The Truth Will Come Out?

A United States Senator decides to come clean about his personal history, but then the media engages in a cover-up.  Is this a story about life in Washington, D.C.  No, it is another John Ford directed Western masterpiece (93% on the Tomatometer).  The film is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  The theater poster announced "James Stewart and John Wayne, TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME" (the second time was 12 years later in The Shootist).  Gene Pitney recorded the top 10 hit song, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  The movie has a surprise ending, but another big surprise is the fact that the top 10 Gene Pitney song, based on the movie, was not used in the movie.
John Greanias Copyright 2013

Stealthy Sex Appeal

Sink The Bismarck! (1960) is a film based on a great wartime sea adventure.  It is a true story, about guys and their ships and their glory.  So, as a film producer, how do you work a beautiful woman into this adventure story to help ensure commercial success.  Answer; take one classic film beauty (Dana Wynter), put her in a well fitted navy uniform, and make sure she hangs with the guys.  In my two most recent posts, I reviewed a war film without any significant female roles and a film in which a woman was a significant part of the story.  Bismarck is a hybrid.  The role played by Dana Wynter in Bismarck could have been written for a male, but why spoil the fun for the mostly male audience expected to be attracted to the war film.  Wynter takes the first place prize for the all time best woman in uniform in a movie (second place goes to Demi Moore in A Few Good Men). Moving beyond Dana Wynter as eye candy, Bismarck is a truly outstanding film.  It tells an exceptional story, and tells it very well.  Great Britain was devastated when its biggest warship (HMS Hood) was sunk in an 8 minute gun battle with Bismarck.  Only 3 of the 1,421 crew survived the summary destruction of HMS Hood.  How did Great Britain achieve its revenge and salvage its reputation as the supreme naval power?  To find out, view Sink The Bismarck!, which will make you feel as though you were actually there in May of 1941 for four days of suspense and adventure on the high seas.
John Greanias Copyright 2013