While Musing On 50, Let's Not Forget 25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about things making one feel old!!!! After posting my list of film classics reaching the half century mark this year, I recalled two Very Important Films--especially at the time--that reach 25 in 2012. And I saw both when they first came out, and remember them vividly!!!!!

I am talking, darlings, about "Moonstruck" and "Fatal Attraction"!!!!!!

Two romantic contrasts in the same year!!!! I cannot believe 25 years has passed since 1987; it seems like Yesterday.

Back then, I was living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, in a fairly Italian neighborhood, so the first time (I saw both films many times!!!) I saw "Moonstruck" at the still standing Alpine Theatre, I not only dragged my friends Doug and Harold to it the following week, I bought the "La Boheme" poster featured in the film, had it on the foyer wall of my Brooklyn apartment, for years. How I wished I had it still, but I have Monsieur now, instead, and THAT is infinitely better!!!!!

"Moonstruck" enchanted, with its visual details. The poster of glam Cher, against the moon, the city in the background; the romantic ambiance of the Grand Ticino Restaurant in the film; the cooking of Italian eggs by Olympia Dukakais, mealtimes at the Castorinis, not to mention the cast--Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Julie Bovasso, Anita Gillette, Feodor Chalipan, Louis Guss as Uncle Raymond...even the Old Woman Who Curses Her Sister On The Plane!!!! Honey, I have seen it all, and this film caught it superbly!!!! It made New York the City Of Romance I had always longed for, and, in those early months of the film's release, felt I was in. The film still holds up beautifully, even though so many of its talented cast have gone to their Reward!!!!!!!

So, sometime this year, girls, indulge in a viewing of "Moonstruck!" Capped off a by a plateful of Spaghetti and Meatballs, and a glass of Montepulciano!!!!!!!

Now, for "Fatal Attraction!"

Oh, boy--when this one first came out, it did not catch on right away, because astute critics compared it to Clint Eastwood's earlier, similarly plotted 1970 thriller, "Play Misty For Me," featuring Jessica Walter's memorable turn as Date from Hell Evelyn Draper!!!!!! But that film was all flash (ie; violence) and no substance, and once the feminists started weighing in on the sociological (and AIDS oriented) underpinnings at the heart of "Fatal Attraction" (not to mention earlier comparisons to things like "Looking For Mr. Goodbar"), the film was taken seriously--and still is--in a way such genre film are not, even with the campinesss of the Bunny Boiling, and Glenn's Close's now classic retort, "I'm not going to be IGNORED!"

I can still recall the first time I saw this, back in 1987, at the now gone Paramount Theatre, just down the street from Lincoln Center, where I work!!!!! I remember that, up to a point, I actually had some sympathy for Alex--that moment of her flicking the light switch on and off, with the "Madame Butterfly" tickets at the side, is to me still the most painful depiction of loneliness and psychosis caught on film--which ended, I think, not so much with what she did to the car, which was borderline, but when she went in and boiled that poor child's (who was innocent of everything!!!!) pet!!!!! Screw you, bitch!!!!! And I can still recall at the very end, during that climactic scene in the bathroom, being SO scared, NOT because of the film, but the AUDIENCE, who were reduced to a bloodlust mob, some standing in their seats, all crying in unison, "Kill The Bitch!" Girls, I was truly frightened for my safety!!!!!

Ironic too, that not only will this be the film Glenn Close is remembered for, but to think that it was while playing a certified psycho, that she truly looked her best!!!!!!!

What a memory to have 25 years later, which says something for the power of the film. And it is STILL watchable, though with all the plot holes--from why lust after Glenn Close, when Ann Archer at the time was more luscious looking? or how, no matter how you end it, Michael Douglas' character, Dan Gallagher, gets off Scott free, which bothers me still--when you look at it closely, it falls apart, like a House of Cards!!!!! But 25 years later, it remains a stylish House Of Cards, nevertheless!!!!!!

Let's see...how to commemorate this film???? No le lapin, for me, loves!!!! Stick to the Spaghetti and Meat Sauce, which Alex cooks for Dan, pop in the film, and listen to "Mamdame Butterfly"!!!!! And I mean Puccini, not "Miss Saigon!"

To think, it is now 25 years since "Fatal Attraction." And still the film will not be ignored!!!!

Now, if only I could wear that little, white teddy Alex wears!!!!!!!!!!