Coming Up on TCM

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Ollie
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Joined: January 18th, 2008, 3:56 pm

Post by Ollie »

Cascabel, it's interesting you choose to use "good heart" as a symbol of a filmmaker's intentions.

Filmmaker's intents are something I 'feel' - no other way to describe it - by so many factors in the film. Like you, ALICE'S has an intention of a Good Heart in it, so I have always forgiven the tedium, stiff acting, etc.

I find I use "intention" as a powerful and perhaps The Decisive Weapon when watching remakes, in particular - I seem to have a requirement that remakes illustrate an intention to be either so different (A Perfect Murder vs. Dial M For Murder) OR clearly superior (Front Page vs. His Girl Friday vs. Front Page). I think I denigrate most remakes perhaps because they're bad, period, but definitely because the filmmakers never show some intention to put together a superior product.

"Good heart" - good choice of words.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

I loved Alice's Restaurant when I first saw it. I got a copy as a birthday present last year, and I must say it didn't speak to me, or bring back much to me, on second viewing. That was the aspect that disappointed me. I had remembered it as an outstaning example of the zeitgeist of the 60s, but it didn't hold up for me in re-viewing. (Except for the dramatization of the song - that still amused).

I also found Arlo's commentary long-winded and unenlightening. Maybe he felt the same way I did after all this time.

Is anyone going to look in on Hair? I really loathed this one when I first saw it, and I've seen it, I think, only once more, a few years later, and didn't like it much more, except that I appreciated Nell Carter and Beverly D'Angelo. I think this one really missed the mark: made more than 10 years after the fact (the fact of the run of the show, and the run of the 1960s in general), and by a non-American, to boot. I was mystified that Siskel & Ebert raved and fawned over it. Just like them, I was there as these things happened, and I didn't recognize much of anything that went on in the movie. I doubt I'll even bother recording it.

I saw Zabriskie Point when it was released -- I don't think I understood what was going on. I remember naked people writhing in the sand - there was a lot of such goings on in film when I was young.

Of this evening's late-night fare, I think Five Easy Pieces is the best, and although it deals with the "tune in, turn on, drop out" culture, it has a more universal concept to it. And of course, there's Jack Nicholson to give it heft.
cascabel
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Post by cascabel »

If nothing else, Alice's Restaurant is proving to be an icebreaker in the family. While discussing it, my teenaged niece opened up about her hopes and fears in going off to college and out in the big, scary world.

The movie Hair looks wrong. It does feel more like the '70s--which makes no sense. I will admit that I really liked the multiple shots of the house (an office building??) being blown up in Zabriskie Point. I don't know if the bombing actually happened or if it was just a fantasy. It's simply interesting to see the contents of the house floating about in slow motion. I think of this occasionally while vacuuming. I still haven't seen all of Five Easy Pieces. Looking forward to it.

Thank you, Ollie. What I can discern of a filmmaker's intent always matters a great deal to me, too. I'm afraid the people who made Hair were embarrassed by the play and attempted to update it. Why make the movie, if you don't like the material?
Ollie
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Post by Ollie »

"Why bother if you don't like it?" comes to mind in SO many films (like the gutting and castration of the book ONE FLEW OVER CUCKOO'S NEST).

I personally can't remember ZABRIESKI from VANISHING POINT anymore. I think I could within a year of seeing them, but even then, they were both rather hazy memories. Brownies were SO good back then...
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

Since some of you ladies are fanning yourselves over McQueen's picture I wanted you to know (if you didn't) he is this Saturday (the 29th) night's lineup.

You get "The Great Escape", "The Thomas Crown Affair", "The Reivers", and "Love With The Proper Stranger."

Now if only they would show "Soldier In The Rain."
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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knitwit45
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Joined: May 4th, 2007, 9:33 pm
Location: Gardner, KS

Post by knitwit45 »

I am going to dust off the ol' VCR (haven't used it since getting the DVR with my cable provider) and record "Love With the Proper Stranger", if. like ChiO, I can find a ten year old to program it.

He paraphrased Groucho on another thread, "Programming a VCR is so simple, a ten year old can do it...go get me a ten year old"
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

Nancy:

Don't worry. I'm on the downhill side of my life and I program stuff all the time. It's a piece of cake.

If needed I have a 17 year old at your service.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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knitwit45
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Post by knitwit45 »

Chris,
A ten year old, you can act smarter than....a seventeen year old? Forget it!

I'm sure I remember how to do this, I just have to remember to buy a blank tape. I'll be glad if I ever get to buy a DVD recorder! Then I'll need 2 ten year olds and 3 seventeen year olds to teach me how to use it :lol:
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I wish they'd play Love With a Proper Stranger here. We get The Great Escape frequently. My husband loves Natalie :)
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Allegra_Blyth
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Joined: March 13th, 2008, 4:20 pm
Location: Viña del mar. Chile

Post by Allegra_Blyth »

feaito wrote:
Allegra_Blyth wrote:Yes!, great channel!. I ve seen a few movies in the "free premium channels weekend" and when i get some money im gonna update my subcription! :D
Allegra,

Being a huge fan of Lionel Barrymore, have you seen him in the fantastic Tod Browning masterpiece "The Devil Doll" (1936)?? It is one of my favorite sci-fi-horror films of all time.

Not yet, i cant find it here :cry:
Lionel Barrymore`s N-1 Fan ;)
Ollie
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Joined: January 18th, 2008, 3:56 pm

Post by Ollie »

A_B, we're just gonna have to do something about that!
feaito

Post by feaito »

Allegra_Blyth wrote:
feaito wrote:
Allegra_Blyth wrote:Yes!, great channel!. I ve seen a few movies in the "free premium channels weekend" and when i get some money im gonna update my subcription! :D
Allegra,

Being a huge fan of Lionel Barrymore, have you seen him in the fantastic Tod Browning masterpiece "The Devil Doll" (1936)?? It is one of my favorite sci-fi-horror films of all time.

Not yet, i cant find it here :cry:
Allegra,

I'm not sure if this film will be ever be released for the Latin American market.

I'm such a fan of this film (which was released as "Muñecos Infernales" in Spain) that I asked my sister-in-law who lives in the USA, to tape it off TCM USA (for me) years ago. I cherished this tape (without subtitles in Spanish, of course), until the film was released as part of a Boxed Set titled "Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection", which I bought promptly from Amazon.com. The DVD includes subtitles in Spanish!

Allegra!! We live in the same country only 100 kms away. I can make a copy of this film for you, so if you wish PM me.

And do you know something else? My wife's from Viña and so is the rest of her family. Her mother and father currently live there. In fact we're travelling to Viña on this weekend!!
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

At first I thought I was nuts, then, I did some investigating, and found I DVR'd Boom Town on Sunday, 3/30, and here it is again on tonight. But this isn't the only occurrence of an oddity I've noticed. Has anyone else noticed many whole days and evenings in the past two weeks have been complete duplicates of days and evenings in the early weeks of March? I asked on the TCM board long ago, but don't recall getting any answer. Is it that the programmers don't talk to each other, or is it the time length for leasing certain movies that cause such close re-plays?

Anne
Anne


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