Lombard Cup Final Matches

This week of the final six matches is really just perfunctory as Team Classic has already wrapped up the cup with a thorough beat down of Team Modern. But it will be interesting to see if Team Modern can snag a few more victories this final week. They have only won one match..that was when Harrison Ford edged out James Cagney in the first week of Lombard Cup play. And Team Modern do have a few heavyweights left so it should be interesting. The matches begin today and will run through Wednesday night. Thanks to all those who voted and hope you guys return next month for my screwball tourney. Here are the matches:

MATCH 16:
PAUL NEWMAN vs MICHAEL DOUGLAS
The much loved Paul Newman takes on Kirk's eldest son, Michael in a match that
Paul will probably win. Although Michael Douglas is one of my favorite modern
actors.

MATCH 17: 
ERROL FLYNN vs TOM HANKS
Swashbuckling Flynn vs everyman Hanks. I know Flynn has quite the fan base here
in classic blog land but Hanks is also much loved too. This one could  go either way.

MATCH 18:
JAMES STEWART vs JACK NICHOLSON
Awww shucks Jimmy takes on mad dog Jack. Man, this should be a really good match.
I would not be surprised if this ends up a tie.

MATCH 19:
CHARLIE CHAPLIN vs MORGAN FREEMAN
The legendary Chaplin will probably defeat Morgan Freeman but I don't blink it
will be a blow-out.

MATCH 20:
MARLON BRANDO vs DENZEL WASHINGTON
If there is one match where I think Team Modern could get a victory, it has to be this
one. No disrespect to Brando but I think Denzel can win this. But we'll see.

MATCH 21:
MONTGOMERY CLIFT vs ROBERT DUVALL
And finally Monty battles Robert in the anchor match which should be another interesting
one. I'm going with Duvall in this one.

So those are the matches and my thoughts on them as well. I want to thank everyone
for making this a great success. And The Lombard Cup will return next year with the
ladies.

The letter 'H' is a good thing when it comes to Paul Newman...

I mentioned in my preview post for 2012, I would be writing more about classic film actors. For this particular post, my subject is Paul Newman. And the topic is the letter H. I just realized Mr. Newman did several films that began with the letter H and that they are some of his best films and most successful. And all came out during a time span in the 60's. So I thought it would be cool to do a post about that.

First up in 1961 is the much loved and rightly praised The Hustler, which cast Newman as up and coming pool player Eddie Felson, who challenges top shark Minnesota Fats (played by the Great One, Jackie Gleason). This is one of Newman's most famous roles. He even did a sequel 25 years later with Tom Cruise called The Color Of Money. The sequel finally landed him an Oscar, which had eluded him for his whole life. Not taking anything away from the sequel, but it's The Hustler where Newman really shines. One of my favorite films and performances of Newman is by far The Hustler.

Next came 1963's Hud with Newman giving another memorable performance as Hud Bannon, a troublesome young man who defies everyone and everything and lives by his own rules. He is described as not having a decent bone in his body. Melyvn Douglas plays Hud's father and they do not get along at all. And their relationship makes for a powerhouse of a film. Chalk this up as another amazing performance by Newman.

Paul would score again in 1966 with another H titled film called Harper. He's a cool private investigator named Lew Harper who is hired by a wealthy California woman (hey it's my classic movie goddess of the month Lauren Bacall) to find her kidnapped husband. Based on the best selling novel series, this almost wasn't going to be a 'H' film for Newman. The character in the books is called Lew Archer. But it was changed to Harper and thus continued Newman's winning ways. And it was so successful that Newman returned for a sequel in 1975 called The Drowning Pool.

For 1967's western film Hombre, Newman was cast as John Russell, a white man raised by Apaches on an Indian reservation. Fully growned he and some passengers on a stagecoach get attacked by some bandits and are left for dead. Russell is called upon to lead them to safety. Newman gives another rock solid performance. He could do no wrong and the 60's proved to be his greatest decade ever.

And lastly, comes 1967's Cool Hand Luke, his crowning achievement. He is Luke Jackson, prisoner on a Southern chain gang that is so cool and unflappable, and just will not bow down to authority. His repeated escapes and then recapture almost become comical but Newman is just amazing in this role. How he didn't win a Best Actor Oscar for this is one of the greatest crimes the Academy ever committed.

And honorable mention to 1968's The Secret War of Harry Frigg which has Newman cast as Private Harry Frigg who must help 5 Allied Generals escape prison during WW Two.

So that wraps up this little post about Mr. Newman's awesome run of H titled films in the 60's. Hope everyone enjoyed this little exercise of mine. And I hope to do more like it.

My man Cary Grant is rolling in the Final Four...

Cary Grant is roughing up the other top seed Paul Newman 34-7 in a blow-out match that

Has Mr. Grant on cruise control. I thought this would have been Cary’s toughest match but
Nah…it ain’t even close. But the other semi-final match involving the two Bills: Holden and
Powell is going down to the wire. Powell currently clings to a 21-19 lead. There is one more
Full day of voting, so if you haven’t casted a vote yet, please do so. Once we have our
Winners from these two matches, the championship final will begin Thursday and run
Through Sunday evening.

The Classic Movie Actor Tournament FINAL FOUR begins now...

After a month of competitive matches between the 64 top classic movie actors over four decades, the final four begins today. Match 1 has two top seeds in Cary Grant and Paul Newman facing off while Match 2 has a battle of the Bills..Holden and Powell. These matches will run through Wednesday and then we will the final match between the last two men standing. Good luck to all.

The Men's FINAL FOUR is now set...

Paul Newman beat Sidney Poitier 26-9 for the last spot in the Classic Movie Actor Tournament. He joins William Powell, Cary Grant, and William Holden. I will have the Final Four begin on Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to see who wins, but everyone knows my favorite actor is Cary, so that's who I'm going for. As far as my final four picks went: I got Cary and William Holden right. I had also chose Errol Flynn and Jack Lemmon. By the way Paul Newman joins Cary as the only other top seed to advance to the final four (men or women). And guess what, they face off against each other first. Ouch! Anyway, congratulations guys. Here are the scheduled matches which begin on Sunday. Place your bets.

MATCH 1

2 WILLIAM HOLDEN (50'S FINALIST)

VS

6 WILLIAM POWELL  (30'S FINALIST)

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

MATCH 2

1 CARY GRANT (40'S FINALIST)

VS

1 PAUL NEWMAN (60'S FINALIST)

It's PAUL NEWMAN vs SIDNEY POITIER for the last spot in the FINAL FOUR...



VS

Sidney Poitier had to go into a tie-breaker match with Peter O'Toole and he won 10-7. The question asked of the films the two men made with Katherine Hepburn...Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Lion In Winter, which one do you most like. Well Guess Who won out and now Sidney gets to face top seed Paul Newman for the last spot in the men's final four. These two men were good friends in real life and made the movie Paris Blues in 1961. So this should be a very interesting match. Cary Grant, William Holden and William Powell await the winner of this match. Voting becomes immediately and will run through Thursday 8PM EST. Good luck to both men.

We have a tie....

For only the second time in tournament play (men and women) we have a tie. Sidney Poitier and Peter O'Toole are deadlocked at 17 apiece. So I will have a tie-breaker question to decide the winner. That winner will face off against top seed Paul Newman who deafeated Jack Lemmon 20-14. So for the tie-breaker question I will leave in the hands of the great Katherine Hepburn. She appeared with both men in different films: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with Sidney and The Lion in Winter with Peter. The question is which film do you prefer more with Kate as the connecting piece. I will have this poll up for 24 hours to decide the winner.

BOX OFFICE ATTRACTIONS: NEWMAN & REDFORD

This duo only made two films together but they both were box office blockbusters. Paul Newman was one of the biggest stars during the 60's. He was the top ranked star in 1969, the year he teamed with Robert Redford for the first time. Newman had been ranked as a top ten box office star six times during this decade. Redford was just getting started with such films like This Property Is Condemned (1966) with Natalie Wood and Barefoot in the Park (1967) with Jane Fonda. So when these two were brought together for the western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, after Steve McQueen turned down the role of Sundance over a matter of who would get top billing, the result was magnificent. The film earned a huge $102 million and was the top film of 1969, more than doubling the number two film of the year, The Love Bug. To put that in perspective, that amount earned in 1969 would equate to about $565 million at today's ticket prices. How many films have earned that in today's cinema? Only Titanic, The Dark Knight and Avatar have earned over $500 million domestically. It is true when they say more people went to the movies back then. So almost everyone went and saw Butch and Sundance at least once at the theater back then. Ticket prices were way cheaper then so ticket admissions were definitely higher then than they are now.

With that huge success, it was almost a given that Newman and Redford would be paired up again. And it was only four years later, when that moment came with The Sting. As big as Butch and Sundance was, The Sting dwarfed it easily. It earned $156 million in 1973 to land as the second biggest film of the year, trailing behind only the mega smash The Exorcist, which racked up $232 million. The Sting's adjusted gross today would be a cool $714 million. And it also won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture.  So after two huge smashes for Newman and Redford, you would have thought more pairings would have been the order of the day. Sadly, no third film ever came for these two box office golden boys. Which is a shame. But they can say they are a perfect 2 for 2 in film history.

BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) $102 MILLION
THE STING (1973) $156 MILLION

BOX OFFICE STATS SUPPLIED BY BOX-OFFICE MOJO AND BY MY GOOD BUDDY TOM OVER AT MOTION PICTURE GEMS...http://motionpicturegems.blogspot.com/