An Honorary for O'Hara, At Last!

Actress Maureen O'Hara will be receiving an Honorary this year along with the great actor/singer/activist Harry Belafonte. Neither were ever nominated for competitive Oscars despite rich and enduring showbiz careers and, you know, that's exactly the type of performer that Honorarys should go to. Joining them are two previous Oscar winners because the Academy loves to double up for some reason. Still it's hard to complain about honors for animation genius Hayao Miyazaki and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere. Jean-Claude, who is most famous for his work with Luis Buñuel has worked in multiple countries and for a very long time and semi-recently he co-wrote the super-brilliant movie Birth (2004) that we like to obsess on here. All four are amazing talents so congratulations to them!

But mostly I couldn't be filled with more joy about O'Hara.  We've been pushing for an Honorary as long as The Film Experience has been around. I'd like to claim credit for the Academy finally waking up and going "duh. no brainer: Maureen O'Hara!" but I suspect it was her recent tribute at the AFI that did it. O'Hara is 94 years old so there's no time like RIGHT NOW.

I gradually fell in love with Maureen O'Hara because of The Parent Trap (1961). When I was a wee bairne, before movies became my grand obsession, that movie was it for me, The Best One Ever. My mom liked Hayley Mills, I gather, whose big peak popularity years were in the early 60s before she had had any children. I assume this is how we came to know and love the various Mills movies as children but in truth I don't remember. I just remember that it was always my favorite. I thought it was hilarious, sang along to "Let's Get Together", wanted desperately to have my own twin and to this day I still find stories about twins irresistible.

As I grew older and the movie gradually became "I loved that as a kid!" nostalgia, I still enjoyed revisiting it from time to time. I even watched this kiddie classic with a high school friend more than once because that is a cool thing for moody teenagers to do (shut up). When I was little the movie was all about Hayley Mills. It was only when I started to get older that I noticed how deftly its two movies at once, a family comedy for kids and a romantic comedy for adults. And Maureen O'Hara couldn't be more vivid in it, and I'm not just talking about The Queen of Technicolor's hair. Some actresses fear playing mothers because it ages them but O'Hara, who was in her early 40s at the time, is proof positive that you don't have to be remotely sexless onscreen once you've acknowledged that you've entered the "onscreen mom" years. She's so lively in the movie in a great comic turn that uses so many of her gifts: terrific sexual chemistry, feisty spirit, solid dramatic chops, and entrancing beauty among them.

I didn't know when I was a kid that Maureen O'Hara had been a big deal since the late 1930s so it was a joy to discover that she had such a rich film history with multiple classics on her resume. There's a couple very important titles that I somehow haven't seen (The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Quiet Man are moving to the top of my queue), but we've talked Black Swan (1942) and How Green Was My Valley (1941) in the past few years right here.

I've always had a thing for redheads (as you know). Maybe it's the Queen of Technicolor's fault?

Game Off

Three stories of how I'm off my game.

1. In the podcast post about "Midnight in Paris", I was all "you should read these articles" and then I didn't link to them. D'oh. We briefly mentioned Fandor's "TOP TEN FILMS ABOUT FILMMAKING" which you should definitely look at (I did the Sunset Blvd honors therein and I shared a personal ballot) and we talked about Mark and Joe's series on Oscar nominated Original Songs which has covered 1980 "Fame", 1981 "Arthur", 1982 "Up Where We Belong", 1983 "Flashdance", 1984 "I Just Called To Say (I Love You)", 1985 "Say You Say Me" and 1986 "Take My Breath Away" thus far. It's great fun to read.

2. Today is the 50th anniversary of THE PARENT TRAP (1961) only one of my favorite movies of all time. I think I was born loving it. Maybe I was meant to be twins? And I forgot to write it up. *sniffle* Forgive me Hayley & Hayley!

Yes, it is amazing!

3. You have to be chosen! With each passing day my own Green Lantern review fades in my own estimation (and I was so happy with it when writing it) whilst my hatred for the movie grows.

First Christopher Orr at The Atlantic provided the funniest traditional review, absolutely skewering the movie's hateful messages. I had tried to do the same with that "thinking is bad for you!" anti-intellectualism angle but the Tyranny of Beauty complaint is just as valid when it comes to the movie's deplorable subtext. Now Topless Robot has an incredibly funny but, more importantly, entirely accurate synopsis of its "best" scenes. It's hilariously precise and a great reprimand to all future movies that would like to have their screenplays written by committees and portray"heroes" as assholes whilst demanding that you root for them.

Remember how juvenile and bratty that movie Jumper was wherein the "hero" basically called everyone watching it "schmucks" in the opening scene and then we were supposed to root for him and his enormous and undeserved powers anyway? Green Lantern is totally like that... but it gets away with it a bit more on account of cocky Ryan Reynolds winning the sweepstakes of "who would you rather stare at you in 'puny human'* contempt mode?" sweepstakes handily over whiny Hayden Christensen whose ass you could probably kick anyway.

*I realize I just mixed up superhero tropes. Shut up! My ego has already taken a beating.

I will diminish and go into the East and remain Nathaniel.

Twins

Lets get together yeahyeahyeah ♫ think of all that we could sha-areI had such a great birthday yesterday. Thanks to everyone who sent virtual or telepathic happy day wishes. And thanks to all of you who liven things up here everyday with your presence and comments. Today I was thinking about twins, as its a Gemini thing. (Happy birthday to all Gemini readers!) I always wanted a twin and my favorite movie as a little kid was The Parent Trap.

Which movie star do you most wish had a twin?
Why? I mean besides the obvious reason: There'd be twice their wonderfulness around.

Reader of the Day: Leehee

As part of Reader Appreciation Month, we're featuring mini-interviews with You, The Film Experience crowd. Today, we've got Leehee, originally from Israel -- her name means "she is for me". I love that! I contacted Leehee because she was so happy about that post on The Black Swan (1942).

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first moviegoing experience or obsession?
Leehee: The first movie that I vividly remember seeing on the big screen was "Anne of Green Gables" when I was about 6... But my first obsession was with the first VHS tape I owned The Parent Trap (1961) . My twin sister and I watched it every.single.day for about a year....and it kind of drove our mom crazy! I wanted to be Hayley Mills and have Maureen O'Hara as my mom *so* bad.

You and me both. ♪ ♫ lets get together yeahyeahyeah. The Parent Trap is the best. When did you start reading The Film Experience?

Hmmm... I don't quite remember. It must have been at least 2007. I stuck around because we have somewhat of a similar taste in actresses and movies; I LOVED the Oscar coverage; loved the snark and the in-depth analysis of both old and new movies; loved the fashion... basically, i felt like you sort of created this for me!

What's your movie diet like right about now?
I try and go to the movie theater at least once a week if not more (when there are movies to see!); I recently subscribed to netflix so I could watch movies online; and I have an unhealthy habit of buying DVD's  (I own over 600).

 

Your 3 Favorite Actresses. Go!

Maureen O'Hara; Deborah Kerr; Barbra Streisand; Charlotte Rampling; Emma Thompson (sorry I had to do 5!!!)

They make a movie of your life. Tell us about it.
The movie of my life will be called "Behind the Smile". It will be directed by Barbra Streisand and star Kate Winslet as me. :-)