You certainly liked that one. I love Jack Lemmon, especially his collaborations with Billy Wilder, who had to be one of the greatest writer/directors ever (some witty material). I think Jack Lemmon, along with Dick Van Dyke, had to be the funniest comedians out of the 50's/60's. Wilder wrote some gold for him to spit out.
I'm not to fond of The Seven Year Itch, it was just alright for me, and not one of Wilder's greats. I watched it on Fox Movie Channel and Tom Rothman (during the introduction) made note of how you never actually see the iconic shot (from ALL of the promotional material) of Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing up in its entirety.
I don't know what you've already seen but as far as recommendations from Billy Wilder go, take your pick. From his early dramatic masterworks (Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Blvd., Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, and Witness for the Prosecution [ranked with Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and 12 Angry Men (1957) as the best courtroom drama ever on film]) to his later comedies with the signature colorful characters (Some Like It Hot [as you know], The Apartment, One Two Three, Irma la Douce, The Fortune Cookie). Even Ball of Fire, a Howard Hawks' screwball comedy written by Wilder, really shows off that witty dialog and colorful characters he would become famous for (avoid the Danny Kaye remake A Song Is Born).
enigmawing wrote:And ooh, I
love Cats Don't Dance, especially for all the old Hollywood references I grew up on (and if I remember right, wasn't it the very last film Gene Kelly worked on?) . . . and speaking of Gene Kelly, I about freaked when Family Guy had Stewie dancing with him instead of Jerry.
I haven't even seen Anchors Aweigh in its entirety, at least not since the days before I even had a VCR (wow, I need to get on that) but had the sequence with Jerry on tape when I was a little older. And on that note I've also been needing to see An Invitation to the Dance, another one I only had a tiny segment of on tape.
I love Cats Don't Dance for that exact same reason (that and I can never seem to get Danny's Arrival Song out of my head once I've heard it). So many classic Hollywood homages.
I have to say, when I first saw that Anchors Aweigh segment in Family Guy I was completely caught off guard. I wanted to rewind and watch it again (just like the "Disney Multiverse" segment). Unfortunately, Anchors Aweigh doesn't hold up as well as that one segment and I'd much prefer watching On the Town if I had to see Kelly and Sinatra in Sailor Suites. The Tom and Jerry segment and the cool look behind the scenes at MGM/Hollywood are the only things I liked about Anchors Aweigh.
An Invitation to the Dance is really not that great. Is was Kelly trying to be experimental like Walt was with Fantasia but ultimately doesn't succeed. Its boring as all get out. I mainly watched it for the live action/animation combo during The Magic Lamp sequence but even that seems to be boring (while animated well). If you dislike the ballet sequence in An American in Paris or even Singin' in the Rain, then you'll hate this movie. Its alright, but sacrifices entertainment for art.
pap64 wrote:And even though I am not that big of a Family Guy fan, I have to give credit to the team on the Stewie/Gene Kelly scene. Rather than ruining a perfect scene with some mean spirited joke they left the scene intact (save for Stewie of course). A great tribute if you ask me.
Well, I think that in addition to being a big Disney (in an interview he stated that he got into animation because of them and wanted to work there) and Star Wars/Star Trek fan, Seth MacFarlane is a big fan of musical numbers (just look at how much the series features them). Its surprising he even knew about it; probably a favorite of his. I just don't think he world spend all the money to license the footage and then rotoscope over it if he didn't like it.
