Jimmy Fucking Stewart

Harvey pretty much IS a proto-Hanks movie, all "high concept," etc.

I don't know how high concept it is. He's a complete souse who has gone totally mad. Bu he does charm. Oh yes he does.

Oh. I see what you mean.

Worse thing about the remake will be the CGI rabbit.

NO NO NO if there's a rabbit it falls apart!

Jeff Wells' blog says Hanks rejected it; Will Smith next?

Re Anatomy: his trademark marblemouth pronunciation is used to maximum effect when he keeps on emphasizing a certain word not heard in movies up until then, the aural equivalent of holding up a piece of evidence with tweezers.

His reactions in The Shop Around the Corner as he watches Margaret Sullavan read his letter = classic.

You know, it's about time somebody started a Fuck You, Jimmy Stewart thread. That guy was just pure evil.

It's time I started a Suggest Ban Clemenza thread.

I'm kidding; hope you are too.

i'm pretty sure i have stated this elsewhere but love love love the man in philadelphia story and cannot stand him in anything else

If you've seen Harvey and still feel that way, my gob is smacked

did nobody mention that the guy was a friggin Brigadier General and kickass pilot who flew dozens of missions in WW2

I've always thought it's kinda interesting that Cary Grant, Stewart's co-star in Philadelphia Story, often played very sophisticated characters and Stewart often got the folksy roles, but in real life Stewart graduated from Princeton with an architecture degree, whereas Grant came from a working-class background.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQVAC-l4RCzOVRLcWQH4CVJE4uJ3Vz8kl4kiued0yEqcYjfvmOvog

Yeah, I know, but I just thought it was an interesting bit of persona/person discord, especially considering that Stewart the person was often conflated with his roles, like when Harry S. Truman said he would've wanted a son "just like Jimmy Stewart" after seeing It's a Wonderful Life.

Watched (again!) Anatomy of a Murder last night - with James Cagney (and for opposite reasons), Stewart is still for me the quintessential movie actor.

Cagney is not in AOAM.

I think he meant James Cagney and James Stewart are the two quintessential movie actors, not that they're both in it.

Oh ok.

we need a Margaret Sullavan poll!

― Anatomy of a Morbius (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

saw Bell Book and Candle for the first time last night, which is much more a Novak than Stewart film (tho he is very funny drinking Hermione Gongold's toxic brew that's sposed to lift the love spell KN has put on him). Elsa Lanchester and Ernie Kovacs are funniest, brightening the corners. And it is of course weird to see the two stars together looking as they did that year in Vertigo, only on the (studio-faked) roof of the Flatiron Building.

My dad adores BB&C and Novak in it.

"As a bachelor, Stewart dated some of the most beautiful and charming women in Hollywood, including Ginger Rogers and Olivia de Havilland. He also had a brief, red-hot love affair with Marlene Dietrich during the filming of Destry Rides Again (1939), and it shows; they seem like an odd couple only if you haven’t seen them in the movie. Fonda would claim that Stewart got all the pretty girls, but his friend always countered that Fonda 'had his share, and then some': Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, Lucille Ball."

https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/10/27/hollywoods-original-bffs-jimmy-stewart-and-henry-fonda-share-the-screen-at-last-in-film-forums-essential-retro/

Missing from this poll: Pot o' Gold Stewart called it his worst movie, but as far as B-grade wartime musicals go it's among my favorites.

I have an exceedingly irrational bias against Stewart. However, he will be the TCM November 2017 Star of the Month, so it is probably my best chance to catch up on certain titles I haven't seen.

Have seen and expect to revisit: The Shop Around the Corner, Rope
Have seen and see no need to revisit: The Philadelphia Story, Vertigo, After the Thin Man
Already planning to see: Anatomy of a Murder

Of the title I haven't seen, which ones would ILX recommend?

anything by Anthony Mann

Harvey is quite a thing.

i've avoided Harvey thus far out of "cutesy alcoholic" fears

his supposed aw-shucks persona kind of belied the fact that he was at his best playing unhinged and faintly dangerous men.

he's definitely more tolerable as the latter

i like Harvey but I can't see it working for anyone who hates Stewart

Rear Window might work, he's against type in that to some extent

if you go into It's a Wonderful Life knowing nothing about it, you'd be forgiven if you think that the last act will have him committing a couple murders.

Anatomy of a Murder is first-rate.

I just spent 20 minutes hunting for this video thanks to this thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYvsjGroa78

by Rear Window he had already played dark and disturbed characters in several Mann westerns. As he's quoted in the VV story above, "I matured."

his supposed aw-shucks persona kind of belied the fact that he was at his best playing unhinged and faintly dangerous men.

Which is why Anatomy of a Murder tops my must-see list.

well, he's not unhinged there. In Ford's Two Rode Together he's kinda nasty.

Curious that the "Hank & Jim" retro in nYC contains neither of his joint appearances w/ Fonda, even though the films are (apparently) not good.

even if, I mean

In Anatomy his character consciously plays up the aw-shucks persona for devious ends; it's a canny performance.

Anatomy is worth it for Stewart saying "panties" alone.

Rear Window is one of his best roles - the limited set requires a very small, controlled performance, and it's a pleasure to see him reduce down but still give the level of stagey thought that many of his larger characters exhibit - and absolutely one of the best films he or Hitchcock did.

well said!

(I love the Capras and Harvey, but if you consider yourself Stewart-allergic already, they're not likely to change you.)

I'm actually looking to push myself because 1) I know my Stewart aversion is irrational, and 2) I need a detox from my Pre-Code fixation. Right now I'm figuring on watching Anatomy and the Mann westerns (possibly the other westerns as well). The Hitchcocks I'll save for when I next need a detox.

(I venerate Capra's early work with Stanwyck. I've heard of certain rather dark readings of Wonderful Life, but that's probably not what I should be cultivating right now. As for Harvey, sentimentality about alcoholism is the last thing I want.)

Watched a double bill of the Mann westerns the other night, Winchester '73 for the first time. JS is driven for dark, bloody family reasons; the b&w helps the noir sensibility; good, diverse support includes Shelley Winters, John McIntire, Dan Duryea at his slimiest, Will Geer as Wyatt Earp, v young Tony Curtis with about 6 lines as a cavalryman.

Might've seen Bend of the River before, not sure. JS has a dark past again, but is trying to run from it, and is paired with Arthur Kennedy as a sidekick/potential nemesis. (Guess.) Most striking for its portrayal of Western settlers as ready to turn on each other at the drop of a coin.

Rock Hudson appears in both -- a Sioux warrior in the first and a "San Francisco gambler" in the second.

So, The Mortal Storm (Borzage, 1940). I had to fight not to see it through my preconceptions of Stewart as the national Gary Stu, and I don't think I succeeded.

Fortunately, tomorrow TCM screens Rope and Anatomy of a Murder; I hope that these will be more to my taste. Also, I found 1940s filmmaking extraordinarily alien--I found the opening and closing voiceovers and the musical cues obvious AF. I normally associate such devices with someone trying to salvage a bad movie (which I don't think applies here).

Wow at Morbius just having seen Winchester ‘73

Harvey is borderline unbearable. Who's with me?