The Great Race

There are some movies that I remember watching over and over when I was younger. When we're little we never seem to get bored of a story, or film, we like. The Great Race was one of those movies. I remember Ventana and I loved the film and would watch it over and over during the summer. About a month ago I thought to myself "What ever happened to that film?" so I went on Netflix and soon it was at my door. Now I only remembered three things about this movie: 1. It was about a car race. 2. Jack Lemon was in it. 3. There was a pie fight. The Great Race tells the story of two competitors: Doctor Fate and the Great Leslie who decide to have a race from New York to Paris. They are joined by Ms. Dubois, a women's rites activist who believes she can win the race, and mayhem ensues along the way. I quite enjoyed the film. It's not what you might call "a great film" but it is entertaining and good fun. It felt rather like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bed-knobs and Broomsticks and even Start the Revolution Without Me. The film took place at some really pretty locations. There is a castle that I simple adore. It's always fun to go back and re-watch your favorite childhood films.

West Side Story

Greg recently got West Side Story through Netflix after I mentioned Corby (our director) was asking what our favorite musicals were. I really didn't know anything about West Side Story except the song "Tonight", that Natalie Wood was in it, and that it was a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. So I had a fairly clean slate before watching it which I always think is good when seeing a movie you've never seen before. West Side Story is about two enemy gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, living in New York City. With the families of these gangs, Maria (in the Sharks family) and Tony (in the Jet gang) fall in love. I actually enjoyed it a good deal. There are so many good songs in it. Everyone was good in it as well, although it did have a bit of that "older film acting style" that is different to me, because I'm used to films nowadays. It was rather sad to me that neither Maria (Natalie Wood) or Tony (Richard Beymer) didn't sing their own songs, but were dubbed over. I will say that the dubbing was really well done for it never felt like someone else was singing.
One trouble I had with the film, is that because I knew it was the story of Romeo and Juliet, I knew what was coming, which spoiled a bit of the fun. The film is an example of how I feel that old musicals are better than newer ones. In all it was very enjoyable and I recommend it if you haven't already seen it.