Why do some movies fade into the mist of time?

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We all remember the great movies, e.g. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, The Bicycle Thief, Touch of Evil, etc, etc.

Why have these movies stood the test of time?

Was it the acting? The directing? Cinematography?

Or a combination of the three? Or other reasons?

I ask this question for a reason. I was looking over my film library and came across a Fred Williamson classic which I haven't watched for awhile. I blew the dust off the cover and extracted the tape. I put the tape into the VCR and settled back to enjoy the show.

But, before the movie started, during the time where they show the previews for other movies, I glanced at the movie jacket again.

Picking it up, I examined it carefully. "How many people know about this movie?", I wondered. "Why hasn't this film ever been discussed on A2K? Is Lightwizard familiar with this movie?"

I got up and pushed the "stop" button. There were too many troubling questions bouncing around in my mind.

So, here I am, back at A2K.... seeking answers.

Who here has seen this film? And, if so, would you give me your opinion on the film and explain why it has never appeared on the top 100 films of all time list.

I anxiously await your answers....

http://www.eclecticconnection.com/Posters/boss%20nigger.jpg

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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 1,137 • Replies: 17

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In this case, I think the concept was the problem maybe, Gus?

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Fred "The Hammer' once appeared in a cult tV series episode. What was it?

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Good Grief. You would find the worst of the absolute worst, wouldn't ya? Rolling Eyes

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Farmerman, wasn't he in a Star Trek episode in the 60s?

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He played 'Spearchucker' Jones in "Mash", the movie. Amongst other things.

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After excelling in football and track Northwestern University, African-American film star Fred Williamson was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. He later played for Pittsburgh, Oakland and Kansas City, bringing attention to himself in the latter city by wearing a custom-tailored uniform and white shoes, and developing a karate-based offensive move which he called "The Hammer." In 1969, Williamson moved into acting, playing important roles in the original M*A*S*H (1970) and Otto Preminger's Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970); he also appeared in the recurring part of Diahann Carroll's macho boyfriend on the TV series Julia (1969-71). One of Hollywood's major black stars of the 1970s, Fred Williamson starred in such actioners as The Legend of Nigger Charley (1972), Hell Up in Harlem (1973), Take a Hard Ride (1975) and The Bronx Warriors (1983); in addition, Williamson produced, directed and wrote many of his vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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gus- A person of your advanced age ought to have remembered this. In the 70s, there was a spate of "blaxsploitation movies". In these movies, producers and directors attempted to take the worst of white movie genres, and adapt it to black actors, to attract black audiences.

Gratefully, this trend died a welcome death.

There WERE some good flicks that came out of the blaxsploitation trend, this being one of the best:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067741/

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The term was also used in the original "Show Boat" but only by the black characters and reinstated in a revival version on CD (not sure if any of the stage revivals have used the original lyric or text). Especially with VHS and DVD, many films have become cult classics and not forgotten. Somehow I think gus has his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek. Don't bite down.

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Shaft was very popular and is not forgotten. Some of the black westerns of that time, such as Buck and the Preacher, seemed to be saying, "That's what I should have done in the face of 19th Century bigotry."

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Shaft is far from forgotten. It was on one of the cable channels just a couple of months ago.

Buck and the Preacher, with Sidney Poitier and Harry Bellafonte, is one of my all-time favorite Westerns. It's not really all that far-fetched. Some of the top cowboys in the 1870s-1880s West were black.

As for Gus's opus having been forgotten -- well, I think there's probably a conspiracy afoot to keep first-rate cinema from the masses.

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Merry Andrew wrote:

As for Gus's opus having been forgotten -- well, I think there's probably a conspiracy afoot to keep first-rate cinema from the masses.

I have this nagging feeling that John Ashcroft is behind this.

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Gus, I wouldn't put anything past Ashcroft.

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I don't believe gus was fishing for films starring black actors which have become classics or hit movies that still show up often on cable and at the video rental store. Sydney Poiter's career belies that as well as Will Smith's. Smith was in one of my favorite movies of the last two decades "Six Degrees of Seperation." Denzel Washington's career is exemplary.

I also wouldn't put anything past Ashcroft -- if he were ever convicted of anything wrong, I'd sentence him to twenty years of watching Blacksploitation movies.

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Now that's cruel and unusual punishment!

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He could also be sentenced to watching every film that shows boobies.

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http://www.vidxpress.com/media/spinners_1_vhs_tn.jpg

Do you mean like this-

I just learned how to post an image :-)

So I'm practicing, by.

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I think bare ones would be more disturbing to Mr. Ashcroft. He could also be forced to dance with a man -- that would be apt punishment (twofold).

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Why do some movies fade into the mist of time?

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