rate the last movie you saw

[Paul MacLean]

Honestly? I've never liked Horner's score to Apollo 13, which is nothing but a grab bag of his Greatest Hits licks (a little Brainstorm here, a lot of Sneakers there) and generic "uplifting score" clichés (break out the timpani rolls and cymbal crashes!).

Well, a lot of classic movies contain those "uplifting score clichés" -- every single Star Wars score, every Star Trek movie score, E.T., The Right Stuff, Back to the Future, Dances With Wolves, Prince of Thieves, Zorro, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, etc. I mean, what should Horner have used? A ukulele?

I think people like the score because they like the movie so much.

Not in my case. There are plenty of films I love with scores that do little if anything for me (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes to mind).

Yeah, there are "nods", lets say, to some of Horner's previous works, but they're all great works -- and I think his music lends tremendous gravitas to Apollo 13.

The scene immediately after the rocket launch, when they are suddenly in zero-G and Horner brings-in that ethereal chorus, is one of the great moments in film scoring if you ask me.

[mkaroly]

VERTIGO (1958) - In the past I championed this film as one of Hitchcock's greatest works, and it was in my top 10 list. Time has passed, and while I love the film's technical aspects (its vibrant colors, Herrmann's beautiful score, the stunningly gorgeous Kim Novak...when she walks out of the bathroom in that black dress...YIKES!), I now find it an incredibly creepy and disturbing film. Like, really creepy to the point where I feel uncomfortable. Lol...Jimmy Stewart was way too old to be playing the part of Scottie, and I do not know if he ever played a more creepy character than in this movie. The whole obsession he has with Madeline/Judy is really gross...lol...I wonder if the film would have been more popular on its initial run if Novak had a younger leading man to act with. I am replacing VERTIGO with REAR WINDOW as my favorite Hitchcock film!

[Monterey Jack]

VERTIGO (1958) - In the past I championed this film as one of Hitchcock's greatest works, and it was in my top 10 list. Time has passed, and while I love the film's technical aspects (its vibrant colors, Herrmann's beautiful score, the stunningly gorgeous Kim Novak...when she walks out of the bathroom in that black dress...YIKES!), I now find it an incredibly creepy and disturbing film. Like, really creepy to the point where I feel uncomfortable.

[AndyDursin]

Michael -- welcome to the club my friend

As I've said before -- that may be the point, but I just don't care for VERTIGO. I never have. I certainly appreciate its artistry and technical innovations -- I just don't care for the story being told. By far my least favorite "Hitchcock classic".

[AndyDursin]

Honestly? I've never liked Horner's score to Apollo 13, which is nothing but a grab bag of his Greatest Hits licks (a little Brainstorm here, a lot of Sneakers there) and generic "uplifting score" clichés (break out the timpani rolls and cymbal crashes!). I think people like the score because they like the movie so much....

I heard long ago that this score leaned heavily on some of his previous efforts, but as these other scores were unknown to me, as far as I was concerned, it might have been newly-minted.

The APOLLO 13 score is superb, it's one of Horner's best from the era.

It was trendy for the FSM "staff" to dump on Horner back in the mid 90s. I wonder how many of those comments they would take back today (my guess? many).

I remember Lukas once telling me "I don't like that John Williams Boston Pops SH-T" when I first met him (HA!) and Jeff Bond crapping all over FAR AND AWAY also. IMO that's one of John Williams' best scores, and if someone ever expands it, I just wonder who will be extolling its virtues in their liner notes!

[Eric Paddon]

Re: Vertigo. If Hitchcock had left in the originally shot ending of a chastened Stewart coming back to Barbara Bel Geddes' apartment, I could have been a little more tolerant of the whole thing. Not a lot, but just a little because at least we would have finally seen his character with a sense that some sanity has been knocked back into him.

Growing up there was often a tendency on my part to be too influenced by "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" that it made me think *any* time I saw Stewart on-screen he was someone I should be pulling for. That's why the disturbing aspects of "Vertigo" initially went a little over my head (though I felt the film suffered from its basic convoluted plot) and why initially I didn't realize the sleazy aspects of his character in "Anatomy Of A Murder."

[mkaroly]

Re: Vertigo. If Hitchcock had left in the originally shot ending of a chastened Stewart coming back to Barbara Bel Geddes' apartment, I could have been a little more tolerant of the whole thing. Not a lot, but just a little because at least we would have finally seen his character with a sense that some sanity has been knocked back into him.

Growing up there was often a tendency on my part to be too influenced by "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" that it made me think *any* time I saw Stewart on-screen he was someone I should be pulling for. That's why the disturbing aspects of "Vertigo" initially went a little over my head (though I felt the film suffered from its basic convoluted plot) and why initially I didn't realize the sleazy aspects of his character in "Anatomy Of A Murder."

I always felt bad for Madeline/Judy's character in the movie, but this time around she got all my sympathy whereas Scottie just comes across as a deeply disturbed pervert/stalker. I would now classify it as one of Hitchcock's most disturbing films.

[Paul MacLean]

Growing up there was often a tendency on my part to be too influenced by "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" that it made me think *any* time I saw Stewart on-screen he was someone I should be pulling for. That's why the disturbing aspects of "Vertigo" initially went a little over my head (though I felt the film suffered from its basic convoluted plot) and why initially I didn't realize the sleazy aspects of his character in "Anatomy Of A Murder."

Hitchcock often cast against type -- using polished, likeable actors in the roles of villains (like James Mason in North By Northwest), to give the viewer conflicted feelings about the character.

Not that Scotty is a "villain" per se, but I fully concur his behavior is creepy. He is obsessively in love with a woman he never even knew (since it was always Judy and never Madeleine he was following, and then rescued). I can't deny Vertigo is an interesting study of the power of illusion, and the illusory nature of "being in love" (how many couples have gotten married only to find they don't know each other at all?). But I don't really care for the film either. Scotty's obsessive need to turn Judy into Madeleine is hard to sympathize with. Also, I just don't find Scotty's ideal of "feminine beauty" the least bit attractive...



I also think the ending is much too abrupt (and frankly lousy).

[Eric Paddon]

Agreed that Novak looks better with her hair down! And the gray suit is not very attractive either.

"Bell Book And Candle" is a better film for seeing the two of them together (despite all the feminist wailing about the ending!)

[mkaroly]

I loved Bell, Book and Candle!

[esteban miranda]

VERTIGO (1958) - In the past I championed this film as one of Hitchcock's greatest works, and it was in my top 10 list. Time has passed, and while I love the film's technical aspects (its vibrant colors, Herrmann's beautiful score, the stunningly gorgeous Kim Novak...when she walks out of the bathroom in that black dress...YIKES!), I now find it an incredibly creepy and disturbing film. Like, really creepy to the point where I feel uncomfortable. Lol...Jimmy Stewart was way too old to be playing the part of Scottie, and I do not know if he ever played a more creepy character than in this movie. The whole obsession he has with Madeline/Judy is really gross...lol...I wonder if the film would have been more popular on its initial run if Novak had a younger leading man to act with. I am replacing VERTIGO with REAR WINDOW as my favorite Hitchcock film!

I watched Vertigo again about 15 months ago, for the first time in 5 years. I suppose Kim Novak and Herrmann's score are the most attractive elements, but I really don't find Stewart's character "creepy" or disturbing (obsessive maybe). The biggest downside is it is such a slow picture, particularly the first half.
If we're comparing, Rear Window is far and away a better movie (I enjoy it more).

[mkaroly]

If we're comparing, Rear Window is far and away a better movie (I enjoy it more).

Definitely agree here!

[AndyDursin]

REAR WINDOW is my favorite Hitchcock.

[Paul MacLean]

REAR WINDOW is my favorite Hitchcock.

Hard for me to choose one.

Rear Window is definitely up there, as are To Catch A Thief, Strangers on a Train and Psycho. Shadow of a Doubt is also superb.

[AndyDursin]

There are many to choose from, but the story of REAR WINDOW -- how it unfolds, the suspense, the naturalness of the performances -- is the most appealing to me. NOTORIOUS would be right behind it.

STRANGERS and PSYCHO are amongst Hitch's bonafide classics for sure, but I don't care for the actual stories of those pictures quite as much. TO CATCH A THIEF is definitely fun but I'd go along with the consensus that it's not one of his "classics". Kind of lacks a certain energy IMO.