"That was a three-piss picture!"
― I Love Beatles Polls New Answers (Myonga Vön Bontee), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I read this earlier this month -- in about a week, which is quick for me. Hard to put down.
― katherine helmand province (jaymc), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:50 (fourteen years ago) link
However, it failed to inspire me to rent Dr Doolittle.
― Little starbursts of joy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:50 (fourteen years ago) link
LOL!
― Mr. Que, Monday, 28 September 2009 21:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes, when it comes down to it, this was the most compulsively entertaining read on moviemaking I think I've ever cracked.― boring movies are the most boring (Eric H.), Monday, September 28, 2009
OTM. I re-read Easy Riders, Raging Bulls afterward and it was clearly the lesser book.
― if I don't see more dissent, I'm going to have to check myself in (Matos W.K.), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:51 (fourteen years ago) link
While acknowledging the impact of Bonnie and Clyde, etc, PAAR is less in love with the era's mythos than Easy Riders is about his.
― Little starbursts of joy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Yep. The scale of it helps, too: the time frame is narrower and that helps keep things focused. But Harris is just a better writer, flat out.
― if I don't see more dissent, I'm going to have to check myself in (Matos W.K.), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Harris' empathy helps too. Who comes closest to receiving Biskind's pity in Easy Riders -- Hal Ashby? Bob Evans?
― Little starbursts of joy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 28 September 2009 21:57 (fourteen years ago) link
I actually made a project out of it and watched all five movies before reading the book. (Only one I had seen before was The Graduate.) Liked Bonnie and Clyde, In the Heat of the Night, and The Graduate to varying degrees. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was terrible but fascinating as a historical artifact, while Dr. Dolittle was just a slog. Not even the sight of Rex Harrison serenading a seal in a bonnet was worth it, though it was on Netflix On Demand, so at least I didn't have to spend any money on it.
― katherine helmand province (jaymc), Monday, 28 September 2009 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Rex was ill-equipped to be a movie star after a career as a Shavian stage comedian.
― A Patch on Blazing Saddles (Dr Morbius), Monday, 28 September 2009 22:13 (fourteen years ago) link
The only role in which he's at all bearable is as the composer in Unfaithfully Yours.
― Little starbursts of joy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 28 September 2009 22:28 (fourteen years ago) link
no, he's good in Major Barbara, Cleopatra, and even that ossified film version of MFLady.
― A Patch on Blazing Saddles (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 01:40 (fourteen years ago) link
(I am still kicking myself for not seeing him in Shaw's Heartbreak House on Broadway in the early '80s.)
― A Patch on Blazing Saddles (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
This book really holds up.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 March 2011 01:57 (thirteen years ago) link
OK this book obviously hit me a bit harder than I imagined. I had a dream last night in which I won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1967!
lol so much @ this
― johnny crunch, Sunday, 12 February 2012 02:50 (twelve years ago) link
i watched guess who's coming to dinner for the 1st time -- it's not bad. tracy is great & its fun imo to watch almost every character pair off and have their own lil convo abt whats goin on, etc
― johnny crunch, Sunday, 12 February 2012 02:56 (twelve years ago) link
graduate > b&c btw
― johnny crunch, Sunday, 12 February 2012 02:57 (twelve years ago) link
I should poll Hepburn's Oscar-nominated performances.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 12 February 2012 03:00 (twelve years ago) link
I've watched Bonnie & Clyde every few years over three-plus decades--from an initial "Huh?", it gets better every time I go back to it, and Harris's book helped that along a little more. But I still would have voted for The Graduate, which is part of my movie-going DNA.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 February 2012 03:05 (twelve years ago) link
the whole 1960s was a horrid decade for mainstream american movies. but 1965–68 were probably the worst years of all. maybe the nadir of the commercial american cinema (the early '90s, excepting some shining indie films, were pretty bad too).
excepting experimental films (which is hard, because warhol, baillie, brakhage etc. were on fire this year), i guess these are my favorite films of 1967 in roughly descending order...
Point BlankDavid Holzman's DiaryTwo for the RoadBonnie and ClydePortrait of JasonIn the Heat of the NightIn Cold BloodThe Fearless Vampire KillersThe St. Valentine's Day MassacreCool Hand LukeHow to Succeed in Business without Really TryingThe Legend of Lylah Clare
most of these are pretty flawed films, but all have something to recommend them.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Sunday, 12 February 2012 13:57 (twelve years ago) link
i left off hellman's 'the shooting' because it wasn't released until a few years later. if it counts, put it after portrait of jason.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Sunday, 12 February 2012 14:03 (twelve years ago) link
i should have said those are my favorite AMERICAN films.
also dr. doolittle really is an atrocity.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Sunday, 12 February 2012 14:05 (twelve years ago) link
I couldn't finish rewatching Two For the Road a few months ago.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 12 February 2012 14:07 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, that's a pretty good list but I didn't like Two for the Road either.
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 12 February 2012 14:23 (twelve years ago) link
Stanley Donen also did Bedazzled that year, which is nominally British but was produced by Donen and Fox; whatever it is, it's not much more British than 2ftR.
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 12 February 2012 14:29 (twelve years ago) link
Who's That Knocking at My Door was technically '67, although just a film festival screening. That'd be on my list, probably Titicut Follies, too, even though Wiseman got much better. It was a dire year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1967
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 February 2012 16:16 (twelve years ago) link
the dirty dozen was much better than any of the Oscar-nominated American films from this year, IMHO.
― it might look subversive, but it's actually crap ... crap does exist (Eisbaer), Sunday, 12 February 2012 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
(tho' i do like in the heat of the night, the graduate and bonnie & clyde well enough)
― it might look subversive, but it's actually crap ... crap does exist (Eisbaer), Sunday, 12 February 2012 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
i love reflections in a golden eye more than any of these films with the exception of Point Blank
― mehkarl (buzza), Sunday, 12 February 2012 22:06 (twelve years ago) link
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Sunday, February 12, 2012 8:29 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
that's true, but like you said somehow bedazzled is considered a UK film b/c of financing.
in honesty i haven't seen 24tR in a few years. i remember being very impressed by it -- thinking its resnais-inspired scrambled timeline and elliptical editing was both virtuosic and put to good purpose. but i may just have come in w/ low expectations.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 13 February 2012 05:51 (twelve years ago) link
as a sort of supplement to his book, Mark Harris has a biweekly Film Comment column on '67 in film
Blowup (Dec '66) first up
http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/cinema-67-revisited-blow/
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 19 January 2017 18:37 (seven years ago) link
Harris on Preminger and Ritt's topical race movies
https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/cinema-67-revisited-hurry-sundown-hombre/
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:31 (seven years ago) link
thought you were gonna post that terrible Beatty-Kael piece
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:37 (seven years ago) link
rong year, silly
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:42 (seven years ago) link
Not really -- B&C is a linchpin of the essay.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 March 2017 22:08 (seven years ago) link
I think the Netflix series of Five Came Back is released tomorrow.
― Gukbe, Thursday, 30 March 2017 23:16 (seven years ago) link
the 4K Criterion of The Graduate on Blu Ray is a thing of absolute beauty. not having seen it for a good 10-15 years or so i'd not thought of it as an especially good looking film, nor particularly well photographed. couldn't have been more wrong.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 23 August 2017 01:16 (six years ago) link
Some of it is (intentionally) grotesque--the first party scene, the wedding--but I agree that there's soft-focus stuff that's beautiful: Elaine leaving for Berkeley, the zoo, the "April Come She Will" sequence.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 23 August 2017 04:11 (six years ago) link
'67 best-ofs, including Mama Cass's
http://lwlies.com/articles/best-film-lists-of-1967/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 26 December 2017 13:09 (six years ago) link
I threw together my best-of for L'boxd; Weekend came closer to making it than any of the Oscar nominees.
1. PlayTime 2. Point Blank 3. Belle de Jour 4. Mouchette 5. Le Samouraï 6. The Red and the White 7. David Holzman’s Diary 8. Titicut Follies 9. Bedazzled 10. Wavelength 11. The President’s Analyst 12. The Two of Us
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 January 2018 20:59 (six years ago) link
I had BDJ and Weekendp on my '68 list:
Playtime (Jacques Tati)La Chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard)Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville)Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn)Point Blank (John Boorman)Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki)Reflections in a Golden Eye (John Huston)La Collectionneuse (Eric Rohmer, France)Mouchette (Robert Bresson)Love Affair; Or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (Dusan Makavejev)
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 January 2018 21:19 (six years ago) link
Reflections is close for me, Brando possible best actor (if not Marvin or Tati)
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 January 2018 21:26 (six years ago) link
doctor doolittle is *the worst*, yet it contains cinema's greatest minute pic.twitter.com/nZRgY3Db9b— Neely O'Horror (@_katiestebbins_) September 17, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 September 2019 21:33 (four years ago) link
otm
― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 17 September 2019 22:33 (four years ago) link
have we rethought these?
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 03:05 (two years ago) link
I don’t think I was here for the first round, but those numbers look about right to me (still have never seen GWCtD, though).
― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 03:21 (two years ago) link
The vote distribution almost perfectly parallels how the book views the films, I'd say--#2 and #4 could maybe add a couple of more votes each. Still think '75 would make a great sequel: two popular critical successes (Dog Day and winner Cuckoo's Nest), two sprawling auteur films (Nashville and Barry Lyndon--great ones, before the debacles that mark the turn of the decade), and, pointing the way to the future (and a greater film than almost all the massive box-office fare that follows), Jaws.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 18 January 2022 04:29 (two years ago) link