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By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB – Up In The Air

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130 Responses to “BYOB – Up In The Air”

  1. martin says:

    In before Lex meltdown(tm).

  2. rossers says:

    Lex G= Broba Fett
    Totally, bra.

  3. Blackcloud says:

    Somehow I doubt Ken Loach will much appreciate this ironic reversal of his political douchebaggery.
    http://cinemascopian.com/2009/10/08/annals-of-irony-ken-loach-will-help-fund-the-israeli-films-he-will-later-boycott/

  4. jeffmcm says:

    Wouldn’t those funds be coming out of the distributor’s share of profits, and Loach would be entitled to his share as always…?

  5. LexG says:

    Time to see if Poland banned for real this time….
    TUCKER MAX POWER.
    HOLY SHIT, did anyone here actually see I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL? OH, MY GOD…. This movie is like 105 MINUTES IN THE MIND OF LEXG.
    FUNNIEST COMEDY since Dane Cook’s MASTERPIECE “My Best Friend’s Girl,” maybe even better. FINALLY a movie GETS IT RIGHT and depicts GENDER WARFARE in REALISTIC TERMS and TELLS IT LIKE IT IS.
    I was sitting there LAUGHING LIKE MAX CADY at every AWESOME bit of FRAT HUMOR and HONESTY; It WARMED MY HEART that the theater had a whole crew of probably frat dudes who were laughing and CHEERING every time TUCKER GOD MAX put some chick in her place or spun some new hilarious insult to get some chick to have sex with him. Movie got a STANDING OVATION from the all-bro audience. This is like LEYKIS 101: THE MOVIE (until the Jesse Bradford subplot involves his hooking up with a SINGLE MOM, but I like to hope it was all INSINCERE and just a concession to the fraus who might get dragged, plus the chick was a HOT ASS STRIPPER.)
    I should have been taking notes, because EVERY SINGLE THING in this movie is a line you want to use at a bar, like when TUCKER MAX orders 120 DOLLARS IN DRINKS and tells them to put it on the chicks’ tab (GOOD IDEA) and when he’s BAGGING ON THAT STUCK UP CHICK, or ALL the hilarious insults based on female anatomy that Jesse Bradford’s character comes up with.
    I wish I could remember more quotes and particulars but frankly I was IN SHOCK that someone released a movie that’s all about THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT and REALISTIC BEHAVIOR. The part where Tucker disses some fat chick and she puts laxative in his beer was the hardest I’ve laughed in a movie in thirty years.
    It was also funny as ass when Tucker fucked that midget. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Hey, Christian, go see this movie and LEARN HOW A MAN ACTS.
    YEP YEP.

  6. LexG says:

    Oh, yeah, grab a pen and paper boys:
    BEST DIALOGUE OF 2009 is when Tucker tells Traci Lords if she was his gal he’d NEVER leave his V— area…
    Unless it was to C– on her —.
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
    BEST SCREENPLAY EVER WRITTEN.
    TUCKER MAX = GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.
    Also you should all go to his site and read his story about the mishap he had with a chick when they tried anal. THIS GUY RULES.

  7. York "Budd" Durden says:

    Unfunny d-bag alert.

  8. LexG says:

    Why the alert? What are you gonna say?
    ZING.

  9. The Big Perm says:

    So is Tucker Max worship a put on too, or sincere? Are you being ironic? I’m very, very confused by your Performance Art.

  10. Rob says:

    Isn’t it bizarre that Fame is the movie with the highest screen count this weekend?

  11. christian says:

    I’ll actually be hanging out with real women this weekend Lex, but if that gets old, watching a movie with a bunch of dudes who don’t know how to get laid sounds CHARMING.

  12. martin says:

    Working on a list of the top 10 best 80’s comedy moments. Gotta start with Rodney and Chevy as the standard bearers, these scenes never fail to crack me up.
    Spies Like Us:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9-7AeFD5w
    Back to School:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga0txn754v8

  13. jennab says:

    Ha, Lex. Boy does Leykis have you snookered.
    He can get away with being a big, fat, obnoxious, loud-mouthed misogynist because he is also wealthy and famous.
    Being a big, fat, obnoxious, loud-mouthed misogynist has gotten you…where?
    Sadly, the joke is on you. And the only thing you need to OWN is your responsibility in engendering this response.

  14. LYT says:

    Is AMELIA actually opening on the 23rd, as the website claims? Why has there been ZERO publicity save the one trailer — and one upcoming press conference with a women in aviation group on the 16th?
    I know the buzz is that it isn’t quite oscar-worthy, but surely a movie about a pop-culture icon and female role-model could be promoted to some decent box-office coin? Especially as counterprogramming to SAW 6?
    I don’t think there’s even been a press or junket screening yet, and it opens in two weeks.

  15. NV says:

    as much as I enjoyed reading Beer in Hell (and the movie, actually), that anal sex story is BS. The videotape just happened to get destroyed when he fell out of the closet? Smells like BS. Literally.

  16. Wrecktum says:

    Yeah, I’ve read that anal sex story before. People find that shit funny? Seriously? Maybe a 14 year old thinks shit like that is amusing, but c’mon.

  17. movieman says:

    Hey, Lex- Finally caught up with “I Hope….” this afternoon (it’s getting really weird distribution here in the NE OH/western PA region) and absolutely loved it…but probably for entirely different reasons than you.
    For starters, I was thrilled that it didn’t look like a network sitcom with dirty parts (hello, “Hangover”!), but instead more like a “Sundance movie” before Sundance became a dirty word. Secondly, the tonal alterations to Max’s loathsome book (e.g., giving Tucker a quasi redemption at the end) makes all the difference. But those are probably things you DIDN’T like about the movie.
    I’ll also bravely admit to crying more frequently that at any movie all year this side of “Every Little Step.” (Bet you didn’t see THAT coming?)
    Drew’s character arc is beautifully delineated by Jesse Bradford and extraordinarily touching. I totally get the pychology of a dude like Drew/Bradford who’s in so much psychic pain that he’s willing to act out in the cruelest, most reprehensible fashion imaginable. And watching his evolution (starting with the scene in the car outside the stripper mom’s house and continuing throughout the rest of the film) was enormously gratifying and, yes, deeply moving. But hell, I even teared up at Tucker’s impromptu (albeit a tad self-serving) speech at Dan’s wedding reception.
    Unlike the monstrous dicks in Max’s book who simply repulsed me, I totally “got” the three male protagonists in Bob Gosse’s film adaptation. I’ve known guys like Tucker, Drew and Dan; some of them were “best friends” of mine. I’ll even cop to having been one of them (yep, that would be Drew) in a previous life.
    “I Hope…” is one of the year’s most unexpected (and, sadly, most unheralded) movie pleasures. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
    …which is more than I can say for “Couples Retreat” which plays like a “very special” episode of a second-tier network sitcom (say, “‘King of Queens’ Tries to Fix His Marriage by Going to Bora-Bora”). And the damn thing is interminable!
    The first time I checked my watch was around the 45-minute point–and nearly had an aneurism when I realized there was a full hour (plus!) left to go. The kindest thing I can say is that at least it’s (marginally) better than Vince Vaughn’s unspeakable “4 Christmases.”
    For VV and Favreau, “Swingers” is beginning to seem like a lifetime ago.
    (P.S.= Did anyone else notice that certain key scenes from the trailer–e.g., Favreau and Davis’ infidelities–were conspicuously absent from the release print?)

  18. movieman says:

    I’ve been wondering the same thing, LYT.
    In fact, I posted something a week or so back that hypothesized about F-S moving “Amelia” to a late-April dump slot (like P-DW did with “The Soloist” last year) since they’re so clearly ashamed of the damn thing.
    Saw an “Amelia” lobby standee for the first time today, but can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen the trailer theatrically.
    And I’ve yet to see a single TV spot.
    Very strange for a movie that’s supposedly opening in 2 weeks.

  19. jeffmcm says:

    I finally caught up with The Informant! this week and the more I ponder it, the more I like it.
    Surrogates, meanwhile, probably had potential in the script stage but they managed to make pretty much every bad choice possible in bringing it to the screen.

  20. scooterzz says:

    re: amelia…in the past week, i’ve seen several tv ads for the film and there is a press day with swank and nair for tv, radio & on-line (with at least five screenings between now and then)…..but the tell is that press day is the 22nd (one day before release)……

  21. LexG says:

    All work and no vag makes Lex depressed.
    All work and no vag makes Lex depressed.
    All work and no vag makes Lex depressed.
    Should I just taxi the fuck up and go to a dive bar by myself right now and insult all the women? I am dressed like Burt Young at the racetrack, I haven’t shaved in three weeks, and I have been wearing the same pants for nine days straight. And my hair is looking super fucking bald. How awesome would it be if I just strolled in and started telling hot sluts to pay for my drinks then blaming them for all my life’s problems. GOOD IDEA.
    COME AND GET IT LADIES.

  22. Martin, can I suggest Ruthless People. It’s not in the boy’s club of ’80s comedies, but it’s brilliantly funny nonetheless. And Airplane, obviously. Funniest movie ever made if you ask me.

  23. Chucky in Jersey says:

    Time to get out the soap, LexG is poisoning the blog with his potty mouth again.
    As for “Amelia”? Its main hook is “Two-Time Academy Award Winner Hilary Swank”. Play a homo, win an Oscar … play a cripple, win an Oscar … play a martyr, win an Oscar … Yes, Hollywood now has to add a modifier to the phrase that will cripple a movie’s commercial prospects.
    Keep America clean
    Gimme a shotgun and an M-16

  24. yancyskancy says:

    Don’t worry, Travis — I mean Chucky. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

  25. bulldog68 says:

    Looks like Zombieland avoids a %50 drop in week #2. In this climate of two horror flicks being released almost every week, glad to see the best one (IMO) rise to top and perform well. I don’t think Saw6 will reach these numbers, so Zombieland is poised to be the #1 horror? for the year as it will also outdo Final Destination 4. There is hope for humanity yet.

  26. Edward Havens says:

    If Tucker Max and his movie are so damn awesome, why did he have to hire Freestyle to release the film for him? Didn’t Sony see the value in pairing up with Julie and Julia as a pair of blogs turned books turned movies?

  27. jeffmcm says:

    “LexG is poisoning the blog with his potty mouth”
    “Play a homo, win an Oscar … play a cripple, win an Oscar”
    IRONY! God you’re weird, Chucky. And offensive.

  28. Joe Leydon says:

    Happy to say my UH students enjoyed Harold and Maude today. (Almost as much as my HCC students enjoyed Citizen Kane yesterday.) After the screening, they took their mid-term — while I kept them updated on the score of the UH-Mississippi State game, which I followed on my Blackberry. And the best part: Got home in time to watch the rest of the game — which UH won — while eating hot dogs and sipping Merlot. Tonight, I start sampling flicks from the DVD boxed-set The William Castle Collection. (Maybe I’ll watch The Tingler. Or 13 Ghosts.) Life is good. For now.

  29. bulldog68 says:

    Hey Joe, now that I am in Canada and have greater access to movies, let me hit you up for some free advice. I have about 2 weeks of downtime, so let me have your suggestions on 10 must see movies that a non-film school guy like myself should consider required viewing. Promise I’ll look at everyone of em once I can find them, and no sub-titles for now please.

  30. bulldog68 says:

    suggestions from others are also welcomed.

  31. LYT says:

    Might be ridiculously obvious, bulldog, but have you ever seen Citizen Kane or Touch of Evil?

  32. bulldog68 says:

    you’re not believe this, but no. Only seen bits and pieces of Citizen. Why Touch of Evil? Sell me.

  33. bulldog68 says:

    Looked up Touch of Evil on IMDB. Will take your suggestion LYT.

  34. berg says:

    re: the Castle box set … I watched THE TINGLER the other night, the first time I’d seen it since the 60s … and that was on a black and white set. Although the film is in b&W I never realized there are three shots that have blood red effects (blood in the bathtub). Since Tingler came out in ’59 and High and Low in ’63 it looks like Castle beat Kurosawa to the punch as far as using a color effect in a black and white movie … also Castle worked on Lady From Shanghai and produced Rosemary’s Baby … want to trade some film schwag for your ZOTZ coin?

  35. berg says:

    10 must see movies that a non-film school guy like myself should consider required viewing … no sub-titles for now please …
    Detour
    Out of the Past
    Sweet Smell of Success
    Johnny Guitar
    The Lady Eve
    It’s A Wonderful Life
    Strangers on a Train
    The Killing
    The Big Sleep
    President’s Analyst

  36. scooterzz says:

    with all of us getting advances on the castle collection, will there be anyone left to buy it?
    and wasn’t color as a punctuation mark in a b&w movie used looooooooooooog before ’59?

  37. LexG says:

    HOORAY for another wonderful time at the cinema… Had a Jeff Wells nightmare this afternoon at A SERIOUS MAN at a certain theater that shall remain nameless.
    Let’s just say in a 300-seat or so auditorium with barely 20 people in attendance, guess who plops down next to me?
    Some 380-pound Lou Perlman-looking motherfucker with some 13-year-old son or grandson in tow. I don’t want to “profile” the guy or offend him, but right away I’m thinking, “280 empty seats and you late-arriving motherfuckers couldn’t just SIT SOMEWHERE ELSE? You KNOW this guy’s gonna make noise. Fuck it, I’m getting up and moving.”
    So I move down the row a little, just a couple seats away at first, and SURE ENOUGH, this fucker begins chomping on his ENDLESS SUPPLY OF FOOD with all the decorum of a fucking horse; I’m trying to watch that (awesome) prologue and the early, quiet school scenes, and all I can hear is CRUNCH CRUNCH CHOMP HACK CRUNCH. Fucker had one large-size popcorn, one bag of what sounded to be Skittles, one bag of M&Ms, a Guzzler-sized cola, and at one point he sent his bored kid out to get MORE FOOD. And with the Skittles, he ALWAYS had to shake them around in his bloated paw before popping back like 12 of them in one chomp, smacking lips and crunching with his mouth wide open.
    Finally the asshole runs out of shit to shove down his gullet at around the hour mark (by which point I’ve moved further away and spent as much effort trying to block him out as trying to follow the movie), and then guess what happens? First the heavy NOSE BREATHING, then the full fucking SNORE. I got up and moved to the front of the theater, but you could still hear the fat bastard snoring through the entire last hour.
    So, for the record, this slovenly asshole spent roughly 35-40 DOLLARS ON FOOD, DOLLARS 24 ON TICKETS… and slept through half the movie while his kid was bored out of his mind.
    And they say we’re in a recession.

  38. Joe Leydon says:

    Bulldog: I know you don’t want subtitles, but would you be willing to read title cards? I always show my film history students The General and City Lights — and usually get a very enthusaitic response for both.

  39. Joe Leydon says:

    And if you don’t like silent movies:
    Public Enemy
    42nd Street
    Frankenstein (1931)
    Stagecoach (1939)
    Mr. Smith Goes to Eashington
    Gone With the Wind
    Duck Soup
    Flash Gordon (the original 1936 serial, often seen on DVD as Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers)
    The Wizard of Oz
    Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
    And to make it a dozen, in case you’ve already seen two of the above:
    Only Angels Have Wings
    Dark Victory
    That’ll cover the ’30s for you as you begin your self-education. (Nine of these titles just happen to be covered in my book, BTW…)

  40. Joe Leydon says:

    Berg: I haven’t been able to find my ZOTZ coin for years. I fear some collector may have… Wait a minute, when was the last time you were over at my house? LOL.

  41. berg says:

    I was hoping you would say … You can have my ZOTZ coin when you pry it from my cold dead hand

  42. Joe Leydon says:

    Why would I say that?

  43. Joe Leydon says:

    Sorry, Berg: Couldn

  44. jennab says:

    Not sure if you’re sticking to a specific era, but I would add Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” as required viewing for any film student/buff, etc. Completely blew my mind in film school.

  45. Joe Leydon says:

    I may have to break down and see Paranormal Activity tomorrow — at the early $5 matinee, of course.

  46. movielocke says:

    10 essential movies (at least twenty years old, therefore classics ;)):
    Sherlock Jr. – it is short and utterly genius
    Stage Door – a film that highlights everything brilliant that the hollywood system could be (but rarely was)
    Citizen Kane – I’m one of the few that prefers How Green was my Valley (a much warmer, more emotionally sophisticated film) but the technical prowess and modernist cold edges of Kane are absolutely essential
    Casablanca – it really is an essential classic, and it’s the film that turned me on to classic films
    Paths of Glory – short, powerful and imo Kubrick’s best.
    The Bridge on the River Kwai – Mesmerizing on every level, and it moves incredibly quickly for a longish film and shorter and more accessible than the denser Lawrence of Arabia.
    The Apartment – it’s a corporate satire and it’s a tremendously bittersweet romance, it’s even got comedy–perhaps the most sophisticated film out of these that I’m listing. It’s as astonishingly relevant a film today as it was fifty years ago–which is remarkable considering how much the white collar demographics have changed (but human nature has not).
    The Godfather – though I find it hard to imagine that there are people who haven’t seen this.
    Rocky – it’s not what you expect, there are two fights in the film, the first, which opens the movie, is short. The rest of the film is like last year’s the Wrestler, following Rocky’s rather wretched but mesmerizing working class life which doesn’t change much despite being offered an insane opportunity. the first film is a bit damning of the american dream actually–it’s only winning the lottery, not hard work, that gets Rocky a chance at something more.
    Empire of the Sun – Best cinematography of all time. period.

  47. IOIOIOI says:

    Here’s my two cents for essential films.
    1) Goodfellas.
    2) Shawshank Redemption.
    3) Straw Dogs.
    4) Rio Bravo.
    5) Foxy Brown.
    6) Working Girl.
    7) In The Realm of the Senses.
    8) Toy Story 2.
    9) Godfather 2.
    10) Broadcast News.
    It’s really subjective, but all of those films come close to covering different aspect of film, that one should know. If they are indeed serious about film.

  48. Paranormal Activity taking $2.2mil on Friday is bloody impressive. $16000 screen average for one day alone! It’s not out here until Dec 3, but I got my ticket for a horror film festival screening in a couple of weeks. Totally psyched!

  49. Triple Option says:

    So I flicked on Drew Barrymore on SNL and in a skit she mentioned Whip It as a family themed movie. I mean I know it’s a sketch but I didn’t know that’s how Fox Searchlight was selling it. I just saw it and thought it was a little light in the butt, though had I known it was family faire, I might’ve had different expectations. It’s not like I was expecting The Bad Lieutenant on wheels but I did think as a Searchlight release it’d have a little more grit than Footloose.
    They did release Under the Same Moon last year but that seemed a little more specialized. Now I just wonder how spit and polish will be added to all their films or kinds of films they’ll pick up in the future.
    I was kinda reminded of when I saw Cutthroat Island back when it came out. Straight up disappointment as an actioner, but if I had been told it was a family style action adventure film I would’ve thought, you know what, for that it wasn’t bad. Definitely something safe to see.
    I’m sure Whip It wasn’t chasing 18-25 year old males but I can’t help to feel like the film was a little too Afterschool Special for it’s own good. I’m glad it wasn’t quirky for quirk’s sake but considering how rough the sport actually is and how hard teen girls in sports play, I thought it came out a bit soft. Not only that, but I wonder if it didn’t try to be too universal and remove the authenticity that ultimately would’ve made it more universal. Like I get a more “trapped in life” sensation watching a few episodes of King of The Hill as opposed to Whip It that threw in elements of football, beauty pageants and goober dads in sleeveless shirts to denote it’s supposed pov. I am a bit curious to read the book now.

  50. LexG says:

    Just watched SNL too, and curious that two out of the three weeks so far (Megan and now Drew), they’ve booked hosts (presumably long in advance) ostensibly there to plug (eight day old) films that had already (for all intents and purposes) come and gone by the time of their hosting engagement.
    This sort of points to Triple O’s question, but Barrymore’s overriding persona is tame girl-power sunniness; Personally I can never relate to be this damn happy, but whatever; It seems to shade every second of any movie she stars in, produces or now directs since 1998.
    Forget edge in a roller-derby flick; Drew could produce “Scott Peterson: The Movie,” and it would be a sunny confection-like ode to the bonds of sister- and mother-hood, scored to a 4,589-song “K-Tel Best of the 1988-89” soundtrack.

  51. leahnz says:

    my all-time fave 1930’s flick: bride of frankenstein (whale’s sequel is even better than his ‘frankenstein’ imho, tho i may have to duck a great many rotten tomatoes for that pick)

  52. LexG says:

    Old movies put me to sleep.
    It’s called COLOR, people. LOOK INTO IT.
    It’s also called SWEARING, SHOOTING, FUCKING, and TITS. Without at least two of the above, THERE IS NO POINT TO WATCHING ANY MOVIE.
    Other than the Duke, Dean, McQueen, Newman, Kirk Douglas, some NON-COMEDY Hawks, Brando, Leone, and the early Bonds, you can skip almost anything pre-1970. Believe that.
    OLD MOVIES ARE FOR OLD FUCKS.
    Q: Do OLD MOVIES have KRISTEN STEWART or MEGAN FOX?
    Q: DO NEW MOVIES have those two actresses?
    DO THE RIGHT THING.

  53. leahnz says:

    ‘do the right thing’ is a damn fine flick, just ask kim basinger

  54. IOIOIOI says:

    Triple: they play a hard sport, but most roller derby girls (at least the one up in my hood) are sweethearts. So you can state it’s after school special and all, and that everyone has to be all hard in this film, but it just misses the point of the film. The film is about parents and their kids trying to find a way to understand one another. That’s it.
    Oh yeah: if you are getting a TRAPPED IN LIFE feel from King of the Hill. I think you may be missing the point of that show, because no one in that show was trapped. Cornered maybe, but never trapped.

  55. IOIOIOI says:

    Lex: it’s called consistently. Are you really asking us to look at the above two posts, and believe you are not putting on an act? Seriously dude, try hard to impress chicks, and not a bunch of random dudes online.

  56. CanNotCensorAdaneCookLove says:

    I believing Lex G being raised and borned by homosecksusuals. Did not knowing that persons finding rape and woman endangered and drinking anal penetration to be the funniest? Say I that this is not the appropriate but actual evidences of reasons of insanity or disability mentally. Female have right to not be treated as such pigs. Female have right to not be treated as such garbage. LexG, shame and a hex on your home. May you get syphilis of the crotchal area and your units fall off quick.

  57. Martin S says:

    Anyone else notice how damn awful the horror offerings are for this month? AMC and TCM have pretty much given up on classics, with only Turner dragging a few out of the closet. AMC…forget them. Then you have Chiller, an NBCU derivative, showing god-awful UFO produced junk over Halloween and shelving the classics.
    What a disaster. Where’s my Harryhausen and Hammer fix? I hate the idea of dumping everything to an external drive like its a jukebox. Isn’t the whole damn point of endless cable so you don’t have to play the role of programmer?

  58. That’s an interesting take on “Rocky”, movielocke.

  59. Nicol D says:

    Bulldog68,
    Joe’s list is excellent. But you should also add, The Jazz Singer (1927) which is the first film with synched dialogue (although not really the first synched sound film). There are some subtitles and it still has silent parts but it is a transitionary film.
    Then follow it up with Singin’ in the Rain (1952). With these two films you will get a great understanding of how the advent of sound affected cinema and how it made many silent era performers afraid for their future.
    If you get the special edition Warner’s put out of The Jazz Singer you will also be treated to a great primer on the Vitaphone process of sound.
    I showed both to my students recently and while they appreciated Jazz Singer, they loved Rain and it put a lot in context for them in a really entertaining story.
    Also try Charlie Chaplin’s 1942 re-issue of The Gold Rush. He put narration on it and the Warner disc is pristine.

  60. Blackcloud says:

    Allow me to stump for “Fantasia” and “The Third Man.”

  61. movieman says:

    Here’s what I’m showing in my “History of Motion Pictures” class this semester:
    The Great Train Robbery
    Nickelodeon
    Birth of a Nation
    Sherlock Jr.
    Modern Times
    Kane
    On the Waterfront
    The Searchers
    Psycho
    The 400 Blows
    A Hard Day’s Night
    The Graduate
    The Last Picture Show
    The Merchant of Four Seasons
    Chinatown
    Taxi Driver
    sex, lies and videotape
    Y Tu Mama Tambien
    Donnie Darko
    Not a definitive list by any means, and I like shaking things up every semester by alternating Fords, Hitchcocks, Scorseses French (and German) New Waves, Sundance representatives, etc.

  62. bulldog68 says:

    Thanks for the lists guys. Ironically, prior to reading them all I watched Wizard of Oz and Fantasia yesterday. Somehow WOZ reminded me of Lord of the Rings. Anyone else get that? The Fantasia choice was really to introduce my daughters to some classical music. My four year old was very attentive.
    The Godfather 1&2, Goodfellas, Broadcast News, Working Girl, Do the right thing,have always been high on my list and I hope to start a library with them soon. I never cared much for Sex, Lies and Videotape. (Ignore the sentence ‘I never cared much for sex’..you know what I mean.LoL)
    Would have to revisit Chinatown, its a distant memory. Some classics that I know I should/must see are On the Waterfront, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind. But let me ask a silly question. Does anyone dislike any of these three movies? I’ve always heard raves, but what about some criticism?
    Two movies that I have added to my list on my own are 12 Angry Men and To Kill a Mockingbird.
    And on recent films, still have not seen There will be blood, which I am watching today.

  63. movieman says:

    To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really loved “On the Waterfront” (my favorite Kazan is–don’t laugh anybody–“Splendor in the Grass”).
    The reason I like showing “Waterfront” to my class is because it covers so many bases (social realism; Brando and The Method; the whole HUAC/McCarthy period; etc.), even though I’d probably stick it into the “Message Movie”–as opposed to “social realism”–category myself.
    Some great moments, most of them provided by the feral, shockingly young Brando (his taxi cab scene with Steiger still sends shivers down my spine), but the movie–and Leonard Bernstein’s score which sounds like a warm-up for “West Side Story”–just feels so “hit-me-with-a-trowel” heavy-handed today.
    “Casabalnca” holds up remarkably well and remains enormously enjoyable to this day (the Bogey-Bergman chemistry still astounds), and while I’ve never considered “GWTW” a “great movie,” it’s possibly the original guilty pleasure. Not to mention the fact that it’s so sublimely “echt Hollywood.” For that reason alone, it’s worth the investment in time (fortunately the 4 hour running time goes by PDQ).

  64. Cadavra says:

    Here are ten I don’t think have been mentioned yet (chronological):
    SUNRISE
    FOOTLIGHT PARADE
    THE BLACK CAT (1934)
    THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Flynn)
    THE BIG SLEEP
    THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
    CHARADE
    IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD
    PLAY TIME
    NETWORK
    Plus, of course, anything Lex thinks sucks.

  65. Joe Leydon says:

    Cadavra: I’m curious — Why Mad Mad Mad Mad World? I have to confess: I have never seen the flick, mostly because every review I’ve ever read — even the contemporary ones — indicated I shouldn’t. Or are you suggesting this one for the same reason I occasionally screen Plan 9 from Outer Space for students?

  66. yancyskancy says:

    I taught a Film History class when I was a grad student. THE MALTESE FALCON and SHADOW OF A DOUBT went over very well.

  67. leahnz says:

    (i adore ‘splendor in the grass’ so i’m not laughing, movieman)
    i’d add
    seven samurai
    the bicycle thief
    and getting a little more modern:
    dr. strangelove
    one flew over the cuckoo’s nest
    lawrence of arabia
    das boot

  68. christian says:

    Joe, you’re kidding right? A man of your age, insight and background has never seen one of the greatest comedy films ever made? So Danny Peary didn’t like it even tho he included it his Cult Movies series. But it’s one of the great 60’s Road Show 70 mm epics. Do you think Robert Harris would spend uncountable hours trying to restore PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE?
    Get thee to a Cinerama, Joe. I’m giving you an “EF” as in EPIC FAIL for today’s class.

  69. movieman says:

    So glad to hear that you share my enthusiasm for “Splendor,” Leah: it’s part of my so-good-it-hurts doomed love/love story trilogy. Pakula’s “The Sterile Cuckoo” and Sayles’ “Baby It’s You” complete that tear-stained trifecta.
    Y’know, I’ve never been a big “Cuckoo’s Nest” fan. (I guess you could say that it’s my ’70s answer to “On the Waterfront.”)
    In fact, my favorite post-Czechoslovakia Forman films are generally the ones that flopped during their theatrical release–and didn’t score any Oscar lucre. I know that it’s surely a minority opinion, but I’ve always preferred “Hair” to “Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “Ragtime” to “Amadeus.”

  70. Joe Leydon says:

    Christian: I must say — truthfully — yours is the most impassioned hosanna for Mad Mad Mad Mad World I have ever read. But since there are no Cineramas here in Houston, I’ll have to take it on faith that you’re right. On the other hand: Perhaps I’ll tune in next time it runs on TCM. Lord knows I was pleasantly surprised by the restored version of 1776.

  71. leahnz says:

    i’ll take ‘ragtime’ over ‘amadeus’ any day, movieman, it’s a fave of mine (when i first saw it i thought elizabeth mcgovern had the most beautiful alabaster skin i’d ever seen). ‘amadeus’ just doesn’t do it for me, puts me right to sleep, but i know i’m in the minority there.
    seeing ‘cuckoo’s nest’ as a kid, it had a PROFOUND effect on me, just horrifying. i had nightmares about it for ages afterwards. it’s the movies that had that sort of visceral effect on me that i consider ‘great classics’, but of course assuming everyone else feels the same way is folly. i saw ‘night of the hunter’ when i was just a wee, wee lass and it made the same sort of deep cut into my psyche. come to think of it, ‘night o/t hunter’ should be on any list for the absolutely stunning photography alone

  72. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    The Doctors Guide To Cinema or Everything You Need to Know About Movies in One List.
    Behind the Green Door
    Willy Wonka
    Touch Of Evil
    Top Secret
    The General
    I Am Cuba
    Un Chien Andalou
    Emperor of the North
    Wake in Fright
    David Holzmans Diary
    Tokyo Drifter
    Peeping Tom

  73. Triple Option says:

    re: King/Hill vs Whip: Yeah, IO, that was my point was that King of the Hill does such a great job in portraying their small Texas town that it’s almost it’s own walled city compared to Whip It, which I thought came up short in its attempt to designate a community as a character, whereby being arguably being the biggest antagonist in the story. I was expecting (hoping?) that Whip It would’ve kept it real, not just made a movie that snapped off a collection of elements.
    As for those competing in the sport itself, I felt the film was more accurate or I guess I should say believable from the type of players stand point. I’ll admit, my first hand knowledge is limited to one team in a small midwestern town. My point wasn’t to suggest that the players were callous brutes. Sure they’re caring and genuine women but were they all-state hs soccer or basketball stars who went on to get collegiate scholarships who then sought ut roller derby as another competitive outlet as their careers came to a close, not so much. Without trying to make any kind of moral assessment, I was looking to see something more in the realm of The Wrestler and less Bad News Bears. Wait, even that might not be right, as Bad News Bears was rather honest. I’d say less Flashdance than it was. If that makes sense??
    Bulldog, one film that came out about 50 years ago that I thought was OK the first time I saw it but had a greater appreciation for seeing it in a post 9/11 world, plus having a better understanding of film that I would recommend would be Judgment at Nuremberg. Some truly remarkable performances. It is a bit long overall but I’d also recommend resisting the urge to ff through the black screen overture but just enjoy your popcorn and coke as you listen to the music to help set the mood.
    I’d also agree with the rec on Paths to Glory. I’d say Rear Window and North By Northwest are the two must-see Hitchcock films. Finally, off the top of my head, which is pre-occupied watching the refs give the Pats their game, I’d say Double Indemnity.

  74. LexG says:

    Long as it’s time for Lists Ahoy! (seriously, at this point I doubt bulldog’s gonna get to most of the 5,687 movies people listed, but nonetheless…) Without repeating directors:
    Fight Club, Scarface, Jaws, The Shining, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Taxi Driver (or Goodfellas), Straw Dogs (or Wild Bunch), Armageddon, Halloween, Dirty Harry, Apocalypse Now, Top Gun, McCabe and Mrs. Miller (or Long Goodbye), Chinatown, Blade Runner, Annie Hall, Blood Simple, Heat, Pulp Fiction, The Deer Hunter, Unforgiven, etc.
    But didn’t someone once say that CITIZEN KANE, PSYCHO and THE SEARCHERS are the three most historically important films ever made, and that pretty much every great movie since owes a debt to at least ONE of those? I don’t know where the fuck they got THAT, as it would seem to rule out comedies, musicals, and romance, so whoever said it pulled it out of their ass. Nonetheless, just about everything else allegedly owes a debt to one of those three.

  75. Triple Option says:

    IO, point of clarification, disregard middle paragraph. Meant to remove upon review of your comment.

  76. movieman says:

    Leah- I’ve always wanted to give “Cuckoo’s Nest” another try–haven’t seen it since the original theatrical release when I was a (gulp) senior in high school–and your impassioned endrosement may just be the kick in the ass I needed.
    Glad to know the somebody else loves “Ragtime” the way that I do.
    I remember being pissed upon learning that Forman got the directing gig that had previously been promised to Bob Altman (apparently Dino De Laurentiis reneged after “Buffalo Bill and the Indians” stiffed) since I still harbored a Forman grudge for “Cuckoo’s Nest” beating “Nashville” at the ’75 Oscars. But I got over that pettiness after seeing Forman’s brilliant film which did full justice to E.L. Doctorow’s novel (which was–and still remains–one of my all-time favorites). Ironically, I reviewed a superb local production of “Ragtime” (the musical version) just last weekend. It’s not a great musical per se–think second-tier Sondheim with a Terrence McNally book that’s too exposition-heavy by half–but the performance I attended was a brilliant rendering of an intrinsically flawed show.
    Speaking of “Cuckoo”‘s, have you seen “The Sterile Cuckoo”?
    I remember being emotionally devastated by the movie when I first saw it…in sixth frigging grade. The Sandpipers’ “Come Saturday Morning” still brings a tear to my eye on those rare occasions when I hear it. And Liza has never been more exquisitely, achingly, heartbreakingly vulnerable than she was in that film.
    Speaking of tears, I’m still welling up over Jesse Bradford’s performance in “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.” (Tucker Max would probably barf if he read that last sentence, lol.) Sitting through “More than a Game” yesterday afternoon–a real snoozer for anyone who doesn’t think LeBron James is the second coming of Jesus Christ; or Michael Jordan–I kept flashing back to the (immensely) more satisfying movie I had seen the day before, and to Bradford’s stunningly empathetic turn. Although I’m sure that it’ll be his only vote, Bradford (at this point in time anyway) gets my first ballot BFCA vote for 2009’s Best Supporting Actor.

  77. Jeff, Wake in Fright! Have you had the chance to see the restored cut at a film fest yet? It looks fantastic compared to the dodgy VHS version I saw ten minutes of when I was younger.

  78. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Kami the restoration is a revelation. Stunning to see it on the big screen. Along with ‘The Year My Voice’ broke probably my favourite Australian film. (Teenage Babylon is my vote for best Oz short ever)

  79. Joe Leydon says:

    This semester, I am teaching a class in NEW HOLLYWOOD cinema (roughly, 1967-80). These are the films I am showing in class:
    EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS (as a kinda-sorta “coming attractions” for the course)
    BONNIE AND CLYDE
    ROSEMARY’S BABY
    M*A*S*H
    DIRTY HARRY
    HAROLD AND MAUDE
    AMERICAN GRAFFITI
    CHINATOWN
    SHAMPOO
    ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
    NETWORK
    GO TELL THE SPARTANS
    And they’re supposed to see on their own: THE GODFATHER and APOCALYPSE NOW.
    I would love to show them FINAL CUT, but I cannot find it on DVD.

  80. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Think you mean PRIME CUT Joe.

  81. Joe Leydon says:

    No, FINAL CUT — the doc about the making of HEAVEN’S GATE.

  82. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Also Joe you need some switcheroos to make it less predictable for them.
    Rosemary’s Baby = No Replacement
    Bonnie & Clyde = Badlands
    Chinatown = Point Blank
    All The Presidents Men = Parallax View
    Shampoo = No Replacement
    Network = No Replacement
    Go Tell the Spartans = Boys in Company C
    Dirty Harry = Death Wish!
    Harold & Maude = Brewster McCloud
    American Graffitti = The Wanderers

  83. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Gotcha. Thats a great doc but I loved loved Bach’s book even though it was somewhat self serving and played with the chronology a little bit.

  84. Joe Leydon says:

    Actually, I think Boys in Company C is a great movie. Never did understand why Stan Shaw didn’t become a big star. But for you other “replacement” suggestions — sorry, my choices are better. Why? Because it’s been my experience that students haven’t seen them. And Badlands simply isn’t as important a movie as Bonnie and Clyde, The Parallax View is minor compared to All the President’s Men and Dirty Harry — with its enhanced interrogation techniques — is more relevant than Death Wish. Also: You have to remember that I’m dealing with students who have never seen any of the movies we’re talking about. And while I loved Brewster McCloud, it’s not as influential a movie as Harold and Maude. Seriously. Just yesterday, when I showed Harold and Maude, I had students — including white-break, jock types — telling me how great they thought it was.

  85. Joe Leydon says:

    Er… white-BREAD

  86. movieman says:

    Great line-up, Joe. But why no “Last Picture Show”???
    I’ve been begging the powers-that-be to let me teach a course on the “New Hollywood Cinema for years, but to little avail. (Apparently it remains a budgetary “issue.”)
    Doc: still waiting for “Brewster McCloud” to be released on dvd.
    At this rate, I’m afraid it’s never gonna happen. Dammit. That’s always been a pet Altman of mine. I first saw it in seventh grade at a now shuttered downtown movie palace double-billed with “House of Dark Shadows.” Those were some groovy times!
    I’ve actually shown “The Wanderers” before–as a sort of “bonus movie” companion piece to “Mean Streets”–and haven’t had a class that hasn’t fallen in love with it yet. (Ditto “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” which sometimes gets my “Sundance rep” nod.)

  87. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    Critically and historically I bow to B&C vs Badlands but personally I do think Badlands is a better film.
    Parallax minor? Okay I’ll let that slide – Bam! take this, The Conversation over All the Presidents Men.. you can’t argue that.
    Harold & Maude is in my permanent top 20 so I’m not going to fight that at all.
    Death Wish.. was just teasin ya.
    Glad you liked Boys in Company C. You show that to Full Metal jacket fans and they go huh? wtf? Kubrick totally ripped off this film!!

  88. Joe Leydon says:

    Actually, I have shown Last Picture Show in other semesters. I just try to shake things up to keep it interesting. Like, I have shown The French Connection for two semesters — instead of Dirty Harry — and Easy Rider on occasion. But I also try to be mindful of historical importance. Even with Rosemary’s Baby — the first movie to be so successful despite being condemned by the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures. And while I think The Conversation is a great movie — it’s nowhere near as enduringly influential as All the President’s Men.

  89. leahnz says:

    movieman, i’m a big fan of both ‘the sterile cuckoo’ (weirdos!) and pakula in general
    (no way you could replace ‘bonnie and clyde’ with ‘badlands’, ‘b & c’ was a pioneer of shocking, graphic violence on film, amongst other things. i’m not sure if it’s true but as a long-time natalie wood fan i remember reading somewhere that beatty wanted her badly for bonnie but she passed, and as much as i adore wood no one could have done the role better than dunaway)

  90. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    @leah Well I can and I did!
    Actually if you want a good record of the making of B&C then you should read Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris. It has the making of B&C and how difficult it was. There’s a great story behind it.

  91. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    “b & c’ was a pioneer of shocking, graphic violence on film”
    The above is a perpetuated myth. B&C wasn’t a pioneer of onscreen violence. It may have a shock to some of the mainstream but the screen was awash with violence, more shocking and a lot earlier than B&C.

  92. leahnz says:

    name some, jbd. ‘b & c’ pioneered the plentiful use of the squib, so before that the results of gunshots/wounds/etc. were far less graphic and realistic

  93. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    BLOOD FEAST for starters. That film was a pioneer in the true sense. It may seem cheesy now but that was fucking disgusting stuff to audiences back in 63.
    I’m not arguing the influence of it but I don’t think you can state that its a pioneer. It wasn’t. You now getting down to specific sfx? Thats not what you said originally.

  94. Jeffrey Boam's Doctor says:

    And I seem to remember Major Dundee used squibs earlier than B&C.

  95. Nicol D says:

    Harold and Maude is not an “important” film of new Hollywood. It is a cult fave but has no real influence or value beyond its immediate circle of fans which is limited at best.
    Ashby made some good films but in a semester where time is limited…an odd choice.

  96. leahnz says:

    ‘blood feast’? i thought it would be obvious i wasn’t talking about horror films, JBD
    name some NON-HORROR, mainstream films with as much graphic, realistically portrayed violence pre-dating ‘b & c’. there may be a few (i can’t think of any) but prior to the use of the squib depicting gunshot wounds as plentifully and realistically as in ‘b & c’ was virtually impossible. ‘b & c’ was certainly one of the pioneers of film violence (again, non-horror)

  97. leahnz says:

    sorry, i didn’t see your ‘major dundee’ comment, but the few squibs used in dundee were considered a bit of a bust and don’t even touch ‘b & c”

  98. movieman says:

    “Pictures at a Revolution” is a great read, Doc.
    The “B&C” stuff is particularly fascinating. I never knew just how vigorously Beatty had pursued Truffaut for the project–or that Truffaut had basically passed the film off to Godard (with predictably disastrous results) before common sense prevailed and Beatty finally hired Penn.
    Could “Made in U.S.A.” have been Godard’s alternative answer to “B&C”?
    Also loved the stuff about Beatty and his early involvement with “What’s New, Pussycat?” (I’d never heard that the title was taken from one of Beatty’s more fabled pick-up lines.)
    How ironic that Beatty and Woody Allen would eventually become Diane Keaton’s two most significant
    romantic/professional partners.
    P.S.= Leah, I just knew that your unstinting good taste would have made you a “S. Cuckoo”/Pakula fan.!

  99. Joe Leydon says:

    Ah, Nicol. I can always count on you to deny the importance of a movie you find too Leftist for your tastes. Were I as limited as you, I would never show The Green Berets or Dirty Harry to my students. And please, before you object: I showed Harold and Maude just yesterday to my students — and even they noted, unprompted by me, the anti-military barbs in the film. But, actually, that’s not why I screened it for them. Rather, I wanted them to see a movie that is emblematic of the free-wheeling, risk-taking attitudes that prevailed at major Hollywood studios at that point in the 1970s. And I wanted them to see a movie that defines “cult movie.”
    http://movingpicturehistoryblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/harold-and-maude-1972.html

  100. christian says:

    JBD, you’re being rather literal here. Yes, BLOOD FEAST was the first gore film. But it didn’t launch a national debate about screen violence since BF had faded from its limited public consciousness. I taught a 60’s class and by the time we got to BONNIE AND CLYDE, the 19-23 year-olds gasped at the bank teller being shot. Certainly they’d seen more violent films but they were with the spirit of the movie and period and reacted the way I’m sure audiences did in 1967. There were few American films that had that level of discomfiting blood. It’s still brutal.
    And Nicol, I rewarded my class with HAROLD AND MAUDE for the final, a nice distillation of the 60’s style into the 70’s. It’s easily Ashby’s most beloved film and has a thriving popularity to this day. Where did you get this idea from that H&M has no hold over audiences to this day?

  101. Joe Leydon says:

    BTW: I saw The Sterile Cuckoo right before I started my freshman year of college — and spent much of that year looking for my own Pookie Adams. Seriously: I don’t know if she made wrong choices, or came along at the wrong time, but I am surprised that, even with Cabaret to her credit, Liza M. never made a bigger mark in movies.
    And as for violent movies before Bonnie and Clyde — as I recall, Duel at Diablo (1966) was pretty freakin’ rough. But, really, who remembers it now? But Bonnie and Clyde, well…
    http://www.movingpictureshow.com/dialogues/mpsArthurPenn.htm

  102. LexG says:

    LAST DETAIL POWER.
    Ashby’s best.
    I tried watching Brewster McCloud on a taped-off-TCM cassette a year ago or so, and, very sorry, just could not get into it AT ALL. And it’s even from the prime Altman era where almost every movie is an out-of-the-park classic; But I found it grating and cutesy and borderline-incoherent. I should try again and give it a fairer shake, but it’s extremely rare that I ever throw in the towel completely on something. But around the sixth Rene Auberjenois bird lecture, I packed it in and never looked back.
    As Astrodome movies go, I’d rather see William Devane shouting “Let them play.”

  103. Nicol D says:

    Joe,
    “Ah, Nicol. I can always count on you to deny the importance of a movie you find too Leftist for your tastes. Were I as limited as you, I would never show The Green Berets or Dirty Harry to my students.”
    Despite our differences, I have always respected your knowledge of cinema. Today, you pilfered away that last bit of respect. I never said I objected to Harold and Maude for leftist reasons. You stereotyped me and as a result, you come up ignorant and a facile child.
    I have shown my students films everything from the Marxist inspired films of Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thief, Umberto D) and Luis Bunuel (Un chien Andalou) to the films of people on the right such as John Ford or Clint Eastwood. I show them what they need to see in history and never pass political judgment. I a huge De Sica fan.
    You may enjoy Harold and Maude but it is by no means a film that is important or is remembered beyond its narrow cult. Most young students have not even seen a genuine classic like A Clockwork Orange. I could not care less about its “anti-war” sentiments. Sheesh. Why waste time on a mostly forgotten cult film from the early 70’s? And you dispense the work of Coppola to mere “homework”? If I were to show a Hal Ashby film The Last Detail would be the one to program. Not Harold and Maude which I watched again two years ago. It does not hold up.
    Christian,
    “It’s easily Ashby’s most beloved film and has a thriving popularity to this day. Where did you get this idea from that H&M has no hold over audiences to this day?”
    I actually think The Last Detail or Being There would be Ashby’s most endearing films. Harold and Maude is a college campus movie that peaked in the 80’s. I know of no one that loves it or holds it dear beyond those who love obscure cult films. It’s rep is more of the obscure type and it is stuck in its era. I think Being There would actually be much more beloved than this because it contains Sellers last real performance.
    I also think Ashby is a director who has not really resonated with time. Most do not know his name and while he had some films I love such as the aforementioned, I do not think he is in the pantheon of great directors as time passes. His individual films speak more loudly than he. He is not an auteur.

  104. Joe Leydon says:

    Nicol: There’s a good reason why I assign both Coppola films to be seen outside of the classroom — it’s only a three-hour class that meets once a week. Dig? And the influence of Harold and Maude abides. Indeed, even as I type this — no kidding — one of the Cat Stevens soundtrack songs is playing on TV, used in a commercial for a cell phone company. As for Ashby not resonating with time: Sorry, you’re just plain wrong. As you often are.
    http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue08/features/halashby/
    http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/ashby.html

  105. Joe Leydon says:

    LexG: Can’t say I disagree with you about Brewster McCloud. Weirdly enough, though, I have fond memories of it simply because it was released at a time when even a staid studio like MGM was releasing odd, envelope-pushing stuff. If memory serves me correctly, MGM opened McCloud right around the same time it released… Get Carter.

  106. Nicol D says:

    Joe,
    “Ashby is now largely ignored, forgotten, or disparaged in film guides and critical studies, but he should take his place along contemporaries such as Coppolla, Altman, Polansky, and Scorsese as one of the finest directors of films in the 1970s. ”
    This is a sentence from the first article you like to. It is written by an Ashby apologist who acknowledges he is forgotten. The author of the article makes a case. But there is a reason Ashby is forgotten. He is not an auteur and his films are steeped in the past in a way that does not resonate.
    Glad the Cat Stevens song is on a commercial for a cell phone company…so it will be remembered as that before it is associated with the movie. Last time I checked Mrs. Robinson was not selling cell phones.
    You’re steeping yourself in the past and losing cred fast, Joe. Don’t make your students pay. Show them The Conversation. It is not as long as The Godfather. Say you’ll buy them a pizza lunch to stay late. Any study of the 70’s without Coppola is incomplete. My students regulary stay through lunch and late to finish a film that is long. If you choose the right flicks and are a good instructor, that’s not a problem. Dig?
    You should know that.

  107. Joe Leydon says:

    Maybe “Mrs. Robinson” is not used to sell cell phones because The Graduate is more obscure than Harold and Maude these days?
    As for Coppola: As I said, my students are assigned to see (and are tested on) The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, which they can view at their leisure. I think they’re pretty much covered in that area. So far, I haven’t heard any complaints. In fact, quite the contrary: This is the third semester I’m showing Harold and Maude, and I’ve gotten good feedback each time. On the other hand: Medium Cool? Eh, not so good.

  108. Nicol D says:

    “Maybe “Mrs. Robinson” is not used to sell cell phones because The Graduate is more obscure than Harold and Maude these days?”
    Joe, you’re reaching. Most people have at least heard of The Graduate and will have at least a passing acknowledgment of Simon and Garfunkle doing the music.
    Harold and Maude is a curio for film buffs at best.
    Being a kind and gentle soul I will grant you one chance to recant that statement.
    You know H & M is not more significant than The Graduate. And The Graduate is left wing up the wazoo so you cannot say I am biased.

  109. jeffmcm says:

    Ah, delightful, a dick-swinging contest between Joe and Nicol.
    Nicol, Joe’s right: Harold and Maude is a New Hollywood classic. It’s not a ‘mostly forgotten cult film’. Joe, Nicol’s right: It’s not as major of a film as anything Coppola made that decade, or Altman’s greatest, or Scorsese’s. In other words, no, it’s not one of the ten greatest films of the decade. It might be in the top twenty, though, which ain’t bad.
    Nicol: “You stereotyped me and as a result, you come up ignorant and a facile child.” (sic)
    Joe didn’t do that, Nicol. You did it to yourself. Also, why is it that every post you right sounds verbally constipated? It’s like reading posts written by UnctuousBot 5000.
    And with that, I have inserted myself into somebody else’s argument for today. Back to you.

  110. jeffmcm says:

    ‘Write’, not ‘right’.

  111. Joe Leydon says:

    Actually, Nicol, I wouldn’t be quite so quick to assume most (or even many) college students have heard of The Graduate. Well over a decade ago — long after the advent of home video and cable TV — I read an interviews in which Dustin Hoffman talked about a time when, while addressing a film class (in L.A., if memory serves me correct), he found none of the students had heard of, much less watched, The Graduate. At the time I read this, I was incredulous. (I thought, OK, he’s exaggerating to make a point.) After ten years of teaching at the college level, however, I find the story very easy to believe. Alas.
    Remember: I’m the guy who taught a scriptwriting course in 2005, and found none of my 20 students had heard of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
    Oh, and BTW: I never argued that Harold and Maude is one of the ten best movies of the ’70s, or superior to anything Coppola, Altman or Scorsese made during the decade. I show it to students because it is representative of the era, as much as Taxi Driver (which I have shown in previous semesters), Smokey and the Bandit (ditto) or Dirty Harry (which I added to the line-up this semester). The name of the class is “Social Aspects of Film,” not “Groovy Movies of the ’70s.”

  112. Joe Leydon says:

    Er, I read an INTERVIEW, not INTERVIEWS.

  113. scooterzz says:

    tonight’s winner of the ‘robert donat pompous professor dialog award’ goes to:
    “Despite our differences, I have always respected your knowledge of cinema. Today, you pilfered away that last bit of respect. I never said I objected to Harold and Maude for leftist reasons. You stereotyped me and as a result, you come up ignorant and a facile child.”
    pity it wasn’t in person so you could slap him with a white glove and demonstrate a turn on your heels….

  114. Joe Leydon says:

    Scooterzz: Dammit, I demand a recount!

  115. SJRubinstein says:

    “David Holzman’s Diary.” Nice to see that make a list. Went up to L.M. Kit Carson at SXSW in ’99 and was like, “Man, a bunch of us can’t stop watching the hell out of that film up at Indiana U.” I think I’ve never seen anyone so surprised.
    And I have to step in on the “Harold and Maude” defense. Take away some of the more antic moments that CAN make the movie feel a bit dated and you’ve got just a well-made unconventional love story with a sterling soundtrack. I adore all the Ruth Gordon/Bud Cort scenes in the film and more than anything, like how true the movie feels. The optimism in the idea of the power of human connection that’s unabashedly on display here is really something.
    If anything, I think “Being There” may be a more challenging film by half, but IT is the film buff curio, not “Harold and Maude.”

  116. doug r says:

    If anyone’s still in Canada and still reading this list, may I suggest renting Trailer Park Boys and then going to see TPB2 in a theatre?

  117. That two second shot of Maude’s concentration camp tattoo. Always found that oddly haunting in such a joyful movie.

  118. yancyskancy says:

    Regardless of Ashby’s auteur standing (which seems to me to be going up — there’s a recent bio), it would be absurd to leave him off the schedule of a class devoted primarily to 70s Hollywood cinema. Hardly an “odd choice.”
    Film history is vast and students are young. They’ll be unfamiliar with most anything you program (I was a grad student in film school in the late 80s, and had classmates who had never heard of Katharine Hepburn or Sam Peckinpah, to name just two). All you can do is screen the most representative films you can get for the eras being covered.

  119. Cadavra says:

    Squibs were old hat in the 60s–check out a 1935 Fox thriller called SHOW THEM NO MERCY. They even used them in the river pirates sequence of HOW THE WEST WAS WON.
    Joe, I selected MAD MAD WORLD not only because it’s a tremendous funny picture, but it’s also a virtual living encyclopedia of great comedy talent of the first half of the 20th Century, plus like most great comedies, it’s actually about something (absolute greed corrupts absolutely). But don’t watch it on TCM or DVD–wait for it to turn up at a theatre. It IS a Cinerama film after all, and the size of the screen is crucial to maximum appreciation, especially of the amazing driving and aerial stunt work.

  120. Wrecktum says:

    Mad, Mad World isn’t a real Cinerama movie. It was shot in Ultra Panavision 70mm and distributed using the Cinerama name, though it wasn’t shot in the 3 camera Cinerama process.
    That doesn’t change your point though. Try to see this legendary movie on the big screen. Even if it’s a 35mm version, like was shown at the Egyptian in Hollywood a few years back.

  121. Wrecktum says:

    Actually, see it on the bigscreen AFTER you see it at home. Mad, Mad World is so long and madcap that you’re literally exhausted by the end. It’s almost too much to take on the bigscreen.

  122. leahnz says:

    “Squibs were old hat in the 60s–check out a 1935 Fox thriller called SHOW THEM NO MERCY. They even used them in the river pirates sequence of HOW THE WEST WAS WON”
    not exactly, cadavra. squibs may have been commonly used for explosive effects in film before the fifties, but i did a bit of research last night and to simulate gunshot wounds/blood spatter, several sources quote the film ‘run of the arrow’ in 1957 as the first to simulate gunshot blood spatter on the human body using squibs. one source:
    “Squibs were first used to simulate bullet impacts in the 1957 film Run of the Arrow, where for the first time audiences were presented with a realistic representation of a bullet impacting on an on-camera human being, complete with blood spatter”
    so clearly, squibs used for graphic depiction of gunshot wounds were not ‘old hat in the 60s’
    and just to clarify, i never said squibs were first used in ‘bonnie & clyde’ – they had been used in film before that with limited success – what i said was that ‘b & c’ was the first movie to use blood squibs prolifically and to such graphic effect as make the film a pioneer in the graphic portrayal of film violence. this sentiment re: ‘b & c’ is also backed up several times in my research of blood-spatter squibs

  123. leahnz says:

    and also, when i think squibs i automatically think ‘blood squib’ (not the explosion type) and just assumed everyone else does too, so if i failed to clarify ‘blood squib’ in my comments then my bad

  124. Joe Leydon says:

    I am really surprised by all this Mad Mad Mad Mad World love. You have no idea how many times over the years I’ve heard the title used as a synonym for over-produced, unamusing folly. The Blues Brothers and 1941 are just two of the films to which I’ve seen it compared. Now I really am curious…

  125. Joe Leydon says:

    Of course, the above should read:
    I am really surprised by all this Mad Mad Mad Mad World love. You have no idea how many times over the years I’ve heard the title used as a synonym for over-produced, unamusing folly. The Blues Brothers and 1941 are just two of the films to which I’ve seen it compared. Now I really am curious…

  126. Cadavra says:

    Leah, when I said squibs were “old hat,” I meant that the use of them for simulating gunshot wounds was not new, not that such use was common. Apologies for the ambiguity. And yes, you are absolutely correct that B&C was the first mainstream film where the use of blood squibs called attention to itself.
    Wrecktum, you’re also right that IAMMMMW was shot single-camera, but it was still in the Cinerama aspect ratio of 2.75:1–my point being that even moreso than the average 35mm ‘Scope movie, it would suffer if watched at home.

  127. LexG says:

    KRISTEN BELL was just on FERGUSON and was HOT AS FUCK and CHARMING AS ASS.
    I VHS’d it and will be USING IT shortly, YEP YEP.
    Anyone else stroke to it…. er watch it?

  128. christian says:

    Lex, are you really that bored?

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon