Continuing today’s salute to St. Patrick and all things Irish, how about Mrs. Kelly’s baby boy Gene dancing up a storm to “The Hat Me Dear Old Father Wore” from the 1949 musical TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME (which you can read about here). Does it get anymore Irish than this?
Here’s a wee bit o’Hollywood blarney for you, 1939’s IRISH LUCK, a Monogram programmer starring Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland , the first of their seven “amateur sleuth” films together. Grab yourselves some Guinness and a Corned Beef sandwich and enjoy!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This is a day that is very important to several of the writers here at the Shattered Lens. It’s a day in which we celebrate all things Irish and that means a lot more than just wearing green. (That said, I did buy green lingerie specifically for today because, seriously, when would I ever turn down a chance to buy lingerie?)
For today’s musical sequence of the day, I’m happy to present one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite Irish films, 2006’s Once. Prepare to wipe away a tear as Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova perform “Falling Slowly.”
Enjoy!
By Regina Femrite
I’m back!
Even though it has only been a week since I last did a movie a day, I feel like I’ve been gone forever. Thank you to everyone who commented or messaged me while I was gone. It turned out that I just had a bad sinus infection. It was painful as Hell but, with the help of antibiotics and the greatest care in the world, I’m recovering.
Last week, I asked if anyone had any suggestions for what the 68th movie a day should be. Case suggested Hoosiers and so it shall be.
In 1951, Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) arrives in the small Indiana town of Hickory. He is a former college basketball coach who has been hired to coach the high school’s perennially struggling basketball team. Emphasizing the fundamentals and demanding discipline from his players, Dale struggles at first with both the team and the townspeople. When he makes an alcoholic former basketball star named Shooter (Dennis Hopper) an assistant coach, he nearly loses his job. Eventually, though, the Hickory team starts winning and soon, this small town high school is playing for the state championship against highly favored South Bend High School.
For many people, Hoosiers is not just “a basketball movie.” Instead, it is the basketball movie, the movie by which all other sport films are judged. Hoosiers is inspired by a true story. In 1954, small town Milan High School did defeat Muncie for the Indiana State Championship and they did it by two points. Otherwise, Hoosiers is heavily fictionalized and manages to include almost every sports film cliché that has ever existed. How good a coach is Norman Dale, really? Almost every game that Hickory wins is won by only one basket.
Why, then, is Hoosiers a classic? Much of it is due to director David Anspaugh’s attention to period and detail. Some of it is due to Gene Hackman, who gives a tough and unsentimental performance. Whenever Hoosiers starts to cross the line from sentimental to maudlin, Hackman is there to pull it back to reality with a gruff line delivery. Even his romance with the one-note anti-basketball teacher (Barbara Hershey) works. Hickory feels like a real place, with a real history and inhabited by real people.
And then there’s Dennis Hopper. Along with Blue Velvet, Hoosiers was Hopper’s comeback film. After spending twenty years lost in the Hollywood wilderness, better known for abusing drugs and shooting guns than acting, Hopper had just come out of rehab when he was offered the role of Shooter. Amazingly, he turned the role down and told the producers to offer it to his friend, Harry Dean Stanton.
According to Peter L. Winkler’s Dennis Hopper: Portrait of an American Rebel, this is what happened next:
Stanton (who, ironically, was also considered for Hopper’s role in Blue Velvet) called Hopper up and asked, “Aren’t you from Kansas?”
“Yeah.”
“Didn’t you have a hoop on your barn?”
“Yeah.”
“I think you may be the guy that David Anspaugh’s looking for.”
Harry Dean Stanton was right. Dennis Hopper, still very much in recovery, totally inhabited the role of the alcoholic Shooter and gave one of the best performances of his often underrated career. Both Shooter and the actor playing him surprised everyone by doing a good job and Hopper received his only Oscar nomination for acting for his performance in Hoosiers. (He had previously been nominated for co-writing Easy Rider.)
You don’t have to like basketball to enjoy the Hell out of Hoosiers.
by Paul Rader
Hi, everyone!
Well, Val is having some internet issues so it’s going to be a few days until she’s able to do another music video of the day. So, until she returns, I’m going to fill in with some of my favorite cinematic musical sequences! These are scenes that made brilliant use of music.
And what better way to start things off than with the Head Over Heels scene from 2001’s Donnie Darko. Directed by Richard Kelly, this scene not only makes brilliant use of the Tears For Fears song, Head Over Heels, but it also manages to introduce every character and set up almost every important relationship in the film.
It’s brilliant but I always find myself wondering what Drew Barrymore had against Sparkle Motion.
To quote Val, “Enjoy!”
Another year, another Pixar movie that’s probably going to make Lisa cry.
This year, Pixar will be offering up Cars 3 (contain your enthusiasm) and Coco! Check out the teaser for Coco below:
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
Let’s celebrate the Ides of March with four shots from four films about Caesar’s one true love, Cleopatra!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Cleopatra (1917, dir by J. Gordon Edwards)
Cleopatra (1934, dir by Cecil B. DeMille)
Cleopatra (1963, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz )
Cleopatra (1970, dir by Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto)
I am going to have to take a few days off from doing these posts because the Internet is still dead at my house. It won’t be back up till, at best, the 16th (Thursday)–if not later. I don’t want to waste any videos over this right now. I’ll be back as soon as possible. It’s a frustrating mess here right now. You could say that “Anger” is my middle name. Right, Thor?
Through the Shattered Lens 