Top Ten Tuesday: UNEXPECTED CHILD MOVIES

Babies can come as quite a surprise… especially if you aren’t pregnant! In honor of LIFE AS WE KNOW IT, which comes to theaters on Friday, we are dedicating our list to the joys of inheriting a child!

TOP TEN UNEXPECTED CHILD MOVIES

HONORABLE MENTION: SUPERMAN THE MOVIE

The Old Testament has inspired many works of art. Perhaps there’s none more famous than Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman. Borrowing from the story of Moses, baby Superman (known on Krypton as Kal-El) floats thru the cosmos in a spaceship instead of a basket drifting down a stream. The first scenes of Richard Donner’s 1978 SUPERMAN THE MOVIE are set on the aforementioned planet Krypton as noted scientist Jor-El and his wife, Lara, decide to place their only child in an experimental space ship directed at the planet Earth. Marlon Brando and Suzanne York are heartbreaking as the say goodbye to the raven haired tot while the doomed planet crumbles about them. On the long journey to his new home the baby listens to pre-recorded messages from his fallen father. Soon the film’s setting is a quiet, rural street outside Smallville, Kansas as Jonathon and Martha Kent ( Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter) receive the surprise of their lives. Their rickety old pick up truck barely misses the rocket as it lands on Earth. Getting out to investigate, the couple stares down into the newly made crater and see the naked, now several years older Kal-El. The little guy looks up at them and holds out his arms while smiling sweetly. Shortly the boy (now clad in a red blanket or is it a cape?) joins the Kents as Jonathon fumbles with a jack while changing a blown tire on the truck. Martha and the foundling connect immediately and share a warm hug. Suddenly the truck weight shifts off the jack and Jonathon is about to be crushed. But somehow tragedy is averted. The couple are stunned to see the boy lifting the truck high above his head while grinning at the bewildered adults We rejoin the Kents many years later as Kal-El (now named Clark) listens to some advise from his Earth father. He’s one surprise baby that is destined for greatness. And a few sequels.

10. IT’S ALIVE

Should you love your child any less because he is born different? In the case of the low budget 1974 masterpiece IT’S ALIVE the answer’s a safe yes. Ironically using Colin Clive’s famous declaration in FRANKENSTEIN for the title, IT’S ALIVE tells the tale of a mother who gives birth to a bloodthirsty mutant who devours everyone in the delivery room before drawing a bloody trail through Los Angeles, and the father who wants it destroyed. Rick Baker’s creature is seen only very seldom; mostly his appearances are filmed as perspectives out of the eyes of the little monster. At its heart, IT’S ALIVE is a throwback to 1950s-style ‘big bug’ pictures (complete with a monster who travels via underground sewer tunnels, just like the ants in THEM) but it shows cult director Larry Cohen at his most creative and perceptive and clearly has more on its mind than the requisite suspense and shocks of the horror genre.

09. POPEYE

That lil “or fink” Swee’pea helps drive the story of POPEYE, the much maligned (unfairly I think) 1980 live action big-screen musical of the classic E. C. Segar comic strip directed by Robert Altman. The adorable little tyke is abandoned on a dock and discovered by Popeye(played by Robin Williams in his debut movie leading role) and Olive Oyl (the perfectly cast Shelly Duvall). His mere presence helps melt the icy wall between the two and start a romance After Popeye defeats the formidable Ox-Blood Oxheart in a boxing match, Swee’pea steals the scene by climbing on top of the giant and repeatedly pounds on his chest ( while showing off that crooked smile). We later learn of his talent for picking winning racehorses. This prompts Wimpy to hand over the tot to the mysterious Commander’s henchman, Bluto. Popeye to the rescue, as the sailor confronts Bluto and learns of his odd reaction to a certain green vegetable. During the battle Swee’pea is tossed into the lagoon and menaced by a giant octopus ( try not to gasp as the beast’s tentacles reach toward the lad). I think the film got a bad rep since most folks were expecting the hero of the long running animated series and got a interesting adaptation of the great Thimble Theater comic strip. The town of Sweethaven is a wonder of movie art direction along with the make-up effects and costumes. But one of the biggest surprises is an example of nepotism actually benefiting a film. Swee’pea is played by director Robert Altman’s grandson, Wesley Ivan Hurt. And when that little guy’s on the screen, you can’t take your eyes off him, He even gets the movies last line: “Popeye! Toot! Toot”!

08. BABY BOOM

BABY BOOM (1987) was a funny and touching story of motherly responsibilities. Diane Keaton was great as the corporate executive whose life is turned upside down with the arrival of an inherited baby. BABY BOOM contained just the right mixture of pathos, cuteness, and comedy but the best quality of the film is the way that it shows how a baby can drastically change a person’s life. Dated but warm.

07. ROSEMARY’S BABY

In 1968 director Roman Polanski made his American debut in cinema with this film which would turn out one the most frightening horror movie ever made. So what makes ROSEMARY’S BABY so frightening? If you’re a Christian or Catholic the credibility of this film is extremely disturbing, even blasphemous. The theme of the film is that evil wins over good, that Satan triumphs with the birth of his Son, and that God is dead. (“Is God Dead ?” reads a headline in Time Magazine which Rosemary picks up while waiting at the doctor’s office). That type of nihilism is the norm in films today but ROSEMARY’S BABY was ahead of its time addressing other social issues as well. Rather than killing Satan’s baby, she opts to ‘mother’ it and let it live. This is in an ironic twist; a way of saying women should always be the ‘mother’ even in the worst case scenario. Rosemary believes, even at the end, that her child is not that bad, that it has a human side and that it should be ‘saved’.

06. THE KID

THE KID (1921) is one of Charlie Chaplin’s best known films. His Tramp character finds an abandoned infant on the street, and takes charge of him. THE KID was one of the first silent films that integrated drama and pathos into comedy. Jackie Coogan gives a great performance in the title role almost as a miniature Tramp which is probably what Charlie meant all along. The Kid and the tramp are two of a kind, just as Charlie was a child performer too, a clog dancer with the Eight Lancashire Lads. In many ways this is Chaplin’s most personal work almost re-enacting episodes of his own poverty stricken childhood of the 1890s.

05. PARENTHOOD

The raising of children is the main focus of the aptly named 1989 film PARENTHOOD energetically directed by Ron Howard. The movie follows several generations of the Buckman clan. Gil and Karen Buckman ( Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgin) deal with the many problems of their three kids, Gil’s divorced sister Helen must deal with a troubled pre-teen (an early role for Joaquin Phoenix then listed as Leaf) and a teenage daughter( Martha Plimpton) about to start her own family with her clueless boyfriend Tod (Keanu Reeves). Another Buckman daughter, Susan( Harley Jane Kozak) is using modern parenting methods to raise her young daughter with the help pf her hubby, Nathan (Rick Moranis). The unexpected child comes via the return of family black sheep Larry (Thomas Hulce) to the house of the elder Buckmans Frank and Marilyn (Jason Robards, and Eleen Ryan). Larry has a young boy from a previous relationship and Frank soon takes the boy under his wing. Eventually the irresponsible Larry is back on the road and the older couple get another chance at guiding a young life. The film balances it’s moments of hilarity with many dramatic sequences. Such is the nature of parenting itself as the film reaches a joyful climax full of new beginnings in a hospital maternity ward. Perhaps that’s why this movie has spawned it’s second TV adaptation. It’s themes are universal.

04. 3 MEN AND A BABY

THREE MEN AND A BABY (1987)  tells of three swinging roommates, an actor, an artist, and an architect, living together in a penthouse apartment in New York City. Their lives are upended when they find a baby girl on their doorstep. Leonard Nimoy’s film (based on the French hit THREE MEN AND A CRADLE) is spot on with its humor as it details the misadventures of these guys as they struggle to feed, wash and contain this noisy child. Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson are a good team and the subplot fills in time quite nicely. The situations are funny mainly because it demonstrates how a bunch of macho men are able to take care of a baby and entertainment value is provided by the “goofballs with hearts of gold” appeal of the three lead actors and a cute little baby for the more sentimental viewers.

03. THE HANGOVER

Partially centered around the unexpected acquisition of a baby, THE HANGOVER follows three friends as they struggle to locate their misplaced fourth friend, due to be married, after a night of binge drinking and Vegas-style excess. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis as the trio of mismatched dudes who find Las Vegas is far more strange when sober the morning after. Stuck with a strange baby — aside from Galifianakis — the three friends get into trouble, increasingly making their situation worse by way of their own ignorance, until everything finally makes sense in the end. Everything that makes Las Vegas groovy and grueling plays its part in this film directed by Todd Phillips, where “three men and a baby” takes on a whole new meaning.

02. ANNIE

This is one of the classic films. Annie has been a favorite among little girls for ages, and will continue to steal the hearts of many more to come.Daddy Warbucks (Albert Finney) wasn’t looking for a daughter, he was merely looking for an orphan to help his public image, and make him look like a generous man. Annie (Aileen Quinn) was that lucky girl, and along with her trusted sidekick Sandy, she changed the way Warbucks looked at the world. A weeks stay turned in to an adoption made in heaven! Sure, she was kidnapped by Miss Hannigan, her brother Rooster, and his trampy girlfriend Lily (Carol Burnett, Tim Curry, and Bernadette Peters), but she had Daddy Warbucks singing a different tune by the end. Might I just say that the musical numbers in this film are fantastic! This movie still has the ability to make me cry, no matter how many times I have seen it. Especially right before Annie leaves with her fake parents, and at the end when she says “I love you Daddy Warbucks”. Sigh! This goes to show that sometimes an unexpected child can work out for the best!

01. RAISING ARIZONA

The Coen brothers have given us numerous films of an unbelievably bizarre but artistically humorous nature, but this early addition in their long filmography was perhaps the most outlandishly funny of them all. Centered around an infant named Arizona (get it?) and taking place in Arizona (get it?), the film stars Holly Hunter as a cop who wants a kid and Nicolas Cage as a crook who wants her. Together, they kidnap a wealthy couple’s child and attempt to raise it on their own while dodging the authorities and bounty hunters. One part family comedy, one part semi-slapstick action, RAISING ARIZONA is more fun than watching a new dad change his first stinky diaper.