Movie Talk

Here's a great interview with Orson Welles in 1960.

Just watched Dog Day Afternoon on TCM.  Mankiewicz pointed out that Jon Cazale was in 5 movies in his short career:

The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter.

All nominated for Best Picture

That is not a bad filmography. Not bad at all.  All favorites of mine too.

(Maybe I'll post this to Fun Facts.)

Just watched the Lumet movie that TCM showed after it, The Anderson Tapes. Good Connery. Always good Alan King. Wasted Cannon. Incongruous Quincy Jones score. So-so caper. Prescient surveillance theme.

Dunno what your local library does; just discovered that ours hosts a monthly matinee viewing of a relatively new movie. Free. And they throw in free popcorn and drinks. 

Last week D and I watched Poms! with Diane Keaton, Jackie Weaver and Rhea Perlman. What we really loved about this script is these actors were finally allowed to play characters their own ages, probably with attitudes on life (dignity, 'permission', security, health, friendship, family, etc) close to their own. Their talents and skills were there, don't believe the reviews. 

It's a little rich to call this plot out for cliches when so many others this year are superheroes/comics or remakes.  Enjoy it for what it is. The ending is rushed anyway, to prove it's all about the journey.

DaveSchmidt said:

Just watched the Lumet movie that TCM showed after it, The Anderson Tapes. Good Connery. Always good Alan King. Wasted Cannon. Incongruous Quincy Jones score. So-so caper. Prescient surveillance theme.

 It was so so - not among the best of the great gritty 70s New York movies - but did you notice the young future SNLer Garret Morris in there?

The post about Cazale prompts me to mention the 10 year run of Walter Matthau from 66 to 76. Great work, including a number of quite earthy, gritty and/or suspenseful movies. It’s easy to forget he did that kind of stuff if your knowledge of him is from the mostly forgettable saccharine movies he did in later decades. The number in parentheses is the Rotten Tomatoes score for each movie.

The Fortune Cookie (96%)

The Odd Couple (100%)

Charley Varrick (88%) (little seen, but should be, about small time thieves who get in over their heads.  With an extremely scary Joe Don Baker)

Kotch (75%)

The Laughing Policeman (58%) (this one better than critical reception IMO)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (100%)

The Sunshine Boys (78%)

The Bad News Bears (97%)

Because we're committed to raising a well-rounded nerd, we watched The Phantom Menace with our 11 year old daughter. 

It's not as bad as history has condemned it to be. 

DaveSchmidt said:

Just watched the Lumet movie that TCM showed after it, The Anderson Tapes. Good Connery. Always good Alan King. Wasted Cannon. Incongruous Quincy Jones score. So-so caper. Prescient surveillance theme.

 And introducing Walken, yes?

bub said: 

It was so so - not among the best of the great gritty 70s New York movies - but did you notice the young future SNLer Garret Morris in there?

Yup. Jarring to see Ralph Meeker as the comic foil in their scenes together.

Train_of_Thought said:

And introducing Walken, yes?

Yup. It wasn’t Margaret Hamilton’s first rodeo, though.

Pre-fame or bit part debut appearance in a movie is a fun subject onto itself.  Who played the stereotypical madman's assistant "Igor" in Vincent Price's 3D 1953 horror movie "House of Wax"?

bub said:

The post about Cazale prompts me to mention the 10 year run of Walter Matthau from 66 to 76.

My favorite from that period is A New Leaf, with Elaine May.

I once contributed to a Twitter thread asking for the best three-straight-movie runs by any performer. (My selections involved Groucho Marx and Burt Lancaster.) No doubt there’s a Matthau trio or two.

DaveSchmidt said:

bub said:

The post about Cazale prompts me to mention the 10 year run of Walter Matthau from 66 to 76.

My favorite from that period is A New Leaf, with Elaine May.

I once contributed to a Twitter thread asking for the best three-straight-movie runs by any performer. (My selections involved Groucho Marx and Burt Lancaster.) No doubt there’s a Matthau trio or two.

 Funny re Groucho.  I guess you gotta throw in the other bros and Margaret Dumont.

Hard to guess the Lancaster 3.  That's a long career.  Which ones?

Don't remember if I saw a New Leaf but if May was in it, I'm checking it out.

bub said:

Hard to guess the Lancaster 3.  That's a long career.  Which ones?

Don't remember if I saw a New Leaf but if May was in it, I'm checking it out.

May also co-wrote and directed it.

Lancaster had at least three three-film streaks:

The Rainmaker, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Sweet Smell of Success

The Leopard, Seven Days in May, The Train

The Devil’s Disciple, The Unforgiven, Elmer Gantry

Tremendous actor with impeccable standards.

mrincredible said:

Because we're committed to raising a well-rounded nerd, we watched The Phantom Menace with our 11 year old daughter. 

It's not as bad as history has condemned it to be. 

 I watched it with my kid a while back.  It was as bad as I remembered. Maybe worse.  The racism which was shocking at the time is all the more so now.

I've watched a couple of good fan edits of the prequels over the years.  The best ones reduce PM to about 35 minutes.

Binge Mode is doing the Star Wars universe right now in the lead up to Rise of the Skywalker.  Their take on the prequels was interesting.

What’s your favorite movie that’s not very well known?

Mine is Love and Death on Long Island, a quirky little 90s indie flick. John Hurt is awesome.

Army of Shadows.

ETA: For a lighter touch, Tales of Manhattan.

And two more, because why be stingy: Suddenly. Nothing but a Man.

Smedley said:

What’s your favorite movie that’s not very well known?

Repo Man. 

The Zero Effect

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover

Keeping Mum.

I just rented The Peanut Butter Falcon, which I loved. A proper feel-good movie from start to finish.

Klinker said:

Smedley said:

What’s your favorite movie that’s not very well known?

Repo Man. 

 Trouble In Mind.

I must live in a Repo Man bubble, if it’s not very well known.

DaveSchmidt said:

May also co-wrote and directed it.

Lancaster had at least three three-film streaks:

The Rainmaker, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Sweet Smell of Success

The Leopard, Seven Days in May, The Train

The Devil’s Disciple, The Unforgiven, Elmer Gantry

Tremendous actor with impeccable standards.

 And then later he topped them all in Judgement at Nuremberg

bub said:

The post about Cazale prompts me to mention the 10 year run of Walter Matthau from 66 to 76. Great work, including a number of quite earthy, gritty and/or suspenseful movies. It’s easy to forget he did that kind of stuff if your knowledge of him is from the mostly forgettable saccharine movies he did in later decades. The number in parentheses is the Rotten Tomatoes score for each movie.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (100%)

Saw it in a Movie Theater in Lisbon in 1975. My buddy and I, native Bronxites, were probably the only ones there who got it. 

DaveSchmidt said:

I must live in a Repo Man bubble, if it’s not very well known.

It had a bit of cult status even when it was new 35 years ago. I think like The Toxic Avenger and This Is Spinal Tap it's receding into a smaller and smaller segment of the collective pop culture consciousness. 

DaveSchmidt said:

I must live in a Repo Man bubble, if it’s not very well known.

 It's very well known amongst people who like cult movies. Most people I imagine won't have seen any Aki Kaurismaki movies or anything by Jim Jarmusch, and I'd put most of Alex Cox's output up with those. Unless, of course, it was an HBO staple or something.

Moving to newer films, I was looking for something to watch last week and under "new" on HBO was "Blindspotting" which I hadn't heard of but it had a 90+ rotten tomato score so I watched it.  THoroughly enjoyed it - reminded me of a quirky early 90s indie film from SoCal (or more likely, NorCal).

ridski said:

DaveSchmidt said:

I must live in a Repo Man bubble, if it’s not very well known.

 It's very well known amongst people who like cult movies. Most people I imagine won't have seen any Aki Kaurismaki movies or anything by Jim Jarmusch, and I'd put most of Alex Cox's output up with those. Unless, of course, it was an HBO staple or something.

 yeah, also, people who want to geek out on a Movie Talk thread probably know a lot more obscure movies than the general movie going public.

having said that, who is Kaurismaki? (ok, I just googled him...)

drummerboy said:

 yeah, also, people who want to geek out on a Movie Talk thread probably know a lot more obscure movies than the general movie going public.

having said that, who is Kaurismaki? (ok, I just googled him...)

 Check out a film called Leningrad Cowboys Go America. 

"The Leningrad Cowboys, a fictional Russian rock band, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band."