Day 11: Hamlet

Hamlet : 1948: winner of the 21st Academy Awards

Starring:

 Basil Sydney as King Claudius.

Eileen Herlie as Queen Gertrude.

Laurence Olivier as Hamlet,

Norman Wooland as Horatio.

Felix Aylmer as Polonius,

 Terence Morgan as Laertes,

 Jean Simmons as Ophelia.

To watch or not to watch? TO NOT WATCH! First off, the fucking box lied to me. I always check the back of the dvd case to inquire the length of said dvd and it said 1:33:1. Let me tell you right now that was a falsehood. It was more like 2:33:1, which was and hour more than it needed to be. Now I have seen (Sir) Laurence Olivier in “The Prince and the Showgirl” and he was rigid and cold as ever. I have problems with his snootiness, because he is a Shakespearean actor and blah, blah, blah, but this was beyond that. I was bored throughout the entirety of it, well except for when the ghost came out. That was actually pretty cool. I was tempted to take it out and say fuck it I’ll wiki it and then pretend I watched it, but I can’t really cheat, as it would be kind of ridiculous, so I watched it and died a little. Even though I have always wanted to see exact Shakespeare on video, I never expected this monstrosity. I also believe that it was nominated because America couldn’t turn down Shakespeare even though it was dreadfully boring and might I say overly dramatic, hey what the hell do I know, my suggestion is however , watch it if you abso-fuckin-lutely have too, for no other reason should thine bright eyes witness it.

It also won awards for:

Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Roger Furse

Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Roger Furse

Best Costume Design, Black-and-White: Roger Furse

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White: Roger Furse,Carmen Dillon

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Laurence Olivier

Day 5: West Side Story

West Side Story: 1961: Winner of the 34^th Academy Awards

Starring:

Natalie Wood (Marni Nixon, singing) – Maria Nunez

Richard Beymer (Jimmy Bryant, singing) – Tony Wycek,

 Russ Tamblyn – Riff Lorton,

Rita Moreno (Betty Wand, singing) – Anita,

George Chakiris – Bernardo Nunez

Simon Oakland – Lieutenant Schrank,

Ned Glass – Doc,

William Bramley – Officer Krupke,

John Astin – Glad Hand

Penny Santon – Madam Lucia

The Jets:

Tucker Smith – Ice,

Tony Mordente – Action,

Eliot Feld – Baby John

David Winters – A-Rab

Bert Michaels – Snowboy

David Bean – Tiger

Robert Banas – Joyboy

Anthony 'Scooter' Teague – Big Deal

Harvey Hohnecker – Mouthpiece

Tommy Abbott – Gee-Tar

Jet Girls:

Susan Oakes – Anybodys

Gina Trikonis – Graziella

Carole D'Andrea – Velma, Ice's girl

Rita Hyde d'Amico – Clarice, Big Deal's girl

Pat Tribble – Minnie, Baby John's girl

Francesca Bellini – "Cool" dancer

Elaine Joyce – dancer

Sharks:

Jose DeVega – Chino Martin

Jay Norman – Pepe

Gus Trikonis – Indio

Eddie Verso – Juano

Jamie Rogers – Loco

Larry Roquemore – Rocco

Robert E. Thompson – Luis

Nick Covacevich – Toro

Rudy Del Campo – Del Campo

Andre Tayir – Chile

Shark Girls:

Yvonne Othon – Consuela

Suzie Kaye – Rosalia

Joanne Miya – Francisca

West Side Story is based on Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juilet, however he is substituting warring families with warring nations. The Jets are the rough and tumble low bred Whites, the Sharks the newly exported Puerto Ricans. The story is set in the 50’s a very tense and racial time in America’s history and of course one member of each the warring countries people falls inevitably in love with each other. I wish I had watched this movie when I was younger. That way I wouldn’t be so hard on it, even thought it was lovely and I can’t stop singing that damn “Tonight ,Tonight” song , I think it might have lacked something. Maybe I just don’t like gang movies because they frustrate me, or maybe the false accents were really starting to grind against my Hispanic ego, hell if I know the right reason, it just wasn’t all that amazing plot wise to me. However the dance numbers were worth the watch all on their own. I soo wanna dance like that on a New York building now! I love Natalie Wood, ever since I saw her in “Sex and the Single Girl”, and West Side Story almost made me think, eh she’s not that great, until the last scene which was the saving grace. If you’re going to watch the movie watch it for the dancing, the songs, for the love story and try to watch it before you’ve watched some of other greatest love stories. I will say this though; this would be great on Broadway.

It has also won awards for:

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno

Academy Award for Best Art Direction – Victor A. Gangelin and Boris Leven

Academy Award for Best Cinematography – Daniel L. Fapp

Academy Award for Best Costume Design– Irene Sharaff

Academy Award for Best Director – Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise

Academy Award for Best Film Editing – Thomas Stanford

Academy Award for Best Original Score – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin

Academy Award for Best Sound – Fred Hynes and Gordon E. Sawyer