North by Northwest (MGM 1959)

My Granddad, who passed away last year at the age of 97, had an old saying just about every time I saw him...

So, what have you done for the good of your country today?

I would always tell him that I went to school, to work or to church. His reply was almost always the same...

Hmmmph!

The movie that we will be reviewing today asks that same old question, what have you done for the good of your country today? Hopefully for us it won't go the extreme like Cary Grant's character in Alfred Hitchcock's classic North by Northwest! Here is the movie review from IMDb.

New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill is kidnapped by a gang of spies led by Philip Vandamm, who believe Thornhill is CIA agent George Kaplan. Thornhill escapes, but must find Kaplan in order to clear himself of a murder it is believed he committed. Following Kaplan to Chicago as a fugitive from justice, Thornhill is helped by beautiful Eve Kendall. In Chicago, she delivers a message to Kaplan that almost costs Thornhill his life when he is chased across a cornfield by a crop-dusting plane.

Here is the trailer!



One of the most memorable scenes in movie history!

Ben-Hur (MGM 1959)

Whenever I see this movie on TV and it's not in widescreen, folks it's just not worth watching. Go out and rent the widescreen version if you've never seen it before!

This film really depicts how oppressive government can be, and Charlton Heston's character Judah Ben-Hur catches a heavy dose almost from the word GO! The Romans take his fortune, imprision his mother and sister, make him march through a dessert, put him on a slave ship and chain him to the oar! But hey, don't worry too much about mom and sis. The Romans graciously let them go because now the two are leppers. NICE! Oh yah, I almost forgot! This is all being done by Ben-Hur's ex-best friend Messalah (Stephen Boyd) who is a newly appointed Roman goon.

The only hope for Ben-Hur and his family rests with a mysterious rabbi whose fate (and ours) is determined at the film's dramatic conclusion.

Here is the trailer from the film.

Rio Bravo (Warner Bros. 1959)

Watch Rio Bravo and then High Noon, and tell me what big story differences stand out to you the most. In one movie the town supports its sheriff of ridding the area of scumbags. The other town wusses out and expects the outgunned lawman to do all the work.

If I was doing a blog on liberal movies, High Noon would be up there in my top 5, which is a shame because I really like Gary Cooper. Rio Bravo on the other hand, which stars my hero John Wayne, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan is an instant classic conservative western. Wayne's character, John T. Chance, is the kind of guy who wants to do things on his own and usually refuses the help he's offered by his pals. Did I mention Martin's character is a drunk and Brennan is an old cripple?

In this scene Wayne tracks down the bad guy in a not so friendly saloon.




I guess it was a good thing for Coop Grace dropped the whole "I'm a afraid of guns" thing, huh?