FIVE EASY PIECES
CISCO PIKE
AIRPORT ’75
DAY OF THE LOCUST
And if you forced me to pick another one, it would probably have to be NASHVILLE. I haven’t seen her horror films, though, except for BURNT OFFERINGS, which I have no memory of. TRILOGY OF TERROR is highly regarded by KB fans.
But the first two I thought of were CISCO PIKE and DAY OF THE LOCUST. But if I had to pick her most memorable performance, it would have to be the hilarious AIRPORT ’75.
I liked Eastwood a lot in the ’70s and went to all of his movies. Less so in the ’80s and ’90s. Great as a movie star in the Leone and Siegel films and a few he directed, like OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, and a few other items like THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT, but not very likeable to me in the redneck films. He was clearly aiming for a different demographic with EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE than he had been with the Dirty Harry films. Some of his later stuff is just unwatchable. The only films of his I really liked in the ’80s and ’90s were HEARTBREAK RIDGE, UNFORGIVEN and IN THE LINE OF FIRE.
I think he has very limited range as an actor and learned how to use that range well, along with his directing ability, to parlay his talents into a long-range career. I give him a lot of credit for shrewdness and intelligence, but that doesn’t mean his films are necessarily worth seeing. I admire him but I don’t love him. I loved John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, but not Eastwood. In terms of directors, I loved Leone and Siegel, but not Eastwood.
(Coincidentally, this morning I passed a guy on the street, on 5th Ave. in front of the Empire State Bldg., who looked just like Don Siegel and even wore the same kind of hat Siegel used to wear. I even said “Don Siegel” out loud as I passed him.)
Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” in Oliver Stone’s PLATOON (1986).
Debussy’s “Arabesque #1,” and other Debussy themes, in William Dieterle’s PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948). This film’s soundtrack turned me on to Debussy.
Also worth exploring is the use of indigenous songs/folk tunes in movies. I’m thinking of “La Golondrina” from THE WILD BUNCH (1969), which I thought was used quite effectively.
Speaking of Cecil B. DeMille, I thought the version of THE BUCCANEER directed by DeMille’s son-in-law, Anthony Quinn, in 1958, was a little better than DeMille’s 1938 film of the same name. The remake showed a larger slice of the multicultural fabric of the time and gave good parts to black and ethnic actors, most notably Woody Strode and Sir Lancelot. Not to mention Yul Brynner as Jean Lafitte.
In the 1930s, Ginger Rogers, Sylvia Sidney and Loretta Young were always in their 20s. Jean Harlow never made it to 30. Everything Greta Garbo did before late 1935 was in her 20s. Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Katharine Hepburn were in their 20s for most of the 1930s and did remarkable work.
In the 1940s, Lana Turner, Gene Tierney, Ava Gardner, Jennifer Jones, Anne Baxter, Maureen O’Hara and Deborah Kerr were all in their 20s for the entire decade. Lauren Bacall started in her teens and didn’t leave her 20s until 1955. Rita Hayworth was in her 20s until 1948. She made Gilda in 1946. Most film noir heroines were in their 20s in the film noir period (Gardner, Yvonne de Carlo, Jane Greer, Marie Windsor, Coleen Gray, Lizabeth Scott, Virginia Mayo, Rhonda Fleming, etc.).
In the 1950s, Grace Kelly made every one of her films while she was in her 20s. Marilyn Monroe was in her 20s for everything up to BUS STOP. Audrey Hepburn was in her 20s throughout the ’50s.
I’d probably pick THE APARTMENT if you pressed me, but on some days I lean towards DOUBLE INDEMNITY and others towards SOME LIKE IT HOT or SUNSET BOULEVARD or KISS ME STUPID or ONE, TWO, THREE.
“I’m no fan of Wayne, but this is just plain wrong. Wayne’s romantic hero Ringo in STAGECOACH is very far removed from his racist bastard Ethan in THE SEARCHERS.”
I think that’s a simplistic characterization of Ethan Edwards. He was close enough to the Comanches to learn some of their language. He’d just spent three years FIGHTING them. And they killed the woman he loved (Martha, his brother’s wife). If you know anything about the warfare between Texas settlers and Comanche, you’d know it was particularly vicious. So he came by his feelings honestly. And he welcomes “Look” as a new member of their party (“C’mon Mrs. Pawley, join our merry band.”) Yes, his remarks to Martin (“one-eighth Cherokee”) Pawley smack of racism (“blankethead”), but he rides with the guy for five years looking for Debbie. And mentors/coaches often insult their charges. Part of the toughening-up process. Y’ever play football?
You may not LIKE any of this, but it doesn’t call for such an offhand dismissal. Ethan Edwards is quite a complicated figure and that’s what makes THE SEARCHERS a work of art. And how about that ending? Not exactly the behavior of a “racist bastard.”
Oh, and I don’t think we could have a conversation like this about any of Eastwood’s films, other than, maybe, UNFORGIVEN, because he hardly ever PLAYED a complicated figure. Whereas the Duke played his fair share of them.
1953
(in no particular order)
STALAG 17
GATE OF HELL (Japan)
THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE
THE NAKED SPUR
IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS
THE BAND WAGON
GIVE A GIRL A BREAK
RETURN TO PARADISE
99 RIVER STREET
SANGAREE
in no particular order (except as they occur to me)
SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED
WHISPER OF THE HEART (MIMI O SUMASEBA)
ONLY YESTERDAY (OMOIDE PORO PORO)
PRINCESS MONONOKE
FACE/OFF
HARD-BOILED
JACKIE BROWN
FIST OF LEGEND
TENCHI FOREVER
TENCHI MUYO IN LOVE
JFK
GOODFELLAS
TOMBSTONE
HARD TARGET
ON DEADLY GROUND
COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY
DRUNKEN MASTER II
POLICE STORY III: SUPERCOP
GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE
GAMERA III: THE REVENGE OF IRIS
GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993)
KIKUJIRO
THE MATRIX
Aug. 6: Frank Tuttle
He directed five films I really like: ROMAN SCANDALS (1933), THE GLASS KEY (1935) and three starring Alan Ladd: THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942), LUCKY JORDAN (1942), and HELL ON FRISCO BAY (1955). (Interestingly, Alan Ladd starred in a remake of GLASS KEY directed by Stuart Heisler. Tuttle’s version starred George Raft.)
THIS GUN FOR HIRE was early film noir and holds up as an excellent wartime thriller and offers what is arguably Ladd’s best performance. HELL ON FRISCO BAY was a gangster film shot in color with lots of San Francisco locations. Ladd plays a troubled cop going after local mafiosi, led by by Edward G. Robinson. Great stuff.
Another “director” sharing my birthday: Andy Warhol.
I remember liking the Mad parodies of these films:
Mad Comics:
HIGH NOON (1952)
KING KONG (1933 but re-released in 1952, when the parody appeared)
THE WILD ONE (1954)
Mad Magazine:
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962)
THE PROFESSIONALS (1966)
HOMBRE (1967)
And the TV series: “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Batman” and “Star Trek.”
Also, around 1957, they did a parody of Cinderella in the style of Tennessee Williams, using caricatures from movie adaptations of Williams, including Brando from STREETCAR, Anna Magnani from THE FUGITIVE KIND and Carroll Baker from BABY DOLL.
Sometime in the late ’60s they also did a counterculture version of THE WIZARD OF OZ that somehow prefigured THE WIZ. And in their most recent issue, they parody Obama in THE WIZARD OF O.
And I remember one from the early ’60s where they parodied old Hollywood boxing movies and called it “Crazy Fists” and used caricatures of George Chakiris (from WEST SIDE STORY) for the boxer protagonist and Bette Davis for his overbearing mama.
For me, no. It’s not alive and well. Whatever it was about movies that made me a film buff back when I first started to go to theaters by myself some 48 years ago is not evident in current movies. What would turn the nine-year-old me on today? Anime. And that’s pretty much it. Outside of anime, Tarantino is probably the only filmmaker working today whose work would have excited me as a budding film buff. Back then, there were so many great movies at neighborhood theaters and so many different genres and movies from so many different countries. (In my neighborhood theaters alone, I saw movies from England, Italy, France, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, all dubbed in English, of course.)
Movies today, no matter what the genre, no matter what the budget, no matter where they’re from, all seem pretty generic. They don’t LOOK all that different from each other. Whereas, back then movies from different countries had their own national style and look. Movies in different genres had their own film grammar, their own film look, etc. Just a sampling of movies from 1963-64: BEACH PARTY, X – THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE GREAT ESCAPE, CHARADE, DR. STRANGELOVE, SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, ROBIN AND THE SEVEN HOODS, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, MARY POPPINS, LILIES OF THE FIELD, etc., all things I saw in theaters in the period of about a year. Not to mention reissues of things like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and EL CID. And that’s just what I remember off the top of my head.
Directors whose work I saw in theaters in my old neighborhood in the 1960s: John Ford, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, William Wyler, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Roger Corman, John Frankenheimer, Anthony Mann, Richard Lester, Mario Bava, Ishiro Honda, Robert Aldrich, Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah, Norman Jewison, Sidney Pollack, Francis Coppola, Robert Wise, Lewis Milestone, Stanley Kramer, Mark Robson, Phil Karlson, etc. Again, all off the top of my head.
QUOTE: “3. And please make sure that the nominated films are easily available in the Internet, with English subtitles (since I’m assuming that most of the users here are proficient in the English language), whether they be streaming links, direct downloads or torrents. Providing links is encouraged, and, if it’s not available in the Internet and you have the film and the means to upload it, then please do upload it.”
This is a deal-killer for me. I don’t download, upload or sideload. And I don’t encourage anyone else to do so. I only watch stuff on tape, disc or in a theater.
I would argue that these rules discriminate against old-timers like me who refuse to watch films on their computers and prefer to stick with “old media.”
WHISPER OF THE HEART (1995) Japanese animated feature directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and written and produced by Hayao Miyazaki. It’s about a 14-year-old girl who reads a lot of books and wants to be a writer and she meets a boy who plays the violin and is studying violin-making. A chaste love story about the joys and turmoils of being a creative adolescent.
“Wanted to make sure you weren’t one of those mindless parrots who hates DiCaprio in Scorsese films for no apparent reason.”
There are plenty of reasons to hate DiCaprio in Scorsese films. He’s ruined three of them: GANGS OF NEW YORK, THE AVIATOR and THE DEPARTED. DiCaprio’s a horrible actor and every time he steps in front of the camera in those films, it takes me out of the film. He looks like a kid who wandered onto the set and got mistakenly fitted out with grown-ups’ clothes. GANGS OF NEW YORK would have been so awesome without DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. He didn’t ruin SHUTTER ISLAND, because it was already ruined by a bad script and a stupid twist that killed my interest in the film. In fact, the thing I liked most about SHUTTER ISLAND was the spectacle of seeing DiCaprio suffer so much abuse in it. That was fun.
I’ve voted in every election since 1972. The primaries include a lot of local races that count: City Council, Assembly, State Senate, etc. Being a registered Democrat in a Democratic county means I can vote in these crucial primaries. When I voted in the primary last Tues., I saw a friend’s name on the ballot, so I voted for him. Since I often complain to politicians, I feel I need to vote everytime to justify my claim on a pol’s time. But the turnout in non-Presidential elections is always low where I live.
This last primary was the first with these new paper ballots that get scanned. Not a lot of privacy. Everything went smoothly, but I prefer the old machines with the curtains and the little levers you pulled to register a vote.
BLACK MAGIC (1949) is a great Welles starring role. He plays Count Cagliostro in it. He’s not credited as director or writer, but IMDB insists he was a director (uncredited) on it. It sure plays like a Welles creation.
And if you like that speech in THE THIRD MAN, you should check out PRINCE OF FOXES (1949), shot in Italy, in which Welles actually plays Cesare Borgia.
(Wow—THIRD MAN, PRINCE OF FOXES and BLACK MAGIC— all 1949! What a year for him.)
I’ll also recommend LADY FROM SHANGHAI. A rare major studio release that was almost experimental in its visual audacity and the way it uses the studio’s biggest star at the time, Rita Hayworth. Studio head Harry Cohn was furious at Welles. Meanwhile, we’ve forgotten all the films that Cohn was happy about at the time. LADY’s got a pulp story, but it’s told in such a wild and original way that it never gets tired. Just like TOUCH OF EVIL.
I’d only vaguely heard of Nick Cave until this weekend when I watched WINGS OF DESIRE, in which he appears and performs two or three songs in a couple of club sequences. I thought the scenes worked very well in the film, but the music didn’t appeal to me. And I can definitely see the influence of Leonard Cohen there.
Top 5 Karen Black Films over 2 years ago
FIVE EASY PIECES
CISCO PIKE
AIRPORT ’75
DAY OF THE LOCUST
And if you forced me to pick another one, it would probably have to be NASHVILLE. I haven’t seen her horror films, though, except for BURNT OFFERINGS, which I have no memory of. TRILOGY OF TERROR is highly regarded by KB fans.
But the first two I thought of were CISCO PIKE and DAY OF THE LOCUST. But if I had to pick her most memorable performance, it would have to be the hilarious AIRPORT ’75.
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Clint Eastwood over 2 years ago
I liked Eastwood a lot in the ’70s and went to all of his movies. Less so in the ’80s and ’90s. Great as a movie star in the Leone and Siegel films and a few he directed, like OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, and a few other items like THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT, but not very likeable to me in the redneck films. He was clearly aiming for a different demographic with EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE than he had been with the Dirty Harry films. Some of his later stuff is just unwatchable. The only films of his I really liked in the ’80s and ’90s were HEARTBREAK RIDGE, UNFORGIVEN and IN THE LINE OF FIRE.
I think he has very limited range as an actor and learned how to use that range well, along with his directing ability, to parlay his talents into a long-range career. I give him a lot of credit for shrewdness and intelligence, but that doesn’t mean his films are necessarily worth seeing. I admire him but I don’t love him. I loved John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, but not Eastwood. In terms of directors, I loved Leone and Siegel, but not Eastwood.
(Coincidentally, this morning I passed a guy on the street, on 5th Ave. in front of the Empire State Bldg., who looked just like Don Siegel and even wore the same kind of hat Siegel used to wear. I even said “Don Siegel” out loud as I passed him.)
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TAKING AN OLD PIECE OF MUSIC AND MATCHING IT PERFECTLY WITH YOUR FILM...GENIUS! over 2 years ago
Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” in Oliver Stone’s PLATOON (1986).
Debussy’s “Arabesque #1,” and other Debussy themes, in William Dieterle’s PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948). This film’s soundtrack turned me on to Debussy.
Also worth exploring is the use of indigenous songs/folk tunes in movies. I’m thinking of “La Golondrina” from THE WILD BUNCH (1969), which I thought was used quite effectively.
Go to Comment
Are there any remakes that are better than the original film? over 2 years ago
Speaking of Cecil B. DeMille, I thought the version of THE BUCCANEER directed by DeMille’s son-in-law, Anthony Quinn, in 1958, was a little better than DeMille’s 1938 film of the same name. The remake showed a larger slice of the multicultural fabric of the time and gave good parts to black and ethnic actors, most notably Woody Strode and Sir Lancelot. Not to mention Yul Brynner as Jean Lafitte.
Go to Comment
TRULY SUPERB HOLLYWOOD ACTRESSES UNDER 30 over 2 years ago
In the 1930s, Ginger Rogers, Sylvia Sidney and Loretta Young were always in their 20s. Jean Harlow never made it to 30. Everything Greta Garbo did before late 1935 was in her 20s. Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Katharine Hepburn were in their 20s for most of the 1930s and did remarkable work.
In the 1940s, Lana Turner, Gene Tierney, Ava Gardner, Jennifer Jones, Anne Baxter, Maureen O’Hara and Deborah Kerr were all in their 20s for the entire decade. Lauren Bacall started in her teens and didn’t leave her 20s until 1955. Rita Hayworth was in her 20s until 1948. She made Gilda in 1946. Most film noir heroines were in their 20s in the film noir period (Gardner, Yvonne de Carlo, Jane Greer, Marie Windsor, Coleen Gray, Lizabeth Scott, Virginia Mayo, Rhonda Fleming, etc.).
In the 1950s, Grace Kelly made every one of her films while she was in her 20s. Marilyn Monroe was in her 20s for everything up to BUS STOP. Audrey Hepburn was in her 20s throughout the ’50s.
I could go on.
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Clint Eastwood over 2 years ago
If you can’t bother to use the shift key, how do I know you’ve even bothered to see the movies you talk about?
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FAVORITE BILLY WILDER FILM over 2 years ago
I’d probably pick THE APARTMENT if you pressed me, but on some days I lean towards DOUBLE INDEMNITY and others towards SOME LIKE IT HOT or SUNSET BOULEVARD or KISS ME STUPID or ONE, TWO, THREE.
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Clint Eastwood over 2 years ago
“I’m no fan of Wayne, but this is just plain wrong. Wayne’s romantic hero Ringo in STAGECOACH is very far removed from his racist bastard Ethan in THE SEARCHERS.”
I think that’s a simplistic characterization of Ethan Edwards. He was close enough to the Comanches to learn some of their language. He’d just spent three years FIGHTING them. And they killed the woman he loved (Martha, his brother’s wife). If you know anything about the warfare between Texas settlers and Comanche, you’d know it was particularly vicious. So he came by his feelings honestly. And he welcomes “Look” as a new member of their party (“C’mon Mrs. Pawley, join our merry band.”) Yes, his remarks to Martin (“one-eighth Cherokee”) Pawley smack of racism (“blankethead”), but he rides with the guy for five years looking for Debbie. And mentors/coaches often insult their charges. Part of the toughening-up process. Y’ever play football?
You may not LIKE any of this, but it doesn’t call for such an offhand dismissal. Ethan Edwards is quite a complicated figure and that’s what makes THE SEARCHERS a work of art. And how about that ending? Not exactly the behavior of a “racist bastard.”
Oh, and I don’t think we could have a conversation like this about any of Eastwood’s films, other than, maybe, UNFORGIVEN, because he hardly ever PLAYED a complicated figure. Whereas the Duke played his fair share of them.
Go to Comment
Films on Morality/Ethics? over 2 years ago
THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
Pike: “He gave his word.”
Dutch: “To a railroad.”
Pike: “It’s his WORD.”
Dutch: “It doesn’t matter! It’s WHO you give it TO!”
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DO YOU FEEL BLAME? ARE YOU MAD? over 2 years ago
Dennis Hopper as Frank in BLUE VELVET comes to mind. Although I can’t remember if his monologue was nonsense or just sounded that way to me.
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TOP 10 FILMS FROM YOUR "BIRTH YEAR" over 2 years ago
1953
(in no particular order)
STALAG 17
GATE OF HELL (Japan)
THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE
THE NAKED SPUR
IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS
THE BAND WAGON
GIVE A GIRL A BREAK
RETURN TO PARADISE
99 RIVER STREET
SANGAREE
Go to Comment
Best films of the 90's over 2 years ago
in no particular order (except as they occur to me)
SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED
WHISPER OF THE HEART (MIMI O SUMASEBA)
ONLY YESTERDAY (OMOIDE PORO PORO)
PRINCESS MONONOKE
FACE/OFF
HARD-BOILED
JACKIE BROWN
FIST OF LEGEND
TENCHI FOREVER
TENCHI MUYO IN LOVE
JFK
GOODFELLAS
TOMBSTONE
HARD TARGET
ON DEADLY GROUND
COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY
DRUNKEN MASTER II
POLICE STORY III: SUPERCOP
GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE
GAMERA III: THE REVENGE OF IRIS
GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993)
KIKUJIRO
THE MATRIX
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Your birthday director(s) over 2 years ago
Aug. 6: Frank Tuttle
He directed five films I really like: ROMAN SCANDALS (1933), THE GLASS KEY (1935) and three starring Alan Ladd: THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942), LUCKY JORDAN (1942), and HELL ON FRISCO BAY (1955). (Interestingly, Alan Ladd starred in a remake of GLASS KEY directed by Stuart Heisler. Tuttle’s version starred George Raft.)
THIS GUN FOR HIRE was early film noir and holds up as an excellent wartime thriller and offers what is arguably Ladd’s best performance. HELL ON FRISCO BAY was a gangster film shot in color with lots of San Francisco locations. Ladd plays a troubled cop going after local mafiosi, led by by Edward G. Robinson. Great stuff.
Another “director” sharing my birthday: Andy Warhol.
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Did anybody else cry when Kung-Fu died? over 2 years ago
Ditto. What are you talking about?
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YOUR FAVOURITE MAD MAGAZINE FILM PARODIES over 2 years ago
I remember liking the Mad parodies of these films:
Mad Comics:
HIGH NOON (1952)
KING KONG (1933 but re-released in 1952, when the parody appeared)
THE WILD ONE (1954)
Mad Magazine:
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962)
THE PROFESSIONALS (1966)
HOMBRE (1967)
And the TV series: “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Batman” and “Star Trek.”
Also, around 1957, they did a parody of Cinderella in the style of Tennessee Williams, using caricatures from movie adaptations of Williams, including Brando from STREETCAR, Anna Magnani from THE FUGITIVE KIND and Carroll Baker from BABY DOLL.
Sometime in the late ’60s they also did a counterculture version of THE WIZARD OF OZ that somehow prefigured THE WIZ. And in their most recent issue, they parody Obama in THE WIZARD OF O.
And I remember one from the early ’60s where they parodied old Hollywood boxing movies and called it “Crazy Fists” and used caricatures of George Chakiris (from WEST SIDE STORY) for the boxer protagonist and Bette Davis for his overbearing mama.
Go to Comment
Is cinema alive and doing well...or not? over 2 years ago
For me, no. It’s not alive and well. Whatever it was about movies that made me a film buff back when I first started to go to theaters by myself some 48 years ago is not evident in current movies. What would turn the nine-year-old me on today? Anime. And that’s pretty much it. Outside of anime, Tarantino is probably the only filmmaker working today whose work would have excited me as a budding film buff. Back then, there were so many great movies at neighborhood theaters and so many different genres and movies from so many different countries. (In my neighborhood theaters alone, I saw movies from England, Italy, France, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, all dubbed in English, of course.)
Movies today, no matter what the genre, no matter what the budget, no matter where they’re from, all seem pretty generic. They don’t LOOK all that different from each other. Whereas, back then movies from different countries had their own national style and look. Movies in different genres had their own film grammar, their own film look, etc. Just a sampling of movies from 1963-64: BEACH PARTY, X – THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE GREAT ESCAPE, CHARADE, DR. STRANGELOVE, SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, ROBIN AND THE SEVEN HOODS, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, MARY POPPINS, LILIES OF THE FIELD, etc., all things I saw in theaters in the period of about a year. Not to mention reissues of things like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and EL CID. And that’s just what I remember off the top of my head.
Directors whose work I saw in theaters in my old neighborhood in the 1960s: John Ford, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, William Wyler, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Roger Corman, John Frankenheimer, Anthony Mann, Richard Lester, Mario Bava, Ishiro Honda, Robert Aldrich, Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah, Norman Jewison, Sidney Pollack, Francis Coppola, Robert Wise, Lewis Milestone, Stanley Kramer, Mark Robson, Phil Karlson, etc. Again, all off the top of my head.
What kid sees anything like that lineup today?
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As I Was Browsing The Auteurs, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (Redux) over 2 years ago
QUOTE: “3. And please make sure that the nominated films are easily available in the Internet, with English subtitles (since I’m assuming that most of the users here are proficient in the English language), whether they be streaming links, direct downloads or torrents. Providing links is encouraged, and, if it’s not available in the Internet and you have the film and the means to upload it, then please do upload it.”
This is a deal-killer for me. I don’t download, upload or sideload. And I don’t encourage anyone else to do so. I only watch stuff on tape, disc or in a theater.
I would argue that these rules discriminate against old-timers like me who refuse to watch films on their computers and prefer to stick with “old media.”
Go to Comment
1976 Poll over 2 years ago
1957: the year of PEYTON PLACE and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. I’m there!!!
Go to Comment
What are some films that describe and show youth/the feel of youth well? over 2 years ago
WHISPER OF THE HEART (1995) Japanese animated feature directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and written and produced by Hayao Miyazaki. It’s about a 14-year-old girl who reads a lot of books and wants to be a writer and she meets a boy who plays the violin and is studying violin-making. A chaste love story about the joys and turmoils of being a creative adolescent.
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Best film of the 80's? over 2 years ago
Best film of the ’80s?
Miyazaki’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988)
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solve the anagram over 2 years ago
When Love Feces Strut on Cooke
(Classic ’60s underground film)
I don’t have an anagram for you. I was never good at this kind of stuff. As you can see.
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A any great older films to see on a first date? over 2 years ago
Ditto on PORTRAIT OF JENNIE.
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the irishman over 2 years ago
“Wanted to make sure you weren’t one of those mindless parrots who hates DiCaprio in Scorsese films for no apparent reason.”
There are plenty of reasons to hate DiCaprio in Scorsese films. He’s ruined three of them: GANGS OF NEW YORK, THE AVIATOR and THE DEPARTED. DiCaprio’s a horrible actor and every time he steps in front of the camera in those films, it takes me out of the film. He looks like a kid who wandered onto the set and got mistakenly fitted out with grown-ups’ clothes. GANGS OF NEW YORK would have been so awesome without DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. He didn’t ruin SHUTTER ISLAND, because it was already ruined by a bad script and a stupid twist that killed my interest in the film. In fact, the thing I liked most about SHUTTER ISLAND was the spectacle of seeing DiCaprio suffer so much abuse in it. That was fun.
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1957 poll over 2 years ago
In roughly preferential order:
GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (dir.: John Sturges)
MEN IN WAR (dir.: Anthony Mann)
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (dir.: Jack Arnold)
THE TALL T (dir.: Budd Boetticher)
PEYTON PLACE (dir.: Mark Robson)
THE SNOW QUEEN (USSR, animated, dir.: Lev Atamanov)
TWENTY MILLION MILES TO EARTH (dir.: Nathan Juran)
CHINA GATE (dir.: Sam Fuller)
FORTY GUNS (dir.: Sam Fuller)
RUN OF THE ARROW (dir.: Sam Fuller)
THE TIN STAR (dir.: Anthony Mann)
A FACE IN THE CROWD (dir.: Elia Kazan)
LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (dir.: Billy Wilder)
I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (dir.: Gene Fowler Jr.)
A HATFUL OF RAIN (dir.: Fred Zinnemann)
12 ANGRY MEN (dir.: Sidney Lumet)
EDGE OF THE CITY (dir.: Martin Ritt)
BAND OF ANGELS (dir.: Raoul Walsh)
THE SUN ALSO RISES (dir.: Henry King)
“What’s Opera, Doc?” (dir.: Chuck Jones)
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Black and White? over 2 years ago
DiCaprio might look more convincing in b&w.
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OT: Do You Vote? over 2 years ago
I’ve voted in every election since 1972. The primaries include a lot of local races that count: City Council, Assembly, State Senate, etc. Being a registered Democrat in a Democratic county means I can vote in these crucial primaries. When I voted in the primary last Tues., I saw a friend’s name on the ballot, so I voted for him. Since I often complain to politicians, I feel I need to vote everytime to justify my claim on a pol’s time. But the turnout in non-Presidential elections is always low where I live.
This last primary was the first with these new paper ballots that get scanned. Not a lot of privacy. Everything went smoothly, but I prefer the old machines with the curtains and the little levers you pulled to register a vote.
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the irishman over 2 years ago
“And it bears mentioning that you sound like you were beat up by DiCaprio in primary school or something … just sayin’, sounds like a personal thing.”
No, I’m just a crotchety old man who resents these young whippersnappers. “Now get off’a my lawn!”
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Movies you could rewatch over and over over 2 years ago
Off the top of my head, a list of movies that I’ve seen multiple times (five to 25 or more) and could easily watch multiple times more:
THE WILD BUNCH
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
THE BANK DICK
YOU CAN’T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN
NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK
HORSE FEATHERS
CASABLANCA
THE BIG SLEEP
HIGH SIERRA
THE ROARING 20S
WHITE HEAT
OUT OF THE PAST
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL
THE LONGEST DAY
IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
THE DIRTY DOZEN
THE SEARCHERS
VERA CRUZ
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
ON THE TOWN
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
THE BAND WAGON
KILL BILL VOL. 1
SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED
IRON MONKEY
8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER
BROKEN OATH
WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES
SEVEN SAMURAI
YOJIMBO
GOJIRA/GODZILLA (1954/56) both versions
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY
KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE
WHISPER OF THE HEART
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Besides "Citizen Kane" and "Touch of Evil", what are the other essential Orson Welles films and why? over 2 years ago
BLACK MAGIC (1949) is a great Welles starring role. He plays Count Cagliostro in it. He’s not credited as director or writer, but IMDB insists he was a director (uncredited) on it. It sure plays like a Welles creation.
And if you like that speech in THE THIRD MAN, you should check out PRINCE OF FOXES (1949), shot in Italy, in which Welles actually plays Cesare Borgia.
(Wow—THIRD MAN, PRINCE OF FOXES and BLACK MAGIC— all 1949! What a year for him.)
I’ll also recommend LADY FROM SHANGHAI. A rare major studio release that was almost experimental in its visual audacity and the way it uses the studio’s biggest star at the time, Rita Hayworth. Studio head Harry Cohn was furious at Welles. Meanwhile, we’ve forgotten all the films that Cohn was happy about at the time. LADY’s got a pulp story, but it’s told in such a wild and original way that it never gets tired. Just like TOUCH OF EVIL.
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Is cinema alive and doing well...or not? over 2 years ago
I’d only vaguely heard of Nick Cave until this weekend when I watched WINGS OF DESIRE, in which he appears and performs two or three songs in a couple of club sequences. I thought the scenes worked very well in the film, but the music didn’t appeal to me. And I can definitely see the influence of Leonard Cohen there.
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