ValentineXavier

> {quote:title=Sepiatone wrote:}{quote} > Thanks, Valentine. I was coming back to mention *The Twonky* , but you beat me to it. > > How about TV shows that lampooned TV shows or TV in general, like *The Dick VanDyke Show* or *SCTV* ? > > > Sepiatone > I think I was about 14 or 15, when the Dick Van Dyke show was on, so I concentrated mainly on Mary's 'twin talents.' SCTV was a favorite, and obvious satire of TV. Ernie Kovacs and Sid Caesar both satirized TV. Hitchcock and Groucho, on their TV shows, were always making snide and comic comments about their sponsors. Monty Python included TV in their broad range of targets for satire. shows like Laugh-In, and The Smothers Brothers often satirized TV, but those shows existed to satirize modern culture.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}A Lion's gotta eat! Humans eat meat too you know, they just dont hunt it like they used to (Myself, I'm a veggie......) I only eat vegetarians...

I was a regular reader of scifi, from 5th grade in 1958, through HS. I had read Flowers for Algernon long before I saw *Charly*. I only remember it as a short story. But, according to wikipedia, it was made into a novel in 1966. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

> {quote:title=markfp2 wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=ValentineXavier wrote:}{quote}I dislike tea and hate coffee. I hope that doesn't make me unamerican... > > > Not unless you also hate hot dogs and mom's apple pie. Then of course, as the use to say in the 1950's, you'll be concidered "one of them" and we all know who "them" are. (and I don't mean giant ants) :^0 > Well, I hate hot dogs made out of chicken lips and pig snouts. I love good all beef meat hot dogs. Mom's apple pie was good, her cherry pie was better, and her peach fried pies were the absolute best!

First, the film's title is *Charly*. here is the synopsis from the IMDb: Charly Gordon (Cliff Robertson) is a **** male adult. He enjoys playing on the playground with other kids. He goes to night school, and his teacher, Miss Alice Kinian (Claire Bloom) asks him to come to a university to take tests. She takes him through logic tests while scientists watch from behind a 2-way mirror. Charly works at a bakery, sweeping floors, where his co-workers tease him and play practical jokes on him, led by Gimpy (Edward McNally). He doesn't realize they are jokes at his expense. The next day, Alice take Charly back to the laboratory, where he races a mouse, Algernon, through a maze. Algernon wins, and Charly is baffled - he had his lucky rabbit's foot, too. She drives him home, and asks to see his apartment, which is very plain. His landlady, Mrs. Apple (Ruth White) thinks he's folling around. Alice tells him that Algernon had a special operation that made him smarter, and asks Charly if he would like to have the same operation. Alice discusses Charly's qualifications with Dr. Straus (Lilia Skala) and Dr. Nemur (Leon Janney). At first, the doctors are skeptical, but Alice convinces them to try the operation on Charly. Charly chats with the lab technician Bert (Dick Van Patten). Charly rides the tour bus to get around. His friends Hank (Barney Martin), Joey (William Dwyer) and Gimpy take him to Paddy's (Dan Morgan) bar, where they play tricks on him. Depressed, he goes to the playground, and Alice finds him and tells him the operation has been approved. He's happy again, and swings on the swing. The next day, Charly undergoes the operation. When he awakes, he's no smarter, and Algernon still beats him in the maze test. Charly is frustrated, and storms off. He works off his anger riding bumper cars, then returns to his apartment, only to find Algernon has been placed in his room. He yells at Algernon, and Mrs. Apple tells him having a pet is a gift. Charly begins to show improvement, and beats Algernon in a maze race. Alice continues to teach him, and Charly begins to fall in love with her. Charly studies more advanced subjects, and his co-workers try to fool him, but he's now as smart as they are. Gimpy is suspicious. Charly is beginning to notice Alice is a woman, and she is beginning to become uncomfortable with him. Alice tells Dr. Straus that she wants to resign from the program. Charly's maturation continues, and he is fired from the bakery, since his friends no longer want to be around him. Alice explains that growth can be painful. Dr. Nemur wants to continue pushing Charly's education, but Dr. Straus thinks he needs to mature emotionally first. Charly follows Alice and her fiance home and tries to rape him. She screams at him, calling him a stupid moron. Charly begins to live recklessly, riding motorcycles, going to parties, and smoking. Eventually he returns home, and Alice is waiting for him. They begin a romance, and Charly asks Alice to marry him. They have a wonderful vacation and return to the seminar to present the "Algernon-Gordon" effect. Doctors Nemur and Straus show Charly's original test footage and Charly watches from backstage. When he comes onstage, he answers questions about what is, and what is to be. Charly then turns to the audience and asks what will become of him. No one answers, and Charly tells him that he will return to his previous intelligence - he has Algernon, and has realized that the operation is only temporary. He runs from the seminar, and is chased by imnages of how he used to be. Charly winds up at a bar, where a **** busboy is made fun of by the patrons. The doctors and Alice argue over what to do about Charly, and Charly offers to use his vast intelligence to help. He begins to experience mental blocks, a possible sign of regression. His research is unsuccessful, and Alice asks Charly to marry her. He asks her to leave. Days later, Alice sadly watches Charly playing on the playground again. End.

The OP is about 'sex sirens of the 60s and 70s.'

Fred, the doc on Disney's WWII excursion to S.A. is called *Walt and El Grupo*. I've seen it on cable a couple of times. it is rather good. I can't recall if it was on an Encore channel, or FLIX, or maybe even FMC. If you have any of those, keep an eye out for it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1223150/

The funniest early film satirizing TV is 1953's *The Twonky*, IMO. TV is an alien life-form that is taking over our lives! TCM shows it once in a while.

> {quote:title=willbefree25 wrote:}{quote}Death Wish. His vigilante movies. Everyone likes seeing criminals get theirs. For the general public, you might be right. For me, it is because he specialized in that sort of film that if I see he is in a film, I don't watch it.

I like 'em because they're always doin' what they otter.

By Jove, I believe you've got it!

What? Brigitte Bardot not on that list? That's stunning. NOT having Jane Fonda on there would be equally stunning, for anyone who's seen *Barbarella*. Edited by: ValentineXavier on Mar 18, 2012 8:43 PM

I like Raymond Burr, but I would much rather they show the rarely shown Japanese version, w/o Burr. I think it's called Gojira.

M-W says you are absolutely correct about "Bunkum." Further, "bunk" is defined as "bunkum," or "nonsense," with the first known use of that form in 1900. Probably the most famous quote using that meaning of the word "bunk," is Henry Ford: >History is bunk!

Sugar on grits? UGH! Red-eye gravy is best. If you must sweeten them, use sorghum syrup.

My picks, back when I watched them on TV in the 50s, would be The Cisco Kid movies, and the Hopalong Cassidy movies. Back then, Duncan Reynaldo was my favorite Cisco, but that's probably because he had the TV show too. I later came to appreciate Gilbert Roland, and even Cesar Romero, in the role. Wish TCM would run some of them. On Saturdays, of course.

John Carter was a comic in the 50s too. I used to read it.

Fred, the film was meant to be down-beat, a film about decay. The studio tried to make it into an up-beat family film. Perhaps you would not have liked Welles' cut. But, the studio tried to do a 180 turn with the original intent of the film. That definitely ruined the film, IMO. They did NOT do that with *The Lady From Shanghai*. It was meant to be an adventure/mystery, and remained one. What they did to Ambersons was akin to doing a 90m cut of *Seven Samurai*, and trying to turn it into a comedy. LZ, I agree... if only Welles had waited to go to S.A.

I dislike tea and hate coffee. I hope that doesn't make me unamerican...

So, Fred, are you psychic, and know what was cut? This is the one Welles film I don't like. It was cut to try and completely change the meaning and mood of the film. They ruined it. No wonder you don't like it. If they had left it alone, as Orson had cut it, I'd probably love it, and even you might like the bleak, dark satire it was meant to be.

I liked that film, as more or less a fantasy. I prefer the 1962 film *The 300 Spartans*. Probably my favorite Greek hero film.

*El Norte* is one of the best films about immigrants I've seen. It's from 1983. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085482/ Edited by: ValentineXavier on Mar 17, 2012 11:07 PM

Great print for 1856 though...

> {quote:title=Sepiatone wrote:}{quote} > So I feel by simply replacing the word "best" with "favorite" might keep things in here a bit more civil, don't you think? > > > Or DON'T you? > > > Sepiatone > Certainly "best" and "favorite" are quite different things, even if some people don't seem to think so. *Sanjuro* is my favorite Kurosawa film. Since I am the ultimate authority on what is MY favorite, that is unquestionable. But, which is Kurosawa's best film? I can think of at least three good candidates, and *Sanjuro* isn't one of them. We can come up with some objective criteria as to what makes a film best, but such a declaration will ultimately remain a matter of personal opinion. To have a discussion of the relative merits of films, we have to move beyond the question of 'what is your personal favorite.' So, I don't think we can dispense with the question of "best." However, I do think that question is unanswerable. BTW, did Babs really write the score for The Twonky? I never knew that!

> {quote:title=SansFin wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=ValentineXavier wrote:}{quote} > > I don't recall ever seeing any feature films in school. The earliest film I remember seeing was in 4th grade, when they showed us Bell Labs science films. We watched a theatrical movie each week in each foreign language class. I do not know how the classes could be taught if not for them. > > I do not remember watching any movies in the lower grades. We watched many movies in the upper grades. They were documentaries made by the government. In my last school we had two rooms in which movies could be shown and I believe those rooms were in use all of the time. Showing foreign language films in a foreign language class makes good sense. I don't think my HS did it, but I took two years of Latin, and I'm not sure there are any films in Latin...