Cold war films

The "Cold War" lasted 45 or 46 years, depending upon which theory you accept about when it started. The Cold War was the consummate staring contest. The Eastern Block, led by Russia, kept one finger on the button that would destroy the West, while the West (that's us) kept its finger on the button that would destroy the East. The Cold War world was filled with espionage, spying, and counterspying — and a whole lot of what can only be called misinformation and unreasonable fear. Hollywood had a bottomless pit of movie material. And there were hundreds of movies made with the Cold War as the backdrop — some pretty good ones, too.

There were many really good Cold War films, but I'll pick just three of the ones that I consider the best here because of a lack of space.

"Fail Safe": "Fail Safe" was released in 1964 and starred Henry Fonda as the president of the United States who was trying hard to avert all-out nuclear war that was just about to start because of accidents and miscommunication. A group of bombers on a routine patrol receives a coded message that tells them to bomb Moscow. This was scary stuff in the Cold War years.

"Seven Days in May": "Seven Days in May" was also released in 1964. (1964 was apparently a great year for Cold War movies because "Dr. Strangelove" was released the same year.) Unlike other Cold War movies, "Seven Days in May" didn't deal with nuclear war or the threat of nuclear war. Instead, it centered around the idea of a military takeover of the government.

"The Hunt for Red October": America and Russia come to the very brink of World War III in "The Hunt for Red October." It's an "edge-of-the-chair" movie that is still one of the most popular rental films ever.

Classic Westerns

"Shoot 'em ups" is what my grandfather calls them. Western movies — cowboys and Indians, the wide-open spaces, where a man loved his HORSE! I wonder if kids today still play cowboys and Indians — maybe that is socially incorrect now — who knows?

Not many real "westerns" are made any more, but there was a time when a "western" was a sure box office hit. The cowboys that graced the silver screen were household words. There wasn't a person in America that didn't know who Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were. Everybody knew who Trigger and Champion were, too. (For the uninformed, Trigger and Champion were Roy's and Gene's horses, respectively.) The Lone Ranger and Tonto (Silver and Scout were their horses) entertained many movie goers during the 1930s, 1940s, and even the early 1950s.

The good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats, so it was easy to keep up with who was who in those old black-and-white movies. Everybody knew you could "cut 'em off at the pass" and that you could "catch 'em at a waterin' hole."

Yes indeed, America loved western movies and Hollywood made western movies — lots and lots of them. The western genre was so popular it was even incorporated into other genres. There were musical westerns ("Annie Get Your Gun") and even comedy westerns ("Buttons and Bows").

Through the 1940s and the 1950s, western movies put the emphasis on heroism and the value of honor and sacrifice (protect the women and children and willingly give your life for the greater good). Later, westerns took a more cynical view of the west by glorifying rebelliousness and emphasizing the brutality and the inequality of the early American west (get yours first and to heck with honor). The old movies are great!

For a complete list of classic western titles check out - The 100 Greatest Western Movies of All Time: Including Five You've Never Heard Of

Censorship: good or evil?

You can get a heated discussion going anytime you mention movie censorship around those who are involved in the movie industry.

Just about the time the first movies were screened, there were those who considered the moral aspects of the new medium and determined that "guidelines" needed to be established to prevent these new-fangled motion pictures from corrupting America.

The Hays Code was created in 1926. It wasn't formally adopted until 1934 by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. The Hays Code, of course, forbade nudity and profanity, but it went further than that. The Hays Code set up "principles" by which the movie industry was to be governed. The Hays Code supplied the guiding principles of what movie makers could and could not show on the silver screen and the words that actors and actresses could utter.

The Hays Code was replaced in 1966 by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) rating system. Censorship was abandoned and replaced with a rating system that was intended to guide movie goers as to the content of a movie.

You can get arguments on both sides of the issue and you'd better believe that the issue is not dead and buried. There are those who see movie content censorship as a violation of "free speech," and then there are those that see movie content censorship as the very reason that great movies of the past were great. Producers and directors, say these proponents of censorship, had to be more creative in the ways that sex and violence were portrayed on the screen. There are valid points on both sides of the line, and like with many issues such as this, it is sometimes best to meet somewhere in the middle where the artist can maintain freedom of creativity, to make a picture their own, without becoming distasteful. 
Read more - Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early-Twentieth-Century America

Which side are you on?

Film Icons - The Hollywood Sign

That Hollywood sign that is made up of nine letters each standing 50 feet high is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

The original sign was actually intended as an advertisement for a new housing development. It was erected in 1923 and the original sign said, "HOLLYWOODLAND." Harry Chandler, who owned the Los Angeles Times newspaper and was involved with the land syndicate that was developing a housing project in the hills above the Hollywood district, was advised by his friend H. J. Whitley to erect a sign to advertise the project.

Thomas Fisk Goff designed the original sign. He was the owner of Crescent Sign Company that had contracted to erect the sign. The sign was not intended to be a permanent fixture. It was actually expected to only last about one and one-half years. But the fledgling film industry boomed, and the sign became recognizable around the world, so it was left in place.

In 1932, Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping to her death off the letter "H." She felt that the film industry had rejected her.

The sign was well maintained until 1939. Maintenance was discontinued and the sign quickly fell into disrepair. The letter "H" was accidentally destroyed in the early 1940s.

The City of Los Angeles Parks Department was contracted by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1949 to repair and rebuild the sign. The last four letters, "L-A-N-D," were eliminated so that the sign would no longer advertise a housing subdivision, but rather Hollywood itself.

The wooden letters, however, continued to deteriorate and in 1978, led by shock rocker Alice Cooper, donations were made and the wooden letters were replaced by letters made of steel.

Today the Hollywood sign is made up of nine letters that each stand 45 feet tall.

Read more - The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon (Icons of America)