Thursday Movie Picks is hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is hot or cold deserts. I'm actually not sure how to go with this theme, but here are my picks for the week.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Simpson Desert is featured here as the backdrop of the road trip that the characters took. I really love this film and I consider it one of my favorites. I try to watch this once every year.
Quantum of Solace - The Atacama Desert serves as backdrop to those confrontational scenes at the end of this Bond installation. So far this is the weakest of the Craig movies. I found it a bit long and tedious to get through.
Rango - Rango finds the town of Dirt when he gets left behind in the Mojave Desert. This was surprisingly a delightful animated movie.
I didn't even think of Rango! I should've went with that. This is the 2nd time I've seen Priscilla mentioned and I really want to see it now.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fantastic film, I think you'd like it.
DeleteAlmost went with Rango myself, before deciding to go in a completely different direction. Really enjoyed that one. Not so fond of Quantum of Solace. It's easily the weakest of the Craig Bond flicks. This is coming from a guy who didn't really like Spectre, either. I still need to see Priscilla.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Quantum of Solace; it wasn't a great follow up after Casino Royale.
DeleteLove your first two picks! Quantam of Solace despite its odd title is a Bond I liked very much. Priscilla is such a unique view.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen nor ever plan on seeing Rango.
I was tempted to go all Western but ended up mix it up a bit more.
The Desert Song (1953)-Sometimes a movie is just so wildly miscast that you love it more for its faults than its strengths, that’s the case with this operetta. The basic story goes like so: There’s a civil war between Morocco’s Berber and Arab populations in the early 1900’s. French Foreign Legionnaire Gen. Birabeau arrives with daughter Margot (Kathryn Grayson) in tow to check the war’s progress while Arab Sheik Yousseff schemes to discredit the mysterious opposition leader El Khobar (Margot’s tutor in disguise) while Margot and El Khobar fall in love. Simple enough but what ratchets up the absurdity factor is that the Sheik is played by Raymond Massey, famous for playing Abraham Lincoln!, while El Khobar the Berber rebel leader is Gordon MacRae…that’s right Curley from Oklahoma!! If you can look beyond that the strapping Gordon and the lovely Kathryn are in great voice and the score is terrific but if you’re looking for realism look elsewhere.
Rawhide (1951)-Feisty young Vinnie Holt (Susan Hayward) traveling with her orphaned niece Callie is stranded at the remote stagecoach stop “Rawhide Pass” in the acrid desert of the old West with stationmaster Sam Todd (Edgar Buchanan) and his assistant Tom Owens (Tyrone Power) when the cavalry won’t permit her to proceed through dangerous territory because of a stage robbery. After the soldiers leave, Jim Zimmerman (Hugh Marlowe) bluffs his way into the station saying he’s a guard but is actually one of the escaped convicts responsible for the robbery. His three fellow escapees quickly appear intent on stealing the gold shipment due in the next day. After killing Sam they must keep Tom and Vinnie, who they mistakenly believe is his wife, alive to carry out their plan. As the four men turn on each other Tom & Vinnie work together to try and escape. Tight suspenseful Western.
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)-British Corporal John Bramble (Franchot Tone) is the lone survivor of a battle against Rommel’s army on the Egyptian border. Wandering through the desert he finds a remote hotel assuming a false identity to elude capture. Arriving shortly after is General Rommel himself (Erich von Stroheim) who takes Bramble for a German spy and lets slip hints of his secret strategy, the 'five graves' to Cairo-hidden excavations of supplies to enable survival across the desert. It’s up to Bramble to find a way to get word of the plan to the Allies and perhaps change the tide of the war.
I haven't heard of any of those; this was one of this week's themes that I had a hard time thinking of movies for. They sound interesting, but based on your comments I might give The Desert Song a pass since I'm not familiar with any of the actors and a movie where they're miscast probably isn't the best one to see first. Both Rawhide and Five Graves to Cairo seem like movies I might like.
DeleteRango is such a great pick! I would have never thought of Quantum of Solace.
ReplyDeleteLove Pricilla! I even have the soundtrack. I enjoy every Bond film so this was still a good one to see. Haven't seen Rango
ReplyDeleteYay! Another Priscilla fan!!
DeleteI think you went fine with your picks.
ReplyDeleteHot desert is probably the easiest to go with. I wanted to go with cold, but could only think of two.
Oh Priscilla - loved this film! Great performances all round. I agree about Quantum of crap, terrible film. I don't remember much of the plot...was there a plot? Or was it just an excuse to get Arterton naked covered in oil...
ReplyDelete