A HOLE IN THE HEAD (1959)

In what universe was this film even set?!  Full-time loser Frank Sinatra runs a hotel in Miami Beach that somehow doesn't make any money.  He hasn't paid his rent in over 5 months or even paid his employees in 5 weeks(!!!), but instead of trying to get some cash together he's out partying like it's 1999.  A closet full of "$200 suits", dancing at clubs, driving around drunk in his shiny Cadillac convertible with a sloshed beatnik bimbo in his lap.  Oh yeah, he also has an 11-year-old son that seems to pretty much raise himself.  The film opens with Frank finishing up a long night of partying, he comes in at 4 a.m. to find his kid holding an eviction notice.  So what does he do?  Nothing.  Just goes crying to his older brother, Edward G. Robinson, about needing some money.  After a short eternity of pointless talking, Robinson finally agrees to give him some dough if Frank will agree to marry sexy and sweet Eleanor Parker and run a department store that Robinson owns!!!  The story just goes on and on like this until the inevitable happy ending.  It's terrible.

Fantastic cast (except for that annoying little kid), talented director, costume design by Edith Head, nice photography...I was really hoping to like this movie, but holy fook that story was horrendous!!!  It seemed like every single decision that Sinatra made was bad.  How did so many talented people sign up for this hokum?

Negatives aside, I did enjoy watching Edward G. Robinson and Thelma Ritter.  The Miami locations were cool too.  I was also interested in Carolyn Jones' beatnik character with her blue nail polish, bongos and free spirit.  Kinda unique for a mainstream movie from 1959.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)

James Stewart is the son of an ultrawealthy banker and his ultrasnooty wife, but as love would have it James falls for Jean Arthur who has quite the eccentric family.  And even worst...they're middle-class!  Yikes!

To say that YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU is idealistic and overly sentimental is an understatement, but you know what?  I still love it and I always get a little teary-eyed during that harmonica scene.  Yea, the story is completely unbelievable, but who cares?  It's a fun time.

Quick pace, great ensemble cast full of familiar faces and happy tears.  What more could you ask for? Well, some closure on that Grandpa's IRS situation would be nice, but it never happens.  I guess his troubles just disappear kinda like they do in films of this kind.  Highly recommended.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944)

"...insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.”

Cary Grant lives with his two elderly aunts in a historic district of Brooklyn. He's a dramatic critic and self-proclaimed lifelong bachelor, that is until he secretly marries his beautiful neighbor Priscilla Lane in the opening scene. Cary and Priscilla make a brief stop by home to pack their bags for their honeymoon, when Cary accidentally discovers a dead body! Cary instantly believes this is the doing of his mentally unwell brother Teddy (who believes that he's Theodore Roosevelt), but when he breaks the news to his two dear old aunts they just laugh and tell him no they killed the man he found!!!

At this point Cary is understandably freaking the fuck out and desperately trying to figure out how to fix this situation when out of nowhere his truly psychotic brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) comes home after being on the run from the law for the last 20 years...for mass murder!!!  Add on Grant's problem is a nosy neighborhood policeman (Jack Carson), a drunk underworld surgeon (Peter Lorre), a horny new wife, a pissed off taxi cab driver, a confused sanitarium doctor and twelve more dead bodies!!!

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE is one of the funniest dark comedies of all time. I cannot say enough good things or recommend it enough. Eighty years later and the script is still just as fresh and funny as ever. Pretty much everything about this film is perfect and even after countless viewings I still grin every time I watch it.

Fun fact: even though the movie was filmed in late 1941 it wasn't released until September 1, 1944! This was due to Warner Brothers being contractually required to wait until the play finished it's run. It ran for 1,444 performances.

Leo White. According to IMDb he starred in 439 films (most uncredited, kinda like here) but according to his own personal journal he appeared in over 2,000 films!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is this an inside joke alluding to GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE was filmed on the same interior set? They sure do look a lot alike.