I'm not talking best lists but more mainstream interest. Some people who like Wayne--people who call films "John Wayne movies" instead of "John Ford movies"--not film addicts but people who "like movies"--don't give it the love it deserves.

That's a lot more subjective and harder to gauge, because I have the reverse feeling on that. If RIVER KWAI has more "mainstream interest," then why has THE SEARCHERS had more DVD/high-def releases in the last 10 years than RIVER KWAI? I bet if you looked at number of units sold THE SEARCHERS would out-do the Lean movie, it's been one of the most active catalog movies in Warner's library.

double

RIVER KWAI won Best Picture. That alone puts it in a special circle in terms of public recognition.

I don't really think DVD re-releases are as indicative as you might think. Even casual older moviegoers know BRIDGE, while I've met a large number of people who can't quite place SEARCHERS. I think we get caught up in the inside-baseball stuff and forget the majority of people don't know certain movies we take for granted that EVERYONE must love.

ADAM'S RIB C-

Spencer Tracy is one of those actors I just never got. This is the third of the Tracy-Hepburn collaborations, and it was a push to get through all three. I think these are overrated because of the personal affection people have for these two, but I find the attitudes that were once so liberal to be terribly dated, and the characters annoyingly self-righteous.



IT D+

Not the Stephen King miniseries but a Roddy McDowell flick about a museum curator who gains control of a golem that looks like something from Lost In Space. It seems like the movie makers patterned McDowell's character after Norman Bates.



ADVISE AND CONSENT B-

While I'm familiar with the alterations from the book, it's an interesting movie for the acting and the attempt to show how Washington works. Preminger wasn't my kind of guy but I appreciate his effort to make a drama out of this kind of material and not splash the screen with Capra-style sludge.

Mothra vs. Godzilla: 8/10

Toho monster flicks don't get any better than this. Superior smackdowns, Akira Ifukube's rumbling score, and that insidiously catchy "Peanuts" Mothra song. Humba-Humba!

I'm still having nightmares after SOMEone around here posted "Chet! CHET!" from WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, so I won't be watching any of those movies for a looooong time.

I had the RODAN/GARGANTUAS disc in my hand the other day, and after looking at the pictures on the back I quickly put it down.

CHET! CHET! CHET!

JSWalsh wrote:I don't really think DVD re-releases are as indicative as you might think.

When it comes to catalog titles I think they're extremely indicative.

I think we get caught up in the inside-baseball stuff and forget the majority of people don't know certain movies we take for granted that EVERYONE must love.

I can only speak for my experience. I just don't think it's a stretch to say that THE SEARCHERS is a movie that over the last 10-20 years has had a good deal more visibility than RIVER KWAI from DVD releases to TV airings.

I'm not arguing that. But you don't seem to realize there are millions and millions of people who don't buy DVDs.

CHET! CHET! CHET!



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm, got some scale problems there, Toho!

I think if I saw that thing coming across the city I'd just jump out a window.

In fact, I once had a nightmare with just that happening... (seriously)

Good Lord that thing bothers me!

JSWalsh wrote:I'm not arguing that. But you don't seem to realize there are millions and millions of people who don't buy DVDs.

I think real most "movie buffs" at this point have bought DVD players. At least, there are a lot more of them than "millions and millions" of movie buffs who haven't.

I'm not arguing that THE SEARCHERS isn't getting more attention now than it did on its release--I don't think one can argue against that. BRIDGE won Best Picture and all the subsequent publicity that garners (would as many people remember CHARIOTS OF FIRE as anything but an album without the Best Picture win?).

I'm saying BRIDGE is a movie people average folks older than me, for example, know better than SEARCHERS. Movie diehards know many, many movies well that the larger public that doesn't have huge DVD collections are as familiar with, and in this case I don't think SEARCHERS comes close. As people our age get older, I think BRIDGE and SEARCHERS will switch places.

JSWalsh wrote: (would as many people remember CHARIOTS OF FIRE as anything but an album without the Best Picture win?).

Interesting point. But do folks even talk about that movie today -- even WITH the Best Picture win? Talk about a film that's all but disappeared...the theme and the sequence of them running on the beach people recall...but not much else. I always felt that the movie was pretty dull, myself. Certainly does not seem to be a film that a lot of people have a great deal of affection for, in general.

The early '80s were not a great time for the Academy, what with GANDHI beating E.T. (I'm sure you will disagree with that but for a lot of people there's no question what the more enduring work of filmmaking was there) and THE RIGHT STUFF losing to TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.

GANDHI and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT have all but vanished off the face of the Earth, whereas E.T. and THE RIGHT STUFF have remained in circulation and the public consciousness, to some degree or another, over the years since.

Of course movies that win Oscars aren't always "the best" movies, and it's often political, but I always felt the early '80s in particular was an era in which the Oscar voters really got it wrong.

As people our age get older, I think BRIDGE and SEARCHERS will switch places.

I think they already have. I think that's what we're debating. Or for people my age and younger, they already have.

THE MIRROR B-

I'm a fan of Tarkovsky but I have to dole out his movies carefully, he only made 7 features. This one, which came after SOLARIS, is more personal, and focuses on youth and growing up, but it's no MY LIFE AS A DOG. Tarkovsky's visual style is a bit too much here. There are some stunning visuals, such as when the boy gets out of bed and goes outside to see what the noise is all about, and the black and white sequence of the woman washing her hair while rain pours down from the ceiling ala SOLARIS. But overall this thing is a perfect exhibit for why some people don't care for this director--sometimes slow is just slow.

Tarkovsky was incapable of making a slight movie, and I know I'll be watching this again someday. Each of his movies needs careful chewing. When I watch one, I know it's not "over," and that I'll be thinking about it and coming back to it again someday, because I haven't gotten everything he's tried to put across. Already I am thinking about the scenes in the fields, the fire, the water. Good stuff, though not for everyone.

Andy, I totally agree with you about the '82 and '83 Oscar winners, and I'll go even further and put TOOTSIE in there with E. T. over GANDHI. Pollack's film has grown in stature over the years and I think that today you would have many people torn over which of the two to choose. I'm submitting a new topic today re: past Best Picture winners to see what people think about previous winners and what they would change.