Last Movie You Watched

[George]

Wow, guess that was how they did things in the 70s

Yeah...yikes!

[George]

Am I merely stating the obvious if I say, that seems to make it worse?

I think it makes it worse. 

[Karl Henning]

TD: for Memorial Day, and as a result of a half-derailment of the Herrmann thread: Saving Private Ryan.

[drogulus]

     Recently I watched The End Of The Affair, a 2000 Neil Jordan film from the novel by notorious spook Graham Greene. The ideology is lathered on a bit too thick to ignore, however the film is well done and features fine performances from Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea and Ian Hart. It's sad that the movie business for adult drama has collapsed to the point that it's inconceivable that a film like this could be made today.

[Karl Henning]

Recently I watched The End Of The Affair, a 2000 Neil Jordan film from the novel by notorious spook Graham Greene. The ideology is lathered on a bit too thick to ignore, however the film is well done and features fine performances from Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea and Ian Hart. It's sad that the movie business for adult drama has collapsed to the point that it's inconceivable that a film like this could be made today.

All Marvel all the time.

[Cato]

Concerning Night Moves with Gene Hackman:

Lesser known 70s noir w 18yo Melanie Griffith (kind of uncomfortable how much of 18Yo Melanie Griffith you get to see). Good film though

One of my favorites: both criticism of the 1960's-70's Zeitgeist and a strange mystery movie.

For Memorial Day, one of my father's favorite movies: he always said it was fairly accurate...except it was cleaned up with "euphemisms" because the reality would have been censored!  e.g. "You people are too slow!" 

"We were never addressed as 'you people.'  We heard more colorful expressions, especially when we messed up!"   

[Karl Henning]

TD: for Memorial Day, and as a result of a half-derailment of the Herrmann thread: Saving Private Ryan.

Well, if I had seen this in the theatre, I expect I should have cried.

[Cato]

Well, if I had seen this in the theatre, I expect I should have cried.

I recall that, before the general release, veterans of D-Day were invited to private screenings: reports said that they were emotionally shaken by the movie, some very much so.

[relm1]

So I finally watched 1988's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Michael Caine and Steve Martin for the first time.  Movie was extremely funny and very satisfying fun film. 

[Karl Henning]

TD: for Memorial Day, and as a result of a half-derailment of the Herrmann thread: Saving Private Ryan.

And I've just learnt that the seemingly ubiquitous Frank Darabont was part of the script re-write team.

[SonicMan46]

Patton (1970) - our last Memorial Day film - Susan left at intermission (nearly a 3-hour movie) but I watched to the end - story and cast below - Oscars for Best Picture & Best Actor (and more) - Scott did not accept the award (why? check HERE) - highly recommended esp. for Scott's portrayal of Patton.  Dave

Patton is an American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott as Patton and Karl Malden as General Omar Bradley, and was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, who based their screenplay on Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and Bradley's memoir, A Soldier's Story. Patton won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Scott also won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of General Patton, but declined to accept the award. The opening monologue, delivered by Scott as General Patton with an enormous American flag behind him, remains iconic. (Source)

 

[Karl Henning]

Patton (1970) - our last Memorial Day film - Susan left at intermission (nearly a 3-hour movie) but I watched to the end - story and cast below - Oscars for Best Picture & Best Actor (and more) - Scott did not accept the award (why? check HERE) - highly recommended esp. for Scott's portrayal of Patton.  Dave

 

Love it!

[LKB]

Well, if I had seen this in the theatre, I expect I should have cried.

I do, even when experiencing the film second-hand via reaction videos.

[LKB]

Patton (1970) - our last Memorial Day film - Susan left at intermission (nearly a 3-hour movie) but I watched to the end - story and cast below - Oscars for Best Picture & Best Actor (and more) - Scott did not accept the award (why? check HERE) - highly recommended esp. for Scott's portrayal of Patton.  Dave

 

Patton is awesome. Even though it's been in my library for years and l know the film practically inside-out, I'll usually get caught up in it if l stumble upon it on cable.

[SonicMan46]

Dial M for Murder (1954) w/ cast below, Kelly & Milland especially good!  Just purchased as an Amazon HD streamer - curious about 'rankings' of Hitch's films - lists vary but below the top 18 from Rotten Tomatoes (* are the ones I own) - Alfred does not appear 'live' in this film but he is in a photograph that hangs on the wall (third pic, bottom left).  Dave

P.S. click on the 'list' to enlarge, if interested.

Dial M for Murder is an American crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, Anthony Dawson, and John Williams. Both the screenplay and the successful stage play on which it was based were written by English playwright Frederick Knott. The play premiered in 1952 on BBC Television, before being performed on stage in the same year in London's West End in June, and then New York's Broadway in October. (Source)

   

[Cato]

...curious about 'rankings' of Hitch's films - lists vary but below the top 18 from Rotten Tomatoes (* are the ones I own) - Alfred does not appear 'live' in this film but he is in a photograph that hangs on the wall (third pic, bottom left).  Dave

P.S. click on the 'list' to enlarge, if interested.

Interesting ranking!  I would have thought that Vertigo or Psycho might be #1.  To be sure, not much separates the top 10 movies!

Curiously, Shadow of a Doubt was the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I ever watched.  (I knew his T.V. show and liked it very much (not as much as The Twilight Zone, however).

Shadow of a Doubt was on television one Sunday afternoon in the late 1950's, and I recall watching it with my father, who had of course seen it less than 15 years earlier in the theater.

I recall being immediately hooked by it, even though our television set's screen was small (probably under 20 inches).  Joseph Cotton's languid menace in the rented room was palpable: there is something very wrong here!

When Teresa Wright reads the newspaper article in the library, and the music by Dmitri Tiomkin blasts a dissonant chord to start a rather demonic version of The Merry Widow Waltz, a literal chill did go down my spine!

So, I can agree that it is #1!

[SonicMan46]

Interesting ranking!  I would have thought that Vertigo or Psycho might be #1.  To be sure, not much separates the top 10 movies!

Curiously, Shadow of a Doubt was the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I ever watched.  (I knew his T.V. show and liked it very much (not as much as The Twilight Zone, however).

Shadow of a Doubt was on television one Sunday afternoon in the late 1950's, and I recall watching it with my father, who had of course seen it less than 15 years earlier in the theater.

I recall being immediately hooked by it, even though our television set's screen was small (probably under 20 inches).  Joseph Cotton's languid menace in the rented room was palpable: there is something very wrong here!

When Teresa Wright reads the newspaper article in the library, and the music by Dmitri Tiomkin blasts a dissonant chord to start a rather demonic version of The Merry Widow Waltz, a literal chill did go down my spine!

So, I can agree that it is #1!

Well, I perused maybe 3 or 4 different rankings (with both Shadow of a Doubt and Psycho migrating up and down the various lists) - Rotten Tomatoes uses a composite of many critics so maybe a better 'average' ranking?  I'm sure many have their Hitch favs and could put together their own top ten!  I'd likely re-arrange a few myself -    Dave

[relm1]

I saw The 49th Parallel last night.  Strange propaganda film.  Since the film is 80+ years old, I assume spoilers are allowed but the basic idea is a group of survivors from a sunk Nazi uboat take cover in Canada where they blend in and try to spread their Nazi mayhem to various locals as they head south to the US border since it is easy to cross.  That's pretty much the whole plot.  The film's intent was hoping to get US and Canada more involved in the war but it was released in the US after US was already in the war.  Another interesting footnote was that this film was the first film score by Ralph Vaughan Williams.  The popular prelude that opens and closes the film I always thought was more about nostalgia and patriotism for England in time of war but it's not...it's about the American and Canadian wilderness!  Overall, a strange film with overt propaganda.  Next I'll see 1960's "Sink the Bismark!" which is hopefully better.

[Brian]

That reminds me, a friend recently acquired a copy of a propaganda film called "Carol for Another Christmas" and I'm supposed to go visit him and watch it. It's a United Nations propaganda version of "A Christmas Carol," where Scrooge is an isolationist and he is visited by three ghosts who convince him to support the UN. It stars Sterling Hayden, Peter Sellers, Ben Gazzara, Eva Marie Saint, and Robert Shaw.

There were four of these UN propaganda movies on different subjects. One was a thriller with a story by Ian Fleming, starring Yul Brynnner, Rita Hayworth, Marcello Mastroianni, and Omar Sharif.

[Karl Henning]

Dial M for Murder (1954) w/ cast below, Kelly & Milland especially good!  Just purchased as an Amazon HD streamer - curious about 'rankings' of Hitch's films - lists vary but below the top 18 from Rotten Tomatoes (* are the ones I own) - Alfred does not appear 'live' in this film but he is in a photograph that hangs on the wall (third pic, bottom left).  Dave

P.S. click on the 'list' to enlarge, if interested.

   

As @Cato has observed, an interesting list. Shadow of a Doubt was said to be Hitchcock's own favorite, and yet is so overshadowed in the general awareness by the later triumphs, that I wonder if its appearance as #1 here means that the "Nerd Vote" is overweighted in this ranking. The only one I've not seen is Foreign Correspondent. I find it peculiar that Vertigo should rank so low. Also (we might say) that Frenzy makes the list at all. Not that I think it bad, you know, only I'm not sure I would own it, had it not come as part of a Collection. Glad to see Marnie on the list, a film which gets insufficient love, I think. Perhaps the only omission which really surprises me is the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much.