Barbara Frank

I see that Hollywood is worried because DVD sales are down. I’m sure the increased popularity of Netflix and other methods of watching movies (including downloading them illegally) account for some of the decrease. But the quality of the movies we’re seeing these days has to take some blame, especially from those of us who have children.

You just never know what objectionable thing will appear in a modern movie. The plot may be interesting, but the f-word keeps popping up for no good reason at all. Or perhaps a movie has a ridiculous amount of nudity that does nothing to further the plot. It’s enough to make a parent very irritable.

This has been going on for quite a while; it’s one of the many reasons why my husband and I have been watching mostly old movies (pre-1980) for years. Even if our kids weren’t actually watching the movie, we never had to worry about what they saw as they passed through the family room. And though our youngest is now 18, he’s a young man with developmental delays and completely normal male hormones, so it’s a good thing we don’t watch more recent movies with all the female nudity, or we’d never get back the tv remote.

Twenty years ago, when our oldest kids were young, I had hopes that watching old movies would help them develop an appreciation for good stories with strong plots. I held that dream until they hit their early teens, when one of them announced that they thought Adam Sandler movies were the best movies ever. I consoled myself with the fact that my taste in movies was pretty unsophisticated at that age too.

That said, today the jury’s still out on whether the influence of old movies had much effect on my kids. I’ve noticed a definite generational difference of opinion, particularly about what’s funny and what’s not, but also about what constitutes good acting, good plot and especially good endings. Not surprisingly, I prefer an ending that makes clear what happened to the main characters. That’s how most old movies were written. When I watch a modern movie and am left hanging, I’m disappointed. But my kids don’t seem to mind that at all.

Now that our kids are grown, and some are out of the nest, my husband and I continue to enjoy old movies. Below are some we’ve watched recently. Got any favorites to add to the list? Please share in the comments; I’m always up for watching a “new” old movie.

How do you feel about letting your children watch television?

I have to admit, my feelings have changed over the years. When I was a young parent, I only let my kids watch “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers.” The rest of the time they played: in their rooms, in the living room, in the yard and at the park. VCRs were still new and expensive; we rented one once in a while so that we could watch a movie, and we often rented an old Disney movie for the kids.  But that was the limit of our children’s television viewing. We didn’t even buy a color television until 1989; even then we bought a tiny one, hoping its size would keep the kids from becoming addicted.

Then we had more kids. I found that homeschooling the older kids was a lot easier if the little ones had a video to watch. Yes, it was on the tiny television, but it kept them glued in one spot for a while so that I didn’t have to worry too much about someone climbing up the kitchen blinds while we worked on long division in the living room. The rest of the time, however, I limited how much television the kids could watch.

By the time we got a bigger television, » Read the rest of this entry «

In the city we’re living in right now, there’s a fantastic library. As a result, I bring home far too many books. I can’t possibly read them all, so I do a lot of skimming.

Recently I skimmed Craig Ferguson’s book, American on Purpose. It’s been three years since we had access to network tv, but when we did, I liked to watch Ferguson’s monologue on his late-night talk show before going to bed.

The book chronicles the Scottish comedian’s rise to fame, a rocky road that includes a starkly realistic description of the alcohol addiction that nearly ruined his life. Ferguson’s story is not for the squeamish or easily offended, as he can be quite blunt and uses a fair amount of profanity (sometimes the modern writer’s crutch, but in this case it’s probably just what he does).

I came away from the book thinking I would like the man if I met him. He’s proud to have become an American citizen; his patriotism is evident. A humble man with a good heart, Ferguson’s description of his parents, family and even his exes is generous and loving.

I was especially taken by what he wrote about the birth of his first child:

Anyone who has been present at a birth knows how weirdly adrenal the whole event is. As a first-time father, I found myself terrified in a whole new way, not afraid for myself but for my child, who until that moment had been an abstraction. All of a sudden he was real and the world had changed beyond recognition. Now there was someone I would unthinkingly lay down my life for, and I felt a massive, uncontrollable, powerful, feral love.

As I cut the umbilical cord, Milo started to cry and shiver. One of the nurses, a dour Russian woman who had bossed Sascha around a little too much for my liking, said, not unkindly, “Oh, baby, life is hard.”

“Shut up,” I snapped. She looked at me with astonishment.

“He just got here. He doesn’t need that **** yet.”

She looked at me like I was insane, but I didn’t give a toss. I think when you become a parent you go from being a star in the movie of your own life to a supporting player in the movie of someone else’s.

….It was past four a.m. when the mumsy nurse finally placed him in a clear plastic crib, swaddled in his blankie and wearing a tiny white wool cap. When she left us alone, Milo’s eyes were wide open and as deep and dark and blue as the sea on the Scottish coast.

For the first time it was just the two of us. He stared at me for a few minutes and I started back at him. My American son.

After a few moments he let out a long tired sigh, like the whole thing had been such an ordeal.

“I know,” I told him, “but don’t worry. I got your back.”

I particularly like this line: “I think when you become a parent you go from being a star in the movie of your own life to a supporting player in the movie of someone else’s.” How true that is! For most people, becoming a parent for the first time means losing the self-absorption of youth to the overwhelming love and concern for your child.

Many celebrities’ books are actually written by ghostwriters, but I doubt that this book was. Ferguson is an experienced writer whose credits (beyond writing for his show) include a novel and several screenplays. We’ve watched one of his movies, “Saving Grace,” a couple of times as it’s offbeat and funny. I recommend both of these:

Casablanca

I used to have a poster just like this one on my wall, because when I was a teen, my favorite movie star was Humphrey Bogart. The fact that he died the year before I was born made no difference to me. I grew up watching his films on television and thought he was the best actor ever.

Since then, I’ve widened my knowledge of films and the people who appear(ed) in them, but I still enjoy his work. This past week, my husband and I watched two of his films with dd17 in hopes of teaching her how to recognize and appreciate good movies. (Note: we tried this with our older two with mixed results. Hopefully, three’s the charm!)

First up, “Casablanca.” This very famous movie was made during World War II and includes a wonderful cast beyond Bogart, including Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Raines, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. Romantically bittersweet, it has a theme of personal sacrifice. It’s a terrific film and well-worth watching with your teens.

Next is “Sabrina,” a Billy Wilder film about a chauffeur’s daughter who finds romance in the wealthy family that employs her father. Many believe that Bogart was miscast in this film, and I admit that he often seems uncomfortable. The climax of the film is quite unbelievable. And yet somehow it works.

By the way, “Sabrina” is a showcase for Audrey Hepburn, and a great introduction to her work if you don’t know much about her. My daughter already knew who she was, having seen her recently in “Roman Holiday” (another great movie about personal sacrifice) and “Charade.”

While “Casablanca” would be of interest to both sexes, “Sabrina” is more of a chick flick, although I’m sure someone as poised as Audrey Hepburn would have come up with a more elegant way of describing it. 

Hope you’re spending today with the ones you love! You’ll find one of our family’s Valentine’s Day traditions (along with my recipe for a Giant Heart Cookie…well, actually two) right here.

BTW, another tradition we started a few years ago is our annual viewing of “Some Like It Hot,” a very funny movie which includes Chicago’s infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in its plot. No, I wouldn’t recommend it for kids, but older teens and adults will find it amusing.

I think it’s hard for anyone born after 1975 or so to understand how exciting movies used to be.

Going to the movies was an event, because we didn’t have all the television channels there are now, nor access to DVD players, Netflix, or online movies. If you saw a movie you absolutely loved at the theater, you knew you wouldn’t see it again unless you lucked out and it was eventually shown on network television. Back then, the only two ways to see a movie were in the theater and on television. Or so I thought.

When I got to college, I discovered that different campus groups had access to movies as fundraisers. They’d reserve an auditorium, obtain a movie and show it on a Friday or Saturday night for 75 cents a person. Each week there would be flyers all over campus advertising the coming weekend’s offerings.

That’s where I first saw “Young Frankenstein,” in an auditorium packed with rowdy college students. And it was so much fun! Some kids had seen the movie enough times on the weekends (the groups tended to show the same films over and over) that they yelled out the best lines as they occurred. It made for an entertaining evening. After that, I often saw my favorite movies two or three times, just because I could.

We watched “Young Frankenstein” here the other night. The audience was just three of us. But the movie is so funny that we laughed out loud pretty often.

The film is a Mel Brooks original, which means it’s a spoof. In this case, it’s poking fun at the original 1931 movie “Frankenstein” and also “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935). So if you’ve seen those films, you’ll fully understand why Brooks made “Young Frankenstein’ the way he did.

We were always pretty strict about which movies we allowed our kids to watch (I can hear my adult kids now chiming in from two different states, “You sure were!”), and so I can’t recommend this movie for the under-16 crowd. But it’s a stitch for older teens, and for 50-year-old parents who still remember their fellow classmates whinnying loudly in the Auditorium every time one of the actors mentions “Frau Blucher.”

I noticed banners for the movie “Fireproof” on a few blogs last week.

I mentioned the movie to my husband on Friday.

On Saturday I saw in the newspaper that “Fireproof” was at our local theater. We decided we should go see it sometime.

At church on Sunday, the pastor mentioned that he had just seen ”Fireproof” and that he wanted to recommend it to everyone, and especially to married couples. He said we could buy discounted theater tickets after the service.

We’re not dense. We can take a few hints.   We bought tickets, and went to see the movie on Monday.

Definitely worth it! The movie has a great message, and it has humor in it despite some heart-wrenching moments. I read an interview with the star of the movie, Kirk Cameron (one of the kids on TV’s ”Growing Pains” from back in the last century). What I found most interesting is that when his character was supposed to kiss an actress in the movie, he substituted his own wife. She’s also an actress, and she put on the lead actress’ dress and did the scene with her husband. How cool is that?

Do you and your honey a favor. Go see “Fireproof.” And bring Kleenex.

I’ve been a classic movie fanatic since I was a little kid. The movies of today have done nothing to change my opinion that the old films are the best.

Case in point: This weekend we watched the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story (Two-Disc Special Edition) for the first time in quite a while, and it was as enjoyable as ever. It stars three of my favorite actors (Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn) and is based on the hit Broadway play of the same name. It’s the story of an heiress who expects perfection in herself and everyone around her, and how she learns that “to err is human; to forgive, divine.”

James Stewart won an Oscar for Best Actor for this film, and Katharine Hepburn reversed the impending failure of her career by buying the rights and starring in it. Cary Grant is wonderful as always. The supporting characters are all very interesting, and there’s a particularly funny turn by Virginia Weidler as the main character’s precocious younger sister.

There’s no swearing, no sex, no violence (well, except in the first scene, lol) and lots of laughs along with just a few serious moments. Young children won’t appreciate this movie, but some teens might (primarily girls, I would think.) If you need a laugh, check this one out!