Classic/Non-Recent Movie Thread

[Doc Holliday]

In addition to being anti-racist, the film has a famous anti-sexism scene in which Elizabeth Taylor is shooed away from a conversation among the men about politics. Taylor proceeds to give the men a piece of her mind. I thought this was her best scene in the whole movie.

Indeed, it was quite a scene & she made the men feel very awkward. As she headed towards her bedroom as ordered by the Hudson character, she mocked them into making them feel like a parent who was scolding its child and telling the child to go to bed.

Elizabeth Taylor's character was the only truly likeable character in that movie. Her devotion was the Mexican immigrants' cause was noteworthy. She's the only one who noticed immediately that they were being treated (and looked up) as nothing more than cattle. The Mercedes McCambridge character, who played Rock Hudson's sister, was a mean old nasty bitch! She caused her own demise by torturing that poor horse (loved by the Elizabeth Taylor character) on her way back from the cattle run as she kept violently striking it with her spurs until the horse likely threw her off of him.

The Rock Hudson character's likeability was up and down. There were times where he could be charming, but other times when he could be nasty and ignorant. A key scene came at the end of the movie when the Elizabeth Taylor character told him that he had finally gained her respect (and love) after his fight with a racist restaurant owner. That scene indicated his turnaround from bigot/racist into a compassionate person. Of course, this never would have happened had his son (Dennis Hopper) not married a Mexican girl earlier on.

The dvd that i watched was the anniversary restoration/re-issue from 2007 which contained two discs, the second being a bonus disc containing behind-the-scenes stuff and interviews with the director's son and some of the secondary cast members such as Caroll Baker and Earl Holliman. Baker and another woman interviewed were very interesting to listen to. James Dean wasn't just a loner in life, but also on the set. He rarely hung around or mingled with others, other than getting very close to Elizabeth Taylor and one of the women interviewed (she may have played Dennis Hopper's wife in the movie). Rock Hudson seemed like a great guy, always having fun, holding parties for the fellow cast members and truly enjoying himself throughout filming.

But let's be real: How good or memorable would this movie have been had James Dean not killed himself in a car accident weeks before production ended?

 

[Tigers' WOOD!]

Hunt for Red October

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsC2ETsZL0g

 

[Tigers' WOOD!]

The Dirty Dozen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0weydVs3t2Y

 

[EagerBeaver]

Manchurian Candidate (1962)

This 1962 film directed by John Frankenheimer, who 4 years later directed the classic Grand Prix, is a classic Cold War era film. It is about a group of American soldiers who, during the Korean War, are captured and then brainwashed by Chinese and Russian agents. The soldiers are then released back to American custody with a bogus story planted in them that one engaged in acts of incredible valor, resulting in the awarding to that soldier of the Congressional Medal of Honor. This is all in furtherance of a plot to advance a communist agenda on American soil.

Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury and Janet Leigh are part of an outstanding cast. I recommend this film as very original and it remains somewhat politically neutral as neither the communists nor the anti-communists are sympathetically viewed.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I first saw "The Manchurian Candidate" when it was first released on video back in the 1988. There are several stories on why this movie, which came out in movie theatres right in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis, was never heard from since it's initial release until the late 80's.

One rumour is that the movie was pulled immediately following the JFK assassination. The rumour was denied decades later & the reason given was that it no longer held the interest of the public by the end of 1963.

About 15 years ago, i was reading one of Larry King's autobiography & he began to talk about Frank Sinatra. When trying to explain what a big deal Frank Sinatra was & that he lived in a world different than ours, he recalled one evening in the mid-80's when Sinatra was a guest on his show and the discussion turned to the movie "The Manchurian Candidate". King wondered why this movie seemed to have totally disappeared since it's release & why it wasn't even shown on tv. There was a discussion about the JFK assassination possibly being a reason for this, but since it was now well over 20 years since the assassination, why wasn't it out either on tv or on video?

Sinatra agreed that the movie was a very good one & had no idea why it seemed to have totally disappeared from the map. He was dumbfounded.

It just happened that one of Sinatra's people was watching (or listening) the episode that night & shortly after, he contacted Sinatra. He informed Sinatra that he had owned the rights to the movie's distribution since 1972 and that's why it had never been released on video. If i remember correctly, part of Sinatra's contract with the studio at the time he agreed to appear in the movie was that he would eventually gain the movie's distribution rights. In other words, he practically owned the movie.

Sinatra wasn't even aware of this & when informed about it, he gave the go ahead for the movie to be released on video, and later on dvd.

A few years ago, there was a remake of "The Manchurian Candidate", which starred Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber. The storyline was updated to today's standards & it turned out to be a very well-made movie.

By the way, in the original movie, Angela Landsbury played the role of actor Lawrence Harvey's mother. In real life, she was only 3 years older than him. Slight miscasting on the part of the director?

Frank Sinatra was great in that movie, as he's been in whichever movie he's been in, from "Von Ryan's Express" to "From Here To Eternity" to "The Man With The Golden Arm" to "The Detective", among many other movies. Not only was Sinatra one of the greatest singers of all time, but he was also an extremely good actor, having won a best supporting Oscar for "From Here to Eternity" and nominated for an Oscar as best actor in "The Man With The Golden Arm."

 

[EagerBeaver]

It's been a while since I updated this thread but I have seen some more classics lately:

Faces (1968) - This is an unusual, avante-garde American film directed by John Cassavettes. It was shot mostly in his own house in LA on a very low budget, but using some good actors including his wife Gena Rowlands. The movie analyzes the breakdown of a marriage. The characters in the movie are extremely disillusioned with their lives and their relationships, and this is played out in a succession of scenes over the course of one night after the main character informs his wife he wants a divorce. This is not a film for all tastes; it is an arthouse-type film.

Repulsion (1965) This is the 1st movie of Roman Polanski's so called "apartment trology", 3 horror films shot in apartments. The setting for the first movie is a London apartment. Catherine Deneuve, who delivers an outstanding performance, plays a woman who slowly descends into insanity. She is repulsed by men, and the repulsion grows as the movie goes on. Really well done - recommended.

City of God (2002) Excellent Brazilian film about a gang of young thugs, and the kid who rejects their lifestyle in favor of photography. This is rated one of the top 10 foreign films of all time. Recommended.

81/2 (1963) This movie is considered a classic by Federico Fellini and stars Marcello Mastrioianni, Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimee. I would also consider this one very avant-garde and not for all tastes. It's a bit slow and arty. Claudia Cardinale in this movie is way beyond gorgeous; she was the most beautiful actress in the world at that time.

Slaughterhouse Five (1971) This science fiction movie based on Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel is about a US Army POW in World War II who becomes "unstuck in time" and lives his life in a non linear order, so that he is eternally jumping from the future to the present to the past and knows exactly how his life will play out and how he will die. Sort of like Groundhog Day before its time, but applied to a whole life rather than one day. It's a good adaptation of the book; Vonnegut reportedly loved the movie.

Battle of the Bulge (1965) It is mostly historically accurate except for the battle scenes which were fought in much worse weather than depicted in the movie. It's basically the story of how the World War II battle unfolded with both the American and German commanders extremely overconfident in their respective strategies. The film somewhat accurately depicts the execution of American POWs at Malmedy and the fallout that resulted. The film does not depict the American retaliation for what happened at Malmedy, although I know about it from my great uncle who was part of the retaliatory force.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The Taking of Pelham 123 -1974 Original Version

I saw about the first half hour of this movie on cable last week, but I was sort of half watching it, while working on the computer. From the dialogue I could hear, I could not decide whether the movie was a crime drama or a comedy, and I could not decide whether to take Walter Matthau seriously as a New York City Transit Police Officer. I ultimately shut the movie off.

Saturday night I attended a party thrown by a friend who managed a movie theater for 25 years and is a 1970s film buff. He told me it is a great movie, with a great ending, and I would change my opinion on Matthau's believeability as NYC transit cop if I watched the whole movie. His comment to me was, "watch the final frame of the movie and tell me if you still think he is not credible as a NYC cop." He also said it was superior to the 2 remakes in 1998 and 2009. So I rented it on Netflix. Here is the original classic trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep518FVHKIU

The plot of this movie is seemingly implausible: 4 men hijack a NYC subway and hold the occupants hostage for $1 million ransom, between the 28th and 23rd street stations, in a subway car they disable. It seems that they have no chance to pull this off in a tunnel, underground and surrounded by cops. However, as the movie develops, the kidnapping and ransoming of these subway riders does seem plausible and the hijackers come very close to pulling it off.

The movie is very unusual in that it contains a lot of humor, both intentional and unintentional, and most of the humor is in the form of sexist and racist comments which you would never hear in any movie coming out of Hollywood in 2014. Among other things, Walter Matthau during the movie calls a group of Tokyo subway authority executives "monkeys", thinking they do not understand English, he tells his second in command (played by Jerry Stiller) That the lead bad guy played by Robert Shaw has a "heavy English accent.............he could be a fruitcake"......and on and on in that same vein.

The movie is properly characterized as a comedy-crime drama, and it does have a very interesting ending. Walter Matthau builds credibility as NYC Transit Cop as the movie goes along and by the final scene/frame of the movie he has you completely convinced, even though he best known as a comic actor and initially seems miscast in this part. I definitely recommend the movie.

A final note is that many of the scenes in the movie are filmed at the 28th and 23rd Street stations, stations I am very familiar with, and they look the same now as they did in the movie which was released in 1974, 40 years ago.

 

[joelcairo]

If you like Matthau in crime movies, check out "Charley Varrick" and "The Laughing Policeman".

 

[EagerBeaver]

Notorious 1946

This espionage thriller starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, and directed by Alfred Hitchock, is a fantastic film. Bergman delivers an amazing performance as Alicia Huberman, an American spy who infiltrates a gang of exiled Nazis living in post-World War II Brazil. Cary Grant plays the Supervisory Agent who recruits and handles Alicia, and falls in love with her. The film builds very suspensefully to an exciting, thrilling ending.

Claude Rains has a supporting role as the rich German nazi sympathizer who is apparently funding the Nazi shenanigans. Bergman successfully seduces him, moves in with him, and collects significant intelligence for the USA. But will she be discovered?????????????? You have to watch the film to find out what happens.

 

[BookerL]

Hi all
I have recently reviewed
T2,T3 and Terminator Salvation
After many years .
Did find the action some what intense considering limited technology they had in that period, was good to see Arnold in one of his success movies !:thumb:
Regards all
BookerL

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Checking Netflix last night and Cape Fear ( 1991 ) is now available, many A list actors / actresses in this movie. very good.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Checking Netflix last night and Cape Fear ( 1991 ) is now available, many A list actors / actresses in this movie. very good.

It was a very good movie. But i still prefer the original b & w version with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck.

 

[Zumba]

Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Paul Newman
George Kennedy
Dennis Hopper
Harry Dean Stanton

 

[EagerBeaver]

It was a very good movie. But i still prefer the original b & w version with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck.

Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck also appeared in the remake in 1991, but I lean towards the raw intensity of the original as well. STN probably will likely enjoy the less intense and more relaxed remake.

The plot details of the remake differs substantially from the original, even though basic story and the characters are all the same.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Alice's Restaurant (1969)

This movie made in 1968 is perhaps the epitome of the counterculture films of the 1960s. particularly in light of the much discussed symbolism of the ending of the film. I rented it for Thanksgiving weekend for the reason that the Arlo Guthrie song that inspired the movie is a Thanksgiving classic in the United States, played on almost every radio station annually on the holiday. The film depicts real life events which occurred involving Arlo Guthrie and a friend on Thanksgiving in 1965 in western Massachussetts, events which inspired both the song and the film.

The movie is very much now a 1960s time capsule film, but it's worth a look to get the historical perspective of how 1960s counterculture influenced filmmaking at the time.

The real life small town police chief who arrested Guthrie and his friend plays himself in the movie and is fairly good at playing himself. He later commented that he accepted the part because he "would rather have myself play a role that makes me look like a fool, than leave the job to someone else."

 

[A12B]

Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman)
Murder in the first movie (Kevin Bacon, Christian Slater)
A time to kill (Samuel Jackson, Matthew McConaughey)

I can watch these many times over and over.

 

[K Douglas]

The Deerhunter - 1978

starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza (who starred with Michael Douglas as the two cops who were investigating Sharon Stone in the thriller Basic Instinct)

George Dzundza also appeared on the first season of Law & Order, probably in my top 3 TV shows ever. Also appeared in one of my fav movies No Way Out. He deserved more starring roles because he's a solid actor. I'm sure his being overweight didn't help.
The Deer Hunter is no doubt a classic but I do find it tends to drag on at times.

 

[K Douglas]

Really funny comedy directed by Blake Edward starring Peter Seller as a naive Indian actor who's wrongfully invited at a huge party in a Hollywood mansion.

Easily one of the best comedies in the history of film. Peter Sellers is nothing short of brilliant. In my opinion he deserved an AA nomination for this performance. Unfortunately it was really tough competition in 1968. No way a movie like this would ever fly today

 

[Doc Holliday]

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

"What we've got here is failure to communicate."

Great movie! Possibly Paul Newman's best! :thumb:

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Deer Hunter is no doubt a classic but I do find it tends to drag on at times.

I agree. Especially the first half hour or so of the movie. Michael Cimino's films were often criticized of being that way. His style didn't help his career blossom. Take for example the controversial "Heaven's Gate", which was his next movie. It was way too long and dragged on forever. It was re-edited and re-released more than once. It was one of the all-time box office disasters and wound up killing a studio.