Fri. Aug. 6

"All About Eve" is now 60 years old. It has been atop my favorite movies list since the late '80s when I first saw that in one of those I-must-rent-all-the-movie-classics-I-haven't-seen-phase. Hopefully, you've been throught that phase too. Maybe if you're a young un you discovered "The Road Warrior" that way. I'm not the biggest fan of movies about the movie business. But for me, this 1950 twisted tale of Hollywood duplicity with the sweet (not) Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) set off against the snippy Margo Channing (Bette Davis) had everything to do with key issues like power plays, fan worship, the vanity of stardom, the desperate yearning for same, the corrosive relationship with the media, how relationships run aground, how the charm of a young fresh face can seduce, and, oh, the cynicism that permeates the world. "All About Eve" is perhaps the smartest, sharpest movie ever written. It was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. One of the best characters is theater critic Addison DeWitt (nice name), played by George Sanders. (When Sanders chose some years later to end his life, he left a note saying, "I was bored.") DeWitt to Eve, near her fall: "You're an improbable person, Eve, but so am I. We have that in common. Also a contempt for humanity, an inability to love or be loved, insatiable ambition - and talent. We deserve each other." Ouch. Vicious, but fair. The movie also gives us a young, purring Marilyn Monroe, so young and so utterly seductive. There's not a character in this who is not well-etched. The sub-plots and one-line zingers are as top-drawer as the over-arching plot and the quasi-comical backstabbing. Is there a character to like here? Not particularly, and it's fascinating for it. It's a movie about the corrosive nature of vanity and fame and it plays free at Boston Harbor Hotel's outdoor free summer series tonight Fri. Aug. 6 at dusk. It's a very good movie to sip a cocktail or two with.

Rowes Wharf Sea Greill Harborside Terrace, 617-439-7000 www.bhh.com