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Sun 2 Feb, 2003 03:22 am
Double features of movies, perhaps from different eras, but with something in common whether serious or funny.
My favorite example is Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang's silent classic, and The Hudsucker Proxy, one of my favorites from a few years ago, both dark and moody and beautiful to look at.
Another favorite pairing is Casablanca and Play It Again, Sam, the early Woody Allen homage to Bogart and Casablanca.
84 Charing Cross Road and The Efficiency Expert, because they are two quiet Anthony Hopkins performances as anti-Hannibal as you can get, and very enjoyable little movies - 84 about a New York writer's (Anne Bancroft) 20 year correspondence with a London bookseller (Hopkins), Expert about Hopkins stodgy by-the-book consultant sent to a quirky business in a quirky town to cut out the deadwood.
And perhaps my two favorite musical documentaries, The Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, and Jazz on a Summers Day, the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Both are a joy to watch and listen to. I think they are both inspiring because I am a musical nincompoop and to see people with such talent producing such great music and having fun as well is an inspiration. I'll never forget David Lynch walking out alone onto that empty stage at the beginning of Sense, or the duet in Jazz of Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden, and one particularly inspiring song by Mahalia Jackson.
How about some of your own double features?
"'Round Midnight" and "Bird"
"Blade Runner" and "Minority Report"
"All That Heaven Allows" and "Far from Heaven"
"The Day of the Locust" and "The Last Tycoon"
"Rififi" and "The Killing" (or the recent "Heist")
Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill.
Thanks lightwizard. I hate to admit it, but I still haven't seen Minority Report yet. Am keeping an eye out for All That Heaven Allows, and I've never seen Rififi.
Three more favorites, The Conversation and Enemy of the State, where Gene Hackman's Conversation character returns, more or less. Apparently, after tearing up his apartment at the end of Conversation, he found some new digs.
Gunga Din and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Surprised to see the parallels between these movies, the similar villains, after watching Gunga Din again recently.
The Godfather and The Freshman, the most obvious choice of all. If you are a Godfather fan and haven't seen Freshman, do so. Its hilarious.
I've always suspected that the similarities of "Temple" and "Gunga Din" are more conscious than unconscious.
Hackman didn't just find some new digs but a lot of new technology! Makes the technology in "The Conversation" look like a hand-me-down from some caveman.
"Rififi" is the germ of all modern heist movies -- Kubrick pays homage to that film in several scenes in "The Killing," but the final scene owes a lot to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
"Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers" and "Independence Day"
"Casablanca" and "Havana"
"The Hidden Fortress" and "Star Wars"
Those are conscious remakes in being inspired by the first film, but some more apropos double features would be:
"Fail Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove"
"Citizen Kane" and "The Front Page"
"Shoot the Piano Player" and "Pulp Fiction"
I watched Fail Safe the other night, and in its intro on Turner Classic Movies, I believe it was said that it came out not long after Strangelove, which is what caused its tepid reception or at least tepid box office. I liked it very much.
They Died With Their Boots On / Erroll Flynn and Little Big Man / Dustin Hoffman
Mutiny on the Bounty / Charles Laughton and The Caine Mutiny / Bogart
Marat/Sade / Glenda Jackson and A Tale of Two Cities / forgot the stars
The Gunfighter / Gregory Peck and High Noon / Gary Cooper
Kubrick's dark satirical comedy certainly overshawdowed "Fail Safe" which is a suspenseful thriller and what an ending! George Clooney recently did it live on CBS -- it has lost none of its potency.
The Red Badge of Courage and Catch 22
I was in Pittsburgh a little bit ago and a rep house there was showing Chicago with Cabaret. A little obvious, perhaps, but it worked
Gods and Monsters and Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein
The Great Escape and Chicken Run
Some Like It Hot and Victor/Victoria
Gosford Park and 8 Women
Seven Days In May and Dr. Strange Love. I saw them at a double featur and will forever be confused.
Good thing it wasn't a triple with Fail Safe!
Titanic and The Posiedon Adventure
Die Hard and The Towering Inferno!
"Gods and Monsters" and "Frankenstein" Great choice.
"The Killing" and "The Heist"
"Spartacus" and "Gladiator"
"The Last Voyage" and "Juggernaut"
"Three Days of the Condor" and "The Bourne Identity"
"Two Years Before the Mast" and "Billy Budd"
ORCA and FREE WILLY
BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE and HAROLD AND MAUDE and MELVIN AND HOWARD and THELMA AND LOUISE
HIGH NOON and TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE and THEY WERE EXPENDABLE
THE LONGEST DAY and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
THE HAPPY HOOKER and FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE and YOU'VE GOT MAIL
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and SUDDEN IMPACT
I WANT TO LIVE and BETTER OFF DEAD
HAIR and THE BARBERSHOP
GOING ALL THE WAY and MIDWAY
A SHOT IN THE DARK and HELP!
Manhattan and On the Town
A Day at the Races and A Night at the Opera
Days of Wine and Roses and The Lost Weekend
Thanks Roberta, I love Woody and I love Groucho!
The Happy Hooker and A Few Dollars More -
, equus
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