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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 17, 2023 20:10:00 GMT -5
Yesterday, I watched Swords of Vengeance (1978), also known as The Fall of Ako Castle. It’s a version of The 47 Ronin directed by the guy that did Battle Royale.
Very entertaining. Several of the dogs watched it for a while. So, what, the school kids avenge the death of their teacher, then commit seppuku?
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 17, 2023 22:10:00 GMT -5
Yesterday, I watched Swords of Vengeance (1978), also known as The Fall of Ako Castle. It’s a version of The 47 Ronin directed by the guy that did Battle Royale.
Very entertaining. Several of the dogs watched it for a while. So, what, the school kids avenge the death of their teacher, then commit seppuku? It’s the same guy who directed The Yakuza Papers. Also Doberman Cop with Sonny Chiba. And many other films with Sonny Chiba.
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Post by berkley on Apr 17, 2023 22:13:17 GMT -5
Saw Destroy All Monsters at the movie theatre Sunday afternoon. Lots of fun even now, I probably would have gone bonkers over it if I had seen it when it came out - I would have been at the perfect age for it, around 8 years old (assuming it played in Canada in the summer of 1969, as wiki seems to indicate).
One of the things that stood out seeing it now was how cool all the spaceships and other vehicles were, as well as the uniforms and various buildings and complexes - everything was very Gerry Anderson-esque, in the best possible way. I would have loved to have a dinky of the spaceship, "Moonlight SY-3".
The monsters were the highlight of course, though there were so many that not all of them were given much screen time. I think my favourite design is King Ghidorah, "the three-headed monster", who takes on all the others (he's not from earth so he is the enemy of all the earth monsters, led by Godzilla).
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 18, 2023 8:35:32 GMT -5
Saw Destroy All Monsters at the movie theatre Sunday afternoon. Lots of fun even now, I probably would have gone bonkers over it if I had seen it when it came out - I would have been at the perfect age for it, around 8 years old (assuming it played in Canada in the summer of 1969, as wiki seems to indicate). One of the things that stood out seeing it now was how cool all the spaceships and other vehicles were, as well as the uniforms and various buildings and complexes - everything was very Gerry Anderson-esque, in the best possible way. I would have loved to have a dinky of the spaceship, "Moonlight SY-3". The monsters were the highlight of course, though there were so many that not all of them were given much screen time. I think my favourite design is King Ghidorah, "the three-headed monster", who takes on all the others (he's not from earth so he is the enemy of all the earth monsters, led by Godzilla). It was my kids' favourite film when they were 2-8 years old (barring The Empire Strikes Back). I first saw it when I was 12, and my reaction back then was just as you describe!
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 18, 2023 8:47:19 GMT -5
Saw Destroy All Monsters at the movie theatre Sunday afternoon. Lots of fun even now, I probably would have gone bonkers over it if I had seen it when it came out - I would have been at the perfect age for it, around 8 years old (assuming it played in Canada in the summer of 1969, as wiki seems to indicate). One of the things that stood out seeing it now was how cool all the spaceships and other vehicles were, as well as the uniforms and various buildings and complexes - everything was very Gerry Anderson-esque, in the best possible way. I would have loved to have a dinky of the spaceship, "Moonlight SY-3". The monsters were the highlight of course, though there were so many that not all of them were given much screen time. I think my favourite design is King Ghidorah, "the three-headed monster", who takes on all the others (he's not from earth so he is the enemy of all the earth monsters, led by Godzilla). I have the soundtrack. I was playing it over and over again for a while. It’s the perfect theme song for Pomona, which I drive through almost daily. I’ve watched the movie quite a few times because it’s readily available on Tubi. It’s about half the best monster movie ever made, but the other half is actually kind of cringey in its dullness. It’s a pretty good movie to have on while you’re doing something else.
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 18, 2023 11:29:21 GMT -5
More DVDs from the library:
All About Eve - I'd seen this before, my wife hadn't. She focused on how tragically constrained women's lives were.
How Green Was My Valley - Neither of us had seen it before. Well made, got us interested enough to do research and find that the author lied about having grown up in Wales.
Currently watching Sunset Boulevard, which we've also never seen before.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 18, 2023 12:51:22 GMT -5
More DVDs from the library: All About Eve - I'd seen this before, my wife hadn't. She focused on how tragically constrained women's lives were. How Green Was My Valley - Neither of us had seen it before. Well made, got us interested enough to do research and find that the author lied about having grown up in Wales. Currently watching Sunset Boulevard, which we've also never seen before. Scripts don't get much better than Mankiewicz's for "Eve." And I agree with Mrs. Rob; it was truly a man's world in that picture. If you enjoyed it, and you haven't already seen them, try a couple others of Mankiewicz's movies. I'd recommend "Letter to Three Wives;" "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney (and a perfect score by Bernard Herrmann); and "Dragonwyck," with Vincent Price and Gene Tierney. Each is very different, a 50s suburban drama with touches of "Madmen" and "Eve;" a romantic ghost story; and a Gothic mystery, respectively. However, each is also centered around the lives and fates awaiting women in each setting: 50s America; late Victorian England; and early nineteenth century New York State. Mankiewicz was excellent at being both obvious and subversive. The conflicts between independent women and the men and women around them... and society at large is both poignant and infuriating. To be fair, though Richard Llewellyn was born in England, he was Welsh by background, did spend some time in Wales as a boy with his grandparents, served as a captain with the Welsh Guard in World War Two, and even worked for several months in a coal mine in Wales.
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Post by tartanphantom on Apr 18, 2023 13:12:26 GMT -5
More DVDs from the library: All About Eve - I'd seen this before, my wife hadn't. She focused on how tragically constrained women's lives were. How Green Was My Valley - Neither of us had seen it before. Well made, got us interested enough to do research and find that the author lied about having grown up in Wales. Currently watching Sunset Boulevard, which we've also never seen before.
How Green Was My Valley is a fantastic John Ford film. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards for 1941, and won half of them, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Art Direction (sets), and Best Cinematography.
Regarding the set exteriors, the film was not actually filmed in Wales due to the war. Instead, the studio built an entire Welsh village including a faux mine/colliery in the hills of Malibu on roughly 85 acres at the 20th Century Fox Ranch. Most interiors were later shot at the studio in LA. Roddy McDowall, who was barely 12 at the time, would later return to the same Fox Ranch as an adult in a primate suit to film several of the Planet of the Apes films.
The film also features a 20 year-old Maureen O'Hara in one of her earlier big screen roles. Other strong roles in the film include those played by Sara Allgood, Walter Pidgeon, and Barry Fitzgerald (one of Ford's perennial favorite actors).
The MASH film and TV series were also shot at the same ranch in a slightly different location.
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 18, 2023 14:49:05 GMT -5
At one point in How Green Was My Valley my wife wondered, where did people get the idea that unions meant socialism? I did a little googling and found that Karl Marx wrote about unions. So it came right from the horse's mouth, as it were.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 18, 2023 21:25:15 GMT -5
More DVDs from the library: All About Eve - I'd seen this before, my wife hadn't. She focused on how tragically constrained women's lives were. How Green Was My Valley - Neither of us had seen it before. Well made, got us interested enough to do research and find that the author lied about having grown up in Wales. Currently watching Sunset Boulevard, which we've also never seen before. Well, Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDoweel weren't Welsh; so, at least they were consistent. Watching Sunset Blvd, I kept waiting for Tim Conway to show up.....
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 18, 2023 21:34:07 GMT -5
ps 90 years old and still going strong!
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Post by berkley on Apr 18, 2023 23:55:16 GMT -5
I watched Sunset Blvd a few months ago at home and it's a sign of how strong a film it is that it immediately wiped out all the parodies and homages I'd seen of or to it over the years and established itself in my brain as its own thing.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 19, 2023 4:46:19 GMT -5
Tonight I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to watch a 1959 Jerry Lewis movie called Don’t Give Up the Ship.
I only recommend this for people with a high tolerance for Jerry Lewis.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2023 17:18:41 GMT -5
Tonight I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to watch a 1959 Jerry Lewis movie called Don’t Give Up the Ship. I only recommend this for people with a high tolerance for Jerry Lewis. Aw, come on; that's a great film! I saw it as a kid and watched it again, as an adult, after serving as a naval officer. Some of that stuff wasn't as far fetched as it seemed, like command being handed over to the junior guy (the Navy never had a point rotation system, though), the officer being oblivious to running the ship and referring to a manual and his chief (actually, the chiefs ran most things) and the Navy has mislaid some rather large objects, from time to time. Besides, I actually knew an Ensign Benson and even a Midshipman Shipman! The pro wrestling is even kind of authentic, as they kind of both play it as legit and a work, at the same time.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 19, 2023 20:22:58 GMT -5
Tonight I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to watch a 1959 Jerry Lewis movie called Don’t Give Up the Ship. I only recommend this for people with a high tolerance for Jerry Lewis. Aw, come on; that's a great film! I saw it as a kid and watched it again, as an adult, after serving as a naval officer. Some of that stuff wasn't as far fetched as it seemed, like command being handed over to the junior guy (the Navy never had a point rotation system, though), the officer being oblivious to running the ship and referring to a manual and his chief (actually, the chiefs ran most things) and the Navy has mislaid some rather large objects, from time to time. Besides, I actually knew an Ensign Benson and even a Midshipman Shipman! The pro wrestling is even kind of authentic, as they kind of both play it as legit and a work, at the same time. I didn’t say it was without its charm. I think that all Jerry Lewis movies, except maybe The Bellboy, are only for people with a high tolerance for Jerry Lewis.
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