The 2014 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tourney (1960's Era Brackets: British Invasion/All-American Girls)

Ahhhh you can always tell spring is on the way when days start to feel warmer and flowers start to bloom. Oh and when your favorite classic movie actresses come together to duke it out to earn bragging rights for favorite of the year. This marks the 4th annual edition and things look to be wide open this year. I mean previous winners Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard all took care of business and eventually won their tourney for their respective years. But this year, it's anyone's ball game. I mean odds are in favor of someone from the 30's era bracket clinching the crown, since all three previous winners have come from that era. But I think Bette Davis, the #1 seed from the 40's era and overall #1 seed thanks to her 2nd place finish last year, might have something to say about that. I'll be hosting the 60's era for the 2nd time and here are the first round brackets (British Invasion and All-American Girls) that kick off beginning on Sunday.

BRITISH INVASION

1 DIANA RIGG 

VS

8 HAYLEY MILLS

Looks like upstart Hayley is aiming to take down last year's final four
finalist Diana Rigg...game on!

*****************

4 JULIE CHRISTIE

VS
5 JEAN SIMMONS

Should be a very interesting match...4 vs 5 usually are!

*****************

2 ELIZABETH TAYLOR 

VS
7 VANESSA REDGRAVE

Elizabeth Taylor moves from the 50's era to here and right away she
will face stiff competition in the form of Vanessa Redgrave

*******************

3 JULIE ANDREWS

VS
6 MAGGIE SMITH


Julie usually does very well in tourney play, making it to the sweet sixteen a few times
but this is probably her toughest first round match ever!


*****************

ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS

1 ANNE BANCROFT

VS
8 TUESDAY WELD

*****************
4 FAYE DUNAWAY

VS
5 PAULA PRENTISS

Last year Paula Prentiss made a deep run into the tourney with some surprising
victories. She looks to improve in this year's tourney.

********************

2 JANE FONDA

VS
7 SHARON TATE

Now this one I am putting on upset alert because I really think Sharon Tate has
a good chance of knocking off 2 seed Jane Fonda. We'll find out here shortly

*****************

3 LEE REMICK

VS
6 PATRICIA NEAL

This promises to be a very exciting and close match. Could go either way!

Round Three Day One Update

The excitement is not letting up as we move onto part 2 of round three of the favorite classic movie actress tourney. Here are the day one numbers so far...


SILENT/30'S ERA

"Another tough match? Go figure"....Carole says to herself

CAROLE LOMBARD 57 MYRNA LOY 57
IRENE DUNNE 70 GINGER ROGERS 59


My girl Carole is in another dogfight. This time with the equally popular Myrna Loy and they are dead even. But this match has been back and forth all day long. And we've got 2 more days to go. Don't know how much I can take. In the other match Ginger Rogers has fought her way back against defending champion Irene Dunne to make this a much closer match. Currently down by 11 votes, Ginger at one point was down by as many as 24.


40'S ERA

ROSALIND RUSSELL 40 LUCILLE BALL 32
JUDY GARLAND 44 RITA HAYWORTH 35


After a close start to both matches, a little separation is starting to take place. Top seed Russell has expanded her lead to 8 votes over Lucy while Judy Garland has increased her lead to 9 votes over Rita Hayworth.


50'S ERA

DEBBIE REYNOLDS 45 DORIS DAY 35
JANET LEIGH 52 MARILYN MONROE 29


Now this is the era where things are really, really interesting. Both top seeds are losing and losing big. Overall top seed Doris Day is down by 10 votes to the scrappy Debbie Reynolds. Which is only a mild shock considering the popularity of Reynolds. But 2nd seed Marilyn Monroe is getting hammered by Janet Leigh. What's funny is that right before my lunchtime today MM had a small 4 vote lead. Since then Leigh has rung up 30+ votes to open up a huge margin. Talk about a surprise!


60'S ERA

ANN-MARGRET 39 JULIE ANDREWS 29
JANE FONDA 40 NATALIE WOOD 30


And speaking of upsets, the same thing is happening here to the top 2 seeds. Julie Andrews is down by 10 votes to Ann-Margret and last year's final four finalist Natalie Wood is down by 10 votes as well to Jane Fonda. Actually Natalie was getting beat worse than that, down by as many as 14 votes before making a mini-run in the past 2 hours. Exciting, exciting, exciting. The matches continue on thru Saturday night.

Round Three Matches: Funny Ladies and Singers/Dancers

On to round three of our tourney features a pair of good bracket finales. Both top seeds made it to their respective category final. Natalie Wood will face Jane Fonda in the funny ladies bracket while Julie Andrews squares off against Ann-Margret. Matches begin on Thursday and run through Saturday night.

FUNNY LADIES/GIRLS NEXT DOOR FINAL

1 NATALIE WOOD

VS

2 JANE FONDA

---------------------------------------

SINGERS/DANCERS BRACKET FINAL

1 JULIE ANDREWS

VS

3 ANN-MARGRET

My girl Carole is among those who are in trouble...

Part 2 of the second round of funny ladies and singers/dancers had a very interesting first day. And my girl Carole Lombard is getting all she handle from Jean Arthur.


SILENT/30'S ERA

JEAN ARTHUR 52 CAROLE LOMARD 48
MYRNA LOY 60 JEAN HARLOW 22
GINGER ROGERS 59 HATTIE MCDANIEL 20
IRENE DUNNE 74 JEANETTE MACDONALD 11


Carole is in a tough battle with the equally popular Jean Arthur. In fact Jean has led this match the entire way. Come on Carole..get it in gear. The other matches are blow-outs, especially Irene Dunne/Jeanette MacDonald. The defending champion Dunne has already put up 74 points in one day. Looks like the record of most singles votes is gonna be broken yet again.


40'S ERA

ROSALIND RUSSELL 47 JANE WYMAN 47
LUCILLE BALL 45 EVE ARDEN 43
JUDY GARLAND 38 BETTY GRABLE 31
RITA HAYWORTH 36 ANN MILLER 21


Top seed Rosalind Russell is tied with Jane Wyman in a thrilling match. And Lucy is having a back and forth match with the wise-cracking Eve Arden. And Judy Garland is finally starting to pull away from Betty Grable.


50'S ERA

JANET LEIGH 36 JUDY HOLLIDAY 26
MARILYN MONROE 36 THELMA RITTER 31
DORIS DAY 51 VERA-ELLEN 16
DEBBIE REYNOLDS 45 CYD CHARISSE 25


Janet Leigh leads Judy Holliday by 10 votes. Top seed Doris Day is all over Vera-Ellen. And Thelma Ritter is hanging in there with Marilyn Monroe, down by only 5 votes.


60'S ERA

NATALIE WOOD 43 HAYLEY MILLS 10
JANE FONDA 34 SANDRA DEE 17
JULIE ANDREWS 32 SHIRLEY JONES 19
SHIRLEY MACLAINE 29 ANN-MARGRET 22


Top seed Natalie Wood is crushing Hayley Mills, up by more than 30 votes. The close match going on is between Shirley MacLaine and Ann-Margret. Shirley currently has a 7 vote edge.

Look for these matches to continue today and we'll see how is leading tomorrow when I do an update post.

FUNNY LADIES/SINGERS AND DANCERS Round Two

Here we are with the start of round 2 for the funny ladies/singers and dancers categories. Below are the matches that start immediately. And will run through Saturday night.

FUNNY LADIES/GIRLS NEXT DOOR

1 NATALIE WOOD

VS

5 HAYLEY MILLS

------------------------------------------------

2 JANE FONDA

VS

3 SANDRA DEE

------------------------------------------------

SINGERS AND DANCERS

1 JULIE ANDREWS

VS

4 SHIRLEY JONES

-------------------------------------------

2 SHIRLEY MACLAINE

VS

3 ANN-MARGRET

TCM spotlights some of the 60's best sex comedies on Friday, January 13th

Just a quick little mention as I am fighting off this cold that came out of nowhere, that TCM will be airing some of the best sex comedies of the 60's. You know the type of movies that were cranked out on regular basis during this time period as times and attitudes were changing. Men and women in relationships, are lack thereof and trying to understand each other always led to hilarious results. And while they are known as sex comedies, they are in fact pretty mild. I mean the women dress sexy, and the men drop some crass remarks every now and then, but it's pretty mild. Nothing too risque or offensive. Nothing on the level of say modern films like The Hangover. On the docket will be The Apartment (1960) with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine; Any Wednesday (1966) with Jane Fonda and Jason Robards; Sunday in New York (1963) Jane again this time with Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson; Boys' Night Out (1962) with James Garner, Kim Novak and Tony Randall; and finally Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope still swingin', this time with Lana Turner. I can recommend all except for Bachelor in Paradise which I haven't seen. I was surprised Sex and the Single Girl with Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis or Under The Yum-Yum Tree (1963) with Jack Lemmon and Carol Lynley didn't make the schedule. But regardless, Friday seems like a great day for movie watching. Especially if you like the 1960's and comedies. Starting at 7am EST and running through 5:30 pm.

Rod and Jane enjoying a nice relaxing Sunday afteroon..

Be My Guest - Irene: Question #2 - What is your favorite guilty pleasure movie?

Monty: What is your guilty pleasure movie?



Irene: Not feeling very guilty about it - but I like VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967) and BARBARELLA (1968).

Monty: Hey I like both those films as well. Both from the 60's and both are just fabulous.

Irene: Actually I have a soft spot for trashy films.. So much fun..

Monty: Very much so...Jane Fonda in Barbarella is good trashy fun, period.

Happy Birthday Jane Fonda

(1937-present)

And today TCM is showing several of her movies including:
IN THE COOL OF THE DAY (1963) with Angela Lansbury at 2:30pm
SUNDAY IN NEW YORK (1963) with Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson at 4pm
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (1967) with Robert Redford at 6pm