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Saturday Evening Movie Thread 05-19-2018 [Hosted By: TheJamesMadison]

Number Five

62. Apocalypse Now 01.jpg

So, here I am with the next installment of "Let's go through my personal top ten movies of all time because it's all about me!"

Moving chronologically after Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.


The Seventies

In terms of the 1970s of American cinema, in my opinion, the most imposing individual was Francis Ford Coppola. Beyond his own creative output, which was obviously significant, he helped foster some of the most prominent filmmakers of the generation with relationships from mentor to collaborator with people like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Paul Schrader. He was at the center of the new movement of American cinema that we're still seeing the effects of today (most are still making movies, although generally just not at the same level of quality as when they first started).

62. Apocalypse Now 02.jpg

But back in the seventies, Coppola was king. From '72 to '79, he made four movies. All four were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. He won for two of them (The Conversation's loss was to his own The Godfather Part II). The second loss was to Apocalypse Now, which lost to Kramer vs. Kramer Now, I do really like Kramer vs. Kramer, but it's nothing compared to the mad odyssey into the depths of the jungle that is Apocalypse Now.


A Difficulty

With the other movies on my list, I had little difficulty explaining to myself why I loved them individually. The disparate parts of each film assembled so easily together into something often beautiful that I found the experience of writing about them easy. Apocalypse Now is very different. I really see it as a work of genuine madness. Coppola went into the jungle and lost his mind on the way out, the perfect mirror of the main character's journey, and I really do feel like the movie captures that amazingly well.

But then that leads to the question: How does madness lead to great art? How do you read an art born of madness?

I think the only way to really approach it in an abstract sense. Its effect on the viewer as he watches it. There are arguments that all art should be approached that way, but I do personally feel that formal structural and character based approaches are important to both creating and taking in art, but Apocalypse Now largely forbears any formal approach. Long story short, this post is going to be messy. Let's roll!


Apocalypse Now

Rewatching the movie for this post, I was struck by something that I've seemingly never really processed before. The movie is gorgeous to look at. The colors are vibrant with the wide range of greens of the jungle and the great palate of colors that fill in the gaps. The framing of every shot is beautiful, especially around the flight of the helicopters during the "Ride of the Valkyrie" scene. Even during smaller moments, like when Kilgore walks out of frame, it's perfectly shot.

Kilgore is crouching down, talking to Willard, ending on a melancholy note, and then proceeds to stand up and just walk to the right. We never see him again. He just disappears into the war. It's such a perfect end for him, and it's done through simple and effective framing.

Besides, the movie is filled with shots like these:

62. Apocalypse Now 03.jpg

62. Apocalypse Now 04.jpg

62. Apocalypse Now 05.jpg


Themes

As with my other favorite films, Apocalypse Now isn't terribly explicit about what the movie is actually about. The closest it gets, I think, is this line from General Corman near the beginning of the film:

Well, you see, Willard, in this war, things get confused out there. Power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity. But out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to be God. Because there's a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and irration, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.

That quote outlines the idea at the heart of the film. The conflict between the rational and irrational and good and evil. What we end up seeing during Willard trek up the river into Cambodia is the increasing madness.

Is that madness specific to the Vietnam War? The surface of the movie? Is that all there is?

I don't think so. I think that the surface is part of the equation, but also the least interesting part. As with all great art, Coppola uses the subject of his film to talk to more immediate and relatable concerns. Not much of the audience lived through Vietnam in country, but most of the audience has seen madness. They've understood obsession. They've understood being lost. They've also understood making a choice to turn back from madness.


The Journey's End

62. Apocalypse Now 06.jpg

Many people consider the journey to Kurtz to be great, but once Willard actually gets there, for the movie to peter out. I disagree, the ending is my favorite part of the whole thing.
I believe that part of the issue people have is with Marlon Brando. It's not that he plays the part badly, but that he's pretty obviously fat. He promised to show up lean and mean to the set, but he just loved eating too much to actually do what he promised. Coppola panicked. Kurtz wasn't going to be the highly mobile killing machine as he was in the script. Instead, Coppola had to find another solution, choosing to shoot Brando mostly in shadow and turning what was supposed to be a thin man of action in a bulking heavy threat. I actually think that the combination of shadows that the man's size, along with his insane ramblings makes him a rather terrifying figure.

I consider the threat of madness infecting others to be a more imposing threat than a single man swinging through the jungle as some great killer, and by stripping Kurtz of the physicality of the character's original ideal and leaving him with only the madness makes the madness all that much stronger in my mind.

And besides, the actual death scene is fantastic, using the sacrificial bull to imply that Kurtz himself is a sacrifice, but to what? Is Willard killing Kurtz out of orders? He says no in the voiceover. I think that it's a rejection of the madness in its entirety. What solidifies that in my mind is how Willard could obviously take Kurtz's place, but he simply grabs Lance, the last member of the boat crew, and walks away.


In Conclusion

62. Apocalypse Now 07.jpg

The movie is both a hard watch and an easy one. It's hard because of the inhumanity on display and the questions that it raises. It's easy to watch because of the magnificent cinematography on display and the great performances by everyone involved.

In regards to the two versions of the film, I've only ever seen the original cut. I actually own the Redux version (the DVD I bought years ago came with both on the same pair of discs), but I've simply refused to watch it. I'll probably do it one day. I've heard both good things (people saying that it finally completes the package of the movie and makes it great) and bad things (those saying that, in particular, the French plantation isn't worth the price of admission and doesn't add to the movie in any significant way).

In the end, though, this work of madness by a madman who lost himself in the jungle is one of the most significant and greatest films made. A great companion piece, by the way, is Hearts of Darkness, the movie that Coppola's wife made about the making of the movie.


Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:
Deadpool 2
Book Club
Show Dogs

Next in my Netflix Queue:
Danton

Movies I Saw This Week:
Bullhead (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) Poster blurb: "A compelling story of immasculinity with one very hard scene to watch." [Netflix DVD]
Paths of Glory (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "Absolutely devastating portrait of the abuse of power. Kubrick's most emotionally affecting movie." [Personal Collection]
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "Very funny satire." [Personal Collection]
A Clockwork Orange (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 3.5/4) [Rewatch] "Alternating Kubrick's easiest and most difficult movie to understand." [Personal Collection]
Barry Lyndon (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "Kubrick's other greatest movie ever." [Personal Collection]
The Shining (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "Pure cinematic horror." [Personal Collection]
Full Metal Jacket (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) [Rewatch] "I've never quite understood the love for this movie. The first half is great, but the second half feels muddled." [Personal Collection]
Eyes Wide Shut (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "Seriously underappreciated. This movie is biting and great." [Personal Collection]
Airplane! (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 3.5/4) [Rewatch] "Just…so funny." [Personal Collection]
Airplane II: The Sequel (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) [Rewatch] "Another victim of 'not as good as the original' being equated with 'bad'." [Personal Collection]
Apocalypse Now (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "What he said." [Personal Collection]
Galaxy Quest (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 3.5/4) [Rewatch] "One of the best Star Trek movies ever." [Personal Collection]
Avengers: Infinity War (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) "Large, bombastic entertainment. Pretty good stuff." [Theater]


Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.

I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

And, please, visit my website.

My first collection of short stories is on sale now.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 07:17 PM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Wake up, dickheads! Faust is here!

Posted by: Gem at May 19, 2018 07:11 PM (XoAz8)

2 !

Posted by: JT at May 19, 2018 07:11 PM (um4Es)

3
Wake up, dickheads! Faust is here!
Posted by: Gem


The devil, you say!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 19, 2018 07:12 PM (IqV8l)

4 Never really watched it, though I've seen parts of it.

But I love 'Pork Lips Now.'

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 19, 2018 07:12 PM (oVJmc)

5 Just a little RLM quote to get things going.

Posted by: Gem at May 19, 2018 07:12 PM (XoAz8)

6 Kilgore is crouching down, talking to Willard, ending on a melancholy note, and then proceeds to stand up and just walk to the right. We never see him again. He just disappears into the war. It's such a perfect end for him, and it's done through simple and effective framing.




Yes, it was. Which is why the Redux was such a travesty. The added scenes of him looking for his surf board were better left out of the movie

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 07:12 PM (SiINZ)

7 There was a post on FB from I don't know who but it was promoting Book Club. I scrolled through the comments and EVERY person on there said they refused to see anything with the traitor Fonda in it. I hope it bombs.

Posted by: Jewells45 at May 19, 2018 07:13 PM (dUJdY)

8 And Charlie don't surf...

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:14 PM (MMrzc)

9 Charlie don't surf.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:15 PM (MVjcR)

10 Wait wut? Kubrick directed Airplane! ?

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (EzdLW)

11 Jinx!

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (MVjcR)

12 I'm a whipper snapper. But had a neighbor who was an Army Vietnam veteran. Anyway, we used to get together and watch movies on the weekends. One time we watched "Apocolypse Now" (on VHS). After it was over, he said to me "That's exactly what it was like".

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (sXefu)

13 It is a good movie to see, no where near my favorite war movie.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (aC6Sd)

14 Just a little RLM quote to get things going.

Robert Louis Mevenson ?

Posted by: JT at May 19, 2018 07:17 PM (um4Es)

15 13 It is a good movie to see, no where near my favorite war movie.
Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (aC6Sd)

=====

Neither is it mine.

The Thin Red Line is mine.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:18 PM (Jj43a)

16 but it's nothing compared to the mad odyssey into the depths of the jungle that is Apocalypse Now.

The thing about Coppola is ... Apocalypse Now was arguably the best movie ever made ... until Coppola put out his crappy "Director's Cut" which turned it into one of the shittiest movies ever made. Amazing that Francis could manage that with just a couple of added scenes which managed to destroy the entire movie.

The studio's cut of Apocalypse Now was fantastic. Coppola's was absolute dogshit.

Make of it what you will but thems the facts.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:18 PM (uSurQ)

17 Not a lot of people know this, but Apocalypse Now was actually based on the Joseph Conrad novel Moby-Dick.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 07:19 PM (y87Qq)

18 Wait wut? Kubrick directed Airplane! ?

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (EzdLW)



Surely you must be joking

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 07:19 PM (SiINZ)

19 There are miniature figure rules for Vietnam under the name Charlie Don't Surf.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:19 PM (aC6Sd)

20 What was really great about Apocalypse Now was Heart of Darkness, really. You don't get source material that good every day.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:20 PM (uSurQ)

21 Karate school in Man with a Golden Gun is fun

70s is when martial arts got popular in Hollywood right?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 07:20 PM (hMwEB)

22 Coppola went into the jungle and lost his mind on the way out


Too much cocaina can do that to a fella' it can others a heart attack too.

Posted by: gNewt at May 19, 2018 07:20 PM (NY0r1)

23 Robert Louis Mevenson ?
Posted by: JT at May 19, 2018 07:17 PM (um4Es)


Reichsluftfahrtministerium.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (y87Qq)

24 I don't like Apocalypse Now. I understand its greatness, but I don't enjoy it.

Posted by: Gem at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (XoAz8)

25 Debra Winger as a not much older than a teenager in Wonder Woman episode

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (aC6Sd)

26 20 What was really great about Apocalypse Now was Heart of Darkness, really. You don't get source material that good every day.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:20 PM (uSurQ)

====

Joseph Conrad was the shit.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (Jj43a)

27 TheJamesMadison'sPhone:

"The Thin Red Line is mine."

Wow. Not trolling here, I'm genuinely interested, because I hated that movie. No offense. I'm generally a war movie fan, and I was completely let down. Thought it was beyond boring when it wasn't completely fatuous. What made it your favorite?

Posted by: JPS at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (9ziuC)

28 Reichsluftfahrtministerium.

Oh. Him.

Posted by: JT at May 19, 2018 07:22 PM (um4Es)

29 27 TheJamesMadison'sPhone:

"The Thin Red Line is mine."

Wow. Not trolling here, I'm genuinely interested, because I hated that movie. No offense. I'm generally a war movie fan, and I was completely let down. Thought it was beyond boring when it wasn't completely fatuous. What made it your favorite?
Posted by: JPS at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (9ziuC)

========

I'll do a post on it in a few months.

But, short hand, I love Terrence Malick.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:22 PM (Jj43a)

30 I like Apocalypse Now. But I'm not sure that it's a good movie per se, so much as a series of great vignettes that are so entertaining that it makes up for the fact that it the movie as a whole doesn't quite add up.

Posted by: Bear with Assymetrical Balls at May 19, 2018 07:23 PM (H5knJ)

31 Charlie don't surf!



Apocalypse Now is my fave.

https://youtu.be/AArnc3PPgGs

Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 07:23 PM (e7oj4)

32 Apocalypse Now I have seen in fragments but have never evinced any strong desire to actually see the whole movie because it's not really about what happened and more about the time frame it was released. Movies from that era like The Deer Hunter had already colored the cynical prism I view movies about Viet Nam. Just as I can't remember a single scene from Platoon except the F-5s dropping nape and wondering if the pilots could take out the film crew also.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:24 PM (MMrzc)

33 I don't like Apocalypse Now. I understand its greatness, but I don't enjoy it.

Posted by: Gem
*****************

I hear it's better if one ingests quantities of value rite+ before watching.

Posted by: gNewt at May 19, 2018 07:24 PM (NY0r1)

34 The Thin Red Line is mine as well.

I get why it rubs folks the wrong way though. Or at least I think I do.

Posted by: Bear with Assymetrical Balls at May 19, 2018 07:25 PM (H5knJ)

35 Apocalypse Now; one of my favorite war movies of all time.


The filmed part of that movie in the Philippines while I was there too.


And I have it on Bluray.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 19, 2018 07:25 PM (mpXpK)

36 In regards to the two versions of the film, I've only ever seen the original cut. I actually own the Redux version (the DVD I bought years ago came with both on the same pair of discs), but I've simply refused to watch it.

++++

Why? I thought you were all about going with the director's cut? Coppola was the driving force behind Redux, from start to finish. While he never turned his back on his original, Redux is Coppola's vision.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 07:26 PM (pvjTE)

37 Favorite scene is the helos coming in to the tune of Ride of the Valkyrie.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 19, 2018 07:27 PM (mpXpK)

38 16 The studio's cut of Apocalypse Now was fantastic. Coppola's was absolute dogshit.

Make of it what you will but thems the facts.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:18 PM (uSurQ)


I generally prefer the "director's cuts" over the theatrical versions of films, but Redux is one of the few exceptions. It improves nothing and, in some places, causes regressions--most notably with the aforementioned Kilgore scene.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at May 19, 2018 07:27 PM (NL6wI)

39 32 Apocalypse Now I have seen in fragments but have never evinced any strong desire to actually see the whole movie

==

same here

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 07:27 PM (hMwEB)

40 Paths of Glory (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "Absolutely devastating portrait of the abuse of power. Kubrick's most emotionally affecting movie." [Personal Collection]

I'll reiterate what I said about this:

Regardless of anyone's intentions, I never saw anything in Paths of Glory that was a general; comment about power or abuse. All I saw was a commentary on the French and a movie of them being the cheese-eating surrender monkeys they are.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:27 PM (uSurQ)

41 I like Apocalypse Now. But I'm not sure that it's a good movie per se, so much as a series of great vignettes that are so entertaining that it makes up for the fact that it the movie as a whole doesn't quite add up.
Posted by: Bear with Assymetrical Balls at May 19, 2018 07:23 PM (H5knJ)

I'm glad someone else has the same assessment. There are great moments but the story just isn't there.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 07:28 PM (J70i0)

42 You can't talk about 70s movies without mentioning Rocky. It was one of the most significant movies made and had a very deep cultural impact of its own.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:28 PM (uSurQ)

43 I took a date to Apocalypse Now when it came out.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:28 PM (MVjcR)

44 Those nekkid women dancing out there in the middle of hell was pretty surreal.

Posted by: gNewt at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (NY0r1)

45 On war films. I just saw Dunkirk last night. I really enjoyed it, especially once I understood Nolan's time frame approach. Loved the cinematography. The score was great and matched what was happening on screen, so I don't get why some people didn't like it. But I could I also see why some of the criticisms about it not showing the sheer scale of what happened, though.

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (EzdLW)

46 FMJ and Hamburger Hill to me are better Vietnam movies.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (aC6Sd)

47 36
Why? I thought you were all about going with the director's cut? Coppola was the driving force behind Redux, from start to finish. While he never turned his back on his original, Redux is Coppola's vision.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 07:26 PM (pvjTE

=====

That's fair.

But I'm a terrible person, so I'm inconsistent.

I love the movies as it stands in the original, and I don't want to mess with that in my head.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (Jj43a)

48 I saw Redux and wish I hadn't. The extra scenes don't add anything IMHO to the basic story. The scene with Kilgore begging for return of his stolen surf board, from a loudspeaker on his helicopter, is silly.

Posted by: Gref at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (AMIL/)

49 Wow. Not trolling here, I'm genuinely interested, because I hated that movie. No offense. I'm generally a war movie fan, and I was completely let down. Thought it was beyond boring when it wasn't completely fatuous. What made it your favorite?
Posted by: JPS at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (9ziuC)

I thought the point was the senselessness of war. However it seemed like a poor man's Paths of Glory.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 07:30 PM (J70i0)

50 45 On war films. I just saw Dunkirk last night. I really enjoyed it, especially once I understood Nolan's time frame approach. Loved the cinematography. The score was great and matched what was happening on screen, so I don't get why some people didn't like it. But I could I also see why some of the criticisms about it not showing the sheer scale of what happened, though.
Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (EzdLW)

=====

According to the Horse, it was the best movie of 2017.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (Jj43a)

51 Maybe in the Redux Coppola should have sacrificed Kilgore in a volcano. Or the surfboard.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (MMrzc)

52 Just re-watched _Bridge On The River Kwai_ on DVD. One thing that struck me was how UN-realistic it is. I mean, it's a great movie and I love it, but it's totally unrealistic. And I don't just mean the way that Colonel Nicholson's insanity gradually takes over both the British POWs and their Japanese captors. I mean things like the commandos trying to time their mission to catch a train going over the bridge, or the oddly civilized and restrained behavior of the Japanese. (Conditions in the actual slave-labor camps on that rail line were far more brutal.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (zOGzb)

53 Maybe it's just cause I'm an 'ette, but I seriously dislike this movie. So scenes are so dark and so loud that I can't tell anything that's going on. It is just completely unwatchable for me. I'm not into having to work for a movie. I want to be entertained and this is not it. Hubby loves it, but he has to rewatch it with his headphones on or I will lose my mind. Too each his own.

Posted by: cfo mom at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (RfzVr)

54 Couple of Vietnam films I liked:
The Boys In Company C
We Were Soldiers
Bat*21

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (EzdLW)

55 Paths of Glory has to be in my top 10 war movies, never miss it when it's on. Saw it a few months ago.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (aC6Sd)

56 1. madness doesn't lead to great art.

2. i thought apocalypse now was sort of a mess - tedious and pretentious.

3. speaking of the 70's, there's a columbo coming up tonight on cozi, the rerun station called "publish or perish". it's about an author (played by micky spillane!
) killed by a publisher. the plot turns on his unpublished manuscript - "60 miles to saigon" - which is about a retired green beret who leaves his buddhist monastery to return to viet nam to rescue american p.o.w.'s. sound familiar?

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 07:32 PM (Pg+x7)

57 25
Debra Winger as a not much older than a teenager in Wonder Woman episode

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (aC6Sd)

And she is so short!

She comes up to Lynda Carter's chin.
Nice yellow outfit, too.

Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 07:32 PM (8iiMU)

58 54 Couple of Vietnam films I liked:
The Boys In Company C
We Were Soldiers
Bat*21

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (EzdLW)

>>>

I enjoyed Hamburger Hill, too.

Posted by: Gref at May 19, 2018 07:32 PM (AMIL/)

59 But I could I also see why some of the criticisms about it not showing the sheer scale of what happened, though.
Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (EzdLW)

I mentioned a week or two ago that it really is an old style war film with a modest budget. You got a small slice of what was going on. However, I can understand why some people wouldn't like that.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 07:34 PM (J70i0)

60 Yes, We Were Soldiers was a damn good movie too.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 19, 2018 07:34 PM (mpXpK)

61
scenes are so dark and so loud that I can't tell anything that's going on. It is just completely unwatchable for me.

Posted by: cfo mom at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM



cfo mom, that's how I feel about a lot of today's movies.

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:34 PM (EzdLW)

62 The scene with Kilgore begging for return of his stolen surf board, from a loudspeaker on his helicopter, is silly.

Posted by: Gref at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (AMIL/)


The worst part of the additions to the surf scenes was Willard yukking it up with the others and the surfboard stealing - totally out of character for Willard, to put it mildly, and part of the reason that the director's cut absolutely destroyed the movie.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:35 PM (uSurQ)

63 I try to be shallow and generally avoid deep thoughtful analysis - but I always thought Apocalypse Now was meant to coney the absolute chaos of war. It's about different things to different people in different situations.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:35 PM (MVjcR)

64 I really liked Dunkirk, little disappointed it didn't take a wider view but as a personal viewpoint it was extremely good.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:35 PM (aC6Sd)

65 I saw AN with my parents as a teen in a theater when it came out. It took another viewing years later for me to sort of understanding what was going on. Then I read Heart of Darkness and realized AN was a ripoff without knowing about it beforehand. Anyway I still liked both, specially the dancing cowgirl bunny.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:35 PM (UdKB7)

66 The most disturbing scene in AN is the interview scene

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:36 PM (PUmDY)

67 ... rambo!

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 07:36 PM (Pg+x7)

68 But I'm a terrible person, so I'm inconsistent.

I love the movies as it stands in the original, and I don't want to mess with that in my head.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (Jj43a)

++++

Finally! You admit it.

That's somewhat how I feel about Blade Runner. I saw the original and loved it. I did watch his dogshit director's cut, though. It just wasn't as good. But, I gave him a chance.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 07:36 PM (pvjTE)

69 63 I try to be shallow and generally avoid deep thoughtful analysis - but I always thought Apocalypse Now was meant to coney the absolute chaos of war. It's about different things to different people in different situations.
Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:35 PM (MVjcR)

=====

That's what's great about art and there's delivered dramatically instead of explicitly. There are more than one valid interpretations.

I like mine.

Yours is probably just as good.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:37 PM (Jj43a)

70 68 Finally! You admit it.

That's somewhat how I feel about Blade Runner. I saw the original and loved it. I did watch his dogshit director's cut, though. It just wasn't as good. But, I gave him a chance.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 07:36 PM (pvjTE)

=====

Oh, I've admitted it to my wife many times. And she agrees.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:38 PM (Jj43a)

71 Darkness as allegory is one thing as in Sin City but when most of a movie is murky, Ghost in the Shell live action, it simply becomes uninteresting and might as well watch the gray paint dry.

Loudness, yeah the whole 'cinematic experience' of being subjected to 2000W of bass booming plus explosions. Earplugs become required. It in fact detracts because your ears are bleeding.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:38 PM (MMrzc)

72 I actually liked AP better than Platoon. But Full Metal Jacket takes the cake. Hamburger Hill was ok too. I always wondered why a movie was not made of Sand In The Wind. Or was one made and I never heard of it? Bottom line for me is this, did the people who made the movie (or wrote the book) seek to blame America for everything?

Posted by: Eromero at May 19, 2018 07:39 PM (zLDYs)

73 but I always thought Apocalypse Now was meant to coney the absolute chaos of war. It's about different things to different people in different situations.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:35 PM (MVjcR)


I thought it was pretty explicitly about the hypocrisy that is endemic to fighting with one hand tied behind your back while claiming that you are fighting to win. That was the point Kurtz was making and Willard generally accepted it.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:39 PM (uSurQ)

74 I enjoyed We Were Soldiers except for the Barry Pepper, photographer scene. It simply didn't work.

Side note, I got to hear one of the guys who was a Ranger in the Mogadishu fiasco. He was in that movie as an advisor and is on the firing line in a scene or two. I guess Gibson came by and joked with him about him acting like a soldier.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 07:40 PM (J70i0)

75 Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:37 PM (Jj43a)
--------
Watch the expression on the face of the Cajun chef during the helo beach assault scene. He shows several different emotional reactions without saying a word.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:41 PM (vX75W)

76 I've got to say that Debra Winger fills a Wonder Woman outfit near bout as well as Lynda Carter. Yowsa!
That is all.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:41 PM (UdKB7)

77 76
I've got to say that Debra Winger fills a Wonder Woman outfit near bout as well as Lynda Carter. Yowsa!

That is all.



Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:41 PM (UdKB7)

Yes indeed!
She ate just enough fast food to be curvy!

Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 07:42 PM (8iiMU)

78 018 07:35 PM (MVjcR)

I thought it was pretty explicitly about the hypocrisy that is endemic to fighting with one hand tied behind your back while claiming that you are fighting to win. That was the point Kurtz was making and Willard generally accepted it.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:39 PM (uSurQ)
---------
That's certainly valid, too.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:42 PM (MVjcR)

79 I'm pretty sure Francis Ford Coppola also wrote the screenplay for Patton, which was when - 1970? 1971? So yeah, I guess the Seventies were good for him.

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:42 PM (EzdLW)

80 When it comes to Blade Runner, either the work print version or The Final Cut are the only ones I watch.

Blade Runner 2049, there are plenty of filler dead scenes that could be cut and no one would notice. For example the long shots of a deserted Las Vegas, did we really need multiple establishing shots to prove the place is a wasteland? The original movie on a far smaller budget implied a decaying world far better than the sequel.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:43 PM (MMrzc)

81 Duvall Valkyries scene was over the top and not meant to be taken seriously. I am probably incorrect

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:43 PM (PUmDY)

82 A great - GREAT! - movie from the 70s that I haven't seen in a long time (and doesn't appear to be on Netflix) is The White Dawn, with Lou Gossett, Warren Oates and one of the Bottoms guys. It is an awesome movie. The first version I saw was without subtitles for the eskimo conversations (so, point of view of Oates and the crew) but I saw a later version with subtitles for the eskimos. I liked the version without subtitles better.

I highly recommend this movie if you can find it.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:44 PM (uSurQ)

83 I read "Heart of Darkness" many moons ago.

Conrad is boring, guilt ridden and long winded.

I tried to read his other book about the sea captain and it was more of the same; dark, boring, crap. Couldn't finish it.

Apocalypse Now was meh. I always thought in the real world Col. Kurtz would have whacked Martin Sheen before he even got to the compound. Probably would have worn his ears to the bull's dance.

"Hard Eight". Now that's a movie.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 07:45 PM (EoRCO)

84 46 FMJ and Hamburger Hill to me are better Vietnam movies.
Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:29 PM (aC6Sd)

--Apocalypse Now is less a war movie than about the human condition: dissimulation, duty, and making the best of a shitty situation.

Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 07:45 PM (e7oj4)

85 Bottom line for me is this, did the people who made the movie (or wrote the book) seek to blame America for everything?

Posted by: Eromero
----------------------

That's rhetorical, right?

Posted by: gNewt at May 19, 2018 07:45 PM (NY0r1)

86 Other good war movies:

Sand Pebbles
Gallipoli
Das Boot

My late husband's father was on a gun boat in China during the Depression. He always said he understood why Mao won.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 19, 2018 07:45 PM (Lqy/e)

87 I'm pretty sure Francis Ford Coppola also wrote the screenplay for Patton, which was when - 1970? 1971? So yeah, I guess the Seventies were good for him.

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:42 PM (EzdLW)


He did it was 1970

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 07:45 PM (SiINZ)

88 81 Duvall Valkyries scene was over the top and not meant to be taken seriously. I am probably incorrect
Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:43 PM (PUmDY)
---------
I think it was over the top on purpose. The boat crew at least seem to be wondering what the hell they were doing.

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:46 PM (MVjcR)

89 I found Apocalypse Now slow, but I also have a short attention span.

Dad was attached to ARVN and worked with many Hmong and hill people before major U.S. involvement in the war, and he said that movie was the closest depiction to his own experience there.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 19, 2018 07:46 PM (EZebt)

90 Das Boot has to be on my list

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 07:46 PM (aC6Sd)

91 Love this post every week James. Thanks.

Posted by: Mega at May 19, 2018 07:47 PM (rv0Fo)

92 FMJ was more of a boot camp movie than a war movie. but it is the best boot camp movie every made.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 19, 2018 07:47 PM (mpXpK)

93 If it was serious, it was crap.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:47 PM (PUmDY)

94 Das Boot

Porsche dealership representative, "All right, who's the U-boat commander?"

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:48 PM (MMrzc)

95 91 Love this post every week James. Thanks.
Posted by: Mega at May 19, 2018 07:47 PM (rv0Fo)

======

That means a lot.

Thank you very much!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:48 PM (Jj43a)

96 Deadpool 2 was a bit of a disappointment. The movies ends about 30 minutes before the end, but it just keeps ending and ending and ending. Endlessly.

Posted by: Downcast at May 19, 2018 07:48 PM (VWE5i)

97 "So, here I am with the next installment of "Let's go through my personal top ten movies of all time because it's all about me!""

Are you sure you are not Ann Althouse?

Posted by: NCC at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (c1ah2)

98 Watched Unlocked today on tv. Spy thriller woulda been ok but of course the CIA are tge bad guys and tge Muslim imam is the good guy.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (hMwEB)

99 Kurtz's madness wasn't madness, it was a rejection of all morality. He gives his horrifying speech of a pile of "little arms" and then says a small group of people who have no compunction at maiming small children, no moral sense which would get in the way, would be unstoppable. Morality is a hindrance, it stops us from doing what is necessary to accomplish our goals. That's the same reason why people are fascinated by serial killers: we think they have a strength, an ability to move past morality, and do what they want. The problem of course is that it's not a strength, it's a lack. It's not that such people have a power that normal people don't have, they lack a power that normal people do have, and that allows them to behave like mere animals, creatures that do not bear the image of God.

Posted by: Jim S. at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (ynUnH)

100 Blade Runner 2049, there are plenty of filler
dead scenes that could be cut and no one would notice. For example the
long shots of a deserted Las Vegas, did we really need multiple
establishing shots to prove the place is a wasteland? The original movie
on a far smaller budget implied a decaying world far better than the
sequel.


Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:43 PM (MMrzc)


Ridley Scott should smoke a turds in hell for the absolute asshattery he has wrought with his sequels.

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (sXefu)

101 The movies ends about 30 minutes before the end, but it just keeps ending and ending and ending. Endlessly.

Posted by: Downcast at May 19, 2018 07:48 PM (VWE5i)


I felt exactly that way about Age of Innocence ... though it seemed like a hell of a lot longer than 30 minutes.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (uSurQ)

102 97 "So, here I am with the next installment of "Let's go through my personal top ten movies of all time because it's all about me!""

Are you sure you are not Ann Althouse?
Posted by: NCC at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (c1ah2)

======

I am not nearly obsessed enough with vocabulary.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:50 PM (Jj43a)

103
Kurtz wasn't going to be the highly mobile killing machine as he was in the script. Instead, Coppola had to find another solution, choosing to shoot Brando mostly in shadow and turning what was supposed to be a thin man of action in a bulking heavy threat.



I coulda been somebody. I coulda been a mobile killin' machine, instead of a fat heavy threat, which is what I am.

Posted by: Zombie Marlon Brando at May 19, 2018 07:50 PM (EzdLW)

104 Other good war movies:

Sand Pebbles
Gallipoli
Das Boot

My late husband's father was on a gun boat in China during the Depression. He always said he understood why Mao won.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 19, 2018 07:45 PM (Lqy/e)

Sand Pebbles is an interesting film. The cynic lives while idealists (patriot and globalist) bite the dust.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 07:51 PM (J70i0)

105 Apocalypse Now could have been set in most any war, as long as they had rivers to go up.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:51 PM (UdKB7)

106 TJM, You've had a Kubrick kind of week.

I saw Full Metal Jacket in tne theater twice. I was so
blown away, I went back the next night and saw it again.

First half = micro level madness
Second half = macro level madness

The NVA demonstrated what they would do to the south if they won, and that is what they did.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 19, 2018 07:52 PM (EZebt)

107 Bridge on the River Kwai is gorgeous and one of my absolute favorites. A must see.

Posted by: Mega at May 19, 2018 07:52 PM (rv0Fo)

108 Aaahh, 1976.
LOL:


Wonder Woman!
Wonder Woman!



All the world is waiting for you

and the power you possess

In your satin tights

fighting for your rights

And the old red white and blue



At least there is some patriotism there.

Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 07:53 PM (8iiMU)

109 Pretentious steaming pile.

Posted by: Deacon Bleau at May 19, 2018 07:53 PM (yScAF)

110 Movies I saw this week:

"Darkworld" on Netflix. Not a bad horror movie, not great either.

"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." I saw it on the big screen, with a live Q&A with William Shatner afterwards. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. He is a great storyteller.

Posted by: josephistan at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (ANIFC)

111 Sara Carter is hot.

Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (e7oj4)

112 106 TJM, You've had a Kubrick kind of week.

I saw Full Metal Jacket in tne theater twice. I was so
blown away, I went back the next night and saw it again.

First half = micro level madness
Second half = macro level madness

The NVA demonstrated what they would do to the south if they won, and that is what they did.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 19, 2018 07:52 PM (EZebt)

====

I've been trying to read people who think the movie's great in order to see what I'm missing.

I haven't read anything to move me yet, but I'm still looking.

I really want to love it, I just don't yet.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (Jj43a)

113
I was just looking. With this royal wedding shit, as is tradition, the Queen gives a royal all sort of titles upon marriage. And Meghan gets em too.

So Meghan is now Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton, and Baroness Kilkeel. I like that. The Lady Kilkeel. Kate is the Lady Carrickfergus with here Irish title same thing. If I wuz here, I think I'd demand to be called the Lady Carrickfergus all the time.

That's England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. That's some big deal, got to get all three in there.

I'm only interested in the Duchess of plain Sex.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (8O3HH)

114 111 Sara Carter is hot.
Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (e7oj4)
------
*fistbump*

Posted by: Weasel at May 19, 2018 07:55 PM (MVjcR)

115 Westworld on hbo had a Kurtz "new narrative"

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:56 PM (PUmDY)

116 John Saxon just chloroformed Debra Winger and "20 Million Miles to Earth" is coming on Svengoolie. All this for free, right out of the air!

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:56 PM (UdKB7)

117 Conrad's novel has as its center feature the colonization of a civilization that's more primitive than the colonizers' homeland, and man's inhumanity to man. Civilizing brutes.

kurtz was treated like a godlike figure, wasn't he? I've never been able to finish the novel, or the film. seen the napalm in the morning and the Wagner scenes, but overheard the rest from somewhere else in the house, as i kept house, cooked, etc.

my take: Coppola borrowed Conrad's greatness trying to make artistic sense of Vietnam. I'm not sure the dots all connect. for me.

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 07:57 PM (uJ09Y)

118 Pretentious steaming pile.

Posted by: Deacon Bleau at May 19, 2018 07:53 PM (yScAF)


I saw them open for tUnE-yArDs at the 9:30 Club.

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at May 19, 2018 07:57 PM (sXefu)

119 The best theory I ever heard about Apocalypse Now was from John Nolte of Breitbart. I don't know if its his theory or one he heard about. Basically, Apocalypse Now is a retelling of Dante's Inferno. In the beginning of the movie, with The End hauntingly playing, Willard loses his mind. And then shoots himself. The rest of the movie is him descending into Hell, Dante style. With each part of the movie a further decent into Hell. Lots of holes in this theory but I still kind of like it.

Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 07:57 PM (pY+s4)

120 I think for Teddy?

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:57 PM (PUmDY)

121 Loved the original Apocalypse Now; hated Redux. Less is more.

Posted by: Toad-O at May 19, 2018 07:58 PM (cct0t)

122 A fat Marlon Brando?

The horror, the horror....

Posted by: Col. Kurtz at May 19, 2018 07:58 PM (7ThJ3)

123

Helicopters flying to the tune of "Kill the Wabbit"

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 19, 2018 07:59 PM (IqV8l)

124 Charlie can't meme.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at May 19, 2018 07:59 PM (rnAwa)

125 Just got done watching Valerian.

Horribly miscast.

Posted by: MAGA at May 19, 2018 07:59 PM (LnOh3)

126 Is the new ceasing any good?

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 07:59 PM (PUmDY)

127 >>> Willard loses his mind. And then shoots himself. The rest of the movie is him descending into Hell

**** SPOILER ****

A lot like Jacob's Ladder

Posted by: fluffy at May 19, 2018 07:59 PM (cHbmY)

128 I have a funny feeling in my chest...I think it's from being around all of these guns.

Posted by: Marin Sheene at May 19, 2018 08:00 PM (7ThJ3)

129 Kate is the Lady Carrickfergus with here Irish title same thing. If I wuz here, I think I'd demand to be called the Lady Carrickfergus all the time.



Did they play Carrickfergus for her?

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only for nights in Ballygrand

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:00 PM (SiINZ)

130 As TJM's list gets shorter I'm wondering which Bruce Lee movies is it that's in the top 5?

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:00 PM (UdKB7)

131 116
John Saxon just chloroformed Debra Winger and "20 Million Miles to
Earth" is coming on Svengoolie. All this for free, right out of the air!

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:56 PM (UdKB7)

And, 20 million miles to Earth is like, only 1/5 the way to the sun.....

Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 08:01 PM (8iiMU)

132 Season

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 08:01 PM (PUmDY)

133 Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 07:57 PM (uJ09Y)

--Heart of Darknaess was more a novella than novel.

It fit quite snugly in my ~1,100 page reader for AP English, Literature and the Writing Process.

Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 08:02 PM (e7oj4)

134 "And, 20 million miles to Earth is like, only 1/5 the way to the sun....."

Those are, um, Venusian miles.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:02 PM (UdKB7)

135 It has been over a decade since I watched it, but as Willard looks through Kurtz's things he finds a book called the Golden Bough. It is a huge book about the common strains of magic and superstition in primitive cultures and how it relates to the temple of Diane in Rome where a priest king would rule until he was sacrificed by the succeeding priest king. Obviously, Willard sacrifices Kurtz, and the natives accept him as the successor, but Willard rejects the priest-kingship. Heavy stuff...

Posted by: tommylotto at May 19, 2018 08:02 PM (WqpA2)

136 Hey I lean!

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:02 PM (UdKB7)

137 Where's Kate Winslet? That thing is sinking.



Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 08:03 PM (8iiMU)

Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 08:03 PM (e7oj4)

139 127: I loved Jacob's Ladder!! Underrated.

Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 08:03 PM (pY+s4)

140 Hi, Barrel.

Posted by: logprof at May 19, 2018 08:03 PM (e7oj4)

141 A book which should be made into a movie is "Whistle" by James Jones.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 08:04 PM (EoRCO)

142 John Saxon just chloroformed Debra Winger and "20 Million Miles to Earth" is coming on Svengoolie. All this for free, right out of the air!

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 07:56 PM (UdKB7)



The stuff on the retro stations is much better than the modern swill

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:04 PM (SiINZ)

143 My my bye bye logprof. Don't forget your full body condom.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:04 PM (UdKB7)

144
The horror... the... BARREL...

Posted by: Zombie Marlon Brando at May 19, 2018 08:04 PM (EzdLW)

145 I see that Fantom Events is showing June 11th a director's cut of Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 08:05 PM (J70i0)

146 Not a lot of people know this, but Apocalypse Now was actually based on the Joseph Conrad novel Moby-Dick.

-
So that's why Brando was a great white whale.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:06 PM (+y/Ru)

147 As TJM's list gets shorter I'm wondering which Bruce Lee movies is it that's in the top 5?

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:00 PM (UdKB7)


Return of the Dragon is my favorite.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 08:06 PM (uSurQ)

148 Conrad's story is about Kurtz, an isolated man who who goes mad in the jungle. It takes place in the colonial Belgian Congo.
I didn't serve in Vietnam, so I can't address the authenticity of the film, but I have been in the jungles of Zaire (the Congo). The movie does capture the atmosphere of oppressive isolation one feels after a few weeks. I liked the movie, but don't really care to watch it very often.

Posted by: Raven One at May 19, 2018 08:06 PM (qSnW8)

149 I love the smell of the Barrel in the morning

Posted by: Col. Kilgore at May 19, 2018 08:06 PM (EzdLW)

150 Annosaurus Wrecks @ 146- Great White Whale?It was all that butter. And probably coconuit oil.

Posted by: Eromero at May 19, 2018 08:07 PM (zLDYs)

151 "Return of the Dragon is my favorite"

I'm hoping TJM says" All of them".

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:08 PM (UdKB7)

152 The stuff on the retro stations is much better than the modern swill

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:04 PM (SiINZ)


Indeed! I was mesmerized by this scene, for the athleticism and the boobehs, but mostly for the boobehs. And, the young Debra Winger was cute.

https://youtu.be/WiriW2qX-Vc

Yeah, yeah, it's dubbed in Spanish, but does that really matter?





Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 08:09 PM (8iiMU)

153 They're chicken-fuckers, sent by pussies, to collect a Bill. No wonder I lost.

Posted by: colonel hillary shartz at May 19, 2018 08:10 PM (Evws/)

154
I see that Fantom Events is showing June 11th a director's cut of Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks.
Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist


Does that mean it's even longer than the original long long long version?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 19, 2018 08:10 PM (IqV8l)

155 logprof, lol.

does the piece's length bear at all on the themes I mentioned?


oh, sorry; how long do you have to stay in that barrel?
do you have internet there?

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 08:10 PM (uJ09Y)

156 I loved Jacob's Ladder!! Underrated.
Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 08:03 PM (pY+s4)


It's one of my top five ever. In any category.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:10 PM (y87Qq)

157 I generally prefer the "director's cuts" over the theatrical versions of films, but Redux is one of the few exceptions. It improves nothing and, in some places, causes regressions--most notably with the aforementioned Kilgore scene.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at May 19, 2018 07:27 PM (NL6wI)

++++

The extra Playmate scenes were a definite improvement. Only a heartless Soviet commie could think otherwise.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 08:11 PM (pvjTE)

158 Indeed! I was mesmerized by this scene, for the athleticism and the boobehs, but mostly for the boobehs. And, the young Debra Winger was cute.

https://youtu.be/WiriW2qX-Vc

Yeah, yeah, it's dubbed in Spanish, but does that really matter?


Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at May 19, 2018 08:09 PM (8iiMU)



Zounds, what...

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:11 PM (SiINZ)

159

"Apocalypse Now"!

I love that mooooooooooooovie!



Posted by: Apocalypse Cow at May 19, 2018 08:11 PM (ZSkht)

160 But I love 'Pork Lips Now.'
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 19, 2018 07:12 PM (oVJmc)
----

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ciu-ZxxnVI

It is genius.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:12 PM (qJtVm)

161 The new version of "Fahrenheit 451" looks like they didn't quite get the tone and story right for today's audience.

But, I'll watch it anyway to see.

Obviously, today's Firemen are Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. who bury info and/or books with the click of a mouse.

They should be called "Grave Diggers".

Not so cinematic though.


The old version of F451 is available at, of all places, Walmart even as we speak.

Though slow, it's quite good in it's dystopian depiction of how grey and dead life become when you try to smother out all controversy and emotionally upsetting viewpoints.

Yep. once again, the Left had taken a dystopian novel as a blueprint.

Strong script. Great acting. Nice directing by Truffaut. Bonus! Young Julie Christie.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 19, 2018 08:12 PM (ZSkht)

162 "do you have internet there"

AOL dialup with a 300 baud acoustic modem.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:12 PM (UdKB7)

163 That Rolls is awesome.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 08:12 PM (PUmDY)

164 Does that mean it's even longer than the original long long long version?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 19, 2018 08:10 PM (IqV8l)

Sorry Fathom Events.

It's listed as 1:50 running time.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 19, 2018 08:13 PM (J70i0)

165 Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:08 PM (UdKB7)

I just watched two of the movies about Bruce Lee (Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story - an older one - and Birth of the Dragon) and thought they were pretty good (though they each painted a different Bruce Lee).

Then I just watched some of the Ip Man movies (which I always read with an internet accent - I.P. Man ...) and thought they were fun. He was Bruce Lee's teacher, they say.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at May 19, 2018 08:13 PM (uSurQ)

166
Are you sure you are not Ann Althouse?

Posted by: NCC at May 19, 2018 07:49 PM (c1ah2)


She should drop the banhammer on half her regular commenters, but the only time she does is when they attack her.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 19, 2018 08:14 PM (vWLQZ)

167 You watch two movies a day? I can't even.

Posted by: Wenda (sic) at May 19, 2018 08:14 PM (Kr0FZ)

168 @110 --

Ever since the Priceline ads, I have the feeling that Shatner is one of the most satisfied people in the entertainment business.

Is he still making those? We cut cable three years ago.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 19, 2018 08:14 PM (a4DII)

169 The longest version of AN is way too long. If you are going to keep the French plantation scenes in, you should cut the Playboy Bunny parts.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 19, 2018 08:14 PM (yQpMk)

170 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:12 PM (qJtVm)

o_O

where did you even come from

I was just wondering how you'd managed to miss a chess/dress thread.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:15 PM (y87Qq)

171 Conrad's novel has as its center feature the colonization of a civilization that's more primitive than the colonizers' homeland, and man's inhumanity to man. Civilizing brutes.

-
I saw a "small" movie with a similar theme some time ago whose name I can't recall (although I think it had primitive or savage or some such in the title). I was about a middle to lower middle class student scholar studying a tribe of stone age people and their barbaric ways who is invited into the home of an upper class family. It contrasted the unsophisticated savagery of the stone age with the sophisticated, but just as savage, savagery of the upper class. Wish I could remember the name.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:15 PM (+y/Ru)

172 167 You watch two movies a day? I can't even.
Posted by: Wenda (sic) at May 19, 2018 08:14 PM (Kr0FZ)

======

I worked from home this week and Dolley was out of town, so I had plenty of opportunity.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:16 PM (Jj43a)

173 You CAN NOT cut the dancing cowgirl bunny scene. That would be like erasing a part of my history.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 08:17 PM (UdKB7)

174 Kurtz's madness wasn't madness, it was a rejection of all morality.
-------

I wonder if 'rejection' is the right word.

Do psychopaths and sociopaths willfully reject morality, or is it simply an unconscious absence of that? I mean, they might well be absent any ability to feel genuine (as opposed to feigned) empathy/sympathy

By way of example, we know that many high IQ (and possibly low IQ) people are wired differently than people in the middle of the curve. It seems possible that if they regard morality at all, it might be just as a curious trait of other people.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 19, 2018 08:17 PM (QxXRY)

175 I loved Jacob's Ladder!! Underrated.


Yes! Though I still don't know for sure what is happening in the movie. Is it is a fever dream of man dying and trying to make sense of his own passing?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 19, 2018 08:17 PM (yQpMk)

176 The best theory I ever heard about Apocalypse Now was from John Nolte of
Breitbart. I don't know if its his theory or one he heard about.
Basically, Apocalypse Now is a retelling of Dante's Inferno.
Eh, for me not a strong correlation to Inferno.
But I do think it is instructive to remember the 8th circle of hell is for those guilty of Fraud. Panderers, liars and thieves. Hillary, Bill - I'm looking at you.
And the 9th circle is for betrayers and treachery. Obama, Brutus and most of our Senators.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 19, 2018 08:18 PM (9rIkM)

177 Yes! Though I still don't know for sure what is happening in the movie. Is it is a fever dream of man dying and trying to make sense of his own passing?
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 19, 2018 08:17 PM (yQpMk)


It's all right here, everything you need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA4WrejvOHo

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:19 PM (y87Qq)

178 AOL dialup with a 300 baud acoustic modem.
Posted by: f'd
------------

That sounds like...I dunno...the 50's or something.

Posted by: A Millenial at May 19, 2018 08:20 PM (QxXRY)

179 "It seems possible that if they regard morality at all, it might be just as a curious trait of other people."

*** raises eyebrow ***

Posted by: Mr Spock at May 19, 2018 08:20 PM (UdKB7)

180 Full Metal Jacket (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) [Rewatch] "I've never quite understood the love for this movie. The first half is great, but the second half feels muddled."

++++

I'm going to quote you back at you (terribly unfair, I know).

"Another victim of 'not as good as the original' being equated with 'bad'."

Same thing, just applied to the two halves of the movie. Of course, the first half was exceptional. But, the second half was well done as well. The next phase of his life. Kind of a sequel to what happened in boot camp.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 08:20 PM (pvjTE)

181 where did you even come from

I was just wondering how you'd managed to miss a chess/dress thread.
Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:15 PM (y87Qq)
---
I've been visiting Dear Mater in Michigan. Just got back an hour or so ago.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:21 PM (qJtVm)

182 Lol, oh it's Charles

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at May 19, 2018 08:22 PM (PUmDY)

183 Everybody remembers "The Horror, the Horror", from Heart of Darkness, but the line of the dying Kurtz that really resonates with me was "Exterminate the brutes!"

Posted by: Toad-O at May 19, 2018 08:22 PM (cct0t)

184 The best theory I ever heard about Apocalypse Now was from John Nolte of Breitbart. I don't know if its his theory or one he heard about. Basically, Apocalypse Now is a retelling of Dante's Inferno.

-
I have a similar theory about the Obama administration.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:22 PM (+y/Ru)

185 Why's everyone talking about Debra Winger as Wonder Woman? What'd I miss?

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 08:23 PM (pvjTE)

186 180 Same thing, just applied to the two halves of the movie. Of course, the first half was exceptional. But, the second half was well done as well. The next phase of his life. Kind of a sequel to what happened in boot camp.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 08:20 PM (pvjTE)

======

I really want to like that second half, but I can't help but feeling like either there's no point at all, or the point is way too obvious.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:24 PM (Jj43a)

187
The Ugly American

Someone had to mention it.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 19, 2018 08:25 PM (w1zJX)

188 Debra Winger was Wonder Woman's little sister all growed up. And I mean GROWED.

Posted by: Mr Spock at May 19, 2018 08:25 PM (UdKB7)

189 Apocalypse Now is a great film - the one that allowed my father to talk about Vietnam.

Posted by: rammajamma at May 19, 2018 08:25 PM (xceTB)

190 Caught the last 2 minutes of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as I was flipping through the channels earlier. Mama Mia, at'sa great ending!

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 19, 2018 08:25 PM (w+Jhj)

191 It contrasted the unsophisticated savagery of the stone age with the sophisticated, but just as savage, savagery of the upper class.--Anonosaurus Wrecks


that's where the 'inhumanity to man' comes in. the Heart of Darkness may refer to many things, such as 'darkest Africa,' or human capacity for evil. You may know me, by now; I see the Bible in most things. there's a scripture that says something like

the heart of man is exceedingly wicked. Who can know it? in Conrad's work, Kurtz, the civilized, the native's idea of a divine being, was capable of callously pronouncing their death sentence: exterminate the brutes.

and then Apocolypse Now turns that on its head. that's where it lost me. as far as making sense.

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 08:25 PM (uJ09Y)

192 I saw Apocalypse Now at a matinee back in the early 70s.

I still remember walking out into the daylight afterwards and feeling like I'd been mugged. I don't think I'll watch it again.

Posted by: girldog at May 19, 2018 08:25 PM (g5YYQ)

193 Uh, sorry. I am half human you know.

Posted by: Mr Spock at May 19, 2018 08:26 PM (UdKB7)

194 TheJamesMadison'sPhone:

"The Thin Red Line is mine."

Wow. Not trolling here, I'm genuinely interested, because I hated that movie. No offense. I'm generally a war movie fan, and I was completely let down. Thought it was beyond boring when it wasn't completely fatuous. What made it your favorite?
Posted by: JPS at May 19, 2018 07:21 PM (9ziuC)

========

I'll do a post on it in a few months.

But, short hand, I love Terrence Malick.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 07:22 PM (Jj43a)



Terrence Malick found his technique in his second(?) movie, "Days of Heaven", a brilliant movie IMHO and well matched to the Malick technique.

So, once Malick found his technique, he was damn well going to use it in every fucking movie he made. Whether it fit the story or not.

Most often it doesn't fit.

Think of it this way...if Terrence Malick had used performing ducks as the characters in "Days of Heaven".

"The Thin Red Line" would've been about the Great Pacific War of the Mallards.

He's basically a one trick pony.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 19, 2018 08:26 PM (ZSkht)

195 I've been visiting Dear Mater in Michigan. Just got back an hour or so ago.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:21 PM (qJtVm)


Aw, nice. Lovely weather here right now. Fog and overcast is always calming.

We kept your side of the couch warm for you. There are some leftover tacos on the side table, you can pick off most of the cat hair.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:26 PM (y87Qq)

196 I worry that Chelsea might not understand what I've tried to be. And if I
were to be killed, Ace, I would want someone to go to my home and
tell my Chelsea everything. Everything I did, everything you saw, because
there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies. And if you
understand me, Ace, you will do this for me.

Posted by: colonel hillary shartz at May 19, 2018 08:26 PM (Evws/)

197 Asheville Robert - A good day to be on high ground, no?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 19, 2018 08:26 PM (w1zJX)

198 If you think Paths of Glory is about abuse of power (and I do), just take a gander at Breaker Morant, one of my favorites.

Also, Lightening up 3-1.

I'll be in the barrel watching Svengoolie.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 19, 2018 08:27 PM (+Tibp)

199 BTW: No love for The Green Berets with John Wayne?

Posted by: Toad-O at May 19, 2018 08:27 PM (cct0t)

200 Oops meant to say early 80s. Typo

Posted by: girldog at May 19, 2018 08:28 PM (g5YYQ)

201 Same thing, just applied to the two halves of the movie. Of course, the first half was exceptional. But, the second half was well done as well. The next phase of his life. Kind of a sequel to what happened in boot camp.

-
In my opinion, the second half informs the first half. They endure the first have so they have a reasonable chance of surviving the second half. Also, I think that it is very powerful when we find out that the commie monster who continues to shoot the wounded soldier in order to draw the others out is just a chick with an AK.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:28 PM (+y/Ru)

202 We kept your side of the couch warm for you. There are some leftover tacos on the side table, you can pick off most of the cat hair.
Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:26 PM (y87Qq)
----
One of these days we really need to do a MichiMoMee.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:28 PM (qJtVm)

203 what's the best Brosnan Bond movie?
Goldeneye?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 08:29 PM (hMwEB)

204 "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." I saw it on the big screen, with a live Q&A with William Shatner afterwards. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. He is a great storyteller.
Posted by: josephistan at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (ANIFC)

That sounds like a great time!

Posted by: Gem at May 19, 2018 08:29 PM (XoAz8)

205 You all came back, Why?

I differentiate war and westerners into two groups, hmmm where does that put samurai movies?

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (aC6Sd)

206 As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned. I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring.

Posted by: colonel hillary shartz at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (Evws/)

207
The Ugly American

Someone had to mention it.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc.
------------

I'll see your Ugly American, and raise you a Burmese Days.

Posted by: George Orwell at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (7Cr6v)

208 I really want to like that second half, but I can't help but feeling like either there's no point at all, or the point is way too obvious.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:24 PM (Jj43a)


If you're going to apply that standard, then, what's the point of the first half? It seems like you want to just say that you like the first half better - which is fair, because everyone else does too. Does it matter why?

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (y87Qq)

209 what's the best Brosnan Bond movie?
Goldeneye?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 08:29 PM (hMwEB)



D) None of the above

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (SiINZ)

210 I saw Apocalypse Now on like the second day after it had been released. This was back early in my somewhat misguided youth. Went with four peeps and we were extremely "baked" by the time we got there. I just remember it being three times as intense whilst...uh...in an altered state of consciousness. Me and my buds just kept looking at each other like "WTF? WTF?". Heh. Classic flick, no doubt.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 19, 2018 08:31 PM (Tyii7)

211 The longest version of AN is way too long. If you are going to keep the French plantation scenes in, you should cut the Playboy Bunny parts.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 19, 2018 08:14 PM (yQpMk)

There is a slender grain of truth there, however. As late as 1972-3, the VC were still collecting "taxes" from the French owned (Michelin?) plantations for protection.

Hell, the French are probably still paying them.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 08:31 PM (EoRCO)

212 One of these days we really need to do a MichiMoMee.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:28 PM (qJtVm)


Mikey NTH and I already grabbed lunch at Harrison Roadhouse a few weeks back.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:32 PM (y87Qq)

213 Where can a find a free place on line to watch movies.? Firestick took a crap.

Posted by: Infidel at May 19, 2018 08:32 PM (a3OL0)

214 "Asheville Robert - A good day to be on high ground, no?

Posted by: Mike Hammer"
I slept through most of it. The middle of the day turned out quite nice, then the thunderstorms came back.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (w+Jhj)

215 BTW: No love for The Green Berets with John Wayne?
Posted by: Toad-O

I hated all movies that showed Americans in a bad light as a kid. I love John Wayne and have a picture of him on my wall right now. I believe the Viet Nam War was moral.

But I can't stand this movie.

I'll be in the barrel.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (+Tibp)

216 D) None of the above
Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (SiINZ)

So picky
That's the answer someone gave me when I asked about Moore's best Bond movie too

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (hMwEB)

217 There is a slender grain of truth there, however. As late as 1972-3, the VC were still collecting "taxes" from the French owned (Michelin?) plantations for protection.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 08:31 PM (EoRCO)


Not entirely unrelated, has anyone else seen R-Point?

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (y87Qq)

218 We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig... cow after cow... village after village... army after army... bottle after bottle...

Posted by: colonel hillary shartz at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (Evws/)

219 If you think Paths of Glory is about abuse of power (and I do), just take a gander at Breaker Morant, one of my favorites.

-
In Paths of Glory, we all know that the accused are innocent. In Breaker Morant we don't know whether Breaker did what he was accused of let alone whether it was morally justified. Both are excellent movies.

Speaking of which, somebody ought to do a non-demoguic (is that a word?) movie about My Lai.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (+y/Ru)

220 208 If you're going to apply that standard, then, what's the point of the first half? It seems like you want to just say that you like the first half better - which is fair, because everyone else does too. Does it matter why?
Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:30 PM (y87Qq)

=====

So the point I read on the second half is the duality of man, as said by Private Joker.

If that's the case, then the second half feels unfocused and unconvincing. There's too much there that's going in random directions, especially the interview section.

Again, I'm open to it being a great movie that one just missed, but I need convincing first.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (Jj43a)

221 He best Brosnan movies go along with Moore's best Bond movies

None.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:34 PM (aC6Sd)

222 The Bond movie about the helicopter with the yoyo sawblade (stolen from Robert Moore in India thugee sawblade assassins). The yoyo sawblade was totally unbelievable, but movies have showed the helicopter main rotor blades chopping up stuff, too. I can tell you as a helicopter pilot that you DEFINITELY should not chop up shit with your rotors. Bad juju.

Posted by: Eromero at May 19, 2018 08:34 PM (zLDYs)

223 Posted by: josephistan at May 19, 2018 07:54 PM (ANIFC)

Whatever that show is where Shatner, Winkler, Bradshaw and Foreman travel abroad is a hilarious show. Shatner is truly a funny guy.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at May 19, 2018 08:34 PM (4Hf9E)

224 I just watched Danton on TCM on demand. Very interesting. Done by a Polish director during the time of the Solidarity movement. Two characters, Danton and Robspierre fighting to move the French Revolution. Lots of talking and conniving going on. I could just see the Left on Left eating each other to be more revolutionary than the other. Some of the same language used now is pretty haunting.

Posted by: Winston at May 19, 2018 08:34 PM (wgCUV)

225 as i think of apocalypse now i'm struck by how self-indulgent it is - not just copolla's overrun budget or the operatic histrionics (it's not really a war movie), but the nearly insulting moral self-indulgence that we're so important. the intellectual left elite specialized in that sort of thing.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 08:35 PM (Pg+x7)

226 Although Paths of Glory and Sand Pebbles are both excellent anti-war pics (both IMHO better than AN), my favorite war flick has Jack Hawkings, Michael Caine and Stanley Baker: Zulu. Spectacular movie. I'm also partial to the old "small team behind enemy lines" movies. For an uplifting one, try Guns of Navarone. For a totally cynical one, it's hard to beat Play Dirty.

For the most charming of all anti-war pics, it's hard to beat The Americanization of Emily with Julie Andrews and the late great James Garner, who also managed to steal The Great Escape from the overblown Steve McQueen.

However, I've always had a soft spot for submarine pictures, especially Das Boot, Destination Tokyo, Run Silent Run Deep, The Hunt for Red October and Up Periscope (not to be confused with the very funny Down Periscope).

But I'm totally a sucker for airwar movies, with The Blue Max, The Battle of Britain and 633 Squadron topping the list.

Posted by: MichiCanuck at May 19, 2018 08:35 PM (KguO5)

227 Posted by: Eromero at May 19, 2018 08:34 PM (zLDYs)

What do you fly?

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at May 19, 2018 08:36 PM (4Hf9E)

228 Mikey NTH and I already grabbed lunch at Harrison Roadhouse a few weeks back.
Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:32 PM (y87Qq)
----
I have never been to Lansing. Is it the Vegas of Michigan?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:36 PM (qJtVm)

229 I love Breaker Morant as well, AW has it correct.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:37 PM (aC6Sd)

230 225 Get over yourself dude

Posted by: rammajamma at May 19, 2018 08:37 PM (xceTB)

231 I really want to like that second half, but I can't help but feeling like either there's no point at all, or the point is way too obvious.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:24 PM (Jj43a)

++++

Louie CK does a bit about how you can't joke about rape. It's too awful. Then he turns it around and jokes about rape. And the audience laughs.

Kubrick wanted to do something similar. He wanted to make it the right thing to execute a little girl. Given the plot, it was the right thing to do.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 08:37 PM (pvjTE)

232 BTW: No love for The Green Berets with John Wayne?
Posted by: Toad-O at May 19, 2018 08:27 PM (cct0t)

I liked it. The assassination of the NVA General was a little hokey, but the fire base scenes and overrun were not far off base.

Plus Sulu going all Sat Cong is priceless.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 08:39 PM (EoRCO)

233 If Danton is on TCM on demand I want to see that tomorrow

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:39 PM (aC6Sd)

234 231
Kubrick wanted to do something similar. He wanted to make it the right thing to execute a little girl. Given the plot, it was the right thing to do.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 08:37 PM (pvjTE)

======

See, if that's the extent of it, then most of what the movie does doesn't really support that. There's too much else.

Plus, from what I know of Kubrick, I don't his intention was to say, "It's okay to kill girls sometimes." It was probably closer to, "War makes killers if us all."

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:40 PM (Jj43a)

235 If that's the case, then the second half feels unfocused and unconvincing. There's too much there that's going in random directions, especially the interview section.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (Jj43a)


It just doesn't focus as well as the first half because boot camp is stripped of distraction by comparison.

Rafterman is Joker's new Pyle. He doesn't ask for him, but he gets stuck with him and has to be his big gumpy Virgil. At the end of the 2nd half, Pyle/Rafterman shoots again, again sparing/saving Joker. Notice that these are the only times Joker is actually faced with personal mortal peril in the whole story.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:40 PM (y87Qq)

236 for me, what elevates paths of glory is the last scene of the woman singing in the cafe - the most powerful epilogue in film.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 08:41 PM (Pg+x7)

237 Danton will be on for another few days. It's a very good flick in my opinion. Humble as ever it is.

Posted by: Winston at May 19, 2018 08:41 PM (wgCUV)

238 Vanishing Point is on TCM late tonight. I've never seen it but I know it has a cult following.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 19, 2018 08:41 PM (+Tibp)

239 musical jolly chimp, you make a point I support; Apocalypse Now was trying to lump Vietnam in with the imperialism thing that the 60s revolutionaires were so against. That's it.

Where Conrad, i think, may have been discussing brutes like members of a certain gang currently in the news, when he said 'exterminate the brutes' Coppola was attempting to say we America wanted to conquer the Vietnamese, that we were imperialist, when I believe we were trying to keep it free from communism.

Right?

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 08:41 PM (uJ09Y)

240 224 I just watched Danton on TCM on demand. Very interesting. Done by a Polish director during the time of the Solidarity movement. Two characters, Danton and Robspierre fighting to move the French Revolution. Lots of talking and conniving going on. I could just see the Left on Left eating each other to be more revolutionary than the other. Some of the same language used now is pretty haunting.
Posted by: Winston at May 19, 2018 08:34 PM (wgCUV)

======

I added it to my queue because I remembered seeing snippets of it in high school on TV.

It's the movie I'm most looking forward to.

As I told my mother yesterday, I've seen Danton and any movie coming out this summer the same number of times, and I'm more excited about Danton. Is that wrong?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:41 PM (Jj43a)

241 ... itt brings home the humanity of the soldiers and the tragedy of war - just gut-wrenching.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 08:42 PM (Pg+x7)

242 CrochetyOldJarhead @ 227- All recip, no turbines, back in the 70's. Mostly Hughes 269/300's (think TH55) and Bell 47's. Low and fast over cotton, the most blade-choppingest fun you can have with your clothes on.

Posted by: Eromero at May 19, 2018 08:42 PM (zLDYs)

243 I agree the movie is visually stunning. But by the time it came along I was too cynical about Nam and the criminal way the vets were treated and portrayed in media. I could not stand it. I sat through the whole thing and wasn't the only one leaving who looked disgusted. I can't even imagine the reactions from the Vets if they watched it.

Posted by: JTB at May 19, 2018 08:42 PM (V+03K)

244 Battle of Britain has to be the absolute best non computer generated movie, they did in air war what no one even in the early 60's could do with ground war machines.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:42 PM (aC6Sd)

245 I have never been to Lansing. Is it the Vegas of Michigan?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 19, 2018 08:36 PM (qJtVm)


Not by any definition, no. Unless saying yes will get all the Michimorons to come here so I can just walk down the street to the meetup in which case... yes.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:43 PM (y87Qq)

246 235
It just doesn't focus as well as the first half because boot camp is stripped of distraction by comparison.

Rafterman is Joker's new Pyle. He doesn't ask for him, but he gets stuck with him and has to be his big gumpy Virgil. At the end of the 2nd half, Pyle/Rafterman shoots again, again sparing/saving Joker. Notice that these are the only times Joker is actually faced with personal mortal peril in the whole story.
Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:40 PM (y87Qq)

====

That's an interesting way to look at it.

I'll have to consider that structural element the next time I watch it.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:43 PM (Jj43a)

247 236 for me, what elevates paths of glory is the last scene of the woman singing in the cafe - the most powerful epilogue in film.
Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 08:41 PM (Pg+x7)

=====

I've seen the movie a few times, and I was still almost in tears in that scene.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:44 PM (Jj43a)

248 I love Vanishing Point, probably seen it a half dozen times since being a teenager.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:44 PM (aC6Sd)

249 Not entirely unrelated, has anyone else seen R-Point?
Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (y87Qq)

No.....I will check it out though, thanks!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 08:45 PM (EoRCO)

250 Abuse of power? I'm reminded of 'The Hill'. Sean Connery, et al.

Trailer - http://tinyurl.com/y7w78bx2

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 19, 2018 08:45 PM (y3sT9)

251 Deadpool 2 was a bit of a disappointment.

I concur. I'd add that it also ripped the plot from 'Looper'.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 19, 2018 08:46 PM (6FqZa)

252 218
We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig... cow after
cow... village after village... army after army... bottle after
bottle...


Posted by: colonel hillary shartz at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (Evws/)

I'm workin' on it!

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 19, 2018 08:46 PM (aljs9)

253 wow, Vanishing Point has Delaney and Bonnie in it. cool beans

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 08:46 PM (uJ09Y)

254 Come to Boulder! It's the most moron-friendly city in Colorado!!1

Oh wait, I meant, the most idiotic

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (6FqZa)

255 Going lights out in 4 minutes

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (aC6Sd)

256 I'd be interested in anyone else's take on Danton. I'm usually not a movie guy but this one caught my attention since the French Revolution went so bad so quickly for them.
It's in French but the subtitles are well done and, at least for me, since my French sucks, not very intrusive.

Posted by: Winston at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (wgCUV)

257 Coppola was attempting to say we America wanted to conquer the Vietnamese, that we were imperialist, when I believe we were trying to keep it free from communism.

Right?
Posted by: booknlass

I personally think LBJ escalated Vietnam to appear to be a Red fighter while implementing Commie Lite domestic policies. He wasn't fighting to win, just a cynical ploy for power.

Posted by: zombie Vince Foster at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (sBHZx)

258 12
I'm a whipper snapper. But had a neighbor who was an Army Vietnam
veteran. Anyway, we used to get together and watch movies on the
weekends. One time we watched "Apocolypse Now" (on VHS). After it was
over, he said to me "That's exactly what it was like".


Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at May 19, 2018 07:16 PM (sXefu)
________________________________________________________
My dad was there in 67 and he absolutely HATED Apocalypse now. Said the exact opposite of your neighbor.

Posted by: elliot at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (D+Jl9)

259 242>> The 269 is a sporty little recip. I've flown it a few times, but only in the pattern for post maintenance checks. You couldn't pay me enough to spray bugs.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at May 19, 2018 08:48 PM (4Hf9E)

260 I love Vanishing Point, probably seen it a half dozen times since being a teenager.

-
It was filmed around my home town back in the days when I was a stinking hippy. Some of the stinking hippy I hung with were extras in the movie.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:49 PM (+y/Ru)

261 Abuse of power? I'm reminded of 'The Hill'. Sean Connery, et al.
Trailer - http://tinyurl.com/y7w78bx2
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 19, 2018 08:45 PM (y3sT9)

Great film....especially when Ossie Davis "quits" the Army.

"What? I suppose you want me to wear a top hat and stick a bone through me nose?".....

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 08:49 PM (EoRCO)

262 253 wow, Vanishing Point has Delaney and Bonnie in it. cool beans
Posted by: booknlass



I saw Bonnie Bramlett's kid (Bekka) when she was singing with Fleetwood Mac in the mid 90s. They were touring for there 'Time' album. She was quite cute and a damn good singer. I think she was temporarily taking Stevie Nicks spot.

Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 08:50 PM (pY+s4)

263 So picky
That's the answer someone gave me when I asked about Moore's best Bond movie too

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 08:33 PM (hMwEB)


Roger had some good ones, Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy.
Brosnan could have been a good Bond, but the stories were a waste of time

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:50 PM (SiINZ)

264 Back when SNL was funny, Martin Sheen did an A.N. cold open.

I can't seem to find it on video, just the transcript

Josh, every man has his breaking point -- Coppola's reached his. His ideas and methods are... well, they're unsound. He's out there on location, operating without ANY human restraint. Your job is to go to the Phillippines, find Coppola, and TERMINATE production of this film.


http://bit.ly/2IRHNmW

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 19, 2018 08:50 PM (yQpMk)

265 Abuse of power? I'm reminded of 'The Hill'. Sean Connery, et al.

-
That's a lean and powerful movie.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:51 PM (+y/Ru)

266 About once a year, TCM will run a Japanese movie called The Grass Harp. It was filmed not long after the end of the war and the vibe I get is that it is not so much an anti-war movie, but tells its Japanese audience that they should welcome back and respect the soldiers that suffered in the war.

There's a scene where the Jap POWs and British guards sing (in their own languages) Be it Ever So Humble There's No Place Like Home, which I always thought was a hopelessly sentimental joke, but actually chokes me up a bit in the film.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 19, 2018 08:51 PM (+Tibp)

267 /off suspicious Arkanside sock

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 08:51 PM (sBHZx)

268 I think you're reading too much into the meaning of Apocalypse Now. Coppola was trying to merge Heart of Darkness, a commentary on the morality of war and the men that fight it, and his own visions of internal conflict in the soul. But, he didn't really have a complete script. He was running out of time and money in the Philippines and he threw together the end, with ad libbed dialogue by the actors, especially Dennis Hopper. The fact that it worked is a testament to how important the editing process is. But, I agree, it is one of the all-time greats.

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (9BLnV)

269 Back when SNL was funny, Martin Sheen did an A.N. cold open.


IIRC, it was a running theme through the whole show...

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (oVJmc)

270 Every time I am laying under the ceiling fan in the summer I steal the line.

I asked for a mission, and for my sins they gave me one.



Good night all.

Posted by: Skip at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (aC6Sd)

271 So, no love for Lolita?

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (0s3bJ)

272 264 Back when SNL was funny, Martin Sheen did an A.N. cold open.

I can't seem to find it on video, just the transcript

Josh, every man has his breaking point -- Coppola's reached his. His ideas and methods are... well, they're unsound. He's out there on location, operating without ANY human restraint. Your job is to go to the Phillippines, find Coppola, and TERMINATE production of this film.


http://bit.ly/2IRHNmW

Posted by: Grump928(C) at May 19, 2018 08:50 PM (yQpMk)

=====

Reminds me of an Animaniacs episode that did essentially the same thing.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (Jj43a)

273 Come to Boulder! It's the most moron-friendly city in Colorado!!1

Oh wait, I meant, the most idiotic

-
Didn't you peace and live monkeys just ban all firearms?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 08:53 PM (+y/Ru)

274 Conrad's story is about Kurtz, an isolated man who who goes mad in the jungle. It takes place in the colonial Belgian Congo.

I didn't serve in Vietnam, so I can't address the authenticity of
the film, but I have been in the jungles of Zaire (the Congo). The movie
does capture the atmosphere of oppressive isolation one feels after a
few weeks. I liked the movie, but don't really care to watch it very
often.
Posted by: Raven One at May 19, 2018 08:06 PM (qSnW


Belgium's Congo was administered like a Haitian slave plantation, and this was official policy. (ammunition was issued to colonial troops, and if it were fired, the soldier had to prove it was for reason: they were required to bring in the hand of the native they shot, which were cured over a smoky fire for transport.)

The Kurtz character was not driven mad by the jungle, he made a moral decision. He could be human and listen to the morals and rules of civilized society, or he could do his job which was following the dictates of his civilized and cultured society in the only manner that was open to him, given the time, place and demands put on him.

This was the whole point of Col. Kurtz in AN: He had a job he was told was essential, and then had to choose to be fenced in by the rules that kept him from being effective in the face of brutality, or he could become a monster without boundaries and without limits.

Add to this that he would be called a monster either way, and he expressed as much, as did willard.

Isn't this also the subtext for HAL as well?

Posted by: Kindltot at May 19, 2018 08:53 PM (2K6fY)

275 271 So, no love for Lolita?
Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (0s3bJ)

=====

Did that blurb last week.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:53 PM (Jj43a)

276 257 Commie Lite domestic policies. not only LBJ though.

if my history studies are accurate those policies originated in Johnson's Congress, as well.

war waged by Congress instead of Generals.

commie lite is a good name for it.

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 08:53 PM (uJ09Y)

277 Anonosaurus Wrecks: the city council did. I was out this afternoon at a 2A rally in Longmont.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 19, 2018 08:54 PM (6FqZa)

278 For what its worth, he said Hamburger Hill was the most realistic, and he liked the scene in We Were Soldiers where you first see Sgt Plumley. He (my dad) said he was a young Sgt in the 101st and there were senior NCOs like Plumley who had multiple stars on their jump wings from WWII and Korea. They were intimidating as hell to the young paratroopers.

Posted by: elliot at May 19, 2018 08:54 PM (D+Jl9)

279 So, no love for Lolita?

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (0s3bJ)



=====



Did that blurb last week.


Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:53
---

Ah, I see. I was vacationing in the Great White North at the time.

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 08:55 PM (0s3bJ)

280 I personally think LBJ escalated Vietnam to appear to be a Red fighter while implementing Commie Lite domestic policies. He wasn't fighting to win, just a cynical ploy for power.

Posted by: zombie Vince Foster at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (sBHZx)



LBJ is in the running for the worst and most destructive to the country president we've ever had. It's a pity the bastard has so much competition for that title

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:55 PM (SiINZ)

281 The Comedy of Terrors just came on channel 3. Comet. All the greats Price, Lorre, Rathbone, Karloff.


Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 19, 2018 08:56 PM (aljs9)

282 And some chick with BOOBIES!

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 19, 2018 08:57 PM (aljs9)

283 279 Ah, I see. I was vacationing in the Great White North at the time.
Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 08:55 PM (0s3bJ)

=====

I know some people love Lolita, but I merely like it. It's good, not great in my mind.

Felt more like a reaction to what he had to contend with in Spartacus than a work of art on its own.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:58 PM (Jj43a)

284 So, no love for Lolita?

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 08:52 PM (0s3bJ)



Yes, but not until she's of age

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 08:58 PM (SiINZ)

285 I must have been pretty shallow in my misguided youth. I took AN for what it was - a movie. It certainly didn't change my views on Vietnam, nor my unwavering support for those who served. I guess I've never let fantasy influence my reality. Just sayin'.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 19, 2018 08:58 PM (Tyii7)

286 I didn't know Brando was supposed to show up lean and mean. I just always took it as his madness is so acute and has reached its final stages that he's physically deteriorated because of it.

I've seen the longer version of the film and liked it, but the cuts they made definitely helped the movie. The plantation scene, while interesting, does bog things down a bit.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at May 19, 2018 08:59 PM (4ErVI)

287 Well, C-O-J, bugs just need killing sometimes. If we didn't kill them they'd eat all the cotton (no levi's) and soybeans (no starbucks). Wait a damn minute, I don't use either of those things so why should I care? Anyway, killed my last bugs over 40 years ago.

Posted by: Eromero at May 19, 2018 08:59 PM (zLDYs)

288 what kind of car is the guy driving in Vanishing point? it looks like a Torino

Posted by: booknlass at May 19, 2018 09:00 PM (uJ09Y)

289 Anyway, killed my last bugs over 40 years ago.
Posted by: Eromero

He's done his part to end the bug menace.
Have you?

Posted by: Alex Trebec at May 19, 2018 09:01 PM (sBHZx)

290 He's done his part to end the bug menace.
Have you?
Posted by: Alex Trebec at May 19, 2018 09:01 PM (sBHZx)


*desire to know more intensifies*

Posted by: hogmartin at May 19, 2018 09:03 PM (y87Qq)

291 My dad was there in 67 and he absolutely HATED Apocalypse now. Said the exact opposite of your neighbor.


Posted by: elliot at May 19, 2018 08:47 PM (D+Jl9)


He was a cool guy, but a little kooky. He had this hippie girlfriend that ran off with another guy. The last he heard she was in LA, so he packed up all her stuff, wrote her name and the address of the Los Angeles city hall on the box, and mailed it.

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at May 19, 2018 09:04 PM (sXefu)

292 If that's the case, then the second half feels unfocused and unconvincing.

-
I suspect that a part of the reason the second half feels unfocused is that Kubrick was attempting to avoid the trap that some great Frog director (Truffaut?) warned about. He (whoever the hell he was) said it was impossible to make an anti-war movie because if you show the horror you cannot avoid showing the grandeur. Like The Ride of the Valkyries scene in Apocalypse Now. Sign me up! I wanna ride in on helicopters and blow shit up!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 09:04 PM (+y/Ru)

293 I heard an interesting movie-related factoid today. I had a conversation today with a guy who once interviewed John? Gresham, who was the son of C.S. Lewis's wife Joy.
According to Gresham Debra Winger, who played Joy in the movie Shadowlands, was the spitting image of his mother,.
There was a time I quite liked Winger. IIRC she had a little scar on her cheek that drew my eye.

Posted by: Northernlurker lighter less filing at May 19, 2018 09:04 PM (eAMlh)

294 He's done his part to end the bug menace.
Have you?
Posted by: Alex Trebec

Do you want to know more?

Posted by: Johnny Rico at May 19, 2018 09:06 PM (+Tibp)

295
I know some people love Lolita, but I merely like it. It's good, not great in my mind.

I went through a Nabokov phase.

Posted by: Northernlurker lighter less filing at May 19, 2018 09:06 PM (eAMlh)

296 273 Come to Boulder! It's the most moron-friendly city in Colorado!!1

Oh wait, I meant, the most idiotic

-
Didn't you peace and live monkeys just ban all firearms?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler



To be fair, I don't want live monkeys using firearms either. Did you not see the Planet of the Apes? Dead monkeys are not a threat. Well disease but otherwise....

Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 09:06 PM (pY+s4)

297 If you gave an infinite number of hand guns to an infinite number of monkeys would there eventually be only one monkey left?

Posted by: Mr Spock at May 19, 2018 09:08 PM (UdKB7)

298 Come to Boulder! It's the most moron-friendly city in Colorado!!1

Oh wait, I meant, the most idiotic

I was in Golden last weekend for my son's graduation. I got a little wistful since I don't know that I'll ever visit it again. I really got to know it over the last four years.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 19, 2018 09:08 PM (+Tibp)

299
To be fair, I don't want live monkeys using firearms either. Did you not see the Planet of the Apes? Dead monkeys are not a threat. Well disease but otherwise....
Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 09:06 PM (pY+s4)

Dorothy would never have made it back to Kansas if the flying monkeys had firearms.

Posted by: Northernlurker lighter less filing at May 19, 2018 09:08 PM (eAMlh)

300 I went through a Nabokov phase.

Posted by: Northernlurker lighter less filing at May 19, 2018 09:06 PM (eAMlh)


Too old.

Posted by: Harry Reid at May 19, 2018 09:09 PM (sXefu)

301 I suspect that a part of the reason the second half feels unfocused is that Kubrick was attempting to avoid the trap that some great Frog director (Truffaut?) warned about. He (whoever the hell he was) said it was impossible to make an anti-war movie because if you show the horror you cannot avoid showing the grandeur. Like The Ride of the Valkyries scene in Apocalypse Now. Sign me up! I wanna ride in on helicopters and blow shit up!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler

They did the same thing with Patton. They tried to make an anti-war film painting Patton as a warmongering psycho, but all they did was make people say "That guy was fucking awesome!"

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:09 PM (sBHZx)

302
32 Apocalypse Now I have seen in fragments but have never evinced any strong desire to actually see the whole movie because it's not really about what happened and more about the time frame it was released. Movies from that era like The Deer Hunter had already colored the cynical prism I view movies about Viet Nam. Just as I can't remember a single scene from Platoon except the F-5s dropping nape and wondering if the pilots could take out the film crew also.
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 19, 2018 07:24 PM (MMrzc)

Thank you Anna. Well said. AN also contributed a lot to the perception that all Vietnam vets were kill-crazy and should be shunned.

Posted by: Soona at May 19, 2018 09:11 PM (qj1RH)

303 Ah, I see. I was vacationing in the Great White North at the time.
Posted by: shibumi

Oh really?

Take off, you hoser!

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....outlaw in America at May 19, 2018 09:12 PM (S6Pax)

304 I know some people love Lolita, but I merely like it. It's good, not great in my mind.



Felt more like a reaction to what he had to contend with in Spartacus than a work of art on its own.


Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:58 PM
--

I thought it was an interesting character study of both Humbert and Lolita.

By the end, I did feel sympathy for him, although, in reality, he was a pedophile. I do think that Kubrick downplayed the age thing-- IIRC, Lolita was younger in the book, but made to look older in the movie.

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 09:13 PM (0s3bJ)

305 Like The Ride of the Valkyries scene in Apocalypse Now. Sign me up! I wanna ride in on helicopters and blow shit up!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler



Yup, now I have to go watch that scene again

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 09:13 PM (SiINZ)

306 I think Apocalypse Now Is a great film. I basically agree with TJM's take. As far as it being a "realistic portrayal" of Vietnam, you will never get agreement from people on that. There were many "Vietnams". For example, the experiences, and more importantly the memories of career military early in the war vs draftees later in the war are not going to be the same.

If one guy says in his Vietnam no one smoked pot and all were into the mission, he is accurate. When another guy says everyone one smoked pot and and they were at each other's throats, well, ok,

I consider Apocalypse Now to be an allegory, a story that happened to be set in Vietnam. But Coppola famously said otherwise, he said his story "WAS Vietnam". Then again, how would he know?
Anyway, it is a good flick. And no doubt the source material from Conrad played a big part in that. Just read it and you will see.

Posted by: Quint at May 19, 2018 09:13 PM (n13/j)

307 Uh oh. They've figured us out.

Matt Walton
@themattwalton
You know what benefits from school shootings?

The home school movement.

You know what benefits from the home school movement?

Ignorance.

You know what benefits from ignorance?#Republicanism.

You know what benefits from Republicanism?

The #NRA.

See it now?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 09:14 PM (+y/Ru)

308 "war is senseless"
War makes perfect sense to F'n Communists. In fact, nothing else makes sense, except war.

Posted by: Burger Chef at May 19, 2018 09:16 PM (RuIsu)

309 274 kindtot:

maybe that's my problem with a.n. - to conflate the brutality of war, even vietnam at its worst, with the horrors of the belgian occupation of congo - where slaughter and slavery were policyes - is wrong.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 09:17 PM (Pg+x7)

310 I know some people love Lolita, but I merely like it. It's good, not great in my mind.

Felt more like a reaction to what he had to contend with in Spartacus than a work of art on its own.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 08:58 PM (Jj43a)

++++

I had a discussion with a middle-aged woman who hated that movie. She didn't care for Kubrick at all. Thought he had a bias against middle-aged women. She pointed to the bobble-headed knick knack behind Shelly Winters as she was first showing James Mason her home. She said it demonstrated that Kubrick thought that all middle-aged women, not just that one character but all of them, were silly.

I think sometimes people over-interpret movies.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 09:17 PM (pvjTE)

311 Someone may have already said this, but-

The reason "Full Metal Jacket" works as a whole is that-

The First Part shows what it takes to convert American teens into "killers" to fight in Vietnam

The Second Part functions as a demonstration why Americans will lose in Vietnam. Their greatest adversary in the movie is a young woman. Nobody had to convert her into a killer to fight for her homeland.

That's the meaning of the "Mickey Mouse" song at the end. In the end, these are just American kids. Unserious American kids.


Yeah, it's Anti-war and Anti-American but what else is new.

Still, a great movie to watch.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 19, 2018 09:17 PM (9q7Dl)

312 My Dad died three years ago on my birthday. It was hard. Mom met a guy from her childhood that seemed pretty cool. The other day he asked her if we really knew what the NRA was about. My brothers and I are Benefactor members. I don't think I am looking at a wedding for them. I hope she finds someone that works.

Posted by: Nobody in particular at May 19, 2018 09:18 PM (PU2XV)

313 Are we having dessert tonight?

Posted by: gNewt at May 19, 2018 09:18 PM (NY0r1)

314 Ooh, movie thread.

I saw "The Commuter" with Liam Neeson on PPV last week. Really good flick, and not at all "Taken on a train" like the trailers made it look like. It's much more suspense/thriller with a little bit of mystery than it action (although there is some), and it suits him better at his age.

Posted by: Ian S. at May 19, 2018 09:18 PM (gm9yG)

315 They did the same thing with Patton. They tried to make an anti-war film painting Patton as a warmongering psycho, but all they did was make people say "That guy was fucking awesome!"
Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable

As anti-war as "The Americanization of Emily" was (and it was very funny), even in the end, James Garner couldn't bring himself to totally denounce what had happened, because then he would have made himself into the martyr figure he so seriously detested.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....outlaw in America at May 19, 2018 09:18 PM (S6Pax)

316 310 ++++

I had a discussion with a middle-aged woman who hated that movie. She didn't care for Kubrick at all. Thought he had a bias against middle-aged women. She pointed to the bobble-headed knick knack behind Shelly Winters as she was first showing James Mason her home. She said it demonstrated that Kubrick thought that all middle-aged women, not just that one character but all of them, were silly.

I think sometimes people over-interpret movies.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 09:17 PM (pvjTE)

=====

Over interpret movies?!?!?

The horror! The horror!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 09:18 PM (Jj43a)

317 Crack out that second disc. It makes the original original seem like just another war Movie.

Posted by: Nato at May 19, 2018 09:19 PM (A9iyd)

318 Run Charlie!

There's R Lee Ermy.

Should have put Col Kilgore in charge of the war. He would have had it won in months

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 09:19 PM (SiINZ)

319 Madness. All is madness.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess - Some pussy-grabbers are more equal than others at May 19, 2018 09:20 PM (iTpm7)

320 317 Crack out that second disc. It makes the original original seem like just another war Movie.
Posted by: Nato at May 19, 2018 09:19 PM (A9iyd)

=======

I may end up doing it soon.

But having just gone through every Kubrick, I think I need to lighten up for a bit.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 09:20 PM (Jj43a)

321 Madness. All is madness.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess - Some pussy-grabbers are more equal than others at May 19, 2018 09:20 PM (iTpm7)



Unless you get Far From the Maddening Crowd

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 09:21 PM (SiINZ)

322 There was a time I quite liked Winger. IIRC she had a little scar on her cheek that drew my eye.

Posted by: Northernlurker lighter less filing at May 19, 2018 09:04 PM (eAMlh)

++++

She was really something in The Sheltering Sky.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 09:21 PM (pvjTE)

323 I think sometimes people over-interpret movies.



Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 09:17 PM (pvjTE)


You're telling me.

Posted by: George Lucas at May 19, 2018 09:21 PM (sXefu)

324 Should have put Col Kilgore in charge of the war. He would have had it won in months
Posted by: TheQuietMan

The great tragedy of the Viet Nam war was that it was never fought to be won. Lyndon's war of Great Society Economic Stimulus. All the brutality, violence and killing was just senseless. All those things are terrible, but if there is a point to them, and a better end can be made, then it at least makes something for the Vets to justify in their own minds that it wasn't all for nothing.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....outlaw in America at May 19, 2018 09:22 PM (S6Pax)

325 " Deadpool 2 was a bit of a disappointment. The movies ends about 30 minutes before the end, but it just keeps ending and ending and ending. Endlessly."

All's well that ends. at the right time.

Posted by: JAS at May 19, 2018 09:22 PM (ii30j)

326
Another movie that didn't need a director's cut was Cinema Paradiso. Great movie on initial release the scenes that were cut needed to stay out

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 09:23 PM (SiINZ)

327 Great movie -- one of those that I can enjoy watching multiple times.

Posted by: ShainS at May 19, 2018 09:23 PM (BiLU+)

328 Like The Ride of the Valkyries scene in Apocalypse Now. Sign me up! I wanna ride in on helicopters and blow shit up!



Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler

That is why Hollywood today leaves no wiggle room, they beat you over the head with who the bad guy is, so you can't get it wrong. I think Oliver Stone was not happy that some people thought Platoon was cool. Certainly the movie was made as an attack on American soldiers imho. I mean, come on, every war atrocity possible in a ten year war with 2.7 million serving piled onto one platoon over a couple weeks?
Stone was pissed when his attack on capitalism movie, Wall Street, seemed to backfire. Quite a few kids wanted to become stock brokers after watching that movie. And many more loved to quite Gordon Gekko. lol

Posted by: Quint at May 19, 2018 09:23 PM (n13/j)

329 Isn't it rather creepy that Lolita is a celebrated book and movie (s)?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 09:24 PM (hMwEB)

330 By the end, I did feel sympathy for him, although, in reality, he was a pedophile. I do think that Kubrick downplayed the age thing-- IIRC, Lolita was younger in the book, but made to look older in the movie.

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 09:13 PM (0s3bJ)

++++

I think making the girl older was a studio thing. They never would have allowed him to make that movie with someone who was, and looked, younger.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 09:24 PM (pvjTE)

331 Joan Blondell and Shelly Winters took the glass ceiling, broke it into pieces, ate it and asked for seconds.

Posted by: gNewt at May 19, 2018 09:25 PM (NY0r1)

332 Stone was pissed when his attack on capitalism movie, Wall Street, seemed to backfire. Quite a few kids wanted to become stock brokers after watching that movie. And many more loved to quite Gordon Gekko. lol
Posted by: Quint at May 19, 2018 09:23 PM (n13/j)

Gekko's phone on the beach was startling for the time.

Like, wow.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 19, 2018 09:25 PM (EoRCO)

333 BERwyn!?

Posted by: Kerwyn at May 19, 2018 09:25 PM (+Tibp)

334 314 Commuter was ok, kinda Agatha Christir-ish.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 09:25 PM (hMwEB)

335 Isn't it rather creepy that Lolita is a celebrated book and movie (s)?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 09:24 PM (hMwEB)


Not sure I'm seeing the problem.

Posted by: John Podesta at May 19, 2018 09:26 PM (sXefu)

336 329 Isn't it rather creepy that Lolita is a celebrated book and movie (s)?
Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 09:24 PM (hMwEB)

=====

I guess it depends on how you think the movie/book feels about pedophilia.

Never read the book, but I think the movie views the man as a twisted man, who deserves to be broken.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

337 Kurtz is not a big fat fuck. He's just a chubby murderous bastard. You don't need to be ripped to murder third world tyrannical Cambodians.

Posted by: Fritz at May 19, 2018 09:27 PM (J7XgW)

338 All those things are terrible, but if there is a point to them, and a better end can be made, then it at least makes something for the Vets to justify in their own minds that it wasn't all for nothing.
Posted by: Bozo Conservative....outlaw in America

The sad thing is: that same angst that it was all for nothing is being experience by the British WW2 generation. Their was a poll a while back asking the remaining people who lived through the war (either as vets or civilians) if the hardships and loss of the war was worth it given the state of Britain today. Something like 90% said no.

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:27 PM (sBHZx)

339 They did the same thing with Patton. They tried to make an anti-war film painting Patton as a warmongering psycho, but all they did was make people say "That guy was fucking awesome!"
Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:09 PM (sBHZx)

Peter O'Toole made this quote in the movie The Stunt Man:

I know a man who made an anti-war movie... a good one. When it was shown in his home town, army enlistment went up six hundred percent.

War movies always have that effect. Some people see them and think, "My God, war is horrible!" Others see war movies and go, "Shooting people and blowing up shit looks like fun!" The dichotomy of man thing.

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at May 19, 2018 09:27 PM (9BLnV)

340 Creepy in the sense that we know now that Hollywood is full of pedos, and so did they pick the book coz the topic is titillating to them?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 09:28 PM (hMwEB)

341
If they had just let the Germans take over it would have saved a lot of trouble and fuss over royal weddings.

Posted by: Mr Spock at May 19, 2018 09:30 PM (UdKB7)

342 The Hill is a fantastic movie.

As is Zulu.

Don't forget A Man Who Would Be King.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 19, 2018 09:30 PM (+BKF+)

343 Margot Kidder passed away this week.

I always liked her. What a sad story her life ended up being.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 19, 2018 09:32 PM (+BKF+)

344 Guns won't stop it!
Rockets won't stop it!
Run to the shelter!

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 09:33 PM (UdKB7)

345 If they had just let the Germans take over it would have saved a lot of trouble and fuss over royal weddings.
Posted by: Mr Spock

I think their rationale goes: a nazi conquered Europe would look a lot like the modern EU, except there wouldn't be gangs of Pakis running around raping white children.

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:33 PM (sBHZx)

346 I think their rationale goes: a nazi conquered
Europe would look a lot like the modern EU, except there wouldn't be
gangs of Pakis running around raping white children.

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:33 PM (sBHZx)


So I one upped it?

Posted by: Angela Merkel at May 19, 2018 09:35 PM (sXefu)

347
Never read the book, but I think the movie views the man as a twisted man, who deserves to be broken.
--

I found Humbert to be a very flawed, pathetic character, who seemed to be manipulated by Lolita. Even in the end, he was still lusting after her when she was a dumpy sort of housewife, and she was still taking advantage of him.

However.. he wanted to do those things for her, so really, is she at fault for taking what is offered?

I'm conflicted about it, since it is a movie about pedophilia. That being said, Kubrick-- and maybe Nabokov-- seemed to make Lolita the one in charge of the relationship, which tends to echo the claim of many pedophiles; "She seduced me."

Which I don't really think happens IRL.

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 09:35 PM (0s3bJ)

348 Saw a funny comment on the wedding -
note that 90 year old Queen can navigate stairs a lot easier than Hillary

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 19, 2018 09:36 PM (hMwEB)

349 They did the same thing with Patton. They tried to
make an anti-war film painting Patton as a warmongering psycho, but all
they did was make people say "That guy was fucking awesome!"

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable



As anti-war as "The Americanization of Emily" was (and it was very
funny), even in the end, James Garner couldn't bring himself to totally
denounce what had happened, because then he would have made himself
into the martyr figure he so seriously detested.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....outlaw in America at May 19, 2018 09:18 PM (S6Pax)

It was the 70's, we took what we could get . No one was going to make a pro America/pro military movie. The Green Berets yes, but I am talking the later, post war 70's.
I still like the tv show MASH because it was part of my childhood and on all the time before other shows were on all the time lol. But every time I watch that show I am amazed how mainstream they made anti-Americanism and anti-military thought. Sure, it was a creature of it's time, and not about Korea but Vietnam. Still, a beloved sitcom that was anti-military 99 percent of the time. I don't think that would fly today. It certainly would be more controversial.

Posted by: Quint at May 19, 2018 09:36 PM (n13/j)

350 "a nazi conquered Europe would look a lot like the modern EU, except there wouldn't be gangs of Pakis running around raping white children"

Yea right. No Jews either. Idiots.

Posted by: f'd at May 19, 2018 09:37 PM (UdKB7)

351 I saw a "small" movie with a similar theme some time ago whose name I can't recall (although I think it had primitive or savage or some such in the title). I was about a middle to lower middle class student scholar studying a tribe of stone age people and their barbaric ways who is invited into the home of an upper class family. It contrasted the unsophisticated savagery of the stone age with the sophisticated, but just as savage, savagery of the upper class. Wish I could remember the name.

-
The title is Fierce People.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 19, 2018 09:39 PM (+y/Ru)

352 ONT up

Posted by: westminsterdogshow at May 19, 2018 09:39 PM (mMeIQ)

353 maybe that's my problem with a.n. - to conflate the
brutality of war, even vietnam at its worst, with the horrors of the
belgian occupation of congo - where slaughter and slavery were policyes -
is wrong.


Posted by: musical jolly chimp at May 19, 2018 09:17 PM (Pg+x7)


I don't believe it was a movie about the horrors of war. At least not in effect. I think it is a discussion of how to push back against horror. In the 80's there was a lot of talk about how we walked away sickened by what was going on.

So the question is how do you deal with a regime that is willing to perpetrate horrors to achieve political goals.
A terror war is a war that is fought through perpetrating acts to terrorize your opponents to the point that their fear of further action on your part outweighs the consequences of their defeat.

Kurtz' method was one solution, kill them, drive them before them and turn the tables on them. Create horrors in response. This was ultimately a moral decision.

Not a decision that was moral, mind you, but a decision about the morality of what action to take.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 19, 2018 09:39 PM (2K6fY)

354 I'm conflicted about it, since it is a movie about pedophilia. That being said, Kubrick-- and maybe Nabokov-- seemed to make Lolita the one in charge of the relationship, which tends to echo the claim of many pedophiles; "She seduced me."

Which I don't really think happens IRL.

Posted by: shibumi at May 19, 2018 09:35 PM (0s3bJ)

++++

You know there are young girls who rob, right? Who murder, who tell false tales of abuse. Why is it so hard to believe that there are those who would use sex to get what they want?

That doesn't mean that's the story all the time, or most the time, or even lots of the time. Just that it can happen on occasion.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at May 19, 2018 09:40 PM (pvjTE)

355 Yea right. No Jews either. Idiots.
Posted by: f'd

A) You can't really expect elderly Brits watching the recent news to think of that.
B) Give the muslim gangs a few more years and there won't be any.

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:40 PM (sBHZx)

356 Just not fan of Apocalypse Now. In my mind it continues the BS misinterpretation of the VN war.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 19, 2018 09:40 PM (0tfLf)

357 Another movie that didn't need a director's cut was
Cinema Paradiso. Great movie on initial release the scenes that were cut
needed to stay out

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 09:23 PM (SiINZ)

I am not a sophisticated movie reviewer by any means. But most of the time when I see "deleted scenes" it is pretty clear why they were deleted.
Also, Mediterraneo was a good anti-war flick.

Posted by: Quint at May 19, 2018 09:41 PM (n13/j)

358 307: Sure Matt. Go with that. Its an Election WINNER!!

{giggle}

Posted by: Puddleglum at May 19, 2018 09:44 PM (pY+s4)

359 This is interesting, from a 2004 online article at The Guardian:
"... what is less well known is that [Harvey] Keitel was not the first or even second
choice to play Willard. Coppola offered the part first to Steve McQueen,
who did not want to leave the country at that time, then to Al Pacino.
Pacino could not stand 17 weeks of filming in the jungle, as he had been
extremely ill in the Dominican Republic while filming Godfather II, so
Coppola offered Willard's role to James Caan and then to Jack Nicholson,
who both declined. He finally gave it to Harvey Keitel, only to fire
him six weeks into production. Sheen eventually picked up the baton."
Also, from a 2009 Daily Mail online article:
"In the opening scenes, Willard has a violent mental breakdown brought
on by heavy drinking. Sheen played it with all the stunning realism of a
man who was himself out of his head on booze after a 24-hour birthday
bender.

He could hardly stand up and when, for the film, he smashed a
mirror with his fist, he was so drunk he didn't realise his hand was
badly cut and streaming blood. Those on the set with him were on
tenterhooks, scared that he was going to take a swing at the director
and the camera crew.

Shortly afterwards, Sheen collapsed with a heart attack, though
he was just 36 years old, and was found crawling along a road looking
for help. The jungle heat may have had something to do with his
condition, but his drinking and the fact that he was woefully out of
shape for such a demanding role can't have helped."

Posted by: ShainS at May 19, 2018 09:45 PM (BiLU+)

360 Unless you get Far From the Maddening Crowd

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 19, 2018 09:21 PM (SiINZ)

That's the plan!

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess - Some pussy-grabbers are more equal than others at May 19, 2018 09:45 PM (iTpm7)

361 Just not fan of Apocalypse Now. In my mind it continues the BS misinterpretation of the VN war.



Posted by: Diogenes at May 19, 2018 09:40 PM (0tfLf)

That is a whole other issue, and a big one. Too many people see a movie and that is the extent of their historical knowledge of the subject. I have met people that thought the movie JFK was the definitive documentary. To others, Gone With the Wind "WAS" the Civil War.

Posted by: Quint at May 19, 2018 09:46 PM (n13/j)

362 Love da movie thread!
My tuppence:

sub movies
Das Boot hands down best. Closest you'll get without actually dogging down hatches, imo.

Red October a close second.

I know my fellow bubbleheads will disagree, but I get a kick out of Hostile Waters. "Get me UP!!" Martin Sheen being a dick is just gravy.

Worst ever: Crimson Tide. Totally cluelesd.

On the ground: original MASH, Kelly's Heroes, Guns of Navarrone, Where Eagles Dare, Catch 22, Dirty Dozen, Silent Night (my wwii vet dad loved that one), and I'm boring myself now.

Posted by: Gooshy at May 19, 2018 09:46 PM (Dt8rf)

363 They did the same thing with Patton. They tried to
make an anti-war film painting Patton as a warmongering psycho, but all
they did was make people say "That guy was fucking awesome!"

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at May 19, 2018 09:09 PM (sBHZx)this was the intent/result in A Few Good Men, too. Nicholson's character was supposed to represent the vile military mindset, but the audience loved him (or at least his speech). Aaron Sorkin wrote it, and he is a full blown Lefty.

Posted by: elliot at May 19, 2018 09:47 PM (D+Jl9)

364 Matt @307

Right....sarc.

I have sat on a board for a local Representative to interview and screen applicants for the Military Academies. Over the last 5 years the home school applicants have kicked ass over their public school counterparts. Public schools are failing.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 19, 2018 09:48 PM (0tfLf)

365 nood ont

but talking movies is still fun

Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 09:49 PM (EzdLW)

366 54 Couple of Vietnam films I liked:
The Boys In Company C
We Were Soldiers
Bat*21
Posted by: Hands at May 19, 2018 07:31 PM (EzdLW)


84C Mopic is a good one.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at May 19, 2018 09:50 PM (di1hb)

367 "They did the same thing with Patton. They tried to make an anti-war film painting Patton as a warmongering psycho, but all they did was make people say "That guy was fucking awesome!"
Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable "

Making Patton was the life-long project of producer Frank McCarthy, who served as an aide to Patton in WWII before he went to Hollywood.

It could have been made in the 50s or 60s if Frank had had is way. That it came out in 1970 with a hagiographic Coppola script just made it incredibly ironic.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 19, 2018 09:51 PM (pV/54)

368 Fishy @362

Das Boot.
My ol man was on subs in WW2 and he agreed. Easily the closest thing to real underwater warfare in the war. He said he could still smell the diesel, sweat, coffee and hanging salamis.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 19, 2018 09:52 PM (0tfLf)

369 Full Metal Jacket has two separate parts.

I saw this as a ying-yang thing, with ironic contrast between the two.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 19, 2018 09:55 PM (pV/54)

370 Das Boot.

My ol man was on subs in WW2 and he agreed. Easily the closest thing
to real underwater warfare in the war. He said he could still smell the
diesel, sweat, coffee and hanging salamis.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 19, 2018 09:52 PM (0tfLf)
+++++I hate to tell you what I thought you were talking about with "hanging salamis" I gagged a little, then realized you were being literal.

Posted by: elliot at May 19, 2018 10:02 PM (D+Jl9)

371 Hi TJM, hope you're still out there. Sorry I missed another weekend movie thread...

Just gotta say I recently saw The Conversation, and... wow. I thought it was an incredible great flick.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 19, 2018 10:07 PM (eMKNe)

372 In 1974,

Coppola had Godfather II and The Conversation

Nicholson was nominated for Best Actor for Chinatown and The Last Detail

And Mel Brooks had Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 19, 2018 10:10 PM (pV/54)

373 371 Hi TJM, hope you're still out there. Sorry I missed another weekend movie thread...

Just gotta say I recently saw The Conversation, and... wow. I thought it was an incredible great flick.
Posted by: qdpsteve at May 19, 2018 10:07 PM (eMKNe)

=====

I saw it in a college class for the first time.

It really is Coppola's forgotten masterpiece.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at May 19, 2018 10:12 PM (Jj43a)

374 Every military vehicle deserves a $10,000 preamp and mega speaker system to play badass music.

Posted by: Headless Body of Agnew at May 20, 2018 01:49 AM (jRAUB)

375 Why am I gettting Ann. Inntnal error when I try to post?

Posted by: DocAnnie at May 20, 2018 05:57 AM (l4l/z)

376 I have seen both cuts. I prefer the original. One major thing I noticed in the extended version - captain willard smiles in some of the added scenes. It changes the feel of the movie for me. Watch the original. He never smiles in the entire film that I remember. And the plantation scene belonged on the cutting room floor.

Posted by: jmp at May 20, 2018 08:52 AM (ctXeH)

377 Apocalypse Now- When it came out-I don't know if I was too stoned or too loaded or not really into "Vietnam war movies" yet(it, the war, still stung)- but I thought it sucked. It had it's moments. I would watch it again but the obesity of Brando appalled me. He was one of my fav's and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Turned me off completely. Maybe I could watch again, now. Eh.

Stalag 17-4/4
Inglourious Basterds-One of the finest movies made 4/4

It seems you enjoy violence. I can deal with it just so much. Never understood the purpose of Clockwork Orange or Death Wish. Instead of ratings they should have, Male flick and chick flick.

Have you ever watched- The Third Man with Orson Welles?
It has a Zither playing thru out so... but good movie.



Posted by: Ripley at May 20, 2018 08:53 AM (NLEnr)

378 Apocalypse Now doesn't really stitch together into a coherent story line, but each scene has a memorable moment, either spoken or filmed. The whole Air Cav bit was surreal, as was the bridge in the jungle.

The meeting with Kurtz, when he asks Willard what they told him about the Colonel when they sent Willard out to get him. "They told me your methods were unsound." Tortured expression on Kurtz, "Are my methods unsound?" "I don't see any methods." Great photography, great script, great performances all round.

Redux is dreadful in so many ways. For every scene that it gives some understanding to, it diminishes two or three others. Most unforgivable it that it leaves the ending open. Does Willard call in the strike? Maybe.

Posted by: Advo at May 20, 2018 11:03 AM (By5RL)

379 Apocalypse Now is half a great movie with a huge flaw named Marlon Brando. If the first outstanding half hadn't been already in the can, he would have sunk the entire project. He was an uncommitted actor who didn't believe he or his contemporaries were capable of producing great art, as he maintained in his interview with Playboy in 1978.

Posted by: Brett at May 20, 2018 11:36 AM (Qmkfa)

380 Apocalypse Now
For me and many Veterans of that long ago war, the part of the movie that struck a familiar cord was the Helicopter ride into the L.Z.
It was the first real Helicopter war and almost all of us rode one at least once and many rode them a lot.
The madness was Roach and his Thump gun, killing to the sounds of Acid Rock, pop up flares and gunfire.
He knew who was in charge there.

Posted by: obsidian at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (ARK2U)

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