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Old-er Movies marathon

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 4:53 pm
by Ben Chiu
OK, I admit it. I'm a sucker for DVD sales. I bought a bunch of old movies on DVD (I'm not a Netflix guy for several reasons, but the most practical is my interwebs connection suxors).

Anyway, I've been re-watching these gems and have a lot to say about them, but I thought I'd just list a few of them and will return to comment at a later date.

+ The French Connection (Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider) - Great movie - Gritty and exciting
+ The Hunters (Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner) - Fantastic aerial cinematography and mostly excellent special F/X
+ Straw Dogs (Dustin Hoffman) - I never realized it before, but was this where John Hughes got the idea for HOME ALONE? ;)
+ High Anxiety (Mel Brooks) - Very funny if you're familiar with Hitchcock. Probably where the guys who made movie genre comedies got the ideas
+ Manhattan (Woody Allen) - Gordon Willis' cinematography makes this movie--I can overlook the rest because of it.
+ Mad Max (Mel Gibson) - I lost my VHS and DVD copy somehow -- probably lent it out... gotta start keeping records of who has what...
+ 12 Angry Men (too many to list) - Always amazed how the writing is able to keep 12 characters separated and interesting
+ Yellow Sky (Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark) - Never saw this one before. Will keep you posted
+ Escape from New York (Kurt Russell) - It's a silly movie, but it's fun. Lost my copy so this is another replacement.

Edit:
OK, the movie I forgot was
+ Notorious (Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman) - Considered to be Hitchcock's most romantic movie.

So have you guys seen any of these?

Re: Old-er Movies marathon

PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:07 pm
by Clare Kennedy
Ben,

Is The Hunters different than the night of the hunter? Where he comes to town and kinda terrorizes those kids?

I saw 12 Angry Men as a part of my Speech class at Cuesta and am so glad that I did. What an amazing movie! Right up there with To Kill A Mocking Bird in the black and white/courtroom drama/ right vs. wrong stuff. Love it.

Re: Old-er Movies marathon

PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:08 pm
by Clare Kennedy
oh and of course mad max is a classic. ;) mel gibson before his off screen life became distracting to watching him play different roles.

Re: Old-er Movies marathon

PostPosted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:47 pm
by Ben Chiu
Hi, Clare!

Clare Kennedy wrote:Is The Hunters different than the night of the hunter? Where he comes to town and kinda terrorizes those kids?


Yes. The Hunters is a Korean War movie about jet aviators (F-86's baby!). The love story is a bit melodramatic (even scandalous!), but being a fly-boy and a cinematographer, the aerial stuff is what I love the most about the movie.

On a side note, I remember someone on a set once said (I forgot who said it) that "we used to make men into actors, but now we make actors into men" referring to Robert Mitchem, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, et al, vs. Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, etc..

What do you think? Does any of that ring true to anyone?

Re: Old-er Movies marathon

PostPosted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:54 am
by Clare Kennedy
Well I never thought of it like that before, but that absolutely makes sense to me. You take a Jack Palance, Steve McQueen and Robert Shaw and compare their road to Hollywood and I bet it looks a lot different than Daniel Craig or Jason Staham!