"adaptation"

Growing up in the early ‘60s, I had a huge crush on Donna Reed. I know I wasn’t alone. In those pre-feminist days, she seemed to my young, impressionable eyes like the perfect wife and mother. Yes, she was beautiful, but there was much more to her than that. She projected an inner calm and wisdom. You sensed strength and principle beyond her dazzling smile. She was no pushover. You loved her, but you also respected her. You didn’t mess with Donna Reed.

 He might not like to hear it, but it’s hard to think of anyone who was more of a Hollywood natural than Warren Beatty. He was born Henry Warren Beaty in 1937. He exemplified that old saying: women wanted him, and men wanted to be him. And what made him so appealing what that he wasn't the least bit self-conscious about who he was or what he had.

Any list of the twentieth century’s finest actors is incomplete without Alec Guinness. Yet it’s a name some might overlook because there was never anything remotely showy — or even particularly magnetic — about him.

While her eighty-first birthday gives us ample reason to pay tribute to the ever-fabulous Julie Andrews, it’s fitting to celebrate her any old time. Consider first the joy and wonder she brought to millions of viewers, young and old, in her portrayals of Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp.

“Citizen Kane” is probably the one film that’s been so glorifed over the years that many people roll their eyes at its very mention.  After all, just who under 40 hasn’t seen it? Even if you haven’t, you’re not likely to admit it.

Ever have a bad hair day? Sure you have. You do everything you can to make things right, but nothing seems to work. “Oh, well,” you think. “At least it’ll be better tomorrow.”

In the roughly eighty outsize years he actually had on this earth, writer/director John Huston seems to have lived several lives and lifetimes. Those who remember him best for his occasional acting forays (most memorably as Noah Cross in “Chinatown”) should also explore Huston’s indelible work behind the camera.

If you’re trying to quit smoking, we support the effort enthusiastically. Just don’t look to the movies for much help. First, older films, with their smoke-filled rooms, reflect those bygone days when a lot more people were puffing. And cigarettes help form and define the characters we see: when these people smoke, the habit looks so cool and richly pleasurable that one can see the draw.

Few artists in the popular culture transcend the passage of time and continue to leave their mark long after their passing. Sinatra is one such performer — a true icon whose indelible renditions of the Great American Songbook you can still hear in films, on the radio, and on the digital playlists of fans, whose ages span from twelve to 102.