An Old Movie and An Even Older One

It's been awhile since Ive written about movies, so let's take a look at a couple of older flicks.  One from 2018 and one from 1954.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018)

This was the musical biopic of the British rock band Queen and, more specifically, its lead singer, Freddie Mercury.  I skipped this movie when it came out despite all of the Academy Award buzz that it received.  The reasons?  I was not that big a fan of Queen,  and some critical voices that I respect were, at best, lukewarm about the movie.  Even when Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Mercury, I just shrugged it off.  Anyway, last night was a movie night here at our house, and Linda picked this one, insisting that I would like it.

Did I?  Well, yes, I did.  The acting was quite good, and so was the storytelling.  I'm sure there were liberties taken.  I don't expect that "We Will Rock You" came about as easily as it was portrayed in the movie.   The music was good.  It seems I was more familiar with Queen than I recollected.  The final scenes of Queen performing at Wembly Stadium in the 1985  Live Aid concert were simply incredible.  As for Malek's Oscar, he certainly did do a terrific job as Mercury, and when you look back at his competition* that year, it was a well deserved award.

It was quite entertaining and worth Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

*Who did Malek beat out for that Oscar, you ask?  Christian Bale, "Vice"; Bradley Cooper, "A Star Is Born"; Willen Dafoe, "At Eternity's Gate"; Viggo Mortensen, "Green Book"

"River Of No Return" (1954)

One of the places that we visited when on my Canadian Rockies vacation this summer was the Beau River Falls on the Beau River in Jasper National Park near Banff.  Like much of what we saw on that trip, it was spectacular and breathtaking to behold.

One of the interesting factoids mentioned by the tour guide was that in 1954, and American film crew travelled to Banff and the Beau River to film a movie called "River of No Return".  It was western movie that starred Robert Mitchum and, get ready for the clincher, Marilyn Monroe.   Of course, having had someone like MM spend any length of time in your vicinity was a big deal, and no wonder it is still talked about today.  

Anyway, this prompted me to seek out the movie.   I simply had to see a movie that depicted such natural wonders like Miss Monroe and the Beau River Falls.  Yep, it was all about seeing those waterfalls on film.  It wasn't easy to find.  "River of No Return" is not available on any of the streaming services to which I subscribe, so I needed to seek it out from my local library.

The movie itself was no great shakes, although the Canadian scenery was spectacular. The plot involved, well, who cares, but the climactic scene involved Monroe and Mitchum, and young Tommy Rettig (Jeff, from Lassie) riding the Beau River rapids on a raft and going over the the powerful Beau River Falls.  Yep, I spent ninety minutes watching a so-so movie just to see that one shot of the Falls.  It was cool to see a place on film, albeit a sixty-eight year old film, that you just visited, and any chance to see Miss Monroe is well worthwhile. 

Two Stars from The Grandstander.

As for the Beau River Falls, take a gander at this video that I took of the Falls this past June.