Amadeus

Now, this film won 8 academy awards... and I know why. It was an amazing film.

The wardrobe in the film was fantastic. It really looked as though we were in the latter half of the 18th century. All of Mozart’s outfits were very playful, really representing him as a person and how he viewed music. I got the feeling throughout the film that all of the music and all of his work was just one big game... until the end of course. But Mozart wore very playful colors, like purple, pink, gold, orange... most of them with some sort of intricate pattern.  Mozart was sick, he looked SICK. It was obvious he was going to die. They did a wonderful job with his makeup. 

All of Salieri’s outfits were very serious looking (they were all brown, which I consider a very dull color) and that represented him and how others viewed his music compared to Mozart’s. Might I add that the makeup for Salieri when he is old was just... ah! There aren’t enough words to describe it. It was wonderful. 

Constanze (Wolfgang’s wife) was usually wearing blue, white, and gold. In one scene I believe she wore pink. I think the color of her wardrobe really depended on the scene, because she didn’t have a super definite color. I’m actually not 100% sure as to what message the director and costume designer were trying to send with Constanze. I think in the beginning it was innocence... and when they had a lot of money perhaps they were trying to show how much Wolfgang liked to shower her with gifts. Because between Wolfgang and Constanze, during the period when they actually had money, they looked so marvelous. Like royalty almost. But we knew they weren’t royalty because they weren’t wearing red. Whoever was in power was usually, almost always, wearing red.

Now, with Wolfgang’s father, he wore that black outfit with the mask... and later, Salieri wore that outfit to scare Mozart. But back to the wardrobe, I think the mask really showed what kind of person Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, was. He was very passionate and willing to do anything for his son. Until his son moved to Vienna. I think that is why there is a happy face and and a sad, almost disappointed look on the other side. 

I still cannot believe they only had about 4 sets that needed to be built (Salieri’s hospital room, Mozart’s apartment, a staircase, and the vaudeville theater). The design of them was so beautiful. After doing some research though, most of the film was filmed in Czech Republic. Except for Salieri’s flashback in Italy (which was filmed in Italy), a scene filmed in France, and a few scenes filmed in Austria (most in Vienna). What a wonderful time it must have been to film all of these wonderful scenes and see all of the beautiful sights in Europe.  I think the production design added to the story and not take away. With the colors, the furniture, all of it was just wonderful. With Mozart’s apartment, it was obvious when they had money and when they didn’t. The vaudeville theater was magnificent. With the candles, the balconies, the stage, it was all just wonderful. It really helped you believe you were in the late 18th century. Even if some things were off as far as time goes, no one cares because it was so beautiful. Which means that they did an excellent job with production design.

By watching this film, we learned some things about 1984. The Cold War is what was going on around that time. Perhaps... Salieri was trying to create his own Arms Race with Mozart... but the fact that he couldn’t keep up meant he had to kill Mozart. I think this might also say something about how much music and film were important in 1984. I mean, 80’s music. C’mon. Safety Dance, Take on Me, Whip It, Head over Heels, Mad World. While some of those songs came out after this film, it still shows how much music meant to people during the 80’s.

The theme of the film is having the gift of music given to you by god. Salieri was not given that gift. So he instead decides to have punish god by killing Mozart. I think that is the theme.

 The explicit meaning of this film is- a musician want to become a great musician, but is living in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s shadow. So the musician does everything he can to get back at god for making him have this need to make music but no talent to do it. Now the musician wants to kill God’s star... Mozart.

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is my favorite film I have analyzed so far.

The film was a big hit in 1967 for many reasons. The soundtrack is amazing (it really reflects what the style of music was back in 1967), it stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford (so the casting director did a good job!), and it was overall just a beautiful film (story structure, cinematography, soundtrack, everything!)

The film's implicit meaning is about running away from your problems and how your problems will always follow you, no matter how much you run.

The film used montage successfully, for you could tell the character's emotions in the pictures and you could see Butch's and Sundance's adventures through photographs. They used great music during the montages to get us to feel what the characters would have felt. Overall, I'd say the montages I saw in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid were the best I have ever seen.

Now, why did this film win an oscar? It won two, actually. One for the music and one for the writing. I would say that the music was great at matching the emotions and the story correctly. Other movies have copied the famous scene where it plays Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head, because that scene is just absolutely perfect.
Here's the soundtrack if you haven't heard it- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTBQ9KfCwg
Now the writing, there was just so much beauty in it all. The rhythm and the syntax of the dialogue, the irony of "I can't swim." some badass (and I must add good looking) robber who is quick with a gun can't swim. Now that is funny, that is just simply good writing right there. I honestly didn't know what was going to happen until the last 5 minutes of the film (which is what every film should be like, nothing should be completely predictable). I sat and waited to see what was going to happen and it paid off once the finale came around.

An antihero is basically a protagonist who isn't doing the greatest things... a great example is Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid! At first, I was thinking "God, I'm not really rooting for them." especially the scene where it leads you to believe that The Kid is going to rape that one woman (I don't really remember her name...) 

But anyway, it wasn't until halfway through the film that I started to actually root for these guys... and I guess that is because of how funny, good looking, and somewhat relatable they became. I wanted them to escape so badly. 

The film speaks to me mostly because of the implicit meaning. That meaning right there made me love this film, because it is such a relatable topic. 

This film is a crime film. For the main characters are anti-heroes and it shows us what a life of crime entails. 

If this film were to be released today, I'm sure it would be a success.

I really enjoyed this film 10/10 would recommend. 

Singin' in The Rain Analysis

Opening Image- The opening image of Singin’ in the Rain is of Don Lockwood as a mostly happy Hollywood silent film star and his usual co-star, Lina Lamont. “Dignity, Always Dignity.”

Inciting Incident / Catalyst- The catalyst is when the film The Jazz Singer is released to theaters. It is the first film to have sound. A talking picture.  

Mid Point- The midpoint is when Don gets the idea to fix the joke of a film, The Dueling Cavalier. He gets the idea to turn it into a musical, The Dancing Cavalier. The one problem is Miss Lamont’s voice... so they decide to use Kathy’s (Kathy is Don’s love interest) voice to dub over Lina’s. Everything seems to be going quite well. 

All is Lost- All is lost when Lina Lamont finds out that they used Kathy’s voice. She becomes very angry (which I would be too, so I don’t blame her). Lamont is angry about Kathy getting screen credit, for she feels that it will ruin her career if word gets out that it isn’t her voice. So Lina consults a lawyer and threatens to sue Monumental Pictures if they give Kathy credit. Everything that could have gone wrong has. 

Finale- At the premier of the film, Lina Lamont is asked to sing for the audience live. So she makes Kathy sing behind the curtain for her. Don, Cosmo, and R.F. lift up the curtain, revealing Kathy. Cosmo runs to the microphone and starts singing in the place of Kathy, showing the audience that Miss Lamont wasn’t singing at all. Lina leaves the stage and Don announces that Kathy is the real star of the film. What a great finale, right?

The film is a musical, you can tell it is a musical because of all of the singing and dancing. It is over the top with wardrobe, acting, set design, etc. It could also be under the comedy category, for it has plenty of irony (with Lina Lamont being a famous actress and having a silly voice). It also has great timing with the jokes. I would say it is more slapstick with the timing... for example, when Cosmo is singing Make ‘Em Laugh he walks above a board and two men pick it up, lifting Cosmo up. I would say this is good timing because it is around the time the song could get boring. 

The film was very successful. It had a budget of $2.5 million and it made $7.7 million in the box office. It was the tenth highest grossing movie of the year in the US and Canada. Singin’ in the Rain was nominated for and it also won plenty of awards with American Film Institute. With 100 Years... 100 movies it was #10. With 100 Years... 100 Laughs it was #16. With 100 Years... 100 Passions it was #16 again. Lina Lamont was nominated as best villain. Singin’ in the Rain was #3 in 100 Years... 100 songs, Make ‘em Laugh being #49 and Good Morning being #72. "What do they think I am, dumb or something? Why, I make more money than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!" was nominated in the 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes category... and it was #1 in AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals. 

Explicit Meaning- Some of Hollywood’s biggest silent film stars must adapt to talking pictures. 

Implicit Meaning- How change can be difficult on everyone, but it is a way of life and we must embrace it, not fear it. Rolling with the punches is something you must do in the film world.

The film teaches you more about Hollywood in 1927 than anything else, how there was no color in film, how The Jazz Singer changed Hollywood and film making forever... and one thing that really stood out to me (of course being a feminist I had to notice this) is that women weren’t seen as anything more than sex objects or love interests in film back then. It shows how women were seen back then as well. 

If you look more at the film, you can get an idea of what was going on in 1952. The Cold War was just nowhere near over, and the U.S. was testing atomic bombs. While Singin’ in the Rain didn’t come out and say “Hey there is some live atomic bomb test being shown on Television” the film definitely reflects change. And the atomic bomb test being shown on television was a huge change, for most of our nation had never seen anything like it. I would imagine that some thought “It is about time we got that atomic bomb made for our safety, and we need to end this Cold War.” 

Most probably felt comfort and fear. In Singin’ in the Rain, the fact that sound is added to films that were once silent causes fear for most studios and production companies. They realize that this is how things are, and we can’t change it. Protesting didn’t really become a thing until the 1960’s with Vietnam and feminism. Most were flourishing financially and we were conforming to social norms in 1952, and we were most likely conforming in fear that we would be accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union. Singin’ in the Rain, if you think about it, is really about conforming and adapting, even if you fear the unknown or fear change. 

Overall, I actually like Singin’ in the Rain. It is my favorite musical (that doesn’t really say much because I only really like 3 musicals total). Fun fact for y’all- my grandfather, Ron, was a smart man who knew how to launder money. He worked with the infamous George Jung (watch Blow and you’ll learn about his career) and the infamous Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal (watch Casino to learn more about his career). My grandfather taught Jung how to launder money and in return was given a Harley Davidson dealership for very little money. Ron had a skull and crossbones tattoo on his right shoulder, he gave it to himself when he was about 13. Anyway, he sounds like a super tough guy, right? Well, his favorite movie of all time was Singin’ in the Rain. How funny is that? I think that says a lot about how successful the film was.