I like Star Wars and Gone With the Wind very much. Star Wars is fast paced and short on boring analysis, yet delivers us all the characters in fine form. The first time I watched Gone With the Wind I was much younger and not a bit sophisticated. I came away feeling as if the characters were people I had always known. I've seen it a few times since, and now I see it for the soap opera it is, but it is still fun. Some people criticise the cultural flaws, but, this is the way many people saw the Civil War when the book and film were produced. You can't change history (of the early middle 20th Century)simply because you do not like it.
One film that makes cringe is "THE GREEN BERETS" it`s awful, I own it on dvd, only because ALDO RAY was in it.
I met him while I was on holiday in the States, and he was a perfect gentleman, realy down to earth, no airs and graces.
I was so sorry when he passed away.
But to return to THE GREEN BERETS, it was a typical John Wayne western set in Vietnam, it`s an insult to the many boys and men from the States who lost their lives fighting there.
Never got into the Marx Brothers or zany comedies like "Bringing Up Baby" or "Arsenic and Old Lace." Love Cary Grant tho. Just not as a goofball.
Wayne's attempt to glorify the war in Vietnam was always one of the embarassments he endured throughout his career. It don't know if he was capable of shame, however.
LW, Was John Wayne actually embarrassed by the film or his position on the war? I'm surprised to hear that.
eoe, I'm not a fan of screwball comedies much. But the Marx Brothers? A whole other thing. I howled at some of their movies.
Not Wayne personally -- he should have been. It is, of course, hindsight that the film looked even more insensitive and mindlessly macho after only a few years. "The
Ballad of the Green Berets." Now, really!
The only thing I liked about the Marx Bros. was Groucho's character names. Rufus T. Firefly and Otis B. Driftwood, to name two. They just crack me up.
I generally like screwball comedies but have to agree with the thumbs down on "Bringing Up Baby". I've only seen it once but it seemed awfully forced and not very funny to me.
It's a farcical comedy and it's been copied so many times (most notably with "What's Up Doc!") that it now is dated. One has to listen to the clever contrivances in the dialogue to really appreciate it. Of course, I do find "What's Up Doc!" a much funnier movie.
I've never wanted to slap someone so much as I wanted to slap Katherine Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby." Like Greyfan, I generally enjoy screwball comedies (and Katherine Hepburn), but that movie just makes me recoil in horror.
I didn't like Bringing Up Baby either. Too irritating to be funny.
Hepburn is supposed to be irritating -- she's playing a ditzy socialite. As I said before, it doesn't hold up now being in black-and-white and copied so many times.
Black and white. That was the best thing about it, IMO. And the gold lame gown. She looked great. Thin as a rail but, Kate wore everything so well.
I know I am not prejudice against films in black-and-white and the film contains classic performances, one of my favorites being Charles Ruggles equally ditzy dad.
The Passion of the Christ-christ it was boring!
Time Bandits and The Life of Brian....absolutely
painful to sit through.
I had to cross a picket line to see The Life of Brian. Made it much more exciting.
"Life of Brian" is one of my favorite films, although the DVD version I have is disappointing; a copy of a bad print of the film, with bad sound and not "digitally remastered".
I have shown it to people who sat stoney-faced throughout, however, so I accept its lack of univeral appeal.
But for me, just thinking about the beard seller at the stoning, or the willingness of the masses to believe in the "miracles" of Brian, or the political debates among the underground action groups, or the insistance of the merchant on haggling, or Pontius Pilate's speech impediment, or his friend Biggus Dickus, or, especially, the sunny crucifixion song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" makes me grin.
Not a bad antidote for Mel Gibson's "Jesus Chainsaw Massacre".
Thanks Greyfan, I needed to hear some positives
from a true fan of the movie. Nevertheless, I found it excruciating> I also couldn't bear the program Black Adder. There is no chance that I will go to the Passion.
You may be surprized to know that I adored Monty Python.
Black Adder was one of my favorite programs. One of the things I liked about it was the screwy little vignetts that occurred in the back ground of scenes. I recall one where the supposed action (crucial plot turning conversation) is taking place in the foreground while in the back ground (in a formal garden) completely unconnected to the story line, someone is being murdered.
