It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
I guarentee no other comedy like this is playing in the theaters. It's a triumphant fusion/resurrection of the greatest (and most neglected) forms of American film comedy: silent visual humor and classic Looney Tunes. The result is literally a live-action cartoon, an ingenious gallimaufry of real actors, people in animal mascot costumes, CGI, animation, and DIY effects.
The story--"in the 19th century, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers"--is a clothesline to hang visual gags that remind you of everything from Buster Keaton to the Coyote and the Roadrunner cartoons to Super Mario Brothers. The film is in stark black and white and has almost no dialogue (aside from Beaver talk), though it's full of screams, groans, grunts, and squawks. And while many crazy comedies run out of steam after an hour, the filmmakers have managed to keep the craziness sustained over 90 minutes, and even shape it into a real climax.
This low-budget production from Wisconsin puts Hollywood to shame and demonstrates how talky and uninventive most modern comedies are. Hundreds of Beavers, in all its goofy homemade glory, reminds us what we've been missing since the glory days of American comedy.
Very interesting! I will try to check it out (I'm in NYC so seems possible). Thanks for the link. Not sure I'd want to sit in a theater for it, but if it's available at home some day I'll check it out. (I don't like committing money to things I may not respond to).
@Fire_and_Ice_Returns Love this movie, and most of his other work. Saw a 35 mm copy last summer. What's the dialogue you're referring to, do you recall?
There was a retrospective here in Montreal last summer so I got to revisit or see for the first time much of his work, including early short films. I tend to react along the extremes of ambivalence towards it all. But that may say more about me than the actual films. Some I utterly loathe, like Wild at Heart, whereas Mulholland Dr. seems to exert a special kind of control over me, so to speak.
In watching Godard's Le Mépris again last summer I couldn't help but note the clear influence it has over Mulholland: the ethical corruption or compromises seemingly inherent in the filmmaking process for both filmmakers; strong elegiac echoes of the Delerue score in the music of Badalamenti for Mulholland; the nature of tragedy; that both films end on the utterance of the word "silencio/silenzio"; and much more.
A couple of related titles I'd recommend:
'LYNCH/OZ', which is a wonderful, quite thoughtful documentary exploring the influence of the 1939 Hollywood classic on Lynch. "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about The Wizard of Oz," Lynch once said ... at around the time of Mulholland Dr. But it's quite evident in his earlier work, like Fire Walk With Me & Wild At Heart, especially in their 'anti-Dorothy' characters of Laura Palmer & Lula.
The other is called Lucky, with Harry Dean Stanton, his last movie. Quite bittersweet. It's not made by David Lynch, but he does feature wonderfully in a small role as a bar room denizen with an impassioned monolgue about a missing tortoise that is completely endearing. But there are many other highlights independent of Lynch too numerous to mention ...
It was pretty great I have to say.
Then I woke up.
Those are some very interesting observations for sure.
Le mépris is such a phenomenal film, I just remained in awe looking at the screen once those credits rolled. For me a strong contender for the best film ever.
“I like to remember things my own way. How I remembered them, not necessarily the way they happened.”
Brilliant piece of dialogue on so many levels.
Yes, you're right, thank you!
Director Don Siegels cop thiller, before he did 'Dirty Harry' (and just prior to 'Coogans Bluff'.
With a blistering opening theme from Don Costa, this has Richard Widmark as the title character, who, along with his partner, botch a bust of a felon and lose their own guns in the process. This storyline is twinned with their Commissioner ( Henry Fonda) dealing with corruption in the force, and both these characters' private relationships are also part of the mix. As you'd expect from Siegel, he handles the thriller aspect best, with a cracking final shootout in a hotel ( Madigan and his partner wielding two guns before it became trendy in later films)
I recall that this became a short-lived T V. series, it does show its age, but it's watchable with a good cast!
As mashups go, this works a lot better than Hammer's Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires. For the 10 time, Naschy plays Waldemar Daninsky. Other actors have played a character in fewer films, and still get to a point where they phone it in. Not Paul Naschy, he still relishes his beloved character, once more giving it his all.
1. Panic Beats (1983)
2. Night Of The Werewolf (1981)
3. Werewolf Shadow (1971)
4. Human Beasts (1980)
5. Horror Rises From The Tomb (1973)
6. Crimson (1976)
7. Dr. Jekyll vs. The Werewolf (1972)
8. Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1968)
9. Blue Eyes Of The Broken Doll (1973)
10. The Beast And The Magic Sword (1983)
11. Exorcismo (1975)
12. Vengeance Of The Zombies (1973)
13. Count Dracula's Great Love (1973)
14. Hunchback Of The Morgue (1972)
15. 7 Murders for Scotland Yard (1972)
'Escape from Alcatraz' is a really good one. I remember one critic remarking how Siegel "really sends you to prison for two hours"
'Charley Varrick' is a regular watch for me. Hard to imagine Eastwood was considered for the main role, mind you you he may have been not bad under Siegels watch, but Walter Matthau is marvellous in it!
Dennis The Menace Strikes Again (1998). Speaking of another Dennis The Menace, Strikes Again is a bit of a mixed bag, to say the least. Don Rickles is also a perfectly cast Mr. Wilson. George Kennedy is charming as Grandpa, and I wish he had more screen time. Betty White is ok as Mrs. Wilson, the script doesn't have much for her to do. The child actors here aren't as good as the original, but I don't blame them (or child actors in general). The script lacks that John Hughes with kids writing magic. The bad guys are poorly written con men, and they make Mr. Wilson look stupid, honestly. Stick to the original overall.
It's been a long time since I've seen A Dennis The Menace Christmas (2007). Robert Wagner was ok as Mr. Wilson.
It's been ages since I saw Dennis The Menace. Probably about 30 years! Excellent suggestion, @MaxCasino. I believe the film is not very good, but I'll be sure to check it out again (and try to view it through a child's eyes.)
And everytime I watch these two films, my breath is taken away...
You are leading by example, @peter. We need to educate our wee ones. And if they refuse to appreciate great art, well, then we...
... correct them.
Did you know he was one of the SPECTRE agents in Thunderball too?
Yes, definitely ... on so many levels.
Not least of which is how Michael goes from sympathetic figure in the first half of pt.1 to complete monster by the end of pt.2, effectively alone in his memories having mostly destroyed the family he had set out to protect.
I'm a bit biased as I grew up with it. It's not a classic (although Walter Matthau and Christopher Lloyd give classic performances), but it's not meant to be. It's cheap entertainment.
I agree, I still like Part 3, it has a lot going for it. It's a shame that Coppola didn't have time to better plan things out. For anyone that's a fan of the first two movies, I recommend reading the original novel, as well as the prequel The Family Corleone by Ed Falco. It's based partly off of Mario Puzo and Coppola's original Part 4 storyline. Mark Winegardner's two books are ok. The Sicilian by Mario Puzo is a spinoff that goes on a bit longer than it needs too.
Haven't seen Pt. 3 since it came out in 1990. Just lacking any desire to revisit it. The first two are quite perfect as they are and Pt. 3 felt, at least at the time, like an unnecessary betrayal of that perfection. I recall Sofia Coppola coming in for some especially nasty criticism. Little did we know she would become a formidable filmmaker in her own right.
Somebody once said the poet's gift doesn't last forever, never more true than with her father. He's not come close since to reaching the artistic heights of the four films he made in the '70s, the other two being, of course, The Conversation & Apocalypse Now.
Fair enough. Coppola didn't just direct those 4 timeless classics in the 70s. He also wrote and produced two other timeless classics: Patton and American Graffiti, respectively. I would rather people read The Godfather novel and The Family Corleone over watching The Godfather Part 3.
P.S. I am writing my own Dennis The Menace movie, it's time the character got a new film adaptation.
I finally upgraded to the Blu-ray edition for the occasion. The picture quality could be better, like this review points out, but it's the best the film has looked so far. I would happily buy a release that corrects some of the issues with this transfer though.
The film itself remains some of my personal favourites, and I look forward to watch it again soon.
100% agreed.
I agree, I upgraded to the bluray, and its not all that great! Still a cracking thriller! Love McQueen in this!
One of three films, including Dirty Harry & Zodiac, all (well, supposedly in the case of Bullitt & DH) based on the same real-life San Francisco cop, except that the Dave Toschi of Zodiac (one of my favourite contemporary films) couldn’t be any more different from the two other highly fictionalized (or maybe "inspirational") versions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Toschi