Hockey Movies

North Carolina is a hockey state! There- I’ve said it and I stand by it. I know, I know, this is the Sunny South. Well, Greensboro just got another minor league team- the Gargoyles! (Anyone else remember the Generals?) And we have our own NHL team, the Hurricanes, who actually won the Stanley Cup in 2006 . So- movies about hockey? Many are made, few are chosen. I have three really good ones and three for the penalty box.    

Let’s start with the very best. Miracle On Ice (1981) is not only the best hockey movie ever made, it’s one of the very best sports movies. In the 1980 Winter Olympics the USA team faced off against the Soviet Union. The Americans were college kids, being coached by the University of Minnesota chief. The kids from America tie favored Sweden, then defeat Czechoslovakia, Norway, Romania and West Germany, to get into the medal round. Then come the heavily favored Russians, who haven’t lost a game in four Olympics. The Russians were consummate pros, able to best most NHL teams. Somehow these kids knock of the Russkis and then go on to beat Finland for the gold medal. This version features Karl Malden as American coach Herb Brooks. Then we have Miracle (2004) with Kurt Russell as Brooks. Which version is better? I really can’t choose. I loved both!

The other really good hockey movie is Slap Shot (1977). It’s about a scrappy down-at-the heels minor league hockey team- the Chiefs- led by Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman). The team is not a local favorite in the Rust Belt city, which is even more down than the team. But Reggie hires some really questionable players whose chief talent is brutalizing the other team. The town loves it! And the team begins to succeed on the ice and at the gate. The team lands in the league championship game against a Syracuse team with even meaner goons than the Chiefs. But nobody out fights the Chiefs and they force Syracuse into an act requiring their disqualification. Jennifer Warren portrays Reggie’s estranged wife Francine. Lindsay Crouse is quite good as Reggie’s other love interest, Lily Braden. There are at least two sequels. No Paul Newman, Lindsay Crouse or Jennifer Warren, and they are pretty awful. 

Mystery, Alaska (1999) does have Burt Reynolds and Russell Crowe. And not much else. Somehow a local amateur hockey team convinces the New York Rangers to come to their town for a game. Local politics are the main plot thread, not hockey.

The Mighty Ducks (1992) is about a peewee hockey team being coached by a guy doing it as community service after a driving drunk conviction. And there are at least two sequels which are, okay, no worse. Incredibly, the Mighty Ducks name is adopted by a real NHL team based in Anaheim, California. You cannot make this stuff up!

The first two and the last film are fine for all ages. The rest are for grown-ups. All are probably available somewhere, and probably are not free. 

                                               Movies into Broadway Musicals

                                                               Part 2

Were a few movies later made into Broadway Musicals? Why, yes. It’s a very limited category and in this article we’ll exhaust the possibilities. Usually, of course, it’s the other way around- dozens of Broadway Musicals have been made into movies. The flip side not so much. This rounds up most of the rest of them.

Billie Elliott (2002) is a charming movie about an English lad who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. He chances to see a ballet class and is smitten. His miner Dad and older brother are not exactly encouraging. But a teacher sees his talent and helps him to perform with the Royal Ballet. He appears as the swan in Swan Lake, wowing the audience and critics. By way of the West End Theater, Australia and finally Broadway musical in 2008, the play is a hit Asked what he feels like while dancing, Billy says it “feels like electricity:.

Waitress (2007) is about women who work hard at their trade and some of the customers they wait on.  Jenna (Kerri Russell) is a talented baker trapped in a loveless marriage. She is famous for her unique pies with unique names, like Bad Bay Pie. She longs to gather enough money to leave the dreadful Earl and hopes to win a pie contest to help that dream. Andy Griffith almost steals this movie as Joe, the curmudgeon owner of the diner where Jenna works. There’s an extremely unlikely but happy ending. While there’s no music in the movie, Waitress was made into a very successful Broadway Musical, running for over four years.

Legally Blonde (2001) stars Reese Witherspoon as Elle, Big Woman On Campus. When her boyfriend gets into Harvard Law School, she decides to follow. It turns out that this seemingly ditzy blonde is smart as hell, knocks the admissions people on ther butt, and is obriously headed for an outstanding legal career. A Broadway Musical followed as spring follows winter. Opening to mixed reviews in 2007 it nevertheless was nominated for seven Tonys, but didn’t win any. There are sequels to avoid.

Moulin Rouge (1952) and (2001) is about the famous Paris night spot and the denizens who go there. The main focus is on Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, a monmentally talented painter whose hobbles around on legs that just don’t work. He was injured in a fall as a child and never healed. He paints the characters in the night club, mainly the dancing girls. On his death bed his father informs him that his paintings will be exhibited in the Louvre. No music here. This film was nominated for six Oscars, but won only for technical categories. Another version follows in 2001, with a completely different story and with lots of music. This one received eiight Oscar nominations, again winning only on the technical side. There followed a Broadway musical based on the newer movie in 2019. This version won ten Tonys, including Best Musical.

One final double: The Band’s Visit (2007), about an Egyptian band touring and getting lost in Israel. It was made into a very successful musical in 2017. 

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere for a price. Only Billy is fine for kids. 

                                      Movies That Became Broadway Musicals

                                                            Part 1

There have been many of Broadway Musicals that were made into movies. While researching those I had this thought: what about flipping the coin? Have there been a lot of movies that were made into Broadway Musicals? Actually, yes. Comparatively speaking not that many, but here are those that made the trip.

    Perhaps the most famous movie that went to Broadway is Singin’ In The Rain (1952). And it is a wonderful film! Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds singing and dancing up a storm in the musical story of movies leaving their silent beginning and becoming talkies. Jean Hagen is on board as Lina, a star in silents whose grating, high pitched voice dooms her career in talkies. Ms. Hagen won the only Oscar for this film.  Good for her, but everyone else deserved one, including the movie itself. The film was made into a Broadway musical, still performed across America. And directors have struggled with that scene with Gene Kelly singing and dancing through a rain storm. With mixed success.

The next two examples of the film to play genre are Disney vehicles. Beauty and the Beast (1994) and The Lion King (1997) were born as animated films. Never mind that, both became excellent musical plays. The first is very faithful to the film and the music is stellar. The fairy tale story of the prince cursed by a witch to live his life as an ugly beast is well suited for the stage.  The second would seem to be difficult to stage, but the artists at Disney made stage-worthy animals. These are manipulated by actors and are really the stars of the show. The stage animals are just jaw dropping!

Hairspray (1988) is a fun story about a chubby Baltimore girl (Tracy) who wants to be a star on a TV dance show. The teen-age dance show is sponsored by Ultra Clutch Hair Spray. Really!  The music is outstanding and the story is semi-serious, as the star is invested in integration and winds up in jail for her trouble. The film traveled to Broadway in 2002, then was remade as a movie in 2007. Several actors have had a grand time playing Tracy’s mother Edna. John Travolta, Divine, and Harvey Feirstein are some of the actors who played Edna. The part has always been cast as a man in drag since the original production. 

Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a splendid movie that seems to be perfectly positioned as a Broadway play. Directed by the famous Billy Wilder, the original film has Gloria Swanson chewing the scenery as washed up actress Norma Desmond and William Holden as her would-be biographer. And it has legendary director Erich Von Stroheim as Max, Norma’s servile husband. The music in the original film is orchestral and quite good. But Andrew Lloyd Weber’s soaring score for the play is outstanding. The cast album is a big winner.

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere, probably for a price. The first three are fine for all audiences. The last two are for grown-ups. 

                                                                   Teri Garr

                                                                        Part 2

Teri Garr had the unique experience of playing a major role in two similar movies less than a year apart. One featured a man dressing as a woman to land a part. And one that involved a man taking on the job of stay-at-home Dad while his wife becomes the breadwinner. In one she assists the man. In the other she is finally impressed by the job the man is doing.

In Tootisie (1982) she is Sandy Lester, who tries out for a part in the soap opera Southwest General. She doesn’t get the part. Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is an actor who is so difficult nobody will hire him. He hears about the available role in the soap and decides to dress like a woman and try for it. He is so convincing as Dorothy Michaels they hire him. He also convinces everyone else, but Sandy catches him out when she finds him in her dressing room to try on some of her clothes. She doesn’t give him up, though. Various romances develop with Michael falling for actress Julie (Jessica Lange) who doesn’t realize he’s a man. And Les (Charles Durning) falls for Dorothy, thinking she is in fact a woman. This film was wildly successful, and was nominated for 10 Oscars. Teri Garr was nominated, but so was Jessica Lange, and Lange won the statue. The picture was nominated for Best, but lost to Gandhi. 

Then in 1983 came Mr. Mom. It featured Michael Keaton in his first starring role. He portrays Jack Butler, engineer and father of three. He is laid off from his job at Ford, and his wife Caroline (Teri Garr) uses her education and experience to land a good job at an advertising agency. She succeeds and impresses the clients of the agency, especially when she brings a needed feminine perspective to some of the ads. Meanwhile, Jack struggles as the new main caretaker and homemaker with little experience or  knowledge of what he’s doing. But he catches on quickly and becomes the darling of the neighborhood mothers, while Caroline climbs the corporate ladder. 

In After Hours (1985) Teri portrays Julie, a waitress with artistic talent who draws a Wanted poster of poor Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) that gets him into all kinds of trouble. This is a complicated black comedy, directed by none of than Martin Scorcese.

Teri Garr has a brief appearance as herself in the Hollywood satire The Player (1992). Tim Robbins has a ball playing a studio hack who will do anything to advance his career. Including murder. 

The boy and the horse are just about the whole show in The Black Stallion (1979). After a shipwreck, the two are washed up on a desert island where they become inseparable. Then they’re rescued and the horse becomes a racer. Teri Garr is there to carry the water as the boy’s mother and she carries it well. 

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere, probably for a price. Only the last one is really suitable for all ages. 

                                                                      Teri Garr 

                                                                Part 1

She wasn’t really movie star gorgeous. Sort of “girl next door” pretty, and a face that stands out in a crowd without being pushy. Teri Garr started out her show business career as a dancer. She was a very good one. She appeared as a dancer in five Elvis movies, without a credit to her name. But once she got noticed and cast, her movie CV is excellent. She died at recently 79. 

    Teri Garr’s first film appearance of note came in 1974 in Mel Brooks’ hilarious Young Frankenstein. Gene Wilder is Frederick Frankenstein, a respected doctor and grandson of the famous monster maker. He inherits the Transylvania castle, where it all happened before. He begins his own unusual experiments and is assisted by Igor (Marty Feldman) and Inga (Teri Garr) who seem to come with the castle. The monster Frederick creates escapes and has adventures in the countryside. The film ends with Frederick and Inga getting married after all the damage is cleared away. Mel Brooks considered this his best movie, though not his funniest. But it’s pretty funny.

    Oh God (1977) took a big risk that the storyline wouldn’t completely offend the Christian community. It worked. George Burns portrays the Almighty as grizzled older guy determined to help us earhlings. His strange prophet of choice is supermarket assistant manager Jerry Landers, portrayed quite well by singer John Denver. Jerry rejects God’s advances and tries to talk him out making Jerry a modern Moses. But God persists, and Jerry tries to spread the word. Nobody much believes Jerry, including his wife Bobbie (Teri Garr). Finally Jerry is put on trial for running a scam saying God has appeared to him. Things are going badly until God shows up in the courtroom without the doors opening and takes the stand, reciting the oath as “So help me, Me”. Showing the judge some neat card tricks followed by some genuine miracles turns the tide and the case against Jerry is dismissed. There are two dreadful sequels.

    Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) was Stephen Spielberg’s dream project and was a tremendous critical and popular success. It netted nine Oscar nominations, but won only in technical categories. An ordinary Indiana guy, Roy Neary (played by Richard Dreyfuss) has an encounter with an extra-terrestrial object which flies right over his truck and burns his face. He becomes obsessed with UFOs and is dismissed as a nut by just about everyone, including his wife Ronnie (Teri Garr). Ronnie grows tired of the hullabaloo surrounding Roy’s statements and leaves him with their three children. But he is believed and assisted by Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) who has also experienced contact with the aliens. They wind up at Devil’s Tower, site of the landing of the UFOs. Ms. Garr wanted to play the more sympathetic Jillian, but instead was cast as Ronnie. The film contains the only appearance in a film by Francois Truffaut, who portrays Claude Lacombe, the French director of UFO studies. 

    All of the movies in this article are available somewhere. Only the last one is ok for all ages. 

                                                              Mitzi Gaynor

    If I asked you who played Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1958) you might guess Mary Martin, who played her on Broadway. Or you might go with Doris Day or Ginger Rogers or maybe Debbie Reynolds. Nope. It was Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber. Okay, that’s the real name of the charming Mitizi Gaynor, whose interesting life ended at 93. She was a singer and dancer of considerable talent, and was quite prominent in the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals. But her movie career is capsuled in just six years. 

    After the 50's she just quit movies and concentrated on stage and nightclub work. Her husband was Jack Bean, also her agent, and they were together until Jack died in 2006. Well after her film career was over, she stopped the show at the Academy Awards in 1966, singing and dancing to Georgy Girl. The show’s producers had a hard time getting the audience to stop applauding and sit down!

There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954) is surely true. This is a Golden Age MGM musical with not much plot but lots of good singing and dancing. The Five Donahues are a vaudeville family until the kids grow up and move on. Ethel Merman is their mom, Dan Dailey is their Dad. Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O’Connor and Johnnie Ray (!) are other members. Marilyn Monroe is also on board to look pretty and smile. Theirs a trunk full of good songs, all written by Irving Berlin. 

In Anything Goes (1956) show biz producers Bill (Bing Crosby) and Ted (Donald O’Connor) travel to Paris to sign a new star. But each of them signs a girl, and the problem must be sorted out on the Trans Atlantic cruise back to America. Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire are the talented girls and each gets to show her talent in various settings on the way to the U.S. That’s about it for plot, but the singing and dancing are good.

On a more serious note, there is The Joker Is Wild (1957) a pretty good film bio about performer Joe E. Lewis (Frank Sinatra), who displeased the Mob and got his face and throat slashed. But he gradually made his way back to stardom, stepping on others on the way. His poor wife (Mitizi Gaynor) and his best friend Austin (Eddie Albert) are among the casualties. Liquor and drugs ring the curtain down on the Joker. 

In one of the weirdest casting since Marlin Brando played Sky Masterson, David Niven is paired with Mitzi Gaynor They are a happily married couple trying to have a romantic interlude on their anniversary and being foiled by their children, their relatives, delivery people and life in general. One present is a new TV which David hates and kicks the screen in. This happens again and everyone is all mad about everything until there is a Hollywood ending and everyone is happy again. Happy Anniversary (1959) is Mitzi’s last film.

You can also follow Mitzi Gaynor in We’re Not Married (1952) and Les Girls (1957). All these films are available, probably for a price. All are for adults.

                                                                    Maggie Smith

                                                                        Final

The only way I know to finish with Dame Maggie Smith is to consolidate some things. So first off would be the Harry Potter films (2001-2011).  She’s in seven of the eight. And in every one Maggie was Professor McGonagal. Not the biggest part in these, but she sure pulls her weight. And after all, she gives Harry his first Quidditch broomstick. A Nimbus 2000 no less. 

Downton Abbey (2010-2015) was the much loved Masterpiece Theater series on PBS. And its fans practically demanded a movie. And they got it in 2022- Downton Abbey: A New Era. And it is pretty good. All of the usual suspects are on board including Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. As the uncrowned matriarch of the family, her rather acerbic character keeps the wheels of the younger crowd turning. The movie involves the frantic preparations for a visit by Royalty to the Abbey. This is the biggest of big deals in Merrie Olde England. Maggie is unperturbed. 

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) is a hoot. Hotelier Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) hoddwinks a staid group of retired Britishers to take up residence in his hotel. To say it is nothing like the advertisements is putting it mildly. But-stiff upper lip and all that- and the new residents make the most of it. Maggie Smith is on hand as Muriel Donnelly. The cast is stellar: Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy. Nighy almost steals the thing as a not-quite-dead resident. So of course there is a sequel: The Second Best Marigold Hotel (2015). Add Richard Gere to the cast. The hotel is in danger of closing. Muriel accompanies Sonny to San Diego where they try to convince a hotel mogul to invest in the Indian hostelries. There are lots of shenanigans winding up with Sonny’s wedding. 

Gosford Park (2001) is right up Maggie’s alley. A Robert Altman entry with many of his tricks. The cast is outstanding: Bob Balaban, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and of course our Maggie as Constance, Dowager Countess of Trentham. A bunch of wealthy Brits are invited to a shooting party (it’s a British thing) at the estate of Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon). Things are going splendidly until one of the guests is murdered. Hijinks follow. The film made lots of money and was nominated for a fistful of Oscars. Maggie got a nomination along with otheres, but lost to Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind.

Ladies In Lavender (2004) pairs Maggie with fellow icon Judi Dench. They are the Widdington sisters, Janet and Ursula,  who live in a picturesque village in Cornwall. Handsome Andrea Marowski (Daniel Bruhl) washes up on the beach, having been thrown overboard in a shipwreck. He is a budding world famous violinist. The sisters nurse him back to health and Ursula falls in love with the much younger Andrea. He gets his big chance to play with a symphony orchestra and leaves without saying good-bye. But things heal over nicely- the sisters journey to see him play in person, and the villagers listen on the radio. 

We now say a fond farewell to Dame Maggie Smith. Did I cover all of her films? Lord no, I just hit the high spots.