Baaa, baaa meme-me (movies one)
It's way too hot to think.
My crucialist crucial films, subject to change tomorrow.
THE WIZARD OF OZ, which we watched on TV when I was in grade school. Nothing could have been more intensely thrilling, so glorious. . . . until the end, and nothing matched the utter betrayal when it all turned out to be a dream. I think that was one of the motivating factors in driving me to writing, wherein one could safely escape that loathsome finger-wagging “It was all a dream.” (Bonus showing, when I was eighteen, and we got a color TV, and I discovered the color part of the film.)
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, what an impact, and one of the few things that made me feel one with my generation.
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, Ronald Colman. I cannot begin to express how that hit me, even broken up by commercials and watched on an old TV while babysitting. One of the very first things I bought when video cassettes came out.
Franco Zefferelli’s ROMEO AND JULIET. It came out when I was in high school, it was heart-breakingly beautiful to look at, and it brought home to me how marvelous Shakespeare was, now that I could hear the words spoken. After that I had to see Shakespeare on stage.
CASABLANCA, because I have loved it all my life, from seeing it first as a teenage babysitter, half-understanding it, to a couple months ago, appreciating the clever cutting, the dialogue, the light and shadows.
SWING TIME, with Fred Astaire, seen on the big screen at an art theater. The perfect melding of music, dance, and story, especially the “Never Gonna Dance” number, that told the entire history of the relationship in a way that few filmed dances ever have. I used to try to match that, ha ha, when doing choreography when directing plays.
The Richard Lester THREE MUSKETEERS. Delightful, plus it was pretty much one of the few films of the seventies that I liked, besides the 1972 FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and . . .
STAR WARS, because it showed me that science fiction and film could come together. Because the audience love was as exhilarating at the film. Because there will never be another feeling like pushing back into your seat when the hyperdrive finally engages.
For me, the entire eighties was almost as bad as the seventies, except for BACK TO THE FUTURE. First film that my entire family loved, and went back to see, young and old.
Finally, DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN, a great film, but a real breakthrough for an old German friend, which elicited a cataract of healing talk after years of silence, and which then had other effects. Deeply affective experience.
My crucialist crucial films, subject to change tomorrow.
THE WIZARD OF OZ, which we watched on TV when I was in grade school. Nothing could have been more intensely thrilling, so glorious. . . . until the end, and nothing matched the utter betrayal when it all turned out to be a dream. I think that was one of the motivating factors in driving me to writing, wherein one could safely escape that loathsome finger-wagging “It was all a dream.” (Bonus showing, when I was eighteen, and we got a color TV, and I discovered the color part of the film.)
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, what an impact, and one of the few things that made me feel one with my generation.
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, Ronald Colman. I cannot begin to express how that hit me, even broken up by commercials and watched on an old TV while babysitting. One of the very first things I bought when video cassettes came out.
Franco Zefferelli’s ROMEO AND JULIET. It came out when I was in high school, it was heart-breakingly beautiful to look at, and it brought home to me how marvelous Shakespeare was, now that I could hear the words spoken. After that I had to see Shakespeare on stage.
CASABLANCA, because I have loved it all my life, from seeing it first as a teenage babysitter, half-understanding it, to a couple months ago, appreciating the clever cutting, the dialogue, the light and shadows.
SWING TIME, with Fred Astaire, seen on the big screen at an art theater. The perfect melding of music, dance, and story, especially the “Never Gonna Dance” number, that told the entire history of the relationship in a way that few filmed dances ever have. I used to try to match that, ha ha, when doing choreography when directing plays.
The Richard Lester THREE MUSKETEERS. Delightful, plus it was pretty much one of the few films of the seventies that I liked, besides the 1972 FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and . . .
STAR WARS, because it showed me that science fiction and film could come together. Because the audience love was as exhilarating at the film. Because there will never be another feeling like pushing back into your seat when the hyperdrive finally engages.
For me, the entire eighties was almost as bad as the seventies, except for BACK TO THE FUTURE. First film that my entire family loved, and went back to see, young and old.
Finally, DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN, a great film, but a real breakthrough for an old German friend, which elicited a cataract of healing talk after years of silence, and which then had other effects. Deeply affective experience.