I was already getting into this sort of cinema when I was your age, so I congratulate you on your good taste. I’d wait a while on Antoinoni, his stuff often takes a great deal of patience and not all of it is worth it. Don’t bother with ZABRISKIE POINT.
As for Fellini, LA STRADA and IL VITELLONI are good starters, then try EIGHT 1/2 and LA DOLCE VITA.
As for Truffaut, I’d go with JULES AND JIM, THE 400 BLOWS and DAY FOR NIGHT, all great movies and lots of fun.
And have you been checking out Robert Altman, Orson Welles or Samuel Fuller? Those are three of my favorite American filmmakers, well worth investigating. Good luck!
I love SID AND NANCY, but as a document of the British punk scene, it’s nothing to write home about, full of holes and half-truths and a general lack of understanding of the music and the scene that surrounded it. If you want to know about the Sex Pistols, see THE FILTH AND THE FURY, or better yet read the book ENGLAND’S DREAMING by Jon Savage.
It’s true that Bergman’s films move at their own pace and the deal with internal emotions more than visceral action, but I don’t think that makes them boring. Bergman deals with the stuff of life — love, sex, jealousy, angst, fear, desire, sadness, rage, confusion — and that’s what drama is all about. I grant that some are more approachable than others, but if you think his entire body of work is boring, I can only surmise that you’ve been watching the wrong movies.
I don’t think MAGNOLIA is as good a film as BOOGIE NIGHTS, HARD EIGHT or THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but I think in a very real way it’s more deeply felt and more personal than any of them. I think Anderson was reaching for an emotional truth with the film that comes through even when the movie doesn’t quite hit its target, and the best moments are powerful and moving stuff. If I’d seen it when I was 17, I don’t doubt it would have struck me the same way it did Tom. (Though I would suggest checking out NASHVILLE if you dug MAGNOLIA.)
Jim Van Bebber’s THE MANSON FAMILY. I was so knocked out by it that I saw it twice in one week at a theater an hour’s drive from my home. The folks I brought along the second time thought I was nuts, but I think it’s some sort of deranged masterpiece.
Oh, and I don’t trust anyone who hates on ARMY OF DARKNESS or any of the EVIL DEAD films. As Pauline Kael said, movies are so rarely great art that if we can’t appreciate great trash there’s little reason to be interested in them, and Sam Raimi’s best stuff is superlative trash.
I’m a free-lance writer stranded in the Middle of Nowhere in the Midwest. Been fanatical about cinema every since I saw 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY when I was eight and was freaked out by the trip into the infinite at the end. I tend to love great art or great trash, the stuff in the middle doesn’t interest me so much. Nice to be among the fellow obsessed here in cyberspace!
My experience has been that Warhol’s films are a lot like his art — the idea is often more interesting and important than the work itself. That said, I though there were some great moments in THE CHELSEA GIRLS, and nearly everything he did is fascinating as a document of its time and place. I’d like to see more thinks like that 13 MOST BEAUTIFUL set — unless you can catch a screening, the Warhol films only circulate on crummy looking bootlegs and both the movies and the folks interested in them deserve better.
I watched LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS a few weeks ago, and Fee Waybill (lead singer for the Tubes) is absolutely hilarious as a past-prime heavy metal dork. If I were casting a movie, I would give the man a part. Seriously.
Something Weird have done a heroic job of rescuing literally hundreds of obscure grindhouse films from the trash heap, and the DVD’s they released through Image were always done with loving care. For my money, they’re up there with Criterion in using home video to keep films in circulation that might otherwise drop out of sight. Three cheers for SWV!
David!: I actually saw ST. ELMO’S FIRE when it was first released at a drive-in in Lansing, Michigan. We were drunk. It didn’t help.
As for “Good Bad Movies” (as opposed to what I call “Differently Good Movies,” movies that are good but work in a deliberately odd or lowbrow manner), my two faves are GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED (makes one of the great tragedies of the 1970’s seem funny somehow, and you get to watch several washed-up stars humiliate themselves in it — Joseph Cotten! Yvonne De Carlo! John Ireland! Stuart Whitman!) and SANTA CLAUS, a truly baffling Mexican children’s picture made in 1959 in which Santa, who lives and works on a satellite orbiting the Earth, battles Satan for control of the world’s children. Best of all, the director of SANTA CLAUS, Rene Cardona Sr., is the father of the director of GUYANA, Rene Cardona, Jr.! There’s greatness in that bloodline, folks!
Now that Peter Watkins’ work is finally coming out on DVD (and if you haven’t seen his films, stop reading this now and rent/buy CULLODEN, THE WAR GAME, PUNISHMENT PARK, EDVARD MUNCH and/or PRIVILEGE), the tops on my list are DUSTY AND SWEETS MCGEE, THE TAMI SHOW and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. And I’m with you folks on the crying need for THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, GREED and Nick Ray.
Attention Tom Wilson: THE BOYS IN THE BAND just came out on DVD (no pun intended), with a commentary track from Friedkin.
I can understand not liking Welles work — there are a number of acknowledged great films that I don’t happen to enjoy very much, even if I admire the talent that went into them — but I find it hard to dismiss the excellence of the craft and the innovative technique in his work. C’mon now — KANE? THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS? TOUCH OF EVIL? OTHELLO? F FOR FAKE? CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT? THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI? Even if they’re not to your taste, it’s hard to argue that those films aren’t brilliantly made and visually striking stuff.
I’m with Andy E. about AMERICAN PSYCHO … I hated the book but the movie is quite good. And THE GODFATHER is the best example of a movie improving on a novel (the book is a marginally interesting potboiler at best). And while a bunch of people have mentioned THE SHINING, how about CARRIE? I thought DePalma’s movie was wittier and more compassionate than King’s book.
I got really annoyed with the fact that with multi-disc sets, you have to order each disc separately. And the titles I wanted most always took for freakin’ EVER. I eventually gave up on Netflix … I like the idea better than the execution, and I’d rather support the good independent video store in my town.
I can’t recall ever walking out on a movie, but I remember being so appalled by SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND that I demanded my money back. (I didn’t get it.)
Can any of our Canadian friends here tell me how I can track down THE HARD PART BEGINS? Canadian no-realistic kitchen sink stuff is one of my more obscure enthusiasms, and I’ve always wanted to see that one. And Derek is right about GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD, it’s a really marvelous, powerful film.
Thanks, Derek. It’s a shame that so many Canadian films of the Sixties and Seventies seem to have fallen through the cracks. By the way, has NOBODY WAVED GOODBYE ever come out on DVD? I got a VHS copy from the NFB years ago, but I don’t know if it’s ever been released on video in the United States. Too bad, it’s dated a bit but I still think it’s a heartfelt and effective work.
2001: A Space Odyssey completely turned my head around when I first saw it. I was eight years old (it had just been released) and it at once fascinated me and confronted every notion in my young mind about what movies and art could be. It made me aware of the idea that movies (and music, books, creative media in general) was something to think about, not just a fun way to kill time, and if it weren’t for that, I literally don’t know what I’d be doing with my life today. I’ll always be indebted to Kubrick for the gift of that movie at that time.
The MONDO CANE COLLECTION box set is amazing stuff, if troubling … if there’s a more enthusiastically offensive film that FAREWELL, UNCLE TOM, I’d like to know what it is (and yes, I’ve seen SALO, and trust me, FAREWELL, UNCLE TOM beats it). The films from the set are finally being released individually, and they’re well worth watching as a precursor to so much that is grim and offensive in our culture.
Overall, Blue Underground have done a splendid job with the stuff they’ve put out — quality transfers, relevant supplements, good packaging. Would that every company releasing genre cinema showed Blue Underground’s commitment to quality! Big up to Lustig and the folks at BU!
I love GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD and NOBODY WAVED GOODBYE, which to me typify something in the Canadian character in the Sixties and early Seventies, a sense that culturally they were a nation struggling to graduate to the status of a “real” film industry. They’re also simple but deeply affecting films that have not received the exposure they deserve in the United States (and neither is available on DVD in the US).
VCI Entertainment released ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE on DVD in 2004. Not a great transfer, but it will suffice. It’s not one of Bunuel’s better movies, but it’s certainly more interesting than most adaptations of Defoe’s story.
I’d love to see more films from Bunuel’s Mexican period, few of which are available in the United States. Does anyone know how to track them down?
ERASERHEAD was Charles Bukowski’s favorite film. There’s an unusual endorsement.
I saw it in 1979 and I was floored by it. It doesn’t seem as remarkable now, but it’s still a one-of-a-kind work that doesn’t look or feel quite like anything else.
I wish the Criterion releases were cheaper, but I understand that with their stuff you really do get what you pay for. With the Criterion edition, you know the transfer is going to look great, the extras will be worthwhile and the booklet will be good reading.
I saw a bootleg of it years ago and thought the idea was more interesting than the execution, but there were definite flashes of Fuller’s talent on display. Certainly not deserving of the controversy that kept it from being released.
I love Elaine May, but c’mon, ISHTAR is kind of a mess. It’s not nearly as awful as people like to say it is, but it’s a long, long way from a great film.
HEAVEN’S GATE looks amazing — the cinematography and the production design are magnificent — and there are some fine performances, especially from Kris Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert. But the script is a shambles and the film is a overextended mess. I don’t think the film’s political viewpoint had much to do with the negative critical reaction in the States; I recall the leftist film journal CINEASTE panning the film quite strongly. It’s just not a very good movie, and while it’s hardly one of the worst films ever made, it flopped for a very good reason — it’s not at all entertaining.
While I think NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. DAWN OF THE DEAD and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE are all great films, they’ve also been given pretty much definitive presentations on DVD, and I’m not sure Criterion needs to step forward for an upgrade. I do think that the definitive version of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER is still waiting to be released, and I’d like to see Criterion take a stab at it. I wouldn’t mind a better version of Jim Van Bebber’s THE MANSON FAMILY, either. And I’ll join the chorus on ROSEMARY’S BABY, a terrific movie that hasn’t been given an especially strong DVD release.
12-year old asking... over 3 years ago
I was already getting into this sort of cinema when I was your age, so I congratulate you on your good taste. I’d wait a while on Antoinoni, his stuff often takes a great deal of patience and not all of it is worth it. Don’t bother with ZABRISKIE POINT.
As for Fellini, LA STRADA and IL VITELLONI are good starters, then try EIGHT 1/2 and LA DOLCE VITA.
As for Truffaut, I’d go with JULES AND JIM, THE 400 BLOWS and DAY FOR NIGHT, all great movies and lots of fun.
And have you been checking out Robert Altman, Orson Welles or Samuel Fuller? Those are three of my favorite American filmmakers, well worth investigating. Good luck!
Go to Comment
What do Sex Pistols fans think of this? over 3 years ago
I love SID AND NANCY, but as a document of the British punk scene, it’s nothing to write home about, full of holes and half-truths and a general lack of understanding of the music and the scene that surrounded it. If you want to know about the Sex Pistols, see THE FILTH AND THE FURY, or better yet read the book ENGLAND’S DREAMING by Jon Savage.
Go to Comment
Planet of the Apes or Star Wars? over 3 years ago
Can I just vote “no”?
Go to Comment
INGMAR BERGMAN: GENIUS...OR...OVERRATED BORE? over 3 years ago
It’s true that Bergman’s films move at their own pace and the deal with internal emotions more than visceral action, but I don’t think that makes them boring. Bergman deals with the stuff of life — love, sex, jealousy, angst, fear, desire, sadness, rage, confusion — and that’s what drama is all about. I grant that some are more approachable than others, but if you think his entire body of work is boring, I can only surmise that you’ve been watching the wrong movies.
Go to Comment
Can we talk about "Magnolia" for a bit? over 3 years ago
I don’t think MAGNOLIA is as good a film as BOOGIE NIGHTS, HARD EIGHT or THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but I think in a very real way it’s more deeply felt and more personal than any of them. I think Anderson was reaching for an emotional truth with the film that comes through even when the movie doesn’t quite hit its target, and the best moments are powerful and moving stuff. If I’d seen it when I was 17, I don’t doubt it would have struck me the same way it did Tom. (Though I would suggest checking out NASHVILLE if you dug MAGNOLIA.)
Go to Comment
Films you love but most people hate. over 3 years ago
Jim Van Bebber’s THE MANSON FAMILY. I was so knocked out by it that I saw it twice in one week at a theater an hour’s drive from my home. The folks I brought along the second time thought I was nuts, but I think it’s some sort of deranged masterpiece.
Oh, and I don’t trust anyone who hates on ARMY OF DARKNESS or any of the EVIL DEAD films. As Pauline Kael said, movies are so rarely great art that if we can’t appreciate great trash there’s little reason to be interested in them, and Sam Raimi’s best stuff is superlative trash.
Go to Comment
New to The Auteurs? You Belong Here over 3 years ago
I’m a free-lance writer stranded in the Middle of Nowhere in the Midwest. Been fanatical about cinema every since I saw 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY when I was eight and was freaked out by the trip into the infinite at the end. I tend to love great art or great trash, the stuff in the middle doesn’t interest me so much. Nice to be among the fellow obsessed here in cyberspace!
Go to Comment
Andy Warhol over 3 years ago
My experience has been that Warhol’s films are a lot like his art — the idea is often more interesting and important than the work itself. That said, I though there were some great moments in THE CHELSEA GIRLS, and nearly everything he did is fascinating as a document of its time and place. I’d like to see more thinks like that 13 MOST BEAUTIFUL set — unless you can catch a screening, the Warhol films only circulate on crummy looking bootlegs and both the movies and the folks interested in them deserve better.
Go to Comment
Best Musicians Turned "Actors" over 3 years ago
I watched LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS a few weeks ago, and Fee Waybill (lead singer for the Tubes) is absolutely hilarious as a past-prime heavy metal dork. If I were casting a movie, I would give the man a part. Seriously.
Go to Comment
Your favorite soundman over 3 years ago
Earl Sampson is the greatest boom man in film history, and a personal hero to me.
Go to Comment
Something Weird Video over 3 years ago
Something Weird have done a heroic job of rescuing literally hundreds of obscure grindhouse films from the trash heap, and the DVD’s they released through Image were always done with loving care. For my money, they’re up there with Criterion in using home video to keep films in circulation that might otherwise drop out of sight. Three cheers for SWV!
Go to Comment
Good Bad Films over 3 years ago
David!: I actually saw ST. ELMO’S FIRE when it was first released at a drive-in in Lansing, Michigan. We were drunk. It didn’t help.
As for “Good Bad Movies” (as opposed to what I call “Differently Good Movies,” movies that are good but work in a deliberately odd or lowbrow manner), my two faves are GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED (makes one of the great tragedies of the 1970’s seem funny somehow, and you get to watch several washed-up stars humiliate themselves in it — Joseph Cotten! Yvonne De Carlo! John Ireland! Stuart Whitman!) and SANTA CLAUS, a truly baffling Mexican children’s picture made in 1959 in which Santa, who lives and works on a satellite orbiting the Earth, battles Satan for control of the world’s children. Best of all, the director of SANTA CLAUS, Rene Cardona Sr., is the father of the director of GUYANA, Rene Cardona, Jr.! There’s greatness in that bloodline, folks!
Go to Comment
Classic movies you can't get on d.v.d. over 3 years ago
Now that Peter Watkins’ work is finally coming out on DVD (and if you haven’t seen his films, stop reading this now and rent/buy CULLODEN, THE WAR GAME, PUNISHMENT PARK, EDVARD MUNCH and/or PRIVILEGE), the tops on my list are DUSTY AND SWEETS MCGEE, THE TAMI SHOW and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. And I’m with you folks on the crying need for THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, GREED and Nick Ray.
Attention Tom Wilson: THE BOYS IN THE BAND just came out on DVD (no pun intended), with a commentary track from Friedkin.
Go to Comment
Controversial opinion: Orson Welles is not very good over 3 years ago
I can understand not liking Welles work — there are a number of acknowledged great films that I don’t happen to enjoy very much, even if I admire the talent that went into them — but I find it hard to dismiss the excellence of the craft and the innovative technique in his work. C’mon now — KANE? THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS? TOUCH OF EVIL? OTHELLO? F FOR FAKE? CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT? THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI? Even if they’re not to your taste, it’s hard to argue that those films aren’t brilliantly made and visually striking stuff.
Go to Comment
Films that are better than the books that they are are based on over 3 years ago
I’m with Andy E. about AMERICAN PSYCHO … I hated the book but the movie is quite good. And THE GODFATHER is the best example of a movie improving on a novel (the book is a marginally interesting potboiler at best). And while a bunch of people have mentioned THE SHINING, how about CARRIE? I thought DePalma’s movie was wittier and more compassionate than King’s book.
Go to Comment
Netflix; frustrations with over 3 years ago
I got really annoyed with the fact that with multi-disc sets, you have to order each disc separately. And the titles I wanted most always took for freakin’ EVER. I eventually gave up on Netflix … I like the idea better than the execution, and I’d rather support the good independent video store in my town.
Go to Comment
Which Movies Have You Walked Out On? over 3 years ago
I can’t recall ever walking out on a movie, but I remember being so appalled by SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND that I demanded my money back. (I didn’t get it.)
Go to Comment
Films for Canadians over 3 years ago
Can any of our Canadian friends here tell me how I can track down THE HARD PART BEGINS? Canadian no-realistic kitchen sink stuff is one of my more obscure enthusiasms, and I’ve always wanted to see that one. And Derek is right about GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD, it’s a really marvelous, powerful film.
Go to Comment
Films for Canadians over 3 years ago
Thanks, Derek. It’s a shame that so many Canadian films of the Sixties and Seventies seem to have fallen through the cracks. By the way, has NOBODY WAVED GOODBYE ever come out on DVD? I got a VHS copy from the NFB years ago, but I don’t know if it’s ever been released on video in the United States. Too bad, it’s dated a bit but I still think it’s a heartfelt and effective work.
Go to Comment
Which film has changed your life forever? over 3 years ago
2001: A Space Odyssey completely turned my head around when I first saw it. I was eight years old (it had just been released) and it at once fascinated me and confronted every notion in my young mind about what movies and art could be. It made me aware of the idea that movies (and music, books, creative media in general) was something to think about, not just a fun way to kill time, and if it weren’t for that, I literally don’t know what I’d be doing with my life today. I’ll always be indebted to Kubrick for the gift of that movie at that time.
Go to Comment
Blue Underground over 3 years ago
The MONDO CANE COLLECTION box set is amazing stuff, if troubling … if there’s a more enthusiastically offensive film that FAREWELL, UNCLE TOM, I’d like to know what it is (and yes, I’ve seen SALO, and trust me, FAREWELL, UNCLE TOM beats it). The films from the set are finally being released individually, and they’re well worth watching as a precursor to so much that is grim and offensive in our culture.
Overall, Blue Underground have done a splendid job with the stuff they’ve put out — quality transfers, relevant supplements, good packaging. Would that every company releasing genre cinema showed Blue Underground’s commitment to quality! Big up to Lustig and the folks at BU!
Go to Comment
What is the spoiler policy in this forum? over 3 years ago
I think our spoiler policy is that all sandwiches with mayonnaise MUST be kept on ice or in a cooler. When that that stuff spoils, it can kill you!
Go to Comment
The Best Canadian Films of all time? over 3 years ago
I love GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD and NOBODY WAVED GOODBYE, which to me typify something in the Canadian character in the Sixties and early Seventies, a sense that culturally they were a nation struggling to graduate to the status of a “real” film industry. They’re also simple but deeply affecting films that have not received the exposure they deserve in the United States (and neither is available on DVD in the US).
Go to Comment
Buñuel recommendations? over 3 years ago
VCI Entertainment released ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE on DVD in 2004. Not a great transfer, but it will suffice. It’s not one of Bunuel’s better movies, but it’s certainly more interesting than most adaptations of Defoe’s story.
I’d love to see more films from Bunuel’s Mexican period, few of which are available in the United States. Does anyone know how to track them down?
Go to Comment
Eraserhead over 3 years ago
ERASERHEAD was Charles Bukowski’s favorite film. There’s an unusual endorsement.
I saw it in 1979 and I was floored by it. It doesn’t seem as remarkable now, but it’s still a one-of-a-kind work that doesn’t look or feel quite like anything else.
Go to Comment
Criterion too pricey for you? over 3 years ago
I wish the Criterion releases were cheaper, but I understand that with their stuff you really do get what you pay for. With the Criterion edition, you know the transfer is going to look great, the extras will be worthwhile and the booklet will be good reading.
Go to Comment
What did you think of White Dog? over 3 years ago
I saw a bootleg of it years ago and thought the idea was more interesting than the execution, but there were definite flashes of Fuller’s talent on display. Certainly not deserving of the controversy that kept it from being released.
Go to Comment
Why do you hate Elaine May and Ishtar so much? over 3 years ago
I love Elaine May, but c’mon, ISHTAR is kind of a mess. It’s not nearly as awful as people like to say it is, but it’s a long, long way from a great film.
Go to Comment
HEAVEN'S GATE over 3 years ago
HEAVEN’S GATE looks amazing — the cinematography and the production design are magnificent — and there are some fine performances, especially from Kris Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert. But the script is a shambles and the film is a overextended mess. I don’t think the film’s political viewpoint had much to do with the negative critical reaction in the States; I recall the leftist film journal CINEASTE panning the film quite strongly. It’s just not a very good movie, and while it’s hardly one of the worst films ever made, it flopped for a very good reason — it’s not at all entertaining.
Go to Comment
WHAT MODERN...AMERICAN...HORROR FILMS SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE CRITERION COLLECTION? over 3 years ago
While I think NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. DAWN OF THE DEAD and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE are all great films, they’ve also been given pretty much definitive presentations on DVD, and I’m not sure Criterion needs to step forward for an upgrade. I do think that the definitive version of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER is still waiting to be released, and I’d like to see Criterion take a stab at it. I wouldn’t mind a better version of Jim Van Bebber’s THE MANSON FAMILY, either. And I’ll join the chorus on ROSEMARY’S BABY, a terrific movie that hasn’t been given an especially strong DVD release.
Go to Comment