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Summer is vacation season. This year, let’s presume you’ve set your sights on going abroad. First you take a deep breath and buy the plane tickets. Ouch — they’re pretty steep, an unpleasant fact explained by two little words: “peak season.”

When birthday time rolls around for the good ol’ U. S. of A, tradition dictates we set something alight and watch it go boom. Useful tip: just make sure the thing that explodes has left your hand in time; don’t dampen the festivities by losing a digit (or two). And if you really want to play it safe, eschew launching those rockets yourself, and get your fireworks on film instead.

Let me start by getting personal: watching Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” on the big screen was a profoundly moving experience for me. Just hearing that wondrous Bernstein/Sondheim score again brought a wave of emotion I wasn’t fully expecting. 

If you’re like me, a handful of movies are lodged in your memory that strike a special cord. These are the titles that made a big impact early on and never left you. Among my own short list of prized cinematic gems is Jacques Demy’s musical romance, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964). My family was still living in Paris when it was shot, and over half a century later, I can still remember the cover of the soundtrack album, which we played endlessly.

I was lucky enough to know Gene Wilder. That’s not to boast but to affirm a tired old cliché: to know him was to love him. He was surprisingly reserved, but once comfortable with you, he readily displayed that trademark twinkle. His keen wit and intelligence made him excellent company, and unlike some actors, he listened as intently as he spoke.

Gloria Grahame never quite became a star in Hollywood, but she sure left her mark. If you’re a fan of film noir, you know her already. This shadowy world of double-and triple-crosses was where she thrived. Still, even casual fans of older films will remember that face, that voice, that look.

These pictures remind us of her special radiance, a distinctive, fresh-faced beauty lit from within that required only the bare minimum of make-up.  Impossibly versatile, she could project strength and vulnerability, warmth and remoteness, sexuality and poise.  At a womanly 5’10”, she always made one hell of an entrance, and you always regretted her exits.