From Time Magazine (Editorial):
In the holiday classic It's A Wonderful Life, George Bailey (Jimmy
Stewart) sees what life would have been like had he never been born. His brother
would be dead, his wife a spinster, Bedford Falls a hellhole, albeit one with
more interesting nightlife.
So Bedford Falls needs George Bailey. But the
rest of us? Not so into him anymore. Don't get me wrong: I like Wonderful
Life--the dance contest, the romance, the seductive mystery of Violet Bick. But
isn't there something a little oppressive about it? To me, a former small-town
kid, it's a tragedy, about a man whose dreams are beaten down by his needy,
parochial, busybody neighbors. I want to yell at the screen, "You go on that
honeymoon, George Bailey! Tell that cabdriver to floor it and never look
back!"
That makes me a bad person. But I must not be alone, because America
has a new favorite Christmas movie. A Christmas Story, the 1983 tale about
Ralphie (Peter Billingsley), a 9-year-old in 1940s Indiana, and his lust for a
Red Ryder air rifle, is everything Wonderful Life is not: satiric and
myth-deflating, down to the cranky store Santa kicking Ralphie down a slide.
("You'll shoot your eye out, kid!")
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Click on title for the rest of the article.
I've actually seen this movie more than once during it's 24-hour run. I like it. It's real yo!
12.07.2007
Times, they are'a changin'
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3 comments:
Pa-leeze. I don't care about the quality of what appears to be, at best, a cute movie. It's comfort food; empty calories; a guilty pleasure. It's a Wonderful life it's where it's at. If seen that movie about 20 times, in the span of 10 years! That's right, every Holiday season I've seen it at least twice. Don't believe me about the true GREATNESS of this film: AFI had it at number 12 on its list of ALLTIME MOVIES OF ALL TIME. Christmas story? It ranked at number nothing. End of story.
"I
Favorite quote:
George Bailey: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.
Mary: I'll take it. Then what?
George Bailey: Well, then you can swallow it, and it'll all dissolve, see... and the moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair... am I talking too much?
I think so. I don't think TIME was referring to which is better. But it is becoming THE movie for the holidays. Anyway, shut your mouth or I'll shoot your eye out kid!
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