Back to Golden Days

I started this blog six years ago as a way to share my passion for classic films and the Old Hollywood era. I used to watch dozens of classic films every month, and every time I discovered a new star I liked I would go and watch their entire filmography. But somewhere along the way, that passion dimmed down. For instance, I watched 73 classic films in 2016, and only 10 in 2020. The other day, I found this film with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. that I had never heard of, and for some reason it made me really excited about Old Hollywood again. It made me really miss the magic of that era and all the wonderful actors and actresses that graced the silver screen. And it also made me think of all the reasons why I fell in love with classic films in the first place. I came up with 80 reasons, which I thought would be fun to share. Most of them are just random little scenes or quirky little quotes, but put them together and they spell Old Hollywood to me. This is part four (the final one) of the 80 r...

The 1960s were a decade of social and political unrest. The civil rights movement opposed blacks and whites in a war against unfair treatment of races. The LGBT community demanded a right to be different, while female activists stroke down barriers to women's personal freedom and professional careers. Young people rebelled against the establishment and denounced the Vietnam War, which they criticized as «immoral.» John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Che Guevara were assassinated, Chairman Mao starved 30 million people to death, Neil Armstrong became the first man on the Moon, the Berlin Wall divided Germany in two, The Beatles started the «British Invasion,» and Woodstock became the biggest music festival in the world. (from left to right) The construction of the Berlin Wall begins (August 13, 1961); The Beatles arrive in New York (February 7, 1964); Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon (July 20, 1969); the Woodstock music festival takes place (August 15-18, 1969).   The «Swinging ...

Theatrical release poster Dire cted by B lake Edwards, Breakfast at Tiffany's (196 1 )  tells the story of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), a naïve and carefree New York party girl who lives with a nameless cat and earns her money by visiting mobster Sally Tomato (Alan Reed) in prison every week. Tomato's la wyer pays her $100 a we ek to receive "the weather rep ort." One day, Holly meets Paul Varjak (George Peppard), a str ug gling writer who has just moved into her building . Pau l, whom Holly calls "Fred" due to his rese mblance to her brother, is "kept" by a wealthy older woman, Emily Eustace Failens on (Pa tricia Ne al), nic knamed "2E." At a party at Holly 's apartment, Paul meets her Hollywood agent, O. J. Berman (Martin Balsam), who desc ribes her trans f ormation from country girl into Manhattan socialite. In the da ys that follo w, Paul and Holly become closer , but their relationship gets strange whe...