ChicagoBlue
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Watching Hit & Run on Netflix. Enjoyed first 2 episodes, as the threads begin to unravel.
Last Film You Saw
- Thread starter FantasyIreland
- Start date
A quick heads up that a rare Clint Eastwood movie and a Kubrick masterpiece are showing on BBC4 tonight.
21:00 - The Eiger Sanction (1975)
23:05 - Paths of Glory (1957)
i watched both of these over the weekend.
The Eiger Sanction; ridiculous plot, ridiculous dialogue, macho weird bullshit. Amazing scenery and authentic climbing scenes. 4/10, gave me a giggle.
Paths of Glory; excellent WW1 film from Kubrick, about the insanity of generalship in that war. Amazingly shot battle scenes for the time, really worth watching, on iPlayer. 8/10.
Bill Walker
Well-Known Member
Agree on both scores, Paths of Glory is truly awesome.
Yeah that's fair enough, I think for a classic I probably expected too much from it. Just surprised it didn't hold up too well.
Interested in the new one though, I know it ties in a little which is why I watched this.
ChicagoBlue
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Just saw Season 1 ends on massive cliffhanger, but Series has been dropped as too expensive!
What’s the point?! Moving on…!
Aba452
Well-Known Member
Just watching Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) about the Spanish Conquest of the Incas. With a cast including Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer and Nigel Davenport, I had high hopes....
You can tell it's an adaptation of a stage play and is rather theatrical. Good location filming but it could have been so much more. For want of a comparison, A Man for all Seasons was released in 1966 to great commercial and critical acclaim, again based on a stage play. But that was about a much more familiar subject, dealing with Sir Thomas Moore's battle with Henry VIII.
Royal Hunt starts slowly then just plods ever more slowly to a conclusion. Plummer as the "noble savage" Inca looks permanently bewildered.
I suppose 1960s historical epics depend for their success on eras their audiences were familiar with. I'll rewatch Apocalypto and 1492 for slightly more nuanced takes on the New World conquest.
You can tell it's an adaptation of a stage play and is rather theatrical. Good location filming but it could have been so much more. For want of a comparison, A Man for all Seasons was released in 1966 to great commercial and critical acclaim, again based on a stage play. But that was about a much more familiar subject, dealing with Sir Thomas Moore's battle with Henry VIII.
Royal Hunt starts slowly then just plods ever more slowly to a conclusion. Plummer as the "noble savage" Inca looks permanently bewildered.
I suppose 1960s historical epics depend for their success on eras their audiences were familiar with. I'll rewatch Apocalypto and 1492 for slightly more nuanced takes on the New World conquest.
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Summerbuzz
Guest
Yeah can't argue much. Eiger has some really stupid and bizarre characters, and definitely loses it's way so badly in the second half, but the first half is something unreal in terms of cinematography. That shot of Clint and George Kennedy on top of the needle, where they're just talking, and the camera flies off and circles overhead, is one of the big 'how did they do that' shots in cinema - not a single hair on their head moves.
Paths Of Glory is a 9 or a 10 for me. Compared to other films of the time, he's got captured so much detail in every shot. Add colour and it would look like a modern film. Like the interior of the grand palace, you can see every detail on the frescoes and fine decorations. But really it's all about not pulling any punches. They fight bravely, but are tried as cowards. By the time of the firing squad, their own side has bullied and lied to them into looking like cowards. Kubrick's point may have been that, in the world we live in, the worse thing that can happen is our own side turn on us. It's enough to destroy any man, however strong. Justice and truth is the only thing that can stop it - never take them for granted.
Watched "Angel has Fallen" last night, actually not a bad film, the plot was ok if predictable, and no way could anyone survive all the bullets flying about, but for a Gerard Butler film not bad, definitely watchable if you want a film where you don't have to think too much!
Really liked paths to glory, the main idiot general, general Mireau (?), is surely a proto character for Dr Strangelove? Agree on the way it was shot, very nice indeed
The strangest thing about that Eiger sanction, beyond the daft plot and other things, is the two completely obscure uses of the word rape; once when he's getting into bed with the beautiful woman ("I thought I'd given up rape but I think I'll give it another go" (!!!??), cue giggles and sex scene) and the bizarre Uber camp man with the dog named faggot who randomly says to a waiter of his dog, out of all context and logic, "be careful or he'll rape you".