Sunday, May 2, 2010

3 Best Friends Marathon: Movies Featuring Cross-Dressing

Sylvia Scarlett (1935): Somehow this movie dodged my radar for twenty-five years. Katherine Hepburn (who I love) dresses up as a fellah to avoid the coppers. She's doesn't really look like a boy but seems to trick everyone with her deep voice and pants. She and her fugitive father meet up with Cary Grant (donning a terrible cockney accent) and a British maid and naturally, they start a traveling comedy show. It's a weird movie but along with Adam's Rib, Born Yesterday, My Fair Lady, and The Philadelphia Story, has convinced me to see everything George Cukor ever directed.

Just One of the Guys (1985): I was having trouble deciding which cross-dressing movie to choose. I narrowed it down between Glen or Glenda, Tootsie, and In Like Flint. Then I showed Whitney the trailer for Just One of the Guys and she begged me to choose it. She's chosen some of my recommendations for previous marathons (you can thank me for The Initiation) so I returned the favor. This is one of your typical "girl dresses up like a boy for equality" movies. It's like Yentl with more nudity. "We Love the 80s" loves this movie. That meant that I knew the ending before we even put the DVD in. But it was great, 80s teen-com. Really underrated.

I Was a Male War Bride (1949): Two Cary Grant movies in one night! We're classy. In this one, Cary Grant plays a French military man (donning absolutely no accent at all) who falls in love with Ann Sheridan, an American military gal who gets on his last nerve. When they decide to get married, they have to go through U.S. Military-grade red tape and Grant is forced to stay awake for about three days straight. Honestly, hoping Grant finds a bed to sleep in becomes a bigger subplot than their trip around the world. If you're only watching this for the cross-dressing, be prepared to wait about an hour and half to see it.

9 comments:

Simon said...

Katharine Hepburn! Oh, how anyone could mistake you for anything other than awesome, I'll never know.

Andrew K. said...

Sylvia Scarlett is a weird movie...Cary Grant looks so pudgy. But Kate is Kate and Kate is great (and it's a Cukor film too). It's dated, but still fun for the most part.

Heather said...

I loved Just One of the Guys when I was a kid! I remember being surprised at how big her boobs were when she flashed them at the end. She really strapped those things down when she was a boy.

And how could you not choose Just One of the Girls (also called Anything For Love), starring the amazing Corey Haim and Nicole Eggert! Brilliant movie!

Goose3984 said...

I think The World According to Garp should have been considered. John Lithgow makes a great woman! An lets not forget To Wong Foo.

Heather said...

I'm glad that they Carey Grant didn't try for any kind of French accent. The cockney one was bad enough, and I bet it would've been a million times better than any attempt at a french one. I'd be much happier if more often directors would say, "you can't do that accent well, so don't do it at all."

And Heather, we were so surprised at how big her boobs were, too! We were even trying to figure out if maybe they weren't hers and somehow they faked them. They were porno boobs!

Heather said...

After being shocked on my first viewing by how big her boobs were, I realized on the second viewing that she's wearing a bikini at the beginning of the movie and you realize she does in fact have big boobs (relatively speaking). They don't seem AS big as when they're liberated at the end...But it does seem like they were in fact her boobs flashed at the end.

And that's probably how she got the part. "We need an androgynous female with a low voice...but with big boobs. This is an 80s movie and we have to give the audience what they want! The last 80s teen movie that didn't have an obligatory tit shot, there was a riot at the theatre!"

dw said...

i thought katherine was a really good looking boy.

Billy Büscat said...

i wouldve gone with Ed Wood, a good film by all accounts

just for the record the warriors is my favourite film also =]

elgringo said...

Simon - I certainly didn't mistake her for a boy.

Andrew - He might have looked pudgy in Sylvia Scarlett but he caught Hepatitis while filming I Was a Male War Bride.

Heather - They were quite a pair.

Brad - I thought about choosing Garp because I love that movie but we always try to pick movies we've never seen before.

Heather, Heather, and Aaron - You are my friends!

Billy - You might be my new best friend.