I See Dead People (no. 2)

[koganbot]

Look, this is really sad. No list of all-time great movies whose top ten includes only movies I've already seen can be credible.* Or if it is credible, this is a sad world. Not to denigrate my own tastes, judgments, and habits, but round '78 I decided that I didn't have the time or money to watch a lot of movies. And in 1999 I made the decision, I

Comments

Re: Haven't done one of these in a while.

[koganbot]

Laramie is the only Mann western where I actually got bored, though I remember it so poorly that I didn't even recall that Fonda was in it. From your description, I'd imagine that with the right script, and a different conception of the part by the director, this'd be perfect for Fonda. I remember an Andrew Sarris appreciation of Fonda where Sarris stressed the potential for violence that Fonda brought to Tom Joad. Fonda was the wrong age and had the wrong image, but I imagine he could have done a more stressed and taut and truly dangerous Dirty Harry than we got from Eastwood. Also think with a different director and script he'd have done the same for High Noon (I'll confess that I've only seen bits and pieces of that "classic" [derided by many] on TV). Did see - again, only a bit and a piece - a movie where he played a bitter sheriff who did the town's dirty work largely unappreciated by the people he was protecting. I forget the title.

An actor where whole hunks of what he actually did onscreen don't match his image. Of course he was an excellent bad guy in Once Upon A Time In The West; but a coiled, distressed, possibly out-of-whack good guy might have been the best vehicle for his talent for feeling and causing pain.

Re: Haven't done one of these in a while.

[dubdobdee]

Basically I felt that the idea for the characters and the character structure is set out like chesspieces -- and it's not a terrible idea -- but then no game gets started that sets up any tension (= interest). At 100 mins It's actually the shortest Western in my line-up (this is actually why I started with it), and really doesn't dwell on any element or scene for very long at all, but overall it still feels static, without momentum or interesting revelation. (Admittedly I'd spoilered myself on who the actual villain was by reading up in advance, but it was in any case pretty meh, and they did next to nothing with it. I agree about Fonda -- perfect for the role if they'd thought it through and written it out -- but we just don't get enough of him.