B&C vs the Graduate definitely but I watched In the Heat of the Night for the first time off the back of reading the book and was surprised by how strange it was - the low-key mood, the unusual cinematography and the sudden, unglamorous bursts of violence made it far more radical than I anticipated. I was expecting a straightforward procedural with a soft liberal message and it's not that at all.
If we were voting for the best making-of story, though, Dolittle would walk it. It led me to read The Devil's Candy (about Bonfire of the Vanities) and Picture (not that Red Badge of Courage was out of control but the degree of postproduction meddling was ridiculous). Nurse Detrius, have you read John Griffin Dunne's The Studio? Lots of Harris's Dolittle material comes from there. I wonder if anyone's been able to get that kind of access since The Devil's Candy - I can't imagine this kind of fly-on-the-wall reportage being written now.
― Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 24 April 2009 09:04 (fifteen years ago) link
never saw Doctor Dolittle (is that the original which was later remade with Eddie Murphy?) and Guess Who's Coming to Diner.
but Bonnie vs. Grad. vs. Heat of the Night >> The Graduate (if only for Katherine Ross) :)
― Ludo, Friday, 24 April 2009 09:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Wonderful book. The parts discussing the compromises Poitier was forced to make are heartbreaking.
This is between In the Heat of the Night and B&C for me, the least flawed of a very flawed bunch.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 11:03 (fifteen years ago) link
agree that In the Heat of the Night gets a bum rap... among Steiger and Poitier's best work.
B&C gets the most style points but I'm with Robbie Coltrane's Cracker character in finding its romanticism facile to the point of becoming repellent.
Probably haven't seen Dolittle since I was ten, on TV.
and as we know, after Elaine discovers her mom's affair with Ben, The Graduate just isn't very good.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 24 April 2009 11:29 (fifteen years ago) link
oh and Tracy is just lovely in Guess? and that's about all that lasts.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 24 April 2009 11:31 (fifteen years ago) link
I've only seen the last scene of Guess and I'm thinking it must've been the Brokeback of its day. Hell, you could take everything Spencer Tracy says and presume he's talking to his son and his son's boyfriend.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:50 (fifteen years ago) link
'the studio' is a classic.
think i'd go 'heat of the night' -- haven't seen it in 10 years but it didn't strike me as soft-serve at the time -- or 'graduate'.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:53 (fifteen years ago) link
in terms of datedness, b&c's dollar-book freud takes some beating. on the other hand faye dunaway.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:55 (fifteen years ago) link
The parts discussing the compromises Poitier was forced to make are heartbreaking.
This is the biggest surprise of the book for me. It's no secret I've never been able to appreciate Poitier's role in Hollywood history, but this book finally makes me understand why his performances strike me as limited and frustrating. It's sort of edifying to know that Poitier himself felt so too and the reasons why burned him up inside.
Dolittle put me to sleep when my parents bought a cheap VHS version. It's one of those rare and mythical movies that even my childhood self could just not finish for being so fantastically boring.
Nurse Detrius, have you read John Griffin Dunne's The Studio?
No, but now that's up next, along with Final Cut.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:56 (fifteen years ago) link
The set design in GWCTD looks like it was smuggled from a "Price is Right" set.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:56 (fifteen years ago) link
B&C's dollar-book Freud doesn't seem so bad knowing that the only reason it was there was because they couldn't show Beatty/Dunaway in bed with Pollard like they wanted to.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:57 (fifteen years ago) link
I feel like polling a few other years from Oscar's history that feel somewhat microcosmic about the industry as a whole: both 1969 and 1976 seem like good candidates.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Pauline Kael's review of B&C is better art than the film.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 14:59 (fifteen years ago) link
So is the essay that contains her review of The Graduate, respective to that film.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Polling certain Oscar years would be a lot of fun. I'd add: 1958, 1989, 1994.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:03 (fifteen years ago) link
no doubt bonnie and clyde for me. i can see the criticism of the "facile romanticism" morbs alludes to, but i just loved warren beatty's character so much, and his sexual frustration seemed so devastating when i watched it. and oh, that death scene is one of the best i've ever seen, and really hard to watch
― domma sonner (k3vin k.), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Beatty's impotence is pretty funny, too.
Bonnie: "Don't you never just wanna be alone?"Clyde: (smiling) "I'm hungry. Let's get us some sandwiches."
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:10 (fifteen years ago) link
I've been in a few of those exchanges.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Oscar years that would be no fun to poll and illuminate very little about Hollywood: 1952, 1963, 1983, 2003.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:12 (fifteen years ago) link
I would like to illuminate ILE's film preferences.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:19 (fifteen years ago) link
B&C for sure. Morbz otm about the Graduate
― shit was shocking as fuck back then (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 24 April 2009 15:42 (fifteen years ago) link
In The Heat of the Night
Morbz not OTM the post-Elaine sequences of the Graduate are well worth it just for the gorgeous Berkeley backdrop and Norman Fell.
― Alex in SF, Friday, 24 April 2009 16:57 (fifteen years ago) link
someone once said the last section of the graduate is like "crepey stalker gets the girl" and it made me go hmmm
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 24 April 2009 17:02 (fifteen years ago) link
It's pretty unapologetically exactly that.
― Alex in SF, Friday, 24 April 2009 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
a remake from elaine's POV would be interesting
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 24 April 2009 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
But if you shook Elaine's head you'd hear a rattle.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 April 2009 17:04 (fifteen years ago) link
They'd have to completely change the casting. Katherine Ross couldn't act her way out of paper bag.
― Alex in SF, Friday, 24 April 2009 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link
plus she's 70 years old now, might be a little confusing for the audience
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 24 April 2009 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link
lolz where did you steal this line from
― shit was shocking as fuck back then (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 24 April 2009 17:06 (fifteen years ago) link
dimwitted coed stalked by greasy creepo, no wonder the movie was a hit
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 24 April 2009 17:09 (fifteen years ago) link
my fave scene in The Graduate, however, might be the very last NOW WHAT one on the bus.
I'm glad Eric no longer hates Sidney Poitier.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 24 April 2009 18:06 (fifteen years ago) link
I think I only hated his performances, not necessarily his legacy, and now I'm seeing how the one clouded my judgement of the other.
The best scene/line in The Graduate is "You're missing a great effect here" as the tassels are twirling.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Friday, 24 April 2009 21:46 (fifteen years ago) link
ive always liked the seduction scene and the "art talk"
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 25 April 2009 00:23 (fifteen years ago) link
at MoMA last week, Nichols quoted the MAD Magazine parody where Ben asks his parents, "Why am I Jewish and you're not?"
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 25 April 2009 00:26 (fifteen years ago) link
'in the heat of the night', that movie is really, really dope
― ~*GAME 2 SNYPA*~ (omar little), Saturday, 25 April 2009 00:27 (fifteen years ago) link
except the murder mystery stinks
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 25 April 2009 00:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Eric, i should con you into viewing Guess once (for the ice cream scene at least) by reminding you that Isabel Sanford plays their maid.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 25 April 2009 01:20 (fifteen years ago) link
the Graduate is the better film, but I enjoy Bonnie & Clyde more. GWCTD is no slouch, either, obv. I guess it is appropriate that '67 would be a year for zeitgeist films to be up for the top honors. I haven't seen the other two.
― SORCEROUSES..roll on stage! (Pillbox), Saturday, 25 April 2009 02:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Doctor Doolittle is clearly the one thing that is not like the other on that list.
― Alex in SF, Saturday, 25 April 2009 02:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Point Blank smashes all of these.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 25 April 2009 02:46 (fifteen years ago) link
that's why i voted for it. it's not hard to love bonnie and clyde, but i think the graduate was smarter about where things were going. no blaze of glory, just a lot of wtf.
plus -- anne bancroft.
http://www.vanityfair.com/images/culture/2008/03/cuar01_graduate0803.jpg
― would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 25 April 2009 05:14 (fifteen years ago) link
Here's where I say I'm definitely more in B&C's camp than Benjamin's.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Saturday, 25 April 2009 05:20 (fifteen years ago) link
It won't take much to con me into seeing any of these five films in the immediate aftermath of reading this book.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Saturday, 25 April 2009 05:21 (fifteen years ago) link
I know it's the boring old anti-challops, but the scuba-diving gear scene in TG is fucking awesome. I'm still voting B&C tho.
― SORCEROUSES..roll on stage! (Pillbox), Saturday, 25 April 2009 06:03 (fifteen years ago) link
E, you're going to subject yourself to Anthony Newley?
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 25 April 2009 07:46 (fifteen years ago) link
'Tom Servo if you don't stop doing your Anthony Newley impression I'm gonna throw you against the wall...'
― Batsman (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 25 April 2009 10:55 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm definitely more in B&C's camp than Benjamin's
benjamin probably feels the same way.
― would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 25 April 2009 13:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Not only would I subject myself to Newley, I'd even subject myself to Rex Harrison.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Saturday, 25 April 2009 18:54 (fifteen years ago) link
I can't not vote for Beatty/Hackman in the end.
― Easy Hippo Rider (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 25 April 2009 19:14 (fifteen years ago) link
Just want to add to the "goddamn is this a great book" chorus. (I voted B&C.)
― Matos W.K., Saturday, 25 April 2009 20:05 (fifteen years ago) link
LOL!
― Mr. Que, Monday, 28 September 2009 21:51 (fifteen 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 (fifteen 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 (fifteen 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 (fifteen 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 (fifteen years ago) link
However, it failed to inspire me to rent Dr Doolittle.
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 (fifteen 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 (fifteen 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 (fifteen 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (five years ago) link
otm
― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 17 September 2019 22:33 (five 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