This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week is another easy theme, movies with a number in the title, that are not part of a series. So no Friday the 13th Part II or whatever. There are still a lot of such movies, especially those with dates and addresses. With that in mind, I thought about doing a theme within a theme, which led me to the following three movies:
Three Men and a Baby (1987). Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson play three bachelors living together who get stuck with a baby since one of them knocked up a girlfriend and she's left them the baby. This was a remake of a French comedy which one of my high school French teachers showed us in class (subtitled, since we didn't learn that much French!). Technically you can argue that this shouldn't fit the theme since there was a follow-up movie, Three Men and a Little Lady, but I think the theme was supposed to mean not the Roman numerals of a series.
Eleven Men and a Girl (1930). Joe E. Brown plays a college football player (stop laughing) at a struggling college program. He's friends with the dean's daughter (Joan Bennett), so he persuades her to use her sex appeal to bring in a bunch of stars from other colleges (played by actual college football stars of the day, none of whose names I recognize) to join the team and help it win. If you think that's not enough men, you might want to watch...
One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937). Deanna Durbin plays the daughter of an unemployed concert musician (Adolphe Menjou). After running into a wealthy socialite (Alice Brady), she's convinced the socialite will fund her dream of having Leopold Stokowski (playing himself) conduct an orchestra of 100 unemployed musicians. But Brady goes off to Europe leaving no evidence of the offer. Of course, Dubrin has so much talent and charisma that she's able to get Stokowski to conduct the orchestra.
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1 comment:
I like the little mini theme.
Three Men is flyaway but the three guys are charming and it's a whole lot more enjoyable than the blah sequel.
Eleven Men is daffy as most Joe E. Brown movies were but pleasant and it has Joan Bennett so another win.
While I prefer the adult Deanna I still enjoy her no matter what age. 100 Men was so formative to her (hated by her) public persona and the music is super if you like light opera.
Mine are not interconnected but I really enjoyed all three.
5 Card Stud (1968)-In the town of Rincon, Colorado in 1880 a gambler is caught cheating by his tablemates and in the heat of the moment lynched despite the efforts of one of their number Van Morgan (Dean Martin) to stop it. Disgusted Morgan leaves town but returns when he hears that some of the other players have been killed in grisly fashion. Upon his arrival he finds the hamlet taut with tensions and a somewhat sinister Baptist minister Rev. Rudd (Robert Mitchum) who carries a pistol in his bible. The situation only becomes more fraught as others of the lynch mob fall victim one by one and Morgan races to solve the mystery. Superior western with a great cast which beside the leads includes Inger Stevens and Roddy McDowell.
11 Harrowhouse (1974)-Small-time diamond merchant Howard Chesser (Charles Grodin) is offered the chance to purchase and cut a large diamond by its owner Clyde Massey (Trevor Howard). But when the diamond is stolen he is blackmailed into pulling off a heist at "The System," located in London at 11 Harrowhouse with the help of his girlfriend Maren (a stunning Candice Bergen). Assisted by inside man, Watts (James Mason) they navigate an elaborate network of defenses to carry out the robbery. Sleek, stylish caper film.
45 Years (2015)-Kate Mercer (an extraordinary Charlotte Rampling) and her husband Geoff (an almost as fine Tom Courtenay) are planning a party to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. One week before the celebration a letter arrives for Geoff with news that the body of Katya, his first love has been discovered frozen in an icy glacier of the Swiss Alps where she had fallen 50 years ago. Disquieted by the news both start to reexamine the entirety of their relationship and as the party nears there might not be a marriage left to celebrate.
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