Gazebo (1959)

“Honey couldn’t you call Hitchcock again?”

            When I watch a film I have never hear of but it has some of my favorite classic actors in it I do not go into watching it with too much expectations. Sometimes I do but not always. Sometimes the titles are so weird and misleading and sometimes the plot summaries online can make the films sound not too great. I had to watch Gazebo with Glenn Ford since currently I am on a Glenn Ford kick. I read it was a comedy and for the life of me could not fathom how a film with Glenn Ford, a gazebo, pigeon could be too funny. I can now that Gazebo is hilarious and I now count it as one of my favorite films.

            Elliot Nash (Ford) is a writer and director for a TV show. He is constantly stressed and over working himself. Lately he is worried about money which is driving him even crazier than he already is. Elliot gets a call three time while he is doing the show. The same person calls him. The person is a man called Mr. Shelby. Elliot owes money to this Mr. Shelby. The man is trying to get Elliot to sell his house to get the money.

            Elliot’s wife Nell is the star of a Broadway show. On his way to pick up Nell, the cab he is in hits a pigeon. Elliot makes the cab pull over and picks up the bird and takes care of it. When Elliot and Nell get home their friend Harlow is there. Harlow is District Attorney in the city but for some reason is always at their house. Elliot tells Harlow a story that he says he is planning to write which is really the story of why he owes money. He wants to call the police but Harlow says the police barely help.

            Nell does not want to sell the house. Since Elliot is not telling her the truth as to why he wants to sell the house she is confused as to why is so keen on doing so. Elliot does everything he can to make the house a wreck so Nell will want to move out.

            Worse news comes with the blackmailer now having photos of Nell in revealing poses and clothing. He now wants twenty-five thousand dollars. Even worse when Elliot comes home Nell has bought a gazebo she wants to put in the backyard. Nell figures Elliot can relax outside and do some writing in it. In order for the gazebo to be stable in the backyard concrete needs to be poured. Elliot decides to kill Mr. Shelby and burry the body in the concrete foundation.

            Elliot nervously and hysterically sets up the house for when Mr. Shelby arrives for him to be killed. He plot the killing like one of the stories from his TV show. He sets up a chair in line with the door so he can sit in the dark and shoot Mr. Shelby when he comes into the house. He buys a shovel and plastic to keep his clothes from getting anything on them and uses the shower curtain that he hates from the bathroom to wrap the body in.

            Elliot kills Mr. Shelby but things do not go as planned. One of the guys who is working on laying the cement comes by that night to check the foundation. He filled the hole that Elliot had dug and he even takes the shovel Elliot bought thinking it was one of his own. Then all of the sudden the realtor comes by and to top it all off Alfred Hitchcock calls. Taking advantage of the phone call Elliot asks Hitchcock about burying a body as if it was for a story he was writing. The director tells the writer he would use the shovel from the fireplace. The next day the gazebo is set. Elliot is all happy and gittery. Then it starts to rain and the cement from the foundation begins to fall apart. Now the cement has to be redone.

            Nell had spoken to Harlow about how she is worried about Elliot since he has been more nervous than usual and that she knows he is sabotaging the house to get her to change her mind about moving. Harlow has found out about Shelby and Nell’s photos and asks her about them. She tells him that the photos are from before she was famous and that they were for art.

            When the cement has to be redone Elliot is a mess again since now he has a body in there. Nell thinks her husband is nervous because he buried the shower curtain he hates in there and he does not want her to find out. To get her to stop snooping around Elliot confesses he buried the curtains. Elliot decides to just sell the house. The realtor has him sell the house for sixty thousand dollars. Nell finally agrees to move since the gazebo has ruined the backyard view. The realtor tells them that the new owners want to remove the gazebo and build a pool.

            The police come by the theater to ask questions about Mr. Shelby’s murder. Elliot acts very suspiciously as though he was out of his mind. It turns out that Mr. Shelby was murdered by one of his own men. Elliot realizes he killed someone else. The person was probably Joe the Black the man who killed Mr. Shelby. After the show Nell is picked up by two men claiming to be cops who are looking for Joe. The guys take her back to her house. The gazebo falls over and the guys take a look and find Joe’s body.

            All the guys wanted was the briefcase Joe had been carrying. They take the briefcase and leave Nell tied to a chair in the kitchen. The two guys are captured by the real cops. They tell the police about the body in the gazebo. The police bring the two guys to the house. Elliot is completely nervous and on an edge. He begins to confess that he killed Joe but then he pleads the Fifth when he sees Herman the pigeon digging at the books on a shelf pull out the bullet he had fired that night. He completely missed Joe. The police find that Joe had a glycerin pill in his pocket and figure he must have died from a heart attack that night.

            Herman steals the bullet away from the police. Everyone begins to chase him but it is no use Herman flies away with it.

            Glenn Ford was hilarious. I am used to seeing him as the serious hero of westerns or dramas. I was laughing so much with Ford acting like a nervous wreck. I was also laughing in the scenes with Ford and Herman he was so nice with the bird treating it like a sick baby. Ford had so many funny scenes it is hard to pick just one. I thought Debbie Reynolds was an odd pairing with Glenn Ford. I am not crazy about Reynolds as an actress and I am used to seeing Ford acting with these beautiful femme fatale women. But I will say they had some nice chemistry and that is most likely down to the fact that they were very good friends off screen (they had worked on a film together many years before this).

            Gazebo is one of the funniest classic films I have watched. It was a great dark comedy it was hilarious and suspenseful. I never would have watched this film had it not been for Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds being in it and I am so happy they were because I would have missed out on a funny story with a great plot. I wish so called “dark comedies” today could be made as perfect as Gazebo.  

Singin in the Rain: 60th Anniversary Showing

“Of course we talk. Don’t ev’rybody?”

            It was a treat to have seen my all time favorite drama Casablanca in theaters for its 70^th anniversary a few months ago and it was an even bigger treat seeing my all time favorite musical Singin’ in the Rain in theaters for the film’s 60^th anniversary. I have seen Singin’ in the Rain countless times at home either by myself or with friends and family. But there is no experience in the world like watching a classic film in theaters with other fans and to hear them laugh at all the funny scenes and applaud when a dance number ended.

            Singin’ in the Rain is a film I watched when I was younger and, according to my parents, loved to sit through. Apparently I also liked Brigadoon making me a Gene Kelly fan since I was little. The first time I ever took notice of who Gene Kelly was was in the God awful movie Xanadu. Yes, folks I have seen Xanadu and even own it because it is so bad that it is fabulous. When I first got the movie on VHS I asked my mom who Gene Kelly was. By that time he was an older man with white hair but could still dance like no one else. So she told me I used to watch him in Brigadoon and Singin’ in the Rain all the time when I was little. As the years went by and I got older and got into classic Hollywood I rediscovered Singin’ in the Rain.  I remember seeing a photograph of Gene Kelly from the film and thinking “hey that’s the old guy from Xanadu when he was younger. Wow does he look different with black hair!” I can also remember the day I first bought Singin’ in the Rain on DVD and watched for the first time in years. I thought it was a very good film but for the life of me could not figure out why Singin’ in the Rain was the title it was so silly and did not fit.

            I can proudly (and maturely) say that I understand why the film is titled what it is and that Gene Kelly is no longer just the old guy from Xanadu for me but Don Lockwood from Singin’ in the Rain as well as Jerry from An American in Paris and Serafin from The Pirate and several more characters from his great films.

            So much has been said for how brilliant Gene Kelly was and how great his dancing is. So much has also been said for the great performances by Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. All three of them are fantastic no one deserved the roles of Don Lockwood, Cosmo Brown, and Kathy Selden more than they did. To me no one deserves more credit and praise for making this film so funny and so enjoyable than Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont. I cannot remember my reaction when Lina first uttered a word but now when I sit through it with someone who has never seen the film I always look at them to see their reactions. I have seen this film so many times and I still die laughing when she first opens her mouth and this high pitched uneducated voice comes out. Lina Lamont is one of my all time favorite movie characters. I do not think of her as a bad guy I think of her as a hysterical antagonist. Kelly even said it himself that the film would not have been as good without Hagen playing the role. I read in a great book called Singin in the Rain: The Making of an American Masterpiece that Betty Comden and Adolph Green who wrote the screenplay were friends with Judy Holiday and wrote the character of Lina Lamont as Judy Holiday on speed. Hagen was not a blonde she was really a brunette. She auditioned for the role with a blonde wig from another part and the producers liked her hair and had her keep it. She was also a very good actress and did not have a squeaky high pitched voice. Hagen’s real voice can actually be heard in the film in the scene where Kathy is supposed to be dubbing Lina. Hagen was dubbing for Debbie Reynolds whose character was supposed to be dubbing for Lina! That is one of the best pieces of film trivia ever! (if you would like to see Hagen in other roles with her brown hair and real voice look for her in The Asphalt Jungle, Adam’s Rib, and Dead Ringer). I feel awful that Jean Hagen is never given much attention and consideration for what she brought to this film. I believe that is because she died before she could really give interviews about working on the film (she died in 1977 from throat cancer).

            My favorite musical numbers are “Good Mornin’” , “Singin’ in the Rain (of course), “All I Do is Dream of You”, “Make ‘em Laugh”, “Moses”, and “Beautiful Girl”. When “Good Mornin’” comes on I am like a little kid I love that song and number so much. That is the number that never fails to cheer me up when I feel down.

            Singin’ in the Rain is a musical I can watch over and over again and never tire of. Whenever I put this film on I always feel better and lighter and happier. I always know that I will laugh whenever Lina comes on the screen or the scene where Kathy is giving Don a lift in her car or Cosmo performs “Make ‘em Laugh”.  Singin’ in the Rain is such a perfect musical with a perfect story. I love seeing Don happily in love singing the title song; it makes me hope for the day where I will be happy in love with someone like he is with Kathy. It was such a great experience to see this musical masterpiece on screen and to enjoy with other fans. 

One For the Money (2012)

I am not sure what to say about One For the Money. It did not suck but it was not the greatest. I cannot be bothered with chick flicks they are so cheesy and predictable. One for the Money is cheesy and predictable but it was fun the romance was not in your face and annoying. Yes there was some romance but it really did not come on until the end when forgiveness is asked for. There were a lot of clichés I was waiting for but they did not come which left me happy.

            Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) is not in a very good financial situation. When she gets to her mother’s house she lets them know that she is completely broke because she lost her job six months previously and that her car is about to get taken away. Now needing a job to save her apartment and pay her bills Stephanie’s mother tells her about her cousin’s bale bonds business. At first Stephanie is hesitant (not about the job but with her cousin) but with the want of money heavier than her dislike of her cousin.

            Her cousin gives her the job even though she has no experience chasing criminals or even holding and firing a gun. Stephanie sees that one of the wanted men is a guy named Joe Morelli who she used to know and he blew her off. She wants to go after him so bad to get revenge and the huge bounty for him is not so bad either.

            With some help Stephanie finds Morelli and eventually takes him in but of course along the way their old feelings for each other rekindle.

            There is a murder mystery but there is no tension to it. We know the guy has to be cleared in the end in order for the ending to be happy.

            The one aspect of the film that I really liked was that Stephanie did not become this like über bounty hunter she was just this clumsy normal tough Jersey girl trying to get revenge on an old boyfriend. I was expecting the character to become a Sydney Bristow or a Mallory Kane but she stayed an untrained bounty hunter with a big heart.

            Katherine Heigl is such a good actress which is the reason I will sit through any movie she makes. No one can do a good north Jersey/New York accent unless you come from those states (I always wish people could hear my family talk I am from Jersey. My dad’s family is from Jersey City and their accents are always fun to listen to haha) so no one did a good job with the accents they all sounded like they were from Boston. Debbie Reynolds plays Stephanie’s grandmother and is wonderfully hysterical she had all the funniest scenes.

            One For the Money is a typical chick flick romcom but it is not as romantic and mushy and stupid as the others. I do not mind that I spent money to see it in theaters but for others I would say wait for the DVD.