All Purpose Film Thread

[DQ]

I don't like Westerns.

Never have. Dunno why.

I suppose someone's about to tell me.

Excellent. They can tell me too.

[Carl's Son]

Can I just say, I finally watched Some like it Hot and it was very enjoyable. also Kind Hearts and Coronets was on telly yesterday and I enjoyed that a lot more than The Man In The White Suit.

[Carl's Son]

Oh, and my favourite Western is Back to the Future 3.

[Sneelock]

I don't like Westerns.

Never have. Dunno why.

I suppose someone's about to tell me.

Excellent. They can tell me too.

you know what you like.
I just gave back a copy of "Hustle and Flow" that somebody told me to watch. they know my taste pretty good and they insist I'll like it. Every time I had the luxury of sitting in front of the t.v. I asked myself "do I want to watch this movie about pimps?" and everytime the answer was no.

I think it's the same sort of thing. you know if you want to watch cowboys or not.

[nathan]

I don't like Westerns.

Never have. Dunno why.

I suppose someone's about to tell me.

Excellent. They can tell me too.

you know what you like.
I just gave back a copy of "Hustle and Flow" that somebody told me to watch. they know my taste pretty good and they insist I'll like it. Every time I had the luxury of sitting in front of the t.v. I asked myself "do I want to watch this movie about pimps?" and everytime the answer was no.

I think it's the same sort of thing. you know if you want to watch cowboys or not.

I think the main appeal to filmmakers, screenwriters and audiences was that it was a wonderful backdrop to stage a traditional good versus evil storyline. You usually didn't need much exposition as to the setting and characters and you could concentrate more on character development and conflict (well the good westerns anyway).

I think they became a bit out of popular favor towards the end of the 60's when the audience demanded a bit more of their films. Clint Eastwood has stuck by the genre for years and arguably made some of the best ones.

Of course a lot of films could be and sometimes claim to be westerns even though they don't take place in the time of cowboys. Escape From New York is a classic example of the western put in a more modern setting.

But yeah, sometimes the machismo of cowboys in the older films can be a bit silly and offputting but usually the stories hold up extremely well.

[Sneelock]

I love 'em!
I came around by liking 'revisionist' westerns like "Ox-Bow Incident" and "Blood on the Moon" and comedies like "Paleface"

I can't say enough good things about westerns and directors like Budd Boetticher and Anthony Mann who made a gang of them.

[nathan]

I love 'em!
I came around by liking 'revisionist' westerns like "Ox-Bow Incident" and "Blood on the Moon" and comedies like "Paleface"

I can't say enough good things about westerns and directors like Budd Boetticher and Anthony Mann who made a gang of them.

I think one of the problems is that they have never had a comprehensive revival or reissue program. For years it was hard to even find a lot of the best ones on home video. I remember how big a deal it was 10 years ago when the Wild Bunch finally made it to home video and in the widescreen format too, which is a must for all anamorphic westerns.

Plus the fact that many of them champion American views and opinions that are very out of date or just plain embarassing. Namely the whole issue of the treatment of Native Americans.

It's a misunderstood genre that just doesn't have a good reputation, and I doubt it ever will.

[Sneelock]

also, I think there's just a sensibility thing, like with Musicals. lots of people just don't like 'em.

I think part of what's fascinating about westerns IS the hard to defend bits. what does portraying native americans as bloodthirsty savages say about the times the films were made? I think, like 'Birth of a Nation', this will remain a point worth considering. I don't mean to excuse the behaviour, I just think it's great to be able to visit the zeitgeists of yesteyear through our films.

then there's the westerns that I think deal with these problems like 'Apache' or 'Naked Spur'. it's hard to appreciate what's special about them if you haven't seen Italian-Americans with tomahawks going "woo-woo-woo" for me, it's worth the effort.

[nathan]

I agree with you but it does keep people from watching them or viewing them objectively.

Off subject, but lately I have been watching old Warner Bros cartoon shorts that they have been putting on their DVD's lately and they do put a warning before most of them because of the blatant racial stereotypes they contain. They usually don't portray minorities in the most flattering manner. One even had a black man with big white lips eating a watermelon while drooling with a big grin on his face. All I could do was laugh because it was so over the top. But at least Warner's didn't shy away from it.

Unlike Disney who will prevent me from ever seeing Song Of the South in my lifetime.

[Matt Wilson]

also, I think there's just a sensibility thing, like with Musicals. lots of people just don't like 'em.

I think part of what's fascinating about westerns IS the hard to defend bits. what does portraying native americans as bloodthirsty savages say about the times the films were made? I think, like 'Birth of a Nation', this will remain a point worth considering. I don't mean to excuse the behaviour, I just think it's great to be able to visit the zeitgeists of yesteyear through our films.

then there's the westerns that I think deal with these problems like 'Apache' or 'Naked Spur'. it's hard to appreciate what's special about them if you haven't seen Italian-Americans with tomahawks going "woo-woo-woo" for me, it's worth the effort.

Oh, c'mon--there's plenty of classic westerns which don't deal with Indians at all. I think just like many genres (like the before-mentioned musicals, or screwball comedy, say) which were popular in the first half of the twentieth century westerns just run their course. The reason why gangster films are still common currency is because we still have gangsters. Cowboys are a thing of the past (unless you cloak them in current ideology like Brokeback Mountain) and therefore, obsolete.

[Sneelock]

cowboys are icons. but then, ALL the village people are.

[Sneelock]

Unlike Disney who will prevent me from ever seeing Song Of the South in my lifetime.

this is Disney we're talking about! I know I'm alone on this but I'll bet a dollar with Mickey Mouse's FACE on it that they DO release 'Song of the South'

I'm guessing if they can make a dollar, they'll do it. I predict one of those silver boxed things and with Leonard Maltin telling us all about how some people found it offensive with his big, wide, acid eyeballs!

[toomanyhatz]

My favorite movie of '06 ("The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada") was a western. I think the genre's alive and well. The cowboys and indians thing, as I said re: Ford, doesn't play in the 21st century. But a lot of the strengths of it- the wide vistas, the appreciation for nature, the thematic thrust of man against nature or man left in the wilderness (literally and therefore symbolically) to rage against himself- are universal themes that should live as long as film does. And those universal themes are expressed brilliantly in Ford's movies, however dated some of the portrayals may be.

[nathan]

I predict one of those silver boxed things and with Leonard Maltin telling us all about how some people found it offensive with his big, wide, acid eyeballs!

I love Leonard Maltin and those Disney tin DVD releases.

[John Mc]

Right you are.



Hey, everyone's talking about cinema....

[Matt Wilson]

My favorite movie of '06 ("The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada") was a western. I think the genre's alive and well. The cowboys and indians thing, as I said re: Ford, doesn't play in the 21st century. But a lot of the strengths of it- the wide vistas, the appreciation for nature, the thematic thrust of man against nature or man left in the wilderness (literally and therefore symbolically) to rage against himself- are universal themes that should live as long as film does. And those universal themes are expressed brilliantly in Ford's movies, however dated some of the portrayals may be.

Yep, and let's not get carried away with this "dated" thing anyway. Most of Ford's classics are over fifty years old. In fifty years' time Scorcese will seem dated too. As will Tarantino, Lynch, Kubrick, etc.

[Sneelock]

I think Tarantino already looks dated.

[Matt Wilson]

I think Tarantino already looks dated.

I still say the single most influential filmmaker of the last twenty years.

[Sneelock]

and you'd probably be right!
his 90's films sure look like the 90's maybe largely because of this.

[toomanyhatz]

I think Tarantino already looks dated.

I still say the single most influential filmmaker of the last twenty years.

He's up there. But I'd give props to David Lynch (even though he's inconsistent), Spike Lee (ditto) and Woody Allen (still).

Not that the Tarantino influence is always a good thing. There's a lot more brutality now, but I think plenty of filmmakers trying to copy it, or the narrative thrust of Pulp Fiction, miss the balancing traits- humor, affection for the filmmaking process, storytelling ability. Of course that happens/happened with all great filmmakers, right?