May We Suggest
Home Movie Collection
by Suzzane McNab for Main Street Magazine
Feb. Issue
© Copyright 2010, Rain Enterprises/MSM (Main Street Magazine)
February, the month of love. How exciting, old love, new love, love of friends and family, and the sweet chills of romance.
The home movie collection would not be complete without some of the best love stories of all time now would it? Keep in mind these are my personal favourites. You're free to disagree with any or all of them. I encourage you to in fact, email your favourites at movies {@} mainstreetmagazine.net
My first few selections are the classics. Take Note: If you would like your partner swooning, try a classic love story!
Casablanca (1942) directed by Michael Curtiz, is considered to be the most romantic movie of all time. It is the story of how Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), an incredibly cynical night-club owner, discovers that his ex-lover who abandoned him for no good reason (or so he thought) Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), and her new husband Victor, a resistance leader, are staying in his club. Because the Germans are chasing her husband, Ilsa has come to beg Rick for some transent letters that have come into his hands so that she and her husband may escape Casablanca and so that he may continue in his noble fight against fascism. This movie shows the painful truth that no matter how much you love someone, sometimes you have to let them go.
Doctor Zhivago (1965) based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, ( A MUST READ as well!) is the second most romantic movie of all time. It is about the Doctor/Poet Yury Zhivago (Sir Alec Guinness) who during the tumultuous times of the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War that immediately followed, is torn between the love he has for his wife, and love he feels for the woman who inspires his poetry, Lara (Julie Christie). This movie shows a man's life of agony because he must choose between fidelity for the woman he married and built a life with and passion he feels for the woman who inspires him.
Gone With the Wind (1939) is a movie based on a novel by Margaret Mitchell, that takes place during the Civil War and Reconstruction in the deep south. It is a story about the difficult love between a selfish, manipulative woman Scarlet O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and the man that she won't admit that she loves, Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). This story ends with her driving away the man the loves and with his delivery of one of the most famous departing lines of a movie, “Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn”.
West Side Story (1961) is a play on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in the 1950's where two rival gangs, the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, fight to keep Tony (ex jet leader played by Richard Beymer) and Maria (younger sister to the current leader of the Sharks, played by Natalie Wood) apart. This musical, set in New York City, is a classic story of the tragedy that can occur when out-siders interfere in the love lives of those they think they are protecting, but who they end up hurting. Before these two lovers can really be together, they are torn apart by bitter rivalry and their love is cut short by a heartbreaking end.
Romeo and Juliet (1968) is Shakespeare's classic tale of tragedy that befalls teenage lovers because of a bitter family war that has been around since before they were born. The Montegues and Capulets attempt to keep the two young lovers apart, but each side ends up suffering from several losses. Only after the young lovers are found at their tragic end do the families realize how petty the age old fighting between the families was. This movie embodies the belief that love is worth any consequence it may bring and it shares the lesson that love brings more good than hate ever could.
In my opinion few modern romances live up to the classics, however, as the saying goes, there is always the exception to the rule!
The Notebook (2004) is the story about an old man (James Garner) who reads a story to an old woman (Gena Rowland) in a nursing home, who cannot remember who she is, about two teenagers (Ryan Gossling, Rachel McAdams) that fall into a love so deep and strong that it can conquer anything and help them endure any and all pain that life can bring them. It is not until the end of the story that the old woman realizes that the story is about her and the man who reads to her everyday. This movie shows that a true love can have a bond that is stronger than any force on earth. It makes me cry each and every time I watch it. The count is 25 I think!
Brokeback Mountain (2005) is the story of two men, a rodeo cowboy and a ranch hand, who forge a 19 year long love affair and bond that is developed in the summer of 1963 when both men are hired as ranch hands to herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain. This unique bond lasts through their marriages, their having children and through society's view on what should and shouldn't be in a testament of the power and endurance of love.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) is a movie that was adapted from a 1920's story by author F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties who gets younger as time goes on. The story also focuses around Daisy's (Cate Blanchett) and Benjamin's (Brad Pitt) relationship as she grows older and he grows younger and how they meet in the middle when in their forties and finally match up. They share a special bond and a special love that lasts their entire lives, though they are going in different directions.
We all have our own romantic style which will reflect our favourite movie collection. For me, no matter whats happening in my life, if I need that warm and tingly sensation all I have to do is reach for one of these gems!
Happy February everyone, and remember, love is never limited to Valentine’s, or your anniversary, let your partner know you care every chance you can!