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rookthorne · 1 year

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⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬

Blood was thicker than water, but no bond was stronger than the one you shared with two of the fiercest and most savage protectors that stalked the earth, and when someone dared threaten what was theirs? Even the devil himself couldn’t save them.

჻჻჻჻჻჻჻჻ 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 ➣ Bodyguard!CW!Bucky Barnes x Model!F!Reader x Bodyguard!Winter Soldier

჻჻჻჻჻჻჻჻ 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 ➣ 5k

჻჻჻჻჻჻჻჻ 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 ➣ Fluff, angst, whump, swearing, panic attacks, gun violence, hostage situations (insults are used towards reader), tending to wounds, polyamorous and secret / forbidden relationship ➣ Protective!Bucky and Protective!Winter Soldier is an understatement, they also speak a lot of Russian

჻჻჻჻჻჻჻჻ 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 ➣ I had the thought of why not have two Bucky's... and yeah, I ran with it. ➣ A very special thank you goes to @sgt-seabass for her help in looking for ways I could oomph this up, and thanks to her, a certain scene made an appearance!

჻჻჻჻჻჻჻჻ 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔 ➣ Deadwood by Really Slow Motion ➣ Seven Nation Army (The Glitch Mob Remix) by The White Stripes, The Glitch Mob ➣ Sweet Dreams (Slowed / Reverbed by siasme) by Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart

჻჻჻჻჻჻჻჻ 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 ➣ @the-slumberparty's Week 3 Creator's Challenge — Masterlist ➣ @allcapsbingo ჻჻჻ 𝗕𝟱 — Model AU ჻჻჻ 𝗜𝟰 — "Not without you!" ჻჻჻ 𝗡𝟯 — Free Space — Bodyguard AU ჻჻჻ 𝗚𝟮 — Times Square ჻჻჻ 𝗢𝟭 — Vulnerability — Masterlist

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨𝐯 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

The big show had finally arrived–after weeks and months of preparation, you were about to take your place centre stage on the catwalk for something you could have only dreamed of doing.

Having been raised in a family not sore for funds, you knew what it was like living in the lap of luxury; people waiting on hand and foot to serve you, extravagant and lavish shopping trips that would make any ordinary person’s eyes water at the total. It wasn’t necessarily a hindrance to your outlook on life — but you woke up to just how lucky you were.

You were walking down the streets of New York with your bodyguards at your father’s insistence, and you came across a family dressed in ragged clothing and begging on the sidewalk. It was like the veil had been lifted and you could see clearly for the first time, not through the rose glasses you had worn since you were a child.

It was at that very spot you had ordered one of your bodyguards to stand with the family while you ran to the closest store to buy the family some dignity, much to the faux annoyance of the bodyguard that followed close behind you.

“I think that’ll be enough,” he said, smiling when you carried an arm full of food products and toiletries to the counter. “They will appreciate it but I can’t have you buying the whole damn store, they won’t know what to do with it all.” You pouted at him and he chuckled, taking the bags of goods and offering his arm for you to take.

You could have sworn that since that moment, your two brooding followers looked at you with an unfathomable softness - a feat that you were sure was impossible from the smaller of the two, but nonetheless, it was there. Just like it was there now, the two of them stood in your dressing room with you while you got ready with an infinite number of stylists bustling around. Their reflections gave away that they were watching like wolves in wait, their teeth only baring when someone burst through the door unexpectedly.

“You two have to calm down,” you started, swivelling in your chair to face them, ignoring the way that the wardrobe crew grumbled. “You’ll have a heart attack otherwise.”

Bucky laughed, his broad shoulders shaking in apparent mirth before they abruptly stopped, his face falling deadpan. “Not a chance.”

The guard next to him, James, stared at you, his face in shadow so you only just made out the slight eyebrow raise. He might have said something, though it was lost behind the black mask he wore.

“C’mon, guys,” you whined. Nerves were making you fidget and you continued to ignore the scowling of the nail tech. “Humour me, I’m already nervous enough.”

If the room were not crowded with staff, you would have been wrapped in Bucky’s arms with soothing words, while James stood to the side and offered you a soft smile that brightened his eyes, his hand taking hold of yours.

But you weren’t alone, you were amongst people that would have no qualms about throwing you to the wolves — the head of the pack being your father, who would downright turn into a monster if he found out the arrangement you had with his two best men.

The secret had to be kept at all cost.

“You will do fine.”

You looked at James and smiled. Out of the two, James struggled the most with displaying any kind of care or outward softness — entirely opposite to his partner. Though he had his moments when he managed to soothe you in his own way. “Thank you, Jamie,” you whispered, and he nodded once, his curtain of dark hair shifting with the sudden movement.

“They won’t know what hit ‘em,” Bucky said, smiling widely and dare you say it, proudly.

“Ten minutes!” A voice called from behind the closed door, and you sighed heavily.

The makeup team did their final touches and cleared away swiftly under the piercing gaze of James, while Bucky watched the stylists move in and adjust your clothes. It was all so much - even after all the rehearsals it still felt like you were walking out there like a fawn, too weak and stumbly on heels that were too big with predators nipping at your heels. The wolves that protected you felt too far away.

“Hey, hey,” a muffled voice said, a blurred face hovered in your sight and you blinked. It was Bucky, and his voice was so low only you would hear him. “You with me, doll? ‘M here, c’mon. Deep breath for me.”

You startled and gasped sharply, the sudden expansion of your lungs making you cough.

“Are you done?” Bucky asked the room at large, his gaze focused on the styling team who nodded quickly. “Get out.”

Shoes scrambled over the linoleum floor and James’ heavy boot falls followed before a slam of the door echoed. “They’re gone,” James said simply, walking back over to stand next to Bucky. “You will do so well, kisa,” he whispered, kneeling down so he could look up at you. His hands were cold when he grabbed yours, but you squeezed them back while taking a deep breath. “And we’re so proud of you, our girl, hmm?”

Bucky’s hand rested on your shoulder as James spoke and he squeezed.

“Yeah,” you breathed, trying your hardest to stem the tide of tears so your makeup wouldn’t be ruined. “Yeah I-I will, I want you to be proud-”

“We always are, sweetheart,” Bucky interrupted. He kissed your forehead softly while James placed a hand on your thigh. “Always proud of our girl, aren’t we, James?”

“Navsegda i vechnost',” James replied.

Bucky snorted and ruffled James’ hair, who let out an indignant huff. “Such a sap.”

A loud knock at the door made the two men turn around quickly, and it opened wide enough for Tracey, your favourite assistant, to peek her head through. Bucky and James relaxed at the sight of her, and you met her eye. “You’re up next, love,” she said before looking between your wolves. “Hey James, Bucky.”

“Thanks, Tracey, I’ll be out there in a second.” Tracey nodded and shut the door softly. You stood and brushed down your outfit, sighing softly.

“You look stunning, doll,” Bucky whispered, cupping your cheek.

James nodded and his eyes brightened above the mask. “Krasivaya, moy kisa.”

You smiled widely at their attention and you started walking forward. In an instant, the soft and comforting aura was dropped, replaced by one that billowed like smoke of fierce protectiveness while they flanked you. Staff gave you a wide berth and you were relieved; you needed the space.

Bodies were flocking to and fro from the stage and amongst them, you spied Tracey standing by the stairs, clipboard in hand and a calm smile on her face amongst the chaos. “Hey,” you greeted, coming to a stop just before her. “All ready to go now, when am I on?”

Tracey glanced down at the clipboard and hummed. “Erica and Sophie need to do their thing, and then it’s you.” She glanced back up and pointedly stared at Bucky and James, who, naturally, didn’t flinch. “You boys can wait just here,” she said, pointing towards the steps. “Mind you don’t get in the way of everyone else.”

You heard James scoff and Bucky rolled his eyes. “Yes, ma’am,” Bucky said, saluting.

“Thank you.”

James and Bucky didn’t leave your side, however. They stuck like glue to you until it was your turn to make your way onto the catwalk, and always the gentlemen, they held your hands on the way up. “Can’t have you falling down. Now, go get ‘em,” Bucky said, beaming.

The stage was bright, the cameras blinding with their constant flashes. A calm settled over you and the catwalk became an extension of your being — it was time to work. People and camera men clamoured at the base of the raised platform as you strutted to the end, and you ignored them, your eyes focused on a point at the far wall.

You imagined Bucky and James waiting for you at the end at the stairs to keep your breathing even, your expression blank and calm. It worked a charm, until a loud shout rang out over the chaos.

There was a man beside you suddenly, waving a Glock and a manic glint in his eye. “There ain’t enough fuckin’ money to save you, bitch!” Cold dread flooded your stomach and then his hand grabbed your bicep hard, the grip bruising.

“Let me-”

“Let the girl go!” Bucky. He was standing on the catwalk, gun drawn, and face carved from stone. “You let her go, and I won’t shoot to kill.”

People were screaming behind you, and you winced, your vision blurring from the tears that burned your waterline. You didn’t want to die. The sudden cold bite of metal hit your temple and you whimpered — the gunman had you in his grip and he wasn’t going to let go, he wasn’t going to release you back to your wolves.

The predatory glint in Bucky’s eyes told you all you needed to know; this was it. He wasn’t looking at you and the silent tears that fell unbidden down your cheeks, he was watching the gunman with such lethal vitriol it was a wonder he didn’t drop dead on the spot.

“I said, let her go, and I won’t shoot to kill.” Bucky’s voice was low, a deep growl from the belly of the wolf. “You don’t want a third eye, do you?”

“Not until her bastard father-” You began to squirm, desperate to get away and back to Bucky and James, even though you couldn’t see the latter. “Stand still, bitch!”

You froze, and so did the world around you. The muzzle of his Glock pushed into your temple again with such force it made you grit your teeth. People were still screaming around you and there was shouting, pleas for safety and to lower weapons.

Where the fuck was James? You sobbed and looked around frantically, there was no sign of him, but Bucky had changed his stance; shoulders straight and legs spread, it was as though he was preparing to pounce.

“Get her father on the phone and maybe I won’t fuck her face up too badly,” the gunman yelled, pulling you close against his chest and wrapping the hand he had around your arm around your throat instead. “She can have an open casket, isn’t that what you want?”

He squeezed and you choked, staring wide-eyed at Bucky. Scrabbling against the man’s arms was doing nothing, but you kept trying — I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die — you begged, a continuous chant.

Bucky’s lip curled in a snarl, and he glanced at you, eyes not softening, before staring back at the gunman. A chill flew down your spine at the absolute fury in his eyes. “I warned you.”

A quiet whoosh sounded far away, the grip on your throat lessened, and a wet splatter echoed right next to your ear, followed by the loud thump of a body hitting the floor.

“DOWN!” A pair of hands grabbed both of your arms and pulled you forward into a hard, broad chest. Screams from the people echoed around you and more gunshots cracked the air.

“Oh my-” You gasped, staring down at the body that once held you like a bargaining chip. It was surreal. The person holding you ran, and you watched in shock as a pair of legs clad in tactical gear appeared beside you — James.

“Dvigat'sya!”

“What-”

“Fucking move, you bastard!” A voice ordered above you over the screaming of the gathered spectators and you realised it was Bucky — Bucky was holding you to his chest in a kind of side hold while he pushed through the crowd, gun in hand.

Someone managed amongst the fray to rush Bucky from the side and you screamed — he had a knife- “No, you fucking don’t!” Bucky roared, the hand with the gun somehow whipped up in time to roundhouse the man in the head, the crack of his skull loud enough to be heard over the chaos around you.

“Hold on, doll, you’re safe,” Bucky continued, his voice sharper than a knife in your ear. Fear spread like wildfire through your entire body and you seized up, the instinct to freeze setting in before you could comprehend his assurance. “Fuck, James, prikroy menya!”

“Idti!”

Arms swept under your knees and behind your shoulders, and you were resting against Bucky’s chest — eyes still wide with fear and confusion. People were running and scattering in their haste to get away, and gunshots still filled the air. You could see James behind Bucky with his Skorpion drawn, the muzzle flashing with each shot he took.

There was no way to make sense of what had happened — you were just on the catwalk, doing your job, your passion, and now you were in Bucky’s arms while James slaughtered the remaining gunmen with no care for taking them alive. A switch had been flicked between the two of them, and you were helplessly struck dumb with the absurdity of it all.

The night air was cold against your already goosebump stricken skin and you gasped, flinching instinctively and curling closer into Bucky’s chest. “I got you, sweetheart, hang on,” Bucky rushed. He was looking around with narrowed eyes, looking for something, when they widened. “James! There, go!” He jerked his head towards what he was searching for but James stood stock still, gun trained on the entrance of the venue.

“Go, take her and get out of here!”

Bucky growled, a snarl on his lips and you whimpered. “I will not leave you the fuck behind, get your ass in the car and drive!”

“Ty, blyad', idiot, ya skazal tebe poyti, i vot ty prosto-”

Hearing them fight was worse than a knife to the guts, and you whined, reaching a hand out to James. “Please, I-”

“You heard her,” Bucky yelled over his shoulder while he stalked to what you saw was a car, the black SUV they had driven you here in. “Popast' v chertovu mashinu.”

The cold night air vanished when Bucky placed you on the back seat. “Bucky, what happened, I-I don’t-” You tried, but you were silenced when he sat next to you and pulled you close so your head could rest on his shoulder.

“You were targeted,” Bucky explained hastily. The sound of the driver’s door slamming shut made you flinch, and the car rumbled to life. “I fucking knew something wasn’t right-”

Tires squealed against the pavement and the car jerked forward, pushing you harder against Bucky’s shoulder. “I’m sorry- Hang on,” James said loudly, and the car swerved around a corner. “Bezopasnyy dom, Bucky?”

“Da, tikhiy,” Bucky replied. “Vy videli, kto yeshche eto bylo?”

James and Bucky were still talking, but their voices were becoming muffled, and you started to breathe heavily — the tides of panic were starting to pull you under. You were attacked? Targeted? The concept would be laughable if you were in a fit state of mind, who would want to attack you, it was fucking absurd.

“Sweetheart, stay with me,” Bucky whispered and you sobbed. His hand grabbed yours and placed it over his chest against the tactical shirt. “Breathe with me, in and out.” The steady beat of Bucky’s heart grounded you and you tried pulling in a lungful of air, but it caught on a sob. “I know, I know, sweetheart, you’re alright,” he soothed, pulling you impossibly closer.

“Bol'she vragov yeye ottsa, bez somneniya,” James said, his voice still loud and you opened your eyes, not realising you had closed them. Bucky growled low in his throat at James’ statement.

“Prosto voz'mi nas tuda i bystro,” Bucky then said, his voice low and his grip tightening. “Doll, look where we are.”

You looked up from his shoulder and gasped softly. The bright lights of Times Square shone in the night and into the back seat of the car. Bucky loosened his grip slightly so you could turn and watch the lights fly by; it was no secret that you loved the the area, both James and Bucky had accompanied you on every impromptu trip, and seeing it at such a desperately fearful moment instilled a calm unlike any other — it flowed and ebbed through the panic and loosened the vice around your chest, and the warmth of Bucky’s presence only made it easier to breathe.

“Are you okay, kisa?” James asked from the front, glancing at you in the rear mirror when you met his gaze.

Nodding slowly, you glanced back out the window. Bucky pulled you close again and you followed, not willing to be far from him for long at all. “We need to do another impromptu shopping trip,” Bucky offered, his voice quiet. The sigh from behind James’ mask was almost inaudible. “What, you love seeing her light up just as much as I do, punk.”

“You are not wrong,” James replied, and the car was cloaked in darkness again, the lights of Times Square long gone.

The inside of the car was silent for a little while, filled with the occasional slight sniffle from you, and the hum of the car engine. It was broken when James turned the wheel and hissed quietly. “James?” Bucky asked, sitting ramrod straight.

“It’s nothing-” James tried, but Bucky was having none of it. The concern rolled from him in waves and you began to grow worried, too.

“Like hell it’s nothing, you idiot,” Bucky said, his voice sharp with worry. “Can you drive?” James nodded, though Bucky didn’t relax. “When we get there, I’ll sweep the place and you stay with her.”

A stormy look pinched James’ brow and his eyes darkened, and if he wasn’t wearing his mask, you knew you would have seen him scowling and gritting his teeth in frustration — he didn’t take well to being ordered around. “James,” you said softly, and he looked at you briefly in the mirror before focusing on the road again. “Please let Bucky look at the wound when we get- Where are we going?”

“Safe house,” Bucky answered.

You nodded. “Let Bucky look at you when we get there, please, for me.” It seemed to take all the effort in him, but you watched James’ shoulders sag as he nodded once.

Half an hour later, the car pulled into a home nestled deep amongst trees, the long driveway passing in a heartbeat. Bucky shifted on the seat and kissed you on the forehead. “You wait with James,” he said, then he looked towards the front. “Give me the Skorpion.”

James’ hand reached back with his favourite weapon and Bucky took it, pulling out the clip and replacing it with a fully loaded magazine. The car came to a stop, and Bucky jumped out immediately, focus entirely honed on the unassuming house.

“Come, kisa,” James said, opening the door. You followed and gasped at the cold air of the night. James’ door shut quietly and he beckoned you over. “C’mere.”

Warmth enveloped you when James pulled you close, and you shuffled closer so you were plastered to his front, soaking in the offered act of comfort like it was your last. “I was so scared,” you mumbled, tearing up again.

“I know, kisa,” James rasped. His voice was muffled by the mask and you pulled away slightly, reaching up and around to the back of his head. It came away with a click and James sighed. “Thank you.”

“I know you like wearing it, but I want to see my James now,” you whispered. James smiled and one of his hands held the back of your neck, and pulled you closer.

Footsteps sounded from the front of the house. “It’s clear. Get inside, come on.” With Bucky’s command, you grabbed James’ arm and walked forward, wincing in sympathy whenever he grimaced. “Where did you get hit?”

“My side, I think it just grazed-”

Bucky scowled. “Doll, take him straight to the bathroom, it’s the first door on the left in the hallway.” You nodded and started walking when Bucky stalked towards what looked to be the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, “You better do as you’re fucking told, punk.”

You would have rolled your eyes as James’ heavy sigh had you been in a joking mood. Exhaustion settled heavy in your mind, weighing down your body with the realisation of what had just happened.

“Stay with us, kisa,” James breathed, watching you as he entered the surprisingly large bathroom. “Don’t get stuck in that pretty head of yours.”

“Sorry-” You tried, but you were cut off by James’ lips on yours. It was a soft kiss, sweet and giving, and it had you almost weak in the knees.

James pulled away first and shook his head slightly. “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry,” he ordered gently, holding your face between his hands. “I will not have it.”

“Stop pulling moves on our girl and sit your ass down,” Bucky said suddenly, appearing in the doorway, a smirk teasing the corner of his lips. “Go on.”

With a huff, James sat on the bench in the shower, moving to take off the tactical gear when you rushed forward. “No, no, let me,” you said, fingers already moving to undo the buckles. James looked up at you with wide eyes, your urgency rendering him speechless.

Metal clinked behind you and you figured Bucky was preparing the med kit, but you didn’t rush, every move seemed to irritate James’ wound and like hell you would cause him more pain.

A few moments later, James sat on the bench shirtless with the wound in his side on full display. It was a bullet wound, though thankfully it was only a graze; like all three of you had hoped. “Alright,” Bucky said, sitting next to James and facing him with a grimace. “This will sting.”

“Hang on,” you said. The two of them watched you curiously as you darted out the room, coming back with a small stool from the kitchen you had passed by just a few moments ago. You placed it in front of James and sat down. “Come here, baby,” you whispered, and James immediately obeyed, his eyes clouded with unshed tears. Bucky watched sadly while James got comfortable, your hand on the back of his neck and your fingers in his hair so you could scratch his scalp, while the other rested against his shoulder. One of his hands rested on your knee, the other on your thigh, and he squeezed whenever a sharp breath of pain left him.

You had learnt through trial and error — mostly error — that James wouldn’t let his guard down around anyone bar the two of you, and while he was hurting… it was even harder for him to maintain that facade.

“Okay, go ahead,” you whispered, looking at Bucky who nodded once, and got to work patching the wound.

“You did well today, doll,” Bucky began, the needle in his fingers moving with precision. “Even though it all went to shit.” A subtle shift against your neck told you James was nodding his agreement.

“What happened?” You asked, still maintaining the soothing motion of scratching James’ scalp. “I was out there and all of a sudden it just… blew up. I didn’t know what the hell was happening.”

There was a pause and you watched Bucky’s expression remain carefully neutral. “I honestly don’t know who the fuck it was that attacked you tonight,” Bucky said. “You know your father isn’t exactly a saint-”

You knew that for a fact. He was a dirty CEO, probably worse, and it was why you decided to split from his ‘ideal daughter’ and pave your own way. No way did you want to be involved in dirty money.

“-And we,” Bucky gestured to James and then himself, “believe someone wanted revenge for something that he’s done, one way or another. It’s the only thing that makes sense right now, anyway.”

Silence fell while you considered his words. And then, you sighed heavily at the sudden weight of the world on your shoulders. “Well, fuck.”

Bucky snorted and continued to bandage James’ side. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Wait- How did- Who killed the man that had me-”

“James did,” Bucky answered, not meeting your eyes.

You gaped at Bucky and your hand tightened in James’ hair. “How? That was not a typical gunshot wound.”

“There has always been a case in your dressing room with one of James’ snipers,” Bucky went on to explain, eyes still trained on the wound. James was stiff in your hold, bracing himself. “The case and gun only unlock slash operate when it is his fingerprints. When you went up the stairs he doubled back and assembled it, and then hid in the rafters to watch you and the crowd. I knew he was going to take the shot,” he gestured to his ear. “Thanks to that device.”

“You what?” You asked, astonished. “There has been a sniper rifle in my fucking dressing room this entire time? How did I never see it?”

“I am good at hiding,” James whispered against your neck. “You never saw it because I was the one that hid it, the staff didn’t know.”

“What the fuck.” A quiet laugh left both James and Bucky at your surprise.

“You know we’re nothing if not thorough, doll.”

A few moments had passed when Bucky finally shifted in his seat and placed the unused supplies back in the med kit before running a hand up and down James’ back. “It’s done, you did good.”

“Thank you,” James said quietly, his voice slightly muffled by your neck. He placed a soft kiss there and then sat up, wincing from the pain.

You smiled sadly and stood from the stool.

“Wait, wait,” Bucky called, hand raised. “How’s your arm?”

“It’s fine, I think it’ll only bruise a little bit,” you assured, looking between the both of them who were staring up at you. “James stopped him just in time.”

They both looked displeased but you walked out of the bathroom. It felt like you were just going through the motions, operating on autopilot as you took the stool back into the kitchen. It was all too much. Your father, the attack, the realisation that no matter how hard you tried, the trail of sin would follow you and endanger you; maybe even for the rest of your life.

“Sweetheart?” The voice was soft and you turned to see Bucky hovering behind you, a slight frown that was the final nail in the coffin. “Oh, babydoll,” Bucky breathed, rushing forward and throwing the med kit onto the counter when you shuddered, a heart wrenching sob wracking your chest. “C’mere, I’m here.”

The sudden embrace broke the floodgates and you wailed - overwhelmed and so, so afraid. Bucky held you against his chest in a crushing grip, willing it to ground and soothe you, when James poked his head out from the bathroom. They must have shared a silent look because you felt James against your back, his bulk just as warm and comforting as Bucky’s.

“We’ve got you, kisa,” James whispered while Bucky began to rock you gently side to side. “You’re safe.”

A moment later, Bucky shifted you slightly in his arms, and James let go. You whined at the loss of contact but Bucky hushed you. “Let’s get into bed, you need your rest, and so does this punk.”

James huffed and led the way towards a closed door.

“Please lay with me, I don’t want to be alone,” you whispered, clutching Bucky’s shirt. “Please.”

“Of course we’re gonna stay, sweetheart,” Bucky offered, walking you to the bed and placing you on the edge. “We wanna hold you.”

James made a hum of agreement and moved onto the bed, kneeling behind you. “Arms up.” You did so and James pulled your shirt off, his touch lingering on your skin. Bucky made short work of your shoes, socks, and pants with minimal help from you. The weight behind you shifted and the sound of more buckles unfastening made your skin warm.

“No, not tonight,” Bucky said, reading your mind. “Just wanna hold you.”

You nodded and then James’ hand pulled you back so your back was flush with his chest. Thinking of his wound, you opened your mouth to protest when his hand rested against your stomach and he tucked his chin into the crook of your neck. “It’s fine, don’t you worry. Just relax for us.”

The bed bounced when Bucky sidled up to your front. You looked up at him, feeling safe and content while between them. “Well, hey there, sugar,” Bucky purred, smirking cheekily. “You come here often?”

You giggled and James made a quiet noise of protest. “No funny business.”

“Bite me,” Bucky retorted, looking affronted.

“I am tempted-”

“Boys,” you interrupted. Bucky stared at you and you could just feel James’ annoyance. They were so petty. “Cuddle me.” Instantly, James’ arms tightened around your middle and Bucky slung his leg over your thigh, moving so close you could rest your forehead against the juncture of his throat and you rested a hand against his chest, right over his heart.

“Didn’t have to tell us twice, sweetheart,” Bucky said, the rumble of his voice against your palm soothing.

The three of you laid in silence until a wave of exhaustion suddenly hit you, a wide yawn leaving you before you could stifle it. “Go to sleep, kisa,” James whispered, and Bucky kissed your forehead. “We’ve got you, you’re safe.”

Sleep pulled you under before you could reply, and you missed the way James and Bucky looked at you; so tenderly and with a fierce protectiveness, unmeasured and untamed. They would protect you, no matter the cost.

navsegda i vechnost' = forever and eternity krasivaya, moy kisa = beautiful, my kitten dvigat'sya! = move! prikroy menya! = cover me! idti! = go! ty, blyad', idiot, ya skazal tebe poyti, i vot ty prosto- = you fucking idiot, I told you to go and there you are- popast' v chertovu mashinu = get in the damn car bezopasnyy dom = safe house da, tikhiy = yes, the quiet one. vy videli, kto yeshche eto bylo? = did you see who else it was? bol'she vragov yeye ottsa, bez somneniya = more of her father's enemies, no doubt prosto voz'mi nas tuda i bystro. = just get us there, and fast.

⠈⠂⠄ 𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 | 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 | 𝐚𝐨𝟑 ⠄⠂⠁

⠈⠂⠄𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ⠄⠂⠁

#bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x f!reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x female reader #bucky x f!reader #bucky x reader #winter soldier x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes oneshot #navy and roo's sleepover #all caps bingo 2023 #rookthorne's works #TTTW

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transgayhawkeyepierce · 2 years

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My takes on M*A*S*H characters' sexualities:

Hawkeye: THEE bisexual king. Preference leaning towards men. Dated mostly women in Korea for safety/privacy reasons but was involved in the gay scene back home. I personally don't headcanon him as nb, but I think his effeminacy is really important to him and how he views his queerness and place in the world.

Trapper: Bisexual with a preference towards women. Was always down with the gays in a chill way, but discovered this side of himself in Korea when his image as a deviant lead to some genuine propositions. Figures he's going to have to leave behind gay sex when he gets back to the "real world" but does eventually start hooking up with guys again after working through some stuff about the war. Hawk and him fucked and YES there were feelings.

BJ: Gay. Even outside of BeejHawk reasons (and I do adore BeejHawk) and gay little outfit reasons, I like this for the themes of his character. I like the idea that BJ was doomed to never have the white picket fence American pie life, and that it never existed in the first place (BJ left before it really could), the way the ideal nuclear family doesn't really exist in real life. It adds another layer to his unhinged fixation on his perfect life back home, and how unnatural it feels. BJ goes to Maine? Okay, I'll raise you BJ gets involved in the leather scene.

Oh, and his name is literally BLOW JOB.

Frank: Gay. Unfortunately.

Margret: Butch Lesbian. I know the comments about her wanting a crew cut and wearing men's underwear were throw away gags but they really do be having me like 👁️👄👁️. I think after the war she is forced confront the implications of the fact the she is not completely comfortable with feminity, and she has to make a deliberate decision to dress in a way that makes her visually an outsider, now that she doesn't get to dress in her masculine uniform. She also explores the fact that she feels the most fulfilling emotional, romantic, and sexual connections with women. She finds a partner that she can be as strong, masculine AND feminine as she wants with. She struggles with the lack of respect society throws at her but she feels like her most authentic self. Her, Hawkeye, BJ, and Charles get together for brunch and joke about how she is more man than all of them put together.

Charles: Gay. For no real reason than 1. I just like the thought, 2. He is so dramatic and over the top, 3. I think it's funny if him and Hawkeye have a wierd little thing going on. He'd have angst about failing to pass down the "Winchester bloodline" but calms down when he finds a snotty little man to be insufferable with. I am also a fan of ace Charles.

Father Mulcahy: Gay. I think Father Mulcahy always found the whole marriage + kids white picket fence life extremely unappealing for reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on, so it felt like a relief to give it all up. He comes to terms with being gay and having a little crush on Hawkeye during his Badass Father Mulcahy phase.

Henry: Bisexual. Literally that one post that's like if you ask Henry if he thinks men are attractive, he responds "Well that James Stewart sure is a guy" and never thinks about it again.

Radar: Straight

Potter: Straight

Klinger: Straight and cis, but loves crossdressing, good for him.

#I hope I wasn't offensive to any identities or anything #Hawkeye Pierce #trapper john mcintyre #margaret houlihan #bj hunnicutt #frank burns #charles winchester iii #radar o'reilly #Maxwell Klinger #father Mulcahy #sherman potter #m*a*s*h #mash

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romancomicsnews · 8 months

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Movie Redo: My take on the MCU's Illuminati

While I was a fan of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, one aspect of the film I was the least impressed with was the execution of the Illuminati, a Marvel "Team" from the comics full of some of the leaders of the Marvel universe.

The Team works behind the scenes for bigger picture problems effecting the superhuman world. As the leaders of the Fantastic Four, The Inhumans, The Avengers, The X-Men, Atlantis, and The Sorceror Supreme, they often make decisions, with the best of attentions, from places of privilege, and often make the wrong call.

While the team in the MCU does appear to lie to the public about Doctor Strange's death, and appear to control an Ultron Army, they do not appear to be as morally grey as the team we see in the comics. They're basically that universe's Avengers, which is a disservice to the team.

I'd like to pitch some small changes to the people who were chosen to be a part of the Illuminati and some choices in the film that were made to better represent the team and make the movie more interesting.

Motivation

The Illuminati in the film capture Strange in order to stop him from causing another incursion and are trying to figure out what to do with him and America Chavez. While they are hinderances, they are not exactly villains or heroes in the film. While they should not be on Wandas side, they absolutely need to be villains.

A small and simple change should be they are using Strange as bait, and are trying to extract Americas powers themselves in order to kill Wanda and Multiversal threats in the future. They see their "utopia" as the right way of living, and hope to expand their peace across dimensions.

This bold and insane goal is exactly the type of arrogant, terrible and small minded plan the Illuminati should be doing.

Who do we keep?

While I love all of these actors, for the betterment of this story, we need to change up some things.

I believe because the role they play in comics, the Illuminati are the only team I can think of that needs to be all White and all Men. All of them come from places of privilege, all of them are in positions of power, and are short sighted due to their lack of different experiences.

Immediately, Captain Marvel, Captain Carter, and Baron Mordo are gone. I also think Krasinski adds nothing, and so I'd like him gone too.

Patrick Stewart as Professor X is a good inclusion and should stay as is, though he needs to be more villainous.

Black Bolt is by far my favorite inclusion of the crew, every detail down to his death. Needs to stay. Shoutout to everyone like me who saw Inhumans in IMAX.

Whole roles need to be filled?

As we have the leader of the X-Men and Inhumans, we should run through the other types of members of the team in order to narrow down picks and actors. We'll need a leader of a space team, a sorcerer, a king, and a leader of the Avengers.

While this does narrow down the team members, we have wiggle room with the multiverse and MCU actors. While I didn't love this team, clearly whoever chose it had some fun creative ideas. I want to emulate that.

We also need to think of visually different people for Wanda to fight and destroy. They need to be powerful enough to make it a fight but in the end overpowered and killed due to their own arrogance.

Leader of the Avengers - James Barnes AKA Captain America

While I don't love Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic, one thing I did love about it was it gave a lot of fans what they've been asking for.

While I love Sam Wilson as Captain America and he is the right choice for it, a lot of fans, including myself, did also want Bucky to take on the mantle. While we won't see that happen anytime soon, I think giving Sebastian Stan his version of the costume in this movie would've made a lot of fans really happy.

Bucky will lead a much more brutal Avengers, which is more of a military force. I'm imagining in this universe darker versions of hand to hand combat fighters like Daredevil, Moon Knight, and Shang-Chi.

Making him a darker version of Cap would also cement why Sam was the right choice for the role. Plus, who doesn't love more Sebastian Stan?

King of Latveria - Victor Von Doom AKA Doctor Doom

Taking up the place of Namor and sort of Reed, we are bringing back Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom.

Doom will be the tech specialist of the team and the funder of the team. Instead of Ultron bots, headquarters will be manned and Defended by Doom bots. This will be an underpowered version of the character who still uses electricity and technology.

I think this will be a fun easter egg for older fans, and give a good actor a second chance at an excellent character. If Toby Kebbell is preferred, that's cool too. But I think people prefer the classics.

Leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy: Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord The Living Planet

Who better to face Wanda than another being that control reality?

Serving as the Illuminati's Doctor Manhattan would be Star-Lord, now a full celestial.

After Rocket Raccoon found a way to drain Ego of his power, Star-Lord became a living god. After using that power to defeat villains like Thanos, Hela, Gorr, and other cosmic threats, Star-Lord brought piece to his galaxy, and kept his operatives in key points in the Galaxy to ensure peace.

Star-Lord will be much less human than he has ever been portrayed, isolated in his cosmic abilities.

Much like Captain Marvel was, Star-Lord will be the last one standing, obviously the biggest threat to Wanda. In the end, she will destroy his planet, turning Peter into dust.

Sorcerer Supreme - Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio

The inclusion of Mordo was fun, but it did not think big enough.

Having a villain of the MCU be the new Sorcerer Supreme, it should be someone we do not expect, and neither does Strange.

In this universe, after being fired from the Baxter Foundation for their failed illusion technology, Quentin Beck traveled to Kamar-Taj and became the Sorcerer Supreme, basically having the same story Strange had.

Having a trickster like Beck now actually have magic would make him a dangerous enemy for both Strange and Wanda. I hope for a magic fight between the two that ends with Strange tricking Beck somehow, perhaps with a move he tried to pull on Peter Parker.

And that is the team.

Professor X, Black Bolt, Captain America, Doctor Doom, Star-Lord, and Mysterio feel like the right mix of abilities, chaos, MCU lore and comic lore that would get fans excited. This is the type of team I want Wanda to absolutely slaughter.

If only Marvel called me a couple of years ago.

Thank you for reading! If you'd like to support me, you can:

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thealmightyemprex · 1 year

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Disney Month: Kidnapped

First review oF Disney Month is a review of an adaption of A Robert Louis Stevenson classic,Kidnapped

In this 1960 film David Belfour (James McArthur) is kidnapped by Captain Hoseason(Bernard Lee ) on orders by Davids evil uncle Ebenezer (John Laurie ) to sell David into slavery ,but DAvid joins forces with the Scottish soldier Alan Breck Stewart (Peter Finch ) to escape and reclaim what is his

So I had never heard of this film till a few years ago,no one talks about it......Which is a shame cause it is great ,in fact I like it better then Treasure Island which critics at the time compared it unfavorably to,this might be a new favorite of mine

I like are two heroes.I can see someone seeing David is dull,but while he isnt as colorful as the other characters,he is a likeable heroic character ,I liked when the Captain and Shuan are letting David in on their plan to murder Alan ,David immediately goes to Alan who he doesnt know and is like "The Captain is planning to kill you ,I dont trust him,I'm teaming up with you " .PEter Finch as Alan pulls off being both arrogant but a badass who readdly cares for DAvid

The villains are great,Uncle Ebeneezer is the main antagonist ,played to hammy perfection by John Laurie ,hes definately a somewhat comical villain but still a creepyness and almost despertness to him .I also really like Captain Hoseason,who I think is a very realistic villain ,a shady oppurtunist and I gotta admit,as a James Bond fan ,it was a real treat to see BERNARD LEE AKA M play a man of dubious morals

Now this is more of a dramaperiod piece then an out and out adventure ,but we still meet some fun characters ,and there are some great set pieces ,the best being David and Alan fighting off Hoseasons crew from within a cabin ,that was badass

I have two sets of questions ,lets start with 3 from @ariel-seagull-wings

1-Is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride influenced by the production of this movie?

Honestly no ,I see no connection between the two other then seafaring adventure.The villains arent even pirates,they are just normal corrupt sailors

2-Is Peter O'Tooles role already revealing of his capabilities as an actor?

Oh hell yeah.This is O'Tooles film debut and I was worried hed be just a background character,but he has a whole damn scene where he struts his stuff and he has just such a screen presence .Apparently he was suggested by Peter Finch and they play off each other beautifully

3-Should Disney make more dark movies like this?

First off I wouldnt call it dark ,but mature and honestly I would love them to do more films like this . Like it is rare I have seen a movie where the hero kills a man ,,,,,And has a moment to just fall apart ,like the gravity of the moment isnt lost ,and when DAvid breaks down and Alan gives him a moment is probabbly my favorite scene.I want more films like this

And now 3 questions from @the-blue-fairie

1-Much of the dialogue is lifted verbatim from the book. Is this evident on a first viewing and does it give a different quality compared to other Disney films?

I couldnt tell it was book dialogue but the film has a diffrent vibe then most Disney films and the dialogue is part of that

2- I've always felt that this film has more of a focus on historical time and place than a usual Disney swashbuckler-type movie. What do you think of that? Do you think this makes the film feel dryer in places or does it add color?

Adds color .This film,while it does have humor (Mostly from Uncle Ebeneezer) doesnt FEEL Disney ,and I kind of like that ,it feels like a solid period piece .I honestly really love this movie

And spoilers

3-"And the question closest to my heart, what are your thoughts on Ransom, the cabin boy? "-"Specifically, what are your thoughts on his interactions with Mr. Shuan and their result, as well as the matter-of-fact way it shows him carrying a knife in hopes of one day possibly killing his abuser? Did you expect the child in a Disney film to be unceremoniously murdered by a drunkard?

Sooooooooo I thought Ransome was gonna be the kid sidekick,or hed be the one to kill Mr Shaun.....I DIDNT EXPECT THE KID TO GET MURDERED IN THE NEXT SCENE .When his death screams are heard ,I screamed "JESUS " and my jaw hit the floor when we saw the body .To answer your question,I did not see it coming.I liked Ransome in his brief moments on screen,and frankly it shows how awful are villains are ,with Shuan just drunknly and casually murdering a child ,and Captain Hoseason is ready to just cover it up to save his own skin

Overall this is a great underrated movie that I highly reccomend

@goodanswerfoxmonster @themousefromfantasyland @filmcityworld1 @amalthea9 @angelixgutz @princesssarisa @marquisedemasque

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kylejsugarman · 1 year

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top 10 most hated movies go

oh jude u understand my haterdom :') in no particular order.....

"the open house": netflix's low to mid-budget horror movies tend to be resoundingly boring with occasional glimmers of cleverness but "the open house" is genuinely one of the worst modern horror movies. at least "the bye bye man" had some unintentional laughs: "the open house" is one of the dullest, darkest, most boring excuses for a film ever made. it doesn't even have an ending, as if its expecting its audience to have fallen asleep before then and absolving it from coming to a real conclusion. AWFUL.

"escape from tomorrow": im not the biggest fan of jenny nicholson and her content, but she absolutely nailed it with her video taking down "escape from tomorrow". its an embarrassing ego trip with no semblance of story or thematic integrity. how can u secretly shoot a movie at disney world and be such an incompetent filmmaker and storyteller that the most interesting part of said film is the overdubbing of characters saying "neosporin" to avoid getting sued

"spencer": truly dont understand what the fuck anyone was on in applauding this film. "spencer" is basically "the haunting of sharon tate" with an arthouse filter over it. kristen stewart isn't a genius, this film was a depressing and embarrassingly voyeuristic slog, and i hope we all die

"la la land": a circle jerk about old hollywood masquerading as an "ode" to the movies and old movie musicals. pasek and paul need to be barred from the industry for their horrendous songs and chazelle should be ashamed of this masturbatory piece of insubstantial garbage that frames white mediocrity and paper-thin romance as the pinnacle of cinema. also it's just racist as fuck

"split": m night has made some awful movies and i have problems with almost all of them, but jesus christ, "split" is truly fucking vile. even putting aside the obvious demonization of personality disorders and james mcavoy's laughable performance, it's a boring, uninspired slog with a screenplay written on a fisher play laptop. also the theme of horrific trauma being something that makes u Special and intrinsically a Survivor?? kys

"the polar express": this one's a little irrational, ive just always hated this movie even as a kid. the cgi isnt just creepy, its so muddled and lifeless that it can't distract from the interminable running time. this movie feels 4 hours long and its like getting ur teeth drilled the whole time.

"the sandlot": this movie exists solely for men in their forties to reflect on and say "they don't make kid movies like this any more". it is so unbelievably grating and pointless. im biased because baseball is my idea of torture, but id rather sit thru 16 hours of "minions" content than watch one scene of this kids' "classic".

"easy A": idk WHAT people see in this one. i dont find a single aspect of this film charming or clever or funny, it all feels so shallow and wink wink nudge nudge aren't we SO clever for turning THIS teen stereotype on its head?? there are a lot of "subverting ur expectations!!!!" movies from this era of late late 2000s-mid 2010s that i really dislike, but "easy A" is just the pinnacle of insufferable.

"the breakfast club": this might inspire some hate but i despise this film lol. i dont care that its a seminal work or whatever, it is so crushingly unfunny and boring and filled to the brim with unlikeable characters. in the same vein as "easy A", none of this film is charming or clever and even giving grace to the more Outdated aspects of this film, its a grossly obnoxious, unengaging flop that thinks it's saying Something.

"a serbian film": look. we could sit here for hours debating the necessity of this film and what it says about censorship, especially in eastern europe, but at the end of the day, this is a cold, uncreative shock film that indulges in its own depravity. im not above fucked up movies with depraved elements, but "a serbian film" seems manufactured, not created in its depravity. also it perpetuates the myth of the "porn to snuff pipeline", which is a huge issue with a lot of films of this ilk.

#odekirk #ask #syd squeaks #oh good this is so fucking long lol #anyway I LOVE being a hater

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brian-in-finance · 2 years

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https://www.revamp-magazine.co.uk/lauren-lyle?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-revamp_mag&utm_content=later-30175435&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio

Link to interview and there is an Instagram Story.

Thanks for the message, Anon.

Lauren Lyle

9 October 2022

Necklace / Maria Black // Dress / Missoni // Photographer: Stewart Bywater

Interview & Editor: Owen James Vincent

Stylist: Ben James Adams

Hair: Joe Pickering Taylor

Makeup: Maria Asadi

Photographer’s assistant: Hannie McBride

Stylist’s first assistant: Linda Houtsonen

Stylist’s second assistant: Fatima Koko

Cover Design: Emily Curtis

A big thanks to Georgia & Ellie from Public Eye & Sorcha Adamson from Arch The Agency

With ITV drama 'Karen Pirie' coming to an end. We got to chat to Lauren Lyle about her time on the show, preparing herself for the role and behind-the-scenes stories.

Dress & Gloves / La Musa @ Cult Mia

Hi Lauren! Thanks for chatting with ReVamp Magazine. Has 2022 been good for you?

It has, i’ve been very lucky to travel a lot for work from LA to the very most Northern Island of of the UK so i’ve seen some amazing sights. A grey whale in California and a colony of grey seals in the North. It’s been such a good summer in London too. After working away loads it felt cool to reconnect with my friends and actually live in my newly renovated apartment.

Do you remember the first production you worked on?

My first ever proper acting job was The Crucible at The Old Vic on The West End. I couldn’t believe it. TV wise it was either a BBC comedy called Radges which was hilarious and written by now a very successful comedian Fern Brady. Or it was Holby City! An absolute right of passage for a UK actor, i’m honoured to have got an episode before it ended.

Shirt / Letoit // Trousers / ArmedAngels // Shoe / Grenson

You’re the lead role in the ITV crime drama ‘Karen Pirie’. How has the reaction been so far?

It been crazy. I’m quite overwhelmed, and even Twitter which can be a horrible place is largely very positive. I’m so happy everyone is loving it and despite not wanting to read reviews it is good to know even rival papers are agreeing that is a great show. I knew we were making a good thing and its such a relief now its finally out.

How did you prepare yourself for this role?

I read the scripts a million times, watched all the detective shows I could, and created my own big wall which outlined the case and all the suspects. It was very intense wrapping my head around the case and every little details but a real pleasure diving in and immersing myself. Then when it came to line learning it was just repetition repetition repetition. And then sometimes the pub alone, with a half pint and my script.

Jacket / Dagmar // Shoe / Grenson

What was it like to be part of Val McDermid’s world?

Very cool! She’s created such iconic characters and much loved worlds. I was slightly daunted a the prospect of playing a character so many already loved from the books knowing I might not be everyone’s Karen they imagined in their head, however having done it once with Marsali as a book character from Outlander I knew this was our version and people would hopefully honour that. Which they have.

Do you think we need to see more female representation in big roles such as Karen's?

Always. I think telling this story through the lens of another young woman who also knows what it means to be nervous walking home at night is relevant and important. The case is very personal to Karen and the subject matter is to me, so i definitely feel proud to be opening up that conversation further into the mainstream. I’ve had lots of amazing messages from women saying that seeing a vanity free, funny, relatable woman on screen is so refreshing and reassuring.

Earrings / Maria Black // Dress / JC Pajares @ Cult Mia

Have you got any funny behind-the-scenes stories?

I got my parents into the final scene of the whole show as extras. It was quite special to bring them to work and show what I do. We did one take where we picked up half way through the scene and on one told my mum so she started acting out the very beginning of the scene. She stalled the whole take and accidentally got in Chris Jenks (The Mint’s) shot. Luckily the director through it was hilarious and filmed the whole thing.

Lastly, have you got any plans for the rest of the year?

I have just finished another film and i’m preparing to go away to an Island to shoot another one which will take me up to Christmas. Then it will be Christmas dinners and sleep.

You can catch the last episode of 'Karen Pirie' on ITV tonight at 8pm or watch the whole season on ITV Hub.

Revamp

Remember… I got my parents into the final scene of the whole show as extras. It was quite special to bring them to work and show what I do. — Lauren Lyle

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Inbox #Karen Pirie #Revamp Magazine #9 October 2022 #Received 10 October Answered 12 October 2022

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bcofl0ve · 11 months

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I'mma be real, I'm not excited for Bottoms to come out. As much as I love Kaia Gerber, her acting performance isn't great. I don't think she's a good actor, and I don't think she'll improve, and if so, I don't think it's that much. Austin Butler is a good actor, I'm not a Kaia nor am I an Austin stan. However, I do like his work. I think he did a good job as Wil Ohmsford from The Shannara Chronicles, Sebastian Kydd from The Carrie Diaries, James Wilkerson from Switched at Birth, Jacob from iCarly, and as George from Wizards of a Waverley Place, etc etc. I can't say the same for his girlfriend, Kaia.

Kaia, is a talented model. She's great, I love her. But, as an actor. I just don't see it. I'm obviously not going to compare the two because his experience outweighs her, but if I were to compare. I would say Kaia has the same energy as James Garrett from Zoey 101 Season 4 when he goes, "Do you know where I can go get lunch?" in the most, monotone voice imaginable, but it's her whole performance. She can do better with more training, obviously. But, I still just don't see it in my opinion. Not to mention, she kind of doesn't acknowledge that her nepotism plays into her acting career. For some reason, she acknowledges that it plays in her model career, but not in her acting, saying something along the lines of, and I quote: "I won't deny the privilege that I have. Even if it's just the fact that I have a really great source of information and someone to give me great advice, that I alone feel very fortunate for. But with acting, it's so different. No artist is going to sacrifice their vision for someone's kid. That just isn't how art is made, and what I'm interested in is art. No one wants to work with someone who's annoying, and not easy to work with, and not kind." Which, basically is saying; "yeah but the nepotism doesn't apply to me in acting." which... it does.

Her performance in AHS wasn't even bad, it's downright awful. There's a scene I can't forget which is basically one of the main characters is about to get attacked. Kaia, who is basically defending the main character, says. "RUN!" in the same way Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen isn't a bad actor, it's just an example) from AOTC says, "I don't like sand." just completely void of all emotion. You might be wondering, what do I want from her performance? I wanted her to sound panicked, because her character was panicking. But for some reason, her line delivery is the same as Kristen Stewart going: "woah... what is going on?" In Twilight, it's just bad. She doesn't sound panicked nor shocked, she just sounds completely void of emotion, not in shocked, not surprised, not panicked, not anything. The max she does is raise her voice by 3 octaves- maybe.

In my opinion, in order to become a good actor, you at least have to acknowledge what got you there. The people that got you to the spot you are. Austin, her boyfriend, does this all the time. I see him give credit to other people, I see him say he wants to become like Brad Pitt, like Leonardo DiCaprio, he loves acting, and you can see it, you can tell. He's humble, he treats his publicist amazing, and he gives her credit, saying she's always there for him. He gives credit to his acting coach, to his agent, to Baz, to Tom. The guy seems humble, and he gives credit, he acknowledges that he wouldn't be where he is today, without people.

Kaia doesn't have this in her, due to her refusing to acknowledge that nepotism. I don't think she'll become a good actor, and if so, not a humble one. Her boyfriend can acknowledge that strings were pulled so he could get the role of Elvis. But, she can't acknowledge that her name got her to where she is today. I really don't see it for her, which is why I'm not excited for Bottoms.

Maybe Kaia will be a good actor, maybe she won't be. But so far, from what I've seen. She hasn't been, she's been cringe. As a model, she is brilliant, she has an amazing cat walk. But, as an actor, I'm sorry. She's just not promising at all.

i think it’s a little unfair to just assume she’ll never improve when bottoms, and her other projects, haven’t been released at large yet. and when during ahs she was ‘singled out’ as a bad performance whereas there isn’t a single review of bottoms from the 25+ already out that says she sticks out in a bad way. while there are reviews that say the cast is a strong ensemble with no weak ones out and reviews that say positive things about her in general.

and i would really prefer to not drag the nepo ‘statement’ discourse out on here again but idk. maybe an unpopular opinion but i don’t think what she said was as terrible as people make it out to be. it was a little delulu sure, but delulu in regards to the concept of ppl not hiring nepo babies if they’re assholes. and i think it says something about her work ethic and who she is as a person that she thinks you shouldn’t be hired if you’re unkind/hard to work with no matter what your last name is. saying she “refuses to acknowledge it” just objectively isn’t true when she very much has- even if you didn’t particularly like how she went about it.

kaia hasn’t been interviewed about acting a great deal- but when she talks about modeling she has talked about influences before, and i think the whole reason she does book club is because she likes discussing people, thinkers, and books that have shaped her. so i don’t think it’s fair to say ‘well austin is humble because he talks about others, she doesn’t!’ either.

we can agree to disagree, but those are just my thoughts.

#gossip time with mollie

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artist-issues · 2 years

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Wait a minute. Are people saying that Rebel Without a Cause is poorly aged because of the “if he had the guts to knock mom cold, once” line?

What?

I swear it’s like people don’t know how to watch movies anymore.

Or listen to stories in general. Or converse. There’s no grasp of nuance anymore. Let me help those of you who took offense at that line to break it down.

1. The character of Jim is a kid. 2. The character of Jim’s emotions are out of control in this scene. He just finished screaming at his parents in front of everyone despite his later establishment as a cool, quiet kid, then finished assaulting a cop and then beating up a desk. 3. The character of Jim is drunk in this scene, and it is 3am.

Meaning: the line “if he had the guts to knock mom cold, once” is not the motto of the movie. The writer (Stewart Stern) is not trying to say to the audience “Jim’s dad’s whole problem is he won’t physically overpower his wife.” Because if he were, at the end of the movie, Jim’s mom would have said something insensitive to Jim during Plato’s death and the dad would’ve turned around and smacked her or something. That didn’t happen.

Jim is a character who is representative of teenagers: and teenagers OVERCOMMUNICATE what they’re feeling. This character, in particular, overcommunicates what he’s thinking because he doesn’t feel understood, so why would he talk like a rational person? What he means, OBVIOUSLY, is, “if only dad would take the lead.” But what he says is born out of the long bottled-up extreme emotions he has about the situation: “if he had the guts to knock mom cold, once!”

Honestly. By the end of the movie, the dad puts his arm around his wife and gently hushes her up when she wants to snip at Jim. In the climactic love scene, Judy tells Jim she likes him because he’s gentle. Plato trusts Jim because he acts gentle and kind toward him, not because he busts into the Observatory, fists flying, angry with Plato.

The movie condemns the kind of man that is too weak to stand up to his wife, and it ALSO condemns the kind of kid that thinks strength means tests of courage like knife fights and chickie runs and gang fights. Which of those two categories of actions that the movie warns against do you think “domestic violence” falls under? IT’S THE SECOND ONE

Jeez. Honestly. Zoom into one tiny, in-character, realistically-humanly-messy line and you can say that ANY piece of media is toxic.

In closing, JAMES DEAN:

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mylifeincinema · 1 year

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My Week(s) in Reviews: January 1, 2023

First and foremost... Happy New Year!!

Okay... now let’s get into it. I’m keeping these short because I have little to say about them or they’re going to be featured in My Best of 2022 shortly, anyway, so let’s just go with the old three things format for most of these, yeah? Good.

The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022)

1. Wholly feels like the film Spielberg’s been working toward.

2. That final shot is the reason (as if I needed another one) why Spielberg is my favorite director.

3. I’m going to be genuinely shocked if this lands anywhere other than on top of my top films of 2022. - 10/10

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, 2022)

1. What a cast!!

2. A ton of fun, and it chooses an approach and sticks with it. If you’re underwhelmed with the ‘twists’, that’s kinda the point.

3. Seriously, though... what a cast!! - 8.5/10

Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022)

What a clusterf*ck…

It’s very clear Chazelle lost the thread about 40% in. Cutting that whole Tobey storyline would help. Also cut the opening scene, just start on the party. Tighten up Margot’s arc, we didn’t need that snake shit. Cut Jovan’s arc complete, there’s enough there thematically for a separate film. Give that to someone who can tell it in a way that’ll actually resonate. Leave everything with Brad Pitt alone. He was fantastic and his arc is the only one that felt like it progressed and ended naturally. Beautiful, tragic, interesting shit, right there. Actually loved the ending, but a bunch of other late moments for Diego felt sloppy/rushed. The phenomenal editing helps some of the more upsetting issues throughout, but can’t save the film from the total loss of cohesion in the those final acts. Despite all its many flaws, though, I still pretty close to loved about 65% of this film. - 6/10

Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron, 2022)

1. Visually stunning. Probably the easiest VFX win since the last, right?

2. Someone should give Fincher the money for his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea... if this film is anything, it’s proof the tech has reached the point where Fincher’s vision is not only possible, but feasible.

3. Has James Cameron actually ever heard two people talking to each other? My God, that dialogue is atrocious. (The screenplay all-around, really.) Yikes. - 6.5/10

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Eric Appel, 2022)

1. This is not only the perfect approach to a Weird Al biopic, I’m pretty sure it’s the only approach to a Weird Al biopic.

2. Very funny if you’re familiar with Yankovic as a person, downright hilarious if you go in only knowing his music.

3. Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna... I repeat, Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna. My God! - 7.5/10

Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford, 2022)

1. Aubrey Plaza is really damn good.

2. So is just how terribly things go in that third act.

3. The rest... not so much. I really don’t get all the hype. - 5/10

Black Adam (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2022)

1. This is a very bad movie. Very easily one of the worst of the year.

2. Any promise Dwayne Johnson had every shown has been tossed in the garbage for terrible line delivery and tough-guy stares.

3. Pierce Brosnan deserved better than this. An interesting character and perfect casting completely wasted in favor of whatever this shit was supposed to be. - 2/10

The People We Hate at the Wedding (Claire Scanlon, 2022)

1. Not a good movie by any stretch.

2. But Kristen Bell.

3. And Allison Janney. - 5.5/10

A Christmas Story Christmas (Clay Kaytis, 2022)

1. Corny as f*ck.

2. But the type of corny I can get behind.

3. And that Christmas morning was the obvious tear-jerker material I’m a sucker for. - 6/10

The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)

1. James Stewart really is one of my all-time favorite actors. Just always so damn good.

2. Love me some Lubitsch, yet for some reason I have so many blind spots with him.

3. I know we live in completely different times, but even looking through the scope of the time, that ending seemed a bit forced. Still a delightful film overall, but she must’ve been really desperate to let the shit he pulled go. - 7/10

Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022)

1. Significantly better than I expected. But painfully overlong.

2. Austin Butler is fantastic. Tom Hanks is (somehow) borderline awful.

3. Baz Luhrmann’s direction is god-awful. But there’s a shit-ton of it, so I guess the Golden Globes look at Directing like the Academy does editing, now. - 5.5/10 (Almost all of those 5.5 are for Butler and the early performance sequences only.)

Enjoy!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

#movies #movie reviews #the fabelmans #black adam #babylon #avatar: the way of water #elvis #emily the criminal #glass onion #my week in reviews #weird: the al yankovic story #a christmas story christmas #the shop around the corner

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hotvintagepoll · 3 months

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Propaganda

Cary Grant (The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Charade)—just the peak of old-school Hollywood sexuality. The glam, the suits, the gentle wit, the acrobatics, those eyes that always looked like they knew exactly what movie they were in and were laughing at the joke...

Vincent Price (Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, House on Haunted Hill, The Masque of the Red Death)—svelte, stylish, horrifying, beautiful, wickedly funny, camp and gorgeous and evil. he was an art connoisseur who advocated passionately indigenous art, he was an actual literal gourmet cook, he was so liberal he got greylisted during the mccarthy era for being too rad, he's my favorite muppets guest of all time

This is round 4 of the bracket. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Vincent Price propaganda:

Submitted: this fancam

Submitted: this entire Tumblr page

Cary Grant propaganda:

"My Golden Age of Hollywood professor, who was very outwardly gay himself, put it this way: Even though Grant's sexuality was kind of an open secret in Hollywood, the public couldn't know in any real way. But anybody could see that there was a queerness about him, so he was casted for roles where he physically embodies his masculinity in a non-explicit but queer way. Bringing Up Baby is famous for the scene where Grant wears a frilly robe (pictured below, but what people don't always realise is that he plays kind of an awkward nerd in that movie. He's a hot awkward scientist in a grand robe!!! Hot!!! In The Philadelphia Story, one of my famous movies of all time, he plays C. K. Dexter Haven, a rich, sarcastic, supposedly abusive guy. And yet, what we see is this laid back, dandy-ish figure, who absolutely does not feel threatened when a woman he supposedly loves (Katharine Hepburn) starts having feelings for, and hooks up with another guy (James Stewart). He lets a drunk Stewart into his office and helps him get his job back! Obviously that is the script and not the actor, but the whole film, and that scene in particular, shows him having this very queer attitude of openness toward Hepburn and Stewart, which is only amplified by the casting of Grant and his portrayal of the character. Anyway, this is not an essay arguing for The Philadelphia Story to be considered a queer film, all I will say is: he's super hot in it."

The link to the above mentioned frilly robe scene from Bringing Up Baby: "I just went gay all of a sudden!"

last minute cary grant propaganda: the last few paragraphs of that new vanity fair article about him and randolph scott that just came out 2 days ago on cary's birthday where he calls it "gravity collapse" and "love at first sight" and says their souls touched and and and i'm actually sharing this mostly because it makes me emotional but also because a vote for archibald is a vote for love. this is my message. apologies for sounding mildly insane.

#vincent price #cary grant #round 4 #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old man

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scotianostra · 1 year

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Happy Birthday Frankie Miller born 2nd November 1949 in Glasgow.

Frankie is one of the legends of the Scottish music scene, with a powerful voice that has drawn numerous comparisons. His distinctive voice and song writing ability have earned him the respect of his peers and that is reflected in the number of world renowned artists, including Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Cher, The Everly Brothers and Ray Charles, who have covered his songs.

Frankie started writing songs at the age of nine after being given a guitar by his parents. He composed a song called “”But I Do” which caused tears of laughter amongst his family members but Frankie was to remain undeterred…

His infatuation with music and his natural vocal talent took a positive form in the shape of the succession of early groups. Although never short of gigs his early groups could not break into the popular scene.

Frankie signed a solo contract with Chrysalis in 1972 and recorded his first album “Once in a Blue Moon” using ‘Pub Rockers’ Brinsley Schwarz as his backing band. Material wise the album showcased Frankie’s skills as a well above average song writer and I Can’t Change It was accorded what must have been for Frankie, the ultimate compliment when Ray Charles covered it on his album Brother Ray Is At It Again.

Frankie’s career took off after that first album, when on hearing it, legendary producer Allen Toussaint (of Lee Dorsey – “Workin’ in a Coal Mine” fame) took him to New Orleans to record “Highlife” with Frankie’s soulful leanings being allowed a free reign.

Released in January 1974, reviews were good, though without the sales to match it, it was clear the collaboration would be a one off.

Although not successful commercially Frankie was earning respect in the music business, one of his good friends and writing partner was Paul Carrack, who had big success with Mike and the Mechanics, Steve Tyler of Aerosmith fame sang backing vocals on one of his songs, he also recorded a duet, Still in Love with You, with Phil Lynott.

It wasn’t until 1978 that Frankie made his breakthrough when Darlin’ peaked at No. 6 in the charts. Miller never really followed up on the success of Darlin’ but hissongs have earned him many songwriting awards and have been covered by artists such as Hanne Boel, Johnny Cash, Lulu, Ray Charles, Rod Stewart, The Bellamy Brothers, Kim Carnes, Waylon Jennings, Bob Seger, Bonnie Tyler, Roy Orbison, Etta James, Joe Cocker, Joe Walsh and The Eagles.

And of course there is Caledonia,Dougie MacLean wrote the song in less than 10 minutes on a beach in Brittany, France, feeling homesick for Scotland, it was a minor hit for him but other than that the song passed most people by, that was until Tennent’s Lager plucked it to be used in their television advert in 1991,Miller had only recorded the first verse and the chorus for the advertisement, when it first aired.

But the public response was immediate and so enormous that Frankie was forced to re-record the whole song and release it as an independent single. A music video was launched for the song. The song reached number 45 in March 1991 on the Singles Chart.

Frankie continued to become an in–demand writer on the country music scene and had started on a new project to record with Joe Walsh and Nicky Hopkins when he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage in New York on August 25th 1994. It should have killed him but he has shown remarkable courage to claw his way slowly back to health, after spending 15 months in hospital.

Frankie has never fully recovered from then, although an album, Double Take, containing old takes with Frankie was released last year. I found a page with people talking about Frankie, Rod Stewart’s quote is my favourite stating that Frankie “was the only white singer to have brought a tear” to his eye.

In March this year Miller released the track "One More Step to the Rainbow" as a protest to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, I can’t find it on Youtube though...........

#Scotland #scottish #singersongwriter #musician #actor #glaswegian #happy birhtday

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adamwatchesmovies · 1 year

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X2: X-Men United (2003)

There have been A LOT superhero movies since the genre really blew up in 2000 with X-Men. The fact that X2: X-Men United remains one of the best means a lot. There aren’t many sequels which top their predecessors but this is one of them. Full of great character moments with the characters we've come to love and with plenty of contestants for new favorites, it’s got action, suspense and many reasons to come revisit it over and over again.

After Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) - a teleporting, blue-skinned mutant - attempts to assassinate the U.S. President (Cotter Smith), he allows William Stryker (Brian Cox) to shut down Charles Xavier’s school for mutants. Actually, Stryker's goal isn't merely to capture the mutants; he wants Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and his mutant tracking computer, Cerebro. With their leader gone and the students on the run, the X-Men have no choice but to turn to Magneto (Ian McKellen) for help.

When we met Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the film took us for a loop by revealing that the most important mutant at Xavier's school was Rogue (Anna Paquin), not him. This twist made us even more eager to learn about Logan’s past. Was his adamantium-laced skeleton and those mechanical retractable claws (the series hadn’t yet retconned these to be a natural part of his mutation) some kind of ultimate weapon program gone wrong? Something forced upon our amnesiac hero? The answer comes in the form of the mutant-hating Stryker, a great baddie that poses an extreme threat because he’s smart and ruthless. There are some deliciously gross and squishy moments waiting for you as you piece together the lengths he’ll go to. It gives me the willies thinking about what he did to his mutant son - almost as much as learning what his son did to his mother.

There are many scenes to make your skin crawl. Magneto’s escape from his plastic prison (a favourite moment of mine), the final battle between Wolverine and Lady Death Strike (Kelly Hu), Stryker’s domination of Magneto…. you probably didn't expect those fom an action superhero film. Neither did you foresee the emotional blows. Bobby “Iceman” Drake (Shawn Ashmore) betrayed by his brother, the children being taken away by Stryker’s forces in the middle of the night, Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) teasing Wolverine with her shapeshifting powers, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) sacrificing herself... There’s a lot going on. A lot to love.

It’s hard to pick a favourite thing about this follow-up. You suddenly find yourself routing for the mutant terrorist Magneto because we’ve been given an even bigger, more sinister foe for our heroes. That’s no small feat. X2 is a confident picture with a lot of balls in the air and director Brian Singer (who’s fallen out of favour today but was a wizard behind the camera) keeps them all afloat, all perfectly distanced to keep the balance and the excitement flowing smoothly.

What’s there NOT to like in X2? It builds on the success of the first in so many meaningful ways. You see the younger X-Men grow into adults, the love triangle between Jean, Wolverine and Scott “Cyclops” Summers (James Marsden) get even more tangled, heroes like Storm (Halle Berry) in a whole new light and villains suddenly become heroes. This film gives you a lot to digest, making it a superhero adventure you eagerly return to over and over. (On Blu-ray, May 19, 2019)

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pardontheglueman · 3 months

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Rewatching It's A Wonderful Life

Not a year goes by without a nationwide re-release of Frank Capra’s festive classic It’s A Wonderful Life (1946). Over recent years, the film has regularly been screened by mainstream cinema chains in Wales as well as independent venues like Chapter and Tramshed in the capital. This year’s most imaginative showing will take place at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. With a musical adaptation by Paul McCartney and Lee Hall (Billy Elliott & Rocketman) seemingly set to bring this magical tale to a whole new generation of fans, Kevin McGrath takes a look at the unique story of how a movie that flopped at the Oscars and which barely made a dent at the box office somehow became an enduring part of Christmas for so many.

Frank Capra’s post-war masterpiece It’s A Wonderful Life has rightly gone down in film history as one of the greatest feel-good movies of all time. From its humble beginnings as The Greatest Gift, an unpublished short story that author Philip Van Doren Stern turned into a 24-page pamphlet-come-Christmas card, it has become the most cherished of all movies, regularly figuring in best picture polls either side of the Atlantic. For many in America, Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without the family gathering around the TV to watch this incredibly affecting festive tale. And it was TV, of course, that had rescued the film from relative obscurity when its copyright was allowed to lapse in 1974. By 1984, The Wall Street Journal discovered, 152 public stations and 175 commercial stations had taken up the rights to broadcast the movie).

The reason that It’s A Wonderful Life continues to stand the test of time today must surely be attributed to the flawless filmmaking of its visionary director Frank Capra. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War (during which he made the exemplary documentary series, Why We Fight), Capra had established himself as one of Hollywood’s premiere directors, with a string of box office smashes to his name. The most notable of which, 1934’s romantic comedy It Happened One Night, became the first film to win all five major Academy Awards picking up Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and, of course, Best Director. Capra had become a master craftsman and a master storyteller, specialising in crowd-pleasing ‘moral fables’ about the honest Joe, the American everyman, who stands up for ‘liberal’ ideals and values against corrupt businessmen and politicians.

Screen giants like James Stewart and Gary Cooper had turned in widely acclaimed performances in Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and Meet John Doe respectively, and it was to Stewart, his most trusted actor, that Capra turned when casting the part of quintessential nice-guy George Bailey. Stewart, one of the few major stars to enlist in the war against fascism, had been away from Hollywood for the best part of five years, and was in anguish about resuming his acting career when Capra called to offer him the role, that ultimately, film critics would regard as the finest of his distinguished career. Luckily, the director was able to talk Stewart around, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Stewart’s nuanced portrayal of the decent, unselfish, yet ultimately tormented Bailey, offers us a masterclass in screen acting. It’s as if Stewart had never been away as he plays through a succession of comic, romantic and dramatic scenes with absolute confidence. Stewart is able to convince us of George’s good heart and of his deeply felt moral opposition to scurrilous Banker Henry Potter, whilst also capturing the frustration eating away at his character’s soul as he sees life passing him by and his friends making their own mark on the world. George Bailey is a man desperately divided against himself, as Stewart’s reflective performance gradually makes clear.

Thankfully, his fellow actors are equally as good, with Lionel Barrymore proving to be an inspired piece of casting in the role of Potter, the Dickensian villain who tries to drive the Bailey family business into ruin in his quest to monopolise the wealth of Bedford Falls. (Capra had surely noted Barrymore’s legendary portrayal of Scrooge for the Campbell Playhouse dramatisation of A Christmas Carol, broadcast each Christmas Eve since 1934). And, as the years have gone by, it’s become impossible to imagine anyone other than the whimsical Henry Travers as the very special emissary Clarence Oddbody, whose celestial mission it is to save George Bailey from the tragic fate that awaits him on Christmas Eve.

The movie begins with George’s family and friends frantically seeking divine intervention to help him through a spiritual crisis at Christmas and uses the device of extended flashbacks to tell the tale of a young boy/college student determined to travel the world, all the while threatening to “shake the dust of this crummy little town off my feet”. He subscribes to National Geographic magazine and spends his days dreaming of “going out exploring someday’. A family tragedy and financial difficulties combine, though, to ensure George’s ambitions are thwarted at every turn, as he finds himself trapped into running the family Building and Loan Company, the only institution in town not owned by slum landlord Potter. George is loved by the whole of Bedford Falls for standing alone against Potter time and again, and, in a crucial scene which illustrates Capra’s humanitarian message, Bailey challenges Potter over his scandalous business practices –

‘Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, this rabble you keep talking about…they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him’.

Stewart is acting out of his straight-laced skin here, violently trembling with anger. For me, it’s one of the most genuinely moving scenes in film history.

Though George has quietly transformed the lives of all those who reside in Bailey Park, he is unable to find consolation in his own achievements. He simply cannot free himself from the resentment he feels, as first his younger brother Harry takes up his place at College, and then as his old friend Sam Wainwright cuts a dash through the business world. Drunk and despairing on Christmas Eve, he wishes he’d never been born.

Throughout the film, Capra remains in complete control of the story. Each scene plays perfectly, the transition between episodes is seamless and the script cohesive from start to finish. This is all the more remarkable given the number of writers involved in developing a screenplay that proved almost impossible to knock into shape. Whilst the final screen credit went to husband and wife screenwriting team Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, as well as Capra himself, there were already three fully developed scripts in existence when Capra bought the property from RKO in 1945.

Three of the biggest names in the business had failed spectacularly in adapting Van Doren Stern’s quirky fantasy. Neither Marc Connelly, the Pulitzer winning playwright and fully paid-up member of the Alongquin roundtable, Dalton Trumbo (an Oscar winner for The Brave One) or Clifford Odets, the left-wing firebrand whose work with the Group Theatre had revolutionised Broadway in the thirties, found a way to incorporate the various fantasy/reality elements of the plot into a coherent whole.

While Connolly and Trumbo’s contributions were dismissed out of hand by Capra, some key scenes from the Odets script were retained. According to Jeanine Basinger, curator of the Capra archives, his scripts “bring into focus the elements found in the final movie: the accident on the ice in which Harry nearly drowns; the Gower drug store sequence and George’s marriage to Mary.” It’s worth noting that at this stage the Potter character simply did not exist. The dramatic conflict in each of these scripts was between a good George and an evil George.

None of this turmoil is reflected in the finished movie itself. Capra was able to unfold his story with clarity, balancing the requirements of the plot with his need to convey an uncompromising message to the audience. In the same way that Dickens, who was on a lifelong crusade to improve the conditions of the poor, wrote A Christmas Carol to try and progress social change in Victorian England, so Capra, who was just back from the Second World War, his film cans stuffed with footage of the horrors of the concentration camps, passionately wanted to tell a story that would make a serious statement about the times in which he lived.

Dickens’ plea to his readers was for them to follow the example of a reformed Scrooge when, at the novella’s end, he pledges to “honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year round”. Capra’s motivation was equally straightforward. He had in mind a reaffirmation of John Donne’s view of the human condition

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”

Still haunted by a war, in which Historians currently estimate, up to 70 million people died, Capra was at pains to point out how one man’s life touches another. His Christmas message was for us all to extend a helping hand to the next fellow.

When I went to see It’s A Wonderful Life at my local cinema, last Christmas, the usherette, on taking my ticket said: “I hope you’ve brought a supply of hankies”. Indeed, I had. I can never get past that early scene in Gower’s drugstore, where the distraught and drunk chemist brutally slaps a young George Bailey around, without breaking down. And, of course, the famous finale with George, having escaped from his nightmare existence in Pottersville, charging joyously through the snowy streets of Bedford Falls on Christmas Eve, wishing everyone and everything a Merry Christmas, has me in floods of tears every time I have the privilege of viewing it.

Watching It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas, making it a part of the ritual and tradition of the festive period means it can be hard to be wholly objective about the film as a work of art. For good or bad the film comes imbued, perhaps even burdened, with our own memories and associations. In the darkness, as the credits begin to roll, we suddenly sense The Ghost of Christmas past sitting next to us in the cheap seats.

For others, Capra is too sentimental and the derogatory term “Capra-corn” applied by some cynics to his films has stuck over the years. Look beyond the joyous, feel-good message at the centre of It’s A Wonderful Life though, and there is a real darkness rooted within the heart of small-town America. Capra, having witnessed at first hand the atrocities of a World War, knew all about the evil ordinary people were capable of but remained an optimist and a believer in the brotherhood of man, nonetheless.

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