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SUCK IT! WEBZINE IN ASSOCIATION WITH AMAZON.COM DELIVERS
Classics
Editor, Sam Sutherland
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Word for Word
His Girl Friday
"Walter, you're wonderful, in a loathsome sort of
way."
--Ace reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) to editor and ex-husband Walter Burns (Cary Grant), setting the gold standard for love-hate relationships in Howard Hawks's His Girl Friday (1940)
Bonnie and ClydeBetween producer-star Warren Beatty's bold willingness to invert his own heartthrob image and director Arthur Penn's envelope-pushing staging of the title characters' horrific deaths, this portrait of the Depression-era bandits stoked controversy during its 1967 release. In the process, Bonnie and Clyde proved a true landmark in American movies.
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On the Beach
starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred
Astaire; directed by Stanley Kramer
This 1959 dramatization of Nevil Shute's bestselling novel is a bleak meditation on the aftermath of a nuclear exchange. Peck--commander of a submarine that has escaped a devastated North America--is seeking survivors in Australia, untouched by bombs. Astaire (in his dramatic debut) is among the doomed survivors living out their final days down under. Kramer's style, never subtle, hammers home the apocalyptic ironies, but by focusing on characters instead of spectacle in this post-holocaust story, he achieves an elegiac power.
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Seven Days in May
starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric
March, and Ava Gardner; directed by John Frankenheimer
Director Frankenheimer followed his paranoid classic, The Manchurian Candidate, with this equally paranoid but far subtler thriller revolving around an attempted presidential coup. Rod Serling's adaptation of the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey results in fireworks that are verbal, not pyrotechnic, but no less explosive, thanks to a superb cast headed by Lancaster as the hawkish general ready to oppose the peace-seeking president, a late-career triumph for Fredric March.
Sullivan's TravelsWith the Coen brothers borrowing the title for their newest comedy, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, from the movie-within-a-movie that opens Sullivan's Travels, admirers of Preston Sturges's 1941 film are justifiably pleased. A viewer from Ardmore, Pennsylvania, sums up the original film's charms: "The chemistry between Lake and McCrea is most believable, with Lake proving that she was a most gifted comic actress with impeccable timing. McCrea more than holds his own as the steadfast Sullivan. A wonderful slice of Americana and the fickleness of Hollywood, which hasn't changed much in the third millennium."
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Double Indemnity
starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and
Edward G. Robinson; directed by Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder's 1944 film noir continues to slay fans, not least of all due to the terrific casting. Marvels a viewer from Lakewood, Ohio, "Who could ever forget Barbara Stanwyck as [the] 'femme fatale' who ruins the career and life of an insurance investigator (played by Fred MacMurray)? Barbara's scheme to kill her fuddy-duddy husband and collect the life insurance seemed like a sure thing, so easygoing Fred agrees to do the dirty deed."
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Mr. Hulot's Holiday
starring Jacques Tati and Nathalie Pascaud;
directed by Jacques Tati
With its deliberate pace and gently satiric eye, Jacques Tati's sublime 1953 comedy continues to enchant new generations. Notes a viewer from Spain, "For me, this film is a comedy only in a certain sense. I rarely laugh while watching it--a chuckle here and there. But I think it is one of the most beautiful films ever made--beautiful in subject, technique, and above all in spirit."
Giggles, guffaws, titters, chortles,
yuks, and belly laughs are available in a wide variety of shapes and colors
(including black and white) in our new
Classic Comedies
Store. Surrender to eye-popping slapstick evergreens, delight at
leg-pulling screwball plot twists, or simply applaud the best performances from
classic stars and directors.
The approach of this summer's most ambitious action
epic,
Pearl
Harbor, has unleashed a counterattack from studios--wave after
wave of war films now available on video, dominated by the extensive catalog of
World War II dramas both fact-based and fictional. Savor both the epic and
intimate, including such undisputed classics as John Ford's
They Were
Expendable. 
Rio BravoYou'll find this amiable but unforgettable film on every short list of the greatest Westerns ever made. Reputed to be its director's nose-thumbing response to the underlying pacifism of High Noon, Rio Bravo offers an aging sheriff (Wayne) who handles a showdown with steely nerves and the help of an alcoholic pal (Martin), a shy gunslinger (Nelson), and a crusty deputy (Walter Brennan). Hawks himself liked the basic outline enough to remake it--twice. Available June 5.
My Friend Flicka
starring Roddy McDowell and Preston Foster;
directed by Harold D. Schuster
This timeless 1943 family drama about a young boy and the colt he's determined to raise is a deserved family classic, thanks to its sturdy story (from the Mary O'Hara novel), the affecting central performances, and its gorgeous Technicolor rendering of its Colorado locations. Kids 5 and older will be absorbed, while their parents will be disarmed. Available June 5 at a newly reduced price.
On a sleepy Sunday morning in December, as children
played and families prayed, squadrons of Japanese warplanes screamed across the
skies of a Hawaiian paradise and launched a surprise attack on the U.S. armed
forces at Pearl Harbor. The infamous day that jolted America from peaceful
isolationism to total war and altered the course of world history is relived in
Pearl
Harbor, an epic tale of patriotism, passion, and romance.
Director Michael Bay's ambitious take on the life-changing events surrounding
December 7, 1941, focuses on the war's devastating impact on two daring young
pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a beautiful, dedicated nurse (Kate
Beckinsale). It's this summer's biggest movie event. Opening May 25.
You'll find great videos, features, and more in Amazon.com's Classics Store.
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