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ElizabethJoestar's Replies
It had some creepy moments and I liked Stephen Lang's performance, but yeah I found it overall pretty meh. Especially since I found almost every character annoying.
PS. I was watching the long lost, politically incorrect "Freebie and the Bean" the other day, James Caan and Alan Arkin are particularly brutal and violent "comedy cops" and its funny: sometimes I could see and hear ROAT in Arkin's threatening nature.
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Lmao, can't say I thought of Roat when watching Arkin in that one, but I only saw it once and a few years ago. It's definitely a funny movie, a movie where the chemistry between the actors makes it memorable.
It's such a shame that Hitchcock posters took such a downgrade in quality come the 60s and 70s, because I find the 60s and 70s to be a kind of golden age for movie poster art. So many iconic posters hail from that period: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, STAR WARS, MY FAIR LADY, WEST SIDE STORY, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, etc.
I don't mind the FRENZY poster but yeah, it's underwhelming when Hitchcock had Saul Bass all those years ago. At the very least, it's striking.
The PSYCHO trailer is a masterpiece of movie advertising. I actually think it's much more inspired than the usual movie trailer-- especially since we see no footage from the movie itself. In an era where trailers often give too much away and scripts "leak" onto the internet months before movies hit theaters, this is such a refreshing approach to see.
When Hitchcock mention the "twisting," I'm guessing he meant to evoke the image of Arbogast's body twisting as he fell down the stairs. That's all that makes sense.
PS Interestingly, the PSYCHO trailer features footage of Vera Miles screaming in Janet Leigh's place in the shower. I don't recall, but was Miles originally considered for that part?
Weirdly enough, I found the movie anything but dated. Its themes are quite relevant even now.
As for the slapstick, well, that's up to taste. I'm more a Keaton person than a Chaplin person, but I still think the gags in this were great-- especially that hilarious (and also horrifying) feeding machine.
Stacy Keach made a fine Roat...he has that deep voice, and that slightly misshapen lip....but the big surprise came at the end - -when Roat elected to put on female make-up and earrings(as I recall) as he made his final threats to "Suzy"(Katherine Ross.) Was that Keach's invention? Or did Duvall do that in the stage play version? I almost felt that Keach went for the "femme" psycho bit to do SOMETHING to combat the memory of Arkin. A touch of "Mrs. Bates." Keach was fine. I liked Arkin better -- he's "the man."
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I just found an interview with Keach the other day where he actually explained why he added that strange touch to the character! It was apparently his own invention and a way of trying to make his take on the character distinct from Arkin's. You can find the interview here: http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews37_17/mobile/page21.cfm
With due respect, you are looking WAY too into it.
This is meant to be a representation of a fairy tale world, not a realistic medieval kingdom. The sense of isolation and dread was likely why the castle is empty-- it's a kind of dream logic, meant to evoke the experience of reading an old folk story and also meant to contrast with the warmth and familial rapport Snow White gets when she hangs out with the dwarfs.
The burying her alive thing (which would also lead to her suffocating) is way more twisted than turning Snow ugly through magic.
Also Snow never prized her beauty the way the queen did. I could easily imagine her getting over it and going back to making pies or whatever. The Queen wanted to utterly destroy her. Killing her (and doing it in a terrifying manner) makes way more sense.
her voice is amazing!
I'm actually used to seeing La Verne in hag roles in silent films like ORPHANS OF THE STORM, so hearing her was an experience.
I like her voice too. It fits her innocent, gentle character and the gentle, dreamy tone of the film.
That is such a cool observation!!
Definitely. Both the animation and the voice acting make him about the cutest Disney protagonist. You can't bear to see anything happen to the little guy.
PS A lot of book purists complain that the Pinocchio of the book was a jerkass so the one in the film should have been as well, but I think making him likeable actually increases the movie's suspense a hundredfold. In the book, I wanted the little brat to be firewood within the first few chapters.
It's absolutely the most disturbing scene in the film. It's also meant to be allegorical in a sense (much like the whole story)-- that people who skip school and live without self-discipline (indulging every whim, living by your id more or less) become animalistic-- in this case, literal animals.
The book makes it way worse though. Pinocchio later encounters Lampwick as a donkey and finds him worked to death by an abusive owner.
Cannot agree at all. As a child, "April Showers" and the majestic music that plays during the first scene with Bambi's father cemented themselves in my mind for years to come. As an adult, I'm fond of "I Bring You a Song," in my opinion the most underrated Disney love song.
As always, different strokes.
As a kid, the second death disturbed me far more. The bird's panic, then the fact that you actually see the body-- that scared the heck out of me!
Films around that time were usually designed with a general audience in mind, so you are correct in saying they were not designed as kids' films anymore than something like THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD was, though even back then, the Disney movies were noted to have special appeal for kids. But it's hard to watch something like, say, FANTASIA and even imagining it was created specifically for children.
While the other comments here have been dismissive, I share your frustration with what is often called the "animation age ghetto." Even now, American animation is considered either kids' stuff or raunchy nonsense for "adults." I'm hoping that will one day change.
The Favourite (2018) reminded me a lot of this movie. It takes place in the early 18tth century and has a similarly detached, cynical tone.
The hats didn't appear that anachronistic to me, but I decided to look into this anyway.
I looked up 18th century hat styles and here is an image of different French styles from around 1789-1790. Some of the hats resemble what we see in the duel scene, though obviously this might in itself be slightly anachronistic since the latter part of BL takes place during the 1770s, I believe.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/d6/e8/43d6e842c69950d053795f82d6f2f499.jpg
The lack of bittersweetness was what made me not care as much for the remake. It's an okay movie in its own right and I can see why some prefer it to the original, but that sense of ambiguity makes the old ending far more haunting.
The embarassed shyness stood out to me the last couple of times I watched the movie! It's an interesting element of the scene and a weird moment of vulnerability for the character.
Such a fine scene though-- the music, visuals, and editing just go so perfectly together.
My faves from that year:
A Clockwork Orange
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Duel
The French Connection
A Touch of Zen