"91"

 Tonight, make it real; watch a doc.  Here’s a bugaboo of mine: while the documentary form offers viewers incredible rewards, it rarely gets the attention it deserves. Theories abound as to why, the most prominent being that people tend to watch movies to be transported, to actually get away from life as it is. Perhaps there’s some truth to that, but to avoid the best of these films is to miss out on something truly special. In examining real life, its myriad characters and society as a whole, docs can be wildly entertaining, yet still deliver a form of insight and impact quite distinct from narrative films.

Over the course of movie history, there have been the great actresses, women who light up the screen with charisma and character, like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, and Meryl Streep. There have also been women whose special gifts had more to do with the sexual allure they projected. Hey fellas, you must have noticed them, right? Brace yourselves then- here are our picks for the top twenty female cinematic sex symbols of all time. (Drum roll). 

By the time ambitious model-turned-actress Grace Kelly hit Hollywood at the dawn of the ‘50s, she was possessed of near-perfect looks, enormous ambition, a healthy sex drive, and… a major Daddy complex. As stunning and talented as she was, Grace could never seem to please her self-made businessman father, Jack Kelly. Somehow this drew her physically to older men. (I’ll have to ask my shrink how that works).

You can’t help but be moved by the tragic life of actress Gene Tierney. Though endowed with astonishing beauty and talent that won her early fame, a series of misfortunes would eventually bring her to the brink of suicide.

Theda Bara, Hollywood’s first female sex symbol, was born on July 29th, 1885. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of her film debut. My, how time flies!    New York was still the center of the movie business when Bara — going by her given name of Theodosia Goodman — impressed her bosses at Fox Studios in “The Stain” (1914). Taking note of her curvy figure and big dark eyes, Fox’s publicity department supplied this 29-year-old Jewish woman from Cincinnati with a new name and an entirely fictional bio. She would promptly be introduced to movie fans as the Egyptian-born daughter of a French actress and an Italian sculptor. Fox even provided her with a nickname, “The Serpent of the Nile.” Her admirers gave her a more enduring alias after her first blockbuster, “A Fool There Was” (1915), where she played a character called “The Vampire.” From then on, Bara was simply “The Vamp.” The term has long sinced entered the American vernacular. 

The best movies are a breed apart – exceedingly rare, and born of compelling human stories well told. A superb drama has the power to change how we see the world, while a first-rate comedy can provide sublime entertainment that nourishes both brain and spirit. Today, too many exceptional films are hiding in plain sight, obscured by big commercial titles that may divert us in the moment, but offer little lasting impact, insight or enjoyment.