous woman….and who knew Peter Falk was a fallen angel?

As for General Sherman, he only lost 65 dead in his infamous MARCH TO THE SEA.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Urination Of Nicole Kidman's Career

I went to see EYES WIDE SHUT in total awe of its Director, Stanley Kubrick, who had in his career Directed THE GREATEST Science Fiction/Cosmological film EVER- 2001, SPACE ODYSSEY, the BEST and MOST INSIGHTFUL film essay on American culture EVER- LOLITA, arguably the greatest war movie ever- PATHS OF GLORY, and one of the best film epics ever- SPARTACUS. Mr. Kubrick died SUDDENLY, before EYES WIDE SHUT was released. Everyone was so sad. Then I saw EYES WIDE SHUT, and understood exactly why Herr Director Kubrick had croaked so suddenly; he had willed himself to death before the release of the film, so that  he would not have to suffer the slings and shots against his declining genius. EYES WIDE SHUT is the WORST, laughably worst, porn film ever made, EVER. It starred that larger than life couple(at the time), Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The key scene in the film was Ms. Kidman peeing. I was spending over $60.00(including tickets,parking and snacks for me and my date ) to watch
Post a Comment
Read more

The Crash of Flight 447: Fate, Moliere and Veronique Gaignard

In 1954 there was the film, THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY about danger in the air; that was followed by the 1964 film, FATE IS THE HUNTER about a fatal airplane crash and the followup investigation; followed by the 1970 film, AIRPORT, about a bomber on a plane, starring every living star in Hollywood at the time; followed by  the sequels, AIRPORT 75, AIRPORT 77, AIRPORT 79- THE CONCORDE. All that melodramatic danger in the air was laughed to death by the films AIRPLANE in 1980, followed by AIRPLANE II in 1982. Everything in air flight had been covered, both the tragedy and the comedy  of air travel, until Air France Flight 447. Flight 447 was the Air France  Airbus Flight from Brazil to France, which,in 2009, crashed in the South Atlantic , killing all on board,228 passengers. Airbuses fly by wire, which means they fly by computers rather than the old mechanical ways.  Very up to date, except when something goes awry, then it seems it is very difficult to set right. In the wee hours
1 comment
Read more

Roger Cohen's Russian Think Piece in NEW YORK TIMES Begs the Question: Was Gerry Maxey Right about Russia TEN YEARS AGO?

  This Blogger respects Russians; as Frederick the Great stated :” It takes two bullets to take a Russian soldier out; one to kill him and one to  stop him.” This Blogger   likes Russians; even though once, in Moscow, during the Soviet era, his incredibly attractive tour guide, aka KGB agent, told him and his brother   that they were in danger of being hit, fatally, by a Soviet car crossing a Moscow street. T his Blogger’s brother told her that he had ridden in a Soviet Car, the LADA; and that he could damn well survive any hit by that piece of junk. She laughed. That night, this Blogger’s brother slept in his room, under his bed, drunk. This Blogger admires the way Russians do business; when Soviet diplomats were kidnapped in Lebanon, the KGB paid the ransoms immediately, without complaint. Shortly thereafter, Beirut was flooded with Soviet agents and Soviet bribes; the kidnappers were identified. They were abducted, tortured and  castrated; their dead bodies strung from l
Post a Comment
Read more