Last Movie You Watched

[Cato]

Bergman's The Touch (1971)

Since Halloween is coming, let me recommend Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf.


Recently, one of the best and biggest Western movies ever made, with a great score by Jerome Moross:




https://www.criterion.com/films/28876-hour-of-the-wolf

Charles Bickford should have been in the list of major stars on that poster: he is great as the implacable cattle baron following his hubris and hatred to their logical conclusions, matched by Burl Ives as the leader of a clan struggling to survive in the semi-arid country.

[Karl Henning]

Bergman's The Touch (1971)

Rather what I've been expecting, which is why I squirmed mentally at the banality of the descent into an affair.

Max von Sydow: "I've received some letters. It's a small town, you see, everyone knows everyone else."

[Karl Henning]

Since Halloween is coming, let me recommend Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf.

An excellent suggestion, and thank you again for sending the DVD. Another one I'll revisit for the season is Wm Shatner in Incubus. Also, The Night Stalker.

[NumberSix]

Bergman's The Touch (1971)

You've got the touch! You've got the powaaahhhhhhhh! Yeah!

[NumberSix]

An excellent suggestion, and thank you again for sending the DVD. Another one I'll revisit for the season is Wm Shatner in Incubus. Also, The Night Stalker.

Incubus - is that the one in Esperanto?

[Karl Henning]

You've got the touch! You've got the powaaahhhhhhhh! Yeah!

I was just thinking that I have not much idea of how Bergman's title fits.

[Karl Henning]

Incubus - is that the one in Esperanto?

Yes, indeed.

[Karl Henning]

Rather what I've been expecting, which is why I squirmed mentally at the banality of the descent into an affair.

Max von Sydow: "I've received some letters. It's a small town, you see, everyone knows everyone else."

The mystery at the heart of the story is David's being deficient in empathy, but Karin's attachment to him all the same.

[Karl Henning]

Early Woody Allen: Take the Money and Run.
The very first time I watched this, which was not very long ago, my overall impression was borderline grade-C. It was clearly inferior to his mature work (duh!), and I felt a very strong element of: "Yeah, these are jokes I would have found amusing when I was in high school." Watching it again last night I see it rather more favorably and really enjoyed it thoroughly.

[JBS]

Early Woody Allen: Take the Money and Run.
The very first time I watched this, which was not very long ago, my overall impression was borderline grade-C. It was clearly inferior to his mature work (duh!), and I felt a very strong element of: "Yeah, these are jokes I would have found amusing when I was in high school." Watching it again last night I see it rather more favorably and really enjoyed it thoroughly.

The robbery note might be one of his first great lines.
[Come to think of it, I did see that movie when I was in high school.]

[Karl Henning]

The robbery note might be one of his first great lines.

Yes! And he does bring "gub" back later! A friend told me about the marching cello in high school.

[Karl Henning]

Early Woody Allen: Take the Money and Run.
The very first time I watched this, which was not very long ago, my overall impression was borderline grade-C. It was clearly inferior to his mature work (duh!), and I felt a very strong element of: "Yeah, these are jokes I would have found amusing when I was in high school." Watching it again last night I see it rather more favorably and really enjoyed it thoroughly.

Oh, and I frequently thought, hearing Marvin Hamlisch's well-made score (a good score, too) that I was watching a Woody Allen movie with a Columbo score.

[SonicMan46]

Upgraded a few old DVD westerns to Amazon HD streamers (just $5 each on a price reduction) - both filmed on location in Mexico; enjoy Vera Cruz more BUT Senta Berger as Dundee's love interest get an extra star - 

Vera Cruz (1954) - synopsis below w/ a great cast; considered somewhat controversial back then somewhat bland considersations now after 70 years!

Major Dundee (1965) - short summary and cast quoted - as noted (see LINK for more) the film could have been better with Sam Peckinpah having more control - not my favorite western but worth a watch.  Dave

Vera Cruz is an American Western film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, featuring Cesar Romero, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson and Jack Elam. Set during the Franco-Mexican War, the film centers on a group of American mercenaries tasked with transporting a large shipment of Imperial gold to Veracruz, but begin to have second thoughts about their allegiances. The picture's amoral characters and cynical attitude towards violence were considered shocking at the time and influenced future Westerns such as The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Professionals (1966), Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969), and the Spaghetti Western films of Sergio Leone, which often featured supporting cast members from Vera Cruz in similar roles. Its influence on Leone's work led some critics to label it "the proto-Spaghetti Western." (Source)

Major Dundee is an American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, and James Coburn. Written by Harry Julian Fink, the film is about a Union cavalry officer who leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners, and Indian scouts on an expedition into Mexico during the American Civil War to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding United States bases and settlements in the New Mexico territory. Major Dundee was filmed in various locations in Mexico. Major Dundee became notorious for its difficult shoot and post production, which saw the movie greatly cut from Peckinpah's original vision. (Source)

   

[JBS]

Re Major Dundee

Amazon shows listings for an "Extended Version" that claims to include most of the material that was cut.

[SonicMan46]

Re Major Dundee

Amazon shows listings for an "Extended Version" that claims to include most of the material that was cut.

Thanks - the version that I bought as an HD streamer is 123 minutes which matches the 'theatrical cut' running time in the attachment (from the Wiki link given before) - the 'extended version' above  states a 136 min length so a 'little' added, BUT certainly does not match Peckinpah's original cut - in all honesty 2 hrs was satisfactory for me.     Dave

[Cato]

Re Major Dundee

Amazon shows listings for an "Extended Version" that claims to include most of the material that was cut.

The movie does show the typical second-guessing of nervous studio executives with pairs of scissors!

Nevertheless, with the restored version one has a better sense of how and why things are happening.  Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, James Coburn, are all excellent.  Jim Hutton gets an honorable mention.

Charlton Heston said he would never sign on to a movie again unless it was clear that the script was ready!

"...Heston later recalled the main lesson he learned from Major Dundee was to "never, never, never start shooting without a complete script... it was a major stumbling block on Dundee". Heston said part of this "was the fault of a very inadequate writer who was on at first and worked for six months without really producing anything remotely shootable, forcing the studio into what finally became a five month postponement."

According to Heston the studio asked Peckinpah to rewrite it but "we still weren't really ready when the second shooting date came up. Also, it may be that we all had different films in mind: the studio, Sam, and me..."

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Dundee

[SonicMan46]

The movie does show the typical second-guessing of nervous studio executives with pairs of scissors!

Nevertheless, with the restored version one has a better sense of how and why things are happening.  Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, James Coburn, are all excellent.  Jim Hutton gets an honorable mention.

Charlton Heston said he would never sign on to a movie again unless it was clear that the script was ready!

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Dundee

Hey Cato - despite all of the issues (which I've read), the film was fine, esp. the scenes w/ Heston and Berger -    SO, the issue is does one want to see Major Dundee or Crocodile Dundee?      Dave

[Karl Henning]

The movie does show the typical second-guessing of nervous studio executives with pairs of scissors!

In Zappa's piquant phrase, "One sick [expletive] with a razor blade."

[Madiel]

Hey Cato - despite all of the issues (which I've read), the film was fine, esp. the scenes w/ Heston and Berger -    SO, the issue is does one want to see Major Dundee or Crocodile Dundee?      Dave

There is only one patriotic answer to that question, but that depends where you are.

[hopefullytrusting]

American Hollow - learning that people are just people. Overall feeling: heartwarmingly bittersweet.