Sgt_Markoff

It feels like a medieval market town these days, doesn't it? Seems like anyone can come wandering in from the countryside, spread some rumor or calumny, and all of a sudden we got pitchforks and torches being passed out to the menfolk. But anyway it is a thought-provoking article you posted--I'm glad you alerted us to it--after all, its better to know about these studies and have a chance to read up on them, before some college kid slaps it in ya face like a wet fish. Here's another handy example of frivolous science https://tinyurl.com/ycfykob8

Treat all 'sensational studies' like this with caution and reserve. Always ask, "what is it proving?", "who has a stake in the results?", and that's even before you consider, "What methodology did they choose?". Or, "What bias do they incorporate into the design of their study?" A colossal amount of statistical studies are poorly-designed but nonetheless still reach the public ear.

That's a fair question, Jimbo. I know it probably sounds really 'arbitrary' and 'subjective' on my part, to even hold such an attitude. But in my defense I don't 'draw a line' for this discrimination based on my own personal taste. Instead, I believe that certain changes in the industry itself, demarcate where 'classics' end and 'contemporary' begins. There's obviously been big changes in the business Hollywood model, the ownership model, and the funding streams, for example. What kind of movies and how many movies were offered then, vs kind/amount being offered now. I look at changes in filmmaking technology; changes in the audience; and also subtle changes in the professional development, training, experience, and overall matriculation of the crews and performers. Ultimately, it's not a 'precise' line-in-the-sand; and even with the above criteria stated, it may still be something which must be left up to each movie-buff to determine for themselves. I know for myself--based on the above--'generally' where disinterest sets in for me, but that's just me.

I too, very much enjoy the Frank Capra / Ronald Coleman 'Lost Horizon'. Its quite a smashing romp!

"Unpleasant? Strange, I've been told I'm the best shoe clerk the store ever had!" --Manolo Sanchez, prime suspect in that bombing case that happened on your side of the border

The reason is, mass American popculture is empty and vapid; it's hollow and now really showing its thinness over time. thanks to cellphones and internet, egocentric joe-dokes man-in-the-street can fixate entirely on themselves via their status-updates and their texts, all the livelong day. frankly they struggle to concentrate on a show 'presented' to them, they twitch and spazz when they can't control their own screen. It's a little sad and alarming. As bad as mass-media is, at least it unified people. 300 million individuals --each paying attention only to themselves--this is not a nation; its 300 million individuals.

-JJG Since --as you (or Stephan?) admitted recently --my joining this site, came in the middle of an absurd game of "pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey", and led to my being targeted for all manner of accusations and impugning of my motives, I have an excuse that you do not, in this one instance. I'm entitled to do a little preventive maintenance since I've already been put upon. It doesn't mean I'm gonna continue harping on it, or now paint you forever as 'someone who once recklessly said something about me'. That's what frequently happens around here. Nor will I curb my sharp tongue about movies I vehemently dislike. All these things point to my light attitude, see?

Aye. All the more reason not to overreact and pounce on anyone because of some wifty, half-baked dribble they typed in a little white text input box probably 3,000 physical miles away. Its not like they're standing in front of you insulting your mother. It's ludicrous, this same phenomenon in practically every chatroom everywhere. I mean, right now I'm looking at a cheap, (<$200) hunk of used plastic and metal; there's no battle between Massala & Judah Ben-Hur going on here. I don't know what the rest of you are seeing but nothing on the internet evokes the slightest twinge of emotion in yours truly. The internet is a kid's toy--always has been, always will be.

--JamesJazzGuitar Hold on there please. I never said any such thing. Let's not put words in my mouth, if you don't mind? To review what I actually have said: Joel and Ethan Cohen are clowns in my opinion. True Grit remake is not a classic film. True Grit remake is a film I dislike. There's a galaxy of differences between any contemporary movie vs any classic movie. Jeff Bridges has a beach-boy aesthetic and is miscast as a cowboy (that's all I said about him, I otherwise like him). I like any classic movie better than I like any contemporary movie. Matt Damon is a twerp, in my opinion. I dislike him. John Malkovich is irrelevant, in my opinion. I dislike him. Classic movies are intrinsically more worthwhile (historical perspective they offer) than contemporary popculture. I've paraphrased wherever I could not recall my exact phrase. There's not a single statement in the above I'm embarrassed to repeat. There's not a single statement made above, which derides anyone here. I'm surprised at your willingness to stir the pot in this case, JJG. Not your style. Is anyone here really so thin-skinned they fall to pieces if someone vehemently pipes up with a negative opinion of a movie? Seriously? It provokes vaguely 'personal' backbiting like this? Come on now. This is why I say people take the internet far too seriously. If we were in a bar and I 'harrumphed' at True Grit-the-remake, you'd shrug and let it roll off your back. Anyone would. It's just movie gab. (p.s. expletives--what's up with that?)

Information Please! Where can I find Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London' --specifically the one which he did LIVE in Philadelphia? I think that's the best version of it he ever did, but it's dang hard to find!

I don't know anyone named 'IAC'

You might be right. Tough to beat. To go up against this juggernaut, I might probably have to start with something from Lubitsch or Wilder.

If you look at the advice I gave--the choice of words I used--you can't help but see that it is meant to be facetious. I exhort her to, 'question their virility and their patriotism'--is this something that happens in the real world? Do people speak like that in real life? Clearly, I am being impractical and impudent. What else? Anyway no, John Malkovich --whatever he does, says, is, or thinks--in no way compares to the legacy, influence, and weight that an Oscar-winning studio film from 1939 has had on American culture and history. I amended my post to make that clear. Its a question of history. There's over 300 million Americans in the country today right? Only one mega-influential Henry Fonda movie based on a Pulitzer-Prize winning book written by John Steinbeck directed by John Ford about the Great Depression. If anyone wants to "know more about" John Malkovich they can visit his Facebook page. But that's obviously bupkes. It's just 'eyewash'. Meaningless, trivial, and irrelevant. Its not studying or learning anything. How is this difference remains unclear to anyone, beats me. Recall what the OP is asking for: how to get more of her 20-something friends into classic Hollywood. So, my suggestion stands. Classic Hollywood movies are intricately tied up with other aspects of depthful American culture like American literature. Whereas John Malkovich, Matt Damon, etc --they're associated with Purina Dog Chow or whatever else they sell.

Uh, I was obviously joking...about that last part. Naturally no one should take anyone's directions to do anything personal or intrusive to a co-worker, based on what a stranger like myself, says over the internet. Does this even need stating? But the underlying point is its not 'my like' vs 'their like'. Its the fact that a movie from 1939 is a part of American culture and American history; whereas a movie with John Malkovich is not. They ought to know about the older version, regardless of whatever popculture they happen to devour from their TV in this timeperiod.

Alert them to the fact that many of the greatest American novels (the works of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Melville, Twain, Capote, Crane, McCullers, Cheever, Steinbeck) have all found their counterparts in classic American studio films and those films are the definitive filmed versions of these landmark books. For example, loving John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" or "The Grapes of Wrath" --but not also knowing the b&w classic movie adaptations of those works, marks one as a boor, a philistine, and a neophyte. If they dare to reply with some pathetic wheeze about having seen some lame, trifling, plebeian, "John Malkovich / Jude Law" ABC-TV-movie-of-the-week version, you should scoff vigorously into their faces and then go on to loudly question their virility and their patriotism within the hearing of others. Because it's just not good enough, you know. Its either the real mccoy, or nothing.

Well stated. I saw it for the first time, at a theater in Manhattan during a 'silents' festival, and was thrilled. Funny, I never realized Janet Gaynor starred in this flick. Strikes me now she has been in some pretty dang huge movies.

horses were sometimes referred to as 'plugs' (especially if they hadda hurry up to wait) Q: what do you do when the racetrack gets flooded? A: Pull the plugs out

I've been reading up on it lately as a matter of fact. The production trivia is outlandish and unusual. I can't say I'm compelled to sit through it, though... I appreciate your fanship though Beetle. More power to you..

You can easily find that one in Clint Eastwood's "The Enforcer" (#3 in the 'Dirty Harry' series). But, Clint deploys it with deliberate irony rather than straight-faced. The flip side of this cringe-worthiness however....is an anecdote a buddy told me, about how he was in a convenience store looking for a loaf of Wonder and when he asked the counter oaf where the white bread was located; he got told off.

oh yeah well the last time I saw a head like yours, it was in a bag of oats!

y'know if I had a head like yours, I'd stick my fingers in my ears and go bowling!

has "am-scray" been listed yet? 'Nix' is definitely a landmark. 'Fins' is similar (meaning, 'no argument here'). Then there's various phrases for money like 'sawbuck', 'flivver' (British?), 'fiver', 'fish', 'C-note'...

Yeah its godawful. Every time I even think about what they did, I want to rinse out my brain. The whole idea of those two clowns even molesting a classic for a cheap cash grab--instead of just trotting out their own malarkey as they usually do--makes the bile roil around in my intestines. Beach-boy Jeff Bridges playing a cowboy? Come on now. Plus who else is in the film? That execrable twerp Matt Damon? gag There's just no rule that I'm aware of which says any time a movie is 'more faithful' to the book, that this automatically makes the movie better.

Shame them into evolving. Make sure they know that some of today's limp pictures are outright remakes of much finer classic films (like the case of 'True Grit'). Make sure they understand that any film NOT EVEN ANNOUNCED OPENLY AS REMAKES but which contains a 'detective' or a 'bad girl' or 'gangland' is probably stealing something (maybe its entire plot) in an unacknowledged and maybe even an underhanded manner from something already coined in the 1930s. (This is all about being fair and giving credit where credit is due to the original innovators of what we see on screen.) Assure them that they are 'not getting it' and 'not experiencing the real mccoy' when they only follow the duplicitous sham and con-game that is modern Hollywood. Relate to them the facts of the amazing success of the movie-making model under the era of the Big Studios. It wasn't a struggling industry, it kicked down the door and took names. See here: http://forums.tcm.com/topic/257164-hollywoods-conservativism/

Well, my doctor (Mike G., works Mon-Thu days) has given me strict orders to 'take it easy' while I'm medicating during his shift. I can't get excited or knock over glassware, etc. But please, don't let this forestall you from initiating the effort on my behalf. You can even dedicate the thread to my convalescence if you wish. In this one, unusual, singular instance, I will force myself not to mind taking the credit even though someone else will have done all the labor.