March the 21st: Another Saturday Night With the Oklahoma Movie Alliance.
© A.J. Malouin 2010
Every Saturday night, eight to 15 members of the Oklahoma Movie Alliance gather together in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to eat food, talk stuff, and watch movies all night long.
There’s a foot of new snow over everything but the VCRs in Bartlesville tonight, but that’s no reason to stop the group from getting together. (Reports have it that the snow will be gone by Tuesday, latest.)
The theme for tonight’s screenings is “Hiking Movies.” Our darling dearest correspondent Annie summaries the “hiking movies” that are on the agenda of the Oklahoma Movie Alliance on this wondrous snowy first night of Spring 2010 Gregorian as follows…
“A Crack in the Floor’
(2000) This is a horror movie directed by Sean Stanek and Corby Timbrook. It is about a guy who is kept in near isolation by his mother, whom he sees brutally raped and murdered…through a “crack in the floor.” Fast-forward to many years later: A couple of young men go hiking in the woods and come across the guy’s house. He is angry. You can imagine the rest.
“A Lost Lady (1934)
Here’s a movie based on a popular book. The movie is short (about 1 hour) but is supported by a very competent cast, led by Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Morgan, and supported by Ricardo Cortez, Lyle Talbot, and Rafaela Ottiano (playing a maid as usual). Hobart Cavanaugh and Willy Fung provide comedy relief ( also as usual and, thankfully, briefly.) It is a story that takes place in the wilderness.The story is told in the third person, and is mostly from the perspective of Niel Herbert, a young man who grows up in Sweet Water and witnesses the decline of Mrs. Forrester (Stanwyck), for whom he feels very deeply, and also of the West itself from the idealized age of noble pioneers (there is, therefore, a lot of walking in the story) to the age of exploitation. A very good movie!
“Southbounders”
(2005) Directed by Ben Wagner and starring Ann Cale Peterson, Scott Seiser and Christoper McCutchen, this movie is about a woman who attempts to hike the entire (2170-mile!) Appalacian Trail from Maine to Georgia along the Atlantic Coast. It is a drama and a very good story.
“Journey to the Center of the Earth”
(1959) This movie is based on the Jules Verne book, and is about a professor from Edinburgh who with assorted colleagues follow an explorer’s trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth’s center. It has many well known stars including Pat Boone, James Mason and Arlene Dahl. It was nominated for three academy awards and won a Laurel award. Directed by Henry Levin. It is also a very good movie that I saw in 1959 at age 11.
“Killing Me Softly”
(2002) It is a rather steamly drama starring Heather Graham, and directed by Chen Kaige (his only English language film). This could have as easily gone under “Mountain Climbing” films, but it is the story of a famous mountain climber who looses his crew as they are hiking to the top of some mountain. It is sort of a mystery, horror film, but (mostly?!) we are watching it for the sex (much of which was cut out, except in the videos, when it was in American Theaters.)
“A Passage to India”
(1982) This film won two Oscars. It stars Judy Davis, Alec Guinness, and Victor Banerjee (among others). It is sort of a love story and is based on the British takeover of India. It is the story of the group of people who made the passage. They mostly ride horses, but there is also a lot of walking.
That is my take on the movies we are seeing on this first night of Spring 2010. Most of them I would recommend, if for no other reason than they are fun/horror movies.