Day 102

As often my blogs do, this one revolves around an activity I found myself doing last night. First I went to a friends house for a book discussion of sorts. It was very cool. But then I went home (after a trip to McD's, I really do eat there too much during Monopoly, p.s. no prizes for me yet). At home, I found the latest delivery from Netflix, The Great Escape.

What an awesome movie! For being nearly 3 hours long, it is a fantastic film. And (with the exception of Bonnie and Clyde, which I saw when I took Film Appreciation at Meramec {gotta love community colleges}), it is by far the oldest movie I have seen (1963).

Now there were a few things special about this movie. The first thing I noticed is that, with the possible exception of extras in city scenes, there are no women in this movie. This is a movie about a bunch of guys trying to escape from a POW camp during WWII. Not one of them even mentions the lady back home. This just struck me as odd because Hollywood would never make a movie without at least a hint of a love story in it these days. It was quite refreshing.

Secondly, it was the first movie I have seen with the fabled and sexy Steve McQueen. Man, is this guy ever a giant hunk of man flesh. (totally kidding here by the way) But seriously, I have heard that name a bunch before, so I figured I should watch one of his films.

Speaking of big names of people whose films I have not seen yet, the list includes: Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, James Dean, and I am sure quite a few more. But I am on the way to rectifying this situation. My Netflix queue includes plenty of older movies with a lot of these stars in them. I have also just added a few more Steve McQueen titles to the list.

The last thing that was pretty cool about this movie is seeing people that I know as older actors when they just started making it big. This movie had Charles Bronson (why aren't there "facts" about him?) and James Garner (who I previously only know from the Rockford Files). It was like seeing Al Pacino in the Godfather for the first time, or Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider. It is just hard to picture them ever being young.

Task o' the Day: See a classic movie. Black and White if possible. Need a suggestion? Ask. Have a suggestion? Leave it as a comment. Want someone to watch it with? Call me. 636-Benjamin. Yes, that's my phone number (you don't dial the last "n" before you ask).

What is not awesome? Roofs and attics on a sunny day. But that's part of my job sometimes. Here is a picture of me from today in an attic.


Thanks always for reading, I hope to see you again tomorrow!!

Oh! And it looks like Dexter just squeezed out the victory in my one day poll! Congratulations Dexter! I'll add it to the queue now, and I'll have a new poll tomorrow.