A Very Gabby Birthday to Us!

Werth: Happy First Birthday, Wise!

Wise: Happy First Birthday to you, Werth!

Werth: Just think of it: last year at this time we were putting the finishing touches on our very first Film Gab, "Be Gentle. It's Our First Time."  We were stressing out over our movie choices, our punctuation, whether to use the papier mache head pic—

Wise: And if anyone would bother reading it.

Werth: But here we are one year and 22,000 page views later.

Wise: 22,000 views. Wow. I wonder how many people are just tuning in for the gratuitous sex and violence.

Werth: Funny you should say that because one of our most popular posts has been "Gab in the Buff."

Wise: The internet does seem to encourage nudity.

Werth: People looking for Porky's I get, but I was surprised by how many people were looking for the skinny dipping pics from A Room With a View. Never underestimate the power of nude British lads.

Wise: Or the power of one word. "Stressed-out Gab" has been very popular apparently because people like to search the internet for postings about stress.

Werth: Gaslight and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte are the perfect cures for someone who is stressed enough to have to look it up on the internet.

Wise: The "Stressed is Desserts spelled backward" pic seemed to calm some of them down. And speaking of desserts, no first birthday party would be complete without some cake, and audience favorite "Let Them Eat Gab" is full of sweet treats.

Werth: Like Jamie Dornan in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.

Wise: A tricorne hat makes everything more delightful. 

Werth: Something not as edible is comic centenarian Estelle Winwood whose presence in Murder by Death in our "April Gab's Day" post certainly drew lots of attention.

Wise: Who knew she had such a rabid fan club? With all these popular postings, I feel like we should remind folks about some of the less popular posts.

Werth: The ones with Coke-bottle glasses, zits and braces?

Wise; Exactly. "12 Step Gab" points out how fun movies about boozehounds can be, especially when they're played by a cinema legend like Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge, or by a tiny, hairy British comic like Dudley Moore in Arthur. 

Werth: I have to say that one of my favorites of our less-loved children would be "Re-Maker's Mark." I really enjoyed comparing Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet to Michael Curtiz's with Joan Crawford.

Wise: We all know you want to stage a mudwrestling match between the two Mildreds.

Werth: And your piece about The Shop Around the Corner is a great reminder of how current Hollywood still mines classic Hollywood for material.

Wise: Well I'm very excited to continue mining Hollywood for more Film Gab.

Werth: And we hope all of you readers will continue to join us as we grow out of diapers and start walking. What's your favorite Film Gab from our first year?

12 Step Gab

Wise: Hi there, Werth!

Werth: Please, stop typing so loud.

Wise: Did someone celebrate his faux Irish heritage too much last night?

Werth: There’s some Irish on my Grandfather’s side... and yes.

Wise: You know the best cure for a hangover?

Werth: Four Tylenol washed down with a fifth of Cointreau?


Wise: Alcoholic Movies!

Werth: Ah! The hair of the Hollywood that bit you.

Wise: Indeed. When I’m getting my fix of over-imbibing on the silver screen, I like to serve it dry with a twist of old Hollywood glamor and a splash of 80’s bitters.  

Werth: Sounds like you’re going to dunk Joan Collins’ “Dynasty” shoulder pads into a mug of Old Grandad. 

Wise: Close, but actually I’m thinking of Postcards from the Edge, Mike Nichols’ film version of Carrie Fisher’s thinly veiled roman a clef about the excesses of an actress as she struggles with addictions, a turbulent love life, and the unending and unhelpful razzmatazz of her screen legend mother.  

Werth: Razzmatazz that will drive a body straight to Jenny Craig.

Wise: Meryl Streep plays Suzanne Vale, an effervescent actress with a few hits under her belt and a few bumps up her nose.  After a stint in rehab, and before the insurance company will allow her to start her next film, she moves in with her mother and is forced to negotiate both her recovery and her complicated maternal relationship.  Of course that relationship is even more difficult when your mother is played by Shirley MacLaine in Debbie Reynolds drag.  

Werth: That would make a great Halloween costume. 

Wise: Postcards isn’t a perfect film, but it is loaded with great performances and some genuinely funny jokes made at Hollywood’s expense.  Annette Bening, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gene Hackman all have small but pivotal roles, and their presence gives the movie a kind of insider-y feel.  It’s fun to watch the fictional world of movie-making bleed into Suzanne’s real life, just like it’s fun to play a guessing game of how much of the story is based on Carrie Fisher’s own experiences.  

Werth: I liked seeing Conrad Bain get some post-“Diff’rent Strokes” work.

Wise: Both Streep and MacLaine get to sing a couple of numbers which adds extra zest to the affair.  Plus Dennis Quaid does a lot of shirtless smirking while causing a lot of trouble for Suzanne.  He’s at the height of the golden, good-time boy era of his career and he cheerfully lures Suzanne into and out of the bedroom before eventually dumping her at the emergency room after an overdose.  

Werth: I find that the best way to cure a Dennis Quaid overdose is to hit rock-bottom with the drunkenly delightful Dudley Moore in 1981’s Arthur.

Wise: Not to be confused with the Russell Brand re-make that comes out April 8th.

Werth: Of course not. Arthur is a wealthy, lovable, ne’er-do-well lush who spends his nights at the Plaza eating dinner with lycra-clad street walkers and his days waking up in a bedroom with a trainset.

After taking a bath wearing a top hat, he can be found traipsing through New York department stores with his British-ly acerbic manservant, Hobson, played with hilarious elan by the Oscar-winning John Gielgud.

 

Wise: Isn’t that how you spend your days?

Werth: Just Saturdays. Arthur’s boozey life gets a wake-up call from his father, however, when he is told he has to marry heiress Susan Johnson (a pre- L.A. Law Jill Eikenberry) or be written off without a sou. 


Wise: There are worse things than marrying an heiress. 

Werth: Only Arthur has just found love in the Bergdorf’s tie department care of sassy shoplifter, Liza Minnelli.

Wise: What’s a drunk millionaire to do?

 Werth: What really makes this movie work is its total devotion to its lead character. Dudley Moore waltzes effortlessly across the screen as a winsome drunk. His pathetic-ness is charming, his social faux pas endearing, his care and love for Hobson heart-touching. The film doesn’t make us pity Arthur’s drunkenness. In fact, we wait anxiously for his next bender. But it also doesn’t glorify his drinking problem. As grand a caricature as Arthur is, he feels utterly human. And with spot-on supporting performances from Gielgud, Minnelli, Barney Martin and Geraldine Fizgerald, Arthur’s life doesn’t make us want to run to an AA Meeting, but to the arms of someone we love.

Wise: It sounds like you got caught between the moon and New York City.

Werth: And if any theme song could give you a hangover, Christopher Cross’ could.

Wise: No worries. You and our faithful readers can just put an ice pack on your heads and tune in next week for more intoxicating Film Gab!