Hibi
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Posts posted by Hibi
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15 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
I know exactly what you mean.
It took me several viewings.
It's SO long.........
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2 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
Yep.
AMERICA, AMERICA suffers from this as well.
I've never been able to sit through all of that one either.
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4 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
Yes, amazing, isn't it?
Especially when you consider the subtlety and sensitivity Kazan displayed in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, another film about the immigrant experience in America.
I guess he was just too close to the material. LOL.
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9 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
Ha! Yes, Nehemiah is still kicking. But I'm thinking he would have been just as hammy.
I'm also picturing Lawrence Olivier.....
Hammy too. I guess its the way it was written (AND directed!)
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25 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
That I didn't know! Kirk, of course, always kept himself in shape.
Yes, I knew they had to be close in age. Wasn't Nehemiah Persoff available??? (Unbelievably, he's still ALIVE! I looked him up to spell his name right) Actually, now that I look more closely Persoff and Kirk were close in age too!
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3 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
CinemaInternational, do you know who wrote those Times reviews? They are priceless.
I love the description of Gregory Peck's 1969 performances as "ambassadorian", lol.
Vincent Canby, I think.
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8 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
lol, right?
"YOU ARE MY SON, YOU GIVE ME MONEY!"
"GET HAM, ROAST BEEF!"
Deborah steps out onto the bedroom patio for a whiff of fresh air (or supposedly to regroup after she initially fails to get Kirk's erotic juices flowing since he's always thinking about Faye), then turns around and the camera follows her back into their boudoir where she sheds her nightgown, and we can definitely see that it is Kerr's own body and bum.
LOL! Didn't you love those scenes with 2 Kirks for the price of one?
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14 hours ago, King Rat said:
About The Arrangement: Kazan was excited to do America America because it was based on his family's experience as Greeks in Turkey. He said he was through directing other people's stories and was only going to do original work of his own. The Arrangement suggests that this plan did not work out well.
I guess he changed his mind when he directed The Last Tycoon, another bomb, his last film.
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14 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:
I would have thought that The Harvard Lampoon might have gone out after it in 1969 since they did a worst films of the year list, but their lists were always very snarky, usually going after a few beloved films, instead of going only for despised films, giving their lists a slightly dubious air. They did not pick The Arrangement for their "worst" list; instead their 10 of dishonor were: Easy Rider, Medium Cool, Putney Swope, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, Topaz, True Grit, The Maltese Bippy, John and Mary, Hello Dolly, and Last Summer. In typical Lampoon fashion, they carved up several films there that didn't deserve it.....
I did find though while using Google, a link to The New York Times (and for once I could read the article because I hadn't exhausted my limit of free articles). For a few short years, the Times used to write an article about the 10 worst films of the year, until their management stopped it thinking it was too mean-spirited to continue. However, 1969 was one of the years they did do a column, and indeed, The Arrangement was picked as one of the year's 10 worst by the Times. I'm enclosing the complete column from January 4, 1970 here via copy and paste:
LOL. Thanks for the list. I've gone through my NYT free quota and cant read their reviews anymore.
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5 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:
Razzies didn't exist in 1969, but the film did receive very bad reviews and was considered to be one of the major disappointments of the year as expectations were high with Kazan adapting his own book, and with that cast attached. So if they had existed, the film would likely have been a top contender for them. As for Deborah Kerr, don't look for a nude scene of her in this film. They filmed one, but it was cut from the finished film; however she did go nude in John Frankenheimer's The Gypsy Moths the same year in a scene where her character was having an affair with Burt Lancaster (again) on a couch while her husband William Windom was upstairs knowing exactly what was happening. Her nude scene there remained in the film, and its very clear that it is her in the scene and not a body double.
Yes, I knew she had a nude scene in that film also (and pushing 50!). I guess I didn't miss anything in The Arrangement then. (missed part of the middle this go round) Yes, had a feeling the Razzies came after '69. Too bad! The film deserved several!
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19 hours ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
Did anybody see Elia Kazan's THE ARRANGEMENT? This one vies with Bob Fosse's ALL THAT JAZZ for self-indulgent, navel-gazing badness -- two creative men grappling with middle-aged angst, but THE ARRANGEMENT is definitely in a class by itself.
Kirk Douglas is a successful ad man who hates his job. He's got all the perks of unfettered consumerism -- beautiful home, pool, servants, wife (a rheumy-eyed Deborah Kerr, who has a brief nude scene. The tushie is actually hers), and mistress (Faye Dunaway). Kirk has a nervous breakdown and tries to commit suicide. In addition, he's got to cope with the mental deterioration of his aging, tyrannical Greek/Turkish father, played with Anthony Quinn-like relish by the underrated Richard Boone, who sports a silver wig and dialogue along the lines of "You give me money!" and "Is taxi here yet?" Kazan directs in "Swinging Sixties" style, with some Fellini thrown in for good measure, if you can possibly imagine. Must be seen to be believed.
Even then you can't believe it! I saw most of it. I've attempted to watch it before, but could never make it through. UNBELIEVABLY BAD. Kirk and Boone vie for worst over acting performance. GAG inducing. I missed Deborah's nude scene. All for naught!
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On 9/4/2021 at 5:42 PM, CinemaInternational said:
Without You I'm Nothing (1990)
Coming right on the heels of TCM's semi-rebranding to, I guess, try to appeal to "woke" audiences in 2021, along comes Without You I'm Nothing, a stand-up film of sorts that seems to be vying for the title of most "woke" film of 1990 (although 2021 wokesters would be less than thrilled about a seemingly positive reference to old drinking cups that looked like black women in a stereotypical way). I guess that makes it the perfect TCM Underground showing for the first week of the remodel, but it's a strange, disconcerting film.
It stars, Sandra Bernhard, a comedian who at various times in the film describes herself as a Communist, Jewish, Bisexual Feminist, who is likely best known for playing the kidnapper obsessed with Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy, and for her recurring appearances as a lesbian friend of the leading lady on Roseanne in the 90s. Bernhard cannot be mistaken for anyone else with her barbed skewerings of everyone including herself and her angular face which differs in appearance even based on how light hits it. She's a strange sort to watch; she's really arrests the attention, she has a good speaking and singing voice, but everything else seems very off kilter. The film finds her smashing many public symbols of the time (this is the type of film that likely made some heads almost explode on its first release), and finds her careening between egomania and self-hatred. She jokes, she sings, she rants, she strips, she has sex, she generally is meant to confront the audience as to how they feel about her. We have looks in of mockumentary, and strange cuts to a lesbian showerroom scene and to a black woman who leaves Bernhard an R-rated insult on a tablecloth at the end of the film.
At times, this film does seem to work, unlike most other stand-up in concert films, the camerawork is not static and does not rely on a laughing audience's reaction shots (the onscreen audience in this film just simply stares silently at her), and at times, her personality is enough to seemingly make it work. But in the final 20 minutes it becomes pretty overbearing and preachy, and the ending, having her draped in an American flag, until she takes it off to reveal her standing in only the tiniest thong and G-string imaginable as she does a 3 minute nude dance and burlesque number to the entirety of Prince's "Little Red Corvette" while the camera slobbers over her (admittedly good) physical physique is extremely embarrassing, simultaneously both self-indulgent and demeaning at the same time.
I'm still not sure what to make of it all. Except maybe shock that this in-your-face cutting -edge comedienne once had a cameo in a Sesame Street movie. After seeing this, she seems like the least likely person to be hobnobbing with Oscar the Grouch.....
I recorded it, but havent watched it yet. Whatever happened to Bernhard????
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1 hour ago, filmnoirguy said:
How could Elia Kazan take his own novel (which I totally liked) and turn it into such a terrible movie? Leonard Maltin rated it with one of his few BOMBS.
I managed to watch most of it. Did Kirk or the film win any Razzies that year??? Did they exist back then? I remember the film bombing badly (at the B.O. and with critics) Kirk is really over the top (even for him). But the script and direction are terrible too. The scenes between him and Richard Boone are so awful. Non-stop shouting. UGH.
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1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
also also, the 1991 revival kept going with the longstanding tradition of casting GAY ACTORS in the male roles, at least in one case...
Who was that case? (I never watched the reboot) How was Jean Simmons in the show? Did she have much to do?
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Thanks for your support! Joan appreciates it.
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On 9/6/2021 at 9:54 PM, UMO1982 said:
The new logo intro thing for Silent Sunday Nights is hideous. From what I can tell it features a 1 second shot of Lon Chaney as a clown, a two picture shot of Nazimova and Valentino, and the train from THE GENERAL. There's also some dumb squiggles. That's it. Also a theme tune with about 5 notes in it and some clapping sounds from a ho-down. 11 seconds. I wonder what they paid for this????
WAY too much.......
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8 hours ago, nakano said:
Harriet Craig was the favorite alias of Greta Garbo.She used it for everything,The company the LLC representing her estate is named Harriet Craig.
It was Brown, not Craig.
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Speaking of soaps, I was home yesterday and watched DOOL. Wow! Stuff is happening on that show. LOL. And there was a scene of Xander shirtless showing his hairy chest!!! (I guess he shaved it in the past). I may start watching again!!!
On the other hand Young and Restless was deadly dull..........
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On 9/5/2021 at 1:50 PM, LornaHansonForbes said:
also, excuse the non sequitor, bit it occurred to me the other day that it would've made more sense if DAVID had been ELIZABETH'S son and CAROLYN had been ROGER's daughter.
Elizabeth was a bit long in the tooth to be David's mother, though.
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Late to the discussion. I liked the film, (Cloudburst) though at first I thought it was going to be dud. Thankfully after the first boring part (10 mins). It took off in a different direction and was very engaging. SO GLAD Noir Alley is back!!!
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Hadn't heard of this until today. Sad news.
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On 9/4/2021 at 2:38 AM, Eucalpytus P. Millstone said:
I was told that it was a great place to cast pearls.
If what is such a dreary chore? Doing something (such as watching old movies) not for fun, enjoyment, and pleasure but because some taskmaster (like for instance, a "classic film" buff) thinks that you should do it? Having to explain one's comments to prickly remedial school graduates who get snippy when something they read upsets them?
Being a troll certainly is!!!
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Regarding the Kate/Spencer rumors. Maybe both could be true. If Kate was bi/lesbian, doesn't mean she couldn't still have loved Tracy. Not saying she was, but there were plenty of lavender marriages or marriages of convenience in the old days in Hollywood. I could never picture Kate having sex with anyone (of either sex). Just something about her chilly personality. And in old age she came off as rather prudish in interviews. Was it all an act? Who knows. I don't think anyone could come up with enough evidence to prove these rumors. And I really don't care one way or another.
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I Just Watched...
in General Discussions
Posted
The fact there are no familiar actors in it doesn't help either. One of these days I'll watch it all the way through.......