LISTS

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ChiO
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Re: LISTS

Post by ChiO »

Let us not forget:

Woody Allen
David Lynch
David Cronenberg
Tim Burton
Wes Anderson
Coen Brothers
Quentin Tarantino
Martin Scorsese
Werner Herzog
Michael Haneke
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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ChiO
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Re: LISTS

Post by ChiO »

Perhaps, however....

With the demise of the studio system, the double feature - the lifeblood of the independent producers, Poverty Row studios, and B-units of the major studios - also bit the dust. How to fill that time? Longer features. Directorial ego? Which director was egoless? To the extent directorial ego is involved, producers and theater owners were and are the aiders and abettors.

Then there's DeMille, Stroheim and Griffith. And they didn't even have longwinded speeches as an excuse.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
RedRiver
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Re: LISTS

Post by RedRiver »

I'm sure there were any number of reasons for the changes in style and content. No studio system, director control, etc. My point is simply that the changes occurred, and in my opinion, the results have suffered.
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fxreyman
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Re: LISTS

Post by fxreyman »

Unfortunately we can never go back. But for some of us we can sit in the past all we want and just rewatch old features over and over again. This is called living in the past. And there is nothing wrong with that. Eventually however, one needs to possibly grow. To deny the fact that there are many features that have been made over the years since the demise of the Studio System and the old Hollywood bosses simply ignores one fact. And that is the movie business continues to grow.

Now this may not be the direction some of you want the system to go, but innovations have always occurred and will continue to do so. This is not to say that every film released after 1960 has become a long-winded exercise in slow pacing. There are many examples of movies made under the 120 minute time frame that can and should be considered excellent examples of story, acting, and producing. Many of the recent (last twenty years or so) Academy Award winning films have NOT been the long-winded, slug-like pacing as espoused by KingRat.

Have there been marked changes in the way films are made? Yes. Many for the better. Personally I do not care for many of the current special effects laden films coming out of Hollywood. There are some movie franchises that have been wonderfully produced over the years and I hope that continues. But for every special effects generated film being released, there are quite a few that evoke images and messages that could have easily been produced in yesteryear. And many of today's films pack so much more emotional impact than meany films from the pre-1960 era. You may disagree with this but it is a fact.

I know over on the TCM Message Boards, FredCDobbs is always lamenting the failure of the current Hollywood for not providing us with good movies. I think he too may have held his head under the ground for far too long. Not willing to come up and look around to see many films of today actually as good if not better than many of yesteryear's more mediocre films.
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ChiO
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Re: LISTS

Post by ChiO »

Yes, 1962 was a great year for movies. Most of the great ones, however, were non-English language. THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (Luis Bunuel), all by itself, elevates the year. Add THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC (Robert Bresson) and several others, and it is spectacular. But, for the English language movies, my Top Ten are:

1962

1. THE TRIAL (Orson Welles) - Kafka + Welles = Heaven (or, in this case, Hell).
2. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (John Frankenheimer) - The most evil woman in film history controls this movie.
3. THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER (Timothy Carey) - One of the most prescient movies ever made. One of the most in-your-face movies ever made. The first screen credit for the cinematographer, Ray Dennis Steckler, who is assisted by Ole Sehested (aka Edgar G. Ulmer). Music by a verrrrryyyy young Frank Zappa. Produced, written and directed by (oh, and starring)....
4. EXPERIMENT IN TERROR (Blake Edwards) - This is what I like to believe is the real Blake Edwards. Better Lee Remick than Julie Andrews.
5. CAPE FEAR (Lee Thompson) - I continue to root for Mitchum. But that other guy continued to purport to act in movies. So it goes.
6. ALL NIGHT LONG (Basil Dearden) - Jazz Othello. I probably have this too low in the Top Ten. In case you didn't know, Patrick McGoohan is sleaze.
7. RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (Sam Peckinpah) - Peckinpah begins here. Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott end here. And that, after all, is the point.
8. LOLITA (Stanley Kubrick) - Lolita. Light of my life.... Sellers is the weak link. Mason is marvelous. But the key to it all is Shelley, Bird thou never wert....
9. CARNIVAL OF SOULS (HERK HARVEY) - When scary isn't really scary, but is really scary.
10. CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER (Albert Zugsmith) The producer of WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956), THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957), THE TARNISHED ANGELS (1958, TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) and SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE (1960) directs his masterpiece. A B-movie of the most psychotronic sort with oriental exoticism, exploitation, and end-of-the-era drive-in movie whatever-it-is starring Vincent Price. No, they don't make'em like they used to.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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CineMaven
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Re: LISTS

Post by CineMaven »

1961

The studio era IS ending. The pickin's are gettin' slim. I've seen thirty-seven movies this year. Some have been the Important movies ( "The Hustler" "Judgment in Nuremburg" "Raisin in the Sun" "West Side Story" "The Misfits." ) But Favorites is a different matter altogether. Subjective. Emotional. Not necessarily popular. Not necessarily prestigious. These are films I can watch over and over again, with ease, comfort and never tire. That's how the 60's will be for me. That's how all of these decades have been for me.

BACK STREET” - ( David Miller )

Image
John Gavin - Susan Hayward

Your age-old story. Does it ever work out being a back street mistress? ( Don’t ask; don’t tell. ) It does look kind of romantic as it’s falling apart. Susan Hayward takes a back seat to no one, but she plays it nice here; she's a woman in love. John Gavin is the one who's not so nice. **** or get off the pot, Johnny boy. But he has his cake and eats it too. Hayward as Mistress may not have the name and position a “Mrs.” would afford her, but she’s got her own home and her own design business; this is not just ‘compensation’ ( at least she has beautiful clothes - no ) but she's got these things and should live a glossily, splashily fulfilling life. But what's a woman without love? Susan Hayward can see the handsome John Gavin in between dramatic soap opera piano chords.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

BY LOVE POSSESSED” - ( John Sturgess )

Image
Lana Turner - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

Lana. I’m telling you, that’s all you need. Lana + Schmaltzy Emotions = Sucker ( Me. :roll: )

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR” - ( William Wyler )

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Shirley MacLaine - Audrey Hepburn

A lie with an ounce of truth wreaks havoc for two private school teachers in this updated version of “These Three” - both films directed by Wyler. Shirley MacLaine’s anguished performance is heartbreaking for me. Miriam Hopkins is a bit of a hoot. And Fay Bainter at 68, shows she’s still got it in this, her last movie. I liked MacLaine's performance; hiding in plain sight. Living a lie, but the truth does not set her free.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE LAST SUNSET” - ( Robert Aldrich )

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Kirk Douglas - Rock Hudson

Notsomuch cowboys and Indians. A different type of western. Kind of quiet-like. Dorothy Malone ( Yay Dot! :) ) has her choice of two suitors - one from her past (( Kirk Douglas )) and one for her future (( Rock Hudson. )) But as she puts her past behind her, Douglas cannot. He becomes attracted to her daughter. Uh-oh.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

LOVER COME BACK” - ( Delbert Mann )

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Doris Day - Rock Hudson

So this time Doris and Rock work for competing ad agencies and...

Yeah yeah, you’ve got Fred & Ginger, Greer & Walter, Kate & Spencer, Bill & Myrna. But I think the pairing of Doris Day and Rock Hudson is genius. They look good together, their timing is impeccable and their liking each other is palpable. Their stories, smartly and sparkly written, take on ‘the battle of the sexes’ trope. What better way to explore the difference between the sexes than to highlight their work ethic in a 60’s comedy. But it has to star Doris Day and Rock Hudson. ( See....that IS the key. )

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS” - ( Elia Kazan )

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Warren Beatty - Natalie Wood

What happens when Society says you have to say “No”? It’s different for a girl than a boy in the 1920’s ( and 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 21st century. ) A boy has other outlets like sports or a girl who says yes. But what outlet does a “nice girl” have? The looney bin, of course. We have misguided parents - Audrey Christie & Pat Hingle. And Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood are good as the frustrated pair of lovers. That they do look a little older than high school age is a moot point. Wood has the lionshare of the trauma of her psyche. Her nervous breakdown in the bathtub is wrenching.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SUSAN SLADE” - ( Delmer Daves )

Image
Connie Stevens - Dorothy McGuire

* Boy Meets Girl.
* Boy Gets Girl Pregnant.
* Girl’s Mom Raises Grandson As Her Own Child...

What the what?! How a young girl handles getting ‘in trouble’; with this solution, tensions raise between mother and daughter. Alliteratively speaking, I love sudsy sixties’ soaps. Nice cinematography, pretty people, a house to die for and heightened emotions. I do still find it a compelling story and I’m sure girls back then did too.
TRIVIA: Nice seeing Dorothy McGuire and Lloyd Nolan together again since “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TOWN WITHOUT PITY” - ( Gottfried Reinhardt )

Image
Kirk Douglas - Christine Kauffman

I like courtroom dramas and saw this several times over a period of a week during the Million Dollar Movies days of NYC-tv. It was a pretty racy film for me then; pretty disturbing today. On a military base in Germany, four U.S. soldiers are on trial for the rape of a young woman. But she and her virtue comes to trial as well. I like the bleakness of this film, and its documentary-like nature. Gene Pitney’s unique voice sings the title song.
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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RedRiver
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Re: LISTS

Post by RedRiver »

I'm amazed by the number of movies I haven't seen; have barely even heard of. I don't remember THE LAST SUNSET. It sounds good. BACKSTREET? Susan Hayward as a sexy older woman? I never thought I'd envy John Gavin! Doris and Rock work for competing ad agencies A far cry from MAD MEN! I like THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. It's Lillian Hellman's best play. A sad story of lives destroyed by prejudice. Good thing that couldn't happen now!
RedRiver
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Re: LISTS

Post by RedRiver »

“TOWN WITHOUT PITY”

Don't tell me the Gene Pitney song is from this movie!
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movieman1957
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Re: LISTS

Post by movieman1957 »

I didn't care at all for "The Last Sunset." It became a little too creepy and I didn't care for the ending. (A rarity for a western.) "Back Street" is my mother's favorite. I always loved the cars.

Someone else mentioned "Experiment in Terror." It was a film I never knew but it was a great find.

There are some great films here but Red, like you, there are times I know I have seen films but can't remember a thing about them until I see them again. That worries me.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
RedRiver
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Re: LISTS

Post by RedRiver »

EXPERIMENT IN TERROR is tight and exciting. Another side of Blake Edwards. But then, there were many sides to Blake Edwards!
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ChiO
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Re: LISTS

Post by ChiO »

I approached 1963 with some trepidation. Lots of great non-English language films, my favorite being THE HOUSE IS BLACK (Forugh Farrokhzad), but with Visconti, Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Resnais, Ray and others - good grief, Godard had three movies - there are plenty from which to choose. Herschell Gordon Lewis provided the movie that's generally considered the first Gore film, BLOOD FEAST. On TV, courtesy of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, we get "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (Richard Donner). And lots more of the either you love'em or you hate'em...

1963

1. SHOCK CORRIDOR (Samuel Fuller) - As the Belgian poster above my desk proclaims: Le triomphe du cinema barbare. Yes, indeed.

2. THE SADIST (James Landis) - My favorite lovers-on-the-run movie after GUN CRAZY. Who said Arch Hall, Jr. can't act? Brilliant! But the cinematography is the draw. It was Vilmos Zsigmond's first feature. Brilliant (squared)!

3. X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES (Roger Corman) - Derivative of so many sources - the Fall, Frankenstein, Superman, just to name a few. But Corman makes it something very special, a provocative low-budget Horror Noir that is among his finest.

4. HEAVENS ABOVE! (John Boulting) - I imagine that those who have some distance from organized religion find this quite funny and supportive of the decision to be distanced. For those of us who are not distanced and have taken leadership roles in the church of our choice, it is absolutely hilarious. Truth lived is always funnier than fiction imagined.

5. THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (Jerry Lewis) - Comedy should make one uncomfortable. Mission accomplished.

6. THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES (Ray Dennis Steckler) - The world's my college. My favorite Horror Musical Noir.

7. 55 DAYS AT PEKING (Nicholas Ray) - I’m not a big fan of Charlton Heston or Ava Gardner, but Heston does a fine job here (Gardner doesn’t for me). I’m still a fan of the movie, probably a bit out of proportion, but having one of my favorite directors and John Ireland doesn’t hurt.

8. JOHNNY COOL (William Asher) - There are so many reasons not to like this movie. I don't buy any of them.

9. THE DAMNED (Joseph Losey) - Humanity is no longer.

10. AMERICA, AMERICA (Elia Kazan) - Kazan shows the idealism and the tough reality of being an outsider who wants to be a part of a new community. Semi-autobiographical...in more than one way.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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