More's the pity!JackFavell wrote: . . especially with Cheyenne Autumn, since the power to make his own decisions was waning.
WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
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klondike
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
If they dropped everything having to do with Stewart here it would make for a better picture. it just doesn't fit. It's a disappointing film. It is long and slow. I think there is a good story but it I guess he just doesn't make the most of it.
Chris
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I guess I'm one of those dreamers who think Cheyenne Autumn is a great movie, but again, disputes are what helps the world go around. The first time I saw it, I had taped it on the timer when I was going to be away, so when I watched it, I thought somehow the movie had cut away to another one. I was so angry, I retaped it later in the month, and saw the same thing. That Jimmie Stewart section is totally useless. I saw it in a close proximity of time to The Miracle and thought Carroll Baker was growing into quite an actress, then shortly after, she disappeared for a couple of years. She returned in more movies, but never with the passion she put into Cheyenne Autumn and The Miracle.
Anne
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I watched an interesting movie yesterday.
"The Desert of the Tatars" is an Italian film from the Seventies. It looks like it will be an "empire/adventure" film about a remote outpost that may come under attack from the desert. However, the names and uniforms all suggest the Austro-Hungarian empire, while the desert setting suggests North Africa, so we are clearly not in the real world.
Ultimately, this is an ironic movie, not a heroic one. It has an incredible cast. Max Von Sydow is terrific as a non-conformist officer who ultimately becomes a conformist and pays the price. Vittorio Gassmann and Fernando Rey are here as well, but in much smaller roles.
Even though it turned out to be not the kind of movie I expected, I found "Desert of the Tatars" very well done and thought-provoking.
"The Desert of the Tatars" is an Italian film from the Seventies. It looks like it will be an "empire/adventure" film about a remote outpost that may come under attack from the desert. However, the names and uniforms all suggest the Austro-Hungarian empire, while the desert setting suggests North Africa, so we are clearly not in the real world.
Ultimately, this is an ironic movie, not a heroic one. It has an incredible cast. Max Von Sydow is terrific as a non-conformist officer who ultimately becomes a conformist and pays the price. Vittorio Gassmann and Fernando Rey are here as well, but in much smaller roles.
Even though it turned out to be not the kind of movie I expected, I found "Desert of the Tatars" very well done and thought-provoking.
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Yesterday, I watched Jean-Pierre melville's "Le Samourai."
I really loved "Bob Le Flambeur," but "Le Samourai" didn't move me as much. Part of that was because it has been copied so much that there wasn't (for me) a lot of freshness here. Also, the main character, Jef Costello, seemed like a construct instead of a real person. I actually found myself paying more attention in the police scenes, because they were about real people interacting with each other. (I loved the scene in which the policeman puts pressure on Costello's alibi.)
Oddly, I starting thinking of "The Terminator" while watching this film. Some of the scenes of the Terminator by himself came to my mind. (Such as when he repairs himself -- the scene in the French film where the guy treats his wound.) If we beat up Cameron for borrowing from the "Outer Limits" episode "Demon with a Glass Hand," why not "attack" him for being influenced by Melville?
I really loved "Bob Le Flambeur," but "Le Samourai" didn't move me as much. Part of that was because it has been copied so much that there wasn't (for me) a lot of freshness here. Also, the main character, Jef Costello, seemed like a construct instead of a real person. I actually found myself paying more attention in the police scenes, because they were about real people interacting with each other. (I loved the scene in which the policeman puts pressure on Costello's alibi.)
Oddly, I starting thinking of "The Terminator" while watching this film. Some of the scenes of the Terminator by himself came to my mind. (Such as when he repairs himself -- the scene in the French film where the guy treats his wound.) If we beat up Cameron for borrowing from the "Outer Limits" episode "Demon with a Glass Hand," why not "attack" him for being influenced by Melville?
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I don't get HBO, so I can't see "The Pacific" until it comes out on DVD. However, I did watch "Battle of Okinawa," a 1971 film directed by Kihachi Okamoto.
I liked this better than I liked his (more famous in America) samurai movies, because the plot was pretty direct and easy to follow. His samurai films (for me) get bogged down in baroque plot twists. "Okinawa" was pretty gripping, especially in the second part. What I found puzzling was the habit of cutting away from a combat scene before it concluded.
Also surprising was the depiction of the Japanese commander. American books usually present him as one of the more clever Japanese generals who devised new tactics for opposing the Americans. The movie, by contrast, presented him as rather passive, if not inert, letting his subordinates decide the nature of the Japanese defense. In fact, I began to wonder if the commander was suffering from depression.
I've never seen "Letters from Iwo Jima," but I wonder how the two compare.
I liked this better than I liked his (more famous in America) samurai movies, because the plot was pretty direct and easy to follow. His samurai films (for me) get bogged down in baroque plot twists. "Okinawa" was pretty gripping, especially in the second part. What I found puzzling was the habit of cutting away from a combat scene before it concluded.
Also surprising was the depiction of the Japanese commander. American books usually present him as one of the more clever Japanese generals who devised new tactics for opposing the Americans. The movie, by contrast, presented him as rather passive, if not inert, letting his subordinates decide the nature of the Japanese defense. In fact, I began to wonder if the commander was suffering from depression.
I've never seen "Letters from Iwo Jima," but I wonder how the two compare.
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I saw "Shutter Island" yesterday. I was surprised that I (age 48) seemed to be about the youngest person in the theater.
I liked this movie better than "The Departed." People have criticized the ending as too slow, but I thought it was just right. It gave me something to think about on my way out of the theater, which might be why some people disliked it.
anyway, I started a thread about "Shutter Island" on the Horror board here.
I liked this movie better than "The Departed." People have criticized the ending as too slow, but I thought it was just right. It gave me something to think about on my way out of the theater, which might be why some people disliked it.
anyway, I started a thread about "Shutter Island" on the Horror board here.
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klondike
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Rented Out of Africa, for the second time in 19 years, and this time, the Mrs. & I actually took the time to sit down together and watch it, beginning to end, with no interruptions or distractions.
And ya know, viewed in that manner, it is a pretty powerful movie.
I recall the other time I had it for half a week, and kept looking at it here & there, off & on, with a sort of latent cynicism; I was torn in that we were really jazzed about all the huge, rich background of time & place, and the indisputable, inescapable romance of Colonial/Victorian Africa, yet found ourselves reluctant to surrender to what we perceived as too much a "Merchant Ivory" treatment of the script and the waltzing-formula momentum of narration & dialogue.
But this time, a little forebearance paid off handsomely, and within the first quarter hour we were caught up in the jarring kaleidoscope of Karin Blixen's "new life", which was helmed with such deep, instinctive restraint of portrayal by Meryl Streep.
And did moral bankruptcy & cavalier disregard ever look so warm & semi-excusable as when it is embodied by Klaus Maria Brandauer? Whether sniping Alaskan claim-jumpers, electrocuting James Bond or leading a men's club toast, KMB always seems to exude more effortless impeccability than Wilfred Hyde-White at Ascot.
Redford clicks his ivy-league perfection down a notch or two, and imbues his character with exactly the gentle, shallow nobility the plot craved for a late axis, and as the sky-tinted denoument wobbled with lazy, primeval grandeur toward the crawl, Deb & were both misty-eyed at the grandeur of Finch-Hatton's funerary lions.
All in all, great storytelling (in more ways than one, Dear Guest) - so, please, forget its posturing, hackneyed detractors, and dine upon it all, some quiet evening.
Just remember to clear out some extra "panarama" space behind your Mind's Eye, first.
There's stuff here you'll want to keep.
And ya know, viewed in that manner, it is a pretty powerful movie.
I recall the other time I had it for half a week, and kept looking at it here & there, off & on, with a sort of latent cynicism; I was torn in that we were really jazzed about all the huge, rich background of time & place, and the indisputable, inescapable romance of Colonial/Victorian Africa, yet found ourselves reluctant to surrender to what we perceived as too much a "Merchant Ivory" treatment of the script and the waltzing-formula momentum of narration & dialogue.
But this time, a little forebearance paid off handsomely, and within the first quarter hour we were caught up in the jarring kaleidoscope of Karin Blixen's "new life", which was helmed with such deep, instinctive restraint of portrayal by Meryl Streep.
And did moral bankruptcy & cavalier disregard ever look so warm & semi-excusable as when it is embodied by Klaus Maria Brandauer? Whether sniping Alaskan claim-jumpers, electrocuting James Bond or leading a men's club toast, KMB always seems to exude more effortless impeccability than Wilfred Hyde-White at Ascot.
Redford clicks his ivy-league perfection down a notch or two, and imbues his character with exactly the gentle, shallow nobility the plot craved for a late axis, and as the sky-tinted denoument wobbled with lazy, primeval grandeur toward the crawl, Deb & were both misty-eyed at the grandeur of Finch-Hatton's funerary lions.
All in all, great storytelling (in more ways than one, Dear Guest) - so, please, forget its posturing, hackneyed detractors, and dine upon it all, some quiet evening.
Just remember to clear out some extra "panarama" space behind your Mind's Eye, first.
There's stuff here you'll want to keep.
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silentscreen
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
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klondike
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Wow, thanks much for that cool link.
It would certainly seem Deny Finch-Hatton has more anchors to the life of my mind than as a character in a biographical movie, if only for his association with the family Roosevelt, and his dalliance with Beryl Markham.
Speaking of which, I re-read "West With the Night" just last year - how could I not have remembered Finch-Hatton from there ? . . hmmm, must have to do with my membership in that CRS club !!
Thanks again for the fun info, SS!
It would certainly seem Deny Finch-Hatton has more anchors to the life of my mind than as a character in a biographical movie, if only for his association with the family Roosevelt, and his dalliance with Beryl Markham.
Speaking of which, I re-read "West With the Night" just last year - how could I not have remembered Finch-Hatton from there ? . . hmmm, must have to do with my membership in that CRS club !!
Thanks again for the fun info, SS!
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silentscreen
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
You're welcome. The internet turns up all sorts of cool stuff in just a few searches! He was the kind of man you'd never marry, but my he would have made for some good memories in old age. 
"Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
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feaito
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
Brenda, is that the gorgeous Carole Lombard on your avatar? What a wonderful picture!
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silentscreen
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
It is indeed! She's one of my favorites! Just love the screwball comediennes!feaito wrote:Brenda, is that the gorgeous Carole Lombard on your avatar? What a wonderful picture!
She was indeed lovely."Humor is nothing less than a sense of the fitness of things." Carole Lombard
Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I watched a few more French crime films. Again all new to me and all magnificent.
Classe tous risques (1960) Unpredictable, full of suspense and features terrific performances by Lino Ventura and a very restrained Jean-Paul Belmondo. Director Claude Sautete is at his best in the early sequences in Milan. Or maybe in Nice. No…Paris...
(Thanks for the recommendation, moirafinnie!)
Le trou (1960) Absolutely riveting prison-break film with a standout performance by Jean Keraudy. It's all details, and all fascinating. Can't comment on the direction by Jacques Becker because I never noticed it. Afterwards I did recall a terrific sequence in which the cellmates begin to dig at the floor of their cell. The camera never moves, and for several minutes, the inmates take turns hammering at the floor. Real time, real cement floor. Wore me out. That's cinema.
(Thanks for the recommendation ChiO!)
Le deuxième souffle (1966) A gangster caper film, which opens with a jail break and ends…. Fascinating to see the cold-blooded murders adhere to a gangster code, whatever the cost. Directer Melville keeps things claustrophobic except during the actual heist sequence, which is done in a secluded but vast openness, that somehow feels more restrictive than the many dark closed rooms in which most of the action is played. Oh, and plenty of details, again. Gotta love the details.
Classe tous risques (1960) Unpredictable, full of suspense and features terrific performances by Lino Ventura and a very restrained Jean-Paul Belmondo. Director Claude Sautete is at his best in the early sequences in Milan. Or maybe in Nice. No…Paris...
(Thanks for the recommendation, moirafinnie!)
Le trou (1960) Absolutely riveting prison-break film with a standout performance by Jean Keraudy. It's all details, and all fascinating. Can't comment on the direction by Jacques Becker because I never noticed it. Afterwards I did recall a terrific sequence in which the cellmates begin to dig at the floor of their cell. The camera never moves, and for several minutes, the inmates take turns hammering at the floor. Real time, real cement floor. Wore me out. That's cinema.
(Thanks for the recommendation ChiO!)
Le deuxième souffle (1966) A gangster caper film, which opens with a jail break and ends…. Fascinating to see the cold-blooded murders adhere to a gangster code, whatever the cost. Directer Melville keeps things claustrophobic except during the actual heist sequence, which is done in a secluded but vast openness, that somehow feels more restrictive than the many dark closed rooms in which most of the action is played. Oh, and plenty of details, again. Gotta love the details.
"Let's be independent together." Dr. Hermey DDS
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moira finnie
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
I will have to see this one. Thanks for pointing it out, Chi and Mich!MichiganJ wrote: Le trou (1960) Absolutely riveting prison-break film with a standout performance by Jean Keraudy. It's all details, and all fascinating. Can't comment on the direction by Jacques Becker because I never noticed it. Afterwards I did recall a terrific sequence in which the cellmates begin to dig at the floor of their cell. The camera never moves, and for several minutes, the inmates take turns hammering at the floor. Real time, real cement floor. Wore me out. That's cinema.
(Thanks for the recommendation ChiO!)
I'm delighted that you liked Classe tous risques. Lino was a god. No, strike that. He was a mythical creature, like a minotaur. And Belmondo was excellent. I loved the ending and all the scenes between the children and their father.
P.S. You have seen the phenomenal L'armée des ombres (1969) (aka Army of Darkness), haven't you? I think it may be the best movie ever about the Resistance.