Dargo2

>It's on a par with a religious crackpot thinking he can rewrite the Bible. TB, after reading this line of yours AND bringing the idea of "religion" into it, I might redirect your attention down to what I said very recently down there about some people "pre-judging" a film before watching it, AND which is a "slightly different" take on your "religious" thought AND one I BELIEVE would be the PERFECT counterpoint to what YOU just said here. (...and once you RE-read what I wrote down there, please think about it for a while)

Ah! Now you see Twink, you'd be wrong again here. Just the other day I walked into a Honda dealer and sat on this Honda CB1100.. ...a motorcycle that harks back to the days of the classic "UJM"(that stands to "Universal Japanese Motorcycle", which means an across-the-frame four cylinder engine in a Standard style motorcycle, not a "Crusier" and not a "Sportbike") and I thought to myself, "I suuuuure would like to own this bike!" (...and so, ya see, just as your thinking that a remake of "The Grapes of Wrath" would be a "bad thing" is an incorrect thought, SO was this idea of yours about me possibly not liking a Honda motorcycle!) LOL

>Americans are so suspicious about anything that implies sharing. oh, never mind. OH! You've noticed that then, eh?! >Some Americans, that is, not all. please let's not get political...I take it back. Okay, then I won't bother bringing up the issue of health care here then! ****

> having strong negative feelings, BEFORE the film is made doesn't really make much sense. EXACTLY, Lavender! To have an automatic and reflexive negative reaction BEFORE a remake is even made IS just a MILDER version of how many Muslims SOMEHOW felt "slighted" and was an "affront" to them BEFORE they even THOUGHT of sitting down and watching Moustapha Akkad's very well done and sympathetic telling of the life of Mohammad in his 1976 film "Mohammad, Messenger of God" aka "The Message", OR how Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" was "received" by some Christians who hadn't even bothered to view the film for themselves before denouncing it 1988. It's nothing BUT a case of closed-mindedness in ALL instances...PERIOD!!!

>The songs themselves aren't particularly "American" at all. Then unfortunately you missed my point about Willson's music, MissW. I was saying his songs in this play/movie were UNIVERSAL in theme, because they speak of universal feelings that all men and women regardless of nationality can understand. (...the idea of "Inclusiveness", you see)

And Tiki, I think Lavender very well explained why Irving Berlin's song is NOT a "schlocky" or "cheezy" song such as is the Greenwood song, and IS an example of a song with a clearly stated and heartfelt message about this country which does NOT attempt to thumb its nose at other countries such as the Greenwood song gives the feeling it does. (...and this is coming to you courtesy of a guy who doesn't necessarily believe that there's some "Big Guy" up there in some heaven) And thus, because Berlin's simple song is so well constructed, has a clear message which is inclusive of how all people can feel about it and thus more timeless and universal in its feelings, this was why I brought up this little tangent, because Willson's songs in "The Music Man" are timeless for the very same reasons as Berlin's song is about his love of this country.

sewhite, you expressed what I was talking about exactly. (...though btw, when I said to my wife, "Ya see, this is what's wrong with America today", I said it with a little smile on my face)

MissW, your post reminds me VERY much of what I mentioned to my wife this very evening before the Fourth of July fireworks program began at the park we when to. The recorded songs we listened to ran the gamut from Sousa to Cohan to Berlin to some of this more recent "Wave the Flag Country" stuff. And while they were playing the schlocky Lee Greenwood song "God Bless the U.S.A.", I turned to my wife and commented to her something like, "Ya see, THIS is the problem with America today! There are no more Cohans and Berlins anymore. Now we have guys like this Greenwood guy thinkin' HE can write GOOD patriotic songs!" (...and for any Lee Greenwood fans out there...SORRY, but you know down there deep in your good little American hearts, I'M RIGHT!!!) LOL

And Twink, I will once again press the point that this is an "outdoor yarn", which presents the story of a down-an-out family traversing this big beautiful country of ours.(okay, mine, as you're a Canadian...but I'm sure you know what I mean here) And thus, the argument that would state this story must be filmed in B&W(let alone in the aspect ratio of 4:3) in order to somehow give the feeling of "desperation" the story is attempting to press, would not be a valid argument in totality because of the idea and concept that to present it in color COULD be a way of expressing the "contrasts" inherent in the Joad's hardscrabble existence and the potential for eventual abundance which the Joad's seek in their travels. (...and once again, I'll ALSO press the point that this story is NOT a Film-Noir, which as you know are located almost solely in large and 'claustrophobic" cities)

>Most notably, the ending of the book had to be changed for the 1940 film because it would never make it past the censors. And one of THE most salient points brought into the conversation here! Ya see all you "naysayers" out there(and you know who you are!), I would venture to guess Spielberg has THIS very point in mind, also! Yep, I very much doubt Spielberg has in mind to do a scene-for-scene remake of Ford's great film!!!! (...and so THANK YOU bundie for apparently gettin' at least ONE of those "naysayers", and once again you know who you are out there, to FINALLY "grasp this concept" and relent on their initial abject disapproval of this whole idea...well done, bundie, WELL DONE!!!) **** HERE!!!

Thanks GG, but as I just stated, I think wouldbestar has supplied the ultimate answer to that question I posed earlier. (...yep, in my mind now, Jeremy Irons IS as close to being the "New George" as anyone is or will be for quite a while...and especially if you consider his Oscar winning role of Claus Von Bulow in 1990's "Reversal of Fortune" and in which he was perfectly cast)

wouldbe, I think your suggestion that Jeremy Irons could be considered one, if not THE primary "more modern George Sanders" is absolutely spot on! (...yep, I think if I hit the bullseye with my suggestion of Alan Rickman, then just as Flynn split that arrow in that archery contest, you split my arrow right down the middle too!)

As they say James: "Have a safe and sane Fourth of July"! (...and enjoy yourself too...let's not forget THAT, huh)

So LA1, I take it you didn't much care for 2007's "I Am Legend", huh?! Well, I'm no "Zombie Aficionado" by any means, but I thought that Will Smith movie was fairly well done, and yes, even with all the overdone special-effects in it. I especially thought Will fleshed out a character we could root for and thus wasn't overshadowed by those effects.

>You see when your serious you make very sound comments! Thank you for bringing this to my attention, James. Ya see, very coincidentally Arturo just this very morning brought a very similar thought to my attention. And so, now that you have both informed me of this, I must say this has me thinking here. (...and I'm thinkin' I better tone down this part of my personally AT ONCE, 'cause it's MUCH more fun to crack jokes at this website than is all this "serious stuff"!!!!) LOL

Nope, the movie Sepia was referencing was "And They All Kissed The Bride". You remember, the romantic-"comedy"(notice my quotation marks around the word "comedy" here, if you will LOL ) that TopBilled used as his opening "Example One" to ask everyone around here if they thought it permissible or a good idea to have the word "****" which Joan utters at one point in it excised from the film.

Nah, pretty sure it was Eric! I mean, how could you POSSIBLY imply that "The most trusted man in America (and some parts of Canada as I recall)" could EVER be a "cad", HUH?!!! (...now ERIC was a horse of a COMPLETELY different colo(u)r, ya see!)

Eeh! Twink was probably just thinkin' of Eric Sevareid, THAT'S all Lavender! (...uh huh, maybe you don't know this but before becoming one of Paley's Boys at CBS News, Eric actually got his start as an understudy to Warren William!!!) LOL

Sepia was actually referencing more the following movie from last night programming, 1936's "And So They Were Married", which starred Melvyn Douglas and (the soon to become "matronly" ) Mary Astor. And so, Sepia was kidding me about how I kept kidding in that "Censorship" thread of a while back about using the film in which "Joan Crawford keeps getting weak-kneed at the mere sight of Melvyn Douglas" as the original discussion point and first example in that thread.

Yep, you're right, Sepia. To use just one example as proof that a phenomenon exits is anecdotal and doesn't come close to supplying enough empirical data in support of its premise. (...but STILL......!!!)

LOL Lookin' forward to it, James. Well, maybe not the "pickin' up the tab" part of course , but meetin' you and the Mrs. Btw, my wife Judie's maiden name was "Schiappa"(from the Abruzzo region), and her mother's maiden name was Vinci(from Sicily), and so I'm sure your wife and mine will get along just fine at least.

>And the next thing I question in your post >Are you a cop or something? Why all the insults all the time? "INSULTS"?! "A COP"???!!! And just because I "dare" question a comment of yours????? Eeh! Just forget I responded to you at all in THAT case, 'cause evidently to question the great FredCDobbs of THIS website is sometimes tantamount to questioning and "insulting" his namesake in that movie about a search for gold in the Mexican highlands.

Nope, nothin' at all wrong with that, Fred. Nope, nothin' at all. However, I just asked you a question down there about possibly supplying me(and I'll bet a few other folks who might be reading this thread) with more of your rationale as to why you feel so strongly about this and in particular about your contention that a remake of Steinbeck's story would have to be done in that archaic format in order for it to be done "right". And so, sorry, but to now end the discussion with somethin' such as the simple "Well, that's just my opinion, and end of story" seems to me to be just a bit disingenuous.

>Films like this become classics, not necessarily because of the original story, but because of everything about the film itself, such as the cast, the screenplay (the dialogue), the sets, the photography, the camera angles, etc. Hey Fred! You forgot to mention the "hotter pre-code babes" and the "smirking Sam Spade" instead of the "more matronly women" and the more serious Sam Spade" here! LOL Okay, before you get all hot under the collar here because I dare kid you about your affinity for the first "Maltese Falcon" over the REMAKE, and which almost everybody but yourself thinks is a superior version, MY POINT here is that just because YOU feel some films are "sacrosanct" and shouldn't be remade, doesn't mean that the sheer idea that ALL attempted remakes should be confined to the dustbin of cinema history before one feet of film is filmed. >So, my point is, in order to be as good or better than this in a re-make, is impossible. And if anyone could duplicate it, it would have to be shot in 4:3 and B&W, and if they did that, then why re-shoot it? And the next thing I question in your post would be the above comment and why you would possibly think that a widescreen and color version of this story about desperate people traveling this beautiful country of ours and in the OUTDOORS would have to ONLY be produced in the now archaic media of of 4:3 and B&W in order for it to capture the feeling of Steinbeck's story? (...'cause my friend, remember, this ain't no story about people trapped in the dark and seedy underbelly of a large city as in a classic Film Noir)

LOL Good one, Sepia! I mean, while I know Melvyn was a pretty darn good actor, maybe the guy had more charisma than I ever gave him credit for, eh?! (...btw...get well soon!)