list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Written on the Wind on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Written_on_the_Wind/39099/default.aspx Title: Written on the Wind
Year: 1957
Director: Douglas Sirk
Plot: Perhaps the definitive Douglas Sirk production, Written on the Wind is based on the novel by Robert Wilder. The story revolves around the Hadleys, a wealthy but thoroughly debauched family of Texas oil millionaires. Robert Stack is self-destructive alcoholic Kyle Hadley, while Dorothy Malone won an Oscar for her equally vivid potrayal of Kyle's nymphomaniac sister Marylee. Kyle manages to win beautiful, level-headed advertising executive Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall) away from his best friend, virile Hadley Oil geologist Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), but Lucy soon comes to regret her decision to marry into the hell-on-earth Hadley family. When Lucy becomes pregnant, Kyle assumes that Mitch is the father, leading to a maelstrom of fever-pitch emotionalism and stark tragedy. Before he quite knows what is happening, Mitch is on trial for murder; the one person who can clear him is the craven Marylee, who demands Mitch's sexual favors as the price for her testimony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 8
Number of Lists: 12
Number of blog posts: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:57:43 GMTWritten on the Wind1957Douglas SirkPerhaps the definitive <a href="/players/P___111684/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Douglas Sirk</a> production, Written on the Wind is based on the novel by <a href="/players/P____76263/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Robert Wilder</a>. The story revolves around the Hadleys, a wealthy but thoroughly debauched family of Texas oil millionaires. <a href="/players/P____67453/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Robert Stack</a> is self-destructive alcoholic Kyle Hadley, while <a href="/players/P____44892/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Dorothy Malone</a> won an Oscar for her equally vivid potrayal of Kyle's nymphomaniac sister Marylee. Kyle manages to win beautiful, level-headed advertising executive Lucy Moore (<a href="/players/P_____3116/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lauren Bacall</a>) away from his best friend, virile Hadley Oil geologist Mitch Wayne (<a href="/players/P____33748/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Rock Hudson</a>), but Lucy soon comes to regret her decision to marry into the hell-on-earth Hadley family. When Lucy becomes pregnant, Kyle assumes that Mitch is the father, leading to a maelstrom of fever-pitch emotionalism and stark tragedy. Before he quite knows what is happening, Mitch is on trial for murder; the one person who can clear him is the craven Marylee, who demands Mitch's sexual favors as the price for her testimony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide8Taggedy Taggged (6-10)1213http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t11818j88xi.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Written_on_the_Wind/39099/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/22/35408.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/22/2008 9:01:18 PM
Body: Happy autumn! Today marked the fall equinox for the Northern hemisphere, and while the season can be a depressing one for mainstream moviegoers (at least until Thanksgiving ushers in the holiday blockbusters and Oscar-bait releases), it is otherwise a wonderful time of the year. Having grown up in New England, I’ve always had a great appreciation for the changing leaves, the brisk weather, the pumpkin and apple picking and the foodie holidays (as a rather chunky kid, I really only liked Halloween for the candy and Thanksgiving for the stuffing of my face). I even looked forward to going back to school every September. But autumn can be a great season for cinephiles, too, despite the significant lack of worthwhile theatrical releases. For one thing, the colder weather, particularly the colder nights, keeps us indoors more often for DVD watching. For another thing, the season has lent itself nominally and spirtually to some great films by the likes of Ozu, Bergman and Rohmer, among others. Personally, I think movies set in the fall tend to look the most beautiful, although I recognize that part of my aesthetic appreciation comes with my general love for autumnal landscapes and activities. To get myself in the mood, and share the spirit with fellow fans of the fall, I’ve found ten scenes that will help us to welcome the season: 1. Opening sequence  - from Monster House (2006) I shouldn’t have to explain why this is on here, but I guess there are a ton of you who unfortunately skipped this animated film when it was out in theaters (when you could have seen it properly in 3-D). Hopefully, the beginning will entice you to watch the rest, although I admit the rest of the film isn’t quite as good as its opening. The falling leaf may remind you of the beginning of Forrest Gump, which could have been intentional since Robert Zemeckis was a producer on this film, but I much prefer this sequence, mostly because director Gil Kenan manages to make me believe it was shot by an actual camera and not just set up to look that way with a computer. 2. Cathy and Raymond walk in the woods - from Far From Heaven (2002) The opening shot from Monster House initially reminded me of the opening shot from this Todd Haynes film (yes, I have since become aware that it goes back to Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows opening). But I can’t find that sequence online, plus it would possibly be redundant to include it, so here’s another scene displaying the gorgeous fall colors as shot by cinematographer Edward Lachman. Perfectly evoking Sirk’s films, there isn’t another modern film that better recreates the Connecticut autumn foliage as well as I know it. 3. Opening sequence - from Written on the Wind (1956) More blowing leaves. With much less grace than the one from Monster House, of course. But as much as I love the falling leaves that come with this time of year, I do get frustrated with all the dry, brown ones that slip through your door later on in the season. In any event, I had to include something from Sirk, despite an apparent lack of clips from his films available on YouTube. 4. Moon vs. Flying Snow - from Hero (2002) If you want evidence that YouTube isn’t the proper format with which to watch film clips, check out the above sequence from Zhang Yimou’s historical spectacle. Still, you should be able to tell that those colorful blurs are leaves. If there’s anything I’d like to do more than jumping into a pile of leaves right now, it’s flying through a flurry of blowing leaves, with or without a blade. 5. Paul Rudd scares a little kid - from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Enough blowing leaves. Let’s move on to the first big holiday of the season: Halloween. But to make things interesting, I’m not including any favorite scenes from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or even from the original Halloween. Save those for another month or so. Instead, take a look some scenes from one of the Halloween movies you probably haven’t seen, or at least don’t like as much. Why? Because Paul Rudd is in it. I don’t know about you, but I find no better way to celebrate the beginning of autumn than to ritually put my copy of Wet Hot American Summer back on the shelf and then rent Halloween 6 and let Rudd link the seasons together. He’s not as funny here as in WHAS, but he still unintentionally has me laughing in the scene where he explains the origin of Michael Myers’ powers and in an earlier bit where he inadvertently makes a kid drop his pumpkin (fast forward the above clip to 8:01). 6. Cary Grant gets horny in a graveyard - from Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Here’s another great Halloween movie that isn’t too Halloweeny, so it’ll hopefully get you more in the mood for the fall than for trick or treating. Though it’s clearly a set, I’ll always love the autumnal outdoor scenes from this adaptation of the high school drama staple. In particular, I like the bit above (fast forward to 6:00), where Cary Grant lecherously chases his new bride around a tree. I so wish autumn in Brooklyn still looked so quaint. And I so wish I could have married Priscilla Lane. 7. Jim Morrison ruins another Thanksgiving - from The Doors (1991) And now we move on to the other big holiday with a look at my favorite Thanksgiving scene in all of cinema. Maybe it’s because I’ve had many a dysfunctional turkey day myself, and watching Pam throw the sweet potatoes and Jim stomp on the duck, let alone the other awkward moments involving sex partners and murder attempts, always makes me realize that I could have experienced worse. By the way, The Doors are also a good band to think of in terms of the transition from summer to autumn because of their songs “Summer’s Almost Gone” and “Indian Summer.” 8. Sam Raimi evokes Buster Keaton - from Indian Summer (1993) Speaking of Indian Summer, that wonderfully warm spell that comes later in the season following the first frost and before it really starts to get cold, here is one of its many cinematic namesakes. It may not even be the best of the films with this title, but some of the visuals are good for celebrating the seasonal cusp. Also, Sam Raimi is hilariously memorable as the camp maintenance man. In one great scene in the above montage, he reminds me of Buster Keaton as he attempts to pull fallen luggage out of the lake. 9. India-shaped harvest - from Mother India (1957) No list of autumn-themed movies would be complete without something related to a harvest, though I’m certain that I’m veering off season a bit by using Mother India as my choice of such a film. I’m pretty sure the harvesting of wheat in India occurs in the Spring. Regardless, it’s the film that first pops into mind when I think of harvest, likely because of the incredible India-shaped crop set piece seen above. (Click on the image to get the un-embeddable clip). 10. “Skunk” invades Oktoberfest - from Strange Brew (1983) Another great thing that happens in autumn, specifically the beginning of autumn, is Oktoberfest. And sure, I probably could have included a clip from Broken Lizard’s Beerfest, which actually takes place in Munich. However, nobody can deny that Strange Brew is a funnier film, and there’s no better Oktoberfest-set scene than the one in which Hosehead the dog flies into a Canadian celebration, is mistaken for a skunk and successfully saves hundreds of people from drinking contaminated beer. Hosehead is a true hero. Yet for some reason nobody has honored the beer-loving canine by putting a clip of the scene up on YouTube. So, we’ll have to make due with a montage from the film set to a song about beer, which has a few minimal flashes of the Oktoberfest part. Enjoy, eh? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:01:18 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/22/2008 9:01:18 PMHappy autumn! Today marked the fall equinox for the Northern hemisphere, and while the season can be a depressing one for mainstream moviegoers (at least until Thanksgiving ushers in the holiday blockbusters and Oscar-bait releases), it is otherwise a wonderful time of the year. Having grown up in New England, I’ve always had a great appreciation for the changing leaves, the brisk weather, the pumpkin and apple picking and the foodie holidays (as a rather chunky kid, I really only liked Halloween for the candy and Thanksgiving for the stuffing of my face). I even looked forward to going back to school every September. But autumn can be a great season for cinephiles, too, despite the significant lack of worthwhile theatrical releases. For one thing, the colder weather, particularly the colder nights, keeps us indoors more often for DVD watching. For another thing, the season has lent itself nominally and spirtually to some great films by the likes of Ozu, Bergman and Rohmer, among others. Personally, I think movies set in the fall tend to look the most beautiful, although I recognize that part of my aesthetic appreciation comes with my general love for autumnal landscapes and activities. To get myself in the mood, and share the spirit with fellow fans of the fall, I’ve found ten scenes that will help us to welcome the season: 1. Opening sequence  - from Monster House (2006) I shouldn’t have to explain why this is on here, but I guess there are a ton of you who unfortunately skipped this animated film when it was out in theaters (when you could have seen it properly in 3-D). Hopefully, the beginning will entice you to watch the rest, although I admit the rest of the film isn’t quite as good as its opening. The falling leaf may remind you of the beginning of Forrest Gump, which could have been intentional since Robert Zemeckis was a producer on this film, but I much prefer this sequence, mostly because director Gil Kenan manages to make me believe it was shot by an actual camera and not just set up to look that way with a computer. 2. Cathy and Raymond walk in the woods - from Far From Heaven (2002) The opening shot from Monster House initially reminded me of the opening shot from this Todd Haynes film (yes, I have since become aware that it goes back to Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows opening). But I can’t find that sequence online, plus it would possibly be redundant to include it, so here’s another scene displaying the gorgeous fall colors as shot by cinematographer Edward Lachman. Perfectly evoking Sirk’s films, there isn’t another modern film that better recreates the Connecticut autumn foliage as well as I know it. 3. Opening sequence - from Written on the Wind (1956) More blowing leaves. With much less grace than the one from Monster House, of course. But as much as I love the falling leaves that come with this time of year, I do get frustrated with all the dry, brown ones that slip through your door later on in the season. In any event, I had to include something from Sirk, despite an apparent lack of clips from his films available on YouTube. 4. Moon vs. Flying Snow - from Hero (2002) If you want evidence that YouTube isn’t the proper format with which to watch film clips, check out the above sequence from Zhang Yimou’s historical spectacle. Still, you should be able to tell that those colorful blurs are leaves. If there’s anything I’d like to do more than jumping into a pile of leaves right now, it’s flying through a flurry of blowing leaves, with or without a blade. 5. Paul Rudd scares a little kid - from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Enough blowing leaves. Let’s move on to the first big holiday of the season: Halloween. But to make things interesting, I’m not including any favorite scenes from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or even from the original Halloween. Save those for another month or so. Instead, take a look some scenes from one of the Halloween movies you probably haven’t seen, or at least don’t like as much. Why? Because Paul Rudd is in it. I don’t know about you, but I find no better way to celebrate the beginning of autumn than to ritually put my copy of Wet Hot American Summer back on the shelf and then rent Halloween 6 and let Rudd link the seasons together. He’s not as funny here as in WHAS, but he still unintentionally has me laughing in the scene where he explains the origin of Michael Myers’ powers and in an earlier bit where he inadvertently makes a kid drop his pumpkin (fast forward the above clip to 8:01). 6. Cary Grant gets horny in a graveyard - from Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Here’s another great Halloween movie that isn’t too Halloweeny, so it’ll hopefully get you more in the mood for the fall than for trick or treating. Though it’s clearly a set, I’ll always love the autumnal outdoor scenes from this adaptation of the high school drama staple. In particular, I like the bit above (fast forward to 6:00), where Cary Grant lecherously chases his new bride around a tree. I so wish autumn in Brooklyn still looked so quaint. And I so wish I could have married Priscilla Lane. 7. Jim Morrison ruins another Thanksgiving - from The Doors (1991) And now we move on to the other big holiday with a look at my favorite Thanksgiving scene in all of cinema. Maybe it’s because I’ve had many a dysfunctional turkey day myself, and watching Pam throw the sweet potatoes and Jim stomp on the duck, let alone the other awkward moments involving sex partners and murder attempts, always makes me realize that I could have experienced worse. By the way, The Doors are also a good band to think of in terms of the transition from summer to autumn because of their songs “Summer’s Almost Gone” and “Indian Summer.” 8. Sam Raimi evokes Buster Keaton - from Indian Summer (1993) Speaking of Indian Summer, that wonderfully warm spell that comes later in the season following the first frost and before it really starts to get cold, here is one of its many cinematic namesakes. It may not even be the best of the films with this title, but some of the visuals are good for celebrating the seasonal cusp. Also, Sam Raimi is hilariously memorable as the camp maintenance man. In one great scene in the above montage, he reminds me of Buster Keaton as he attempts to pull fallen luggage out of the lake. 9. India-shaped harvest - from Mother India (1957) No list of autumn-themed movies would be complete without something related to a harvest, though I’m certain that I’m veering off season a bit by using Mother India as my choice of such a film. I’m pretty sure the harvesting of wheat in India occurs in the Spring. Regardless, it’s the film that first pops into mind when I think of harvest, likely because of the incredible India-shaped crop set piece seen above. (Click on the image to get the un-embeddable clip). 10. “Skunk” invades Oktoberfest - from Strange Brew (1983) Another great thing that happens in autumn, specifically the beginning of autumn, is Oktoberfest. And sure, I probably could have included a clip from Broken Lizard’s Beerfest, which actually takes place in Munich. However, nobody can deny that Strange Brew is a funnier film, and there’s no better Oktoberfest-set scene than the one in which Hosehead the dog flies into a Canadian celebration, is mistaken for a skunk and successfully saves hundreds of people from drinking contaminated beer. Hosehead is a true hero. Yet for some reason nobody has honored the beer-loving canine by putting a clip of the scene up on YouTube. So, we’ll have to make due with a montage from the film set to a song about beer, which has a few minimal flashes of the Oktoberfest part. Enjoy, eh? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Classic/MemberTagFilms.aspxClassic
Number of films tagged: 816

Number of people who tagged: 312

Number of times used: 1453

]]>Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:54:36 GMT8163121453Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspxfamily
Number of films tagged: 6288

Number of people who tagged: 226

Number of times used: 1138

]]>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:09:21 GMT62882261138Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/romance/MemberTagFilms.aspxromance
Number of films tagged: 7161

Number of people who tagged: 169

Number of times used: 1003

]]>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:28:29 GMT71611691003Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/incest/MemberTagFilms.aspxincest
Number of films tagged: 238

Number of people who tagged: 40

Number of times used: 58

]]>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:56:44 GMT2384058Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/jealousy/MemberTagFilms.aspxjealousy
Number of films tagged: 1295

Number of people who tagged: 39

Number of times used: 120

]]>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:13:05 GMT129539120Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/alcoholism/MemberTagFilms.aspxalcoholism
Number of films tagged: 1151

Number of people who tagged: 35

Number of times used: 64

]]>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:16:58 GMT11513564Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/dysfunctional/MemberTagFilms.aspxdysfunctional
Number of films tagged: 486

Number of people who tagged: 31

Number of times used: 42

]]>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:04:09 GMT4863142Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/killing/MemberTagFilms.aspxkilling
Number of films tagged: 7191

Number of people who tagged: 31

Number of times used: 96

]]>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:01:54 GMT71913196Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/blackmail/MemberTagFilms.aspxblackmail
Number of films tagged: 1006

Number of people who tagged: 23

Number of times used: 38

]]>Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:51:08 GMT10062338Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/rival/MemberTagFilms.aspxrival
Number of films tagged: 1620

Number of people who tagged: 19

Number of times used: 53

]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT16201953Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/criterion/MemberTagFilms.aspxcriterion
Number of films tagged: 396

Number of people who tagged: 17

Number of times used: 407

]]>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:08:23 GMT39617407Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/scandal/MemberTagFilms.aspxscandal
Number of films tagged: 540

Number of people who tagged: 16

Number of times used: 30

]]>Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:14:49 GMT5401630Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/millionaire/MemberTagFilms.aspxmillionaire
Number of films tagged: 722

Number of people who tagged: 11

Number of times used: 18

]]>Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:51:11 GMT7221118Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/promiscuity/MemberTagFilms.aspxpromiscuity
Number of films tagged: 224

Number of people who tagged: 7

Number of times used: 11

]]>Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:20:56 GMT224711Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Best-Supporting-Actress/MemberTagFilms.aspxBest-Supporting-Actress
Number of films tagged: 71

Number of people who tagged: 5

Number of times used: 75

]]>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:45:23 GMT71575Tag