Friday, January 26, 2007
THE EXORCIST
What a great movie this was. Every decade or so, a horror movie breaks out of the pack of the ordinary horror movie audience and become a huge hit. In the 50s it was PSYCHO, in the 60s ROSEMARY'S BABY and in 1973 it was THE EXORCIST.
Writing in St Louis I have to mention that the "real" exorcism case that William Peter Blatty based his novel on took place here in St Louis. The 14 year old boy's problems did begin in Washington DC where this movie is set, but then he moved back here to a house in the North County. I don't recall the address, but THE RIVERFRONT TIMES did an article on that house last year.
From the house, he was taken to Alexian Brothers Hospitals which was run then by the Jesuits. Some time later, someone found a diary that was kept by one of the priests of the exorcism, though with the last two pages missing.
A local radio host Dave Glover interviewed the Father who performed that exorcism and the bits I've heard of it are interesting. No, the boy did not throw up pea green soup. Yes, the bed moved.
Writing in St Louis I have to mention that the "real" exorcism case that William Peter Blatty based his novel on took place here in St Louis. The 14 year old boy's problems did begin in Washington DC where this movie is set, but then he moved back here to a house in the North County. I don't recall the address, but THE RIVERFRONT TIMES did an article on that house last year.
From the house, he was taken to Alexian Brothers Hospitals which was run then by the Jesuits. Some time later, someone found a diary that was kept by one of the priests of the exorcism, though with the last two pages missing.
A local radio host Dave Glover interviewed the Father who performed that exorcism and the bits I've heard of it are interesting. No, the boy did not throw up pea green soup. Yes, the bed moved.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton was the other great silent film comedien, along with Charlie Chaplin. He never attained the popularity of Chaplin, perhaps because he kept his famous "stone face." His movies were very funny, but not as emotionally engaging. OK, a lot of people think Chaplin was too sentimental, but I think that some emotional appeal should be mixed in with the comedy. No modern comedies fail to make an emotional appeal to the audience through their characters or story lines.
Unfortunately, Keaton lost control of his career by signing with MGM. He never again attained the heights of comedy or of being a directory -- he was voted the 7th greatest directory of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Some feel that he would have also been a great star of sound movies, but he'd lost professional control when they came in, and also had a lot of personal problems. Bad marriages and alcoholism.]
I look forward to the day when I have time to buy or rent his great silent movies in DVD and enjoy watching all of them.
Unfortunately, Keaton lost control of his career by signing with MGM. He never again attained the heights of comedy or of being a directory -- he was voted the 7th greatest directory of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Some feel that he would have also been a great star of sound movies, but he'd lost professional control when they came in, and also had a lot of personal problems. Bad marriages and alcoholism.]
I look forward to the day when I have time to buy or rent his great silent movies in DVD and enjoy watching all of them.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
One of the greatest movies I've ever seen is nearly forgotten and little known by most Americans. Even when it first came out, it lasted a week at a local theater and then disappeared. I'm not even sure how or why I chanced to go see it -- probably a string of extraordinary circamstances or events, because that's par for this movie.
The director came out without another movie (also great), then eventually wound up in Hollywood where he went on to make some good movies and some that probably aren't as good -- but none to equal this one for brilliance, depth of feeling and originality. Although the THE TRUMAN SHOW had some of the same themes, it just wasn't as fascinating.
I'm referring to PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, a quite bizarre story about a few schoolgirls who disappeared in the region of Hanging Rock in Australia at the turn of the century. It's based on a book telling the story, but it's apparently a book of fiction that seems nonfictional. I don't think the disappearance actually happened, although who really cares.
The theme of the movie is overstated by its principal character, Miranda, one of the school girls who disappears, at the beginning of the movie and the early morning of her disappearance (ascension into Heaven, actually), "All we are is but a dream, a dream within a dream." A quote from Edgar Allan Poe.
It's an eerie, bizarre movie and certainly not for everyone. If you want something physical happening all the time, this is not for you. The entire film seems like a peculiar dream itself, and at the end nothing is really resolved. Even when one of the girls returns, nobody can figure out why, least of all her.
If PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK sounds interesting, rent the DVD (I assume it's available) and watch it sometime alone or only with someone else who will just let you get into the movie. No kids, no pets, no cell phones, no interruptions -- watch the film straight through. It'll be an experience you won't forget.
And then watch the other one that's a little more accessible to ordinary audiences, THE LAST WAVE.
The director came out without another movie (also great), then eventually wound up in Hollywood where he went on to make some good movies and some that probably aren't as good -- but none to equal this one for brilliance, depth of feeling and originality. Although the THE TRUMAN SHOW had some of the same themes, it just wasn't as fascinating.
I'm referring to PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, a quite bizarre story about a few schoolgirls who disappeared in the region of Hanging Rock in Australia at the turn of the century. It's based on a book telling the story, but it's apparently a book of fiction that seems nonfictional. I don't think the disappearance actually happened, although who really cares.
The theme of the movie is overstated by its principal character, Miranda, one of the school girls who disappears, at the beginning of the movie and the early morning of her disappearance (ascension into Heaven, actually), "All we are is but a dream, a dream within a dream." A quote from Edgar Allan Poe.
It's an eerie, bizarre movie and certainly not for everyone. If you want something physical happening all the time, this is not for you. The entire film seems like a peculiar dream itself, and at the end nothing is really resolved. Even when one of the girls returns, nobody can figure out why, least of all her.
If PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK sounds interesting, rent the DVD (I assume it's available) and watch it sometime alone or only with someone else who will just let you get into the movie. No kids, no pets, no cell phones, no interruptions -- watch the film straight through. It'll be an experience you won't forget.
And then watch the other one that's a little more accessible to ordinary audiences, THE LAST WAVE.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE
Speaking of American movies, the ultimate American type of movie has to be the western. And the ultimate western, to my mind, is THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE, starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and had Lee Marvin as Liberty.
To me, this movie goes to the heart of America, because it's about the boundary between freedom, which is what we were founded on, and law which keeps us living in a civilized way.
A small town is terrorized by a bad guy named, not by accident, "Liberty Valence." He's what you get when somebody thinks that freedom is when they can do whatever they want without constraint. Kill and rob and probably other things that couldn't be named in a film of that era.
He's Liberty, but actually out of balance, not in Valence.
Tom, John Wayne, is the movie's "natural man." He wants freedom freedom from law and government just as much as Liberty, but is naturally good. He'll do whatever he wants or needs, but doesn't hurt other people unnecessarily. Like Liberty, he lives by the gun.
Enter Jimmy Stewart, the man who carried a law book instead of gun, determined to bring law n order to the wild west. He's just as much a threat to Tom's way of life as to Liberty's.
If you listen to the song, it's good at conveying the theme of the movie as well. In that sense, it's a terrific theme song for a movie because it encapsulates the movie in its lyrics, though without giving away the "secret" about who was actually the man who shot Liberty Valence.
To me, this movie goes to the heart of America, because it's about the boundary between freedom, which is what we were founded on, and law which keeps us living in a civilized way.
A small town is terrorized by a bad guy named, not by accident, "Liberty Valence." He's what you get when somebody thinks that freedom is when they can do whatever they want without constraint. Kill and rob and probably other things that couldn't be named in a film of that era.
He's Liberty, but actually out of balance, not in Valence.
Tom, John Wayne, is the movie's "natural man." He wants freedom freedom from law and government just as much as Liberty, but is naturally good. He'll do whatever he wants or needs, but doesn't hurt other people unnecessarily. Like Liberty, he lives by the gun.
Enter Jimmy Stewart, the man who carried a law book instead of gun, determined to bring law n order to the wild west. He's just as much a threat to Tom's way of life as to Liberty's.
If you listen to the song, it's good at conveying the theme of the movie as well. In that sense, it's a terrific theme song for a movie because it encapsulates the movie in its lyrics, though without giving away the "secret" about who was actually the man who shot Liberty Valence.
other than English language
Unlike most people, I don't insist that I have to understand what's being said in movies. Good action movies should be understandable even if you don't speak the language they're in. More personal types of movies are not as easily understood, but it can still be interesting to watch and gauge the emotional interactions of the characters without understand the specifics of the words they're using.
Of course, there're are subtitles, but these can be misleading. I once watched a string of Hong Kong movies and the English in their subtitles was pretty funny.
I recall once watching a movie on cable while traveling. Not only could I not figure out what language the movie was in (let alone understand it), I couldn't figure out what language the subtitles were in.
But I did enjoy seeing the people ride around on horses, killing each other. And at the end the armed men questioning the old man telling the story opened his robes to reveal he'd had both arms cut off. I suspect it was from some Middle Eastern country, but am still not sure.
Now, although India's "Ballywood" commercial film capital has gotten some attention following Hong Kong's, I've never been able to watch one for long. Maybe I just tune into that cable channel at the wrong time. But I've tried to watch Indian movies in both India and in other countries.
Whenever I switch to that channel, what's happening in the movie is that an overweight man and an overweight woman are singing and dancing, obviously about how much they love each other. You don't have to understand the words to figure that much out. So every time, I decide to relax and enjoy the Indian music, and I do . . . for a few minutes. But as a few minutes drags on into many more minutes . . . and the man and woman are still dancing and singing . . . I admit it, I just get bored with them. It feels as though they'll never stop singing and dancing and I just have to change the channel.
Maybe I'd enjoy an Indian movie if I watched it from start to finish. I was going to try to see one in a movie theater in Calcutta, but the line outside was jammed pack full of teenaged boys. And by "jammed pack," I'm not speaking metaphorically. It was obvious that Indian teenaged boys do not retain any body "space" with each other. They were belly to chest in a long line.
I'm sure there's guys out there that wouldn't mind spending a lot of time pressing the flesh with 15 year old Indian boys, risking their pocket getting picked without their even knowing it, but I'm not one of them. So I passed on that watching that movie.
Of course, there're are subtitles, but these can be misleading. I once watched a string of Hong Kong movies and the English in their subtitles was pretty funny.
I recall once watching a movie on cable while traveling. Not only could I not figure out what language the movie was in (let alone understand it), I couldn't figure out what language the subtitles were in.
But I did enjoy seeing the people ride around on horses, killing each other. And at the end the armed men questioning the old man telling the story opened his robes to reveal he'd had both arms cut off. I suspect it was from some Middle Eastern country, but am still not sure.
Now, although India's "Ballywood" commercial film capital has gotten some attention following Hong Kong's, I've never been able to watch one for long. Maybe I just tune into that cable channel at the wrong time. But I've tried to watch Indian movies in both India and in other countries.
Whenever I switch to that channel, what's happening in the movie is that an overweight man and an overweight woman are singing and dancing, obviously about how much they love each other. You don't have to understand the words to figure that much out. So every time, I decide to relax and enjoy the Indian music, and I do . . . for a few minutes. But as a few minutes drags on into many more minutes . . . and the man and woman are still dancing and singing . . . I admit it, I just get bored with them. It feels as though they'll never stop singing and dancing and I just have to change the channel.
Maybe I'd enjoy an Indian movie if I watched it from start to finish. I was going to try to see one in a movie theater in Calcutta, but the line outside was jammed pack full of teenaged boys. And by "jammed pack," I'm not speaking metaphorically. It was obvious that Indian teenaged boys do not retain any body "space" with each other. They were belly to chest in a long line.
I'm sure there's guys out there that wouldn't mind spending a lot of time pressing the flesh with 15 year old Indian boys, risking their pocket getting picked without their even knowing it, but I'm not one of them. So I passed on that watching that movie.
CITY LIGHTS
Way back when I watched a lot of movies, my other hero was Charlie Chaplin. I especially like CITY LIGHTS. Sure, it's pretty hokey in a way -- sentimental with that old-fashioned blind flower girl needing expensive eye surgery to see again. Yet by the time Charlie gets out of jail and the now-sighted girl now running a full sized flower shop understands that the rich handsome man who gave her the money for her surgery is the poor tramp . . . I am touched. So sue me.
And the entire sequence of Charlie saving the life of the drunk rich man who loves Charlie when he's rich but can't remember him when he's sober . . . is incredibly funny and well done. Great example of the state learning you can learn about through NLP.
And the entire sequence of Charlie saving the life of the drunk rich man who loves Charlie when he's rich but can't remember him when he's sober . . . is incredibly funny and well done. Great example of the state learning you can learn about through NLP.
CASABLANCA
My personal choice for all-time favorite movie has to be CASABLANCA. I'm a Humphrey Bogart fan. Ingrid Bergman is beautiful. The rest of the cast are terrific. It's well-written, highly dramatic and an important story.
Does the current generation love it as much as we baby boomers did? It worries me that they apparently don't. Its story is more timely now than it was when I watched it in the 1970s. Yet I wonder if current young adults even understand the conflict between love and duty.
Some Americans are now currently engaged in the war on evil, but many of us are back to ignoring it, running our Cafe Americains, focusing on our own emotional lives.
Yet new SS officers are preparing to enter our cafes. They'll wear headscarves instead of swazticas. And this time, Europe won't be in the fight before us. They're hiding their heads in the Sahara sand. There's no European freedom fighter in sight who're going to rally the band to play La Marseillase in defiance of the Nazis.
I'd like to think that the Capitain Louis of France still retain enough goodness deep inside them to join us at end, after the cafe has been closed and we commit ourselves to the fight against evil. I suspect most of the French and the rest of Europe will keep on drinking Vichy water, but I hope I'm wrong.
Does the current generation love it as much as we baby boomers did? It worries me that they apparently don't. Its story is more timely now than it was when I watched it in the 1970s. Yet I wonder if current young adults even understand the conflict between love and duty.
Some Americans are now currently engaged in the war on evil, but many of us are back to ignoring it, running our Cafe Americains, focusing on our own emotional lives.
Yet new SS officers are preparing to enter our cafes. They'll wear headscarves instead of swazticas. And this time, Europe won't be in the fight before us. They're hiding their heads in the Sahara sand. There's no European freedom fighter in sight who're going to rally the band to play La Marseillase in defiance of the Nazis.
I'd like to think that the Capitain Louis of France still retain enough goodness deep inside them to join us at end, after the cafe has been closed and we commit ourselves to the fight against evil. I suspect most of the French and the rest of Europe will keep on drinking Vichy water, but I hope I'm wrong.
Movies Galore and More
This blog is devoted to the subject of movies.
Of necessity, though not by definition or choice, I'm going to write mainly about "classic" movies. I hate to think about it, but since I haven't watched many movies since the early 90s, about all the movies I know about are now "classics," though technically to me that should apply only to movies released before my teenage years.
I'd watch more movies but currently just don't have time. And from what I hear about how many people take their cell phones to movies, I don't want to driven out of my mind by cell phones ringing. That drives me crazy in grocery stores -- while watching a movie I don't know what I'd do.
I'd go off on the subject of how cell phones make people crazy, but that's not really what this blog is about.
Of necessity, though not by definition or choice, I'm going to write mainly about "classic" movies. I hate to think about it, but since I haven't watched many movies since the early 90s, about all the movies I know about are now "classics," though technically to me that should apply only to movies released before my teenage years.
I'd watch more movies but currently just don't have time. And from what I hear about how many people take their cell phones to movies, I don't want to driven out of my mind by cell phones ringing. That drives me crazy in grocery stores -- while watching a movie I don't know what I'd do.
I'd go off on the subject of how cell phones make people crazy, but that's not really what this blog is about.
