The Graduate

       

      “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.” This quote is said by the main character of this movie, Benjamin Braddock. This movie is summed up this very quote, “What do you think of me?” This quote is said by Mrs. Robinson, the other main character. This movie changed times forever with cheating, adultery, and ethics. They are brought up in the movie and changed the times because it was women who cheated on their spouses not the men. The term “cougar” would then be the correct term to describe Mrs. Robinson. Another thing that describes Mrs. Robinson is the fact she robbed the cradle completely with her affair.

                This movie was definitely a comedy and was rated as the #1 Pop-Culture Film ever. This movie really shocked me; I realize how times were back then and how the people around the age of Benjamin (21) wanted nothing to do with their parent’s generation. They were trying to break away and be completely different from their parents and do away with what their parents did. The rebellious 60’s were definitely demonstrated in this movie by Benjamin and his unethical decisions that his parents would disapprove of. There were other acts of rebellion I noticed; the protests, mentioning of the rallies, the college known for its activism, Berkley.

               One symbol that you will notice if you watch The Graduate is the symbolism of water.  This is mentioned throughout the entire movie. The reason, I think, the director decided to use water as a symbol in this film, is because it is supposed to be a way to cleanse and wash things away. Maybe to Benjamin, it cleared him of his unethical decision. When Ben said, “I’m sorta disturbed about things,” I believe could be another reason for all the shots of water in the movie, maybe the water relaxed Benjamin from his thoughts about his life and what he will do with it now.

                I believe that the thoughts Benjamin has throughout the movie is confusion and worrisome. He has no clue what he should do after just graduating from college. He is asked by his parents what he will do now and is asked to maybe look for a job. I think Benjamin feels really unsure and pressured to do something great by his parents who praise him for his graduating college. I noticed the quote Mr. “Ben, you will never be young again”, which is ironic because Mr. Robinson gave him this advice. This quote happened to really explain Benjamin after talking to Mr. Robinson. I believe he is freaked out by how he has to choose something to do with his life and that the pressure is on. The thought that he is only this age once, I believe, Benjamin is tormented by and can’t get past.

                This movie, I believe, is worth one’s time to watch. I really believe that this represents that time (1967) well and is interesting to notice. I think that this film is for an older audience (high-school aged children), many sexual references that young children should not be exposed to nor would understand. I would have to rate this movie a 9 out of 10. The humor is great in the movie and any comedy film lover would enjoy it.

The site that helped me with this post is:

• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/quotes

Psycho

“We all go a little mad sometimes”, this quote is from the film that is the #1 Horror movie. This movie changed movies forever. There was no other horror movies, this was the first and is the one that changed film history for all time. Psycho had ideas that are used in movies that were made after it, people have taken bits and pieces of this movie and put them into their movies. I have never seen a horror movie like this before.

I really liked how the film was old, the movie really doesn’t look at all like horror films made after it. The old feel and colors were very interesting and made me enjoy the movie even more. Psycho really changed the whole film business after it was made; there had been no film ratings till this horror film came on the screen. The scene that changed that was a simple bathroom scene that shot the toilet, back then you were not to show toilets on film. I find it odd this is the reason why the rating system was made, because the scene also showed very gruesome things, blood and lots of skin. I being having a fear of birds, was a little disturbed by the birds mentioned and shown throughout the movie. the director of this film, like me, has a fear of birds and brought this fear into this movie through Norman Bates, a bird lover who have many pictures and stuffed birds.

Norman Bates

                                    

Horror movies are not my favorite movie genre, but this movie I actually liked. After watching this movie and not having scary dreams, or being too bothered by the film, I can say it is not the scariest movie I have ever watched or not even really too scary at all. I thought the movie seemed to lean to more of thriller than a horror movie. The scenes weren’t very graphic and were not gory either. Not being a #1 Horror movie fan, I would even recommend this movie to others to watch.

 

I have chose to rate this movie, an 8 out of 10, it was not bad. I did not think it was the best movie I have ever watched nor on my favorite list for movies. I would recommend this movie to a film watcher or someone who is looking for a film to watch. It is worth watching and could be someone else’s favorite movie. I will leave you with this quote—“A son is a poor substitute for a lover”, if you watch the movie you will find out more about this quote and what relevance it has to this movie.



Ben-Hur

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” This quote is from the movie that has been tied with the Titanic with the most Academy Awards ever, Ben- Hur. There have been many films that take scenes and ideas from this old classic movie. Ben-Hur was the first movie that had a ship scene; this famous scene is parodied quite often.  This movie is definitely a classic for because many movies try to/ take parts of this movie or ideas and put them into their movies. Saturday Night Live has parodied this movie, Little Rascals took the chariot scene’s wheels as did Grease. This is why this movie was awarded the most Academy Awards ever.

The movie is based around “Jesus’ time” and even has Jesus and his family in Ben-Hur. I thought the way they portrayed Jesus was well done. They never show his face, but the director made had the actor do many things Jesus would do in that time for people and how he treated them, the accuracy was very impressive. I believe Ben-Hur was supposed to be a character a lot like Jesus. There were many things that showed how important and amazing Jesus really was and still is. This film, since it is during Jesus’ time, there is a struggle against Jews and Romans. This struggle is shown a lot between two characters, Messala (Roman) and Ben-Hur (Jew).

Some other things that impressed me in this film were how they showed how during that time a disease that was feared by everyone was Leprosy. During this time period people believed that Leprosy was contagious and if you got too close to one with leprosy or breathed on by someone with the disease that you would get it. The fear was very clearly shown in the movie when even a blind, poor man who had suspected the coin that was dropped into his cup was from a person with Leprosy dumped the coin out of the cup. Now we know that this disease that was caused by bacteria that ate away at your flesh was in fact not contagious.

The line “You either help me, or you oppose me” was from this classic movie. How many times do you hear this line? Quite a lot- “You’re either with me, or against me.” One other thing that is very amazing in this movie and something that was never shown in a movie till Ben-Hur was the famous chariot scene, many people were said to have disappeared in the making of this movie, what the movie and this scene may be the reason why people went missing from the set. There were also so many people involved in making this movie (the cast in the beginning of this movie and also the chariot scenes cast/crowd in the stands).

I would have to rate this movie a 7 out of 10. It was not my favorite movie or something I would watch again, it was not extremely intresting to me. I did not hate the movie or think it was the worst movie I have ever watched. However, I do think that it is a movie everyone should watch, since it is in fact, a classic. The ship scenes and chariot scenes you will watch in other movies will always speak volumes of the movie, Ben-Hur.

A site that helped me was:

•  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/quotes

Gone with the Wind

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” This famous quote will only be understood fully if you take the time to watch the movie Gone with the Wind. Scarlett, the main character of this movie, is easily represented by this famous quote and many others. I also enjoyed the “gentleman”, Ashley, (who Scarlett from the very beginning of this movie, adored). It was always a mystery who he felt about Scarlett and if he was full of lies.

This movie kept my attention and captured my interest by the all the great quotes and funny lines. This movie is definitely not a comedy but it still made me laugh quite a bit. Mammy, the slave that was practically Scarlett’s care taker made me laugh the most. Also I found Rhett Butler, to be my favorite character. This man’s charm and mystery would have swept me of my feet if I met him. I loved how he did things and had a secret side; he seemed to pretend to be a ladies’ man (some would go as far to say a man whore or a player), but in reality he had only truly cared about one lady in particular that lady would be Scarlett.

Although this picture was a little overdramatic for my taste; most of the drama was displayed by the main character, Scarlett. I thought that she was a good character, but sometimes I questioned if the actress was overdramatizing the role or if Scarlett was meant to be drastically theatrical. It may have been that since this movie was made in 1939 it was so dramatic. Movies were made so much differently back then, and the types of movies that were being filmed are not the type of films I have watched a lot. It definitely was a good movie; especially for the technology they had available at this time (color and picture). This has movie had the newest technology available. The color for that time was extremely great and was just made (Technicolor); if you watch the movie you will realize that the two colors they use are green and red. The colors were beautiful to me; I loved the green hat she received as a gift from Rhett and wore to meet him. I also loved how deep yet bright the dress Scarlett wore to Ashley’s Birthday party. The color of this dress was so radiant and inspiring that they named a color after her dress, Scarlett Red. This proves how dramatic and important this movie is to history and why it is the #1 Box-office Movie of all time.        

I would rate this movie on a scale of 1-10; 1 being the worst 10 being the best. I would rate it an 8. I liked how strong the characters were. The historical references were very educational as well. I believe the messages the director was trying to get across were very easy to catch on to and understand what that period in time was like in the South with the War. I would recommend people watch this movie if they have not seen it, if you don’t mind watching a long movie. There were so many things I liked about this film; I think that if you have the time to watch the movie it is definitely worth watching. A film like this is quoted over and over again and mentioned quite a bit, because it is a classic.

Sources that helped me:

·         http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/quotes

·         http://www.adams-gallery.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Scarlett_In_Red_Dress_Canvas.jpg

·         http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0/3f/6/AAAADKCUx9gAAAAAAD9gdA.jpg?v=1238486561000