Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

The comedy part isn't hard to see, when you look back at movies like Max Dugan Returns and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but I never saw the musicals part coming.

I remember when I saw him in The Music Man, (on PBS), I thought he was good, but I didn't think that he had the "wow" factor. Maybe it was just because Robert Preston was just so hard to live up to, but I just expected a bit more from him than what I got.

Yeah, I think a lot of his career revolved around comedy. Just not singing and dancing at the same time as the comedy.

As a birthday present (when it was on Broadway), my brother bought me the revival cast CD of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". So, I'd been "exposed" to Matthew Broderick the singer. And he was fine. I didn't see any live performance, of course, except for the Tony Awards. And he did fit his role in "How to Succeed". He seemed like a good choice for that. And he seemed like a good choice in "The Producers". But look at those two characters and then look at Harold Hill. I just don't see why the producers of "The Music Man" would think he would be a good fit in that role. Now, I don't know either if having experienced Robert Preston affected my opinion or not. But I do remember thinking to myself at least once "He's no Robert Preston". They really should have thought about it before they filmed that. And, really, for me, it isn't anything against Matthew Broderick (I actually really like him). I think to cast an actor good enough to play Harold Hill would be hard no matter what. Who is ever going to be as good as Robert Preston in that role?

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

I liked Matthew Broderick in The Producers, but I agree that he was miscast in The Music Man.

I'm not sure if anyone would be able to fill Robert Preston's shoes in that role, but the only person who I'd like to see try is Hugh Jackman. He's been fantastic in everything I've seen him in. I have a CD of the Broadway soundtrack starring Craig Bierko, and he sounds good on the soundtrack, but I haven't seen him act much, so I don't know how good he was in the actual show.

You know what? Hugh Jackman crossed my mind quite a long time ago for "The Music Man". When they were talking (it may have been last year - even very early this year) about NBC doing another one of those remakes, they were saying it would be "The Music Man". I immediately thought of Hugh Jackman. And then they were voting on various people, and he was one of them. But I don't know if he would necessarily star in a TV version of it. Who knows, though? He might.

I remember the performance on the Tonys with Craig Bierko in "The Music Man". I remember that he sounded OK, but his movements were too much like Robert Preston. Yes, I know he is doing what the director told him to do, but I kind of thought that they should've approached it a little differently. I kind of think that they should change things a little more than they did. Keep the basics there but don't have actors do things that are so similar to what is known to the audience. That is how I feel, anyway.

Have you seen this video of Hugh Jackman singing "The Music Man"?

Cat Ballou (1965)

Director: Elliot Silverstein
Writer: Walter Newman
Cast: Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan
Genre: Comedy Western

This is a fun movie! It's not a serious western, it's part comedy with a bit of musical thrown in. Made in the mid 1960s, Cat Ballou is sometimes zany but always a well made movie. Shot outdoors on location in Colorado, it looks great and so does Jane Fonda!

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I watched Cat Ballou years ago after an old timer in a bar recommended it. I don't remember it as much as I would like, but I do remember that I enjoyed it.

You know I was going to do a whole Jane Fonda appreciation thing, but then figured today of all days might not be the best for that I do like her and I know many older Americans hate her. She did make a big mistake once but I figure if I can like Woody Allen movies with his confusing personal life I guess I can like Fonda too.

This isn't her best role, and I read she was upset that the film was a comedy. I guess she didn't realize that when she read the script. Still she was a trooper and did a bang up job.

I'll say this - I don't like her politics, but putting that aside, she was hotter than Hell.

I wouldn't sit on top of a Viet Cong tank with her, but at the same time, I probably wouldn't kick her out of bed either!

I've got a surprise for you.

I've seen this twice, I think, both when I was really young, but I hated it both times. I don't know that I'd hate it if I watched it now, but I am sure that I would.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Why did/would you hate the movie, HK? Does it have anything to do with Jane's politics?

In the U.S. a LOT of people despise her and her movies because of the photo that was took of her in North Vietnam. I'm not sure how people in UK feel about her, but she doesn't get much love here.

A surprise Cricket? I hope it's this and not this.......

For Captain, this is the hottest pic of Jane Fonda from Cat Ballou I could find.


This photo is hardly flattering at all. In fact now that I actually googled it, I wish I hadn't, it's rather disgusting. Jane in Hanoi looking down the sites of an anti aircraft gun. Dumb Jane dumb.

You'll see

China Syndrome?

Not seen many of the films you review, but you made me interested in watching Brighton Beach Memoirs actually.

I don't think people in the UK think about her politics really. We probably remember her for this more

MM it's a smart movie. I don't think you would object to it. Let me know if you watch it.

Christine that's what I kind of thought. I remember that too and when she married Ted Turner. In the US she's really hated it by a lot of older people. I'm sure who stunt in Nam hurt her movie carrier. I don't care for her past behavior but I do like her as an actresses. I plan on watching more of her films, I've never seen Klute.

Cat Ballou is a 60's comedy western. Which part of that description makes you think I'd like it? I seem to remember singing, too. All too, too awful.

No, nothing to do with her politics at all. For me it was much as Christine said and, by the time I was of an age to know who she was, her movie career wasn't really a thing. Certainly not when compared to her fitness stuff. As I remember it, I knew she 'used' to be a movie star and now did these videos. Men liked her, but that seemed to be because she was in Barbarella and Klute. That's about all I knew about her.

I've never cared/bothered about what actors/actresses think in relation as to whether I like them or not. I don't care about/for her, though and, with the exception of The China Syndrome and On Golden Pond, I can't think of a film she's in that I'd care to see and haven't. For the most part, she just doesn't choose films I'm bothered about seeing.

Lee Marvin is in it too and, while I don't dislike him, he's never someone I'm pleased to see onscreen. Again, that's probably as much to do with his work choices as anything else.

Thanks for explaining

You don't like Lee Marvin and comic-musical 60s westerns...so I guess watching Paint Your Wagon is out of the question