Nuts over Natalie

Got a great sick gift yesterday.

TCM saluted Natalie Wood on Sunday as part of its "Summer Under The Stars."

My, my. I've had a crush on Natalie Wood since I first saw her in "The Searchers." It isn't just her physical beauty. She has this presence. I can't quite describe it. But I love it.

By the time I realized she was on, the station was screening "Rebel Without A Cause." I had seen the film once -- back in high school -- and didn't much like it. My friend Dean Harned, who is so well versed on classic cinema he teaches a high school class about it, hates it.

 I liked it better this time around. For a '50s film, it's dealing with a lot of issues that weren't talked about at the time. Tortured Sal Mineo, James Dean's issues at home (Jim Backus' character is truly pathetic in the charitable sense), Natalie feels her parents don't care what she thinks. It's the first film (perhaps along with "Blackboard Jungle") to really start looking at teenagers in a realistic, non "Gidget" kind of way.

What I don't like about the film is James Dean. He's got the look, he wears cool clothes, you want to like him, but he just hadn't found his acting chops yet. As you know, he died young and thus remains an enigma.

Next  up was "Splendor in the Grass," a film I really like that also deals with teen angst. Unfortunately the cold medicine I had taken knocked me out halfway through the picture. Oh, well. I'll get it on DVD.

I woke up in time for "Sex and the Single Girl." OK, it's ridiculous, but it's a heck of a lot of fun, especially the final chase scene, something straight out of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Larry Storch! Lauren Bacall! Henry Fonda driving like a bat out of hell! What's not to love?

I went to bed during "The Great Race," a picture I want to like but don't, I think because I was spoiled by "Mad World." I kept waiting for Jonathan Winters to show up and demolish a filling station.

Was sort of miffed I couldn't stay awake for "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" because (cough) you know, but thank goodness for the DVR.

TV writer/blogger Ken Levine loves Natalie Wood more than I. Here's his post from yesterday. (Thanks for the heads up, Ken!)

 Do some searching while you're there. He writes about her often.

Happy Monday, y'all. Have a good week.

'Sunday in New York'

If I could be anywhere other than here in the Crossroads, it would be -- at least for awhile -- a swingin' bachelor apartment like the one Cliff Robertson owns in that early '60s comedy "Sunday in New York." Saw it on TCM last night and thought, "Now that would be mighty cool."

Course, that New York is long gone. It probably existed only in the movies anyway. But, it was a fun way to kill a couple of hours.

Robertson plays Adam Tyler, this ultra-cool airline pilot, who finds himself with a Sunday to kill. So naturally he's plans to get (ahem) up close and personal with his No. 1 gal Mona (Jo Harrell).

But, oops. Seems his young, naive sister Eileen (played by a young and extremely fetching Jane Fonda) has shown up from Albany. Yep, she's spending her vacation with her big brother. Adam keeps his cool, tells Eileen he's taking Mona "ice skating at Rockefeller Center," and heads off to find a quiet place to, er, relax.

Meanwhile, Adam's boss (played by the hilarious Jim Backus) calls the apartment. Adam has to fill in for a flight to Pittsburgh. So Eileen hops a bus to find him, runs into Philadelphia music critic Mike Mitchell (Rod Taylor), and what ensues from there is one amusing little series of mistaken identity and "this isn't what it looks like" moments.

These kind of pictures aren't going to win any Oscars, but pepper them with attractive women, Peter Nero jazz and a nostalgic look at an era in which men wore coats and ties -- even to row in a canoe on the park's lake with their gal -- and you don't seem to mind much. Despite my tirade against bad TV the other day, sometimes a little nonsense is exactly what you need.

Hated to learn that this little ditty isn't out on DVD. Especially since my TiVo decided to screw up and miss about five minutes in the middle and the concluding scene at the end.

Anyway, I just loved Adam's bachelor pad. Fireplace, spiral staircase upstairs, bar in the corner -- my condo isn't near as cool.

Oh, well. That's what old movies are for, I guess.