A Gregory Peck Celebration!

I Think, Therefore I Review is ringing in April by taking part in a special Birthday Tribute to Gregory Peck!

Our new Gregory Peck Greatness analysis and viewing list is coinciding with Flix Chatter's Beauty is Forever: Happy Birthday, Mr. Gregory Peck!  So be sure to visit them for more of the Peck Party! 

Now then, onto the review respect...

Gregory Peck Greatness!

by Kristin Battestella

 

Well there’s no time like a spring birthday to give some respect to the quiet greatness that is Gregory Peck, is there not?

Captain Horatio Hornblower – I feel like I’m going to say too little about this 1951 adaption of the original C.S. Forester Hornblower trilogy simply because I want to say so much!  Yes, a significant but saucy portion of the Flying Colours novel is avoided- a fifties hero such as dear Gregory would never have a French affair!  Nevertheless, director Raoul Walsh (They Died with Their Boots On) wonderfully combines the spirit and adventure of Beat to Quarters and Ship of the Line with vivid globe hoping naval action, great ship designs, and some good old sea faring flair.  And Peck portrays the introverted and often melancholy Hornblower smashingly!  It’s not an easy role to play thanks to the written complexity and inner angst, but Big GP adds layers of charm, subtly, and a hint of humanity while being no less masculine and badass. Upon seeing this film as a kid, I loved it so much that I up and got obsessed with the literary Hornblower, and they remain some of my most favorite books twenty years later!  Now, if only Virginia Mayo (White Heat) wasn’t such an inferior miscasting as Lady Barbara, but at least we have a dash of Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings) to make up the difference.

 

Duel in the Sun – Well well, Good Old Gregory is playing the villainous lothario for a change!  David O’Selznik’s notorious 1946 hot mess took every director and their grandma to complete, and it still thinks much too much more of itself than there actually is- narration, prelude, overture, exit music, and all. The latent thin line between love and rape and racism is all over the place, and an insipid, supposedly sexy Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette) and a limp Joseph Cotton (Citizen Kane) contribute nothing.  A delightful and classy Lillian Gish (Birth of a Nation) is barely there, and Butterfly McQueen’s (Gone with the Wind) demeaned Vashti is a desperate and insulting attempt to akin to that greatness. While fans of the other cast can certainly tune in, in my mind, Gregory Peck is the only reason to see this picture.  Yes, it is tough to believe Our Man Gregory as the naughty boy to start, but the film is lifted whenever he’s onscreen.  The juicy ne’er do well Lewt is damn entertaining.  Hell, he’s even likeable and charismatic with his shameless self!  A must see for Peck devotees, even if you just fast-forward to his scenes.

To Kill a Mockingbird – I don’t suppose there is much more I can really say about this utterly exceptional 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s modern literary classic from Oscar nominated director Robert Mulligan (Fear Strikes Out) besides the greatness that’s already been said by everyone ever.  When one needs to cite a picture that is as perfect as its book source, look no further than this Best Adapted Screenplay winner.  I suspect The American Film Institute knows its stuff, and it named Peck’s Academy Award winning portrayal of single dad and Southern lawyer trying to do the right thing Atticus Finch as America’s Greatest Movie Hero of the 20^th Century.  By gosh, if we only had a political candidate as special as Atticus!  You can watch this in the classroom when your young for Scout (Supporting Actress nominee Mary Badham, This Property is Condemned), Philip Alford’s Jem, and Boo Radley (The Godfather’s Robert Duvall in his debut). Then again, as an adult you can still shed a strong tear for Brock Peters (Star Trek IV) as the wrongfully accused Tom Robinson. This film is a must see to say the least, and if you need to read one book in your lifetime, this should be it. 

The Omen – Dashing diplomat Gregory Peck, a lovely Lee Remick (Days of Wine and Roses), wonderfully disturbing satanic chants, and Billie Whitelaw (Hot Fuzz) and Damien Harvey Stephens as the freakiest nanny and kid pair you’ll ever see! Maybe contemporary audiences might erroneously dismiss this 1976 quiet sinister because it’s not the slash and gore horror mess we so often churn out today. However, there are plenty of creeps, wicked deaths, and demonic shuddering still to be had here, with a perfectly tormented and fatherly GP caught in the crossfire. I don’t know why they bothered with a remake!  Seriously, who can replace Our Man Gregory? No one, and the slice and dice imitators completely fail against classy horror granddaddies like this. 

Roman Holiday – Reporter Peck- make that Best Foreign Actor BAFTA nominee Peck- woos the fish out of water Princess Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) in this romantic time capsule of 1953 filmmaking and Italian splendor. The black and white photography sometimes hinders the Edith Head (All About Eve) costumes and royal grandeur, but it’s still enchanting decoration nonetheless- and the accolades followed indeed. Though coming from an aristocratic background herself, Audrey’s Oscar winning debut is charming, delightful, and still relatable and endearing to audiences high and low almost sixty years on. Cap it off with Tall, Dark, and Handsome, and any viewer should be sold.

Spellbound – Oscar winner Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight, Anastasia) and a very young and charming Gregory Peck mix mystery, romance, nut houses, and psychoanalysis in this 1945 Alfred Hitchcock (Rebecca, Psycho) thriller questioning dreams and memory. Is our amnesiac Peck the killer? Surely no! Can gentle Bergman heal his mind before she’s the next victim? Exceptional performances by the leads, tight black and white direction and filmmaking by Hitchcock, and a great mystery with visual panache keeps this picture viewable-even after you know how it ends or watch it a dozen times.  This one is actually my favorite Gregory Peck film, and I am very biased- or couldn’t you tell?

Can’t get enough? Browse our Gregory Peck label for our previous reviews and stayed tuned for more. And be sure to keep up with Flix Chatter's ongoing Peck praise! Until then, here are a few more screen captures from Duel in the Sun to tide you over!

http://ithinkthereforeireview.blogspot.com/search/label/Gregory%20Peck

http://flixchatter.net/tag/gregory-peck/

On Atticus, Jesus, and Frodo

While house cleaning at my website, I found this old article I wrote for The Reminder Newspaper. Dating back to December 2005, I thought it was reviewish and analyzing enough to be of interest here. Enjoy!

On Atticus, Jesus, and Frodo

By Kristin Battestella

Last month a BBC poll from Britain’s top librarians presented an intriguing debate. According to the statistics, audiences favorite books are the following:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

The Bible

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

To Kill a Mockingbird. The Bible, The Lord of The Rings. Although my Father disagrees with The Bible being second, I find these results fascinating. Besides, I’ve read all three and he hasn’t.

Racial injustice in the south; the most published religious book ever, and an evil wizard destroying Middle-Earth with powerful jewelry. At first glance, the three titles presented have nothing in common, but I implore you to look deeper. Many universal themes and elements unite these three masterpieces.

Despite its fantastical elements (Maybe people ignore it because it’s deemed fantasy), The Lord of the Rings has many human threads that have continued to make the hefty book popular. I just read it for the first time this year. It’s not only good versus evil, The Lord of the Rings offers hope, friendship, and strength in all shapes and sizes for audiences both young and old. The ring represents the penne ultimate evil power yet it is bound by its so small gold confines. Frodo is also small-a hobbit caught in a big man’s world-yet his strength cannot be measured by his small stature. Tolkien’s massive work tells readers that big or small and good or evil, anyone who rises to the challenge will determine his own fate.

Lord of the Rings almost has a David and Goliath feel, which of course leads to Number Two on the list-The Bible. I don’t think I need to go into much detail here. Everyone has at least some vague idea of both the Old and New Testaments and what they teach. God helps the faithful, valiant, loyal, and true. Jesus gives hope to the meek where there is none. Like The Lord of the Rings, many sections of The Bible are very dark and dense-full of wrath and doom. In the end of course, evil falls and justice and peace prevail.

Although similar to its pollmates in its moral tones, To Kill a Mockingbird was also voted the Number One Unhappy Ending in a separate BBC poll. Even if it is sacrilegious to place another book above The Bible, I can see how To Kill a Mockingbird reached Number One. For decades social change has been on the rise, and for the Boomer generation To Kill a Mockingbird must have been a whirlwind. An unapologetic exposure of racial injustice thrust right into the segregated mid century American society. Books that give birth to radical social change only come along once in a blue moon.

Even the American Film Institute named Gregory’s Peck’s Oscar winning 1962 film portrayal of Atticus Finch as their Number One Great American Hero. Harper Lee’s tale of white lawyer Atticus Finch defending an innocent black Tom Robinson in 1930s Alabama continues to open our eyes to a world we’d like to think we aren’t part of, but of course, not enough change has come.

I don’t understand how today’s youth can use the N word-affixed with an ‘a’ on the end instead of an ‘er’. My instant thought is always, “Have they not read To Kill a Mockingbird?” My honey-by some error in his high school required reading-has never read the Harper Lee classic. I tried to explain it, but what makes it over the top is the ending. Now, you can’t give away the ending, can you?

For three books that seem so different on the surface, The Lord of the Rings, The Bible, and To Kill a Mockingbird all present both the characteristics of how we should be and also how not to be. Gollum succumbs to the ring, but Boromir redeems himself. All can be redeemed by obeying God in their own way, and Atticus gives us hope that he made the word one step closer to a better place for his children.

To Kill A Mockingbird is the only book I had to read for school that I actually liked-now that’s saying something. If I had to pick three books to take if I was stranded island…but more likely if I had to recommend three books every person should read once in his lifetime, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Bible, and The Lord of the Rings are tough to beat. Impossible, Frodo!