Loved It Beyond a ‘Shadow of a Doubt’

Damian and I caught the late show of "Shadow of a Doubt" last night at the Village East, part of the cinema's annual Hitchcock-tober fest. As you've probably figured out, I'm not a full-blown movie queen, so I confess that I had never even heard of it. Turns out it's a good one -- apparently Hitch's favorite of his works -- leaving us on the edge of our seats with so many uncomfortable moments as the plot thickens. Nice to see Joseph Cotten play a completely different character than he did in "Gaslight," which is how I know him. And now I'm eager -- and inspired -- to see more of Teresa Wright, who I know I'm a bad gay for not having already eaten up in "Mrs. Miniver," "The Little Foxes" and "The Best Years of Our Lives," three films on my "I Should Have Already Seen" list. 

P.S. A few more movies I've finally watched:

"Sophie's Choice," which I mentioned HERE. Obviously Meryl Streep was spectacular being Meryl Streep, and Kevin Kline is ridiculously handsome. But boy was I not aware of the fact that it was about the Nazi persecution of Slavs rather than Jews. Maybe I'm too woke to appreciate it now.

Also finally watched "Goodbye, Columbus." I'm not the biggest Philip Roth fan -- apparently his misogyny is supposed to charming or something -- but this film based on his short story of the same name reined it in enough for me to be able to enjoy it. It helped that the much-maligned Ali MacGraw is spectacular to look at, as is the guy (Michael Meyers) playing her brother. (Did you notice the weird sexual energy between him and Richard Benjamin's character?) 

And for Halloween, Damian wanted to watch "The Witches of Eastwick." I'm a HUGE Cher fan but had never seen it, due to my strict realism policy. I can't say I regret watching it -- it was fun seeing the leads back in the day, and Cher on a bike was second only to Kermit! -- but as predicted it wasn't really my cup of tea. (Maybe I'm too dense literal for this type of stuff: They were witches but didn't really know they were? Jack Nicholson's character shouldn't have been hurt/upset that these three women with whom he formed a polyamorous relationship suddenly and coldly cut him off without giving it a second thought? Or?) All I know for sure is that Veronica Cartwright stole the film. 

Crazy to think that Cher had THREE major motion pictures that year -- "Witches" followed by "Suspect" and then "Moonstruck" -- and then other than "Mermaids" kind of faded away from Hollywood. (I may have seen "Faithful" on cable but never saw "Tea With Mussolini," which of course was way after the fact.)