Ok, ok, so Blue Velvet actually beat North by Northwest by a single vote. But my video store didn’t have a DVD copy of Blue Velvet somehow, so I went with North by Northwest. If anyone has a copy of Blue Velvet I could borrow, I’ll watch it this weekend.
This film was an absolute blast. The scenery was almost as much fun as the film, from the colorful hotel rooms to the obviously staged woods to house at the end, the sets were amazing. Cary Grant was the definition of cool. As a friend of mine said the other night, “George Clooney has built an entire career out of being Cary Grant.” And Eva Marie Saint is stunningly beautiful, with that certain edge that makes women ten times sexier. Smart, powerful, and sexy, I have a hard time thinking of an actress in Hollywood today that could have pulled that character off. The other character I really liked was the super creepy villain played by Martin Landau. What was up with that dude? What a psycho.
I loved the classic scene on the prairie. “That’s funny, that plane’s dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops.” And of course Cary Grant runs from a plane without ever breaking a sweat or running out of breath. I also enjoyed the scene at the art gallery, where he made an ass of himself to avoid being killed, though I wasn’t sure why he didn’t try to get away from the cops as well.
No real negatives to talk about. Thought the movie coulda been about 15 minutes shorter, but I still enjoyed all of it. I thought the Mount Rushmore scene was a little hokey. Apparently, they were really gonna shoot at Rushmore, but got found out and the Park Service wouldn’t let them, so they had to build a fake Rushmore and promise to not walk on the faces. In any event, that scene was a bit silly, though I’m really just nitpicking here.
All in all, a great film. I even watched the 30 minute extra about the filming of it, which I rarely do, because I wanted to learn more about the film. I’m sure I missed some vague nuances, and will at some point treat myself to watching it again to try to pick them up. Great film. B+.