ROSEMARY HARRIS: Okay...last night I was performing some mindless task in my office and - as I often do - I popped a DVD into the player. Just to have some background noises. All was going well until - Lady Sybil died. Now..this was not a surprise. I saw Lady Sybil die last January. And truth be told a few times since then.
How in the world can I still cry when I hear her husband wailing "please don't leave me, luv"? Stopped me cold. Get the tissues.
I still cry at the end of West Side Story. ("How many bullets, Chino?") And the funeral scene in Out of Africa ("He was not mine...")
Bang The Drum Slowly? Get the tissues.
It's not hormonal. Just to balance things out I should add that I laugh every time I watch Bang the Drum Slowly, too.
And Forget Paris.
("Toy-oh-daaaaaaa")
Planes, Trains and Automobiles ("Polka, polka, polka!") and Kingpin.
(Some of the best lines in that one require visuals, watch the film and listen for the line "you leave Rebecca out of this!")
So how did the writers - and actors - successfully elicit these responses. Even after many years and multiple viewings. I guess they made me care about the characters. And gave the characters memorable, believable dialogue.
I'm about to make my last pass on my soon-to-be self-published novel (at least I hope it's the last pass.Without an external deadline it's so easy to think "Oh, just one more look!)
This time I'll be reading with an even closer eye - not just to the language, plot, rhythm and all the other things I usually look at - but to the emotional pull of my words.
Hopefully they'll elicit more laughs than tears!
So...which movies still make you laugh and which still make you cry??
