Movie Monday 11.09.09

Feature Presentation...
MONDAY MOVIE MEME

Today's topic at The Bumbles Blog is movies that have had a profound impact on your life, so much so that they caused a change in your behavior, beliefs, or exposed you to a new passion? Share on your blog the movies that caused a major impact in your life. Then link your post to The Bumbles Blog where all the fun is happening today!

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, based on the novel by Truman Capote and Sabrina (1954) starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden are very important movies for me and close to my heart. Both movies are about young women trying to find their place in the world. Holly Golightly is running from love and a life she doesn't want while Sabrina is looking for love and a life she has dreamed about for too long.
They are my mother's two favorite movies. My mom had a massive stroke in 1989 which profoundly damaged her memory and parts of her brain. One of the things she really enjoys is watching these movies. My mom loves Tiffany's in NYC and gets a real kick out of the character, Holly Golightly and her wackiness. She laughs all through Breakfast at Tiffany's. My mom loves Sabrina because parts of the movie were filmed down the road from the house I grew up in, and where my mom still lives, and in the surrounding neighborhood. She loves seeing the neighborhoods as they used to be years ago in the black & white original Sabrina. Audrey Hepburn is also one of my mom's favorite actresses and Humphrey Bogart is pretty popular with her too!

A Man for All Seasons (1966) Is a movie about Sir Thomas More, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England and a man of conscience and unwavering principles. King Henry VIII wants the Pope to grant him a divorce so he can marry Anne Boleyn. Sir Thomas More, a member of the Privy Council, is the only one to argue against the divorce. Sir Thomas More is then appointed Lord Chancellor of England by King Henry. Tired of waiting to be granted a divorce, King Henry appoints himself "Supreme Head of the Church in England" and orders the bishops and Parliament to renounce their allegiance to the Holy See. Sir Thomas More refuses to take the Oath of Supremacy and resigns his office.

The movie is more complex than my summary but I don't want to give it all away and I don't want to tell the rest of it. The movie is very well written. It's poignant, funny and very sad and the acting is first-rate. This movie really made me think about how far I would go to uphold what I believe in and to consider if I believe in anything as strongly as Sir Thomas More. It also made me thing about my relationships with friends and family. Finally, this movie made me question allegiance to a religion. I was raised in a strict Catholic household, mass every Sunday and on holy days. My mother even went to church every day for the 40 days of Lent. She and, especially my grandmother have a strong faith and belief in Catholicism yet there is a lot about their religion that I find troubling. This movie definitely had a profound impact on me.

A Man for All Seasons is one of my husband's favorite movies. I am happy he shared it with me and so glad I have watched it several times. My husband is very intelligent and really witty. He's a happy, positive person. And he has a weird streak, which I love! I was discussing this topic with him and he told me that the movie Wild at Heart had a huge impact on him. It made him grateful for his life, appreciative of his youth as well as every single day he lives and it made him understand and appreciate true love. Whatever works for you...but have you seen ? It's a seriously bizarre film, great but bizarre. It is David Lynch, need I say more?!

Wild at Heart (1990) starring Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern is about a young couple from Cape Fear, NC who run away from her domineering mother played by Diane Ladd. She pursues involving the mob and a few other choice characters. It's a jarring, wacky, disturbing movie in many ways, it's also funny and poignant.