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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 12:05:27 GMT -5
I thought a general free-wheeling movie thread could get enough participation to be lively. It could be about a movie you've seen,an actor,actress or director you'd like to discuss or a genre in general.In my mind,a classic movie,at this point in time,is before the 90s but if it turns out to include whats in the cinema now then so be it.So feel free to tell us what you've enjoyed or despised lately.I know we have many interesting observations and factoids out there
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 12:38:30 GMT -5
I saw The Shootist a few days ago on TCM. It was on a little later than I usually watch movies, but I started watching just to see how it was. And it was pretty darn good! So I stayed up and watched it.
I'm a big fan of John Wayne's movies. I think Stagecoach is one of the best movies ever made. I also like Fort Apache, Sands of Iwo Jima, They Were Expendable and also those hour-long movies he made in the 1930s for Republic.
The Shootist was Wayne's last movie, and I've never heard anybody make a big deal of it or say it was any good, so I never made any effort to watch it. My mistake.
He's actually acting instead of behaving. He's a different guy in The Shootist, and the same John Wayne he is in most of his other movies. And he's supported by Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, John Carradine, Ron Howard, Richard Boone and Scatman Crothers.
If you're a John Wayne movie fan and you've never seen The Shootist, consider this an endorsement.
And I saw part of McClintock yesterday. I've seen it before, and that section reminded that I'm not overly fond of this movie. Yvonne DeCarlo is good, and so is Maureen O'Hara, but O'Hara's role is written so over-the-top shrewish that there is no way she can be sympathetic and Wayne's role immediately becomes the only sane alternative for the audience's sympathy because O'Hara's character is so rude and snobbish. Also, McClintock is kind of stupid in many other ways.
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Post by Jesse on May 1, 2014 14:15:34 GMT -5
I'm a big fan of John Wayne's movies. I think Stagecoach is one of the best movies ever made. I watched John Ford's Stagecoach awhile ago and really enjoyed it. Great action and the archetypal characters still hold up today, except maybe the drunk doctor which comes off more silly now. Although that same archetype was used well by Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles and made that much more lovable by the exaggerated performance & charm of Gene Wilder. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 14:48:18 GMT -5
He's actually acting instead of behaving. He's a different guy in The Shootist, and the same John Wayne he is in most of his other movies. John Wayne knew at the time that he was dying and the Shootist would be his last film.Not to be morbid but it would be an interesting list of films were the lead actor/actress knew it would be their last.I rank The Shootist as one of the best of those films.Love him or hate him,its an essential movie |
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 14:52:08 GMT -5
I'm watching the end of A Stolen Life right now. It's from 1946 and it stars Bette Davis. She plays two sisters, and the evil one is in love with the good sister's husband. When the good one dies in a boating accident, the evil one takes her place!
I'm a big Bette Davis fan (ever since I was about 8 when I saw Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? in the middle of the night in the slot where they usually showed Lugosi and Karloff movies) but I've never seen this one. I wish I'd seen it from the start. Glenn Ford is the husband and Charles Ruggles is in it as well. (If they had made it in the 1930s, I could see Herbert Marshall or Ralph Bellamy or Pat O'Brian in the Glenn Ford role.)
It is such a perfect Bette Davis role! I can't even fairly judge whether it's any good or not because Bette is perfect in a movie like this without even hardly trying.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 14:59:53 GMT -5
He's actually acting instead of behaving. He's a different guy in The Shootist, and the same John Wayne he is in most of his other movies. John Wayne knew at the time that he was dying and the Shootist would be his last film.Not to be morbid but it would be an interesting list of films were the lead actor/actress knew it would be their last.I rank The Shootist as one of the best of those films.Love him or hate him,its an essential movie I love a lot of his movies, but I'm not too fond of the man himself. Anti-war Vietnam veterans wanted to talk to him at the GOP convention in Miami in 1968 and he wouldn't even give them the time of day. Shameful. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 15:07:45 GMT -5
John Wayne knew at the time that he was dying and the Shootist would be his last film.Not to be morbid but it would be an interesting list of films were the lead actor/actress knew it would be their last.I rank The Shootist as one of the best of those films.Love him or hate him,its an essential movie I love a lot of his movies, but I'm not too fond of the man himself. Anti-war Vietnam veterans wanted to talk to him at the GOP convention in Miami in 1968 and he wouldn't even give them the time of day. Shameful. Being one of those long-haired hippies back then,I wasn't fond of him either.But as I got older I was able to put that aside and just enjoy the films he did. No getting around the fact he was an American icon. I read in many different sources that when he worked on the set with those who had politically hard-left radical leanings,he was cordial and polite.Those people had nothing bad to say about him |
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 15:07:48 GMT -5
I'm a big fan of John Wayne's movies. I think Stagecoach is one of the best movies ever made. I watched John Ford's Stagecoach awhile ago and really enjoyed it. Great action and the archetypal characters still hold up today, except maybe the drunk doctor which comes off more silly now. Although that same archetype was used well by Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles and made that much more lovable by the exaggerated performance & charm of Gene Wilder. Stagecoach has a lot of things in it that look like clichés, but they weren't clichés yet in 1939. And despite that, the characters are all so great that they surpass how we've come to view these archetypes. Claire Trevor is the hooker with the heart of gold. Andy Devine is the goofy sidekick. John Carradine is the Southern gentleman.
And that drunken doctor is the ever-amazing Thomas Mitchell! He's Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life! He's Scarlett's dad in Gone with the Wind! He's Sheriff Pat Garrett in The Outlaw!
It's the first movie to use Monument Valley and I think it's the first movie where the protagonists are saved by the cavalry!
Such a great movie.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 15:12:23 GMT -5
I love a lot of his movies, but I'm not too fond of the man himself. Anti-war Vietnam veterans wanted to talk to him at the GOP convention in Miami in 1968 and he wouldn't even give them the time of day. Shameful. Being one of those long-haired hippies back then,I wasn't fond of him either.But as I got older I was able to put that aside and just enjoy the films he did. No getting around the fact he was an American icon. I read in many different sources that when he worked on the set with those who had politically hard-left radical leanings,he was cordial and polite.Those people had nothing bad to say about him Have you ever seen Big Jim McClane? It is so over-the-top insanely stupid that it's hard to believe it was intended as a serious attack on the Communist threat. It is hysterical! And one of the Communists is Hans Conried, best known for providing the voice for Snively Whiplash. |
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Post by Jesse on May 1, 2014 15:13:52 GMT -5
Speaking of "last films" go back and watch Edward G. Robinson's final scene in Soylent Green now knowing that it's his last performance ever. Absolutely heart wrenching. Stagecoach has a lot of things in it that look like clichés, but they weren't clichés yet in 1939. And despite that, the characters are all so great that they surpass how we've come to view these archetypes. Claire Trevor is the hooker with the heart of gold. Andy Devine is the goofy sidekick. John Carradine is the Southern gentleman.
And that drunken doctor is the ever-amazing Thomas Mitchell! He's Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life! He's Scarlett's dad in Gone with the Wind! He's Sheriff Pat Garrett in The Outlaw!
It's the first movie to use Monument Valley and I think it's the first movie where the protagonists are saved by the cavalry!
Such a great movie.
Yeah those character archetypes really stand the test of time and the casting was phenomenal. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 15:50:04 GMT -5
I started watching another series of films the other day-The Pink Panther movies.Haven't seen them in ages.
The Pink Panther (1963)
David Niven,Peter Seller,Robert Wagner,Claudia Cardinale,Capucine
D-Blake Edwards Music-Henry Mancini
The obvious-One of the greatest musical themes in film history and the song Fran Jeffries sings-"Meglio Stasera" is also a classic
The obvious-The opening cartoon of the pink panther during the film credits (David Depatie and Fritz Freleng) is another all time classic
Good grief,the film has barely started and its already fantastic
The forgotten-David Niven was considered the star of the film.Peter Sellers was a relative unknown outside the UK
The forgotten-Inspector Clouseau is married to an unfaithful wife
The film itself is a bit too long,taking a while to really get going.But after the first half hour its a fun ride.Peter Sellers became an international star with this film.David Niven thought he would be involved with the sequels but it was decided (rightly) that he wasn't needed. Beautiful technicolor widescreen.A great surprise ending.8 of 10
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Peter Sellers,George Sanders,Herbert Lom,Elke Sommer
D-Blake Edwards Music-Henry Mancini
Inspector Clouseau's supervisor,Charles Dreyfus is introduced along with his twitching left eye.Also introduced is Clouseau's man-servant Kato
Supposedly this was not to be a Pink panther film but rather it was an adaptation of a Broadway play.Peter Sellers and crew were not happy with the screenplay so they changed it to incorporate Inspector Clouseau.This would account for why the ending of the Pink Panther film is totally ignored here. Also there was a break in the filming of the first Pink Panther movie and so filming for A Shot in the Dark began.Most of it was finished by the time they went back to wrap up The Pink Panther.Therefore,A Shot in the Dark came out only 3 months after the first film
I liked this even more than The Pink Panther.Sellers has Clouseau nailed,Herbert Lom is hysterical,the scenes at the nudist colony are great,Burt Kwouk as Kato is a fine addition-everything works and nothing lags.9 of 10
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2014 16:06:08 GMT -5
I saw The Pink Panther just a few weeks ago. It is quite a lot of fun. It has all those silly Blake Edwards chase gags that really shouldn't be funny but they are (for a while).
But Fran Jeffries singing "Meglio Stasera" steals the show. I had The Pink Panther on DVR and I watched the "Meglio Stasera" segment a bunch of times over the next week before I deleted it. (I think it's on YouTube.)
Fran Jeffries is also in Sex and the Single Girl with Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 1, 2014 16:18:16 GMT -5
You're right again. Here it is
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 1, 2014 17:00:33 GMT -5
I'm a huge fan of John Wayne's movies and of The Shootist in particular. But I'm a big sucker for "end of the west" films. If you haven't seen it, take a look at Ride the High Country. Another "end of the west" film that was the last film for Randolph Scott and near the last for Joel McCrea.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2014 17:22:20 GMT -5
I've been rewatching a lot of 80's movies lately. Just watched Gremlins for the first time in about 25 years. And all the Ninja Turtle movies before that. I think I'll rewatch Goonies soon.
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