Movies, Movies, Movies

In the last couple of weeks, I have watched two movies, and enjoyed them both thoroughly, although they couldn't have been any different.

The first one was "The Long Riders". In my opinion, this was one of the best Westerns ever made. And, it was historically correct, especially in its costumes.

The movie features four sets of brothers in real life, playing four sets of brothers:

David Carradine: Cole Younger
Keith Carradine: Jim Younger
Robert Carradine: Bob Younger

Dennis Quaid: Ed Miller
Randy Quaid: Clell Miller

Christopher Guest: Charlie Ford
Nicholas Guest: Bob Ford

James Keach: Jessie James
Stacey Keach: Frank James

Whoever had the idea of hiring all those brothers to play brothers was brilliant. Since there is some resemblance in each of the four families, it lends credence to the story.

The film also featured Pamela Reed as Belle Starr. You might remember her from "The Right Stuff". She played Gordo Cooper's wife.

"The Long Riders" tells the stories of four outlaw bands of brothers that took up robbing banks after the Civil War. It tells the story of the killing of Jessie James by Bob Ford.

Jessie James once said, "All the world likes an outlaw. For some reason, they remember 'em."

You'll remember these particular outlaws.
I recommend this movie - highly.




The second movie I watched is "Hairspray". Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Or, in this case, to the hilarious. This movie had me laughing out loud. The lyrics and dialoge were a scream, and you had to listen closely.

John Travolta was great as Edna Turnblad. His characterization was never over the top. He didn't turn Edna into a caracature at all, which would have been easy to do. And Christopher Walken was superb as Mr. Turnblad. I thought he was kind of overlooked in the midst of all of the other wonderful actors, but he was very funny, too.

Queen Latifah kept things real as Motormouth Maybelle, as did Zac Efron, as Link . Allison Janney was a real scene stealer, but John Travolta and Christopher Walken stopped the entire show with their song and dance number duet.

Nikki Blonsky was great as Tracy Turnblad and Michelle Pfeiffer was hilarious as Velma Van Tussle.

The theme of the movie was all about tolerance, integration and acceptance of others (i.e. fat people). The setting was 1962, and if you think you saw a couple of 1963 model cars, well, you did, but no matter.

Don't miss this one, either.