LawrenceA wrote: ↑March 6th, 2023, 1:31 am
CinemaInternational wrote: ↑March 5th, 2023, 10:32 pm
I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's for the umpteenth time the other night when it was on, and I ditched the film immediately after it ended, because I was certain that Ben's words after the film would be another rerun of how racist and terrible Mickey Rooney's performance as Mr. Yunioshi was. Newsflash: It was always that way. It never was good, it was always odd and irritating, and for society to allow a lousy performance that only has three minutes of screentime in an otherwise excellent film that has 106 minutes without him derail the entire reputation of the rest of a sterling classic is absolute poppycock. None of us need to be lectured over something we have known for a long time.
Nah, I think Rooney's performance in that was the cherry on top of the whole bowl of dog vomit. Rooney doesn't get full blame, though, as the writer and director, one would assume, had some say over what was said and done by the hired actor. I've always found the movie lousy, and Rooney's shtick the worst part of it.
As to the rest of it, I rarely bothered watching/listening to the intros/outros, and find people getting bent out of shape by them as absurd as the people the "trigger warnings" are supposed to "protect". I'll leave the rest of it alone before it devolves into something more akin to the open sewer that was the old TCM Off-Topics.
Normally, I wouldn't have said anything, but I feel that by drawing attention to offensive elements of these films, much of which is limited to only a scene or two, in the intros/outros, or in some things that air in between films, TCM is actually driving some people away from classic films that could, otherwise, be interested in trying films they have never seen. And not just The Breakfast at Tiffany's or The Searchers or the Gone With the Winds or the Blazing Saddles of this world, but from titles that would not cause anyone to bat an eye.
The channel is the only real one stop place for classic films anymore. Sure there are some (mostly entry level) titles on HBO Max, some niche services like the Criterion Channel, the world of DVD/Blu-Ray, and the wild west of YouTube and other video websites, but you have to know what to look for those other ways, and how many are willing these days to go searching for cinematic deep cuts? How many want to pass beyond the chatter of new releases and what film was seen the most in theatres over the latest weekend? I have personally found it exceedingly hard to even suggest a film to others anymore, because the prospect of a film that isn't brand new scares people seemingly.
So yes, I did get a bit bent out of shape for a second over the intros, and I apologize for looking stupid and for being irritating to you and probably someone else too, but being a classic film fan is, in places other than here, sometimes a very lonely existence in this chilly day and age, and it just feels sad that things like this might make it even more solitary in the future.