Movie Musings: Disney and More

AFI’s Top 100 Movie Facts Part 3

As we continue this week with films ranked 26 through 50 we get closer and closer to my 100th blog at “Movie Musings.” I hope you have enjoyed reading each of my blogs and will continue to do! by the time I reach 200 blogs, 300, and so on and so forth. Please continue to share with me your favorite trivia—I would love to hear anything you might add.

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) — Christopher Lee, who portrayed Saruman in both “The Lord of the Rings,” (2001-2003) and “Hobbit,” (2012-2014) trilogies is the only cast member of both trilogies to have met “Lord of the Rings,” and “Hobbit,” author, J.R.R. Tolkien.

49. Intolerance (1916) — In August 2013 a newly restored version of this film was shown at the Film Forum in New York City. The Babylonian orgy sequence in the film cost $200,000 dollars to shoot, which was almost twice the budget of the film that “Intolerance,” director D.W. Griffith made prior to this film, The Birth of a Nation (1915). 

48. Rear Window (1954) — Grace Kelly ordinarily refused to smoke cigarettes in movies, but made an exception for this one. All throughout her career, she often had affairs with her leading men. Her relationship with Jimmy Stewart was nothing more than a good friendship, despite her having acknowledged that he was one of the most attractive men he ever met. 

47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) — This film featured nine members of the original Broadway production reprising their roles from the film, which to this day is considered highly unusual for a film adaptation of a Broadway show including: Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski, Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski and Karl Malden as “Harold “Mitch” Mitchell. Despite the fact that Jessica Tandy had originated the role of Blanche Dubois and won a Tony for it, she was passed over for the film for Vivien Leigh who won an Oscar for it. (Malden and Hunter also won Oscars for their performances as well. Brando was also nominated, but lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951)).

46. It Happened One Night (1934) — Despite the fact that they both won Oscars for their performances in this film, neither Clark Gable nor Claudette Colbert wanted to make this film at all. On the first day of shooting Gable said negatively, “Let’s get this over with.” And when filming was over Colbert said “I’ve just finished making the worst picture I’ve ever made.”

45. Shane (1953) — This was the very first movie that Billy Crystal saw in theaters as a child. He watched it while sitting on the lap of Billie Holiday because Holiday had recorded a number of records produced under the label of a record store that was owned by Crystal’s father. The film remained so dear to Crystal, that many years later Crystal hired “Shane,” actor Jack Palance to portray Curly the trail boss in City Slickers (1991). (Ironically, Palance was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in “Shane,” and was told by one of the producers that he would win, but he won for “City Slickers,” instead.)

44. The Philadelphia Story (1940) — James Stewart thought that he had been miscast in the role of Macaulay “Mike” Connor and felt that he didn’t deserve the Best Actor Oscar for the performance. He felt the Oscar should have gone to his life-long friend Henry Fonda for his performance in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and thought the Academy had simply given him the Oscar because he had lost the award the previous year for his performance in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which is ranked #26 on AFI’s Top 100.

43. Midnight Cowboy (1969) — Teenage girl fans of The Graduate (1967) would scream whenever they saw Dustin Hoffman filming this movie in New York, despite the fact that his costume as Ratso “Rizzo” was very filthy.

42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) — This was Gene Wilder’s very first film.

41. King Kong (1933) —  “King Kong,” grossed $90,000 in its opening weekend. The success helped its production company R.K.O. Radio pictures from going bankrupt.

40. The Sound of Music (1965) — Christopher Plummer played the role of Captain Georg Von Trapp in this movie but never cared for the movie—despite the fact that it is his best known performance. He often mockingly refers to it as “The Sound of Mucus,” “S&M,” and “that movie.”

39. Dr. Stangelove (1964) —  Peter Sellers improvised most of his dialogue in this movie.

38. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948) — Paul Thomas Anderson was inspired to write, co-produce, and direct the film There Will Be Blood (2007) by this 1948 hit.

37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) — William Wyler loathed the musical score that Hugo Friedhofer wrote for this movie, despite the fact that it won the Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) — The bridge in this film cost $250,000 to build. It was made before anyone was cast in the film.

35. Annie Hall (1977) — Ironically, Diane Keaton’s real name is Diane Hall and her nickname is Annie. “Annie Hall,” writer/director Woody Allen knew that about her before he cast in the role and based the script loosely on his relationship with Keaton. 

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) — Two actors who lent their voices to this film, Adrianna Caselotti (Snow White) and Moroni Olsen (Magic Mirror) also had bit parts in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) which is ranked #20 on AFI’s Top 100. Caselotti played a Singer at Martini’s Bar and Olsen voiced the Senior Angel.

33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) — Before this film was released, it was a Broadway play which opened on November 13th, 1963, at the Cort Theatre and closed on January 25th, 1964, after 82 performances. The play starred Kirk Douglas as R.P. McMurphy. Kirk Douglas; for a while, he owned the film rights, before passing them to his son Michael, who won the Best Picture Oscar for co-producing the film with Saul Zaentz.

32. The Godfather Part 2 (1974) — Al Pacino was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and then was nominated again, but in the category of Best Actor for his reprisal of Michael in this film. It made him the third actor to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same character.

31. The Maltese Falcon (1941) — Humphrey Bogart supplied his own costumes in this movie which was common at Warner Bros. Studios at the time, as a way for the studio to save money during World War 2.

30. Apocalypse Now (1979) — Marlon Brando improvised many of Kurtz’s lines, including “You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.”

29. Double Indemnity (1944) — This movie, which was a star vehicle for Barbara Stanwyck, was based on a novel of the same name by James M. Cain, who had based his novel on a woman named Ruth Snyder, the subject of a 1920s murder trial, which is very similar to Barbara Stanwyck’s character of Phyllis Dietrichson.

28. All About Eve (1950) — Bette Davis and Gary Merrill, who play love interests in this film, married in real life on July 28th, 1950, a little less than three months before the film premiered in New York City on October 13th, 1950. Not long after they married, they adopted a baby girl which they named Margot, after Davis’s character in the movie.

27. High Noon (1952) — A hit for the studio, “High Noon,” was considered a huge comeback film for Gary Cooper. His movie star reputation had been in decline prior to this film, given a bigger reputation as a Hollywood adulterer rather than as a bankable Hollywood actor. He received the Best Actor Oscar for it.

26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) — Director Frank Capra received a great deal of letters all throughout his life by people who were inspired to go into politics because of this film.