Lombard Cup mini posters

Here are a few mini-posters for my upcoming Lombard Cup event. Nothing too fancy, just an actor from a certain era with the dates.

Drama Filled Thursdays

As I promised I will be writing about great classic dramas all month long and I chose Thursdays as the day to do it. I will chose 5 dramas and write short views on them as to why they are some of my favorites. I thought I would choose a theme each week for that particular set of dramas. Up first family drama. You know where the family members are at odds against each other be it for financial reasons or just pure old jealously. I chose these 5 films as some of the best family dramas ever made. No rankings involved, just films I wanted to talk about with everyone.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) Superb film. Liz is smoking hot in this Tennessee William's adaptation. And she gives a great performance, to boot. Easily could have won an Oscar for it. Liz is Maggie the cat and she's married to Paul Newman, who have come home to celebrate his dad's birthday. He's called Big Daddy , wonderfully played by Burl Ives. When a southern family like this get together, all kinds of drama starts to unfold. This is the type of film where you just sit back and watch the fireworks go off, because it's an actors showcase. One of my favorite films of all time.
A+

THE SUNDOWNERS (1960) Top notch family drama set in the Australian outback with the father (played by Robert Mitchum) who wants to keep sheep-herding from place to place. But his wife (Deborah Kerr) and son want to settle down. During one point, the family win a horse on a bet and name him Sundowner and race him. Hoping to make money so they can finally buy their own farm house. Things don't go as planned and it makes for some great drama. Loaded with a stong supporting cast in Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, and Dina Merrill.
B+

A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961) Powerful film version of the popular play about a family living in Chicago's southside during the mid 50's who argue over how to use a $10,000 insurance check for their recently deceased father. The mother (Claudia McNeil) wants to use it to buy a home and move out of the apartments. But the son (Sidney Poitier) wants to open up a liquor store. So tensions arise quickly. Great acting holds your interest even though the setting hardly ever changes. Sidney is amazing as usual. Also stars Ruby Dee as Sidney's wife.
B+

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) Vivien Leigh in one of great film performances as Blance DuBois, a fading Southern belle who arrives from Mississippi to the French Quarter of New Orleans, where her sister Stella Kowalski (played by Kim Hunter) resides with her brutish husband Stanley (a powerhouse Marlon Brando). Blanche is damaged goods and prone to drink quite a lot. Things turn ugly between Blanche and Stanley and end quite nasty. Riveting stuff.
B+

GIANT (1956) Giant is an epic size movie that is very well done. It focuses on Texas ranger Jordan Benedict (played by Rock Hudson) who travels to a Maryland farm to buy a prize horse. There he meets the lovely Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) and immediately falls in love. The film details their life together at Benedict's family ranch in Texas and their rivalry with Jett Rink (James Dean's last film before his untimely death). This is grand film-making on an epic scale. Director George Stevens unfolds this film at a good pace. A true epic in every sense of the word.
B+

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Marlon Brando are favorites at my church

We have a weekly Monday meeting at my church with all the men to discuss things in the church and events going around the world. And it's rare that we talk about classic movies during these meetings. I figured I was the only classic movie lover there. But while we was waiting on other members to show up, we started a conversation that brought a smile to my face. I brought up the recent passing of Elizabeth Taylor and that opened up the floodgates. Everyone there loved Liz and the concensus favorite film of hers was Cleopatra. Mine is Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. We talked about her marriages and her relationship with Richard Burton. And it was a great discussion. That soon led to talk about Burton as well, as we all agreed that the man was powerhouse of an actor. One of his movies we talked about was The Robe and that got a big response from us all. That led to Marlon Brando and his performance in Julius Caesar. One of the older men of the church, who is in his 70's was very jubilant while talking about that movie as he would watch that film as a kid and pretended to be Mark Antony (Brando's role) walking around his home in bed sheets. We all got a laugh out of that one. It was an unexpected time I had tonight discussing classic movies and stars at church. Then we started on about church business. But the night was a success as far as I am concerned.