Romancefest Wrap Up

Well, I accomplished my goal of watching 28 romantic films in 28 days, in honor of February, the month of Valentine's Day. I got behind a couple times and had to watch up to 3 movies in a day in order to catch up, but I made it.

I followed my original plan of watching movies from the AFI "100 Years, 100 Passions" list, and with the exception of OUT OF AFRICA, I only watched ones I hadn't seen before. Still, with all the movies I'd already seen, plus these 28, I have something like 19 more to go before I can say I've watched the whole list, and who knows if I'll ever watch those ones.

I really liked seeing stars I'm familiar with in movies I'm less familiar with. I have a greater understanding of the legacies of stars like Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and Bette Davis now that I've watched some movies I might not have watched otherwise. Also, I got to see familiar people like Frank Morgan and Humphrey Bogart in unfamiliar roles. There were also films directed by directors who directed some of my favorite films, like Robert Wise and George Stevens, so I was glad to see more of their work.

And now, some fun facts:

Movies I saw where people die -- 11

I'm only counting the death if it was a main member of the central love story, even if it was a triangle. I'm not counting deaths from surrounding relationships or supporting characters.

Methods of death -- 2 shootings, 3 terminal illnesses, 1 plane crash, 1 by old age, 2 drownings, 1 death by train, 1 car wreck, 1 gas chamber, 1 electric chair

Happy endings -- 12

Admittedly, this is kind of subjective, but that's less than half! So next time someone tries to tell you Hollywood's about happy endings, especially old Hollywood movies, kindly remind them that they don't know what they're talking about.

Musicals -- 6

Movies with Paris -- 3, but it seemed like a lot more

Movies involving the military -- 5

Multiple appearances by an actor or actress -- 7

2 with Bette Davis, 3 with Barbra Streisand, 3 with Natalie Wood, 2 with Greta Garbo, 2 with Ryan O'Neal, 2 with Robert Redford, 2 with Montgomery Clift

Repeated directors -- 5

2 by Sydney Pollack, 2 by Elia Kazan, 2 by George Stevens, 2 by George Cukor, 2 by Vincente Minnelli

And my favorite --

Movies involving the symbolic use of loons:

ON GOLDEN POND and A PLACE IN THE SUN