What was the last film you watched?

[James from London]

I just re-watched two mid-70s classics, Francis Coppola's The Conversation (1974) and Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978).

The Conversation is a paranoid, almost Pinter-esque thriller: loner Gene Hackman is under instruction to surveil two young people but he doesn't know why, and the why proceeds to drive him slowly nuts. Indiana Jones, Fredo Corleone, Phoebe Buffet's mother, Police Chief Brody and Shirley off of Laverne and Shirley all make an appearance.

Fredo Corleone (the brilliant John Cazale) is also in The Deer Hunter.

My favourite film critic Mark Kermode thinks "The Deer Hunter is one of the worst films ever made, a rambling self-indulgent, self-aggrandising barf-fest steeped in manipulatively racist emotion, and notable primarily for its farcically melodramatic tone which is pitched somewhere between shrieking hysteria and somnambulist somberness." I can kind of see what he means, but I also think it's beautiful, haunting, harrowing and just so sad. It feels epic and small at the same time, sort of like an existential Dr Zhivago. The running time is three hours and pretty much the first third is given over to a small town wedding which doubles as a send-off party for the groom and his two friends who are off to Vietnam the next day. It's so wonderful to see a pre-fame Robert de Niro*, Christopher Walken, Cazale, Meryl Streep and the especially great John Savage back when they were all so young, playing off each other so beautifully -- getting drunk, falling in love, taking the p*ss, laughing, dancing, streaking. Then without warning, you're plunged into the hell of war and the film's most infamous sequence. Suffice to say, there aren't many laughs from this point on, but there are moments of delicacy and beauty and it's completely riveting throughout.

*Actually, de Niro had already done Taxi Driver and The Godfather Part II by this point.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I just re-watched two mid-70s classics, Francis Coppola's The Conversation (1974) and Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978).

I can't begin to explain how I've lived this long without watching either.

The Conversation is a paranoid, almost Pinter-esque thriller: loner Gene Hackman is under instruction to surveil two young people but he doesn't know why, and the why proceeds to drive him slowly nuts.

Wow.

Indiana Jones, Fredo Corleone, Phoebe Buffet's mother, Police Chief Brody and Shirley off of Laverne and Shirley all make an appearance.

And this is the point I scuttled over to see if it was on Amazon Prime. IAs it isn't, it looks like the Blu-ray has come onto my radar.

 

[James from London]

And this is the point I scuttled over to see if it was on Amazon Prime. IAs it isn't, it looks like the Blu-ray has come onto my radar.

It's actually on the iPlayer for the next six days (as is The Deer Hunter).

 

[James from London]

Indiana Jones, Fredo Corleone, Phoebe Buffet's mother, Police Chief Brody and Shirley off of Laverne and Shirley all make an appearance.

Some of those appearances are quite fleeting!

 

[Swami]

Carry On Henry.

Swami

 

[Mel O'Drama]

It's actually on the iPlayer for the next six days

Thanks. You've possibly just saved my wallet from taking a minor hit as I was on the verge of buying the Blu-ray, along with Sorcerer, a film I'm not familiar with but which looks intriguingly intense:

 

[James from London]

Sorcerer, a film I'm not familiar with but which looks intriguingly intense

Oh, interesting. I've never seen Sorcerer, but I know Mark Kermode describes it as a masterpiece (even though it was a disaster at the box office - opening the same week as Star Wars didn't help). Here is Kermode raving/talking interestingly about its background, but it might be best to watch the film first.

 

[Swami]

Carry On At Your Experience.

Swami

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Here is Kermode raving/talking interestingly about its background, but it might be best to watch the film first.

Funnily enough after watching a couple of trailers I came across a number of videos of MK speaking about it. And this was the one I watched.



I'd wondered how I'd managed not to hear about Sorcerer until now, and then saw that the film was re-named Wages Of Fear in the UK (a nod to the title of the film film of which it's essentially a remake). And that has a ring of familiarity.

 

[James from London]

the film was re-named Wages Of Fear in the UK (a nod to the title of the film film of which it's essentially a remake).

Interesting! I've seen the original Wages of Fear (great) but didn't realise the remake was renamed in its honour over here (they do like to complicate things, don't they?). Funnily enough, the premise of Wages/Sorceror and the central setpiece of The Deer Hunter were both recycled (in watered-down form) for shortlived storylines during Falcon Crest's later years.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've seen the original Wages of Fear (great)

Another one on my ever-growing bucket list.

(they do like to complicate things, don't they?)

I'm always curious about the background to these decisions. I can start to understand this one, since the word Sorcerer has very definite fantasy connotations. But then, I imagine there's more to The Deer Hunter than hunting deer.

Funnily enough, the premise of Wages/Sorceror and the central setpiece of The Deer Hunter were both recycled (in watered-down form) for shortlived storylines during Falcon Crest's later years.

Oh my.

 

[Swami]

Carry On Matron.

Swami

 

[Swami]

Carry On Abroad.

Swami

 

[Swami]

Carry On Girls.

Swami

 

[Emelee]

Watching the 1945 version of ...And Then There Were None right now. Wasn't too long ago sincecI saw the latest version, so this time around, I remember who the killer is and why. I have a funny little habit of forgetting who the killers are in different movies or crime series.

 

[Swami]

Carry On Dick.

Swami

 

[Emelee]

The Apple War - a Swedish classic

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Conversation is a paranoid, almost Pinter-esque thriller: loner Gene Hackman is under instruction to surveil two young people but he doesn't know why, and the why proceeds to drive him slowly nuts.

Thanks to your tip about iPlayer, I watched this last night and thought it was wonderful.

It looked beautiful. That gorgeously grainy mid-Seventies naturalism. And the muted drabs which added an elegance and made the bloody red in that scene even more effective and startling.

I appreciated how natural the dialogue felt, and how important intonation became. Very clever.

It left me with questions, which has to be a good thing.

Indiana Jones, Fredo Corleone, Phoebe Buffet's mother, Police Chief Brody and Shirley off of Laverne and Shirley all make an appearance.

I spent the whole of Phoebe Buffet's mother's screen-time trying to work out if she was indeed Phoebe Buffet's mother or if I just thought that because I knew she was in it.

Meanwhile, I forgot that Shirley from Laverne and Shirley was in it, and spent most of her early scenes thinking she looked familiar but couldn't place where.

And I somehow missed Police Chief Brody altogether.

 

[James from London]

I watched this last night and thought it was wonderful.

Oh great!

I somehow missed Police Chief Brody altogether.

Oh, you know what? I got my Roy Schneiders mixed up with my Robert Duvalls. And not for the first time.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Oh, you know what? I got my Roy Schneiders mixed up with my Robert Duvalls. And not for the first time.

Oh phew. As uncomfortable as that sounds for you, I was doubting my powers of observation.

On a related note, you may know that Roy was originally cast as lead in The Deer Hunter, but quit when he disagreed with an aspect of the script. Then in came Robert De Niro.