Sadie Hawkins Valentine's Day

Two years ago, I did a series of posts leading up to Valentine's Day on "chick flicks" for guys. It's not too difficult a topic to write about, since there are a lot of movies out there that get the "chick flick" label thrown at them, and as a guy, all I had to do was find some that I happen to like. Doing it the other way around is more difficult: being a man, I'm no expert in What Women Want, so finding a movie that's generally a "guy" movie that women ought to like isn't so easy. (I can't think offhand of any movies about putting the toilet seat down, although there is a scene in The Crowd where the couple argues over problems with the bathroom equipment.)

That having been said, I'll take my first stab at the subject with From Here to Eternity. It's about the military, has quite a bit of violence both before and after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, has boxing as one of the major themes, and deals with the men's relationships with each other just as much as it does with their relationships with women. All of those are things that should appeal to guys, and yet, it's really a picture that's just as suitable for women -- if not even more so. First off is that steamy scene of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr making out on the beach. We know you ladies are pervs and fantasize about being on that beach with Lancaster in one of those skimpy 1940s pairs of swimming trunks much more than you would about being on a beach with us dumpy guys of today in the trunks that go almost down to the knees. And despite the fact that there's boxing, a knife fight, brawling, and a war in the movie, the movie isn't really about the violence.

Suffice it to say that From Here to Eternity is a movie that can be enjoyed by any adult.