The Popular Movie Blindspot Thread

[Idioteque Stalker]

Watching the #3 most popular movie of each year according to LB (if I haven't seen it already).
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1954: Dial M for Murder. This was a lot of fun. Ray Milland was great -- I should really get around to Lost Weekend at some point. I think I actually saw this once before but forgot? Checks out... it's an enjoyable, intricately plotted lark that lost me a little by the end. Three stars.

1952: High Noon. When Gary Cooper gets the news early on that his nemesis will be arriving on the 12:00 train, then looks up at the clock to see it's already 10:41 -- indicating the entire movie will be taking place in real time -- I knew I was gonna like this. Gotta admire a movie that makes most other movies seem like they're full of nonsense. But the stark morality it postulates (roughly "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, damn everyone else's desires and/or safety") is one I simply can't subscribe to, which makes the whole thing feel like a moot point and brings to mind a different, not-so-revered Gary Cooper movie (The Fountainhead shudder). Foolhardiness is just as shameful as cowardice, yet here the emotional climax is a montage of the townsfolk looking like puppies who pissed the rug because they refuse to join an unnecessary conflict. Shout out to Katy Jurado, who is astounding. Three stars.

Didn't realize this was a Grace Kelly double feature. She is distractingly beautiful.

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Next up: 4 from the 40s. Big Sleep, Spellbound, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and Cat People.

[StuSmallz]

1952: High Noon. When Gary Cooper gets the news early on that his nemesis will be arriving on the 12:00 train, then looks up at the clock to see it's already 10:41 -- indicating the entire movie will be taking place in real time -- I knew I was gonna like this. Gotta admire a movie that makes most other movies seem like they're full of nonsense. But the stark morality it postulates (roughly "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, damn everyone else's desires and/or safety") is one I simply can't subscribe to, which makes the whole thing feel like a moot point and brings to mind a different, not-so-revered Gary Cooper movie (The Fountainhead shudder). Foolhardiness is just as shameful as cowardice, yet here the emotional climax is a montage of the townsfolk looking like puppies who pissed the rug because they refuse to join an unnecessary conflict. Shout out to Katy Jurado, who is astounding. Three stars.

Well, I liked it better than that, but I do feel that the movie showed its age somewhat in its take on the genre; something like [

Show Spoiler

the sight of Grace Kelly shooting a baddie in the back

] definitely isn't as shocking/rousing as it would've been back in '52, and the main antagonist was essentially just there to be the token bad guy, so it would've been nice if he had been given literally any dimension or development at all, I feel. Still good, though!

[Idioteque Stalker]

Well, I liked it better than that, but I do feel that the movie showed its age somewhat in its take on the genre; something like [

Show Spoiler

the sight of Grace Kelly shooting a baddie in the back

] definitely isn't as shocking/rousing as it would've been back in '52, and the main antagonist was essentially just there to be the token bad guy, so it would've been nice if he had been given literally any dimension or development at all, I feel. Still good, though!

Those things didn't bother me. The villain is more legend than man, which is appropriate for a western, particularly one in which the marshal is tasked with rallying the town past their collective fear. (I do think it would've been interesting if he was given more dimension via showing up a changed man or something, but that's not what this movie is.) And another way to frame your spoiled text is that it was ahead of its time, which is a positive.