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"What Movie Did You Watch?" - 2020 Edition


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7 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

Stagecoach (1939)

My Darling Clementine (1946)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Three of the greatest westerns ever made.  Three of the greatest pieces of American cinema of any stripe actually.  Beautifully photographed, dramatically realised and acted on all levels.  John Ford could be argued to be the greatest director that ever lived, though I myself would probably argue ol’ Essex Alf, he ain’t far behind though, they are interesting trans-atlantic counterpoints.

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1 hour ago, Len Cnut said:

Three of the greatest westerns ever made.  Three of the greatest pieces of American cinema of any stripe actually.  Beautifully photographed, dramatically realised and acted on all levels.  John Ford could be argued to be the greatest director that ever lived, though I myself would probably argue ol’ Essex Alf, he ain’t far behind though, they are interesting trans-atlantic counterpoints.

Liberty Valance is a very different film by Ford, more character driven and less action orientated, deliberately set in black and white and lacking the big trademark panoramic (Monument Valley) vistas - it is a bit of a post-cowboy (or post-wild west) film truthfully. Sentimental. Wayne took a back seat. The critics felt it should have ended twenty minutes earlier. 

Stagecoach might be one of the most seismic films ever for Hollywood.

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Liberty Valance is a very different film by Ford, more character driven and less action orientated, deliberately set in black and white and lacking the big trademark panoramic (Monument Valley) vistas - it is a bit of a post-cowboy (or post-wild west) film truthfully. Sentimental. Wayne took a back seat. The critics felt it should have ended twenty minutes earlier. 

Its a lot of things, its post-cowboy and like...almost mildly revisionist as westerns would go on to be but without losing the sentimentality and romance of the genre that I think is really key.  Lee Marvin was fantastic as Liberty Valance.  Lee Van Cleef is in there as one of his boys, as he is in High Noon too. 

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Stagecoach might be one of the most seismic films ever for Hollywood.

Pretty solid examples of cross-cutting out there.  Ford (and Hitchcock) are amazing in the way that they kinda rode through all these eras of cinema and grew with them, they were kinda there at the birth and still making credible work very late in the day, Hitch especially.  I mean if you think about it from London Fog to fuckin' Frenzy, thats a lot of fuckin' water under the bridge and evolution of the medium. 

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When I first heard this story, which was years and years ago, when I was a teenager, the framing and photography of westerns suddenly made perfect sense.  In fact all these years, to this day, when I watch John Ford westerns I'm always looking to see where the horizon is in his framing of shit.  Every time, to this day.

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Golden Age Westerns remind me of Kung Fu films, late '60s to early '80s, in that you've the same tropes, characters and actors, and set designs - and a limited amount of base storylines. Thus in the western you have the, base ''revenge'' plot line (Winchester '73), ''sheriff v gunslinger'' story (High Noon), the ''Indians v ordinary people/cavalry'' one (Stagecoach), ''ranchers v homesteaders/interlopers'' storyline (Johnny Guitar has an element of this), etc etc. I am not saying there isn't a great deal of flexibility within those storylines, and that they are not incapable of amalgamation. The Searchers seems to borrow elements from two or three. 

Kung Fu films also have their base plots, which can be summarized as,

- ''you killed my teacher'' (Fist of Fury), evil teacher kills rival teacher, rival teacher having to be avenged by student 

- ''Innocent Ching rising up against evil rapist Ming'' anti-colonial story (36th Chamber).

- Or sometimes just a base revenge plot, as in Way of the Dragon.

All three, although not Bruce Lee's, often feature an avenger acquiring a distinct kung fu style along the way in order to unleash his vengeance. Thus Jackie, his teacher having been killed by evil Kung Fu master as with the first plot device, has to merge his old Snake Fist with the Cat's Paw in order to be capable of defeating evil Kung Fu Master's Eagle Claw (Snake and the Eagle's Shadow). 

More specifically, both have the same quasi-mythological historic material, same folk characters. So the western has Cochise and Geronimo and the Gunfight at the OK Corral, so Kung Fu has Shaolin, Wong Fei Hung.

You see the same starring actors (Wayne, Cooper, Maureen O'Hara). The same character actors (Lee Van Cleef as a ''black hat''). The same sets as they were filmed on purpose built sets/ranches (e.g., the Shaw Brother's lot). The same exterior locations (Monument Valley).

Edited by DieselDaisy
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13 hours ago, RussTCB said:

I'm watching a documentary of Studio 54 right now what a whirlwind everything to do with that place was! 

Whats it like, fact based cultural commentary or salacious stories of sex drugs and disco?  Cuz if its the latter I might give it a watch!

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Empire of Dreams, A Star Wars Doc on the OT.

Ive actually watched it like 4 times in recent days. Im infirm and I keep entering "star wars doc" into YT and YT in its wisdom keeps playing the same one. Im to fucked off to get back up and change it. These algorithms need to die!!! :lol:

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Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

I didn't realize just how much i appreciated this film until i watched it again last night. Its been years since i watched it but i still knew all the quotes like i watched it last week.

Netflix has the rated cut though :thumbsdown: more boobs in the unrated.

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