LawrenceA

HEARTBEEPS - (4/10) - Expensive comedy that forgot to be funny proved to be a huge flop upon release. Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters star as robots in a future time when domestic robotic servants are commonplace. They run away from a repair warehouse and wander the countryside, falling in love along the way. The cast includes Randy Quaid, Kenneth McMillan, Christopher Guest, Melanie Mayron, Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, and the voice of Jack Carter. The elaborate robots, a mix of costume and makeup, were made by Stan Winston. The partially electronic score is by John Williams. Despite all that talent, it's pretty awful, with no real story, and the attempted jokes just land flatly. The failure of this ended whatever big screen chances controversial comedian Kaufman had.

In my original post, I placed Bowie behind Elvis and the Beatles too. I also said his influence has been well documented for the last couple of decades, not in the last couple of days. The grief angle doesn't cover that. But if you're intent on diminishing Bowie's importance, knock yourself out. Not sure why you'd want to, especially now. I like you, Vautrin. You are a consistent voice of reason in the Off Topic Chit Chat threads. I don't want to start an argument, either. So I'll leave this discussion at this point. I've made my feelings known about Bowie, and that's all I wanted to do.

TopBilled, unique choices! I haven't seen POSSE or CONDUCT UNBECOMING. I know POSSE is a Kirk Douglas film, but I don't know the other.

They've always been crooked. In the earliest days, all employees of a given studio were instructed from the top down to only vote for their studio's nominees. This "block" voting meant the studio with the most employees would win. Or when they gave one to George Arliss early on in an effort to entice more Broadway talent to move out west, since the advent of talkies meant they needed actual actors now. The campaigning for the awards has also been ridiculous for a long time. Read up on the notorious print ads run by Chill Wills in 1961 for THE ALAMO, where the ad stated that his costars were praying harder for Wills to win than the actual defenders of the Alamo had prayed for their lives. The big money campaigns run by the Weinsteins are another sad affair. Or Melissa Leo's tactless ads a few years ago (she won). I don't really care, though. I still watch and try to have a good time. My choices rarely win, but I don't need validation of my own choices, and I don't take it personally if something I disliked wins. I also recommend FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, Christopher Guest's excellent comedy skewering a lot of this award hype nonsense.

What am I, chopped liver? I had THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR in my top ten. As for THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, I like the film fine, but it never set off any fireworks for me, and I'm not sure why. I've often heard how Huston originally wanted to make it in the 40's with Gable and Bogart. That would have been something, I think.

Swithin, WINSTANLEY I haven't heard of. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST should indeed be shown on TCM. PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK is one of the most beautifully filmed movies ever, imho. I once got dirty looks for having SALO on my movie shelf. And BRAZIL is one of my favorite films! Different strokes, as they say.

I kinda figured that last one was Canadian. A lot of the performers, like Lawrence Dane and Frances Hyland, I recognize from other Canadian things. I saw most of these slasher films when they were new, but I missed HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME somehow.

Since I'm usually the one saying what films I haven't seen, I forget to tell about my choices that other's have not seen. DEEP RED is an Italian "Giallo" thriller from Dario Argento, although it was filmed in English. David Hemmings stars as the usual giallo protagonist, an average guy who gets drawn into a murder mystery and sets out to solve it himself. It's my favorite non-supernatural Argento film, and probably my favorite giallo, period. DOLEMITE is based on the comedy "party" records of Rudy Ray Moore. Moore stars a the recently paroled pimp and karate fighter Dolemite, who sets out to reclaim his turf and get the guys who sent him up the river. Only partially meant to be a comedy, this was Moore's belated attempt at blaxploitation stardom. His distinct lack of acting skills, and the all-around substandard production quality, torpedo the effort, but to such an extent that the results remain hilarious. This is a real cult favorite among some, though. INFRA-MAN is a live-action superhero film from Japan that plays like the even stupider ancestor of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Lots of silly giant monster shenanigans. I recall it being a late-night tv favorite in the 80's.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME - (6/10) - Slasher suspense with a unique pedigree. The genre was often a starting place for young talent, but this entry was directed by Hollywood veteran J. Lee Thompson. A group of prep school students are stalked and murdered in a variety of inventive ways by a mysterious killer. Melissa Sue Anderson stars, with Lisa Langlois, Tracey Bregman, Matt Craven, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Lawrence Dane, and Glenn Ford (in a slasher movie?!?) as a doctor. There's some original staging for the death scenes, and a particularly unpleasant surgery scene. There's also some clever camerawork, and the performances are a bit better than the usual found in these films. The protagonists, though, are underdeveloped, and therefore some suspense is lost when you don't care what happens to them. Regardless, it's not a complete waste of time.

lavender, The Prisoner of Second Avenue is another I just watched for the first time recently. I loved when Jack Lemmon accidentally mugged Sylvester Stallone!

Hilarious breakdown of the categories. I'll say for me with category 2, there hasn't been a nominee I hadn't heard of since Fernanda Montenegro was nominated for Central Station in 1998. But it may be I pay more attention to fringe (indie, foreign) films than the average movie watcher. One thing I'd add to categories 3 and especially 4 is how often a nominee is there for a sentimental lifetime achievement award as much as for the performance. Christopher Plummer in Beginners, Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine, Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces, Max Von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, etc. Stallone's nomination is largely in part a career nod. Not to knock anyone's performance in the actual nominated film.

Bogie, interesting choices. I actually just saw both French Connection II and Night Moves for the first time. I thought Hackman was terrific in the former, and wondered why it had disappeared from the consciousness. Maybe the French setting? Anyway, I liked them both, but I'm a fan of Hackman, so I wasn't sure if my judgment was clouded as such. Barry Lyndon has always been my least favorite Kubrick. I know what he was going for, and even the casting of the screen charisma-vacuum Ryan O'Neal was intentional. I appreciate the technical achievements with the low-light camerawork. The whole thing just fails to engage me really. I liked it enough for my runner-ups list. I haven't seen Smile, but know what it is. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven I've never heard of. I really enjoyed Graveyard of Honor. It nearly made my runner-ups. Speaking of Wrong Movement and our earlier discussion of Wenders, I don't know if you noticed the post I made last month about the Criterion website and their annual New Year's cartoon. They put up a primitive hand-drawn cartoon each year that hints at the upcoming year's releases. Most commenters seem to suggest that the Wenders "Road Trilogy" is getting a box-set release. And seeing as how Alice In the Cities is being shown on TCM soon, and there is a lot of crossover between Criterion's library and the TCM Imports shown, that seems even more likely.

1975 - 138 films seen 1. Jaws 2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 4. Dog Day Afternoon 5. Picnic at Hanging Rock 6. Nashville 7. Love and Death 8. Three Days of the Condor 9. The Rocky Horror Picture Show 10. A Boy and His Dog Runner-ups: Death Race 2000, Deep Red, Barry Lyndon, Dersu Uzala, and The Story of Adele H. Larry's Choices: Dolemite & Infra-Man

Here are the 1001 Movies to See Before You Die entries for 1974: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul** Blazing Saddles Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Celine and Julie Go Boating** Chinatown The Conversation Dersu Uzala^ The Godfather, Part II The Texas Chain Saw Massacre The Towering Inferno A Woman Under the Influence Young Frankenstein Zerkalo/The Mirror** ^I have this film listed with 1975 **denotes films I have not seen

I have a question regarding THE AMERICAN FRIEND. I've read about it for years. It's on a lot of best-of lists, including the 1001. I'm a fan of Bruno Ganz and a big fan of Dennis Hopper. Criterion is releasing it on DVD/blu ray (maybe this week?), and I've been wondering if I should get it. I'm familiar with the Patricia Highsmith story. I've even seen another adaptation of it, 2002's RIPLEY'S GAME, with John Malkovich. So would the plot points of THE AMERICAN FRIEND be "ruined" for me, or is the Wenders film's appeal more about the style used than the story content?

The less said the better.

ALICE IN THE CITIES I see is a Wim Wenders films. While I'm familiar with him, I'm woefully unfamiliar with his films. I've never seen THE AMERICAN FRIEND. I have PARIS TEXAS and WINGS OF DESIRE but haven't watched them. The only films of his I've seen are UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD, THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL, and DON'T COME KNOCKING. I also had never heard of BREAD AND CHOCOLATE.

Bogie, I haven't seen BREAD AND CHOCOLATE, THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ, ALICE IN THE CITIES, or ATTICA. You don't like BLAZING SADDLES, huh? You'd rather "stick needles in your eyes", HUH?!?? Well, I see you like CHINATOWN and THE GODFATHER PART II. I think THOSE movies are two of the best films ever made! So there!

I think if you polled every punk, New wave, glam metal, goth rock, industrial or alternative band from 1975-2000, David Bowie would show up on their list of influences more than any other single artist. I challenge you to name someone else that affected as many different artists from so many different genres of rock. There isn't one. And I'm not saying this from grief. It's been stated for the last 20+ years. I stand by my claim.

Full Moon on Blue Water

The Last Days of Frankie the Fly

Vaughn, Robert

Play It Again, Sam

20 Million Miles to Earth

Nancy Davis was in DONOVAN'S BRAIN with Gene Evans