I just saw four movies that I enjoyed very much. So I'm reminded of a time in my life when I kept a list of which movies I had seen, who with, the date and the location. It was a nice list that I probably have kept somewhere, in some box, of a couple pages, and then stopped filling out- maybe I kept it for about two years. I'm not sure. I liked having a reference point that I rarely referred to, but could have if I had wanted. I enjoyed that level of record keeping. And I liked how each line was written at a separate time, so maybe the ink was a different color or the writing was reflective of my state of mind at the time. And as the page got some wear, I liked it even better. Starting a little later, and until I stopped doing both at the same point, I started keeping a list of the books I read too, with the year of publication and the date I finished it, and the author's name. I'm not sure if the movie list included the year the film was released- I was often seeing films that weren't new as well as many that were.. but I don't think it did.
This was in college when I'd go to the dollar movie very often, but also watch films on campus that were from all different time periods.
It seems like a nice thing to be able to refer to; a list of movies I've seen or books I've read. There's a lot of them. I find that it's rare to not be sure if I've seen it or not. I pretty much remember if I've ever read or seen one. But what I find odd is that if I didn't like the plot particularly, I remember it in much detail. If I liked a book or a movie, it's easier for me to get into it again because I don't remember as much about what happens. That seems odd to me, but I think it's great to watch a film again, or read a book again, and enjoy it because it still has some surprises. Watching a movie I didn't like again is horrible. I'd rather look out the window for two hours. For some reason, I generally finish them, even if I don't like them.
Someone once said to me, "You keep a list of every movie you see, but don't even write down the day your cousin was born!" Well, that made no effect upon me because why would I consider what somebody else wants a list of? If you want a list of every birthday or marriage, good for you.
I had a roommate that saw many many movies with me, and the possibility of being proven wrong got me started listing them. There was a movie I didn't like, and it came onto the tv sometime after I had seen it in the theater. I came home and my roommate was watching the end of the movie and he said he liked it. I told him that we had seen it together and we both had hated it, and he said that he had never seen it before. So I started writing it down.
Later, I remembered who had hated that film with me in the theater; and it wasn't my roommate.
Me And You And Everyone We Know (2005) and Mahogany (1975) and Griff the Invisible (2010) and Far From The Madding Crowd (2015) are the films I enjoyed recently.
I think the people that don't like Mahogany are divided into two groups. There are a few people in the world, more vocal than I'd like, you just don't like Diana Ross. It pains me to type this, but there are a few people who are like that. For whatever reason, they just don't see her as the entertainer of the 20th century. I don't know what their problem is, but they seem to think that Mahogany is her fault. Well, she and James Dean are the only people in history who are considered movie stars who only made three movies, so that alone is a great distinction. But she also belongs to the group of actors who were nominated for Academy Awards in their first film role. This is a big deal. She might not be your favorite, but her place in history is assured without your consent.
Just look at her.
The other people who don't like Mahogany are people who don't realize what movies were like in 1975. Mahogany is a movie that fits right in with the era, except the love story is between two black actors. Other than that, it's just as silly, entertaining and interesting as any other love story from that time. It's not a treatise on urban decay in the New World contrasted with the decadence of Old World Rome dressed up for the disco age. It's a movie. And it's really fun.
Griff and Me and You And Everyone We Know were delightfully quirky, until their pleasantly predictable endings, and I think I'd like to see them again sometime, as I have Mahogany several times.
When I was ten or about, The Wiz was being made into a movie. And I loved The Wizard of Oz. It was one of only two films that I had seen repeatedly, because as far as I remember, it was one of the only movies one could count on being shown annually; I think at Christmas time. At Easter, The Ten Commandments was shown, too. And I still love that one also. But other than that, once a movie was played, who knows if you'd ever have the opportunity to see it again. I remember waiting for Christmas specials, because they were sure to be repeated once a year also, but in most cases, if you missed TV, you missed it, other than sitcoms which were available as reruns, but not in any particular order.
I still think that maybe The Wizard of Oz is the greatest film. It certainly defies description. People don't even think of it as a musical, but as a fantasy or a kid flick. The acting was pretty standard for the time, but now it seems like something that fits in only with that fantasy world. But it's a favorite of so many adults and so many references have made it into our culture that it's clearly the winner for anything from the 30s with any current cultural relevance. Snow White and Gone With The Wind and It Happened One Night have had lasting effects, but The Wizard of Oz has no peer for anything produced then that's still in the public's consciousness now.
It was probably 1976, because The Freedom Train was touring with artifacts from American history, including one of the pairs of ruby (sequined) slippers. And a Diana Ross movie was coming out. And we cousins were asked to pick from these two options. Well, I just couldn't. I had to see both. And I did. I'm trying to look back at that Christmas break and figure out why I thought Diana Ross was the biggest movie star in the world at the time. I had barely heard of Lady Sings the Blues, and I hadn't seen either that or Mahogany at the time. Those movies were for adults. But I had it in my head that of all the living movie stars, Diana was the biggest.
I must have seen the commercial for Mahogany on tv. That's the only thing I can think of that would have given me my 10 year old conception of Diana Ross. Then I saw The Wiz and I loved it and wondered why Diana wasn't the star I knew she could be. She sounded great, but she looked so... normal. She was trying to be an everywoman, and I wanted glamour. I don't think she's done anything without glamour since.
Can't you feel a brand new day?
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