"I'm Clementine... No jokes about my name."

Watching both His Girl Friday and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind it was evident that the movies fit perfectly in the categories of a screwball comedy or romantic comedy. In His Girl Friday, Hildy, a sassy reporter, was recently divorced from her husband Walter who is the editor for The Morning Post. Working for the same newspaper they fell in love only to eventually get divorced. This movie is a great example of a screwball comedy not only because of the love story, but the dark humor and laughter behind it. Hildy is a very dominant character in this movie. She knows all the guys in the newspaper and is very comfortable with them. She also has no problem talking back to Walter. They both play dominance off each other which shows the screwball comedy because you don't usually see that in a love story. Also the dark humor that in is His Girl Friday is obvious too. An example of this is when Molly jumps off the building and gets everyones attention, but once they heard she survived they turned their attention to something else! Another example is how the people who write for the newspaper makes up lies or exaggerates the story just to get a print. Overall, I actually enjoyed watching this film. It was different where the female was dominant and the males were a little more inferior.

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Clemintine and Joel are lovers who go through a procedure that would erase their memories of each other because of the post break up pain. This is definetly a romantic comedy because it focuses on the love rather then the humor. During the process of erasing Joel's memory of Clemintine, he realizes he wants to keep them rather then erase them. So most of the film consist of what's going on in Joel's head during the erasing. The audience gets to wait and see what would happen to them at the end making this another reason why this movie is a romantic comedy. After you see both Clemintine and Joel's memory erased, they meet again unaware of what they did and what they erased. They are instantly connected and feels something for one another. So the love of Clemintine and Joel surrounds the whole film. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind isn't a typical chick flick, romantic comedy but it gave a different take on how romantic comedies can be portrayed so I enjoyed this movie very much!

"Deserves got nothin to do with it."

Roger Ebert quotes,

"That implacable moral balance, in which good eventually silences evil, is at
the heart of the Western, and Eastwood is not shy about saying so."

I believe that Ebert really defined what a Classic western theme really is. The thought of something Western we automatically picture the heroic cowboy, a group of bandits that are ruthless and corrupt, and some tumbleweed here and there. Also one of the main theme, I think, that is in Unforgiven is to fight for what you truely stand for no matter what. Will Munny, played by Clint Eastwood, is a retired gunfighter who in the past murdered many people. Still haunted by his past he greatly appreciates his former wife's help from preventing him to spiral more out of control with his alcoholic behavior. After his wife past away, he was devoted to follow his new behavior and protect his two children. Munny then gets a proposal to help get two men that brutalized a women.

This is where Munny has to face a huge obstacle. He wants to fight for what he believes in which is to bring these people to justice and bring back the reward money for his family, but at the same time, he realizes this is what he did in the past; hunting people down and killing them. This is what Munny tried to stay away from because of the guilt he felt. Still he had to consider his two children and the money that they need. With this I felt that Munny had a different perspective going in to this journey. I felt that he had a bigger heart and isn't as ruthless as he was before. One example of this is when Munny shots the first guy in the leg. The man calls for water and help and Munny allowed his friend to help him without getting shot. Munny realizes this is what he did in the past but tried to make it better by trying to help. Another example of Will trying to fight for what he stands for is the last scene with Will in the saloon along with Little Bill, the local sheriff. Will is angered that Little Bill killed his best friend and "partner in crime" Ned Logan. Little Bill beat Logan up for trying to stand up for what he even believed in which was not to give up names. When Munny kills Little Bill I felt that this was his last battle with evil. Will Munny throughout the film showed his beliefs and he took it to the extra mile to really fight for what he stood for.

Behind the Scenes: West Side Story

West Side Story is a musical directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is an adaptation of the broadway musical which the film came out to be a success. West Side Story won ten Academy Awards including Best Picture. This film has a list of talanted actors and actresses who play very important role. This film about two lovers who society will say don't belong with each other. Tony played by the hunky Richard Beymer is an ex gang leader for the Jets. He instantly falls in love with Maria played by the beautiful Natalie Wood who is the younger sister of the Jets rival gang leader, the Sharks. You can see both groups dislike for each other during the first scene where they battle it out for the territory. Riff who is the leader of the Jets wants to get back at the Sharks so he and his gang want to start a rumble against the Sharks where they fight to win the "turf". Tony and Maria do not meet until the dance where you can see seperation between the Jets and Shark. When their eyes finally meet they are attracted to each other and start to talk only to have Maria's older brother Bernardo or Nardo to seperate them. With totally different background, Tony and Maria must find a way to have each other with the idea that no one will ever understand that.


One thing I enjoyed most was the acting. The two hours watching this movie was totally worth it. West Side Story really deserves praise and awards that was given. All the singing and dancing throughout the movie showed some very talanted people. One character, Natalie Wood, who plays Maria really impressed me. Wood was born on July 20, 1938 in California. She started working in the film industry at the age of 5 and is also known for her role in Rebel without a Cause. Watching Rebel without a Cause last year in American Literature both her characters connected by being part of a gang. Also both characters includes the love for the one member of the opposing gang. I believe that Woods was a perfect person for the part of Maria. Her performance really shined throughout the musicl, espeically when there was danicng and singing. With that I would have to say the choreography really hit the mark and was flawless. Also the acting of Wood seem to come naturally. There was so many different emotions in this film which Wood captured. I really felt her happiness when she's with Tony and her heart broken when Tony dies in her arms.


Maria's love Tony is played by actor Richard Beymer. Beymer was born Feburary 20, 1938 in Iowa. He is also known in films inluding Diary of Anne Frank and of course, West Side Story. I also thought Beymer made great efforts to really bring out the Tony in him! Beymer was chosen for this part because of his passion throughou the film. You go on a journey with Beymer in West Side Story. I fell in love with his character because of the things he tried to do for love. Watching Tony made me realize that Tony and Maria really made the movie complete.

Other characters included Anita, friend of Maria and girlfriend of Bernado. She is played by Rita Moreno who became the first female and only Puerto Rican to win an Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy!


Bernardo, played by George Chakiris, had huge success with this movie. Chakiris is a dancer won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor he also won a Grammy.


Overall I really enojyed this musical and it sets itself apart from other recent musicals like High School Musical and others like Chicago and Grease. I thought the characters did superb and applaud them for the singing and dancing!