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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 27, 2023 14:41:06 GMT -5
And Yakima Canutt repeated the stunt in Zorro's Fighting Legion! Terry Leonard got badly hurt attempting to recreate it, for Legend of the Lone Ranger; but, got to try again for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 2, 2023 11:51:16 GMT -5
And I watched the 1940 (kind of '39) film, His Girl Friday. I'm 99% sure I'd seen it before, but I honestly remembered almost none of it. What a fun picture. The dialogue just shots by at such a rapid pace you'd really have to watch it multiple times to catch it all. Cary Grant is excellent as newspaper editor/publisher Walter Burns. And Rosalind Russell is nearly his match as reporter/ex-wife, Hildy Johnson. This was one of the first films to have the characters talk over each others lines and it's a madcap affair. Apparently Howard Hawks allowed a ton of ad-libbing and there are some hilarious results, including Grant talking about the death of Archie Leach and describing Hildy's fiancé as looking like that movie star, Ralph Bellamy. This one just pushed itself a significant way up on my list of favorite movies.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 5, 2023 7:25:39 GMT -5
I watched the 1955 film New York Confidential yesterday, a movie I knew nothing about. More fool I! It was good! Produced a little after the "fast talking men in high trousers" era, it is still full of beautiful dames, rich gangsters with an attitude, tough-talking henchmen, corrupt politicians and lethal assassins who don't need to train as a ninja to pop a few caps in a double-crossing ruffian. I liked the way even maffia bosses act like concerned parents and talk about things like honour and loyalty, even if abuse and backstabbing seems to be second nature to them. It just shows that human beings are often a mess of contradictions. The story did not go where I thought it would, so props to the writers for that. And Anne Bancroft really amazed me in her role here: she pretty much stole every scene she was in.
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Post by berkley on Sept 7, 2023 1:53:01 GMT -5
I watched the 1955 film New York Confidential yesterday, a movie I knew nothing about. More fool I! It was good! Produced a little after the "fast talking men in high trousers" era, it is still full of beautiful dames, rich gangsters with an attitude, tough-talking henchmen, corrupt politicians and lethal assassins who don't need to train as a ninja to pop a few caps in a double-crossing ruffian. I liked the way even maffia bosses act like concerned parents and talk about things like honour and loyalty, even if abuse and backstabbing seems to be second nature to them. It just shows that human beings are often a mess of contradictions. The story did not go where I thought it would, so props to the writers for that. And Anne Bancroft really amazed me in her role here: she pretty much stole every scene she was in. Definitely adding this to my list!
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Post by berkley on Sept 7, 2023 2:27:03 GMT -5
Watched Peyton Place (1957) tonight. Long movie, 2h37m, but I was rivetted the whole way - but this is one of those movies I don't think I can judge objectively, for a few different reasons, the first and most obvious being that it's somethng I heard about at an early age and therefore have had certain ideas about ever since then. Then I at last got around to reading the book roughly around this time last year and it made a very differnt impression on me to what I had expetced.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 7, 2023 9:45:31 GMT -5
Watched Peyton Place (1957) tonight. Long movie, 2h37m, but I was rivetted the whole way - but this is one of those movies I don't think I can judge objectively, for a few different reasons, the first and most obvious being that it's somethng I heard about at an early age and therefore have had certain ideas about ever since then. Then I at last got around to reading the book roughly around this time last year and it made a very differnt impression on me to what I had expetced. My mom was a teenager when the book came out. She says that you could go to the drugstore and pick up a copy of Peyton Place at the book rack and it would automatically fall open to the naughty parts because so many customers were browsing through it without paying for it.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 7, 2023 11:37:10 GMT -5
My main reference to Peyton Place is the song "Harper Valley PTA."
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Post by berkley on Sept 7, 2023 12:17:24 GMT -5
Watched Peyton Place (1957) tonight. Long movie, 2h37m, but I was rivetted the whole way - but this is one of those movies I don't think I can judge objectively, for a few different reasons, the first and most obvious being that it's somethng I heard about at an early age and therefore have had certain ideas about ever since then. Then I at last got around to reading the book roughly around this time last year and it made a very differnt impression on me to what I had expetced. My mom was a teenager when the book came out. She says that you could go to the drugstore and pick up a copy of Peyton Place at the book rack and it would automatically fall open to the naughty parts because so many customers were browsing through it without paying for it.
The movie was tamed down a lot compared to the book, as you'd expect for 1957. And the book itself isn't as shocking today as it would have been at the time it was published. I've become a bit obsessed with it because in the course of reading it I began to suspect it was an influence on David Lynch, and Twin Peaks in particular, there are so many parallels.
I also think Metalious didn't set out to write a salacious book that would gain notoriety for its shock value, though that's what ended up happening. While reading it, it came across to me as completely heartfelt and sincere. I think she was making a very serious effort to say something she thought was important. I also think she wasn't a great writer, though by no means a terrible one, so the result of her efforts was this kind of overwrought soap-opera, but I don't think that was what she was going for.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 7, 2023 12:26:03 GMT -5
This feels like maybe it belongs here as much as anywhere. An hourlong interview with Orson Welles by Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow Show from 1975.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 8, 2023 13:45:36 GMT -5
Having recently read the book for the first time, I re-watched 1941's High Sierra, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino and Joan Leslie. Directed by Raoul Walsh from a screenplay by John Huston and the novel's author W.R. Burnett. This was the last time that Bogart was billed below anyone (he was second billed to Ida Lupino) and really it's his show. His turn as Roy Earle solidified him as a leading man and it lead the way to The Maltese Falcon later that year. Lupino is just lovely as usual, but also has a gravitas that allows her to hold her own as Marie, a moll who is a better gangster than all but the best gangsters. It's a bit hard to believe that Joan Leslie was only 16 at the time. The script is tight and follows the novel pretty faithfully, which isn't surprising from Burnett and Huston. Walsh was a solid A-list director who was excellent at any genre. There is definitely some "fast-talking" 40s dialogue here even if the trousers don't quite go chest high. Just a great film that straddles the dividing line of 30s gangster movies to film noir.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 8, 2023 3:27:06 GMT -5
Just watched the awesome 1986 film Armour of God last night...
(Unlike the trailer from the dubbed version, I watched the version with the original dialogue in Cantonese)
What a blast! I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd last watched one of Jackie Chan's classic action films. This is one I'd never seen before, and I only recently found out that parts of it were filmed on location in Zagreb (basically the excellent car chase in the middle) as well as a few scenes in Motovun (a hilltop town near the northern Croatian coast) and also Slovenia (the rather impressively picturesque Predjama Castle). It was really a trip seeing those guys tearing around parts of the city I'm so familiar with (also found it amusing that in a few quick scenes you can see a banner which says "Respect for Tito" in Croatian - because otherwise in the movie there's no mention of where they're supposed to be, just somewhere in Europe). Here's a clip of the car chase scene, by the way:
However, I recommend watching the whole thing; it's just wonderfully silly, action-packed fun all the way through. Chan also injured his head pretty seriously when shooting a scene and footage of the accident and Chan getting put on a stretcher and into an ambulance are shown during the end credits.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 8, 2023 10:47:06 GMT -5
I started off Halloween movie season with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).
I decided to watch a few of my longtime favorites, with a focus on horror movies that I haven’t seen over and over again, and on some of the horror films that I love that I haven’t seen for a while.
I really love The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I’ve been watching it every five or six years since about 1990, and it’s been a few years since I saw it last.
Inferno (1911) and The Hands of Orlac (1924) are available on YouTube, so I’ll probably be watching both over the next few days.
I have requested these films from the library but none of them have arrived as of yet:
The Unknown (1927) Freaks (1932) Carnival of Souls (1962) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
There aren’t very many movies I’ve seen as many times as I’ve seen Freaks, which I’m sure is 20 or 30 times or more. But at this point, I haven’t seen it for a while. I took a break from it as I was getting the feeling I was wearing it out.
The Unknown is another one I’ve seen a bunch of times, but not nearly as many times as Freaks. That look on Lon’s face aftet he’s had his arms amputated, and Joan happily tells her that she’s not afraid of arms anymore thanks to psychiatric help and the love of the circus strong man ... you know he’s going to do something bad.
I’ve only seen Carnival of Souls three or four times. It is one of the very few horror films that creeps me out.
I saw Bodies Bodies Bodies on a whim when it first came out. I think I felt like going to the movies the weekend that it opened and there really wasn’t anything else I was the least bit interested in. And I really liked Bodies Bodies Bodies. I decided to give it another chance and see how it holds up as a movie I might wanna watch every so often.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 8, 2023 13:42:15 GMT -5
Just watched the awesome 1986 film Armour of God last night... (Unlike the trailer from the dubbed version, I watched the version with the original dialogue in Cantonese) What a blast! I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd last watched one of Jackie Chan's classic action films. This is one I'd never seen before, and I only recently found out that parts of it were filmed on location in Zagreb (basically the excellent car chase in the middle) as well as a few scenes in Motovun (a hilltop town near the northern Croatian coast) and also Slovenia (the rather impressively picturesque Predjama Castle). It was really a trip seeing those guys tearing around parts of the city I'm so familiar with (also found it amusing that in a few quick scenes you can see a banner which says "Respect for Tito" in Croatian - because otherwise in the movie there's no mention of where they're supposed to be, just somewhere in Europe). Here's a clip of the car chase scene, by the way: However, I recommend watching the whole thing; it's just wonderfully silly, action-packed fun all the way through. Chan also injured his head pretty seriously when shooting a scene and footage of the accident and Chan getting put on a stretcher and into an ambulance are shown during the end credits. Yeah, but he also sings in it! The bloopers at the end both serve to show lighter moments, like at the end of the Cannonball Run films; but, also that they aren't faking the stunts and how serious they can be. Rumble in the Bronx's credits scenes show Jackie breaking his ankle as he jumps down onto the moving hovercraft and shown the sock they used to cover his cast as they finished filming. You can tell what was filmed in Armour of God, before and after the accident, by his hair length. There are even a couple of sceens where it grows and shortens within the scene, due to segments filmed at different points. What was really scary about it was that he was just doing a simple leap to catch a tree branch and it broke off, causing an uncontrolled fall to the ground and his head struck a rock, causing internal bleeding. They had to drill into his skull to relieve the bleeding, necessitating the haircut. He came the closest to death on that one than any other film, which is why Hollywood wouldn't let him do his own stunts. It was funny how that eventually got marketed in America (apart from the earlier English dub, sold on a limited basis). Rumble in the Bronx was the big breakthrough, leading to them sort of working backwards, to older films, like Supercop (which is the third of the Police Story series), until they got to Operation Condor, which was released as Armour of God 2: Operation Condor, with the same Asian Hawk character. They did a new English dubbing, with Jackie voicing himself and did a small theatrical run with it. Then, they did it with Armour of God, but called it Operation Condor 2: the Armor of the Gods, even though it is pretty obvious that it is an older film, from the clothes and cars and Jackie's physical appearance. Either way, you can thank George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg, as the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark is what convinced Golden Harvest to do a similar adventure, with Jackie as a treasure hunter.
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 8, 2023 14:50:58 GMT -5
I started off Halloween movie season with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). I decided to watch a few of my longtime favorites, with a focus on horror movies that I haven’t seen over and over again, and on some of the horror films that I love that I haven’t seen for a while. I really love The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I’ve been watching it every five or six years since about 1990, and it’s been a few years since I saw it last. Inferno (1911) and The Hands of Orlac (1924) are available on YouTube, so I’ll probably be watching both over the next few days. I have requested these films from the library but none of them have arrived as of yet: The Unknown (1927) Freaks (1932) Carnival of Souls (1962) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) There aren’t very many movies I’ve seen as many times as I’ve seen Freaks, which I’m sure is 20 or 30 times or more. But at this point, I haven’t seen her for a while. I took a break from it as I was getting the feeling I was wearing it out. The Unknown is another one I’ve seen a bunch of times, but not nearly as many times as Freaks. That look on Lon’s face aftet he’s had his arms amputated, and Joan happily tells her that she’s not afraid of arms anymore thanks to psychiatric help and the love of the circus strong man ... you know he’s going to do something bad. I’ve only seen Carnival of Souls three or four times. It is one of the very few horror films that creeps me out. I saw Bodies Bodies Bodies on a whim when it first came out. I think I felt like going to the movies the weekend that it opened and there really wasn’t anything else I was the least bit interested in. And I really liked Bodies Bodies Bodies. I decided to give it another chance and see how it holds up as a movie I might wanna watch every so often. I love Carnival of Souls. It's absolutely incredible how effectively they pulled that movie off on such a minuscule (virtually non-existent) budget, and still made it creepy; not horrifying, but genuinely creepy. You should be able to find a PD version on Youtube. The Criterion edition has a good documentary with it.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 8, 2023 20:03:10 GMT -5
I started off Halloween movie season with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). I decided to watch a few of my longtime favorites, with a focus on horror movies that I haven’t seen over and over again, and on some of the horror films that I love that I haven’t seen for a while. I really love The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I’ve been watching it every five or six years since about 1990, and it’s been a few years since I saw it last. Inferno (1911) and The Hands of Orlac (1924) are available on YouTube, so I’ll probably be watching both over the next few days. I have requested these films from the library but none of them have arrived as of yet: The Unknown (1927) Freaks (1932) Carnival of Souls (1962) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) There aren’t very many movies I’ve seen as many times as I’ve seen Freaks, which I’m sure is 20 or 30 times or more. But at this point, I haven’t seen her for a while. I took a break from it as I was getting the feeling I was wearing it out. The Unknown is another one I’ve seen a bunch of times, but not nearly as many times as Freaks. That look on Lon’s face aftet he’s had his arms amputated, and Joan happily tells her that she’s not afraid of arms anymore thanks to psychiatric help and the love of the circus strong man ... you know he’s going to do something bad. I’ve only seen Carnival of Souls three or four times. It is one of the very few horror films that creeps me out. I saw Bodies Bodies Bodies on a whim when it first came out. I think I felt like going to the movies the weekend that it opened and there really wasn’t anything else I was the least bit interested in. And I really liked Bodies Bodies Bodies. I decided to give it another chance and see how it holds up as a movie I might wanna watch every so often. I love Carnival of Souls. It's absolutely incredible how effectively they pulled that movie off on such a minuscule (virtually non-existent) budget, and still made it creepy; not horrifying, but genuinely creepy. You should be able to find a PD version on Youtube. The Criterion edition has a good documentary with it. Yep, that's where I saw it. Your description is spot on!
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