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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 13, 2018 12:45:00 GMT -5
It's such a great movie. Superb acting (Bogart was never better) and screenplay (If you told me that Camus had sat in on the scriptwriting sessions, I'd believe you), top-notch camera work (you feel grains of sand in your shoes throughout the movie). Can't really think of a moment that isn't nigh perfect. Enjoy! I love it. It really is an almost perfect movie in every aspect. It seemed like it used to play a lot on the late-night movies back in the day. I'm excited to see it on the big screen. I'll be looking forward to hearing about how it looks in glorious black and white on the big screen. Not a false moment in that picture. I even love watching Bogart get cleaned up in the barbershop.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 13, 2018 16:08:29 GMT -5
For what it's worth, I'm a white middle-aged guy - and this gender bias against men makes me sick. Christina Hoff Sommers ... Is she still palling around with Milo Yiannopoulos?
We Hunted the Mammoth has an archive on Sommers. The curious can check it out and decide if she's biased or not.
We Hunted the Mammoth: Christina Hoff Sommers
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Post by rom on Jan 13, 2018 16:54:10 GMT -5
OK, maybe her video post wasn't the best example. However, it should be fairly obvious to anyone who pays attention that women - especially attractive white women - do get preferential treatment when it comes to the criminal justice system. Men do get charged more severely for the same crimes - it's a fact. Just do some research and you'll see what I'm talking about. www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspxjournalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/courts-lenient-sentencing-bond-womengoodmenproject.com/ethics-values/sentencing-gap-men-likely-go-prison-mrzs/Back On Topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an amazing movie. I really liked the theme/discussion of what it means to be human - and, the effects were stellar for the time. The ending was great as well. I wish I had seen this in the theater. I'm not sure how the film would have been different if Kubrick hadn't passed before it was completed, but I thought it was brilliant as it stood - I don't think anything should have changed/modified. Similar themes were explored in Blade Runner (1982), another of my favorite sci-fi films. Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of Bogart's best films. I liked the storyline & setting. Excellent film. While Casablanca is much more iconic Bogart, I find TOTSM to be the superior film. Speaking of Bogart, I recently watched Key Largo (1948) for the first time, and found that to be excellent as well. The Florida setting during hurricane season was perfect, since it provided a good opportunity for the criminals to temporarily "take over" the hotel - given that it was cut off from the mainland due to the severe inclement weather.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 18:46:11 GMT -5
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956) ... I watched this charming comedy starring Tom Ewell and Sheree North today and I've really enjoyed this comedy of which I've seen for awhile. It's also starred Rita Moreno, Les Tremayne, and Edward Platt too and it's really a consistent comedy movie that seems to go crazy at times. The settings and the photography and the secondary players made it even better.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 15, 2018 12:51:40 GMT -5
I watched Girls! Girls! Girls! last night. Elvis movies are hilarious! I always forget that Elvis's character is sort of an a-hole in most of his movies.
One thing this movie needs is MORE STELLA STEVENS!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 15, 2018 17:42:43 GMT -5
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947) Dir. John Huston. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, Walter Huston. I saw this yesterday in the theater for a 70th anniversary screening. It was done by Fathom Events as part of their TCM series and had a forward and a afterward by Ben Mankeiwicz. I've seen the film multiple times...and it would likely make my top 25 list. I really do like to see older films in theaters when I can though, both for the atmosphere and to encourage them to keep showing them. Went with my youngest son. The film was presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. I had forgotten that films at that time weren't as widscreen as they became. Since I've seen the film so many times I set part of my brain to work trying to find something to complain about with the picture. The problem is...there's almost nothing to complain about. The story is taut. The film is equally adept at adventure and drama. The main cast is uniformly brilliant. If there's any issues it may be that the banditos are played a bit too broad...but that was the custom at the time. As to the main cast, Bogie was amazing and Fred C. Dobs' ultimate descent into madness was brilliant. Walter Huston was well deserving of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He really is the linchpin of the film able to show both sides of the of the issue of greed. Tim Holt does a good job of holding his own in the midst of two performances for the ages. He isn't given as much to work with as Bogie or Huston...but he does well with what he has. A couple of things struck me as I was watching that made it clear the film was 70 years old. Early on as Dobs is still pan-handling a mark tosses a cigarette into the street. As Dobs looks at it and prepares to pick it up a Mexican child swoops in and takes it. I'm pretty sure the days of seeing children smoke in films is over. The other thing that struck me is that there wasn't a love interest shoe-horned into the film. If the film was made today there'd have to be a love interest shoved in there somewhere for...reasons. I'm not trying to be crotchety old man. I'm just saying that it has no place in the story and I'm glad it wasn't there. This is honestly a nearly perfect film.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2018 1:23:40 GMT -5
We watched Hidden Figures, yesterday, which hasn't been around long enough to reach classic status; but was a tremendously moving film, as you watch the lives of three African-American women at NASA, in the days of the early launches. They provided computational work, before they had computers installed that could do them faster. You also see the reality of segregation in ways that hit you harder than just seeing a sign that says "Whites only." The scene that really had me angry was when one of the characters is at a library, trying to find a book on Fortran and is accosted because she is out of the "Colored Section," and she and her children are ejected because she was trying to take out a book and wouldn't take "no" for an answer. I was a bookseller for 20 years. As a child, my hometown had no library; but, a bookmobile came out once a week, from a nearby city. My father took us there to check out books and it was like a wonderland for me, introducing me to Dr Seuss, Robert McCloskey, Phillip Jose Farmer, and Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. Books are sacred to me and seeing some being denied access to a book for any reason, let alone because of the color of their skin, had me enraged. You don't really conceptualize things like that when you read the broader descriptions in history textbooks. Meanwhile, the contributions of these women were only relatively recently recognized publicly.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 16, 2018 2:05:33 GMT -5
I watched Inspector Clouseau (1968) this afternoon before going to work. I really like to watch a Pink Panther movie from time to time, maybe once a year or so. I try to alternate between the Pink Panther films I love so much (like the original and - my favorite! - The Pink Panther Strikes Again) and those Pink Panther films I've never seen (which is why I've seen the first one with Steve Martin (it's not good) and The Curse of the Pink Panther (with Ted Wass) over the last few years). I thought I'd seen Inspector Clouseau (with Alan Arkin) when I was in middle school or maybe high school, but I couldn't remember anything except that Arkin is so weird as Clouseau. I saw it scheduled on cable this week and I figured I was about due for my Pink Panther fix. And I'm not sure I watched much of it when I was a kid. Maybe it was on late and I fell asleep. Or maybe I got bored. Or maybe I just don't remember it. Because I never saw anything that looked familiar except Arkin walking around dressed as Clouseau. I know a lot of people think this is a pretty bad movie and that Arkin is terrible as Clouseau, but I rather liked it. I was never bored with it, and it's fairly amusing most of the time. And there was one scene that made me laugh as much as anything in the other Pink Panther movies. On the train to Switzerland, when Clouseau is in the compartment with the woman and the two kids and the girl is playing jacks and the boy is crawling all over Clouseau while he's trying to read Crime and Punishment. And then Clouseau is playing with the jacks! And then Frank Finlay shows up and they are both playing jacks and accusing the other of cheating! They're shouting "you didn't get twosies!" and stuff like that! I was laughing out loud through the whole scene.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2018 4:55:11 GMT -5
Hoosier X ... I actually like Alan Arkin in this role and believe it's pretty decent comedy film to begin with and I've read your review and I loved your description of the train to Switzerland and I've remembered that scene very vividly and it's one of the most enduring moment in this movie. Alan Arkin is great actor and I do love his Inspector Clouseau in a different light than Peter Sellers; Sellers made it big and I think Arkin has the moxie to make it big too. Man, I've wished Arkin had more Clouseau roles but the general public wanted Sellers and that's why Arkin got unappreciated in that role. That's my take on Arkin.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2018 21:53:39 GMT -5
I enjoyed Inspector Clouseau enough to buy it (for about $3.50). I saw it when I was in high school. It's not a good Clouseau film; but, it is a pretty entertaining film. It's not Sellers; but, then again, Sellers took time to develop in the role. A Shot in the Dark is where most of the iconic Clouseau material came in. Arkin does a decent job asa clueless detective, but makes it his own character. I'd put it up there with other farcical caper films of the era, including things like The Seven Golden Men and the Fantomas series (minus the larger than life villain).
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 17, 2018 13:24:07 GMT -5
I enjoyed Inspector Clouseau enough to buy it (for about $3.50). I saw it when I was in high school. It's not a good Clouseau film; but, it is a pretty entertaining film. It's not Sellers; but, then again, Sellers took time to develop in the role. A Shot in the Dark is where most of the iconic Clouseau material came in. Arkin does a decent job asa clueless detective, but makes it his own character. I'd put it up there with other farcical caper films of the era, including things like The Seven Golden Men and the Fantomas series (minus the larger than life villain). I've really been wanting to see A Shot in the Dark again. I've seen my other favorites within the last three or four years but its been a very long time since I saw A Shot in the Dark. The three I still haven't seen are Trail of the Pink Panther (made from outtakes from previous Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies), Son of the Pink Panther (Roberto Benigni) and Pink Panther 2 (with Steve Martin). I generally hear they aren't good but I still want to see them eventually.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2018 13:54:24 GMT -5
I enjoyed Inspector Clouseau enough to buy it (for about $3.50). I saw it when I was in high school. It's not a good Clouseau film; but, it is a pretty entertaining film. It's not Sellers; but, then again, Sellers took time to develop in the role. A Shot in the Dark is where most of the iconic Clouseau material came in. Arkin does a decent job asa clueless detective, but makes it his own character. I'd put it up there with other farcical caper films of the era, including things like The Seven Golden Men and the Fantomas series (minus the larger than life villain). I've really been wanting to see A Shot in the Dark again. I've seen my other favorites within the last three or four years but its been a very long time since I saw A Shot in the Dark. You can get it in eBay for a reasonable price ... and I have it on DVD and I watch it on a yearly basis. One of the funniest film ever ...
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 17, 2018 13:57:46 GMT -5
You probably remember Sherry Jackson like this ... from a Star Trek episode. Or maybe like this ... as the Riddler's associate. But she started out as a child actor! Here she is as John Wayne's tomboy daughter in Trouble Along the Way (1953). I turned on the TV this morning (to watch something on Netflix before getting up) and it was tuned to TCM and I looked at the program info and it was a movie with John Wayne, Donna Reed ... and Sherry Jackson! So I watched it for a few minutes to see what it was like. Well, there's a priest looking for a washed-up football coach to coach the team at his little school. And he is directed to pig-tailed tomboy Sherry Jackson, who looks to be about eight years old. I didn't realize the movie was so old that Sherry Jackson would be about eight. But I recognized her immediately. And she's really good! A bit of a smart-ass, with a great rapport with John Wayne, playing her father. I watched it for a few minutes and I thought about watching the whole thing. Here's what ruined it for me. Donna Reed shows up as a stuck-up, repressed, judgmental social worker. I love Donna Reed, I want to make that clear. But when she showed up, I knew we were only minutes away from the kind of scene that ruins a lot of John Wayne movies for me. In a lot of John Wayne movies, the women are made to look unreasonable or hysterical in some manner. (I frequently feel bad for Maureen O'Hara's character long before the scene where she's humiliated by being dumped in the water or parading around in her underwear before the whole town.) Usually, the woman has a pretty strong case for her opinion, but this is generally only tacitly acknowledged. But she's portrayed as shrewish or stubborn or disagreeable, to set up the scene where John Wayne gets to be THE MAN and he takes her down in a condescending and patronizing manner. So Donna Reed the social worker shows up to investigate a complaint that there might be something wrong in the household where the single father gambles profusely, plays pool and gets in fights a lot. He is very rude and flippant to the social worker, and shows absolutely no concern that the set-up might look bad to an outsider. He's defensive and uncooperative. And then he tells her off and even goes so far as to tell her that she works too hard and has no social life because she's afraid of love. And I guess he figured this out because she speaks in complete sentences, dresses like a professional and isn't impressed with his attampts at being charming. (Sherry is actually pretty good in this scene.) I didn't finish the scene. I turned it off and went about my business. I actually like John Wayne a lot but I've seen this scene too many times in some of his movies that might have been great otherwise.
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Post by rom on Jan 17, 2018 15:00:53 GMT -5
Thanks for bringing up the Inspector Clouseu/Pink Panther film, starring Alan Arkin. IIRC I did see this years ago, and found it funny. Though Peter Sellers was obviously the quintessential Clouseau, I did like both Arkin's & Steve Martin's much later take on the character. I need to do a marathon of all the Pink Panther Clouseau movies, in chronological order - and include the Arkin & Martin films as well. I'd also like to re-watch some of the Pink Panther cartoons from the '60's (the cartoon was spun off from the films). Very innovative & funny for the time. I think many of these are on DVD. Another great Sellers role is a very funny 1960's film called The Party. Sellers plays a hapless, clueless extra in a huge film who is unintentionally invited to big-shot producer's house for a party in Hollywood. Very funny, and will bring to mind Sellers' Clouseau character. I do remember Sherry Jackson in the Classic Trek episode - she was gorgeous & hard to forget IIRC, she played a clone or robot of some sort.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 17, 2018 17:07:21 GMT -5
I haven't watched the Steve Martin ones; it just looked like Steve was trying to do Sellers. I've seen bits and pieces of Benini and he is good; but, the script isn't.
I need to watch the orignal again; I've only seen it once and was really disappointed, as I was expecting later Clouseau, not the original idea, which was kind of a satire of things like Arsene Lupin.
A Shot in the Dark is where the things you come to expect in a Clouseau movie first came about: Cato attacking him, Chief Inspector Dreyfuss, etc.. You also have Graham Stark (Seller's best friend) as his assistant, who inspired Deux-Deux, in The Inspector cartoons, which were part of the Pink Panther cartoon series.
I had seen the Pink Panther cartoons on tv; but, the first film I saw was return of the Pink Panther. My parents took us to see it, at the theater. Of course, we arrived late (a common theme, in movies where my parents took us) and Clouseau is trying to spy on the Lytton villa, while he is in North Africa. We did get to stay to see the beginning, at the next showing (back in the days when you could stay in the theater for the next showing), though I wanted to see it through to the end again (no dice). My dad enjoyed those, so he took us to see The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Revenge of the Pink Panther (we were late to both; but, my dad let us stay to watch the beginning and entire film again, on Strikes Again)
I saw Inspector Clouseau when we first got cable, in the early 80s; probably on WTBS. I kept waiting for the usual stuff; but, Arkin was playing it differently. I still found myself enjoying it enough to forget my expectations.
I kind of miss those days of TBS, when it was Superstation WTBS, with beverly Hillbillies re-runs, fishing shows, Nascar, Braves baseball, World Championship Wrestling (Saturday, at 6:05 EST) and a lot of really great movies that didn't often turn up in syndicated movie packages. I first saw Gambit, The Brass Bottle, Inspector Clouseau, and the Three and Four Musketeers there. They would show things like the Matt Helm films and the Planet of the Apes series over successive nights. TCM is great; but, there was something about the variety of the station programming which enhanced the movie experience.
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