1955: Guys and Dolls and Rebels

Tonight I am flying solo, as my adorable wife is on the West Coast right now, enjoying zoo animals of all varieties. Thus it is I alone who is your tour guide into the deep dark unknown, known only as 1955. Without further adieu (and proceed with caution), here is the rundown...

As stated earlier, the winner this year was Marty, although Herb Stemple (played by John Turturro in Quiz Show) would try to tell you otherwise. I was trying to find the movie clip, but I'll do you one better with the actual footage of the famous scandal. Anyway, we loved Marty (Kim especially), so it was going to be hard to beat.

The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, Guys and Dolls. It starred Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra (both did a great job in this movie - and Brando can sing!). It was basically about these guys who just wanted to shoot craps all the time and make bets, so Brando bet Sinatra he could take this straight edge bible chick to Havana with him, and thus crazy events and a lot of singing and dancing ensue. It's a rock solid musical filled with laughs, classic tunes, and a warm-filled ending. It's like they say with books - a very easy read - this was a very easy watch.

And then there was my pick, Rebel Without a Cause. To give you a background, the actors who played the 3 main roles (James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo) all died tragically at ages way too young. In fact, James Dean was killed in a car crash one month before this film was released. That is especially eerie, considering the famous scene from this film is a wholesome, family friendly game of chicken off a cliff between Dean's character Jim Stark and some goon named Buzz. This movie was basically about this loner guy, played by Dean, who is really cool and tough but for some reason doesn't fit in with all the other cool and tough guys in school. He falls for Natalie Wood, who is basically the groupie of the tough and cool guys, and thus crazy events but no singing or dancing ensue. We both felt it was a good film, but it got a little cheezy and silly at times, and may be a bit overrated due to the tragedy that followed the stars of this film.

To tie things up short and sweet, neither Guys and Dolls or Rebel Without a Cause could quite live up to the Best Picture this year. Marty wins. Marty wins.

We've selected our next year, and it's a good one! Stay tuned.