A Classic Kiss on Oscar Night

Roman Holiday, 1953

  It's March... grey, dreary, and that in between month when we don't know if mittens or mudboots are called for. The gardens at Camp MP are still sleeping in their messy beds. The world is not happy, the news is beyond comprehension and so much we need to Change! and March! for and CARE about...but sometimes it's OK to 

shut off the newsfeeds and curl up with a good movie!

I believe that what the world needs now...is a good Kiss!

  How to Steal a Million,1966

An Affair to Remember, 1957
 

"You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” Rhett Butler

 

Lady and The Tramp, 1955

 So just in time for Oscar Night a romantic reminder of 

why I'm a Classic movie lover.

Thomas Crown Affair , 1968

Somehow we are missing Romance...we have robots, super duper super heroes,  galaxy fighters and things exploding and imploding but...romance??  Where did it go?

 Holiday, 1938

  “I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”

Bull Durham,1988

Have you noticed kisses don't mean as much anymore in movies.  When you watch a film these days how often is 

THE KISS

 just expected, ho-hum, gratuitous, superfluous and simply  an "is  what it is " non-event.  I think it is sad that romance has disappeared---we know what's going to happen and  it is rarely worth the ticket price when it does.

The Thin Man, 1934

 Maybe we have become jaded by too many kisses, too many scenes that are throw-aways, kisses that are just filling space.  Where's the chemistry, where's the heat, where's the  witty dialogue, where's the soaring music, the anticipation, the drama, the MOMENT.  

I want THE MOMENT!  (Sabrina,1954)

It Happened One Night, 1934 

 SO this Oscar Night I am celebrating with some of my favorite on-screen smooches and some of the best kissy quotes --interesting that films made in much less socially open periods are the ones we remember--iconic kisses that are unforgettable and keep us watching again and again.  So Hollywood listen up--take a lesson from classic films and don't just toss those kisses in wherever and whenever...save them, make them special... and give us back THE MOMENT!

Charade, 1963

 "Aren't you allowed to kiss back?" 
"No.  The doctor said it would be bad for my 
 -- thermostat.
When you come on, you really come on."
         "Well -- come on. "

Ball of Fire, 1941

 "I'm gonna show you what yum-yum is. 
Here's yum...And here's the other yum...And here's yum-yum."

Casablanca, 1942

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time."

From Here to Eternity, 1953

" Nobody ever kissed me the way you do."

Roman Holiday, 1953

Summertime, 1955

To Catch a Thief, 1955

 "I've been waiting all day for you to mention that kiss I gave you last night... 
Not only did I enjoy that kiss last night, 
I was awed by the efficiency behind it." 
She replied: "Well, I'm a great believer of getting down to essentials."

North by Northwest, 1959

The Way We Were, 1973

Moonstruck, 1987

Princess Bride, 1987

 “Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. The End.”

What the World Needs NOW! A Good KISS-Happy Valentine's Day!

 How to Steal a Million, 1966

 

"I wasn't kissing her, I was whispering in her mouth" Chico Marx

An Affair to Remember, 1957
 

"You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” Rhett Butler

 

Lady and The Tramp, 1955

It's February.  Cold, snowy,icy...the world is not happy, the economy is misbehaving and we are smack in the midst of an ugly political season.  What the world needs now...Valentine's Day!...and a good Kiss!

Roman Holiday

Somehow we are missing romance...we have robots, and galaxy fighters and things exploding and imploding but...romance??  Where did it go?

 Holiday, 1938

  “I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”

Bull Durham,1988

Have you noticed kisses don't mean as much anymore.  When you watch a film these days how often is THE KISS just expected, ho-hum, gratuitous, superfluous and simply  an "is  what it is " non-event.  I think it is sad that romance has disappeared---we know what's going to happen and  it is rarely worth the ticket price when it does.

The Thin Man, 1934

 Maybe we have become jaded by too many kisses, too many scenes that are throw-aways, kisses that are just filling space.   Where's the chemistry, where's the heat, where's the  witty dialogue, where's the soaring music, the anticipation, the drama, the MOMENT.  

I want THE MOMENT!  (Sabrina,1954)

It Happened One Night, 1934 

Snow White, 1937

 SO this Valentine's Day I am celebrating with some of my favorite on-screen smooches and some of the best kissy quotes --interesting that films made in much less socially open periods are the ones we remember--iconic kisses that are unforgettable and keep us watching again and again.  So Hollywood listen up--this Valentine's Day--take a lesson from classic films and don't just toss those kisses in wherever and whenever...save them, make them special... and give us back THE MOMENT! 
 Happy Valentine's Day!

Charade, 1963

 "Aren't you allowed to kiss back?" 
"No.  The doctor said it would be bad for my 
 -- thermostat.
When you come on, you really come on."
         "Well -- come on. "

Ball of Fire, 1941

 "I'm gonna show you what yum-yum is. 
Here's yum...And here's the other yum...And here's yum-yum."

Casablanca, 1942

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time."

From Here to Eternity, 1953

"I never knew it could be like this. Nobody ever kissed me the way you do."

Roman Holiday, 1953

Sabrina. 1954

"Here's a kiss from David," he told her - "It's all in the family"

Summertime, 1955

To Catch a Thief, 1955

 "I've been waiting all day for you to mention that kiss I gave you last night... Not only did I enjoy that kiss last night, I was awed by the efficiency behind it." 
She replied: "Well, I'm a great believer of getting down to essentials."

North by Northwest, 1959

 

Thomas Crown Affair , 1968

The Way We Were, 1973

Moonstruck, 1987

Princess Bride, 1987

 “Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. The End.”

"She Rescues Him Right Back"

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 "Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? 
Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams..."

Admit it...after a rotten day, when you just need to climb into your bunny slippers and curl up under the covers with something the brain doesn't have to participate in, nothing works quite like watching a piece of fluffy escape popcorn.  No matter how many times you may have already watched it!  

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...Sabrina, Roman Holiday, To Catch a Thief, Holiday, The Holiday, Houseboat, Moonstruck, The Princess Diaries, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Miss Pettigrew Lives for the Day,Emma, Ever After, Must Love Dogs, Under the Tuscan Sun, Pride and Prejudice, The Lake House, Bridget Jones Diary,  Adams Rib, It Happened One Night, Legally Blonde, The Princess Bride, Indiscreet, That Touch of Mink...the list is endless, filled with complete indulgence,mindless, blissful, romantic, fun, perfect escape. 

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 Probably at the top of that very long list of guilty pleasure viewing you will find Pretty Woman.  We may not advertise our dedication to this one, but after 25 years it still works!   A timeless tale of the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, in this case a good-hearted, wiser than she knows, smart-mouthed hooker Vivian (Julia Roberts in her break-out role), scooped up and taken in by the handsome seemingly soulless rich guy Edward (Richard Gere), an emotionally shut-down millionaire in need of directions and direction.  Why does this film still work--haven't women moved well beyond the "rescue me" fairy-tale era???  

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Vivian gets offered a condo and cash and walks away  so we can't throw her onto the white horse completely. "When I was a little girl, my mama used to lock me in the attic when I was bad, which was pretty often. And I would- I would pretend I was a princess... trapped in a tower by a wicked queen. And then suddenly this knight... on a white horse with these colors flying would come charging up and draw his sword. And I would wave. And he would climb up the tower and rescue me. But never in all the time... that I had this dream did the knight say to me, "Come on, baby, I'll put you up in a great condo."   Vivian wanted to change her life not just her "geography" and yes she wanted "the fairytale".  Another Cinderella story...of course, but in the end Pretty Woman works because of chemistry.

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 "In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight.”

 This Cinderella movie could have been a much different story if screenwriter JF Lawton's original idea had been filmed.  A darker tale, with the original title of 3,000, was written with a less than "happily ever after" ending  in which  Kit and Vivian are on a bus headed for Disneyland with Kit excited about  a fun day paid for by Vivian’s week with Edward, and Vivian simply  “stares out emptily ahead.”   No fire escape, no limo, no kiss.

 

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It was the screen chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere that took the film onto a totally different course...and it is the spark and crackle of their relationship that after 25 years  keeps this movie at the top of our bunny slipper viewing lists. 

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Lawton has said that  "During this whole thing, there was all this whole debate about 'How do we end it, how do we save her?' without it feeling like a cop-out," . ..But the chemistry between Roberts and Gere, it is palpable on the screen, it was palpable in auditions. You can't really see how it could end any other way, because they just light up with each other."   Indeed!

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Gary Marshall's direction focused on Vivian as a "girl who wanted to change her life, and did."  Maybe that is one reason we root for Vivian and see her as not your everyday Cinderella-despite the safety pinned boots to Rodeo Drive transformation.

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  In the end it was Gary Marshall's vision that drove Pretty Woman's storyline "My vision was a combination of fairy tales," he remembered. "Julia was Rapunzel, Richard was Prince Charming and Hector (Elizondo, who played Regent Beverley Wiltshire hotel manager Barnard Thompson) was the fairy godmother. It didn't seem like a vision everybody would have, but I did." 

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 That vision and a pitch perfect cast created a movie we can all quote two and a half decades later, and that even the most ardent independent woman will have to admit she loves and watches it at least once a year-Happy 25th Pretty Woman.

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 Edward Lewis: “So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?”
Vivian: “She rescues him right back."

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 "...Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' — this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin.'