MC Yearly Consensus - 1968

[Spinal]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the thread is locked, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Yxklyx]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffirelli)
3. Targets (Peter Bogdanovich)
4. Yellow Submarine (George Dunning)
5. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)

6. Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner)
7. Faces (John Cassavetes)
8. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero)
9. The Devil Rides Out (Terence Fisher)
10. Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini)

One of the best years ever!

[Spinal]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Hour of the Wolf
3. High School
4. The Producers
5. Once Upon a Time in the West

[Melville]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Hour of the Wolf
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. Pas de deux
5. If...

[Raiders]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Memories of Underdevelopment
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Stolen Kisses
5. Rosemary's Baby

[Spinal]

Wiseman's High School is a film that I'm pretty sure would make the top 10 if it were available on DVD, even in a stacked year like this. If it were a Criterion, I'd go so far as to guarantee it.

[Qrazy]

Unbelievable year, I still have tons to see, so jealous of the 60's.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Faces
3. Hour of the Wolf
4. Toby Dammit
5. Once Upon a Time in the West

Rosemary's Baby, Bullitt, Fando y Lis, The Party, Pas de Deux, Producers, Shame, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Yellow Submarine, Night of the Living Dead, Salesman, etc.

Kieslowski's early From the City of Lodz and Gilliam's debut Storytime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KUqHzk26kI

A lot of the jokes have been reused later but it's still funny.

[monolith94]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Yellow Submarine
4. Pas De Deux
5. The Color of Pomegranates

6. Les Desmoiselles de rochefort
7. Planet of the Apes
8. Teorema
9. Barbarella
10. The Lion In Winter

[Spinal]

Top Songs of 1968:

1. "Hey Jude", The Beatles
2. "Honey", Bobby Goldsboro
3. "Love Is Blue", Paul Mauriat
4. "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", Otis Redding
5. "People Got To Be Free", Rascals
6. "Sunshine Of Your Love", Cream
7. "This Guy's In Love With You", Herb Alpert
8. "Stoned Soul Picnic", Fifth Dimension
9. "Mrs. Robinson", Simon and Garfunkel
10. "Tighten Up", Archie Bell and The Drells

source: musicoutfitters.com

[Qrazy]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Yellow Submarine
4. Pas De Deux
5. The Color of Pomegranates

6. Les Desmoiselles de rochefort
7. Planet of the Apes
8. Teorema
9. Barbarella
10. The Lion In Winter

I sure as hell hope The Lion in Winter is better than Barbarella, I was looking forward to that one.

[Russ]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. Monterey Pop
4. Planet of the Apes
5. Targets

[monolith94]

I sure as hell hope The Lion in Winter is better than Barbarella, I was looking forward to that one.
Unfortunately for you, I'm pretty much the authority on the quality of both Barbarella and The Lion in Winter.

[Spinal]

Time Men of the Year for 1968:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/180px-January_3_1969_Time_Magazine_. jpg

The Apollo 8 Astronauts

[Eleven]

I am on pins and needles to see what #1 will turn out to be.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Night of the Living Dead
4. High School
5. Mandabi

[Spinal]

The following television programs debuted in 1968:

Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
One Life to Live
The Mod Squad
60 Minutes
Hawaii Five-O

The #1 rated television program in the Nielsen ratings for 1968:

The Andy Griffith Show

[MadMan]

I really need to see more from this year, but what I've seen (even the weaker films out of the 14 I've viewed) have some interesting and good moments. My Top 5 for this year is pretty damn stacked ratings wise. Here's my fav seven however:

1. Night of the Living Dead
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. The Producers
4. Bullitt
5. The Odd Couple
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Rosemary's Baby

[Spinal]

1. Night of the Living Dead

Awwwwwwwwww!

[MadMan]

Awwwwwwwwww!I'm clearly dissenting from the Match-Cut herd here ;) I imagine if Scar cared to post his list Bullitt would probably be at the top.

I still can't believe I haven't seen Planet of the Apes yet. Me being a Charlton Heston fan that's a must. Perhaps Netflix will assist me in getting my hands on The Devil Rides Out.

[Spinal]

I'm clearly dissenting from the Match-Cut herd here ;)

A perfectly reasonable choice. I was wondering who would break the 2001 streak.

[MadMan]

A perfectly reasonable choice. I was wondering who would break the 2001 streak.Ah, I see. Interestingly enough with the exception of #3, #5 and #7 I've seen the rest of those films more than once. Considering that "Producers" and "The Odd Couple" have been shown on TCM before I have a good chance of watching them a second time.

[ledfloyd]

1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. 2001
3. Night of the Living Dead
4. The Producers
5. Yellow Submarine

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. Rosemary's Baby
2. Pas de Deux (short)
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. The Night of the Living Dead
5. 2001:A Space Odyssey

[baby doll]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
3. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)
4. Petulia (Richard Lester)
5. Spirits of the Dead [segment "Toby Dammit"] (Federico Fellini)
6. Sympathy for the Devil (Jean-Luc Godard)
7. Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea)
8. Baisers volés (François Truffaut)
9. The Party (Blake Edwards)
10. Vixen! (Russ Meyer)

[soitgoes...]

1. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
3. Pas de deux (Norman McLaren)
4. If... (Lindsay Anderson)
5. Targets (Peter Bogdanovich)

[Derek]

I highly recommend checking out Bill Greaves fascinating pseudo-documentary.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone)
3. The Immortal Story (Orson Welles)
4. Sympathy for the Devil (Jean-Luc Godard)
5. Yellow Submarine (George Dunning)
****************************** ***
6. Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (Bill Greaves)
7. The Producers (Mel Brooks)
8. Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea)
9. Secret Ceremony (Joseph Losey)
10. Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman)

[Stay Puft]

1. Night of the Living Dead
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. The Lion in Winter

[origami_mustache]

1. Faces
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Teorema
4. If...
5. The Color of Pomegranates

Rosemary's Baby
Night of The Living Dead
Fando y Lis

[Boner M]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Faces
4. High School
5. If...

[Lazlo]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Rosemary’s Baby
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Planet of the Apes
5. Faces

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Shame
2. Salesman
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. Planet of the Apes
5. Romeo and Juliet

6. The Lion in Winter
7. I Was Nineteen
8. High School
9. Night of the Living Dead
10. Memories of Underdevelopment
11. The Boston Strangler
12. Yellow Submarine

Hell of a year.

[EyesWideOpen]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Planet of the Apes
3. Night of the Living Dead
4. Rosemary's Baby

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. Stolen Kisses
4. The Producers
5. The Bride Wore Black

[Yum-Yum]

1. Night of the Living Dead
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Barbarella
4. Planet of the Apes
5. Head

[Grouchy]

1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. Night of the Living Dead
5. Planet of the Apes

Bullitt and Faces barely missed.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. The Cremator
2. Pas de Deux
3. Stolen Kisses
4. Toby Dammit
5. High School
---------------------
6. The Inferno of First Love
7. 2001: ASO
8. Once Upon a Time in the West
9. Petulia
10. Rosemary's Baby

[Llopin]

1. Faces (Cassavetes)
2. Stolen Kisses (Truffaut)
3. Hour of the Wolf (Bergman)
4. Death by Hanging (Oshima)
5. Teorema (Pasolini)
---
6. The Firemen's Ball (Forman)
7. I Am Curious (Blue) (Sjöman)
8. Signs of Life (Herzog)
9. Rosemary's Baby (Polanski)
10. The Profound Desire of the Gods (Imamura)

[dreamdead]

The lack of Bergman's Shame makes baby dd cry. I'll have my list up once I get to If...

[Spinal]

6. The Firemen's Ball (Forman)


1967, in case this has a chance to make your list in that year.

[Spinal]

The lack of Bergman's Shame baby dd cry.

#7

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

For Your Consideration: THE CREMATOR

http://www.viff.org/tixSYS/vifc/filmguide/images/filmstills/1300.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQeMvEzEpvU

[origami_mustache]

For Your Consideration: THE CREMATOR

http://www.viff.org/tixSYS/vifc/filmguide/images/filmstills/1300.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQeMvEzEpvU

looks great...I'm dling it.

[dreamdead]

1. 2001
2. Shame
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. If....
5. Faces

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. Night of the Living Dead
2. Planet of the Apes
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. Once Upon a Time in the West
5. Bullitt

[koji]

1. The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci)
2. The Producers (Mel Brooks)
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone)
4. If…(Anderson)
5. Lion in Winter (Antony Harvey)

[Spinal]

One more day.

[Spinal]

#10

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/hour20of20the20wolf.jpg

Hour of the Wolf

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Country: Sweden

On a windy island, an artist in crisis is haunted by nightmares from the past. During "the hour of the wolf" - between midnight and dawn - he tells his wife about his most painful memories.

Bergman was named Best Director by the National Society of Film Critics. Liv Ullman was named Best Actress by the National Board of Review. Both were also cited for their work in Shame. It is considered Bergman's only horror film.

“Ostensibly a meditation on the trite ‘madness of an artist’ theme, with overtones of sexual baseness and vampirism, real and psychic, Hour of the Wolf overcomes its horror roots with superb technical screen composition and a bevy of other cinematic trickery that shows Bergman at the top of his game ...” – Dan Schneider

[Spinal]

#9

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/producers460.jpg

The Producers

Director: Mel Brooks

Country: USA

A washed up Broadway producer meets a mousy CPA and their combined expertise points them toward the ultimate scam: raise more money than you need for a sure flop Broadway Show. No one will expect anything back and you can pocket the difference. To achieve their goal, they need to find the worst play imaginable.

Won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Because of the "Springtime For Hitler" musical number, the film was banned in Germany. It wasn't shown in that country until it was included in a film festival featuring the works of Jewish filmmakers.

“It delivers like a shorted slot machine; memories of the tame and safely distant stage version will evaporate in the runway turbulence of [Zero] Mostel's spittle-spray-in-your-eye performance. In fact, the more time passes the more combustible Brooks' burlesque of Nazism and the post-war remnants of old-school Jewish showbiz seems.” – Michael Atkinson

[Kurosawa Fan]

Boo. Hiss.

[Spinal]

#8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/ifchick.jpg

If ...

Director: Lindsay Anderson

Country: UK

In an indictment of the British Boys School, we follow Mick and his mostly younger friends through a series of indignities and occasionally abuse as any fond feelings toward these schools are destroyed. When Mick and his friends rebel, violently, the catch phrase, "which side would you be on" becomes quite stark.

Won the Golden Palm at Cannes. Features the first instance of a full-frontal female nude passed by the British Board of Film Classification. Malcolm McDowell's film debut. Based on Jean Vigo's short film, Zero De Conduite.

“[If....] is a genuine appeal to anarchy, fanning the flames at the end of a turbulent decade in which revolution was spreading across the Western world ... Given how readily the film slips from realism to surrealism and back, it's unwise to take the ending at face value, but the dream of laying waste to the social order remains potent.” – Scott Tobias

[Philosophe_rouge]

I really want to see If...

[Spinal]

#7

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/6.jpg

Pas de deux

Director: Norman McLaren

Country: Canada

Two ballet dancers perform a dance enhanced with surreal multi and after-image effect visuals.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short, Live Action Subjects. However, it also won a BAFTA award for Best Animated Film. Created using an optical printer to reprint images from one frame onto another.

“Using multiple exposures of backlit dancers moving in a void of blackness, it presents those dancers to us as reflections of themselves, as shadows of themselves, and finally as continuous pluralities. As the dancers’ glistening white outlines pile atop one another, the film abstracts away from our notions of a body’s physicality and self-identity; the dancers cease to be things and are dissolved into their pure motion. And that motion is a multitude.” – Melville

[Melville]

“Using multiple exposures of backlit dancers moving in a void of blackness, it presents those dancers to us as reflections of themselves, as shadows of themselves, and finally as continuous pluralities. As the dancers’ glistening white outlines pile atop one another, the film abstracts away from our notions of a body’s physicality and self-identity; the dancers cease to be things and are dissolved into their pure motion. And that motion is a multitude.” – Melville
My fifteen minutes of fame have arrived!

[Spinal]

#5 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/039_8892Planet-of-the-Apes-Poste-1.jpg

Planet of the Apes

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Country: USA

Astronauts come out of deep hibernation to find that their ship has crashed. Escaping with little more than clothes they find that they have landed on a planet where men are pre-lingual and uncivilized while apes have learned speech and technology.

John Chambers earned a Special Academy Award for Achievement in Makeup. Also nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Original Score. One of the first films to have a major large scale merchandising tie-in. Merchandise related to the film included toys and collectibles, action figures, picture and story books, trading card sets, books, records, comics and a series of graphic novels from Marvel Comics.

“The 1968 original, directed by Franklin Schaffner and starring Charlton Heston, remains the best of the lot, even for a generation that grew up having its ending spoiled by The Simpsons. Its social conscience and deep concern with what it means to be human remains unspoiled.” – Keith Phipps

[Spinal]

#5 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/sjff_01_img0171.jpg

Faces

Director: John Cassavetes

Country: USA

An old married man leaves his wife for a younger woman. Shortly after, his ex-wife also begins a relationship with a younger partner. The film follows their struggles to find love amongst each other.

Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Seymour Cassel) and Best Supporting Actress (Lynn Carlin). John Marley was named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. Steven Spielberg worked on the set for two weeks as an uncredited production assistant.

“Faces is the sort of film that makes you want to grab people by the neck and drag them into the theater and shout: 'Here!' ... What Cassavetes has done is astonishing. He has made a film that tenderly, honestly and uncompromisingly examines the way we really live." -- Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#4

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/Girl_zombie_eating_her_victim_ Night.jpg

Night of the Living Dead

Director: George A. Romero

Country: USA

The dead come back to life and eat the living as several people barricade themselves inside a rural house in an attempt to survive the night. Outside are hordes of relentless, shambling zombies who can only be killed by a blow to the head.

The blood is actually Bosco chocolate syrup. Though the radiation of a detonated satellite returning from Venus is theorized to be the cause of the dead rising and attacking the living, according to the filmmakers, the actual cause is never determined. During production, the film's title was still being chosen. The working title was simply Monster Flick.

“This was not Transylvania, but Pennsylvania—this was Middle America at war, and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam. In this first-ever subversive horror movie ... disillusionment with government and patriarchal nuclear family is total." -- Elliott Stein

[Spinal]

#3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/rosemary.jpg

Rosemary's Baby

Director: Roman Polanski

Country: USA

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.

Ruth Gordon won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. According to Mia Farrow, the scenes where Rosemary walks in front of traffic were spontaneous and genuine. Roman Polanski is reported to have told her that "nobody will hit a pregnant woman."

“Delirious with potions, blood, and anagrams, [it] is the definitive cinematic treatment of what husband John Cassavetes patronizingly calls the 'pre-partum crazies.' ... Superbly acted (especially by bone-thin Farrow and Ruth Gordon as the ultimate neighbor from hell), it’s a satantango in the land of Is-this-real-or-am-I-crazy?, with a luridly literal ending that doesn’t negate the previous, more interior terrors." -- Ed Park

[Spinal]

#2

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/1024-1.jpg

Once Upon a Time in the West

Director: Sergio Leone

Country: Italy/USA

A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad in this frontier epic. Mysterious pasts and the strength of loyalties are explored amid lightning fast gun battles and stylish vistas.

The credits, concluding with Director Sergio Leone, last over ten minutes into the start of the film. After receiving word of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jason Robards broke down and refused to perform until the day was over. Leone decided to stop filming for the day.

“It may not have been the final eulogy for the Western the director had envisioned ... but in its beguiling, magnificent depiction of the end of an era, Once Upon a Time in the West has become what Leone had perhaps always hoped: the antiquated genre's triumphant final masterpiece." -- Nick Schager

[Derek]

*trembles in anticipation*

[Spinal]

#1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/ape.jpg

2001: A Space Odyssey

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Country: UK/USA

A monolith, discovered on the moon, is determined to have come from an area near Jupiter. A team of astronauts sets off on a spaceship controlled by HAL 9000, a revolutionary computer system that is every bit mankind's equal, and perhaps his superior.

Won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. Also nominated for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Art Direction. The monolith was originally to have been a black tetrahedron; however, it did not reflect light properly. Kubrick then decided to use a transparent cube; however, that proved to be too difficult to use, because of the reflections created by the studio lights.

“Kubrick, like many great artists, often took to examining humanity from the outside in, a quality that both fans and detractors have mistaken for outright cynicism. 2001 is an incontrovertible counterargument to such misanthropic claims, both celestial and appropriately humble in its framing of our existence against the reaches of space, the semi-detached tone critical to its aura." -- Rob Humanick

[Spinal]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (97)
2. Once Upon a Time in the West (60.5)
3. Rosemary's Baby (50.5)
4. Night of the Living Dead (36.5)
5t. Faces (22.5)
5t. Planet of the Apes (22.5)
7. Pas de deux (17.5)
8. If … (17)
9. The Producers (16.5)
10. Hour of the Wolf (15)

Not quite:
Stolen Kisses (14)
High School (12)
Yellow Submarine (11.5)

[Philosophe_rouge]

The Top 4 is incredible.

[MadMan]

This might have actually been the first list where I have actually seen almost all of the Top 5 (4/5 this time). Wow.

Not to nit pick or nothing but the review for NOTLD contains a huge spoiler. That sort of burns me, if only because I feel that the brilliant, ninhistic ending shouldn't be ruined. I blame the reviewer who's quote Spinal chose as much as I blame Spinal. :|


Boo. Hiss.Please don't tell me you hate The Producers. Especially since its Mel Brooks' second best film.

PS: I should post more reviews here (especially my NOTLD essay) so I can increase my chances of getting one of my reviews quoted. Hey I can dream :P

[Spinal]

Not to nit pick or nothing but the review for NOTLD contains a huge spoiler. That sort of burns me, if only because I feel that the brilliant, ninhistic ending shouldn't be ruined. I blame the reviewer who's quote Spinal chose as much as I blame Spinal. :|


Aw, shit. You're right. I'll fix it. Sorry.

[MadMan]

Aw, shit. You're right. I'll fix it. Sorry.I hope I didn't sound like an asshole or anything. I just love that move so much and I didn't want it spoiled. That said the reviewer who spoiled is dumb. And a wanker :P

[Spinal]

I hope I didn't sound like an asshole or anything. I just love that move so much and I didn't want it spoiled.

No, you're absolutely right. I was just moving so fast that I didn't catch it.

[MadMan]

No, you're absolutely right. I was just moving so fast that I didn't catch it.Glad to be of service. *Tips Cubs hat*

[Kurosawa Fan]

Please don't tell me you hate The Producers. Especially since its Mel Brooks'

I don't hate The Producers.

I loathe it.

[MadMan]

I don't hate The Producers.

I loathe it.Ah. I see. How sad. Too bad. I pitty you, even if I don't understand you :P

PS: Why the hell did I start rhyming? See what you made me do KF with your loathing. Bah I say. Bah *waves hand dissmisively*

[Qrazy]

I don't hate The Producers.

I loathe it.

I love Mel Brooks but personally I find it to be his most dated work, either it's been done to death by others or the jokes have simply grown stale, but it's not really that funny anymore. I like it a lot more than you though.

Just watched Dawn of the Dead for the first time a few days ago... meh. It was alright and I can recognize why it has the status and respect it does for it's genre. The long shots are excellent, and Romero continues with the dynamic framing he employed in Night of the Living Dead, but the bad acting in the former film, coupled with the black and white cinematography, almost helped to make scenes more tense and threatening... in a found footage relic sort of way... while with Dawn the bad acting just detracts from the experience, and while Romero almost makes up for the poor drama with compelling and naturally integrated set pieces, he's not able to quite find his mark. When it comes to pulp filmmakers with a similar tonal quality to their work, I greatly prefer Carpenter.

[MadMan]

The acting in Dawn is actually better than the acting in Night imo. Besides I think Dawn also benefits from having a smaller main cast. I do agree that Carpenter is the better director, although I'd say only two of his films I've seen so far measure up to the first two Dead films.

I don't understand this "dated" criticism of older comedy films. If its funny then its funny. Simple as that. In fact the more I think about it, the less I find it valid as a criticism altogether.

[Yxklyx]

The acting in Dawn is actually better than the acting in Night imo. Besides I think Dawn also benefits from having a smaller main cast. I do agree that Carpenter is the better director, although I'd say only two of his films I've seen so far measure up to the first two Dead films.

I don't understand this "dated" criticism of older comedy films. If its funny then its funny. Simple as that. In fact the more I think about it, the less I find it valid as a criticism altogether.


Acting Schmacting. People have this prejudiced notion of what acting should be. There is no such thing as bad acting - only inappropriate acting. The acting in NOTLD was totally appopriate.

[MadMan]

Acting Schmacting. People have this prejudiced notion of what acting should be. There is no such thing as bad acting - only inappropriate acting. The acting in NOTLD was totally appopriate.Heh. I do agree with you for the most part, although the young couple was really annoying. But even they served their purpose, in that I feel they represented the younger generation. One that ends up being destroyed by their own foolish impluses. Plus the fact that their naive behavior also helped contribute to their demise.

[Qrazy]

The acting in Dawn is actually better than the acting in Night imo. Besides I think Dawn also benefits from having a smaller main cast. I do agree that Carpenter is the better director, although I'd say only two of his films I've seen so far measure up to the first two Dead films.

I don't understand this "dated" criticism of older comedy films. If its funny then its funny. Simple as that. In fact the more I think about it, the less I find it valid as a criticism altogether.

When someone says a comedy is dated they mean it's not funny anymore, but are still giving it the benefit of the doubt that it was funny once. If you find it funny, more power to you, but that is why dated is used as a criticism, rather than saying this film is not funny... this is usually because the cultural influence, relevance and originality of the film is readily apparent, but the jokes have been done to death, and/or now that some time has passed and the originality of the film has waned, what's left isn't as interesting as it was once thought to be. Forget that we're talking about The Producers for now, I'm simply stating why I think describing something as dated is a perfectly reasonable criticism.

If you're a person who thinks that great art ought to have temporal longevity, than the re-examination of the merits of a work of art down the road, to see if it holds up, is perfectly sound.

[Qrazy]

Acting Schmacting. People have this prejudiced notion of what acting should be. There is no such thing as bad acting - only inappropriate acting. The acting in NOTLD was totally appopriate.

Just like they have a preconceived notion of what a good composition is, or coherent editing or good writing.

No, as someone who has studied acting, I'm sorry I don't agree at all. There are different kinds of well written scripts, interesting compositions and well edited films but there are also poorly executed examples of these creative endevours, as there is also poor acting. I'd agree with you if this was a 'naturalism' is the only proper form of acting argument, but it's not. The acting in Murnau, Hithcock, Bresson and Kusturica films while not natural is almost always exceptional.

Can the bad acting in the Dead films be overlooked in favor of the films' other strengths? Certainly, does that make the acting good? No. Would the films have been even better with better acting? Almost certainly.