| Author |
Message |
|
| billyweeds |
 Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:17 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
carrobin--It's a weird situation, but strangely understandable.
Esther Williams was my first movie star crush. My grandfather was working at MGM in the publicity department and sent me an autographed picture of Esther when I was eight years old. I was totally thrilled. Later I learned she and I share a birthday. Her 1999 autobiography, Million Dollar Mermaid, is surprisingly funny and sardonic in a way you would never expect from the sweet, rather bland, mediocre actress that she was. She obviously was a witty woman, as well as a dynamite swimmer--and swell-looking to boot. R.I.P. |
|
|
| Back to top |
  
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:30 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| RIP Esther. Nice woman but i didn't like any of her movies. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:08 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
| I liked her movies, but don't remember anything about them except that they were always in bright tropical locations and featured girl swimmers who liked to dive under the surface and wave their legs in the air. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:40 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| They always featured a comic (often Red Skelton), a romantic vis-a-vis for Esther, tons of choreographed swimming routines in glorious Technicolor, and songs. Only one movie was better than average. It was Neptune's Daughter, where Esther, Ricardo Montalban, Red, and Betty Garrett sang the great Frank Loesser Oscarwinning standard-to-be "Baby, It's Cold Outside." |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:36 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
I was trying to remember the only Esther Williams movie that I didn't dislike. Neptune's Daughter! That was it.
Wasn't it her first big film? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:05 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
Looks like Much Ado will arrive in only about six theaters outside of NY or LA today. Deplorable.
Frances Ha is here, but I'm just not that into Gerwig's mumble-charm. Guess Marc wasn't that wowed by it. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:15 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:49 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
Carol--They're obviously "platforming" it, starting small and opening wider if and when audiences respond. I can understand the strategy. Shakespeare ain't exactly The Avengers. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:56 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
bartist wrote: I'm just not that into Gerwig's mumble-charm.
Hear, here! (Whichever.) Her performance in Damsels in Distress was one of the most annoying I can remember, and Baghead wasn't much better. She was okay in The House of the Devil, where she was killed off real early, and in Greenberg, where she was directed by Frances Ha's Noah Baumbach. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:19 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
| Nothing much happening at the office today, so I'm reading the Daily News. The only four-star review in the arts section is for "Much Ado." ("The Internship" gets one star, and that seems reluctant. Sounds awful.) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:46 pm |
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
|
bartist wrote: I'm just not that into Gerwig's mumble-charm.
Lola Versus was basically a showcase for GG, and I found it really tedious and uncharming. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:57 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| I don't think I've ever seen Gerwig. Guess I didn't miss anything, in fact missed something I probably would have hated. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:27 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
|
| Williams made up that story about Jeff Chandler in order to boost sales of her autobiography, which was kinda low of her. Otherwise I thought well of her as a savvy dame in the best tradition of savvy dames. |
_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
|
| Back to top |
|
| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:57 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
|
My first three thoughts after reading the review:
1. Whew. Not Dargis. I can see the movie after all.
2. Not Bringing Up Baby. The sexual dynamic is all wrong for Beatrice and Benedick. It Happened One Night, or The Awful Truth.
3. MAaN rises or falls on its Dogberry? DOGBERRY? |
_________________
I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:58 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| What did she say about Chandler? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
