Saturday, April 7, 2012

G is for Gone with the Wind and GoodFellas

Narrowing these films down to two for each category is getting harder. There are a bunch of amazing G category films that must be mentioned: Goonies, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Gremlins mainly. Plus, there’s also Girl, Interrupted and Good Will Hunting that come in as a close third for awesomeness. However, there are two that are just superb over the rest, in my humble opinion.

Gone with the Wind: I feel bad for anyone who has not at least seen this movie once because it is so dang amazing. It’s not just a girl flick either, despite the heroine being the best heroine of all time. There’s war and shooting and dudes drinking and all sorts of such things that would make men interested in this film. The context of the Civil War plus the epic story of Scarlett O’Hara and being so blindly selfish that her strength saves everyone in her family. And even though she’s too worried about getting “the wooden headed Ashley Wilkes” (I can quote that without even looking it up – I’ve seen it that many times) she can’t see that Rhett Butler is the man for her. Plus, it’s great because the end isn’t even really an end. We can speculate on what happened after Rhett left her again (I ignore any attempts to create sequels to this story) and it makes us feel like the story keep living on even though it was released in 1939. Vivien Leigh is still the most beautiful actress I’ve ever seen on screen to this day after all this time in Hollywood history. I can’t say everything I want to about how much I love this movie and how much everyone should give it a chance. It’s just amazing for the acting, dialogue, storyline, filming, colour, staging, costuming, history, production…it’s just really, really good. It’s been rating as the best film ever made, so you’re not just going on my opinion. Trust me.

Scarlett: Oh! You sir are no gentlemen.
Rhett Butler: And you Ms. are no lady.

GoodFellas: This one isn’t a chick flick at all. In fact, it’s really gruesome and violent. But that doesn’t keep this movie from being an epic story about the life of Henry Hill.  Henry becomes a gangster in his teens, lives the high life as a young adult, then has to run for his life after betraying the mob family that let him in so early on. Some people hate voiceovers in films for some reason but I really like them. I like knowing that this is Henry’s story and what he thinks and feels about every single person and event that he’s involved in throughout the whole film. I also like knowing what his wife, Karen, thinks about Henry and the life that they lead. Plus, since De Niro and Pesci (no first names necessary) are headlining with Ray Liotta, the story is wonderful because the acting is so dang good. You believe these guys are gangsters and you still like them. You still laugh at their jokes and you still don’t really blame them for killing guys like Billy Batts. In the end, you know Henry and Karen are at the end of their reign as mobster royalty and they have no choice but to turn their mob family in. It’s just one of those movies that can be rivalled perhaps only with by The Godfather (which I admit I’ve only seen parts of but if I’d seen all of it then I’d probably put it on this list as honourable mention).

Henry Hill: You know, we always called each other good fellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, :You're gonna like this guy. He's all right. He's a good fella. He's one of us.: You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys.

4 comments:

  1. Great theme! Any theme that helps you think of posts is a good one. :)

    I agree, Gone with the Wind was a great film - and a great book. I haven't seen Goodfellas though...

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  2. Great movie choices for G.

    Look forward to your challenge run…
    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  3. There is one Ray Liotta movie I especially loved that also starred Tom Hulce, who I have not seen for YEARS!

    And could Vivien Leigh BE any more beautiful! Oh, my my my my my!

    I love your theme for the AtoZChallenge. I am also with Team Tina & I am trying to be sure to visit everyone!

    Have a splendid weekend!

    Julie Jordan Scott
    twitter: @juliejordanscot
    G is for Gabriela Mistral
    #atozchallenge

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  4. Hi Suzanne! I love Goonies, Groundhog Day and Gremlins. And Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite reads from middle school, although I have never seen the whole movie...just bits and pieces. All great movie choices!

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