Cry, Laugh and Sing-along?

Like with last week’s books, how to choose just three favourite movies from so many? So how about one to make me cry, one to make me laugh, and one to sing along to?

The movie where I ALWAYS cry at the end, no matter how many times I watch it, is ‘Apollo 13.’ I know how it ends, I know they get back safely. After all, I watched the whole thing ‘for real’ back in 1970 and I still remember punching the air in relief when Jim Lovell’s voice came over the radio after the agonisingly long radio silence. When I’m watching the movie, though, I always fill up at all the reactions of the family and the flight engineers at Houston (especially Gene Kranz, played by Ed Harris).

The one to make me laugh is ‘Forrest Gump’ – I didn’t see this in the cinema when it first came out, but caught it on television one night, and found myself laughing out loud at so many of the wonderful comments he makes. I then bought the DVD and continue to laugh every time I watch it. Tom Hanks is brilliant!

To sing along to, my choice would be the National Theatre production of ‘Oklahoma’. This was the stage show which first gave me my love of musical theatre (many, many years ago!), and I have seen it countless times on stage (and also the screen version, of course). But Trevor Nunn’s production at the National Theatre is by far and away the best I have ever seen. Not just because of the gorgeous Hugh Jackman and his fabulous singing voice (well, partly!) but also because of the superb interpretation of some of the songs.

Here’s one of the songs I'd join in with!

In about 6 months’ time, however, I would probably exchange this choice for the movie  version of Les Miserables which is my favourite musical ever! I’ve seen it 10 times on stage, in London and Manchester, and have both the 10th and 25th Anniversary concerts on DVD. Sometime last year, my daughter called to tell me it was being made into a movie and said ‘Guess who’s playing Jean Valjean?’ When she told me it was Hugh, I was over the moon. I’ll be first in line to see it when it’s released here next January. Here’s the trailer:

My Favourite Hero

I’ll start by telling you some types of hero which would never be among my favourites: vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, aliens, ghosts, angels, demons, or other magically-empowered beings.  Okay, I know they’re very ‘fashionable’ right now but – confession time – I’ve never read any fantasy-type story.  Not even Lord of the Rings or any of the Harry Potter books.

I loved Hugh Jackman in ‘Australia’, in ‘Kate and Leopold’ and as Curly in Oklahoma. 

But Wolverine?  No thanks!

Even as a child, I preferred stories about ‘real’ people, and not ‘fairy’ stories.  I have absolutely no interest in ‘fantasy’ in the strictest sense of the word.  Most of the paranormal beings are, to me anyway, the stuff of nightmares, not of romance. 

I don’t like ‘bad boys’ either.  Never liked Heathcliffe, for example, or the ‘Byronic’ type of anti-hero. Maybe Mr Rochester in ‘Jane Eyre’ is also an anti-hero – keeps his wife locked up, pretends to be engaged to one of his lady friends to make Jane jealous, and then attempts to marry Jane bigamously?  What a jerk!  But we see him only through Jane’s eyes so can empathise (and sympathise) with her. 

What about Mr Darcy then?  Supposedly women’s favourite fictional icon, whereas really he was a dominant patriarchal male.  Forget Colin Firth clambering from lake in wet shirt (on second thoughts, though, maybe I will keep that image in my mind!).  But Darcy was moody, overbearing, repressed and patronising.  In the 1940’s Laurence Olivier played a very ‘buttoned-up’ Mr Darcy and no-one swooned over him.  My guess is that those who drool over Darcy have never actually read the book, but are simply drooling over the devastatingly sexy Mr Firth!  And that gives me the chance to put up a picture of him, not the famous lake scene, but the smouldering look as he watched Elizabeth playing the piano – whoa, definitely a ‘stop the DVD, rewind and replay’ moment!

However, I digress. I’m supposed to be writing about my favourite hero, and not Colin Firth.  But – hold on a minute, maybe I can still talk about Mr Firth.  In ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ he plays the modern equivalent of Mr. Darcy (great casting there!).  He’s reserved and awkward but ‘nice’, while Hugh Grant plays Daniel Cleaver, the modern equivalent of George Wickham, a shallow but sexy charmer.

Which was my favourite hero?  Without getting into the whole alpha/beta discussion again, I have to say it’s the reserved but nice one, of course, who proves to have more far strength of character than the sexy charmer, and more sex appeal too!   

When he kisses Bridget at the end, she tells him, ‘Nice boys don’t kiss like that.’  His reply is. ‘Oh yes, they f….g do.’ 

Now THAT’s my kind of hero!