Stephen444
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Posts posted by Stephen444
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As it is I don't understand the different Forums. What exactly is Hot Topics? How does that differ from Your Favorites. These are vague categories that blend into one another. Nothing subtle about Obits though. Either your dead or your alive.
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Not wanting to sound too morbid but it would be interesting to have an Obit forum. I find it tedious to read through this thread with all comments thrown into one big thread rather then being able to create individual obits of people.
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I hadn't realized that the Manson murders were a year later but it is still creepy to hear the killer in this movie comment that he is going to hunt some pigs. It's probably just a coincidence but the Beatles "White Album" and the song "Piggies" did come out in 1968 and it's interesting to ponder about the inspiration for this line. Could it have come from Bodanovich's awareness of this song?
What makes the Whitman inspired character so interesting and horrifying is that he seems to be the epitome of the clean cut American male of the 1960's. I must admit that I found myself wishing that the killer's wife and mother would just shut up with their monotonous comments about their dreary everyday activities. The seeming normalcy of this All American family makes us anxious to find something, someone we can believe in. Do any of these people ever set foot into a museum or read a book?
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This is a uniquely American horror film. I think it is more frightening today then it was in 1968.
Scary details...
Shooter telling gun shop clerk that he was going to hunt some pigs. Was this coincidental to the death to pigs reference in the real life 1968 Manson murders??
Relationship of father and son (shooter) similar to the Marine father and son in "American Beauty".
Surreal Hitchcock detail...
Shooter walking through his house and viewer expecting gun to go off as the images transition to the Karloff hotel room.
Campy presence of Karloff in film. Similar to Ed Wood's use of Lugosi although not amateurish.
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>The Misfits tops my list
Me too. Not only because Huston directed it but for all the other dramas going on in it's making....last film of Gable and Monroe...Arthur Miller screenplay...great cast...Monty, Marilyn, Gable, Ritter, Wallach.
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> What is a left-wing cook???
An Obama supporter who is flipping hamburgers at McDonald's.
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I was always impressed with "Annie". I think a musical has to be the most difficult movie medium. Who would think a macho personality like Huston would attempt such a project? He did a good job.
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>I am so sick of these left wing cooks trying to instill their political ideas and wishes on the public.
My goodness. 14 pages of comments. I don't have the patience to read through all of these but I'll put my 2 cents worth in.... Better we should be limited to right wing nuts and their political ideas and wishes.
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I just read that Peter Kastner died on September 18th. He was the lead character in Francis Ford Coppola's little known film "Your a Big Boy Now" from 1966. An interesting film. Not a block buster effort but well worth seeing. Kastner was 64. The other lead from this movie also died an early death. Elizabeth Hartman was only 44 when she jumped from the window of her apartment in 1987.
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I read an article years ago in college about James Dean and his premature death. It also cited other examples ...Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix all who died at the height of their creative powers. The main point of the article was that these people had an authenticity that can only be achieved, unfortunately, by an early death. James Dean is ultimately more mysterious and sexy then Brando because he confirmed his rebel image with his actual real life death. Brando was a great actor but the fact that he grew old and fat, taking roles that were not of the same caliber as his early masterpieces, changed our perception of him.
Jim Morrison of the Doors was just one of many rock stars of the late 60s that expressed feelings about danger, death and abandonment in his music. Compare Morrison with Mick Jagger who started out with a similar resume and set of values but has just become a hip incorporated identity with that fat lips logo. How is this any different from any other slick commodity today?
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>I will say it's refreshing to see someone defend Brando/Dean,
That's all I was ranting about. I find very few films and actors today that really hold my interest. As I said before in regard to this thread my criticism of the Coen Bros. is based on the fact that I think their films are well worth seeing and discussing.
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I looked at the online promo for this film, which didn't hold my attention. Coming attractions can be deceiving. Remember Mary Riely? Looked great in the promo but uugh, what a stinker. Anyway I have always felt that if you can't even make the promo interesting there isn't going to be much there. Remakes are usually disappointing and unfortunately this is the one genre that many contemporary films are based on.
I think the remake of this film has a high bar to overcome to come close to the original. From what I observed in the promo the characters appear to be glib but without glamour. I think this remake would have worked much better on the small screen as a variation of Sex in the City but with only women in the cast. Then they could have dragged the campy dialogue on endlessly, week after week. TV does this very well.
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>Come to think of it, Clooney has done some interesting stuff, too, although I believe he's more of the classic leading man. Brad Pitt is so much more "boyish good looks". I sometimes wonder how James Dean would have made out had he lived. Maybe the same. After all, Jett Rink was a character role, right?
I can't believe you are comparing George Clooney and Brad Pitt to the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando. I don't think that Clooney or Pitt have anything on their resumes that is close to the groundbreaking films of On the Waterfront, Streetcar, Wild One, Rebel w/o a Cause, East of Eden.
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>That would be the best actor to ever become president
How about Bill Clinton in Hollywood? Then we would have the Best President in the movies!
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>I think a so-so Coen Bros. movie is almost guaranteed to be far more entertaining than the average Hollywood movie that's got nothing but marketing going for it.
Agreed!
I am making my comments about the Coen Brothers because I think their films are interesting and worth discussing.
Today's films are judged in the media by how much money they make. When movies are discussed it is usually about how much money they make. Like in Spaceballs when Mel Brooks refers to merchandising..now that's where the real money is!
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Ronald Reagan.
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>mho, it's one of the smartest thing filmmakers can do - try different genres and different types of movies, instead of getting stuck doing the same kind of thing over and over, often with diminishing returns.
Yeah, well I'm glad Hitchcock did the same thing over and over again. He use to refer to that which motivated the characters in his movies the Mcguffin. He didn't think that this was too important it was just the particular circumstances that caused people to act (no pun intended) the way they did in his movies. I think that Fargo possesses this element. I can follow the motivation of the characters but I really couldn't empathize with the characters in Burn After Reading. There was humor but no interesting mcguffins organizing and motivating their actions.
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One bright spot in the movie was Brad Pitt. I never really thought much about his abilities other then his celebrity but I was impressed with his style in this movie. I think he delivered some of the funniest lines and created an interesting character. Unfortunately the lack of disturbing horror to balance the humor was sadly lacking.
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"Every time I here these lines they send a shiver up my spine."
That's what Fargo achieved that Burn After Reading doesn't. There is horror like in Fargo, people being murdered, but in the case of Burn After Reading even the murders got laughs in the theater. I don't feel that the story (writing) was in the same league with the Hitchcock styled Fargo.
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Hey, Nashville is a great film. In my opinion, one of this countries best but how many times is tcm going to show this film this year? What about some of Altman's other films. The man produced alot of work....Mash, Brewster McClould, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Images etc....etc. I think his work deserves more of a look then tcm is giving us.
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TCM is so obsessed with packaging there offerings thematically I find it surprising that Labor Day isn't addressed today. The two films that come to my mind are Picnic and On The Waterfront. I realize that these were just shown but maybe saving them for today would have been a more interesting, thought provoking connection then just showing them on nights that were tributes to Rosalind Russell and Marlon Brando.
What other films relate to Labor Day??
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I also love this film. It's got something for everyone. Christmas, love, model trains and of course Janet Leigh's frontal attributes. I wonder if Howard Hughes had anything to do with it's design as he did with Jane Russell's.
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This is one of my favorite films. Everyone is cast perfectly for this film. I thought it was interesting to hear Robert Osborne remark that the lead part was suppose to go to Frank Sinatra but the producer discovered that that he could get Brando and went with him. I don't think that Sinatra could have come close to the strength that Brando brought to the part.
Putting politics aside (Kazan fingering actors for Un-American activities) he did produce some of the most creative film ever made (On the Waterfront, Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden).
Best movie president?
in General Discussions
Posted
Let's not forget President Mimeo in Robert Downey Sr.'s "Putney Swope" (1969).