We have become partially organized and we agreed we will attempt to have Family Movie Night the last Tuesday of every month.
The First Official Family Writer Wars Movie Night will be:
What does that mean? It means we will be watching the Main Pick on the evening of Tuesday, August 20th. After we watch the main pick, we will post our movie summaries/reviews and comments under this post. So, the
. You have been warned. Don't read 'em if you haven't seen the movie and you don't want it spoiled. You can join us by watching the movie that night, or watch it any time from this point through September and add your own review to the comments section at any time!
Due to the high number of films in our list (it will take years to see them even at two movies per month - and there are a lot of those of the horror variety, which some people do not like due to their scary nature), we have decided we're going to offer an alternate movie pick each month. You can watch one, or both, and add comments for the movies you viewed! We'll be watching the Main Pick on the official Movie Night date, we'll watch the alt pick sometime before that point.
Now, the moment you have all been waiting for...
We added the movies to a spreadsheet, we printed them, we cut them up, we put them into a hat, we took them out of the hat (which was too small to hold them), we mixed them up on the table, we put them back into the hat and finally we drew the very first movie night selections. It was exciting. There was no drum roll (very disappointing - insert your own drum roll for added excitement)....
A comedy drama from 1967 starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn!
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Movie Summary-ish
!!!!!! WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS !!!!!!!
The movie starts with a plane, a United plane to be exact. It is flying, flying low, in the sky. The credits are rolling and we learn that Helen Hunt was apparently working on hair styles for this movie (bet you didn't know that about her)! Soon, the plane lands smoothly and without incident at an airport.
We are treated to airport scenes. Folks walking, kids on escalators, 1960's luggage falling off conveyor belts (presumably onto other conveyor belts). Everything is very airport-y. Some folks have on leis, so you can guess the plane has just come in from Hawaii. But we are not in Hawaii, no exotic vacation for us, no! We are in San Francisco, with the subjects of our story, two arriving passengers: Dr. John Wade Prentice (Sidney Poitier) and Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton).
They collect their belongings and hop into a cab. The cab, number 1850, is driven by a race car driver. He is very quick. First he takes them to Joey's parent's art studio. They stop by to find her mother, who is out, but they do take in a "Kinetic Sculpture" that is a favorite of one Hillary, an employee who works at the studio. The cab driver then races the two of them to Joey's home. They take a very sharp turn, into a very small driveway, at a frighteningly fast pace, in a very large cab. John Prentice shows that, despite what must have been a terrifying cab ride, he is a very generous person and tips nearly 20%. The cab driver does not look impressed. Clearly his sporty driving usually nets larger tips.
Joey comes from a very wealthy family, her house is full of fancy stuff. Fancy furniture, art, etc. From the conversation in the cab we learned that John and Joey are in a relationship and are here to shock the pants off of her parents. Nothing is more fun than shocking parents, so the movie is off to a good start. While they prepare to start the Parental Improvement Project, John takes a quick trip to the study to call his folks in LA, to tell them he is okay, and has met a girl. Now, to make this call, he TALKS TO AN OPERATOR!! Awesome. Meanwhile Joey is talking to Tillie (Isabel Sanford, Joe Reilly recognized her from the Jeffersons, good job Joe!), who is clearly against the relationship and who is kind of frightening. You get the impression that if you cross her, she might kill you. Tillie goes off, at Joey's request to make sandwiches for them to take on the patio. Next, Joey's mom, Christina Drayton(Katharine Hepburn) arrives home. She is happily telling her mother how she fell in love in 20 minutes and with a wonder fellow and how they've only known each other for 10 days, but they are definitely in love and going to get married! At this point John walks in and her mom gets to do a double take - you get to watch as ideas and views get a chance to collide and then merge and be filtered and the emergency brain broadcasting system manages to stutter "P-Pleased to meet you!" Joey keeps them moving, and it's out to the patio for sandwiches.
Tillie, not one to hide her emotions, basically throws a plate at John and he takes a sandwich and proceeds to check it (for poison we assume) for about 10 minutes before deciding not to eat it (probably a wise choice). They discus if it's better to tell people slowly or quickly about the relationship - but they need everyone on board fast because John is leaving that night, so there's really only one day for parents to meet and approve of the relationship. Joey knows it will not be a problem. Now, Mr. Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy) comes home about this time and Tillie gives him a warning saying all hell's broken lose and when he asks what's happening, she says "you'll see." And he is sent to the patio. Where he meets John and Joey and his wife and is happily chatting and then mentions he has to to see the Monsignor for golf. The wife says that John will be staying, and he will be there for dinner. Matt is all happy, saying things like: Sure! Great! and trying to hurry off to golf. Until Christina says: there's "..lots to tell" in quite a serious meaningful way. Matt is not concerned and starts to head out, when... the light dawns and he turns around to come back..
No need to fear, Joey is there to help him along. She explains they fell in love in Hawaii and she has brought him home to meet them because tonight he is leaving for NY and Switzerland. She wants to go to Geneva, where they can get married. It's all fine and wonderful and her folks just need to "...tell us you have no objections what-so-ever!" See folks, easy as 1, 2, 3. Her dad decides he cannot play golf as he needs time to think. He goes to his study to call off golf and Christina comes to talk with him. She explains Joey and John are determined. They mean what they say and they know what they're doing.. he objects to the "know what they're doing" point, but does concede that they mean what they say. John comes into the study to tell them that, although he loves their daughter and wants to marry her, he does not want her to damage her relationship with her parents. So, he says he will call the whole thing off if they do not approve. He leaves the parents to think. At this point Matt decides to run a background check on John. On a side note, Mr. Drayton finds $2.50, left by John for the call he made to his parents in LA (because in 1967 long distance cost extra, which was totally uncool). This is just another example John being a thoughtful, upstanding, better than good kind of fella. Within minutes Mr. Drayton is called back, by his super fast detective, and he learns John is incredible. He has graduated from the top schools in the country, written text books, helped in Africa, etc. To round out the character some, we also find out he was previously married and had a son, but the wife and son died in a car accident. What a fast and thorough background check. I suspect it was done by a time traveler who had access to Google. Now it's time to summarize our standings: Tillie is definitely against the union, Mom has decided that since Joey is happy, she is okay with things, and Dad is not so sure.
At this point we get a break from the inside drama, the movie takes us back out to the driveway for a meat delivery (Tillie was asked to order steaks for dinner with John). The delivery is by the best delivery driver in the history of film. He is not just a delivery man, he is a dancing delivery man, and his van has surprisingly excellent speakers. He dances to up to the door, he dances while he waits, he dances while he delivers the meat, he dances while he talks, he dances while he picks up the second maid and agrees to take her into town, and they both dance back to the truck. He is committed to dancing and delivery. Tillie does not dance.
Back to the action inside, Joey decides to iron some shirts and brings her mom upstairs to chat. Now, Joey is going on about how she loves John and she is not properly ironing her shirt, so Mom warns her "You're going to burn the shirt." Mom decides to take over. Mom then starts to ask a question, she really doesn't want to ask, and Joey interrupts and tells her in a matter-of-fact manner that they are not having sex, because he refuses. Now Mom is not correctly ironing the shirt and Joey has to tell her "Mom, you're burning the shirt." Meanwhile, John talks with Mr. Drayton, who is complaining that it's not fair that he is being asked to make such a quick decision. And round and round it goes, until Joey comes back downstairs and John is sent to call his parents again. I forget why, I think he is supposed to tell them she is white, which he neglected to mention the first time. Well, while he is on the phone with them, Joey comes into the study and tells him to invite his folks up for dinner. When he does not promptly take the requested action, she simply takes the phone and invites them. Joey then informs her mother, who tells Joey to go inform Tillie (I guess she is willing to risk her daughter's life at this point, or maybe she figures Tillie won't hurt Joey, it's hard to say). Joey informs John she will be going with him to pick up his parents. He asks her not to, because he wants to explain to them that Joey is white before they meet her, but Joey will have none of it. She tells John to stop being dramatic! And that settles that.
At this point various visitors begin to arrive. The first is Monsignor Ryan, who I believe is named Matt. He stops by to see why golf was cancelled and to see if he can be of assistance. As he is coming in, the Monsignor meets Joey and John and is quite delighted to meet John, who he has read about. The Monsignor has a wonderful Irish accent and a great sense of humor. While they are meeting, Mrs. Drayton is explaining to Mr. Drayton that the Prentice family is coming to dinner (and Mrs. Drayton gets to use the line "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?", the best). Mr. Drayton is complaining that they are being "pressurized." As if complaining about it will help.. So, in comes Monsignor Ryan and he starts talking to them both and provides a very nice take on the whole situation, which Mrs. Drayton decides are beautiful thoughts. Since she is sure that she has found an ally, Mrs. Drayton leaves Matt with Mike on the patio, telling Mike to "..express beautiful thoughts to the lad there." and goes back into the main house.
Here she finds Joey and John are talking with Hillary (she was working at the art studio in the beginning of the film) who is being quite judgmental and is clearly there to gossip. Mrs. Drayton escorts her back out to her car, which is giant and is somehow pointing out of the driveway as if she managed to turn it around (as noticed by Abel Cordova). Hillary is trying to offer faux comfort to Mrs. Drayton, for her clearly terrible situation. Christina escorts her to the car, tells her to go back to the art studio, make out a check for five thousand dollars, take the check and all of her things and get out of the studio, because she is fired. She then walks back into the house, where Joey complains about Hillary and tells her mother she should fire her. Mrs. Drayton says tells Joey she is being terrible, and then tells John that Joey has a ruthless streak, which she gets from her father.
Meanwhile, back on the patio the Monsignor is now laughing at Mr. Drayton who is really quite grumpy. Probably because of this, Mrs. Drayton offers the Monsignor an invitation to dinner! Oh he is very excited and agrees to come. Joey updates Tillie on the latest dinner changes. Mr. and Mrs. Drayton head out for a drive, because Mr. Drayton is stressed and needs... Ice Cream! (Now, we all understand why this is a movie Gerald Reilly likes). The ice cream shop is hoppin'. Mr. Drayton takes forever to order the ice cream, because he is asking for the ice cream he "... had the last time I was here..". When he thinks the girl names the right flavor, Oregon Boysenberry Sherbet, he orders it! But, it is not right, it is different and he does not like it, so he honks his horn (oh yeah, this is a car side delivery ice cream shop!), but then, hmm, yes, it's kind of good. The girl comes back and he tells the girl the whole story and asks her to remember for next time! "Sure!" says the girl. After having such a nice Oregon Boysenberry Sherbet, you would think he would be all calmed down, but he must still be ruffled because he promptly runs into some guys car, crushing a whole side of it. He pays cash for the damages and heads back home after one very expensive ice cream.
At this point Joey and John are on the road to pick up his parents. They stop at a club that features a singer with very puffy hair, to meet some of Joey's friends. Her friend helps out nicely by convincing Joey she should leave with John tonight, why wait to join him, when she could go now! Joey thinks that's a great idea! And off we go to the airport. Now, John's parents arrive, and they too come in on United, and they are pretty stunned when they meet Joey. She is not phased, she simply talks away as she drives them all back to her parent's house.
Now, the Monsignor has arrived for dinner and Mrs. Drayton sends him up to talk with Matt, because Matt has decided he does not approve. So, up goes the Monsignor. The conversation goes very smoothly and the Monsignor only threatens to beat him up once! Meanwhile, downstairs the Prentice family arrives and we learn that United flies from LA to San Francisco, 400 miles, in 40 minutes!
The families meet and they separate out in different combinations to discuss the issue at hand. First Mrs. Prentice and Mrs. Drayton meet and they decide they will support their children. They make sure to tell their children - and they know their husbands will be much more stubborn. Sure enough, the husbands are meeting and concurring that they do not like this idea one bit! Tillie can't get anyone to dinner. Mr. Drayton tells Mr. Prentice he should tell John. Meanwhile the Monsignor is telling John not to back down and that his only mistake was giving Matt a choice. Mr. Prentice talks with his son in the library and they get into quite a heated argument, they make up a bit, but John does not back down. Mr. Drayton, meanwhile gets quite a lecture from Mrs. Prentice. The moms slowly convince the dads that if they go against Joey and John, they will only hurt Joey and John and potentially their own family relationship. Finally Mr. Drayton calls everyone together. He gives quite a speech, summarizing their frustrations and fears and conflicting emotions and attitudes, and finally tells them the "real crime" would be if they allow other peoples opinions to stop them from getting married. Then he demands his dinner. The movie ends with everyone sitting down together to eat.
The Alternate Pick this month was also selected randomly and it is:
That's the 1986 comedy Jumping Jack Flash starring Whoopi Goldberg. This film made this list because we used to own it on VHS after it was purchased used from the grocery store. If that doesn't recommend a movie, I don't know what does.
So, enjoy the picks and come back to add/read comments on August 20th!
---- UPDATE: August, 18, 2013
So, I was intending to post a Movie Summary-ish for each movie in the comments section to start off the discussion, but it turns out the comments section has a 4000 character limit. What the heck is that??! I cannot possibly summarize a 105 min movie in 4000 characters! Who do they think I am, Hemingway? So, I have decided to update the movie post directly. When we watch a movie, I will update the main post with the movie summary. I will also add a comment to start off the movie reviews! I suppose we'll adjust as we see how things work/don't work!
Jumping Jack Flash Movie Summary-ish
!!!!!! WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS !!!!!!!
The movie starts in NY City, in Terry's small, cold New York apartment. She's sleeping in flannel PJs, hat, gloves, scarf and penguin slippers. Her apartment if full of odd stuff, movie posters, strange small statues, some of them are wearing glasses. We watch her get ready for work, she selects a distinctive outfit featuring yellow high tops and a matching yellow scarf. By now, you the movie watcher should be thinking, "Oh! She is upbeat and zany." When she gets to work at the bank, we meet her unique collection of colleagues: Cynthia (Carol Kane), Doug (Jon Lovitz), Fred (Phil Hartman) and Jackie Valentine (Renn Woods). Terry, of course, has the most notable computer terminal, covered with stickers and figurines. Also, her terminal has a tendency to flake out and show some Russian exercise show. Luckily Terry can play with wires and smack is Fonzie Style to get it working again.
So, they are all working away transferring funds, and you see Terry IMing the with other international bank employees not just about transferring funds, but on other topics. Soon she gets yelled at by her boss, James Page (Peter Michael Goetz) who tells her the she cannot use the banks network for idle chitchat. Poor Terry has to ignore the IMs of her international colleagues. That night, she is just about to turn off her system, to join her colleagues in a going away/baby shower party for Jackie (who is pregnant and hence will be losing her job, because it is the 1980s) when - WAIT - what is this...
KNOCK KNOCK...
Someone is IMing her computer. She finds out the person she is IMing with calls himself Jumping Jack Flash. Since she has turned over a new leaf, she informs him "Personal chitchat is prohibited on the International Bank Transponder". Then she finds out Jack is not on the International Bank Transponder! WHAT?? IMPOSSIBLE! No, not impossible, he is connecting via a shell terminal and he would like to tell her more, but the connection IS NOT SECURE. She tells him to give her the key to his secure connection and then they can talk. But he does not tell her, instead he just leaves her with a cryptic message: Sing with me to find the key.
So, all night she dances in her flannel PJs, trying to figure out the lyrics to Jumping Jack Flash by playing it over and over on her tape player (apparently the tape sleeve did not have the printed lyrics). By morning, she was most likely very tired, but apparently was still not sure of the lyrics because she picked up a copy of the music for the song on her way to work.
That night at work, after everyone has left, she attempts to figure out the password, but she can't do it - then it dawns on her - the solution!! She types the answer into the prompt and voila! She's in. On the secure terminal Jumping Jack Flash now tells her he is in trouble. He needs her to do him a favor, go the British Consulate, ask for Dept C and tell them (the best message in the history of movie spy messages): "Dogs barking. Can't fly without umbrella."
Terry agrees to help, and goes to the consulate. There she meets Jeremy Talbot (John Wood), and hiding behind a plant, tells him the secret message. Talbot has no clue what she is talking about. Figuring she has been the butt of a joke she leaves and goes to work.
At work a dorky new guy has been transferred and is taking the place of Jackie. He gives everyone his business card. More office hilarity ensues when Marty (Stephen Collins) sits in the pregnant ladies chair and falls on his backside. They assure him he will be getting a new chair. The Russian exercise lady is back, Terry fixes the terminal again. That night she tell Jack the Consulate didn't know what she was talking about. He is confused. He asks her to go to his apartment in NY and get a frying pan. While she is IMing a Sperry repairman (James Belushi) shows up to look at her terminal. But it's late, and she's suspicious, she calls the company and when she turns around... he is GONE. Clearly this is bad news. She heads out of the office and takes a cab to Jack's apartment.
Jack's apartment is very neat, but he clearly avoids putting away clean dishes. She decides to listen to his answering machine, so she could hear his sexy British accent while looking at photos - and while she's doing that someone comes into the apartment and leaves again, putting a picture of her onto the door! Creepy and also pointless. She rushes back down to the cab with the frying pan hidden under her coat. But the cabby is now the Sperry repairman! AHHH BAD! She hits him on the head with the frying pan and escapes the cab. Eventually she gets home and cleans the pan, revealing the list of names: Peter Caen (gets his answering service), Mark Van Meter (he's actually available), Harry Carlson (also not available), and Archer Lincoln (can't get him either).
She ends up trying to meet Van Meter at Pier D sometime during the night. She's giving him the rundown of the problem, when suddenly they are black shoes. Those black shoes are making foot step sounds, and they are coming closer. The black shoes are chasing them. Van Meter pushes her in to the river and then he is shot. Dead. He floats by her. She gets rescued by the police, who think she's crazy. They find Marty's card in her pocket and call him to come get her. He takes her home.
Terry goes to Van Meter's funeral, and when she arrives Talbot is there. There's also a lady named Liz Carlson who introduces herself. She is the wife of Harry Carlson and wants information, he is supposed to be with Jack. Liz points out Archer Lincoln, who is also there - Terry tries to flag him down, but he drives off, ignoring her. Liz informs Terry that the people tailing her are probably KGB and they probably want Jack's code key (because they are too dumb to figure it out). Liz has kids and they are making a really gross looking cake, that they are not allowed to write KGB on.
So, Terry is not having much luck. She is IMing with Jack to tell him this and this is where we learn a very important fact - Terry has some kind of ESP. She can HEAR the computer when Jack is typing. It is amazing. We learn this because Jack learns that she is female and tries to call the whole thing off. She gets pissed off, he apologizes and they decide she will crash a ball at the British Consulate, then she will get up to the third floor and attach a black box of hacking to the computers so that Jack can hack in and get an exit contact.
She gets in the ball pretending to be the entertainment and after she gets in Liz meets up with her and helps keep her in the party. She gets to the third floor, but the computer room is guarded by two guys, luckily they are very distracted by Benny Hill. Un-luckily they are sitting right in front of the door. No problem, in her dress and heels she goes to the roof and then slides/climbs into the computer room through the window. She gets in, she gets out, she gets back to the party and then escapes the consulate. Amazing. She's IMing with Jack again and they use the device to start to hack for a contact, but just as they are about to get one.. BAM the connection goes dead. They assume they have been discovered. Jack wants to give up, but Terry convinces him to meet again at 7pm the next day.
She tries to go back to Liz - but Liz is GONE. Archer Lincoln turns up and tells her that he is with the CIA and Liz has been moved. He tells her to give up on Jack, that Jack knows the risks. She does not listen. Terry goes through her contacts in her head - who's good, who's bad. There is only one option left. Sarah. Jack's ex-girlfriend. A picture of her was in Jack's apartment and Terry had run into her at the Ball. Terry tries to call Sarah at lunch, but the phone booth she calls from gets towed by a crazy russian guy - the one who shot Van Meter. She is dragged through the streets in a phone booth and it's looking grim, when finally the police show up. Phew! But then the officer is really the Sperry Repairman!! NOO!!!! He injects her with truth serum and tells her to reveal Jack's key. She will not. She catches his arm in his own police car and escapes. She finds Sarah and tries to convince her to help.
Sarah, although reluctant, decides to help and brings a contact to Terry - and Terry IMs it to Jack. They agree to meet for dinner when he gets home. She heads out of the office and some very odd punks come after her, she fends them off and is leaving when the incompetent KGB guys all show up again - she tries to go back with the punks, but they flee - she is captured by the KGB creeps! She wakes up in a mannequin basement and Talbot is there. They once again try to get her to tell the contact - they tell her the contact is from them, and is a trap - yet they do not seem sure. She realizes they are not as confident as they should be, so, when they tell her the contact (the very one she gave to Jack) and then ask her if that is the one she sent, she keeps her cool and says "No." They are confused. They decide to threaten/torture her for information. Talbot admits that he is a KGB double agent and the word was out there was a double agent, and Jack was on to them, so he, cleverly put out the word that Jack was the double agent. So, Jack had no contacts that would help him. He was stuck in hostile territory with no exit, and was stuck asking Bank Employees for help. Terry is not amused. She is especially not amused because they decided to saw her with a circular saw, but she fights them off and escapes from the embassy (oh yeah, it turns out the KGB spy hideout is in the basement of the British embassy).
She goes straight to the office to tell Jack NOT to make the contact. But when she gets there, Talbot is already there! He tries to stop the transmission there is fighting and shooting and Marty shoots a guy who is about to shoot Terry. Finally, she successfully sends the a message stopping Jack from falling into a trap. And we find out that dorky Marty is really Peter Caen, who gives Jack a real contact. Jack can finally come home. He is supposed to meet Terry at a restaurant Orlando's, but he never shows. Peter (aka Marty) shows up to tell her Jack was stuck in London.
The next day at work her friends are trying to cheer her up, because she has been moping. They want to take her to Kohl's (which comes up more than once, and is not, I'm going out on a limb here, the department store of chain fame). She logs in and Jack is there - he apologizes again. And she throws her glasses to the side. He IMs "Careful, you'll break your glasses". WHAT?? What is this?? Does he also have ESP? No, it turns out he is IN THE OFFICE.
Then they meet and everyone cheers and they go off into the, uh, office building. The End.
