Heading down to the month of giving thanks and to be honest I wasn't quite sure of what movie I wanted to give thanks to or be more appreciative for. And as my memory at times comes to me with a reminder of my past, I found Jimmy Stewarts Harvey that I've not seen in quite a long time. This was one of those films that my parents had a VHS copy of Harvey and at times I feel like I remember watching bits and pieces of the movie but at times I don't remember watching the film all the way through. Even though it's been quite a long time I figure well, Jimmy Stewart has been a big part of my childhood and the movie itself is on Amazon Prime (leaving in close to nine or eight days depending). I figured well I need to express my thanks and appreciation to legendary actor Jimmy Stewart.
Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewart) is a wealthy drunk who starts having visions of a giant rabbit named Harvey. Elwood lives with his sister Veta (Josephine Hall) and her daughter (Victoria Horne), and Veta worries that Elwood has gone insane. In the process of trying to have him committed, though Veta admits that she occasionally sees Harvey herself. The director of the mental home, Dr. Chumley (Cecil Kellaway), tries to reconcile his duty to help Elwood with his own growing experience with Harvey.
Like John Wayne in terms of favorite actors that my parents love, Jimmy Stewart was another one of my parents favorite actors that they loved to watch from start to finish hence It's a Wonderful Life is a great example of that and this is another one of those films where you can in a sense relate to Jimmy Stewarts performances on screen and this is another one of those films where sure the man is crazy but he's a good crazy not all those crazies who you feel the need to ignore or scared of and want to get away from while the guys in white take them away forcing them to wear a really long sleeve shirt no, this is defiantly a film about expressing who that individual is and just appreciate him or her for what he or she is and personally, that's always something I always struggle when it comes to people at times from my co-workers to even members of my family or at times cousins. Now if you remember twenty five years ago where we had a little film that Edward Norton had an imaginary friend in Brad Pitt, well this movie was long before Fight Club stepped it up a notch like 130 mph. Sadly everyone Harvey wasn't the inspiration behind author Chuck Palahniuk (still can't pronounce the last name) book Fight Club, hell I even looked it up on Wikipedia just to make sure my joke still stand. No doubt Harvey is in the comedy genre, though it still at times made me like oh okay, mostly don't know when to laugh but granted there were times especially in one scene when one of the guys in white dragged Jimmy Stewart's sister into the insane asylum and as bad as this might sound it put a smile on my face because if it was me that would be something I would do. Most drunks I'm familiar with (and it's a slim few), always use alcohol as a way to subdue the anger from work or have a good time even kill some memories that leave a scar, and watching the movie I often wonder okay so does Dowd use booze as a way to enjoy life a little more or he uses alcohol and sees Harvey as his way to see a big bunny and honestly I don't know but I'm assuming that Stewart's character just uses the bars as a way to enjoy life more and literally doesn't abuse it because we don't see him drink a ton so really I'm just thinking that he's more of a guy that's just like Harry Carry always going for one type of booze and only that type of booze. When I was a kid I never really understood Jimmy Stewart as an actor because really I all about finding a hero and John Wayne was that kind of actor that you want to be like growing up just like Harrison Ford, now in my old age I truly understand Jimmy Stewart as an actor through the movies he's made for many reasons Stewart was the everyman always being the underdog, the world his not on our side and Jimmy really fits that role perfectly when it comes to films like It's a Wonderful Life and Harvey furthermore he's just that kind of actor that you can always watch and relate too when you watch his films granted we don't see some of that in the Hitchcock films well, maybe Rear Window, though with films like Harvey, Stewart is that guy who perfected the role of being the everyday man that men can relate to when you sit down and watch his films. So, in the month of November and giving thanks to your fellow man I most certainly want to give thanks to Jimmy Stewart for being that one actor when you are down or depressed, you can sit down and watch a man where you can point to and say that you can relate this one person.
No comments:
Post a Comment