Be My Guest - Tina Cosio

My guest for this month is my Tina Cosio, a friend I met on FB through the love of classic movies and film groups on Facebook. Let's get started and there is no number one question for Tina as she does not currently write a blog.

2.)  Who are your favorite classic film stars: 

Tina: Gary Cooper, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, Marilyn Monroe, Jennifer Jones, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood

Me: We share some of the same favorites in Newman, Kerr, Monroe, Gable, Davis and Wood.

3)What are some of your favorite films?

Tina:  Gone With The Wind, Dr. Zhivago, To Kill A Mockingbird, Rear Window, Casablanca, Now, Voyager, Song of Bernadette, The Searchers, Mrs. Miniver, Jezebel, Some Like It Hot, The Sundowners, Roman Holiday, Portrait of Jennie, Little Women

Me: Some big time classics there Tina..love Rear Window, The Searchers, Some Like It Hot, To Kill a Mockingbird and Mrs. Miniver.

4) My first classic movie experience was when I was a child. Every Sunday, my mom would take my brother and I to the movies. We would see classic Mexican movies with stars like Maria Felix, Pedro Infante, Sylvia Pinal, Libertad LaMarque

Me: Awesome Tina!

5)What films upon first viewing did you not like, then later on when re-watching them, loved them? 

Tina: Casablanca, Roman Holiday

Me: I liked Casablanca the first time I saw it. Holiday not so much.

6) What's the perfect way to watch a classic film?

 Tina: The perfect way for me to watch a classic film is on TV with a bowl of popcorn.

Me: I second that

7)  How many friends, family member or co-workers share your love of classic films?

Tina: Michael, my son, likes classic movies especially Italian classics. 

Me: cool

8) Tina: My favorite time period is the 40's. 

Me: My favorite era is the 30's..but I love the 40's too.

9) Tina: My fav film quotes: The stuff that dreams are made of, Fasten your seatbelts it's gonna be a bumpy ride (All About Eve) Oh, Jerry, don;t let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.(Now, Voyager) You're not to smart are you? I like that in a man (Bodyheat) 

Me: Some great film quotes you picked there

10)What classic films have you yet to see for one reason or another?

 Not sure about this one Monty

11) Tina: Favorite genre: Musicals, Romance

Me: Ahhhh...music and romance..what a combination

12) If you threw a movie theme party, describe how you would do it. The costumes, decorations, food, etc.

Tina: If I were to throw a movie theme party I would have to pick The Great Gatsby. I would have the invitations hand delivered. My guests would be picked up in 1920's vintage cars. The party would be in Napa, CA. In a white outdoor tent with chandeliers. We would start with a reception with live entertainment before a sit down dinner. The waiters would be dressed in 1920's style clothing. The waitresses would be dressed as flappers. The menu would consist of comfort food. Nothing over the top just delicious. Followed by dessert. And lots of champagne of course!

Me: Count me in...

13) What are some films that are widely loved that you couldn't care less about?

Tina: Try as I might I do not care for silent films. Not any movie in particular all of them. 

Me: I've only seen a handful of silents but I would like to see some more.

14)  Who’s the biggest film fanatic that you know? Besides yourself of course.

Tina: cannot for the life of me think of one person who is a film fanatic. All my friends love movies!

Me: cool!

15) And finally who are some of your favorite film characters?

Tina: Scarlett O'Hara, Stella Dallas, Holly Golightly, Atticus Finch,

 Me: Can't go wrong with any of those characters.

Well that wraps up another guest for this month. I like to thank Tina for accepting my invite to come aboard and I think she did an awesome job.

Robert Redford soundly defeats Warren Beatty 14-2

In a battle of the heartthrobs, it was golden boy Robert Redford easily beating bad boy Warren Beatty 14-2. This match was over on day one when Redford jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back. Redford improves his record to 2-1 while Beatty, competing in his first match play goes to 0-1. I hope to have a new match up and running by tomorrow.  And Natalie Wood came by to personally congratulate Robert on his victory in the pic below.

See I told ya, Bobby...you had it in the bag the whole time. Now let's go celebrate your victory!

Classic Stars Match Play #11 - Warren Beatty vs Robert Redford

The classic stars match play for this week features two actors who broke through in the 1960's and had long successful careers acting, then even more success as directors. This week I give you Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. Beatty came on the scene in the late 50's on television. Specifically on the TV show, The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis. But it was in films, where he made his mark. His first film out of the box was Splendor in The Grass with Natalie Wood. And he was off and running. A few more films before he scored a major hit with Bonnie and Clyde in 1968. He had big hits during the 70's including Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait, scoring Oscar nods for writing and acting, respectively. He cut his teeth on co-directing Heaven Can Wait with Buck Henry. That set the stage for him to solo direct his 1981 masterpiece Reds, which earned him an Oscar for Best Director.

Robert Redford would follow a similar path. Getting his start on TV in 1960 with bits on Maverick, Playhouse 90, Twilight Zone, Perry Mason and other popular shows.  His first major movie happened to also star Natalie Wood, Inside Daisy Clover. The pair would reunite the following year in This Property Is Condemned. But Redford would cement his stardom when he paired with Paul Newman in a pair of films. The first was Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969), one of the most successful westerns ever made. Their next outing would be the even bigger smash hit, The Sting (1973). Redford would turn his attention to directing in the 80's and his first film, Ordinary People (1980) brought him a Best Director Oscar, one year before Beatty would pick his Oscar up for Reds. Redford would also start The Sundance Film Institute, where independent filmmakers could come and make their own kind of films, away from the big studios.

So here we have two golden boys from Hollywood that went on to become highly respected film-makers.
The match begins immediately and will run through Sunday 5 pm EST. Good luck to both gentlemen.

WARREN BEATTY

Name: Henry Warren Beatty
Birth Date: March 30, 1937 (Richmond, Virginia)
Height: 6' 2"
Academy awards: 6 nominations, 1 win: Best Director - Reds (1981)
Monties: none so far
My favorite Beatty film: Bonnie & Clyde
Match play record: 0-0, this is Warren's first match


CLASSIC STARS MATCH PLAY

ROBERT REDFORD

Name: Charles Robert Redford, Jr.
Birth Date: August 18, 1936 (Santa Monica, California)
Height: 5' 9"
Academy Awards: 3 nominations, 1 win: Best Director - Ordinary People (1980)
Monties: none so far
My favorite Redford film: Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Match Play Record: 1-1

The Natalie Wood factor

THE FALL SERIES: Robert Redford

Redford as The Sundance Kid

THE FALL SERIES: Natalie Wood and Robert Redford

Natalie and Robert listening attentively..and check out Charles Bronson in the back

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/