~Tuesday~ What started as a conversation back in the first week of February of this year, I received a recommendation to watch two movies: Picnic and Bus Stop.
I watched Picnic a week after that, and I enumerated my thoughts and observations about it in my February 8 blog entry.
Tonight, Bob and I watched Bus Stop. He owns the movie, and has seen it many times.
Synopsis: A naive but stubborn cowboy (Don Murray) falls in love with a saloon singer (Marilyn Monroe) and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.
Of note, from Wikipedia, about the film: “Unlike most of Marilyn Monroe’s movies, Bus Stop is neither a full-fledged comedy nor a musical, but rather a dramatic piece. Monroe does however sing one song: ‘That Old Black Magic’ (by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer).”
My thoughts and observations about the movie:
- The male protagonist, “Beauregard ‘Bo’ Decker,” was the kind of person I hate—wild, loud, and with zero self-awareness. Don Murray did a good job making me cringe at just about every scene he was in.
- The character of the female protagonist, Cherie, had the infuriating inability to make a decision and to assert herself. Marilyn did a good job with her, as I stayed annoyed with her throughout the movie, too.
- I liked seeing Hope Lange at such a young age.
- I thought this movie was going to be more about bus stops, or buses, but it was actually more about rodeos.
- With all that said, it might sound like I didn’t like this movie, but that wasn’t the case.
- Truth be told, though, my favorite part was watching it with Bob, Frances, and Vincent.