In the New York Times Travel section recently, I came upon an article in “Heads Up/London.” The writer, Christine Ajudua, reported on the latest and largest project from Secret Cinema. This group puts on all-immersive audience participation experiences and their next production is a screening and recreation of the beloved movie Back To The Future.
Thirty years after this adorable time traveler hit the theaters, as of July 24, you too can visit California’s Hill Valley circa 1985.
Somewhere in modern day Merry Olde England.
Via a secret location, an elaborately-decorated set, a cast of clever improv actors, and unlimited imagination, you can actually become part of the movie. You can hang out with Marty McFly, foil bad boy Biff, go to the “Under The Sea” dance and maybe help Doc Brown install the flux capacitor.
Tickets starting at $90 were sold out in the first four hours.
This got me thinking. What classic movie would I pay to be in- and act out?
Some old favorites were eliminated right away.
Casablanca? Woody’s been there and done that.
Gone With The Wind? Sure, the first fifteen minutes. But after the Civil War is declared, I’m waving the white flag. (Not to mention having to confront the slavery issue. Too sad.)
Jaws? Oh, HELL no.
Hmmm. What about a visit to La Belle Epoque? Movies like Gigi and Cheri? Love the costumes, wouldn’t mind a trip to beautiful Paris, and the food at Maxim’s suits me down to the ground.
Some Like It Hot? The Roaring Twenties would be fun. My Man Godfrey? The Bullocks weathered the thirties in sumptuous Art Deco Style. Same for Swing Time, Top Hat, Shall We Dance, The Gay Divorcee, Topper, The Thin Man, The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story and Bringing Up Baby.
I would love to be plunged head first into the satin, slinky, cut-on-the-bias world of Carole Lombard, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Asta and Preston Sturges.
Just for the clothes and the penthouses alone.
But did I just want to wear satin, drink champagne, dance the Continental and trade bon mots with Eric Blore all day? I thought about it some more.
Nope, I decided. If I could be set down in just one film-as the heroine, of course- this would be it.
This is my movie. What’s yours?
Good morning, Ellen. It took me a while to wrap my head around what you were asking, but then it hit me. Cinch, in fact. I would like to make Ninotchka laugh.
Da, Grusha. This actually was one of my choices, too, but I left it to you. I knew you’d come up with it. A comic masterpiece. (And I love that suite in the hotel. I could live there forever.)
What a great task it is (with apologies to Vergil) to narrow this list down.
Though you, my dear Ellen, eliminated ‘Casablanca’ due to the Woody version, I am not so fast to do so. I keep trying to choose among my favorite movies –‘M*A*S*H’ (Gould/Sutherland/Altman, of course, not the TV show), though I cannot decide which character I would want to be; ‘Casablanca’, of course, but I doubt I would give up the girl and, as you point out, there already has been a short Jewish character playing the role. The runner-up is the Richard Dreyfuss character in ‘The Goodbye Girl’, which I thought I could have done when the movie came out.
But, the winner (drum roll, cue the music,”May I have the envelope, please?”), and the most heroic of heroes of all, Gary Cooper in ‘High Noon’ — quiet, stoic, alone, brave, courageous, principled, and he rides off in the end with Grace Kelly.
Do not forsake me, oh my darling.
What a great choice! I almost went with The Friendly Persuasion, btw. And I’ve got your back. Love, Amy
Bull Durham!
I have seen you go from Nuke LaLoosh to Crash Davis All For The Love Of The Game. Btw, the best baseball movie of all time.
Best Baseball movie for me: Bingo Long and his traveling All Stars and Motor Kings with Billy D. Williams, Richard Pryor and the great James Earl Jones – however Kenny would be challenged to find a role…but my movie would be something different – separate comment.
This is to Kenny, whom I have never met but have talked to on the phone on occasion. Read Maureen Dowd’s column in today’s New York Times. She rhapsodizes legendary baseball writer Roger Angell (stepson-in-law of E.B. White) of The New Yorker. Roger too prefers “Bull Durham” over, say, “Field of Dreams.”
Today is a huge day over in a quaint community in Otsego County, New York, and it should come as no surprise that I have written not one, but several crossword puzzles about today in particular, and baseball (and even baseball movies) in general. Contact me off-blog (barany@umn.edu) if you (or anyone else) wants to try them.
Page two of the NY Times Sports Section today has another great piece about Roger Angell. A Hall Of Fame writer. Thanks, George.
Maltese Falcon. “When you get slapped , you take it and like it”
“And if they send you up, I’ll wait for you sweetheart.” The firm of Spade and Archer thanks you for this comment. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.
My Movie: I would want the James Stuart role in the lesser known Call Northside 777, set right here in post war Chicago. Of course, I’d get no leading lady. Great fun Ellen!
I love this one, too. That old lady scrubbing floors so her boy could get another trial. And that newspaper in his pocket with the date on it! Thanks for both comments, Gary. Love, Wanda
In order to hang with the boys I would have liked to be in either of two or both….the original Ocean’s 11 or A Night at the Opera! What a memoir I. could have written !
Great choices. I’ll be in the trunk in the stateroom scene. Thanks, Rickey. Love, Richard Conti
This is a tough one, and I may be adding revisions for days, but let’s start out as Gaston in Gigi (or any film where I could play with the young Leslie), or, in a pinch, the always- amused Honoré, for the sake of being rich and having fun in that epoque. Or in Sullivan’s Travels, as Sully, telling Veronica she’d gotten the part, and making her laugh….
I so love these choices, Monsieur LaChaille. As for Sullivan’s Travels-one of my ALL-TIME faves- I made myself leave it off the list because of the hobo jungle, box cars, owl wagons and chain gangs. But “there’s always a girl in the picture.”
The defining moment of “Sullivan’s Travels” is fairly late in the film, when through a set of bizarre circumstances, the title hero finds himself in a chain gang, and attends an evening event for all the inmates where they are shown one of the early Disney cartoons. It may be too late now, but I often wish that Woody Allen had seen that scene, and taken it to heart.
You’re right, George. But he wanted to make O Brother Where Art Thou. I wanted Hey Hey In The Hayloft.
Bull Durham has the best opening line: “I worship at the church of baseball.”
But to limit to one movie? Not possible. I would love to be in Singing in the Rain, or An American in Paris, just to dance with Gene Kelly. I would love to be in the Paris of Gigi. I would love to follow the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz. I could fall in love with Jamie the ghost, again, in Truly, Madly, Deeply. (Okay, so 26 years isn’t exactly classic.).
I could fall for Humphrey Bogart over and over again. I could do comedy with Clark Gable in It Happened One Night. Why pick one movie? For adventure, I’d toss Kate Hepburn over the boat, and be in a The African Queen. My list goes on for days.
I approve of these choices, Judith. All wonderful. I’m on the phone right now. So I’ll be clever later. Thank you for playing.
Does the classic hit “Debbie Does Dallas” count as a movie.
Congrats, Steve. You hit a movie I’ve never seen. And do you know Phil Toubus?
I do know that he was born in Winnetka, Il and is close to your age… Please don’t tell me he was one of your former husbands!!?? (Ok, only kidding about the husband thing…right?)
Glencoe. Nope never married to him. (I think.)
I’d be in the sequel to “Sullivan’s”, where he makes ”Ants in your Plants of 1936”. I like the idea of making Veronica happy, she who got so much less from the world than she deserved.
You are so right. Bad taste in men IRL. Happens to the best of us some times.
“There’s a lot to be said for making people laugh! Did you know that’s all some people have? It isn’t much but it’s better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan!”
Not only is this my mantra but I wrote about this quote in a Preston Sturges tribute.That’s kind of uncanny.
In all seriousness, I always wanted to play Tony in West Side Story. It remains to this day one of my favorite movies/plays. Might have been tough to do however considering my vocal ability was barely good enough to be in the Ojibwa singers. After watching the movie as a kid, I thought being in a gang would be pretty cool. Unfortunately growing up in predominantly Jewish Lincolnwood, IL, the only gangs I knew consisted of CPAs, Estate Planning Attorneys and Options Traders. Kinda hard to win a rumble using calculators and pencils, even if they were sharpened.
I’ve been in love with that score- and George Chakiris- all my life. Te adoro, Antonio. Maria
A wonderful line. Preston was the best. Only the Coen brothers have ever come close.
And don’t get me started on their their version of my autobiographical film – Intolerable Cruelty. I AM Marilyn Rexroth.
Preston Sturges wrote and directed “The Great Moment” in 1944 about the discovery of ether as an anesthetic. We use to have lectures in the ether dome at Mass General when I was a resident there in the 70’s. I show this movie to all of the incoming new residents. As reiterated ever since that movie came out “….gentlemen, this is no humbug!” I relive aspects of that movie everyday.
Very nicely done, Doc. And I’m so glad you didn’t pick The Hospital.
1. “Witness For The Prosecution”
2. “Shane”
3. “High Noon”
P.S. Speaking of England, no Jew should spend their money in Europe.
You had me. You lost me. This is a post about a movie experience. Not world politics. Oh, Bernie.
GONE WITH THE WIND has always been my favorite among many wonderful films. I was too young to see it in 1939. In 1946 I saw it two nights in a row as a freshman at University of Michigan.
I love the movie, too, but I didn’t want to reenact the Civil War. But thank you, my dear, for frankly giving a damn. Love, Scarlett
More thought to your query. Steve McQueen in the “Thomas Crown Affair”. Hands down the most erotic movie scene without taking off one’s clothes. Bishop to Rook 4. Your move Ellen.
A very sexy selection. I thought about this and the remake, as well. I LOVED Rene Russo’s clothes. Quite a gambit, my friend. Dare I say, “Mate?” Love, Vicki
I am one of those cowboy lovers. This does not mean that’s all there is. For some reason Red River with Montgomery Clift and John Wayne had always been a long time love. It also had a great cast. Couldn’t help but spot another Ojibwa member in you class of followers. Allan
Yee-hah! My Stetson is off to you, pard. Very good choice. And good catch. I have many of those braves who read this.