In honor of my birthday which I share with John Wayne, James Arness and Sissy Spacek I will do another version of Slobs vs Snobs on film. We will discuss some popular films with our resident film aficionados and the regular readers.
I view film as entertainment. Our resident film experts are into the medium as art. No doubt the
use of Monument Park and others is ancillary to conveying a good story and entertaining the audience. One of our critics is a fan of nudity in film. Our other expert is Poultry who likes every cliche leftist. We are going to put them to the test with some of the favorite films of Beakerkin.
It will be interesting to see the clash of Snobs vs Slobs in interview style.
Expect the unexpected. We do not have the cavalry in this segment. However, we could have Mr. B, Justin, The Editrix and perhaps Mac arriving over the hill.
This is my Birthday Gift to the readers.
1) I am a big fan of the film The Searchers. The opening and closing sequences are classics and the use of Monument Park are memorable. What is memorable is John Wayne arguably at his best. He named one of his children Ethan after the character. This film is hated by Dr. Yeagley for its ugly portrayal of Comanche.
Historically there were raids and abduction of children and women. The most famous of these is the mother of Quanah Parker. I do not know if this film would be made today. The notion of Indians being evil is not PC. Sonia could point out the death of the sister in law and niece would
be more graphically portrayed. Ford manages to get the imagery across without needless disturbing imagery. Folks like Yeagley miss the image of Chief Scar is the mirror image of Wayne. We hear of his family being killed and the analysis is simplified. Wayne takes his niece home and walks away with his life's work finnished.
Would this film even be made today? How would the film be different if it were produced today.
2) I want to talk about a fine actor who seems to be lost in the discussion of time. Robert Shaw
has a nice body of work from playing the crusty Quint in Jaws. I was hoping the shark would eat the hippie bum portrayed by Richard Dreyfus and have a bad LSD trip. He played the villain in
the great movie the Sting. The Duck probably will not forgive him for playing a heroic Israeli who
jumps on a blimp to save Americans from a Palestinian terrorist attack. That is probably another film that would never be made today where Arab terrorists and their communist sympathizers are misunderstood. I also enjoyed one of his last films The Deep. What are your views on the film legacy of Robert Shaw.
3) The film Once Upon a Time in the West is often lost in the discussion of great Westerns. The Musical score is excellent and Henry Fonda does a decent job playing a villain. Claudia Cardinale was breath taking and Charles Bronson does a memorable job as harmonica. The ending of the film is classic Leone and those of you who have seen it are not apt to forget the reason Bronson carries the Harrmonica. Has this film been lost in a discussion of the Great Western Films?
4) Lets talk once again of books vs film. I can say that reading Drums Along the Mohawk was much better than the film. However, QB7 was a much better film than the Dreadful film. Lord of the Rings was excellent in both versions. Name some films that were better than the book and the converse. TMW has stated she feels Ben Hur the book was even better than the excellent film.
5) Lets talk about the Native American in film. The pendulum has swung from the Indian being the blood thirsty Savage to the all wise knowing man in touch with Nature. The Book Drums Along the Mohawk does accurately convey the terror of the colonists created by the Indian raids of Joseph Brandt. The book also portrays the role of the Oneida as friend and ally of the Patriots.
Sadly in the film this is almost invisible. The film does not even portray the Battle of Oriskany which was perhaps the most brutal in the Revolutionary War because a thunderstorm made all the gunpower unusable. It was hand to hand fighting and the book does not mention the heroic efforts of the Oneida heroes. Has the pendulum swung too far in the other direction of making Indians into all wise shamans. At least we have gotten to the era of Native Americans playing themselves. Is reality too complex to be conveyed by Hollywood in this area.
6) Nazis seem to be the only good film villains. Are we ever going to get a film where communists are portrayed as evil. It was certainly fun watching Forrest Gump and John Wayne punch out commies. Why have commies become passe as bad guys in film? Of course we have never had a single film about Che shooting prisoners without trial. There was less truth in the portrayal of films about the criminal Black Panthers than in the notoriously inaccurate Jesse James films. I think films with Muslim terrorists are also passe. The Duck probably has not forgiven Burt Lancaster for portraying Leon Klinghoffer in one of his last films.
7) I was watching some clips of the Marx Brothers on you tube. I do not think that we have seen anything before or after quite like them. The films mixed well defined character based comedy with musical interludes. Then again the Marx Brothers were from Vaudeville and had to do more than just tell jokes to entertain the crowd. What makes the Marx brothers different from all the other comedy films? Will we ever see anything quite like them again.
8) The disaster film is a forgotten genre. I enjoyed the Poseidon Adventure with Ernest Borgnine who was in a few great films that I remember and the Towering Inferno. What was your favorite film in this genre.
9) The Producers is one of my favorite films. The hidden part that gets lost in the later versions was the portrayal of Hitler as a hippie by Dick Shawn. Mel Brooks is a mixed bag as I enjoyed Blazing Saddles but was not a fan of Space Balls. What are your thoughts on the Producers and work of Mel Brooks.
10) The era of the Vietnam films did not quite pan out the way the lefties in Hollywood intended.
My generation saw the Vietnam veteran as screwed by bad governmental policy and by traitorous protesters. Apocalypse Now was not received in quite the manner it was intended. Eventually the Vietnam Vet morphed from the troubled vet in the first Rambo film onto a hero that was larger than life. What are your favorite films from the Vietnam era? Mine are Apocalypse Now ( had nothing to do with Gomer Kerry), Hamburger Hill, Good morning Vietnam and the sidebar in Forrest Gump.
11) Is the epic a lost art form. I was not a fan of the English Patient but did enjoy the Last Emperor. Are they still being produced today and I haven't noticed. My favorite still remains Dr Zhivago.
12) Are there films that you shouldn't like but just do. I enjoyed Born in East LA and surprisingly so did my parents. I was surprised they enjoyed Borat as well. What films that are clearly not classics do you enjoy.
13) Musicals are still around but do not seem to capture the magic of the earlier generation. The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was good in spite of a reduced number of songs. Were Musicals of the older generation just better?
14) We generally do not spend much time on the era of films set in China. My personal favorite is The Sand Pebbles. The Last Emperor, 55 Days in Peking and Blood Alley getting honorable mentions. What are your views on the above films.
15) Have too many James Bond Films been made? I did enjoy the goofy Clifton James playing the comic Sheriff JW Pepper in two films. That aspect of the clueless local and later goofy sidekick seems lost in the latter films.
16) Which athlettes stand out as great actors? I am going to prepare for a major groan as the Duck is probably going to use this spot to praise Stalinist imbecile Paul Robeson. Merlin Olsen and Rosey Grier didn't do much film work but he could act. Jim Brown is a better actor than OJ and has a classic film role under his belt. Kareem Abdul Jabar and Wilt Chamberlain were in bad films, but I liked Chamberlains performance in the second Conan film. Oddly, I can not recall any baseball players being in a movie.
17) Are there any actors or actresses that are in more film roles in memorable films than one would expect. Michael Caine has literally been everywhere in his career. I can think of at least four or five decent films with Ernest Borgnine. Is there anyone whose body of work is probably better than we would guess.
18) Is there ever a film that you wonder why it was made Moulin Rouge was a bore? I would pay not to see Yentyl or anything with Streisand in it. She is a pain to watch and I will take Celine Dion as a singer.
19) I do not get Van Hefllin? Perhaps I am missing his best films.
20) How many years after the Iraq war will it take for this conflict to make the silver screen?
21) I did enjoy watching Young Abe Lincoln in Illinois as a kid. Would a comedic spoof called Young Bill Clinton in Arkansas make money? I could even see Bill Clinton enjoying a ribbing about trailer parks, smoking pot and dodging the draft.
22) Is Hollywood trying to sneak gay scenes in needlessly? Did we need a gay Sherlock Holmes or James Bond being bisexual. I don't think these scenes added to the film.
23) What film stands out with having the best soundtrack. The films of Sergio Leone stand out. I am convinced that Superfly will remain in history as the only film that has a soundtrack that grosses more than the film.
24) What are your views on the Indiana Jones franchise? My favorite by far was the Third film.
The scene with Adolph Hitler giving an autograph at a book burning was classic. This is the rare film where the sequel was much better than the original.
25) Name three actors and actresses you feel should find alternate vocations.
1) John Travolta painful to watch any of his films other than Grease.
2) Ben Afleck dreadful
3) Richard Dreyfus- about as fun as root canal or when the doctor buts on the white glove.
1) Streisand over rated abomination that is probably a form of torture in some cultures
2) Nicole Kidman Beautiful but a total bore
3) Cher- Why does this woman think she is beautiful? Lousy actress in anything other than Moonstruck.
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49 comments:
Monument Valley, Beak, not Park.
Ford's use of the wide focus was outstanding but it started in "Stagecoach" much earlier than "The Searchers". I bet GayEagle loves the Wayne character.
If you want an example of fine landscape photography with more intimate framing try Bud Boetticher's westerns. "Ride Lonesome", Seven Men from Now"... great stuff.
Shaw is a good actor, not great. His bet might be "The Taking of Pelham 123".
Most filmheads consider "Once Upon a Time in the West" a Top 100, harmonica man.
An example of Native Americans in contemporary film would be something like "Frozen River".
The western is pretty much finished.
Burt Lancaster? Was it a Chuck Norris film? That's about your speed.
I don't think the Marx Brothers were unique. They were part of the great American slapstick comedy tradition.
Really had it's apex with Buster Keaton who was a great influence on the European surrealists.
Chaplin stayed alive in the work of Jacques Tati but America abandoned that comedy style after the war. Too bad, but it wouldn't be considered hip today.
Can't think of a disaster film that caught my interest. Very predictable boring genre.
Brooks goes for cheap obvious laughs. Not very good writing and his technical values were terrible.
Pretty much gone and forgotten.
Rambo is embarrassing propaganda that was responsible for a lot of urban legends. True crap.
Good Morning Vietnam may have been the best of the Vietnam films. We clearly were far less able to make films about a war we lost than the Japanese who developed an incredibly fine commentary on WW II in their cinema.
Duck the full name is Monument Valley Navajo Park. The place is preserved today. You can see the same backdrop in many of Ford's films.
The Marx brothers were unique. I do not think we are going to see comedians doing musical interludes.
They were all around performers and surprisingly Groucho was allegedly a very skilled guitar player.
I do not see comedians as skilled as Harpo who could make us laugh and then turn around and play a memorable harp piece.
Is the epic a lost form? I wish. It was initially developed as a way to compete with Hollywood and has now morphed into special effects gimmick fests like "Avatar".
Vapid stinky cheese. It shot it's wad with "Lawrence of Arabia" one of the few with substance.
Guilt pleasures? I love the 50's and 60's B's.
"Creature from the Black Lagoon", "Carnival of Souls, "Equinox". Many had surprisingly good production values.
The musical is pretty much dead as we saw with the recent production of "Nine" which had Fellini rolling in his grave.
"Singing in the Rain", "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" ... that quality is gone.
"Cabaret" may have been the last really strong musical.
For a great largely undervalued career --- Robert Mitchum. Absolutely superb actor.
Listen too him in "The Friends of Eddie Coyle". The Boston accent is one of the toughest for actors and he does it easily, holds his own with natives in that film.
The lameo overrated Nicholson didn't even bother to try in that piece of junk "The Departed".
18. Moulin Rouge was a bore compared to Renoir's version.
19. Heflin was a so-so actor.
20. You miss "The Hurt Locker", "Gunners Palace" or any number of other Iraq films?
Great score writers, Elmer Bernstein, Toru Takemitsu, Nino Rota.
Films ...
Magnificent Seven
Woman in the Dunes
8 1/2
The Indiana Jones series lost a lot of its "B" movie qualities after the first. The first was a tip of the hat to the old film serials.
Not as good as "The Drums of Fu Manchu" but a fun time for sure.
What no lengthy praise of Stalinist Robeson. I am thinking of films that definitely would not be made today and the Emperor Jones is probably number one on the list.
Sorry Beak but the musical numbers in a lot of the Marx films were embarrassing. "A Day at the Races" was particularly bad.
Many of the early comedians did more than comedy. W.C. Fields was a master juggler. Keaton was a fantastic stunt man.
The Marx Brothers were just one of a very good lot.
There's a very good box set out of his films. They aren't bad.
I don't know why anyone would remake "The Emperor Jones" but his version is very good.
Actually generations of film goers enjoy the comedic piano playing of Chico Marx sometimes accompanied by Harpo. Remember when Chico is playing he is playing as a showman.
I disagree with your assessment of those segments.
The Emperor Jones is a good period piece to remind us of how far we have come as a society. Today such fare would be considered racist.
1) That is one film I have yet to see.
2) My views on the film legacy of Robert Shaw are, that he is even more miscast as a German in "The Battle of the Bulge" (including the poofter uniform) than the Belgian aristocrat Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac as the Indian Sam Sharpnose in "Big Jake".
3) Yes, obviously "Once Upon a Time in the West" has been lost in a discussion of the Great Western Films, which is a shame because it is one of the greatest.
4) QB7 (the book) was so bad that I refuse to watch the film.
5) I'm not knowledgeable enough to say anything remotely intelligent about this.
6) That is because Commies fought Nazis and anybody who fought Nazis can't be bad. This logic from hell has conquered the entire political culture in Germany, and to a lesser extent the world.
7) Believe it or not, I've never watched a film with the Marx Brothers for no other reason than laziness and the fact that slapstick doesn't excite me very much.
8) The Poseidon Adventure would be definitely among my favourites.
9) I didn't see "The Producers". Mel Brooks can be terrifically funny but a lot is over the top for my taste.
10) Again, I never watched a Vietnam film. I think I started watching "Good Morning Vietnam" and it bored me stiff. I prefer films for entertainment and the political heritage of Vietnam is something Americans will have to deal with, not I.
11) Funny enough, epics bore me.
12) There are countless films that I shouldn't like but just do. The German Heimatfilm- and Sissi genre from the Fifties comes to mind. An accusation of bad taste has never bothered me. Slavishly sticking to "good taste" is only something for cowards and social climbers.
13) "Were Musicals of the older generation just better?" In a word: Yes!
14) I'd only watch a film set in China to save my life.
15) I only know the earlier ones with Sean Connery and Roger Moore. Although I enjoyed them, somehow I seem to have grown out of them.
16) I find the description "imbecile" unfair. First and foremost, Paul Robeson was a poor, exploited man. Athletes in films begin and end with Chuck Connors, who was divine. I think Johnny Weissmüller deserves at least a mentioning.
17) Jeff Bridges? Robin Williams?
18) Oh there are countless of them. Your selection was pretty accurate.
19) I agree.
20) Let's hope it won't.
21) That's another American thing I can't comment on.
22) Absolutely, yes.
23) I'd say "Chariots of Fire" had the best soundtrack ever, but OUATITW comes a close second.
24) I only saw the first one. Not that I found it bad, but it just didn't inspire me to watch any more.
25) I agree with your choices, the only qualifications would be that Kidman is not beautiful and who is Ben Affleck.
I'll add some others more apropos to my generation:
Marlon Brando
James Dean
Dennis Hopper
Marlene Dietrich
Barbara Hershey
Susan Sarandon.
"Creature from the Black Lagoon"
The swimming scene with the female protagonist and the Creature, for example, was sheer and undiluted genius.
That film is considered a "guilt pleasure", yet it has more substance and entertaining value than most more recent efforts together.
"The scene with Adolph Hitler giving an autograph at a book burning was classic. This is the rare film where the sequel was much better than the original."
In my home town, they would have burnt the Jews together with their belongings, hadn't it been for a single German policeman.
I doubt that the survivors or their offspring will find anything like that funny.
"film for us, is the most important art"
----- Vladimir Lenin
""film for us, is the most important art"
----- Vladimir Lenin"
If memory serves, Josef Goebbels said something similar. What is your point apart from the obvious that film is an important propaganda tool for totalitarian regimes?
Editrix
I could not have stated that one better.
The Searchers is considered by most Wayne Fans to be his finest film. It
is in pieces on You tube but is viewed best on a wide screen.
It steams Beak off. I enjoy his rants.
Editrix, let's bury the hatchet.
I can't stay angry at someone who appreciates that scene from "Creature from the Black Lagoon".
The B's had a serious influence on what we consider more "important" films.
Beak, if you think communism has never been criticized in film I would remind you of a couple things.
1. Film was heavily censored in communist countries so film makers had to get creative in their criticism.
2. You have obviously not watched Jancso, the Czech New Wave or the Chinese 5th wave.There is plenty out there.
Never saw the Searchers, but my sister said it was good.
I do not like War movies, blood and gore. But I do like a good movie Documentary on History.
My all time favorites to watch is the Big Chill, Under the Tuscan sun, Something's Gotta Give, Bridges of Madison County, Out of Africa, Postcard from the Edge others include Moulin Rouge, the Buddy Holly story, Ray, Chicago, Selena, Evita. I love Wuthering Heights, the Secret Tunnel, and I have many favorite Indian movies a sweet one is Medicine River/Graham Green, goofy one is Pow-Wow Highway. Dances with Wolves, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Comanche Moon, Last of the Dog Men, and some others I bought just because they have Indians on the cover, not so good movies though.
See....I am a very rounded Indian, maybe not Broadway, but I do have New York, New York with Liza, I love her, Liza with a "Z"!
CM
Did you seriously like Moulin Rouge.
I would pay not to see that.
The Searchers is my all time favorite film.
Ducky
If you are trying to give me more reason to loathe Communism you are doing a good job. I would seriously sign up if we ever decide to rid the world of Chavez.
Shur nuff do love Moulin Rouge. I have a flat screen 42"tv now so I need to watch it on big screen.
I have to confess I never liked John Wayne...sorry, maybe its the Indian in me. I heard he didn't like Indians either! But you make "Searcher" sound interesting, I might like it since its based on the Comanche!
Beak,
8) The disaster film is a forgotten genre.
Absolutely false. "Day After Tomorrow", "2012", "Cloverfield". There has never been more disaster films than now.
9) The Producers
Mel Brooks is a hack. The Producers is the only decent film he has ever made. After that, it was one stinker after another.
10) Vietnam films
The best is The Deer Hunter. Apocalypse Now is better in the Redux version, with plenty of nudity which was removed in the original theatrical release.
14) We generally do not spend much time on the era of films set in China.
Speak for yourself. Kung fu flicks from Hong Kong are enormously popular. But the best ones aren't dubbed, and some people are scared shitless of subtitles.
20) How many years after the Iraq war will it take for this conflict to make the silver screen?
Ever heard of last year's Oscar winner ? Hint: it wasn't Avatar.
3) Richard Dreyfus- about as fun as root canal or when the doctor buts on the white glove.
He was really good as Dick Cheney in W. Other actors turned their characters into pathetic caricatures (Thandie Newton's Condi Rice was abominable), but Dreyfus played Cheney with amazing conviction. His "drain the swamp" speech was fabulous. It was like the "greed is good" Michael Douglas speech in Wall Street: intended as criticism, but coming out as differently in the end.
Happy Birthday, Beak
Duck! Have you been really angry at me? Frankly, I enjoy your fight with the Beak. Always have.
I rented Moulin Rouge once because I was attracted to the colors in the trailers. Once I started playing it, I watched it all the way through looking for reasons to like it. To be blunt, I hated it.
The only musical I ever saw that was worth a damn was Okalhoma, and maybe Paint Your Wagon. The rest is pure garbage.
John Wayne was portrayed as a racist in The Searchers, wasn't he? I've never seen the film, but I heard that was a big part of the plot, him trying to come to grips with his hate of Commanches, even declaring that when he found his niece he would kill her rather than let her live as a victim of rape at their hands. Some pretty intense stuff for the time.
It's too bad that Martin and Lewis were never filmed during one of their nightclub routines which is really want made them famous. The movies were very watered down versions of their nightclub act. No interest in the Marx Brothers, after so long its like hearing the same joke a second or third time.
Disaster movies are a waste of time and budget. They were an innovation at the time and made money due to their uniqueness, but once you saw one you saw them all.
Westerns have been done to death, but there is still potential there. They just need to move beyond the fantasy world of Jesse James as a misunderstood anti-hero crap, or the Indian as either noble or bloodthirsty savage, and concentrate more on trying to portray the reality of life in the old west minus the cliches.
I guess its only a matter of time now before somebody does a remake of Creature From The Black Lagoon. If so, I hope they do it justice.
On soundtracks, I won't say he's the best, but I would have to give a shout out to Angelo Badelemente' all the same.
Happy Birthday Beakerkin
Well Editrix at certain times you've called me everything but a child of god.
But lefties who post at right wing sites are pretty thick skinned.
Oh Pagan, reconsider. Oklahoma is solid (so is Paint Your Wagon) but there are a lot of good ones out there, not recently though.
Singing in the Rain is superb.
COMANCHEMOON here wishing you the best Birthday ever...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAKERKIN!
Well Editrix at certain times you've called me everything but a child of god.
But lefties who post at right wing sites are pretty thick skinned.
----------------------------------
And vice versa.
Don't be fatuous, Duck! For all I know about you, you could be the grandmotherly old lady next door, whose English might be better than I thought. Anonymous (I repeat: ANONYMOUS) flame wars are fun. If you really mind being flamed, I'll only reply to you when I agree with you because, let's face it, the statements for which you are flamed by me are neither meant nor fit for serious discussion.
Ducky-
Most movie musicals are based on Broadway musicals. The best thing about them is they keep Broadway profitable enough to enable them to put on decent dramatic productions to an extent. Otherwise, musicals are poor man's opera. Think of it in the same sense of comparing Metallica to Chopin.
That being said, yeah, there's some that are good to a point, but by the same token, there's something about characters in a movie breaking out in song and dance that I just find irksome.
"10) What are your favorite films from the Vietnam era? Mine are Apocalypse Now ( had nothing to do with Gomer Kerry), Hamburger Hill, Good morning Vietnam and the sidebar in Forrest Gump."
I liked "Go Tell the Spartans" with Burt Lancaster. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077617/
"11) Is the epic a lost art form. I was not a fan of the English Patient but did enjoy the Last Emperor. Are they still being produced today and I haven't noticed. My favorite still remains Dr Zhivago."
Is the epic really a lost art form? What about "The Lord of the Rings"? Or "Braveheart", or "The Last Samurai"? BTW, I liked "The Last Samurai" not because it was a Tom Cruise movie, but due to the performances of the Japanese cast. They're the ones that made that movie what it was.
"14) We generally do not spend much time on the era of films set in China. My personal favorite is The Sand Pebbles.
Fabulous movie, but the book is even better. As a matter of fact I've seen a part of "The Sand Pebbles" book quoted in a textbook about teaching. It was where Steve McQueen's character was teaching his Chinese friend about how steam makes the engines work. Nora, I'm pretty sure you'd like the movie. If you can get a copy of it, try watching it. If you don't like Steve McQueen, read the book. I think it'd be worth your time.
"15) Have too many James Bond Films been made? I did enjoy the goofy Clifton James playing the comic Sheriff JW Pepper in two films. That aspect of the clueless local and later goofy sidekick seems lost in the latter films.
Fleming's books are better. I haven't seen the last movie, but I did see Casino Royale. I kinda, sorta liked it because it almost stuck to the book. Except the timeline is thrown aside and the feminize the story by making "M" a woman. Then they dumb it down and change the casino game Baccarat into Texas holdem so an American audience can keep up. Then they make Bond's good friend Felix Leiter black and turn the French Intelligence officer (who actually saves Bond's life in one of the books) René Mathis into the traitor. Of course the French aren't so popular in America, so I suppose Hollywood goes with the flow.
Come to think of it, I hated the movie.
22)...or James Bond being bisexual.
WTF??
Ray said... I have to confess I never liked John Wayne...sorry, maybe its the Indian in me.
LMAO - http://www.badeagle.com/badeagle/YeaWayne2.jpg
Cateran-
"22)...or James Bond being bisexual.
WTF??"
You didn't know? Current Bond star Daniel Craig wants there to be at least one Gay Scene In Next Bond Film, involving Bond and a gay character, which I blogged about in the provided link. One of the links in my posts details Craig's request.
I'll comment on what I know. I'm pretty much a huge geek in terms of movies and pop culture, opting for horridly bad "B" horror and science fiction far too much for me to be comfortable with.
I love the Indiana Jones movies, except for the fourth one, which left a bad taste. I could go on with what was wrong with it, but it was mainly cgi and Lucas rewriting half the script and doing away with Frank Darabont's original script because it had "too much character development." In any event, Raiders was the best, followed by Last Crusade, Temple of Doom, then the dingle berry that is Crystal Skull.
I'm obviously biased when it comes to Indian representation in old films like Westerns. We all know the lack of real Native representation, no to mention the horrid lack of historical truth behind these events. That said, while things have improved somewhat today, there is still a Hollywood bias against using real Indian actors (see The New World and even the Twilight Movie). Two of the better Native American films that had Native directors and dealt with LIVING COMMUNITIES today, are Smoke Signals and Dance Me Outside (Ojibwa Reserve in Canada). Sadly, these are both over 12 years old and, while popular, never were released in theaters. Indians have had much better success in the documentary route. I hope this changes because there are tons of great Native actors and actresses, as well as directors (not to mention fictional authors).
Disaster movies are bad, but that isn't always a bad thing, depending on the director and intent of the film itself. 2012 was horrible. Had the doors been locked on theaters, there would have no doubt been suicides. The Day After was good, as was the television movie of the Stand.
Ray
Oh, hey Mac, how ya been? I haven't been able to access your site for the past few days? Is everything okay? By the way, just for accuracy's sake, Beverly was the one that said "I have to confess I never liked John Wayne...sorry, maybe its the Indian in me." That said, I was never a huge fan of the man. I certainly never became as excitably giddy over him like someone that shall remain anonymous!
Ray
"14) We generally do not spend much time on the era of films set in China. My personal favorite is The Sand Pebbles.
Fabulous movie, but the book is even better. As a matter of fact I've seen a part of "The Sand Pebbles" book quoted in a textbook about teaching. It was where Steve McQueen's character was teaching his Chinese friend about how steam makes the engines work. Nora, I'm pretty sure you'd like the movie. If you can get a copy of it, try watching it. If you don't like Steve McQueen, read the book. I think it'd be worth your time."
I like Steve McQueen (although I never found him all that much of a heartthrob), but it's easier for me to get the book than the film. THANKS!
"22)...or James Bond being bisexual.
WTF??"
That is exactly what I mean by the "in-our-face" strategy of the "gay" community. Homosexuals are a tiny minority (although they are working hard to change that) yet the majority is FORCED to acknowledge their sexuality, now it's featured in mainstream films.
The link TPT provides leads to this: "The heart-throb actor has also reportedly told studio chiefs he is prepared to film a full frontal nude scene to please both his male and female admirers."
See? The perversion and corruption has already gone far enough for a (presumably) straight man to want to appeal to his female AND MALE "admirers" (in a sexual sense). Now come, all you straight people here and tell me that the thought that a nude display of your body might "please admirers" of the same sex does NOT make you puke your guts out! The time that such a display of my body might have done that is not all THAT long gone not to be sure that I, for one, WOULD have puked my guts out. As an aside: The fact alone, that an insipid blonde weasel like Daniel Craig could acquire "heartthrob" status speaks for itself. He is neither breathtakingly handsome like Roger Moore nor breathtakingly male like Sean Connery. And he has just an average physique as well, if that. How anybody who ever saw the pectorals and other assorted muscles of a Lloyd Bridges can find the remotest pleasure (whether aesthetically or sexually) in a nonentity like Daniel Craig is beyond me. Notabene that those men weren't afraid either to show that they had chest hair, different from the girlie- or neutered men of today.
In this context it ought to be mentioned that in America a population-wide decline in men’s testosterone levels during the last 20 years can be noted, that is not related to normal aging or to health and lifestyle factors known to influence testosterone levels. In plain English: They don't have an explanation for that phenomenon. This decline is consistent with other long-term trends in male reproductive health, such as decreases in sperm quality, increases in testicular cancer or cryptorchidism. The societal neutering of men has gone a long way already. No doubt, watching Daniel Craig in the buff will lower the average American male's testosterone level by another 10 percent.
Good luck to you, all you politically correct men who are too shit scared to preserve your own sexuality.
You didn't know? Current Bond star Daniel Craig wants there to be at least one Gay Scene In Next Bond Film, involving Bond and a gay character, which I blogged about in the provided link. One of the links in my posts details Craig's request.
No, I had no idea. Seems to me that Craig has no idea who Fleming's Bond was. Bond was what used to known as a womanizer, full stop. In fact I don't remember one reference to homosexuality in any of Fleming's books. If there were any, you can be sure it was one of the villians that was gay.
If memory serves, Bond only has three close male friends - Mathis, the French intelligence agent who saves Bond's life (I don't remember his fate); Quarrel, a Jamaican who is burned to death in Dr. No; and, Felix Leiter, a WHITE CIA agent who is fed to sharks by some baddies. There were no homosexual moments between any of these characters - they were good friends and co-workers, end of story.
What is it with these times we live in - can a man not have a close friend without a "bisexual" affair looming in the background?
If anything, Bond was a tragic "hero", an anti-hero if you will. A very lonely man who finds that anyone he does manage to develop a relationship with ends up being killed in an horrible manner.
Bond bisexual, what a laugh. If Craig is bi-curious perhaps he should indulge himself privately, and leave the rest of us to remember James Bond the way Fleming wrote the character.
Perhaps this will be Bond's final tragedy.
BTW, the only Bond movie that really holds true to Fleming's books is "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" with George Lazenby playing Bond. It's one of my favourites because it follows the book. In it, the only woman Bond really cares for (he marries her) is killed. If I remember correctly, her father is a Corsican Mafiosa, so she is accustomed to keeping company with strong male figures and doesn't press Bond to give up his career in the Secret Service.
Hi Ray, sorry about confusing the posts, it's usually either close to, or past my bedtime when I'm posting here.
As far as I know, there have been no server interruptions on TBIS, so you shouldn't have had any problem accessing the forum.
Which reminds me, I need to see to responding to that query of yours.
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