The "I'm watching/just watched *movie title* thread....

[albrecht]

Re

At the time (1965) critics complained the film was too long at nearly 3 1/2 hours, but considering the epic story takes place during a massive political and cultural upheaval (the Russian Revolution), it could not have easily been condensed into a tidy 2 hours. I found the movie's pacing just right, and at the time theaters provided an intermission halfway though.

Trivia: Dr. Zhivago is the 8th highest grossing film of all time in the US and Canada

http://www.biography.com/news/doctor-zhivago-facts-50-anniversary

Interesting!  And I thought Omar was.only good for bridge tips?

[GravitySucks]

Interesting!  And I thought Omar was.only good for bridge tips?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637241/Lost-Omar-Sharif-high-stakes-game-BRIDGE-The-opulent-4-5-million-mansion-bought-star-1970s-hand-days-later.html

[Dr. MD MD]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637241/Lost-Omar-Sharif-high-stakes-game-BRIDGE-The-opulent-4-5-million-mansion-bought-star-1970s-hand-days-later.html

Fucking gorgeous! 

[21st Century Man]

I watched "The Road To Singapore" (1940) starring Hope and Crosby, on a dvd.  (Actually I should have wrote Crosby and Hope because Bing had top billing over Bob on the opening credits.)  Really nice movie if you are in a mood for some escapism, or a lot, in the case of this movie. 

This was the very first 'Road To' movie.  I loved the rich, sharp, black and white tones on this film.  The dvd was nice and clear, no film scratches or anything on it. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful Dorothy Lamour was.  I hadn't really given her much thought in regards to beauty, but I got to say, she looked great in this picture.  There is also a young, virile Anthony Quinn who does a good job playing a rather secondary roll. Hope and Crosby Crosby and Hope play their parts in a professional, polished manner and their dialogue and ad-lib delivery is flawless.

The dancing and singing is fun to watch.  The songs were good enough to keep me from pressing the fast forward button, and that is saying a lot.  Speaking of songs, you would think that Bing Crosby was one of the smoothest singers around at that time, and yet I heard him fumble on the song 'Sweet Potato Piper.'  Guess it wasn't an important enough flub to call for a re-take.  There is the same recording below, and you can hear the quick trip-up at the 1:04 mark.  All in all, a fun little movie.


https://youtu.be/WhA0a-2lGug

Yeah, those Road movies are great.  I enjoy almost all of the Bob Hope movies made before 1960.  He made some real stinkers afterwards.  If you liked Dorothy Lamour in this,  check out the disaster movie she made with John Ford in 1937, the Hurricane.  Great old film and really an underrated film in the Ford Canon with Thomas Mitchell, Jon Hall (apt casting as he was half-Polynesian in real life), Raymond Massey, John Carradine and Mary Astor.

[21st Century Man]

Recently watched one of my all-time favorites again, Dr. Zhivago, which I felt was a decent effort to bring Pasternak's epic story to film.

I thought the casting was superb, with the exception of Julie Christie as Lara, who I thought was flat in comparison to Omar Sharif's delightfully OTT Zhivago. Geraldine Chaplin was also excellent as Tonya. But my favorite performance was by Rod Steiger, who was throughly convincing as the cruel Victor.

At the time (1965) critics complained the film was too long at nearly 3 1/2 hours, but considering the epic story takes place during a massive political and cultural upheaval (the Russian Revolution), it could not have easily been condensed into a tidy 2 hours. I found the movie's pacing just right, and at the time theaters provided an intermission halfway though.

Trivia: Dr. Zhivago is the 8th highest grossing film of all time in the US and Canada. Despite being revered by his countrymen and nominated for a Nobel prize, writer and poet Boris Pasternak's dramatic love story (published in 1957 in Italy) upon which the film was based, was not appreciated by the Soviet government. The film wasn't shown in Russia until 30 years after its release.

http://www.biography.com/news/doctor-zhivago-facts-50-anniversary

I remember my Mom disliked that film because it was far to long and it didn't have a happy ending.  I've never been that big of a Julie Christie fan but I love Sharif.   I have yet to watch it in full but I've liked the bits I've seen particularly one scene that I call the Ice Palace scene.

The only movie I've really watched with Christie as the lead was Petulia with George C. Scott and I didn't like it though it was well-made by Richard Lester.

[Rix Gins]

Yeah, those Road movies are great.  I enjoy almost all of the Bob Hope movies made before 1960.  He made some real stinkers afterwards.  If you liked Dorothy Lamour in this,  check out the disaster movie she made with John Ford in 1937, the Hurricane.  Great old film and really an underrated film in the Ford Canon with Thomas Mitchell, Jon Hall (apt casting as he was half-Polynesian in real life), Raymond Massey, John Carradine and Mary Astor.

I haven't seen the Hurricane but I do enjoy early day disaster movies like San Francisco and The Last Days of Pompeii, etc. I will definitely check it out.  Thanks, 21st!

[21st Century Man]

I haven't seen the Hurricane but I do enjoy early day disaster movies like San Francisco and The Last Days of Pompeii, etc. I will definitely check it out.  Thanks, 21st!

Anytime!    It had excellent special effects.  I would also add another disaster movie if you like them but this one is mostly silent.  Written by Darryl Zanuck and directed by Michael Curtiz, check out 1929's Noah's Ark.  That is really two movies in one.  There is a contemporary story but it is sort of forgettable.  However, the Noah story has to be seen to be believed.  Beautiful, elaborate sets worthy of DeMille depicting the decadence of ancient civilization and then there is the Flood.  Nothing cheap or phony about the effects in this film. 3 extras drowned in this sequence.  None of the extras that drowned were John Wayne, Ward Bond or Andy Devine though they were indeed extras in that sequence.  Also of note is Myrna Loy, extremely hot, in a supporting role in both storylines.

[Lt.Uhura]

I remember my Mom disliked that film because it was far to long and it didn't have a happy ending.  I've never been that big of a Julie Christie fan but I love Sharif.   I have yet to watch it in full but I've liked the bits I've seen particularly one scene that I call the Ice Palace scene.

The only movie I've really watched with Christie as the lead was Petulia with George C. Scott and I didn't like it though it was well-made by Richard Lester.

If you find yourself with a spare 3+ hours I think you'd enjoy it, 21st. If anything you could appreciate the effort that went into making such an ambitious film.

Don't be misled by those who say it's a film about the Russian Revolution. It's a story of individuals whose fates were caught up in the political upheaval and chaos. Families torn apart, fortunes reversed, loyalties and friendships tested...all the ethos transformed in times of war.

Yes, Sharif is great. I read somewhere the director wanted it to seem as if the film unfolded through the eyes of Zhivago as observer. He couldn't have cast a more perfect actor to accomplish this, with the soul-deep eyes of Sharif. Incidentally, the role of Zhivago as a young boy was played by his own son, Tarek--with the same deep, expressive eyes. 

[21st Century Man]

If you find yourself with a spare 3+ hours I think you'd enjoy it, 21st. If anything you could appreciate the effort that went into making such an ambitious film.

Don't be misled by those who say it's a film about the Russian Revolution. It's a story of individuals whose fates were caught up in the political upheaval and chaos. Families torn apart, fortunes reversed, loyalties and friendships tested...all the ethos transformed in times of war.

Yes, Sharif is great. I read somewhere the director wanted it to seem as if the film unfolded through the eyes of Zhivago as observer. He couldn't have cast a more perfect actor to accomplish this, with the soul-deep eyes of Sharif. Incidentally, the role of Zhivago as a young boy was played by his own son, Tarek--with the same deep, expressive eyes.

Oh, I'm a fan of movies about the Russian Revolution but yeah I know it is primarily a love story about people caught up in circumstances out of their control.  I'm particularly enthralled with the last years of the czars leading up to the Revolution and all that entailed.  It has just been a matter of committing to 3 hours plus for the film.  Back in the day when it was only available on commercial tv it was more like 4 and a half hours.  I did manage to grab a dvd of Zhivago so it is in my wheelhouse and I'll get around to it soon.  I'm also a fan of great Soviet cinema especially the works of Eisenstein.  But back to Sharif, I always thought he was such a charming man, one of the last that came out of that era of Hollywood.

I watched Lean's Ryan's Daughter a few months ago for the first time and I particularly enjoyed Mitchum in that picture playing against type.  That film really showed what a great actor Mitchum was.  And the Irish cinematography was out of this world.

[yumyumtree]

Captain Blood 1935

[comaphobe]

I recently watched Death Wish II, then followed it up with Magnum Force which is probably my favorite Dirty Harry movie of the bunch.

Another good example is his giddily played arch-evil villain in "Cliffhanger".

Him as a villain in that movie was surprised me at the time. He was always nice and stuff in the roles I have seen him in, but in Cliffhanger he was like Clarence Boddiker in Robocop, a selfishly ruthless violently murderous villain. I went to the drive-in to see Cliffhanger when it came out, and it was a surprise to see John Lithgow play a total bastard like that. He also starred in the only truly worthy chapter of Twilight Zone The Movie and I prefer his over the one with Shatner.

My favorite Stallone movie (and by a landslide too). I think my first post in this thread was related to this movie.

"Go ahead, I don't shop here." - Cobra

[Rix Gins]

Watched a movie called Dead West (2016) on Netflix.  I only started watching it because the ad made me think that the movie was about a serial killer wandering about killin' folk back there in the oooooold west, pahrtner.  Nope, it wasn't the old west, it is set in modern times.  I didn't stop watching it though because the lead actor, the killer, was just good enough to keep me watching to the end.  He's a strange looking dude, kind of a cross between Jack Nicholson and Quentin Tarantino.  He's not a White Crow type of serial killer...more like a Jackstar one, where he hunts for a relationship with the perfect woman only to find out that she has a slight character flaw, puts men down, or says the wrong thing somewhere along the line.  If the women do any of those things, he gets out his knife.

It's a good movie if you can get past the facts that the killer drives along with free will in a highly recognizable 60's car that witnesses actually see him drive away in, that there is a similar looking stand of pine trees off in the distance, no matter what town he's in, that all of the women he hooks up with have never heard of this serial killer even though it's mentioned in all the news broadcasts and newspapers, and there is not one, NOT ONE, law enforcement officer or detective on his trail throughout the entire movie.  Aside from that it's an ok movie.  Oh yeah, I just remembered, it's got an Elvis impersonator in it too.  One of those Elvis' that hang out in wedding chapels marrying people.  That might have kept me watching the movie all the way through, too.   

[Dr. MD MD]

No Western was ever greater than the old serial, Six Gun Justice. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnS8g0HhIQ

[GravitySucks]

No Western was ever greater than the old serial, Six Gun Justice. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnS8g0HhIQ

[21st Century Man]

Speaking of Westerns,  I was reading a non-fiction book called Dodge City last night and there was this town in the panhandle called Sweetwater, now Mobeetie, Texas.  Bat Masterson worked there for a while.  Anyway, the town had a saloon called The Pink Pussy Cat Paradise, I kid you not.   This was in the mid 1870's.  I really need to bingewatch Deadwood.

[Rix Gins]

Speaking of Westerns,  I was reading a non-fiction book called Dodge City last night and there was this town in the panhandle called Sweetwater, now Mobeetie, Texas.  Bat Masterson worked there for a while.  Anyway, the town had a saloon called The Pink Pussy Cat Paradise, I kid you not.   This was in the mid 1870's.  I really need to bingewatch Deadwood.

Haha, Sounds like quite a place.  It brought to mind a fictional character in Ed Wood's 'Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tucson Kid.'  There was an off camera character, a faro dealer by the name of Ace Dyke.

[albrecht]

Speaking of Westerns,  I was reading a non-fiction book called Dodge City last night and there was this town in the panhandle called Sweetwater, now Mobeetie, Texas.  Bat Masterson worked there for a while.  Anyway, the town had a saloon called The Pink Pussy Cat Paradise, I kid you not.   This was in the mid 1870's.  I really need to bingewatch Deadwood.

"PARTIAL LIST OF SALOONS IN OLD MOBEETIE

            Pink Pussy Cat Paradise
            Cattleman’s Exchange
            O’Loughlin’s Saloon
            Lady Gay (owner â€" Fleming)
            Buffalo Chip
            Mint (owner â€" J. J. Long)
            Cabinet
            White Elephant (owner â€" Berry)
            Giltedge
            Pendleton & Co. (ownerâ€"a Buffalo hide shipping Co.)
            Ring Town Saloon (for blacks only â€" was 2 Ã,½ miles NW of Mobeetie)"

http://mobeetie.com

"Mobeetie was patronized by outlaws, thieves, cut-throats, and buffalo hunters, with a large per cent of prostitutes. Taking it all, I think it was the hardest place I ever saw on the frontier except Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Charles Goodnight
Frontier Times, December 1929" <--- this is a pretty big claim from a very famous person who would know the region

It would appear the website creator used similar tools as most C2C guests but, thankfully, not the dreaded black background and blinking gifs.

[trostol]

since we are on westerns...I just watched Once Upon a Time in the West..i feel like i really do not know what was going on in that lol

[21st Century Man]

since we are on westerns...I just watched Once Upon a Time in the West..i feel like i really do not know what was going on in that lol

And I just watched an old Randolph Scott/Glenn Ford western from 1943 called The Desperadoes.  It was the first color film that Columbia made.  Not a deep film just good old-fashioned entertainment. Nice cinematography and technicolor distinguished it.  Claire Trevor, Evelyn Keyes, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and Edgar Buchanan had substantial roles. 3.75 stars.

[ItsOver]

since we are on westerns...I just watched Once Upon a Time in the West..i feel like i really do not know what was going on in that lol

That's a good one.  I always enjoy watching it.  Wiki can always help you out.

[Dr. MD MD]

My favorite Westerns are all of the non-standard ones like Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid; Blazing Saddles; Little Big Man; Silverado and Dances With Wolves. I also tend to think of the Japanese Movie Tampopo as a Western of sorts, for some reason.

[21st Century Man]

My favorite Westerns are all of the non-standard ones like Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid; Blazing Saddles; Little Big Man; Silverado and Dances With Wolves. I also tend to think of the Japanese Movie Tampopo as a Western of sorts, for some reason.

I love Blazing Saddles and Silverado but really love the Spaghetti westerns and the classics.  Many Japanese samurai flicks have been remade as westerns.  The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the Seven Samurai. Fistful of Dollars is Yojimbo remade.  Rashomon was remade as the Outrage with Paul Newman, Laurence Harver, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson and William Shatner.  Those are the ones off the top of my head.  My favorite Western is the Searchers though.  How predictable, I know.  I used to only like it but it has gotten better with each viewing for me and now I love it.  Stagecoach and an underrated  gritty 1929 Western directed by William Wyler called Hell's Heroes are also favorites.

[Dr. MD MD]

I love Blazing Saddles and Silverado but really love the Spaghetti westerns and the classics.  Many Japanese samurai flicks have been remade as westerns.  The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the Seven Samurai. Fistful of Dollars is Yojimbo remade.  Rashomon was remade as the Outrage with Paul Newman, Laurence Harver, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson and William Shatner.  Those are the ones off the top of my head.  My favorite Western is the Searchers though.  How predictable, I know.  I used to only like it but it has gotten better with each viewing for me and now I love it.  Stagecoach and an underrated 1929 Western directed by William Wyler called Hell's Heroes are also favorites.

I acknowledge and tip my hat to Searchers and Mr. Ford but I just can't connect with it in a deep, emotional way for some reason. Most of my favs seem to have something to do with the Indian's (or Outlaw's) perspective in Cowboy times. 

[albrecht]

I love Blazing Saddles and Silverado but really love the Spaghetti westerns and the classics.  Many Japanese samurai flicks have been remade as westerns.  The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the Seven Samurai. Fistful of Dollars is Yojimbo remade.  Rashomon was remade as the Outrage with Paul Newman, Laurence Harver, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson and William Shatner.  Those are the ones off the top of my head.  My favorite Western is the Searchers though.  How predictable, I know.  I used to only like it but it has gotten better with each viewing for me and now I love it.  Stagecoach and an underrated  gritty 1929 Western directed by William Wyler called Hell's Heroes are also favorites.

Agree on "Searchers" but the spaghetti westerns were awesome. I also love "The Wild Bunch." Back in college I had one of those tv/vcr combos that would instantly repeat and many times I would have my tape (SLP recording) of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" and "The Wild Bunch" on loop, especially if returning home drunk or prior to a Mexico trip (sometimes we would reenact lines from the movies down there....and one long weekend I even decided to wear a serape and fashioned a bandana ala an outlaw. The locals got a kick out of me, I'm sure. But that was back when Gringos could do whatever they wanted there, pre-Cartel days. Though the Federales would sometimes rush into a bar and kick some ass and arrest someone. But usually the local cops could be paid off in the event that a drunk gringo committed some minor offensive. The one fun thing I remember was a BP cop on our side messing with us (maybe high school senior Spring Break or hunting trip visit?) and saying that we needed to "have a dip" before returning to the US. I'm: "what do you mean?" He said "y'all ever seen a sheep dip? You gotta be clean after a Ol' Mex visit, son. Now y'all get over there and undress and dip through the trough over there." I was white as a sheet. And then he let out a big laugh and said "I'm kidding, git along, and sleep it off."

I would add that some of the bars/places and people were very "Touch of Evil" esque. I recall one bar owner/operator, a gringo, saying he couldn't go back to the USA due to warrants etc so retired and was operating down here. And the more remote border towns, like Boquillas across from Big Bend was very interesting and remote. Some good times there, once a bit scary.

[trostol]

My favorite Westerns are all of the non-standard ones like Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid; Blazing Saddles; Little Big Man; Silverado and Dances With Wolves. I also tend to think of the Japanese Movie Tampopo as a Western of sorts, for some reason.

Butch and Sundance is good...Silverado is really good..a touch long maybe..underrated perhaps even..I like to throw in Tombstone and to a lesser degree my favorite cross over..BttF 3 ...Wyatt Earp is good if you cut off the first half of it and..though i haven't watched it in some time..Young Guns...i am sure i am forgetting some..Bad Company wasn't bad..but only have 1 viewing of that...this weekends feature is going to be the Wild Bunch

the new Magnificent Seven wasn't bad..but didn't have the grittiness of the "original" M7

[albrecht]

Butch and Sundance is good...Silverado is really good..a touch long maybe..underrated perhaps even..I like to throw in Tombstone and to a lesser degree my favorite cross over..BttF 3 ...Wyatt Earp is good if you cut off the first half of it and..though i haven't watched it in some time..Young Guns...i am sure i am forgetting some..Bad Company wasn't bad..but only have 1 viewing of that...this weekends feature is going to be the Wild Bunch

the new Magnificent Seven wasn't bad..but didn't have the grittiness of the "original" M7

I will humbly suggest any Western featuring Klaus Kinski. Actually I will almost, there are a few bad ones, all movies that feature him, especially when directed (ha) by Werner Herzog. I will note that he is one of those that I find conflicted (Polanski, Woody Allen, etc) that about their personal behavior/crimes and their work.

[Lilith]

The closest I can get to participating in a discussion about "Westerns", is "Legends of the Fall", one of my favorite movies.

I know that doesn't really count. 

[21st Century Man]

Agree on "Searchers" but the spaghetti westerns were awesome. I also love "The Wild Bunch." Back in college I had one of those tv/vcr combos that would instantly repeat and many times I would have my tape (SLP recording) of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" and "The Wild Bunch" on loop, especially if returning home drunk or prior to a Mexico trip (sometimes we would reenact lines from the movies down there....and one long weekend I even decided to wear a serape and fashioned a bandana ala an outlaw. The locals got a kick out of me, I'm sure. But that was back when Gringos could do whatever they wanted there, pre-Cartel days. Though the Federales would sometimes rush into a bar and kick some ass and arrest someone. But usually the local cops could be paid off in the event that a drunk gringo committed some minor offensive. The one fun thing I remember was a BP cop on our side messing with us (maybe high school senior Spring Break or hunting trip visit?) and saying that we needed to "have a dip" before returning to the US. I'm: "what do you mean?" He said "y'all ever seen a sheep dip? You gotta be clean after a Ol' Mex visit, son. Now y'all get over there and undress and dip through the trough over there." I was white as a sheet. And then he let out a big laugh and said "I'm kidding, git along, and sleep it off."

I would add that some of the bars/places and people were very "Touch of Evil" esque. I recall one bar owner/operator, a gringo, saying he couldn't go back to the USA due to warrants etc so retired and was operating down here. And the more remote border towns, like Boquillas across from Big Bend was very interesting and remote. Some good times there, once a bit scary.

Great story! Love the Touch of Evil reference.  Speaking of spaghetti westerns,  gotta add the original Django with Franco Nero as a favorite.  Lots of fun.  Later westerns are for the most part more cerebral than the typical oater Hollywood was putting out in the 30's and 40's though there are exceptions like My Darling Clementine, The Ox-Bow Incident and The Gunslinger.  Gotta also add my love of Duel In The Sun by Selznick.

With all that said, sometimes I just like to sit down with Western fluff from the early days when the good guys wore white and the bad guys wore black.  Stuff like Jesse James, The Return of Frank James, When the Daltons Rode etc., etc.  LOL, I'm calling a Fritz Lang film like The Return of Frank James fluff.

[yumyumtree]

Westerns--not .yet fave genre, but off the top of my head, some of my favorites:
The Shootist really poignant and memorable
Unforgiven, beautiful southern Alberta scenery, among other things
High Noon
310 to Yuma, both versions
The Long Riders. The gimmick is brothers playing brothers.
The Searchers and Stagecoach, two John Wayne classics
Open Range recent western with Kevin Costner, but respects most of the earlier traditions.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, because of course.
I'm sure there's others, but those are the ones that immediately occur to me.

[albrecht]

Westerns--not .yet fave genre, but off the top of my head, some of my favorites:

Open Range recent western with Kevin Costner, but respects most of the earlier traditions.

I like a lot. I really like Tig, the dog. A Great Pyrenees or mix thereof, I think. Nice, big dogs but also that can deal with stuff if needed.