Movies, music or kissin ’ huggin ’ and lovin ’
By Samuel McKewon
Senior editor
Top 10 romantic movies of all time?
Fuhgedaboutit No way, no how.
Valentine’s Day means something different
for everyone, and it changes from year to year.
Some of y’all are in a loving mood, some in a
nasty mood, some are in a subversive mood and
some are in the mood to worship the goddess of all
movies, whom we’ll get to in a moment.
So I’m not listing a top 10 but rather a cate
gorical list for the lover (or hater) in everyone on
the holiday. My personal grades are included.
Straight-up love - “Say Anything”
(1989) It’s a tiny little film by Cameron
Crowe that nearly every college girl has j
seen. Now you know why they ail like il
John Cusack. The story is a simple
romance between beautifiil brain (lone
Skye) and everyday nice guy with no
future (Cusack). The movie’s about ■
much more than that, but few notice. B+
Straight-up love, part 11 - “Pretty I
in Pink* (1986) Come on, you liked it
Andie (Molly Ringwald) is the girl from
the wrong side o’ the tracks, while If
Blane (Andrew McCarthy) is die rich
boy with conflicts who really likes
Andie. Duckie (Jon Cryer) has the hots |u
for Andie, too. Ah, love triangles. B
Epic love - “Gone with the fl
Wind” (1939) and “Casablanca” ■
(1942) Heavy hitters to say the least,
“Casablanca” is slightly more male- ■
oriented, while “Gone with the Wind” R
plays heavy on the female side. The K
latter is the definitive romantic epic in jflj
history, while “Casablanca” has more 9
of a noir-ish feel. Both get an A jH
East Campus yee-haw love -
“Urban Cowboy” (1980) See it only
to hear Sissy (Debra Winger) tell Bud ■
(John Travolta) she’s “gonna ride that
bull.” B Ri
In love and war - “From Here to
Eternity”(1953) Much more than just
romance, it also contains one of the
definitive love scenes in history, on the
beach, waves crashing between Deborah
Kerr and Burt Lancaster. B+
Obsessive love - “Vertigo” (1958)
There’s blondes, and then Hitchcock’s
blondes. Kim Novak is the object of
James Stewart’s affection in a film that’s
about little more than a few thousand dol
lars. Like all Hitchcock classics, it devel
ops into weird paranoia, which is why
Stewart (and Novak) were perfectly cast.
A+
Fated love - “Romeo and Juliet”
(1968) It’s been made many, many times,
but Franco Zeflferelli’s version is the only
one that remained true to die Bard’s vision.
It includes a stunning turn from John
McEnery as Mercutio. A
Older man/younger woman -
“Lolita” (1962) Vladimir Nabokov himself
adapted one of the 20th century’s greatest
novels into a movie, and, considering the cir
cumstances (it was still die 1960s, after all),
he did as well as he could. Stanley Kubrick
directed, and one could see he was close to
the greatness he would produce in 1964
wnn ur. anangeiove. d
Older woman/younger man - “The Tin
Drum” (1979) It’s a bit misleading, but if you
lode at it on the surface only, it is a 3-year-old boy
(David Beimet) seducing a young woman. The
truth: it’s Oskar Matzerah, a brilliant mind who
chooses not to grow after his third birthday, which
takes places amidst 1930s Nazi Germany.
Oskar sees his world collapse, his drum die
only protest. This is the best Holocaust film ever
made, though it largely takes place before mass
genocide sets in. But itfc best remembered for the
sex scene; a man in Oklahoma was arrested for
child pornography just for owning it A+ *
“The Graduate” (1967) - Beyond Anne
Bancroft’s performance as the jaded housewife,
beyond Dustin Hoffman’s continued buffoonery,
lies the ending, a lingering final shot from director
Mike Nichols that lets the movie, which played by
its own rules, end on its own ambivalent terms. A
true original, with extended musical interludes
from Simon and Garfunkel between major seg
ments. A+
Gender-bender love - “The Crying Game”
1992 She’s a man, baby. B+
And let us not forget the goddess of the
romantic movie... Audrey Hepburn.
By Josh Krauter
Staff writer
So you bought the flowers, the chocolates or
the inflatable doll, and you’re ready for a night of
Valentine’s romance.
There’s just one tiling missing: the music.
So, without any further ado, here’s a list of the
top five Valentine’s Day CDs to put you and your
significant other in the lovin’ mood.
And for those of you without a special some
one, or recently single, you haven’t been forgot
ten, either. A top five list of depressing, anti-love
CDs has been included as well. Not to men
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There was
Audrey, and there was everybody else. She found
instant fame with “Roman Holiday” in 1953 at
age 24, and it was all roses from there: “Sabrina”
in 1954 with Humphrey Bogart, “Funny Face”
and “Love in the Afternoon” in 1957, “Breakfast
at Tiffany’s” in 1961 and “My Fair Lady” in 1964.
Her career more or less ended in 1967 with her
fifth Oscar nomination in “Whit Until Dark.”
Hepburn’s Holly Goligbtly in “Breakfast”
could be argued as her signature role, though
nobody could ever reach a consensus on the best
Audrey movie. She did it better than them all.
tion a few surprises...
Top Five Valentine’s Day CDs (in no par
ticular order)
Marvin Gaye - “Let’s Get It On” and “I
Want You” - The silky-smooth voice of soul leg
end Marvin Gaye is sure to put young lovers in
the mood These two albums represent Gaye at
his romantic, homy best. But be careful which
Gaye albums you slap on the turntable. “What’s
Going On,” a downbeat album about Vietnam,
racism and drugs, and “Hoe, My Dear,” a bitter
collection of vengeful songs directed toward his
ex-wife, can kill the mood faster than an ill-timed
interruption from a roommate.
The Commodores - “The Ultimate
Collection” - Before Lionel Richie was dancing
on the ceiling, he was rocking the mike with the
suave troubadours of romantic funk, the
Commodores. This greatest hits collection fea
tures more than 70 minutes of love ballads
(“Easy,” “Three Times a Lady”) and funk jams
(“Brick House,” ‘Too Hot Ta Tro”)
Barry White - “Can’t Get Enough” - The
mood doesn’t get much sexier than when Barry
White is playing. White’s deeper-than-a-bottom
less-well baritone is guaranteed to satisfy. This
album contains the great single “Can’t Get
Enough ofYour Love, Babe.” Also recommend
ed: White’s guest appearance on the Snake
Whacking Day episode of “The Simpsons,” in
which he uttered the immortal line, “I love the
— sexy slither of a female snake.”
Faith No More - “Songs To Make
Love To” - This four-song EP is for lovers
with adventurous tastes. It features a faith
ful rendition of the Commodores’ “Easy,”
as well as covers of the Dead Kennedys
and the theme from “Midnight Cowboy”
and a German polka song. The cover is a
pair of rhinoceroses procreating the
species. It doesn’t get sexier than that.
Roxy Music - “Avalon” - One rock
critic called this album a “make-out infer
no,” and anyone who hears it can see why.
The Roxy boys toned down their more
rocking side for their last studio album
together and played up the romantic
1 aspects of their already suave sound.
For those of you playing solo in the
lonely heart’s club band who feel like
reveling in your misery, here’s a list of
five albums to get depressed to.
Top Five Depressing Anti-Love
CDs (again, in no particular order)
Joy Division - “Closer” and
“Unknown Pleasures” - This mor
bidly depressed Manchester band fea
tured the world-weary vocals of Ian
Curtis. Curtis killed himself at the age
of 23, but Ms baritone voice sounded
years older. This is very bleak stuff.
Nick Drake - “Way to Blue”
and “Pink Moon” - This English folk
singer overdosed on anti-depressants atthe age
of 26, but he left the world some memorable
songs. He’s not that bleak or morbid, but his
songs are typified by his sad, lonely voice.
Red House Painters - “Red House
Painters” - The first of this band’s two self
titled albums is a long, sad trip. The cover fea
tures a black-and-white photo of an aban
doned carnival, and the songs are about bro
ken relationships, melancholy nostalgia and
just plain sad stuff.
Big Star - “Third/Sister Lovers” - This
band’s first two albums are sunny, catchy
power-pop, but its third and final album is the
sound of a human being falling apart. The
songs are still catchy, but a bleak, lost feeling
pervades.
Neil Young - “Tonight’s the Night” -
Young lost two friends to heroin and decid
ed to write an album about his sadness over
\ their deaths and the way they died. The
| songs are full of mournful lyrics and the
I guitars provide plenty of lonesome
melodies.
For those of you neither sad, nor roman
tically attached, and who are planning to
spend Valentine’s Day uniquely, here’s a few sug
gestions.
If you’re going to spend the holiday with ajar
of Vaseline in the men’s room of a truck stop,
bring along a Walkman and a George Michael
tape.
If you belong to a powerful political family in
New England and want to seduce your children’s
babysitter, nothing says it better than the soothing
sounds of the Dead Kenuedys.
And, finally, if none of these albums repre
sents your Valentine’s mood, there’s one classic
album that’s appropriate for any holiday, or for
that matter, any time at all: Guns ’N’ Roses’
“Appetite for Destruction.”
