Can You Still Do the Thing with Your Eyes? The Phil Kaufman Poll

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He doesn't even have a thread, much less a poll. Watching Rising Sun right now--comfort junk viewing, it won't win. Thought it would make for a good poll because there are three legitimate possibilities to take first. A favourite of Pauline Kael--one of the three contenders was one of her last rapturously epic reviews. His last theatrical film was almost 15 years ago.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 7
The Right Stuff (1983) 6
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) 4
Quills (2000) 2
Twisted (2004) 1
Henry & June (1990) 1
Fearless Frank (1967) 0
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972) 0
The White Dawn (1974) 0
The Wanderers (1979) 0
Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012--TV movie) 0
Rising Sun (1993) 0
Goldstein (1964) 0


clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2018 03:10 (six years ago) link

The Right Stuff, for sure. saw it when i was eight in the theater and even at that age i was transfixed for the whole 190+ minutes.

omar little, Wednesday, 21 February 2018 03:14 (six years ago) link

it's a movie that is great enough to put him in the directors HOF for me. obv he was responsible for several other classics too but that one is a movie i could watch at any time.

omar little, Wednesday, 21 February 2018 03:15 (six years ago) link

I think that'll win, yeah, and, as I posted recently, it's a great film. My own vote will go to Body Snatchers, though. Wish I could get a nice clip of the scene where I got the title, but of the two on YouTube, one is a doctored joke, and the volume on the other is too low.

clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2018 03:18 (six years ago) link

great poll idea! I uh somehow haven't seen any of these

Simon H., Wednesday, 21 February 2018 03:18 (six years ago) link

Haven't seen it since it was released, but I suspect the sexual politics of The Unbearable Lightness of Being may have dated quite badly.

His Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake is a good fun satire of faddish consumerism, but it's not actually as scary or intense as the 50s original.

Voted for The Right Stuff of course, maybe the last great Western.

Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 21 February 2018 11:09 (six years ago) link

I saw The Unbearable Lightness of Being when it came out but not since. It didn't do much for me, but I'm going to try to watch it again. I think I'd be more receptive to it today--my knowledge of 1968 at the time was pretty much limited to what went on in the States. Never went back to Henry & June, either.

I like the original Body Snatchers fine, and the political context of Siegel's film is more urgent, but just as a horror film, I find Kaufman's more intense--especially, of course, the final shot.

clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2018 12:46 (six years ago) link

Being is a terrific novel that didn't have to be a film, but it's good.

Only seen 5 of his features (the '78-90 run), and of those, Snatchers. Or did i see Northfield Minnesota too? Don't remember.

ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 21 February 2018 12:59 (six years ago) link

Rising Sun is such a mess. I liked a few moments--best was Wesley Snipes when the corporate creep beckoned him to park his car: "Wrong fuckin' guy, wrong fuckin' century." Connery seemed to waver back and forth between sly self-parody and plain bad acting; wasn't sure which sometimes. Couldn't follow the plot points around the murder, or just gave up trying.

clemenza, Saturday, 24 February 2018 16:19 (six years ago) link

Hemingway & Gellhorn is a fucking TERRIBLE movie. I switched it off 3/4 of the way through.

I voted Henry and June.

akm, Sunday, 25 February 2018 01:27 (six years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Tuesday, 27 February 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link

Body Snatchers and The Right Stuff are contenders, but I watched The Unbearable Lightness of Being again last year and didn't cringe from the sexual politics -- a surprise. More epics should be this insouciant.

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 00:02 (six years ago) link

I've only seen Rising Sun and Quills, so I def need to see more by this guy (likely starting with IotBS and TRS).

Is Unbearable Lightness one of those where I should bother to read the book first?

Dangleballs and the Ballerina (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 02:52 (six years ago) link

I read the book first; it matters in this case insofar as the text has an intrusive narrator in the manner of an 18th century novel yet the thing remains insouciant.

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 03:08 (six years ago) link

Rising Sun is complete crap. How on earth you could fuck up a Crichton vehicle in 1993 is beyond me, but it's painfully terrible.

Voted The Right Stuff.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 06:26 (six years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link

Surprised. Thought The Right Stuff would win going away, and didn't think anything other than the top three would get votes.

clemenza, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 00:45 (six years ago) link

i can't remember a thnk about unbearable lightness, either the film or the book, and I read it and saw the movie at least twice. I remember a bowler hat.

akm, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 02:43 (six years ago) link


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