As I get into my sixties, I still enjoy music and music is on most of the time unless, I am concentrating on something for work or watching films and my wife might say "why are you watching that again" or "You've seen that."
Does anyone else re watch films and if so why do you do it? Birthday presents have been " a 1000 movies to watch before you die" or the 100 movie' scratch off' and watch poster, which as yet has still some films, I've not not watched.
The DVD collection I have is still with me from days of old but the VHS tapes are long gone. Nowadays you can stream mostly anything although you never own a thing.
So this month I decided to write about reasons why some of us watch movies over and over again and some people watch them once and that’s all folks?
Let me explain why I re-watch films.
I have thought about this and I would say it for the same reason we listen to the same piece of music or the same song more than once. There's an emotional resonance to it, something we connect to, even when we know what's coming. I re-watch old movies because they allow me to relive a time, in my life that I remember with fondness. I might cry at something which is not part of the movie’s intention but because of the memory of watching it the first time. Let me explore this further and open it up.
My personal five films to watch again and again and why?
The first film really that really sticks in my memory, except the old hammer horror movies I watched with my mum growing up, is this Bruce Lee epic. "Enter the Dragon". Everyone I knew in my teens loved Kung Fu movies, they were exciting for us teenage boys and this 1973 movie was seen by me at the Regal in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Ok, ok, I was 13 and skived my way through the box office queue with my school mates. It brings back memories of breaking the rules and getting away with it and some great fight scenes. It is one of the most successful martial arts films ever and is widely regarded now as one of the greatest of all time and as an "Easter egg" (those things that appear in films used by directors), if you decide to watch it, can you spot Jackie Chan (uncredited) as a minor henchman?
I took my dad to see this movie, 1978 was the year I first got married at 19 years old. It was the first time Christopher Reeve played the man of steel. "You’ll believe a man can fly’ the poster read and my dad’s face was a picture in itself, his smile and awe at the advances in special effects special, seen on the big screen and which today might seem quite raw compared to what we see today. Richard Donner’s Superman is prime example of a film that I tend to revisit cinematically, because I enjoy recovering aspects of my past for the context of the present.
My son, Paul, was born in 1980 and my daughter, Emma, in 82. I was on "Mechanicians" course at HMS Daedalus as a Leading Hand in the Royal Navy and I paid £78, (yes £78), for a VHS video to watch this film, which I had seen at the pictures so why buy it - you might wonder? I love gadgets and had a VHS recorder, there was a "format war" between Betamax and VHS. The latter format won out; but VHS eventually declined in the late 1990s with the introduction of DVD, a digital optical disc format. Back then in 1982, I had a decent wage, I didn’t own a house and lived in a married quarter in Lee-On-The-Solent. I didn't consider it a waste of money then - what a fool I was, when you consider what you can stream these days.
I watched this film along with its sequels because they are breathtakingly fun movies, the kind of movie that makes people fall in love with movies. After watching my VHS version with my course friends in my married quarter with beers and treats, I remember having friends that I valued then and I still can see their dopey smiles, (including mine), which I can still make the rest of the day, enjoyable and I remember how I was left in awe of how thoroughly I enjoyed each and every minute of the experience. I also remember my son, Paul filling up the VHS insert slot with Lego pieces!
I have watched this film more times than I can recall. Directed by Frank Darabont, based on Stephen King's novella. I read so many of King’s stories, previously to watching the film for first time. It tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongfully convicted of murder, and his friendship with fellow inmate Ellis "Red" Redding. Set in Shawshank State Penitentiary, the film explores themes of hope, friendship, and the resilience of the human spirit. The poster of Rita Hayworth is the first poster Andy gets in The Shawshank Redemption. Andy asks Red to get him an image of Rita while at a screening of Gilda, a 1946 movie in which Rita Hayworth stars. The Stephen King book the movie adapted is called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Andy's determination to maintain his dignity and find redemption, despite facing brutal conditions, makes this film a perfect 10.
My final film(s) in this month's blog about films and memories will be No Time to Die, (NTD); where after a tearful goodbye to Swann, who confirms that Mathilde is in fact his daughter, Bond is killed when the missiles obliterate the factory and Inside Out, (IO); conceived as a Pixar film by a doctor who noticed changes in her daughter's personality as she grew older. Incidentally as a Bond film you can follow Louis Armstrong's version of "We Have All the Time in the World" and which is a recurring theme included three times within the score of this film and of course it originally appeared in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Like me, the films and the song (as do many songs re-listened to), recalls both love and loss in the case of NTD experienced by Bond and IO because of the childhood love expressed by Rachel for these types of movie episodes 😄 . There are of course and has to be over my 65 years of existence two other memorable films to watch again from my life blog and they are in the bigger picture above.
Why these films, you may ask?
Well it brings back memories of when the "nest" was full and both my, (inherited), girls were with us in the family surroundings. There were many things we watched together of course as they grew up to be the women they are and I am proud to have been a part of their lives including my son who is also a film nut recommending "Big Stan" and my biological daughter too who will always be my Princess Bride.
Here are other perfect films and where to watch them.
Disney Plus Bruce Almighty - BE A U TI FULL
Some people say that they learned to spell better after this film and Carrey is off the hook and free from all constraints as his trademark craziness is turned up to the hilt when he attains godlike powers. He plays a TV anchorman who has been looked over for a position and ends up in an audience with God (Morgan Freeman). After taking on powers of a supreme being he realises that it’s not as easy as he first thought to make the right decisions. As a certain person reminded me recently "more is lost by indecision than wrong decision" a quote from one of my subscribers sent to me credited to Cicero, the Roman philosopher and politician.
Prime Video/ Apple TV -THE BREAKFAST CLUB
The Eighties was a heyday for high school movies, thanks in large part to John Hughes, who wrote and directed many of the greats such as Sixteen Candles and Home Alone. This story of what happens when five students are stuck in a Saturday detention is one of the best on-screen depictions of adolescent posturing and angst. Each of the characters represents a different “type” of teen — the popular one, the jock, the nerd, the bad boy and the weirdo — but by the end their masquerading has collapsed as they spend hours fighting then bonding. Plus, the soundtrack is excellent. (I learned the Simple Minds tune after watching this film and became a fan too).
The Godfather -Prime Video
Francis Ford Coppola’s Seventies gangster epics may be regarded as the high-water mark for their genre, but they also feature a legendary Easter egg. Did you notice that every time any character is seen eating or even holding an orange, something terrible happens to them shortly afterwards? Vito Corleone is shot while buying oranges in the market, oranges are prominently on the dinner table before the horse’s head is discovered in Jack Woltz’s bed, Vito makes faces with orange peel to amuse his grandson shortly before expiring, and when Don Fanucci takes an orange from a market stall in the sequel you know his days are numbered. (I often use the term "I made them an offer they can't refuse)
A Quiet Place (Paramount+)
When Emily Blunt was asked to star in this post-apocalyptic thriller directed by her husband, John Krasinski, the actress said many warned her against it: “A lot of people were like, ‘You’re going to be divorced by the end of it.’” They were wrong — they didn’t get divorced and their collaboration resulted in a terrific horror film. It helps that the premise is simple but genius: be silent or risk waking the demons of the wasteland. The scene in which Blunt gives birth in a bathtub while a monster lurks is sublime. It will leave you shaking. (watched this on the plane to the USA Disney and Universal trip 2018)
Django Unchained 2012, Sky
This brilliant and brutal revenge western is Tarantino at his most mischievous. Set among the slave plantations of pre-civil war America, it tells the story of a freed slave on a mission to save his wife, with help from a loquacious bounty hunter. Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx are on fine form, while Samuel L Jackson and a dedicated Leonardo DiCaprio (he actually cut his hand during one scene) add some extra oomph. The use of the n-word is a constant — and it is nicely reclaimed by the end. (I love Tarantino, must get that "Royale with Cheese" soon Teresa).
I have enjoyed films and still do there are still some I have to watch for the first time and if any of my readers have a perfect 10 to recommend email me on tvincent481@gmail.com.
Finally the poem
(How many films can you spot ?)
Romeo, Romeo wherefore thou art?
Di Caprio, Capulets, where do I start
Marty McFly, De Lorean, Cars,
Running the Blade, Life on Mars
Die Harder at Xmas, the Shining in snow
What’s on at the pictures, the Last Movie show
Dread Pirate Roberts, Robert Reiner, John Hughes
No time for Johnny, no time to lose!
Life’s a box of chocolates, shrimp, Peck and that “old stump”
Cast away the blues Tom, save Ryan and Gump
The ship with the “Hot Dogs”, that just, must ‘go on”
With Songs from the movies, Bryan Adams and Dion
Avatar, Inception, Spirited Away
Quid Pro Quo Clarice, and you’ll find Gimli one day
“I am Maximus”, won the national it seems -but really,
“I’m Brian, and so is my wife”, just pythons' silly dreams