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MOVIE MARATHON DAY! Every year the kids and I do a daylong summer marathon of classic movies they haven't seen before, and TODAY IS THE DAY.
(Usually July 4 is that day, but today, as last year, schedules interfered. SO TODAY IS THE DAY.)
Every year I pick a pool of movies, and the kids select as we go. Last year's livetweet, with a full rundown of all thirty-one (!) previous movies, is here:
First up today: Strangers on a Train. I'll report back.
Strangers on a Train was a qualified hit. The kids dug the carousel scene and LOVED Barbara.
(I swooned over Farley Granger's suits and the signage at the carnival. As always.)
The kids are bitterly divided over which movie to watch next, but they've agreed to place the decision in your hands. You have ten minutes.
Damn. A squeaker!
A literal tie. But one kid voted in the Twitter poll and the other did not, so. Harold and Maude it is!
As Casey put it, Harold and Maude "wasn't my favorite Movie Marathon movie but it was a great movie to watch in the Movie Marathon." Or, as Elvis said seventeen times during the watch, "this is such a weird movie."
(The kids definitely appreciated its insidious charm.)
Quick break, then His Girl Friday.
His Girl Friday went over huge. HUGE. They loved it. Casey: "I want to hate the end of this movie ... but I can't."
Got another dilemma for the next one, again to be resolved by y'all. As before, you have ten minutes.
(cc: @MarkHarrisNYC)
I forgot to set a time limit on the poll. Oh well. Doesn't look like it's going to be as close as last time, so it matters less.
Okay, I'm calling it. ITHOTN it is. See y'all in a couple of hours.
Three of the four movies we’ve watched so far today have opened with extended shots of people’s shoes.
It's easy to forget how beautifully constructed In the Heat of the Night is. (The last 20 minutes go a little sideways, but still.) Kids loved it.
Taking a break to cook dinner, then Lifeboat. We'll have time for one more after that, I think.
The two leading candidates for the final movie as of right now are—and it makes me giddy just to type this—The Maltese Falcon and Do the Right Thing.
Okay, this poll is purely advisory, but I'm dying to know the results, so I'll put it up. Half an hour. Go.
(BTW, the greenhouse scene in In the Heat of the Night is one of my favorite moments in the history of movies. So perfectly executed. Larry Gates is amazing. Just amazing.)
Aaaand Lifeboat is done (to great acclaim) and we're calling it a night since the kids have school tomorrow and we can cool down with Project Runway (which starts in eleven minutes).
This year oldest average movie-age since we started the marathon, and the first majority-B&W year since the first. AND the newest movie was the kids' least favorite—though they definitely dug it.
Elvis' ranking:
His Girl Friday
Lifeboat
In the Heat of the Night
Strangers on a Train
Harold and Maude
His Girl Friday
Lifeboat
In the Heat of the Night
Strangers on a Train
Harold and Maude
Casey's ranking:
Lifeboat
His Girl Friday
In the Heat of the Night
Strangers on a Train
Harold and Maude
Lifeboat
His Girl Friday
In the Heat of the Night
Strangers on a Train
Harold and Maude
(Casey wants it known that the top four were essentially a four-way tie.)
