Friday, March 25, 2011

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I'm not sure when I first saw Elizabeth Taylor on screen. I'm betting it was Taming of the Shrew or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof but it could have just as easily been a non-silver-screen performance as the height of her AIDS activism was during my childhood after the death of her beloved Rock Hudson from the disease in 1985. Regardless of when I first laid eyes on the feisty beauty, I've ardently admired her work since.

Ultimately, this is a blog about loving movies (even if the list tosses us its fair share of outright duds) and something that comes along with that love of movies is a love of the people who make them. So, when Athelas asked if we should bump Gaav in favor of an in memoriam viewing of a Taylor film, I quickly agreed (plus, I'm a tad scared of what Gaav might include). Titles of films were tossed out: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra, BUtterfield 8 . . . and, now that I think about it, Suddenly Last Summer, National Velvet, Father of the Bride . . .

But, none of those films are on the list.

Taylor appears on the list three times with A Place in the Sun, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. A woeful underrepresentation in my opinion.

Athlelas and I decided to watch A Place in the Sun and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf for a lot of reasons. I've seen A Place in the Sun and she's seen Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. I've seen half of Giant but thought it one of the most boring things I've ever seen and it's a million minutes long. With Place, we get a young, gorgeous Taylor and with Virginia Woolf we get Taylor 15 years and 30 pounds later in a role that won her an Oscar.














So, bear with us please as we procure copies of films and rearrange schedules to watch them. We'll be back shortly with posts on two of Taylor's finest.

2 comments:

  1. I remember the first time I saw her because I simultaneously wanted to *be* her! National Velvet, which I watched over and over again when I was kid. She was gorgeous and brave and there were horses! I would like to officially register my shock and horror that the freaking list made us watch Performance and doesn't include Cleopatra or Cat. Sigh. Looking forward to Place in the Sun!

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  2. I've still not seen National Velvet!

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