I Still Believe in Heroes

There are certain classics that, in theory, should be much harder to re-imagine than others. Often times, it’s very difficult to modernize certain aspects of a story, whether it be the topic or story plot. By all accounts, Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery thriller Rear Window should have been difficult to adapt in 2007. Rear Window ’s plot makes the film date itself more than other Hitchcock films. At the center of the 1954 film, which stars James Stewart, is L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, a photographer whose broken-leg forces him to be wheelchair-bound and unable to leave his house. Having nothing else to do, Jeff passes the time by spying on the people from the apartment complex across from his. When he sees what he believes to be a murder at the hands of a man named Thorwald, Jeff takes it upon himself to solve the crime. Rear Window remains one of Hitchcock’s most decorated films, so it is no surprise that eventually someone would try and remake it. The question, however, is how? The idea...

Classic cinema represents the best of what film can be. Most of the films we see and love today take ideas from the classics that came before them. La La Land , one of 2016’s most beloved films, owes a debt of gratitude to films like Singin’ in the Rain , An American in Paris and West Side Story . I believe that it is completely possible to enjoy films without having knowledge of what came before them, but I also think that having that knowledge enhances your experience of them. I understand why people today might not want to seek out a 70-year-old film. Thanks to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon we have an unending stream of modern films to explore. Even beyond that, I know there are many people out there who simply don’t like black-and-white movies. Others find older movie effects laughable. There are some who don’t watch old films because they look and feel old. With every year comes newer and newer technological advances that make older films look less impressive. Yet, despite ...

"Oh, what's the use? Walter, you wouldn't know what it means to want to be respectable and live a halfway normal life." Hildy Johnson - His Girl Friday           When His Girl Friday  came out, way back in 1940, society was in a place where women were still not fully integrated into the work force. For the most part, women worked in clerical or sales work and they were often faced with hostility from many of the men that worked with them. Women working in journalism was a rare thing, and that is where this film takes place.           There are many things that make this a great film, but one of the things that I admire the most about it is how ahead of its time it was. It wasn't just the fact of placing Hildy (Rosalind Russell) in a male-dominated work environment, it was the fact that Hildy was a character who was respected and admired by her male peers. There are multiple comments throughout the film from the male repor...