L-Lz Movies

L.A. Confidential (1978)  LA in the 50's: someone's killing imprisoned mob boss Mickey Cohen's gang. The police, led by Captain Dudley, convince wiseguys from Jersey, Cleveland, and elsewhere to go home. Rich developer, Pierce Patchett, runs a stable of high-class hookers who are ringers for movie stars. The plot to replace Cohen blindsides three plainclothes cops: White watched his father beat his mother to death then vanish, he punishes abusers with quick violence; Exley's father was a hero cop killed mysteriously, he seeks justice by the book; Vicennes, a clothes horse, consults for a Dragnet-like TV show. Will they escape corruption and murder, will they find their own morality?

Outstanding movie with an all star cast; nominated for 9 Oscars and won 2.

Many of the events in the movie were based upon real events. These include the Bloody Christmas scene where drunken police officers brutally beat up Hispanic prisoners suspected of beating up two uniformed cops (the real-life cops involved were named Trojanowski and Brownson -- in the film, they're referred to as Helenowski and Brown); the plot line of real-life gangster Mickey Cohen's arrest touching off a gang war for control of the rackets; the LAPD Goon Squad which would kidnap out-of-town gangsters, beat them up and threaten to kill them if they ever tried to come back to set up their operations; Lana Turner dating gangster Johnny Stompanato (although this movie is set in 1953, and the real Turner and Stompanato didn't start dating until 1957). In real life, Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Stompanato to death on April 4, 1958, after catching him beating her mother.

Mickey Cohen, the mobster who gets locked up which causes the war for control of the drug trade in the story, was a real-life Los Angeles mobster from the late '30s until his death in 1976 after two imprisonments for tax evasion. He was a small-time hood who joined forces with New York gangster Bugsy Siegel when Siegel came to L.A. to run the rackets (see the film Bugsy). After Siegel's murder in 1947, Cohen took over the rackets that Bugsy had built up, including labor union shakedowns at the studios, drug trafficking, gambling and prostitution. He was so hated by the police that he was constantly arrested for any crime, big or small (he was once arrested for using foul language on the street). As shown in the movie, he was eventually imprisoned for income tax evasion and spent nearly ten years in prison. After his release, he was semi-retired from the rackets and lived off his wealth, remaining a colorful character in Los Angeles until his death in 1976.

At the time the film takes place no building in Los Angeles was allowed to be taller than city hall, so the cameras were placed at certain points so that any building taller than city hall would not be seen.

L.A. Story (1991)  Harris K Telemacher is a 'wacky weekend weatherman' for a local Los Angeles television station who is searching for meaning in his otherwise cliche ridden Los Angeles life. With the help of an insightful and talkative Freeway sign, Harris embarks on a journey through Los Angeles in pursuit of Sarah, an English reporter who has been sent to the City of Angels to research an article for the London Times.

There are numerous references to William Shakespeare: the gravedigger scene is from Hamlet, Telemacher quotes Shakespeare twice, and the storyline contains elements from A Midsummer Night's Dream (with the two confused couples exchanging lovers) and The Tempest (with a magic storm stranding the lovers, the gods (in the form of stone lions) blessing the couple, and a character named Ariel).

The name of the hotel in Santa Barbara is "El Pollo del Mar." That translates to "Chicken of the Sea."

Sarah Jessica Parker has stated that this film changed her career. Up until this point she had always played mousy girls or the best friend. She said that no one in Hollywood had thought of her as "sexy." Once she was cast in this role several new doors opened for her.

The Ladykillers (1955)  A gang of five diverse oddball criminal types rent a two room apartment in an isolated house on a London cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow with three pet parrots. The group's mastermind, Professor Marcus, tells her a cover story that they are members of an amateur string quintet and would like to use the rooms to hone their musical skills. In reality, they are plotting to rob a bank and plan to use Mrs. Wilberforce's naiveté and her Victorian sensibilities to their advantage.

When the parrot flies out of the living room and into the hallway, it clearly says "Alec Guinness" as it lands.

Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.

The Ladykillers (2004)  A remake of the 1955 comedy, the story revolves around a Southern professor who puts together a group of thieves to rob a casino. They rent a room in an old woman's house, but soon she discovers the plot and they must kill her, a task that is more difficult than it seems.

It is almost a great film and worth seeing.  With only a bit more effort it would have been a best picture.  There are many in jokes that most of the audience will not get.

Throughout the film, Mrs. Munson says that she donates monthly to Bob Jones University, citing it as a "good Bible college". Bob Jones University banned black students until the 1970s, and did not allow interracial dating until 2000.

The portrait of Mrs. Marva Munson's dead husband Othar is stationed over the fireplace. Throughout the movie, Othar's visage in the portrait changes as the story unfolds. The portrait appears to have the same stoic expression at the approximate time stamps of 05:25, 33:20, and 01:07:22; however Othar's portrait is clearly disapproving when shown at the 01:14:35 mark. After Mrs. Munson's ultimatum to G.H. Dorr, Othar's portrait returns to its stoic visage at 01:15:15. At 01:27:58, when he fears for Mrs. Munson's safety, Othar's portrait's expression reflects his surprise. At 01:29:44, Othar's portrait appears satisfied and almost smiling. This was probably done in tribute to Preston Sturges' "Sullivan's Travels" in which the portrait of Mr Kornheiser's expressions change. "Sullivan's Travels" was one of the inspirations for The Coens' O, Brother Where Art Thou.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)  Dr. Robert Morgan is the only survivor of a devastating world-wide plague due to a mysterious immunity he acquired to the bacterium while working in Central America years ago. He is all alone now... or so it seems. As night falls, plague victims begin to leave their graves, part of a hellish undead army that''s thirsting for blood...his!

Based on the book I am Legend, which has been made into three movies so far.  The other two: Omega Man and I am Legend.

To more accurately show how grueling it was for his character to survive, Vincent Price insisted on lifting real people into the back of his car instead of dummies. This is why it seems he's taking extra care with the bodies. For the scene at the pit, however, he's handling dummies for obvious reasons.

The Last Star Fighter (1984)  Alex Rogan lives in a trailer court where his mother is manager and everyone is like a big extended family. He beats the Starfighter video game to the applause of everyone in the court and later that day finds he has been turned down for a student loan for college. Depressed, he meets Centauri, who introduces himself as a person from the company that made the game, before Alex really knows what is going on he is on the ride of his life in a "car" flying through space. Chosen to take the skills he showed on the video game into real combat to protect the galaxy from an invasion. Alex gets as far as the Starfighter base before he really realized that he was conscripted and requests to be taken back home. When he gets back home, he finds a Zando-Zan (alien bounty hunter) is stalking him. Unable to go home and live, Alex returns to the Starfighter base to find all the pilots have been killed and he is the galaxy's only chance to be saved from invasion. To defeat the invaders, who are paying the bounty on him, he must be victorious.

This was the first movie to do all special effects (except makeup and explosions) on a computer. All shots of spacecraft, space, etc were generated on a Cray X-MP computer.  It took 15 minutes of computing time to generate a single frame. 

In addition to the major "Star Trek universe" roles later played by "Starfighter" cast members Wil Wheaton and Marc Alaimo, several others in the movie's cast guest starred in various "Star Trek" franchises. They include Dan Mason, Barbara Bosson, Norman Snow and Geoffrey Blake. But notable among them is Meg Wyllie ("Granny Gordon") who played one of the Talosian "keepers" in the Star Trek pilot, Star Trek: The Cage.

Soon after Alex meets Grig for the first time, we see Grig adjusting a device with red beams rotating - this prop is a mainstay of engineering sets, most notably seen in Airplane! 2.

A League of Their Own (1992)  In a small town in Oregon, farm girls Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) are sisters who compete with each other, even over the little things. Older, prettier, more settled and married Dottie is the catcher for the local softball team sponsored by Lukash Dairy. Kit is her younger sister, and pitcher on the same team, who feels that she can't measure up to Dottie in her own eyes, or in the eyes of others. With so many young men overseas fighting the Axis, there is a danger that professional baseball will be shut down for the duration of the war. A well-known candy manufacturer, Walter Harvey (Gary Marshall), contrives the idea to create a professional baseball league for women; both to keep the sport alive and to make a buck or two. Dottie is recruited by a scout (John Lovitz) for this new league but refuses to go unless her sister is allowed on the team. On the way to Chicago they also intervene to get an outstanding batter, Marla Hooch (Megan Cavanaugh) a try-out as well. Once in Chicago, they are introduced to the other girls who will be on one of the four teams: May and Doris (Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell) are close friends from New York; Shirley Baker (Anne Cusack) is an illiterate farm-girl. These women, along with their team-mates, begin a journey that opens up a whole new world, far beyond that of the baseball diamond, lead by team manager, Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), a washed-up star ruined by alcohol and angered and embarrassed to be the coach of a girl's team.The closing credits show shots of the original  AAGPBL old-timers playing baseball.

According to a handwritten letter she wrote to photographer Steven Meisel, Madonna was miserable. "I cannot suffer any more than I have in the past month, learning how to play baseball with a bunch of girls (yuk) in Chicago (double yuk). I have a tan, I'm dirty all day, and I hardly ever wear make up. Penny Marshall, Lavern (sic), Geena Davis is a Barbie Doll, and when God decided where the beautiful men were going to live in the world, he did not choose Chicago. I have made a few friends but they are athletes, not actresses. They have nothing on the house of extravaganza. I wish I could come to N.Y."   It is probably why she left Michigan too or maybe she was just upset because I had left Michigan.

The film portrays the league as initially unpopular and unprofitable, until demeaning gimmicks are used to attract male audiences. In reality, the league was popular and profitable from the start, largely because it played in towns in the upper Midwest that had no way of watching a live baseball game. Eventually, the league grew into a ten-team two-division league. The advent of televised baseball games in the early fifties, however, would lead to the demise in the popularity of the league.

Leap of Faith (1992)  Jonas is a fraudulent faith healer, who uses all the tricks in the book to con the people attending his shows. Jonas and his team of helpers, including Jane who is in need of some romance, travel the country stopping at big towns and cities to put on their show. When one of the trucks breaks down in a small town, Jonas is quick to accept the challenge of making money in this town. His other goal is to seduce Marva, a waitress in the town, but she's a hard nut to crack, as is Will, the local sheriff who's determined to expose Jonas as a fraud.

During the closing credits, the 'Angels of Mercy' singers are shown singing to a tent full of people (including some of the cast members).

Jonas's "mind-reading" trick, wherein he receives intimate details about his marks via a small radio, loosely follows the exploits of televangelist Peter Popoff, who performed a very similar trick with his wife at the microphone. Popoff's career took a nosedive when he was publicly "outed" on the Johnny Carson show by professional magician and skeptic James Randi, who had managed to smuggle a radio scanner into one of Popoff's revival meetings.

The Left Handed Gun (1958)  William Bonney - Billy the Kid - gets a job with a cattleman known as 'The Englishman,' and is befriended by the peaceful, religious man. But when a crooked sheriff and his men murder the Englishman because he plans to supply the local Army fort with his beef, Billy decides to avenge the death by killing the four men responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him - Tom and Charlie, two hands he worked with; Pat Garrett, who is about to be married; and the kindly Mexican couple who take him in when he's in trouble - into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.

I lived in Socorro, NM for several years.  Billy the Kid is still a local hero in parts of the state.  The wild west lived on in New Mexico well into the 1930s.  When I lived there, most of the business had signs denying access to those with firearms.  Almost every truck had a gun rack with a rifle and shotgun, many had a pistol under the seat.

Interestingly, the title of this movie promotes a common misconception that was proved untrue in 1986. Two almost identical tintypes of Billy the Kid were taken at the same time in 1880. The original of one tintype disappeared years ago. The second tintype was preserved for years in the Sam Diedrick family and came to light only in 1986. Since tintypes are reversed images, the picture from the first tintype led to the myth of the left-handed gun. After the second tintype came to light, the reversed image was reversed to show the Kid as he actually posed, with a Winchester carbine in the left hand and his holstered Colt single-action on his right hip. See Utley, Robert M., Billy the Kid, A Short and Violent Life, University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Statement following page 110 alongside the picture of Billy the Kid.

The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1952)  When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue the President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage.

The Lone Ranger began as a radio program on WXYZ in Detroit in 1933.  It was immesly popular.  My father was in the Boy Scouts in the 30s.  The Lone Ranger was to appear at the Michigan State Fair.  My dad and the other scouts had to help the Lone Ranger on his horse.  No real riding skills needed to play on the radio.

In 1945 my father returned from WWII and briefly had a job as a short order cook at local coffee shop frequented by the actor that played Tonto on the radio.  My mother remembers it being Jay Silverheels (who did play Tonto on the TV series), but most likely it was John Hart who played Tonto on the radio.

Legends of the Fall (1994)  Set in the Rocky Mountains of Montana in the early 1900s, this is a tale of love, betrayal, and brotherhood. After being discharged, Colonel Ludlow decides to raise his three sons in the wilds of Montana, where they can grow up away from the government and society he has learned to despise. The three brothers mature and seem to have an unbreakable bond, until Susanna enters their lives. When Samuel, the youngest of the three, returns from college he brings with him his beautiful fiancée, Susanna. The eldest son, Alfred, soon finds himself in love with his brother's fiancée, and things get worse when he discovers a growing passion between Susanna and Tristan. Colonel Ludlow's favorite son, Tristan is willful and as wild as the mountains. As the brothers set out to fight a war in Europe, suspicion and jealousy threatens to tear apart their once indestructible bond.

Good story and movie, almost excellent. 

Lemon Drop Kid (1951)  When the Lemon Drop Kid accidentally steers Moose Moran's girl away from a winning bet, he is forced to come up with $10,000 to repay the angry gangster. Fortunately it's Christmas, a time when people can be persuaded to part with money for the right cause.

Introduced the hit Christmas song "Silver Bells". The movie was filmed in 1950, but not released in theaters until March, 1951. When a recording of "Silver Bells" by Bing Crosby became a hit in December, 1950, the studio called Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell back to re-shoot a more elaborate musical version of the song for the film's release. In later years, Bob Hope made "Silver Bells" his own Christmas theme. He performed the song every year on his annual Christmas TV special, usually singing it as a duet with the lead female guest (such as Olivia Newton-John, Shirley Jones, Barbara Mandrell, or his own wife, Dolores Hope).

Lethal Weapon (1987)  Los Angeles police sergeant Roger Murtaugh, who has just turned 50 years old, is assigned to investigate the death of Amanda Hunsaker, a prostitute who is one of the daughters of bank president Michael Hunsaker, a friend whom Roger has known since they were in the Vietnam War together, but Roger hasn't seen Michael in 12 years. Beginning with this investigation, Roger is assigned a new partner Sergeant Martin Riggs, who has been suicidal ever since his wife Victoria "Vicky" Lynn Riggs died in a car crash in 1984. Riggs and Murtaugh's investigation of Amanda's death reveals that she was murdered. Upon hearing of this, Michael tells Murtaugh that he would like for whoever is behind Amanda's murder to end up dead, like Amanda. Riggs and Murtaugh's investigation continues and it makes them the targets of Shadow Company, a group of former Vietnam War era mercenaries who now bring heroin into the Los Angeles County region. Shadow Company's leader, General Peter McAllister, and his right hand man, Mr. Joshua, want Riggs and Murtaugh dead, no matter what the cost.

Typical new partner cop flick, but well done.  Good balance of action and comedy.

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)  The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.

Captures some of the politics involved on the Japanese side of the war.

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)  Roy Bean is nearly killed by the inhabitants of a badlands bar and brothel. He returns to take vengeance only to find that he is the new symbol of law and order in the area. He becomes the Judge and dispenses justice until time and events pass him by.

Good movie, but a bit inaccurate.  Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903) was an eccentric U.S. saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Law West of the Pecos". According to legend, Judge Roy Bean held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande in a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas. After his death, Western films and books cast him as a hanging judge, though he is known to have sentenced only two men to hang, one of whom escaped.

I lived briefly in Big Spring, Texas and have been to the land West of the Pecos.  It is very desolate and lonely.

Life is Beautiful (1997)  In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank.

Academy Award for best picture.  Tough movie with some elements of a comedy but the viewer is afraid to laugh.

Lincoln (2012)  It's January, 1865, and US President Abraham Lincoln has just started his second term in office as an immensely popular leader, especially among his supporters, because of his down home attitude. However, the country is in turmoil with the Civil War entering its fourth year and having taken the lives of many a soldier on both sides. Lincoln believes that passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution - which would abolish slavery - would most importantly achieve something in which he believes to his core, but also end the war as slavery is a large part of the raison d'etre for it. The Amendment has already passed in the Senate, and is scheduled for vote in the House of Representatives at the end of the month. While he is assured of yes votes from his fellow Republicans, he and his team have to work hard behind the scenes to assure enough yes votes from Democrats, which may require some compromise in other areas. But other factors may also come into play on the vote, such as the Confederate forces in the war issuing their own compromise to end the war but keep slavery. Meanwhile, Lincoln also deals with his oft supportive but oft tumultuous relationship with wife Mary Todd Lincoln, and their latest possible rift with their oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln who wants to leave law school to enlist.

Won an Academy Award for best actor.

In February 2013, numerous news sources reported that this movie led to the final, official 50-state ratification of the 13th Amendment, nearly 150 years after it was ratified by three-fourths of the US states. In November 2012, Dr Ranjan Batra, a (non-historian) academic at the University of Mississippi, saw the movie Lincoln. He did an Internet search to find out more about the 13th Amendment, and, along with his colleague Ken Sullivan, discovered that although Mississippi voted to ratify the amendment in 1995, a clerical oversight caused that vote to remain unacknowledged officially: the Mississippi Secretary of State never sent the vote's result to the US Office of the Federal Register. Sullivan also went to see the film, and then the two men urged the office of the Mississippi Secretary of State to file that paperwork, which they did on January 30, 2013; on February 7, 2013, the director of the Federal Register responded that the resolution had been received and that the State of Mississippi had finally ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)  Mick Haller is a defense lawyer who works out of his Lincoln. When a wealthy Realtor is accused of raping a prostitute, Haller is asked to defend him. The man claims that the woman is trying to get some money out of him. But when Haller looks at the evidence against him, he learns that this case might be linked to an old case of his.

Lions for Lambs (2007)  Three stories told simultaneous in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces soldiers ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a promising student to re-engage. Decisions press upon the reporter, the student, and the soldiers.

Great antiwar film.

Little Shop of Horrors (1960)  Seymour is a shy young man who works in a flower store. He manages to create a carnivorous plant that feeds on human flesh. Nobody knows about it, so Seymour and the plant become good "friends". The plant needs food to grow up, so it convinces him to start killing people.

Great black comedy.

Shot in two days and one night. Later made in to a play.

 Little Shop of Horror (1986)  Seymour Krelborn is a nerdy orphan working at Mushnik's, a flower shop in urban Skid Row. He harbors a crush on fellow co-worker Audrey Fulquard, and is berated by Mr. Mushnik daily. One day as Seymour is seeking a new mysterious plant, he finds a very mysterious unidentified plant which he calls Audrey II. The plant seems to have a craving for blood and soon begins to sing for his supper. Soon enough, Seymour feeds Audrey's sadistic dentist boyfriend to the plant and later, Mushnik for witnessing the death of Audrey's ex. Will Audrey II take over the world or will Seymour and Audrey defeat it?

Delightful musical remake of the 1960s version.

In the original cut of the film Paul Dooley played the part of Patrick Martin. When the cast and crew returned several months later to shoot a new ending, Dooley was unavailable so James Belushi stepped into the role. Dooley received a "special thanks" credit in the film and his scene appears in the black and white workprint ending that was available on the original DVD release. The 2012 Director's Cut Blu-Ray/DVD release restores Dooley's part, and conversely it's Belushi who receives a "special thanks" credit.

The Lives of Others (2006)  In the early 1980s, Georg Dreyman (a successful dramatist) and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland (a popular actress), were huge intellectual stars in (former) East Germany, although they secretly don't always toe the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more.

This movie was produce by Germany and deals with life in East Germany under the Stasi (secret police).  This movie will make you appreciate freedom better.

Lolita (1992)  Humbert Humbert, a British professor coming to the US to teach, rents a room in Charlotte Haze's house, but only after he sees her 14-year-old daughter, Dolores (Lolita), to whom he is immediately attracted. Though he hates the mother, he marries her as this is the only way to be close to the girl, who will prove to be too mature for her age. They start a journey together, trying to hide they're not just (step)father and daughter, throughout the country, being followed by someone whom Humbert first suspects to be from the police. The profound jealousy, and maybe some guilt from the forbidden love, seem slowly to drive the man emotionally labile.

This is a remake of an older version.  This is better but it still needs work IMO.  It is a tough subject bordering on child abuse.

Lolita (1962)  Humbert Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte Haze, his widowed and sexually famished landlady, whom he marries in order that he might pursue the woman's 14-year-old flirtatious daughter, Lolita, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love, but whose affections shall be thwarted by a devious trickster named Clare Quilty.

Peter Sellers was the wrong person for the lead role.  The way he plays his character (although probably at the director's insistence) tries to make this more comedic.  It really makes it bit pathetic.

Lone Star (1996)   Sam Deeds is the Sheriff of Rio County, TX and to some extent, he lives in the shadow of his late father, the venerated former sheriff, Buddy Deeds. Sam had always had a difficult relationship with his father, especially during his teenage years when Buddy absolutely forbade him to see a pretty Hispanic girl, Pilar Cruz. Local mythology has Buddy Deeds, when only a sheriff's deputy, murdering the corrupt and violent sheriff of the day, Charlie Wade. When Wade's remains are found in the desert, Sam finds himself investigating his father and slowly peels away at the story from the perspective of its long-term residents including a local bar owner, Pilar's mother and the former mayor. What Sam learns shows his father in a different light and has a direct impact on his own life choices.

One of the best pictures ever made.

The Long Hot Summer (1958)  Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Will Varner owns just about everything in Frenchman's Bend and he hires Ben to work in his store. Will thinks his own son, Jody, who manages the store, lacks ambition and despairs of him getting his wife, Eula, pregnant. Will thinks his daughter, Clara, a schoolteacher, will never get married. He decides that Ben Quick might make a good husband for Clara to bring some new blood into the family.

Oscar Levant said about Producer Jerry Wald, "He suddenly became involved with Faulkner. He'd buy a Faulkner property and that turgid, incomprehensible prose was on one occasion transformed into " The Long, Hot Summer." In that picture Orson Welles played a "big daddy" type of role. Sometimes he was inaudible - Those were his best moments."

The Longest Day (1962)  England in June 1944. Unseasonal storms. Allied troops are massed ready for the invasion of France, some already on the boats. The Normandy beaches will be their destination while paratroopers are dropped inland to take key towns and bridges. On the other side of the Channel the Germans still expect the invasion at Calais, and anyway the weather makes them think nothing is likely to be imminent. Eisenhower decides to go. Hitler sleeps on.

Great adaptation of Ryan's book.  Good cast, well done--would have made a better miniseries. 

Loose Cannons (1990)  Mac, the two fisted savvy cop finds that he's being saddled with a new partner, a known burn out, to work with him on a new and difficult case. The new partner is, Ellis, an amazing detective, one who puts Sherlock Holmes to shame with his lightning fast deductions. Ellis has a couple of problems. He keeps assuming the personalities of entire casts of Television shows. This can be a problem when people begin shooting at them.

Lost Horizons (1937)  Brit Robert Conway is a writer, humanitarian, diplomat, and former military man, all of which have made him a public hero. But he is remarkably unfulfilled in his life, something he does not tell anyone. On March 10, 1935, he is in Baskul, China, where a violent revolution is taking place. It is his job to evacuate the ninety British subjects in the area, before he himself heads back to London to become British Foreign Secretary. He is able to complete the evacuation, with him, his overly pragmatic brother George Conway, paleontologist Alexander Lovett (a fussbudget of a man), secretive Henry Barnard (who later states why he is so secretive about himself), and terminally ill American Gloria Stone his fellow passengers on the last flight out. What they are initially unaware of is that the plane has been hijacked, and eventually crash lands high in the Himalayas, killing the hijacking pilot. But instead of what seems a probable death for them, they are rescued by a band of men who take them back to their community hidden behind the mountains, a seemingly Utopian community named Shangrila, where the overall belief is to be kind. Aging is also a seemingly unknown concept. Each of the five has different feelings about their new sanctuary, where they eventually learn they were not brought by accident. On one end of the spectrum is George, who does whatever he can to get back to civilization as he knows it, despite the probable hardship of doing so, especially since there is no means of communication in and out. He believes what they have been told are all lies and that they are being held prisoners against their will. On the other end is Bob, who believes that Shangrila is exactly what he's been looking for in life. With no proof one way or another, the five have differing views of staying in Shangrila forever or trying to make their way out. It may be not until they receive that "proof" that a definitive decision can be made, but by that time it may be too late for some.

The California State Censor Board insisted on having two signed affidavits from Columbia that the model doubling for Jane Wyatt in her nude bathing scene had her breasts covered. The affidavits were duly supplied though the model in question apparently was indeed bare-breasted, though as the scene is in long shot it's virtually impossible to tell.

Lost in Translation (2003) Bob Harris is an American film actor, far past his prime. He visits Tokyo to appear in commercials, and he meets Charlotte, the young wife of a visiting photographer. Bored and weary, Bob and Charlotte make ideal if improbable traveling companions. Charlotte is looking for "her place in life," and Bob is tolerating a mediocre stateside marriage. Both separately and together, they live the experience of the American in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte suffer both confusion and hilarity due to the cultural and language differences between themselves and the Japanese. As the relationship between Bob and Charlotte deepens, they come to the realization that their visits to Japan, and one another, must soon end. Or must they?

I am not a fan of Bill Murray.  He has been in some good movies, but he seldom makes me believe in his character.  I always see Murray doing poorly rehearsed Saturday Night Live skits.  In Lost in Translation he does a good job of portray an actor past his prime with a less than satisfactory personal life.  This is a film worth seeing.

A Lot Like Love (2005)  On a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Oliver and Emily make a connection, only to decide that they are poorly suited to be together. Over the next seven years, however, they are reunited time and time again, they go from being acquaintances to close friends to ... lovers?

Love at first sight does happen, but more often it is an extended process.  This is a tender movie.

Love Actually (2003) The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch through out the movie. Most of the movie is filmed in London, during Christmas and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport, a very uplifting note. 

Multiple looks at love.  Very entertaining, funny and tender.

Love Me Tender (1956)  Elvis plays Clint Reno, one of the Reno brothers who stayed home while his brother went to fight in the Civil War for the Confederate army. When his brother Vance comes back from the war, he finds that his old girlfriend Cathy has married Clint. The family has to struggle to reach stability with this issue. Vance is involved in a train robbery, while a Confederate soldier, of Federal Government money. There is a conflict of interest, when Vance tries to return the money, against the wishes of some of his fellow Confederates.

Not a great movie, but the first of the Elvis movies.  I went to see it when I was in the ninth grade.  I of course loved it.  It was late when the movie was over, about 11pm.  There were no more busses so I had to walk home, four miles.

The title song, "Love Me Tender" was taken from the Civil War ballad "Aure Lea", written by W. W. Fosdick (words) and George R. Poulton (music). That song first appeared on the screen in 1936 sung by a Francis Farmer in "Come And Get It". It was adopted, almost from its' beginning, as the "school song" of The West Point Military Academy and was part of the soundtrack for The West Point Story and The Long Grey Line (1954).