OT: The eight perfectly made films

[cohenzone]

Paladin, Richard Boone

Best theme song ever.

 

[dogged1]

Best theme song ever.

Hmmm, "Stand By Me"? Not perfect but a pretty good movie.

 

[NY Fan]

"LOL!!! But yes Hedy definitely had a head on her shoulders."

Hedy Lamar most definitely had a head on her shoulders. So much so that when she moved to the US, she aided the WWII effort in the development of Sonar by passing on what she learned in Germany sitting at her former husband's table. She contributed rather than charged for it, which was a bitter irony at the end of her life!

 

[CL82]

Best theme song ever.

 

[FridaFriend]

I would nominate a few recent Clint Eastwood movies:

Mystic River
Million Dollar Baby

Flags of our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima

Invictus
Hereafter

 

[Bigboote]

This could be a whole new thread. Madeleine Carroll was great in The 39 Steps but her being more beautiful than Ava Gardner (The Snows of Kilimanjaro) or Elizabeth Taylor (A Place in the Sun) or Hedy Lamar (Ecstasy) or Grace Kelly (Rear Window) or Vivian Leigh (GWTW), not to mention Gene Tierney ( Laura) or Rita Hayworth, is not an opinion I can ascribe to.

I'm watching Test Pilot now. Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore and . . . Myrna Loy. There were better looking stars, but I don't think there were any more charming than her.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I'm watching Test Pilot now. Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore and . . . Myrna Loy. There were better looking stars, but I don't think there were any more charming than her.

I liked Myrna Loy in “Mr Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse” with Cary Grant, Melvyn Douglas, Jason Robards Sr, Reginald Denny, Louise Beavers, Ian Wolfe, and Lex Barker. One Grant’s best comedic efforts and one of my favorite films. A side note, the story of Mr Blandings became a bestseller by author Eric Hodgkins. Hodgkins real life experiences building a house on Long Mountain in New Milford, Connecticut on a budget of $11,000 which ballooned to $59,000 was the inspiration for his novel. The house and property today is worth around 2 or 3 million.

 

[CL82]

I would nominate a few recent Clint Eastwood movies:

Mystic River
Million Dollar Baby

Flags of our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima

Invictus
Hereafter

Million dollar baby was a powerful movie. I remember sitting there after the ending thinking “Wait, what? No, just... no.

 

[Alibi Ike]

Sergeant York
The Searchers
The Oxbow Incident
The Big Sleep (Bogart)
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
It Happened One Night
Mutiny On The Bounty (Gable)
Master And Commander (Crowe)

 

[visitingcock]

Sergeant York
The Searchers
The Oxbow Incident
The Big Sleep (Bogart)
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
It Happened One Night
Mutiny On The Bounty (Gable)
Master And Commander (Crowe)

Master and Commander is a decent movie but a big fan of the books could never be satisfied by a movie. The depth of O'Brian's details and characters can't be fitted into a movie. Quite simply, it's the best series of books I've ever read. I have never considered the movie to be great but it's about as good as it can be. Crowe did a good job as Aubrey, but I didn't think Paul Bettany quite hit the mark with his Maturin.

 

[CL82]

Sergeant York
The Searchers
The Oxbow Incident
The Big Sleep (Bogart)
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
It Happened One Night
Mutiny On The Bounty (Gable)
Master And Commander (Crowe)

I love Master and Commander. It is a "perfect movie" from the screen play, to the score, to the cinematography and the casting. Then again I am a big fan of the novels. Patrick O'Brian did a 'masterful' job with them.

 

[visitingcock]

I love Master and Commander. It is a "perfect movie" from the screen play, to the score, to the cinematography and the casting. Then again I am a big fan of the novels. Patrick O'Brian did a 'masterful' job with them.

Were you satisfied with Paul Bettany's performance as Maturin? I'm not saying he did a less-than-adequate job, but I didn't feel that he captured the full depth of the character. No "pain of Diana" in the script for example; no spy's natural furtiveness. Maybe my slight dissatisfaction with the character is with the screen writers rather than the actor. Of course, they could only do so much in the limited time for a movie.

 

[CL82]

Were you satisfied with Paul Bettany's performance as Maturin? I'm not saying he did a less-than-adequate job, but I didn't feel that he captured the full depth of the character. No "pain of Diana" in the script for example; no spy's natural furtiveness. Maybe my slight dissatisfaction with the character is with the screen writers rather than the actor. Of course, they could only do so much in the limited time for a movie.

There is so much depth to characters that it is difficult to fill them out in one short movie. Stephen's backstory got fleshed out over several books. At first, we didn't know his background as spy or skill as a dualist. I do feel like they captured the give and take between Jack and Stephen fairly well. I thought Crowe was excellent as Aubrey. They did a good job of describing his loyalty, commitment to duty and discipline while showing his charismatic side and why men would follow him. I highly recommend the film (and the books). Personally, I would have been happy with a three picture series starting with the facts of Master and Commander (the novel) followed by HMS Surprise and ending with The Mauritius Command. It is a nice story arc.

 

[dogged1]

There is so much depth to characters that it is difficult to fill them out in one short movie. Stephen's backstory got fleshed out over several books. At first, we didn't know his background as spy or skill as a dualist. I do feel like they captured the give and take between Jack and Stephen fairly well. I thought Crowe was excellent as Aubrey. They did a good job of describing his loyalty, commitment to duty and discipline while showing his charismatic side and why men would follow him. I highly recommend the film (and the books). Personally, I would have been happy with a three picture series starting with the facts of Master and Commander (the novel) followed by HMS Surprise and ending with The Mauritius Command. It is a nice story arc.

I too am a fan of the genre and in particular the Master and Commander series. Thought the movie was very good but not great.
Did any of you read the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell? Great series and good TV show staring Sean Bean (LOTR Boromir and GOT Eddard Stark).
Speaking of which I hereby nominate LOTR as the perfect adaption of a trilogy/book to trilogy/movie.
And yes, I freely admit, my childhood love of science fiction, fantasy, and historical novels has never gotten old.

 

[CL82]

I too am a fan of the genre and in particular the Master and Commander series. Thought the movie was very good but not great.
Did any of you read the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell? Great series and good TV show staring Sean Bean (LOTR Boromir and GOT Eddard Stark).
Speaking of which I hereby nominate LOTR as the perfect adaption of a trilogy/book to trilogy/movie.
And yes, I freely admit, my childhood love of science fiction, fantasy, and historical novels has never gotten old.

I’ve been thinking of getting into more nautical historical fiction, so I will try to remember this suggestion. I’m in the middle of The Once and Future King right now, having never read it before.

I disagree with you about the Lord of the rings movie trilogy. It is pretty good, but they elevated female characters to make it more “contemporary“ in Outlook. If you get to make a classic, don’t tamper with it. The better example of that is the hobbit and the material added to stretch it out to three movies. They also completely blew the humorous tone, instead choosing to make LOTR - lite.

 

[dogged1]

I’ve been thinking of getting into more nautical historical fiction, so I will try to remember this suggestion. I’m in the middle of The Once and Future King right now, having never read it before.

I disagree with you about the Lord of the rings movie trilogy. It is pretty good, but they elevated female characters to make it more “contemporary“ in Outlook. If you get to make a classic, don’t tamper with it. The farmer ingredients example of that is the hobbit to stretch it out to three movies. They also completely blew the humerus town, instead choosing to make LOTR - lite.

I agree with the critique, elevation of female characters, disagree with the conclusion. Just wasn't a real problem for me that Jackson saw the work thru his own, more modern, eyes. Was sad not to see Tom Bombadill, but saw the necessity Also agree that The Hobbit was stretched way to thin. I was only referring to the original LOTR trilogy.
By the humerus town, do you mean Bree, where Frodo met Strider? Not quite sure what your alluding to there.
Read The Once and Future King as a Freshman at college, on an english lit required reading list, loved it.
BTW, while the Sharpe's series is based on the Napoleonic wars, it is firmly focused on the infantry of England, it's lead character has a certain disdain for British Naval Officers and all that "Rule Britannia" nonsense. Kind of fun, after Horatio and Jack.

 

[visitingcock]

I agree with the critique, elevation of female characters, disagree with the conclusion. Just wasn't a real problem for me that Jackson saw the work thru his own, more modern, eyes. Was sad not to see Tom Bombadill, but saw the necessity Also agree that The Hobbit was stretched way to thin. I was only referring to the original LOTR trilogy.
By the humerus town, do you mean Bree, where Frodo met Strider? Not quite sure what your alluding to there.
Read The Once and Future King as a Freshman at college, on an english lit required reading list, loved it.
BTW, while the Sharpe's series is based on the Napoleonic wars, it is firmly focused on the infantry of England, it's lead character has a certain disdain for British Naval Officers and all that "Rule Britannia" nonsense. Kind of fun, after Horatio and Jack.

I am also a fan of Cornwell's Sharpes Rifles. It's a quite different view from someone who was not raised in the class of "gentlemen" as Jack and Stephen were, and it's certainly not as deep a view of life in those times. Nevertheless, it's quite enjoyable and accurate as to tactics and Wellington's strategy. Cornwell is factually accurate though not as deep as O'Brian. I wish one of the Sharpe novels had been centered on the Battle of Albuera - which the British almost lost under Marshall Beresford while Wellington was elsewhere. It was not a well-generalled fight (although Beresford's total contribution to British victory in the Peninsula was unquestionable.)

I’ve been thinking of getting into more nautical historical fiction, so I will try to remember this suggestion. I’m in the middle of The Once and Future King right now, having never read it before.

I disagree with you about the Lord of the rings movie trilogy. It is pretty good, but they elevated female characters to make it more “contemporary“ in Outlook. If you get to make a classic, don’t tamper with it. The better example of that is the hobbit and the material added to stretch it out to three movies. They also completely blew the humorous tone, instead choosing to make LOTR - lite.

I don't think LOTR elevated Eowyn and Galadriel above where Tolkein placed them. They here huge characters in the books. I mean Eowyn did kill the Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl, in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.. She was on a brave suicide quest. I don't see any elevation by the movie. Tolkein described Galadriel as "the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth." Her movie character could hardly elevate over that description.

Okay, maybe Arwen was elevated. The book didn't have the dashing horse rescue of Frodo from the Black Riders and destruction of the mounts that is portrayed in the movie. Nevertheless, that scene made good cinema and her character after that is pretty faithful to the books.

If a movie over-elevates (creates) a leading female roler it is The Hobbit trilogy. I don't even remember Tauriel from the Book - if she was in it. It also made Radagast seem rather ridiculous. All in all, I was not a fan.


Three long books = 3 movies that I loved almost as much as the books.

One short children's tale = 3 movies that I felt meh about and viewed as Hollywood just cashing in.

 

[dogged1]

I am also a fan of Cornwell's Sharpes Rifles. It's a quite different view from someone who was not raised in the class of "gentlemen" as Jack and Stephen were, and it's certainly not as deep a view of life in those times. Nevertheless, it's quite enjoyable and accurate as to tactics and Wellington's strategy. Cornwell is factually accurate though not as deep as O'Brian. I wish one of the Sharpe novels had been centered on the Battle of Albuera - which the British almost lost under Marshall Beresford while Wellington was elsewhere. It was not a well-generalled fight (although Beresford's total contribution to British victory in the Peninsula was unquestionable.)



I don't think LOTR elevated Eowyn and Galadriel above where Tolkein placed them. They here huge characters in the books. I mean Eowyn did kill the Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl, in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.. She was on a brave suicide quest. I don't see any elevation by the movie. Tolkein described Galadriel as "the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth." Her movie character could hardly elevate over that description.

Okay, maybe Arwen was elevated. The book didn't have the dashing horse rescue of Frodo from the Black Riders and destruction of the mounts that is portrayed in the movie. Nevertheless, that scene made good cinema and her character after that is pretty faithful to the books.

If a movie over-elevates (creates) a leading female roler it is The Hobbit trilogy. I don't even remember Tauriel from the Book - if she was in it. It also made Radagast seem rather ridiculous. All in all, I was not a fan.


Three long books = 3 movies that I loved almost as much as the books.

One short children's tale = 3 movies that I felt meh about and viewed as Hollywood just cashing in.

Could not agree more!!!!!!!!!

 

[CTrefugee]

ZULU with Michael Caine,
Master and Commander with Russel Crowe,

 

[CTrefugee]

Annie Hall
Manhattan
Sullivan’s Travels
It Happened One Night
Bang the Drum Slowly

and I liked Citizen Cain.

Was it better than Citizen Kane ?

 

[Littlemin]

I am also a fan of Cornwell's Sharpes Rifles. It's a quite different view from someone who was not raised in the class of "gentlemen" as Jack and Stephen were, and it's certainly not as deep a view of life in those times. Nevertheless, it's quite enjoyable and accurate as to tactics and Wellington's strategy. Cornwell is factually accurate though not as deep as O'Brian. I wish one of the Sharpe novels had been centered on the Battle of Albuera - which the British almost lost under Marshall Beresford while Wellington was elsewhere. It was not a well-generalled fight (although Beresford's total contribution to British victory in the Peninsula was unquestionable.)



I don't think LOTR elevated Eowyn and Galadriel above where Tolkein placed them. They here huge characters in the books. I mean Eowyn did kill the Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl, in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.. She was on a brave suicide quest. I don't see any elevation by the movie. Tolkein described Galadriel as "the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth." Her movie character could hardly elevate over that description.

Okay, maybe Arwen was elevated. The book didn't have the dashing horse rescue of Frodo from the Black Riders and destruction of the mounts that is portrayed in the movie. Nevertheless, that scene made good cinema and her character after that is pretty faithful to the books.

If a movie over-elevates (creates) a leading female roler it is The Hobbit trilogy. I don't even remember Tauriel from the Book - if she was in it. It also made Radagast seem rather ridiculous. All in all, I was not a fan.


Three long books = 3 movies that I loved almost as much as the books.

One short children's tale = 3 movies that I felt meh about and viewed as Hollywood just cashing in.

Huge fan of both The Hobbit and The Ring Trilogy books and thought The Hobbit movies were money makers that had little to no resemblance to the book and were okay as movies.
More disappointed in the Ring movies because they were based on the books and I just thought Jackson missed the “magic” of the trilogy, whatever the heck that means to anyone but me.

 

[CL82]

Huge fan of both The Hobbit and The Ring Trilogy books and thought The Hobbit movies were money makers that had little to no resemblance to the book and were okay as movies.
More disappointed in the Ring movies because they were based on the books and I just thought Jackson missed the “magic” of the trilogy, whatever the heck that means to anyone but me.

I'm kind of split between you and @visitingcock on this. I thought LOTRs were generally pretty good but missed on a few things. One is replacing Glorfindel's taking Frodo to Rivendell with Arwen. It's a glaring change for fans, but doesn't materially impact the narrative. The thing that I think they fall down on a bit is the notion of the trilogies being a heroic quest and how it changes the hobbits and particularly Frodo. One scene I really missed is the return to Shire and the Battle of Bywater. Seeing how low Sharkey/Saruman has sunk and seeing how the hapless hobbits return as seasoned warriors is a nice moment. Even Frodo's refusal to participate, other than to save the lives of Sharky's men, is an important statement of his growth. They avoid that narrative in the movies and I think it is a missed moment.

 

[Littlemin]

I'm kind of split between you and @visitingcock on this. I thought LOTRs were generally pretty good but missed on a few things. One is replacing Glorfindel's taking Frodo to Rivendell with Arwen. It's a glaring change for fans, but doesn't materially impact the narrative. The thing that I think they fall down on a bit is the notion of the trilogies being a heroic quest and how it changes the hobbits and particularly Frodo. One scene I really missed is the return to Shire and the Battle of Bywater. Seeing how low Sharkey/Saruman has sunk and seeing how the hapless hobbits return as seasoned warriors is a nice moment. Even Frodo's refusal to participate, other than to save the lives of Sharky's men, is an important statement of his growth. They avoid that narrative in the movies and I think it is a missed moment.

Very much agree with this, getting to facts rather than “feel”, the absence of the return to The Shire, along with Bombadil, were very glaring omissions in my mind. Both of those are really good examples of my feeling that Jackson missed the mark. Admittedly, a very tough task setting those books to screen though.

 

[BBallF]

Ironically Basil Rathbone was pretty good fencer, one of the better in Hollywood, but there was no way Sir Guy could win on screen.

There was a 1930 movie called "The Flirting Widow" on this morning with none other than Basil Rathbone as the romantic lead.

 

[VA Huskie]

A couple I haven’t seen much love for are:

Schindler’s List
Brokeback Mountain

two of my all time favorites.