795 thoughts on “Site Index”

1. STEVE “Sexy Rexy” as he used to be nicknamed never really became a top box office star and most people would possibly be hard put to rattle off a string of Harrison movies. Most likely his major claim to fame rests on his performances of Professor Higgins on both stage and screen. Maureen O’Hara claimed he was the rudest actor she ever worked with [in Foxes of Harrow].

   2 Rex’s 1951 The Long Dark Hall was one of the earliest films I can remember seeing so I was hoping you had selected it and indeed its POSTER is among the finest of your picks. Other top notch posters are those for King Richard & Crusaders, Foxes of Harrow, Major Barbara, My Fair Lady and Ashanti – I never knew Rexy had worked with Sir Maurice. But pride of place must go to the first of the set for Midnight Lace. When I saw your posters for that one I thought that my memory of Loy being in it was faulty but on a 2nd viewing of the video I noticed that she was billed in small letters and so far below Doris Day that Myrna’s name could hardly be spotted – ah well ! what’s new?

   3 Excellent stills were those from Cleo, Blythe Spirit, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and of course Rexy with Chuck in Agony & Ecstasy – “When will you make an end to it Michelangelo?” [ie the painting of the Sistine Chapel].

   4 We don’t have a Cogerson page for Rexy but it’s not for fun Bruce is called The Work Horse and he covers elsewhere on this site many of the films in your selection and for 3 of your Top 5, Unfaithfully Yours, Ghost & Mrs. Muir and My Fair Lady, his average rating is 83% compared with yours of 82.8% for the same 3. That’s an amazing virtual tie but I see he gives Cleo just 47.33% contrasting with your high 72% for that movie. I didn’t like the film but agree with you about its artistic merits. However I’ve been thinking that where WH is way out of sync with both of us we should perhaps be kind and put that down to the undue influence of that eccentric guru of his whom he has been recently lauding on this site.

   5 When he made the flop Staircase in 1969 with Burton neither would concede top billing so a compromise was arranged on the screen whereby their two names sped after each other numerous times on the steps all the way up an escalator that moved so fast that you could not tell which name had been the very first on the escalator. Anyway over all the pictorials in this video were among your best so a 95% rating in my book

   Reply

   1. “Sexy Rexy” eh I like that. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, comment, info, trivia, observation, comparison, appraisal and evaluation, always appreciated.

      Glad you liked the posters and stills.

      Not a big fan of My Fair Lady but I did like Rex in it. I also liked his Caesar in Cleopatra and Pope Julius in The Agony and the Ecstasy (“all agony no ecstasy” wrote one critic).

      I haven’t seen Doctor Dolittle in ages, it was a costly flop and the critics hated it. Yet it was still Oscar nominated for Best Picture, how did that happen?

      Two of Rexy Sexy’s films scored 10 out of 10 on my scoresheet – My Fair Lady and Unfiathfully Yours, 4 others reached 9.

      Rex on Chuck – “Heston is an enormously tall man – if I’m six foot one, he must be about six foot three – and I asked my wardrobe man, as I was wearing long robes, to put a little lift in my shoes, so that I could gain a couple of inches, and meet Heston at his own level. The lifts were duly put in, and I eyed Heston and congratulated myself that at least he no longer towered above me. As the film went on, however, it seemed to me that he was growing. Eyeball to eyeball he was once more a couple of inches taller than I. I looked down at his feet – not a sign of lifts! He must have grown through sheer tenacity. Nether of us made any comment, nor did our wardrobe men – it was a very funny, silent contest.

      The next 9 actors on my video list are definitely on Bruce’s index page and two of them are still alive. Four of the 9 appeared in a popular war movie together. (oh what a give-away!) 🙂

      Reply

      1. HI STEVE

         Good trivia about Chuck and Sexy. Harrison actually got the best reviews for Cleo among the 3 stars.

         Reply

2. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating and info, always appreciated.

   Glad you like the posters and stills.

   We’re back to the golden oldies after a hiatus following Roger Moore’s death last month. Ann Sheridan would be a good subject for Bruce’s movie emporium.

   Where is el capitan is he still MIA?

   Sheridan was the ‘oomph girl’ but I’ve read she didn’t like that nickname. Clara Bow was the ‘It Girl’, Dorothy Lamour ‘The Sarong Girl’, Lana Turner ‘The Sweater Girl’ and Jean Harlow ‘The Blonde Bombshell’.

   Only one Ann Sheridan movie recieved 10 out of 10 from my sources and that was the Jimmy Cagney classic Angels With Dirty Faces.

   Reply

   1. STEVE

      1 Where is el capitan you ask. I understand he’s an admirer of method acting so it’s possible he’s working on an Invisible Man page!

      2 Yes and Anne Baxter was the Oscar Girl and Myrna Loy was the Stand In Girl.

      Reply

3. 1 STEVE Ann Sheridan who started in movies in the 1930s probably had her heyday in the 40s when she shared star billing with many of the male Greats of the Classic Era – Grant, Cooper, Bogie, Raft, Flynn and Cagney as well as with Bette Davis. Certainly when I began watching films in the early 1950s Ann’s movies seemed to be mostly small scale affairs though I enjoyed a few of them – Steel Town, Just Around the Corner and especially the 1956 Come Next Spring. Sadly Ann’s career vanished after 1956

   2 The excellence of the posters and stills in your video was consistent throughout and deserving of a 95.5% rating in my opinion. I loved the POSTERS for Appointment in Honduras, Naughty but Nice,Good Sam, Stella, and especially the unnerving one for Black Legion, and the saucy one for Take Me to Town, one of Ann’s 1950s routine movies that I was talking about and which I also watched s a youngster.

   3 Superb STILLS were those from They Drive by Night with Bogie/Raft, with Flynn and gun in Edge of Darkness, with Cagney in Angels with Dirty Faces and the ones of Ann and cat and her horizontal in slinky pose But I thought that topping even those were the sultry Ann in Navy Blues and Ann with Mr President In King’s Row, a collector’s item for fans of both .movies and politics.

   4 I am surprised that there is no WH Sheridan page as Ann made most of her great films with Warner Bros for whom Bruce has the ledgers of those times. However he has listed on the pages of Ann’;s co-stars all of the movies in your Top 5 and his average for the 5 is approx 79% within a whisker of your own 80%. A good entertaining video overall.

   Reply

4. Cogerson

   I better post on the 1970’s as you don’t waste time getting your decade charts up.

   I pick Robert Redford to be the box-office star of the 1970’s. Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds will be in the hunt, but I don’t think they had the monster hits needed in this decade. Marlon Brando made only a handful of movies, but had a few big hits, so should do very well in the averages. Hollywood had changed by the 1970’s and it was becoming blockbuster or bust. I think actors who got into blockbusters will be near the top of the list–Richard Dreyfus, Robert Shaw, and Roy Scheider. Charles Bronson was a top international star, but I don’t think on the whole did that well in the American market. Harrison Ford will be impressive because of Star Wars, although he really came into his own in the 1980’s.

   For the actresses, Barbra Streisand should win. Madeline Kahn was in quite a number of Mel Brooks’ hits. Diane Keaton should be in the hunt. Not many actresses had a good box-office decade on the whole. Faye Dunaway did decently at the box office and had quality films.
   As for the Teresa Wright award for an actress with a top critical rating, I go with Liv Ullmann.

   For the men on critical ranking, I expect Jack Nicholson and Gene Hackman to do well, as will Brando. George C. Scott gets my Joseph Cotten award.
   As for the decade defining performers, a slightly different issue, I go with Eastwood and Bronson as well as Brando and Scott among the men and Faye Dunaway and Lisa Minnelli among the women. And Al Pacino if only for Michael Corleone.

   This is a tough decade to predict on compared to the fifties or sixties.

   Reply

   1. Cogerson

      I forget to mention that I go with Redford as the overall star of the decade.

      For the actresses, Faye Dunaway.

      Reply

   2. HI JOHN

      1 For old time’s sake I tried hard to think up some half a** reason for disagreeing with your take of the 1970s but gave up in the end because whilst I might have slightly different predictions around the edges of the names you mention I believe you have hit the nail on the head regarding what I personally consider are two of the more important considerations –

      (1) BLOCKBUSTER ERA To paraphrase one of your own sayings, the blockbuster itself was almost the star of the 1970s

      (2) However they still required actors and in that respect what is more important than my agreeing with you is that Paul Newman did. In an interview during the decade he said “Redford is now THE superstar,”

      2 However whilst you and I might be free to speculate a magician never lets you see his tricks until he’s ready to perform them so we’ll just have to wait and see precisely what the Work Horse comes up with when he does release his 1970’s page.

      Reply

5. Cogerson

   Well, I thought I did pretty good on the 1950’s before a mediocre performance on the 1930’s (in my judgment)
   so the 1960’s
   I pick Julie Andrews to win as the star of the decade among the actresses. Natalie Wood I think will be in the hunt. Doris Day will be just slightly behind those two. Audrey Hepburn will be impressive in averages, perhaps at the top in average critic rating, but I don’t think she made enough big hit films to match Andrews. Faye Dunaway will be similar as she came late in the decade. Elizabeth Taylor had too many flops late in this decade to rate near the top, I think. It will be interesting to see how she does. Sophia Loren was more an international star and will not be among the leaders at the American box-office. Anne Bancroft wins the Teresa Wright surprise quality award.
   Among the men, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Sean Connery stand out among the young stars. Tough pick, but I figure McQueen will edge out the other two. Richard Burton is going to be right near the top. He will do better than Liz as he not only has the Liz and Dick movies, but quite a few quality films on his own. But all the late decade Liz and Dick flops will probably keep him from the top spot. Clint Eastwood was a comer, but I don’t think did enough in this decade to rate high. He came into his own in the 1970’s. I will go out on a limb though and pick John Wayne to end up the male star of the decade with a solid, steady performance throughout the whole decade. Cogerson will undoubtedly saw my limb off but the Duke’s my pick. The Joseph Cotton under the radar male star? George Peppard.
   As for the star of the decade, a tough pick, but I think Julie Andrews will edge Wayne mainly because of the impact of the Oscars.

   Reply

   1. Cogerson

      Gee, after all this I misspelled Joseph Cotten’s name. Sorry.

      Reply

      1. Hey John…your claim of being a big Joseph Cotten fan are being seriously questioned when time after time you do not know how to spell his name correctly….lol. 🙂 Just picking with you.

         Reply

   2. Good guesses….actually…..pretty much knowing the results already….I think you have the right answer for top actor and actress of the decade….at least in the way I look at the numbers. I still think your 1930s guesses were pretty good.

      Of all the names you mentioned…..I will have to do some quick research on Anne Bancroft and George Peppard….as neither is in my database yet….though they have plenty of movies in the database already.

      Currently when looking at the Top 20 box office leaders….you have most of the names…listed….though one major star…..looks like he will top our UMR list….as well as being in the Top 10 in box office….yet he does not even get even a brief mention.

      Should be interesting….I will be sure to pull this comment over when I am done.

      Reply

      1. Cogerson
         Concerning Joseph Cotten—I certainly have it coming.

         Yeah, I forgot Jack Lemmon. But it would be unfair to try to inject him now after you gave me such a strong hint. I also didn’t mention Dustin Hoffman or Warren Beatty, but neither I think made enough movies. A relatively few movies that are successful puts one at the top of the averages, but so be it.

         Reply

         1. Since adding some new performers Mr. Lemmon has fallen out of the Top 10 when looking at box office grosses.

            But yes you guess us corrrect it was Mr. Lemmon I was hinting at. Might have the page done by bedtime tonight…though Sherlock Holmes’ investigators could find the table now.

            Reply

   3. John,
      Seems we’ve been thinking the same way (this time) as I had encouraged Cogerson to go from 50s to the 60s, but I understand there was a higher interest on this site for the 30s. You may be right about Julie Andrews, but her performance in the rankings may depend on whether Cogerson sets a limit of more than 7 films as that seems to be all she did in the decade 🙂
      I think Newman, Lemmon and McQueen are the definite male stars of the 60s. McQueen is my favorite but he really hit his peak at the end of the decade with Bullitt and in the early 70s. Connery was great of course, but he couldn’t seem to get a hit outside of his James Bonds in the 60s (though The Hill is an excellent film). Sidney Poitier was another force of the 60s, though he really became a top star in 1967. Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Rock Hudson also had a lot of success, but mostly early in the decade. Burt Lancaster should perform well on the critical scale as he did some outstanding movies in the first half of the 60s. Charlton Heston is another big star of the 60s (bigger than in the 1950s in my view), while Dean Martin and James Garner enjoyed a lot of popularity. Peppard had some big hits, and notably held the longest role in How the West Was Won – too bad he fizzled out at the end of the decade. So along with the other ones you mentioned, there’s quite a competition, and we left out some important ones!

      Reply

      1. Hey Phil
         1. I am actually done with the main table…which means our look at the 1960s is almost ready.
         2. I think for the 1960s I am going to lower the minimum to 7 movies…not only because of Andrews but because the movies made really dipped in that decade.
         3. Roddy McDowall will be the name people will question my sanity when they see the box office leaders….with Omar Shariff being a close second….but both had very good 1960s decades.
         4. I will have about 133 thespians and 1 fictional character listed on the page….did a cut off of earning at least a quarter of billion to make the table.
         5. Chuck Heston ended up 34th for the decade after being 1st for previous decade.
         6. Newman and Lemmon did very well….McQueen was not as stout as I thought he would be…but he still did pretty well.
         Thanks for you forecasts…I am having fun doing these pages. After years of collecting these stats I am finally getting a chance to play with them….lol.

         Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.