off topic - movies ..... Vertigo

The summer of boredom continues. The Lighting continue to sign everyone who ever played on the Penguins forward lines, and they still don't have defense. October is a long way away, so I'm gonna spend my summer watching lots and lots of movies. The netflix cue should be hopping, and I think I'm gonna spend a small fortune just going to see classic films.

The historic Carolina Theatre of Greensboro is just around the corner from my house, and they always show classic films on Tuesdays. Every summer, they kick the classic films into high gear, doing them most every night. Tonight, they're showing one of my all-time favorites, Vertigo.
Vertigo is by far my favorite Hitchcock film, and it usually sits in my "top five all-time"

As usual, Jimmy Stewart is perfect, and the stunning Kim Novak is amazing. Let's be honest, though. It doesn't matter how good or bad her acting is. She's just simply there, and she's beautiful. One of my favorite things, though, is the very underrated performance by Barbara Bel Geddes as Scotty's (Stewart) gal-pal Midge. I've probably seen this movie 20 times, and I never tire of it.

Next Wednesday, the Hitchcock series continues with The Man Who Knew Too Much. I've never seen it, and I doubt I'll go this time. In two weeks, The Birds, with Tippy "Poor Man's Kim Novak" Hedren. I liked it a lot the first time I saw it, but not so much on subsequent viewings.

Among others in the summer Hitchcock series : Rebecca, Rear Window.

Among other classic films being shown that are worth mentioning: This is Spinal Tap, Princess Bride, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

I'm pretty excited about the lineup, and there's about 10 others that I didn't mention, but I'll probably go see most or all of these. Of course I own most of these on DVD, and it isn't as if they own film prints of these movies. They're just projecting the DVD version on the huge screen. Still, I'm gonna go. Y'know. Support the arts. The theatre is non-profit; it uses ticket sales to fund building renovation and upkeep. It's a beautiful 1920's theatre complete with balconies, private boxes, massive staircases, marble pillars, statues and all the other glorious fixtures that you would expect from that era. Oh. And a high-quality up-to-date sound system.

As the summer wears on, I'll have more off-topic posts. Hopefully Frantisek Kaberle will get traded so I'll have something hockey-related to write about.

RBH goes to the movies

Over the weekend, I watched "The Rocket", the 2005 biopic about Maurice Richard. Technically, this movie is titled "Maurice Richard", but it is more commonly known the same way he was.

There's also a documentary about Richard which was released in the 1980's, but this is the one that everyone talks about. As a side note, it irritates me to no end when people don't know the difference between biopic and documentary.

I highly recommend this movie, but I must add that attempting to watch the "English language version" is a horrible idea. It's really off-putting in a number of ways. Just watch the French version and put the subtitles on.

I really enjoyed the movie. It's got lots of hockey action, and a lot of insight into what Richard was as a man. Since I am neither Canadian nor "old enough", I didn't really know much about Richard other than his legendary hockey status. I didn't know how much he had to struggle in an environment (even in Quebec) dominated by anglophones. I didn't know how roughly he was treated by opposing teams players and fans. I didn't know any of the details about the "Richard Riot".

There's a load of NHL players in the movie, most notably Sean Avery as Bob Dill, a boxer-turned hockey tough guy for the Rangers. It's really cool to see Richard (played by Roy Dupuis) decimate Dill (Avery) in a fight that spilled into the penalty box. Good stuff. Good stuff.

The movie begins with the Riot, then goes back to his childhood, then glosses over his career with lots of focus on the Dill fight, and also on the incident which precipitated his suspension, which in turn precipitated the Riot.

I only have a couple of problems with the movie. One is that several years will pass by with no mention of what happened on or off the ice. Another is that the director makes some very sloppily attempts to make his footage look "authentic '50s". Instead of using stock footage of Montréal streets, he shot new footage with a sepia filter. He also sloppily attempted to blend some archival film with some of his own. It wasn't necessary for us to see Dupuis walking through the streets. It wasn't even necessary for us to have seen stock footage of the actual Richard walking through the streets. It just looked awkward and desperate. Maybe I'm too critical, though.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I learned some stuff. Check it out yourself, but seriously don't watch the English dubbed version. It's horrible.

As far as hockey movies go, I have to put this one a little below "Miracle", but well above "Mighty Ducks". Well above "Mystery, Alaska". Thankfully, I never saw "Youngblood". I shan't attempt to blaspheme George Roy Hill's fourth best film, so this one has to be #3 on my list of hockey movies. Not that I actually have a list, but you get the idea.

Check it out. You won't be sorry.