As far as best picture winners, usually one of us has at least seen it but as far as "Wings" is concerned, we didn't really know anything about it. For those of you who don't know, which I'm assuming is a large chunk, "Wings" is about a love triangle/square during the first World War. Mary is in love with her neighbor, Jack. In the first scene, Mary helps Jack fix up his car, which they name "The Shooting Star." Jack is in love with Sylvia, a pseudo hippie (she was way ahead of her time) but Sylvia is in love with rich David. A lot goes on in this movie with the two gentlemen going to war as pilots and Mary volunteering in the war.
To me, Katie, the basic plot is similar to Pearl Harbor... without Cuba Gooding Jr. but c'est la vie. It's two men fighting over a blah chick who can't really make up her mind. Mary, the non-blah chick, is a pretty fail character for a good majority of the movie. I mean she is this strong woman who is a mechanic and receives a leadership position in the war but all of that goes out the window when Jack comes around. She finally grows a pair about an hour and a half into the movie and tells Jack to go to hell. The feminist inside of me kind of digs that. With all that said the plot of Mary is way ahead of it's time. I mean, in the twenties, you have a middle class woman becoming a well-respected person in the war, who is also a bad-ass mechanic. If anything, that has been my biggest struggle adjusting to Montana. Some of the men, not Tim or we'd have a big problem, are chivalrous to the point of mild sexism. I am not a super feminist but occasionally I have an urge to just burn my bra or something. I was impressed with the special effects for the time. They do some weird stuff when the characters are drunk and it goes on for far too long but overall I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie.
For those of you who were Modern Day Imelda readers, I am "the man from Montana." Apparently dreams really do come true outside of the movies as Katie moved out here and we are happily living together. Despite any transitional moving friction she still loves me warts and all. We share a love of films and so this blog will be the semi-autobiographical chronicle of our shot at the not-so-easy task of seeing every Best Picture winner in order. I'm new to the blogging business, so bear with my wordiness and come along with us as we take this journey together.
For those of you who were Modern Day Imelda readers, I am "the man from Montana." Apparently dreams really do come true outside of the movies as Katie moved out here and we are happily living together. Despite any transitional moving friction she still loves me warts and all. We share a love of films and so this blog will be the semi-autobiographical chronicle of our shot at the not-so-easy task of seeing every Best Picture winner in order. I'm new to the blogging business, so bear with my wordiness and come along with us as we take this journey together.
It seems that the tradition of historical fiction/wartime romance Best Picture winners was a trend from the beginning as Wings fits neatly into this genre that would bring future Oscar winners such as The English Patient and Gone With the Wind. Despite coming up short when compared to foreign silent films of the time (such as Metropolis or Nosferatu) I too was surprised by how much I enjoyed Wings. The story was engaging and the war scenes were quite impressive considering the time period, and the surprisingly long runtime passed quickly for the most part. The establishing of the story took a while and there was some slow padding in the middle after Mary quits the war effort but the ending is quite poignant. This film also features Montana native Gary Cooper in an early role, a man who would go on to be one of the biggest stars of the era and all time. He went to a high school in my hometown and is one of Montana's proudest sons.
Ultimately, the film's shortfall is that it failed to touch me personally and reminded me too much of other superior films. I don't blame the film's quality as I understand that I did not live through the time period or see the other nominees of that year. It's not Saving Private Ryan but it's a perfectly fine start to our blog.
Ultimately, the film's shortfall is that it failed to touch me personally and reminded me too much of other superior films. I don't blame the film's quality as I understand that I did not live through the time period or see the other nominees of that year. It's not Saving Private Ryan but it's a perfectly fine start to our blog.
Interesting fact: This movie has the first man on man kiss. It's on a deathbed and it's two friends- completely platonic. So all the controversy surrounding Brokeback Mountain's depiction of same-sex affection was really nothing new.
"Youth, hitting the clouds! Laughing at danger! Fighting, loving, dodging death! That's "WINGS""
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