My Fair Lady (1964)

Absolutely the worst movie.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Good things: Beautiful sets, decent songs, ok performances, Higgins is fairly funny, and an easy to follow story.Bad things: WAY too long, useless songs especially from the dad, Audrey Hepburn has one of the worst voices of all time in the fist half of the movie (I know this is on purpose, but my god), and Higgins is a huge ass.My biggest and worst complaint about this fine movie, is that the run time is bloated with useless musical numbers, this is a 1hr 50min movie tops, but because of Bollywood type musical numbers it (like a Bollywood movie) is bloated to 2hrs 50mins. I think it's perfectly fine, but with heavy flaws.

Maybe it wasn't the right mood I was in, or maybe not seeing it in its intended MASSIVE theatrical presentation on 70mm *Super* Panavision (the kind that The Hateful Eight was shot in, to give an idea of the rarity of its stock), or maybe I wasn't in the mood for a shrill musical where the songs weren't to my liking, but this is one of those classics I just didn't get. I don't want to take this away from you if you love it or think you'd be in for this experience that is Alan Jay Lerner adapting George Bernard Shaw with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in two of their most identified roles (this isn't to say best or not best, just that when you think of them this has to pop up). And there are a couple of good things I can say about it, which I'll get to later on here.But I wasn't having the first hour of this at the least, where Hepburn is Eliza Doolittle (no relation to the doctor later played by Harrison, unless that was some intentional coincidence I didn't get), and she is a flower girl (basically a girl of the street, except not a prostitute), and Hepburn plays it with an obnoxious accent. It could all be in the writing from Lerner and the collaborators, but I think Hepburn can be taken to task too. I think I read she thought she was miscast, and she was probably correct - this needed a stronger, younger woman in the role who could play younger AND older with conviction, and Hepburn can do the latter but not the former so much. When she sings she's fine, but with the exception of the flagship song, "I Could've Danced All Night," the songs are prattling, talking too much in song, just... ugh.Rex Harrison is fun as Higgins - maybe he could've played this in his sleep, but he still is trying, and that's appreciated - but Higgins is also a character who is a fairly outspoken misogynist, and this dates the movie. I get how it seemed probably at the time, and I had a couple of chuckles at his blustering, but by near the end of the story he hasn't really changed that much as a character. Even if he sees Eliza differently, as not the flower girl but as a real "woman" who's main attribute is fighting back and standing her ground, will he see other women the same now? Is this change only about his attraction and desire for her (whether it's chaste or not), or is it all shallow, like a lot of this movie may seem to be? I know the song about 'Why can't a woman be more like a man" is meant to show how out of it he is, but it's not enough, at least for me (even if, again, Harrison tries to sell it his 'upper-crust' British best, seriously, he's the best thing about the movie).Sure, the movie is pretty - Cukor and Warner didn't spare much expense with this (okay, maybe a little, but it's not a story that requires the fx of Mary Poppins or Sound of Music's epic scope - and that is something else I can give it, up to a point. But I think that concretely I just couldn't get into it as a musical. I didn't enjoy the song as much as I should've or thought I would, and while a couple are fairly catchy (the song the men sing in the street, "With a Bit of Luck", is tolerable), for many of the songs I felt myself biding my time until they were over. Comparatively to Poppins again, as both were from 1964, this doesn't fare or age as well as a musical either.Again, if you like the songs then more than likely you'll dig the movie. If this review is for anyone it's people on the fence unsure whether a movie musical that was based on an earlier play (which I remember reading in school but vaguely and then got remade as She's All That, which... okay, My Fair Lady at least makes more *sense* than that does when it comes to transforming its female creature for a bet). Despite how a few scenes do have their moments - when Eliza does sort of 'break' from character that she's just cracked with some elite people at a horse race, that's amusing - it's bloated at 3 hours, and in its way kind of portends the more rancid musicals to come in the late 60's.And, lastly, as a story of class distinctions, it's... okay. You know how it's going to end up, mostly, especially as this is deeper down a romantic comedy as much as a musical. But, except for one emotional scene between Eliza and Higgings after that big regal reception (and after a musical number where, wisely cinematography-wise, she's in the background of the room) that does hit its mark well as far as how far apart these people are, I just... well, I just didn't care so much. If it does, then fine! If not, I feel for you!

One of "my favorite movies", though it should have starred Julie Andrews who starred with Rex Harrison on Broadway. In a bit of Oscar irony, Ms. Andrews won the Best Actress Oscar playing Mary Poppins (1964) and Ms. Hepburn wasn't even nominated. Alan Jay Lerner's musical adaptation of Bernard Shaw's classic Pygmalion (1938) story.The film won 8 (out of 12 nominations) Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor for Harrison, and Best Director for George Cukor (his first, on his fifth and last nomination ... 31 years after Little Women (1933)). Gladys Cooper and the marvelous Stanley Holloway were nominated for their supporting roles. #91 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list. #12 on AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories list. "I Could Have Danced All Night" is #17 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time. #8 on AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals list.Harrison plays the great, pompous linguist professor Henry Higgins, who says that the way one speaks reveals everything about them. He claims he can teach any ignorant street person to speak such that they could be passed off as royalty. A fellow linguist and newfound friend, Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), calls his bluff. So, Higgins chooses to undertake an unkempt, cockney-accented flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn), to prove his boast and make his point. When he takes Eliza into his home, to live with him and the visiting Pickering, during the training period, her estranged and drunken father (Holloway) gets the wrong idea and wants a piece of the action. He "sells" his daughter to Higgins, who recommends the man to an associate as a true "moralist".Cooper plays Higgins' disapproving mother. Theodore Bikel plays a former student of the Professor's that becomes the ultimate test of his hypothesis. Jeremy Brett plays a gentleman lovestruck by his first encounter with Eliza. Mona Washbourne plays Higgins' live-in servant.

I watched this movie with a lot of reserve, since I am not a fan of musicals and old movies. "My Fair Lady" forced me to expand my views and start watching more movies from this genre. But this will stay one of the best musicals ever! Didn't like the way it ends, although I understand that this is classic ending.Audrey Hepburn is just amazing and loud. Rex Harrison, in this movie, is simple natural misogynist. Alfred P. Doolittle was annoying, especially when he took money from Professor Henry Higgins.Audrey Hepburn is denied Oscar, she wasn't even nominated, although this movie claimed 8 Oscars and was nominated for four more.