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Yes, I wonder about that sometimes. The bombs are still there, more of them & bigger ones, too. And in many ways, the world is more unstable than it was during the Cold war, when there were basically just two powers, more or less equal, that held each other in check. Today, there are not only more random factors & ideologies, many of them are all too willing to die in the name of those ideologies, if they can take our their perceived enemies in doing so. To my mind, this is much more dangerous than Mutually Assured Destruction, because at least then, both sides really wanted to go on living.
A sublime & transcendent experience at that!
For me, it's darkly brilliant throughout, played on the fine line between absurdity & reality from beginning to end.
This is one of those films whose obvious flaws are actually rather charming & somehow make it more enjoyable than some "serious" films with bigger budgets, better effects, and an all-star cast.
Quite a few hippies didn't become yuppies, but did find steady lifetime work that was still compatible with their beliefs & also contributed to the well-being of the world, e.g., education, psychology, the arts, healthcare, and so on.
Even into the early 80s, it was still somewhat possible to pick up a job without too much background checking, especially the sort of below-the-radar work Banner found. Somewhat, anyway. And there's also the willing suspension of disbelief, in order to tell an enjoyable story. :)
Agree that Bixby was wonderful. He brought a genuine tragic humanity to Banner that the movies have lacked. And Lou Ferrigno was able to convey it as the Hulk, too. To me, he'll always be a better & more convincing Hulk than any CGI creation.
For many people, "more" doesn't necessarily mean more money, more power, because for the "more" mentality, there can never be enough. Check out Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. At some point, when the necessities of life are assured & fairly certain—food, shelter, security, companionship—"more" applies to inner growth, inner understanding, which in turn tends to lead to a paring down of the material things of life.
We've all seen public figures who seem to have it all materially, yet they're clearly miserable & unhappy people, incapable of understanding why more money, more fame, more status, more envy & admiration from the rest of humanity, isn't making them any happier. Conversely, those who have what they consider "enough" tend to find happiness with much less than the world tells them they should want & possess.
The Cary Grant-Katherine Hepburn film HOLIDAY deals precisely with this issue. Give it a look.
And yet, this series is still the best depiction of the human tragedy of being the Hulk.
There was an episode about a genial friend of Ward's who did odd jobs, but could never keep a regular job because of his drinking. It wasn't treated as a joke, but as a tragic flaw.
This. Attention span has decreased over the decades. I don't blame the younger viewers for that, they were raised with it as the norm. But it does tend to get in the way of enjoying different film styles with different paces.
Beaver far more often than Wally, though. Wally was more savvy.
At the time it could be more than reasonably assumed that at least one parent or adult would be at home.
No, the book was more subtle in its depiction of the human race being preserved & guided towards the next step in their evolution, by aliens who themselves could not make the same evolutionary leap. In a prefatory note, Clarke stated that he did not see this as the inevitable destiny of the human race, but that he simply wanted to explore the concept of merging with a greater being. In the book, it's the first generation of evolved humans, who have become a hive mind, that consumes Earth in the act of leaving it. And depending on one's viewpoint, this can either be seen as a triumph or a tragedy for humanity.
I completely agree that this series' attempt to "improve" the story made a hash of it instead.
While I certainly welcome films that are organically diverse, this looks to be a complete warping of Jack Kirby's original concept of The Eternals. He explored timeless questions in his unfinished series, which I fear will either be watered down beyond recognition or else just tossed out altogether.
Just saw this wonderful film last night, and it's still lingering with me today. So beautifully, deeply understated, with welcome touches of quiet humor & genuine sentiment without every being merely sentimental.
A really good portrayal of a father-son relationship, and Crawford had a real naturalness as a young actor.
That's a very plausible theory! :)
Excellent point!
I've always felt this inner torment gave his character in "A Stop at Willoughby" an intensely powerful & moving quality of despair, as well as the longing for the peaceful, untroubled life that he yearns for so urgently & eludes him.
I've got a horrible feeling that it will be fanfiction, not unlike what Peter Jackson did with The Hobbit & maybe even worse, by people who think they can "improve" on Tolkien.