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Absolutely agree!
Absolutely agree. It's a criminally underrated film these days, which is a shame. It's one of those works that allows us to see the souls of those "beautiful losers" in their bleak environment, and evokes genuine empathy for them. This, I feel, is due to its humane but unblinking honesty.
The phrase "know them" is explicitly sexual, though, an older phrase not much used today.
Except that the show wasn't so much about the battles, which only took up a fraction of each episode. It was about human stories, with Kwai Chang Caine as both observer & catalyst. In this regard, it was not unlike Route 66, the Fugitive, Then Came Bronson, or several other TV shows that were essentially anthologies with a continuing lead character or characters.
It also followed his own growth & development as he moved through the Western world, becoming a little more worldly-wise as time went on, as opposed to being more puzzled & naive earlier on. So he changed as much as his presence changed the lives of others. His being a newcomer to 19th Century America, allowed the stories to hold up a mirror to the country & also speak to then-current social U& cultural issues. In many ways, it was one of the most authentically countercultural shows ever on TV.
Well, that's a fair & thoughtful answer.
For me, it was a show more about experiences while passing through, not so much about plot plot—slice-of-life, if you will. It invited the viewer in, perhaps even suggested that the viewer stop & really take in those little everyday experiences that we so often take for granted. I like a good strongly-plotted story as much as anyone; but I also, from time to time, like a story where "nothing happens" ... and yet, something does (or at least can) happen for the reflective viewer. Not as a steady diet, but every so often. Then Came Bronson did that for me.
Again, I'm only speaking about myself.
As I've come to expect from you, a thoughtful & wide-ranging response, one that I wish I had written myself. I certainly agree with you about Woody's films, some of which I've still yet to see, even after all this time—there are so many good ones! In a way, his body of work is not unlike that of Philip K. Dick, in that vital themes & motifs occur over & over again throughout, but almost never seem merely repetitive to me. It's more like looking at them anew each time, from a different angle--this time as comedy, this time as romance, this time as drama, this time as absurdity—the basic subject matter is inexhaustible for those open to & interested in it. The entire body of work is a whole; the individual films are specific facets of it.
To each his own, of course. But as a teenager when the show first ran, and in re-watching it in recent years, the themes don't seem shallow at all to me. I agree that it wasn't a plot-driven show, but that's precisely why so many loved it. It was an experiential show, more about mood, questions, reflective pauses. And the viewers were more than ready to meet it half way on its own terms. It was the <i>feel</i> of the series overall that appealed so strongly. An episode like "The Ninety-Nine Mile Circle" could easily have been expanded into an entire film of its own. But it's true that it probably wouldn't translate well to a lot of modern viewers, who are used to more plot & much faster pacing, and don't want too much quiet reflection in their entertainment.
Caine did have some romantic/sexual encounters in the course of the series.
It is!
I agree, a thoroughly enjoyable movie. It's got Toshiro Mifune! :)
Social mores were rather different in the 1970s, for one thing. Casual sex was something that could & did happen without moral repercussions. And it happened when Harry was a young man, too. In this case, the moment was right for Harry, and in fact it did him a great deal of good. Being moral doesn't necessarily equate with being puritanical or rigid.
The scene with young Melanie Mayron is genuinely sweet, tender, and befitting Harry's basic character. But that doesn't negate the very different situation later on, where the sexual encounter is an affirmation of life, not distasteful at all to Harry. Again, that really was an attitude in the air then, with both its good & bad aspects. To me, Harry's case represents one of the good aspects—it's a much-needed reminder that he's far from dead, far from finished with life. Is he now going to start pursuing women constantly? Of course not. But he'll carry a good memory with him, one that has a healthy effect on his overall well-being & state of mind.
All of this is a matter of perspective & perception, of course. I can see your point as a perfectly valid interpretation, and I won't insist that my response is the only right answer. I can only say that I was alive then, a young man in my 20s, and the scene still strikes me as very much fitting the temper of the times. I don't think it diminishes Harry in any way, or makes him any less moral or any less admirable. It's a single moment of a life that's still ongoing & evolving, not the entirety of his being from that point forward. To me, at least.
Just responded to the OP's complaint in a previous response, in fact. Personally, I think Harry's sexual encounter life after thinking sex was over for him is a positive & healthy sign of ongoing life & continual growth as a human being.
Wholesome, moral people also have sexual desires & needs, and there's nothing unwholesome or immoral about it. Harry quotes Shakespeare more than once, and the Bard is both philosophical & earthy, both lofty & understanding of the complexity of the human condition. Harry is a complex, still growing, still quite vital human being. That includes sexuality, although of course it doesn't have to be the primary drive of life. But it is part of life, including Harry's life.
Available from Kino Lorber now & I've already ordered my copy. It's a film I'd despaired of ever finding on DVD, one that deserves to be better known.
All a matter of taste, of course. "Miniature" is a tender, poignant, humane story, a portrait of loneliness & alienation, something that The Twilight Zone excelled in, something dear to Rod Serling's heart.
"Miniature" is a gem, great performance from young Robert Duvall.
Morn, who never uttered a word, was still a more developed character than the entire cast of Voyager!
And this made returning to such films all the more interesting when we were just a little older. :)
Still beautiful in old age, too.
I've always liked "Frame of Mind" with Riker shifting between Beverly's play & the alien asylum/prison, as head-game stories always interest me. And Riker's ongoing coming-apart-at-the-seams is really effective.
And "Schisms" works well as a horror episode, especially by starting on such a humorous note with Riker falling asleep during Data's poetry reading, only to get increasingly creepier as the story goes on. I also like setting an alien abduction story in space like that, as it's something quite unexpected, especially for Star Trek.