Must see list...?

[DanielJones]

Yet another...

How about this offering?

A bit tounge in cheek, and mostly fantacy about all the characters involved, but it was a lot of fun to watch. I found out with this movie and a bit of research that Tom Mix had a ranch up near where I live. I even got to do some survey work for the current property owners a few years back and got to see the entire spread. Neat bit of history.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Badluck Brody]

Here's another that was alright...

Michael Keeton in "Johnny Dangerously". Sure you can't take it seriously. But what the heck, they have some good lines in there!!!

Take care

Brody

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I may have missed it, but i don't think anyone has mentioned it yet:

1930. Edward G Robinson & Douglas Fairbanks Jr. 'Little Caesar'

The story, the acting, the suits!!!!!! But my word the cinematography. Just post-silent. I think pre-'Public Enemy'. There's one scene where 'the boys' are sitting around a card table and they're being introduced. The camerawork in that scene is amazing.

Other than that ... Classics:

Rear Window
Rope
The Bride Wore Black
Third Man
Niagara (Marilyn actualy acts well in this one)

Probably counted as modern:

Memories of Underdevelopment

bk

 

[nightandthecity]

"who are you calling small??"

Yes, a great, great film. Also the thirties Cagney's: Public Enemy, Angels with dirty Faces, the Roaring Twenties....

those were the days, when even thugs - no, particularly thugs - dressed properly

 

[Doh!]

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)

96 minutes of great dialogue; every line's a winner!

Some favorites:

"I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."

"Him, President? My big toe would make a better President."

"My right hand hasn't seen my left hand in thirty years."

"What's this boy got that Susie likes?"
--"Integrity - acute, like indigestion."

 

[Quigley Brown]

In the foreign catagory two wonderful Akira Kurosawa films (I picked these because they are somewhat appropriate for the general Noir/big city type of cinema):
"Stray Dog" (1949)
Toshiro Mifune plays a rookie detective (Murakami) who has his gun stolen while riding on a crowded Tokyo bus. The film revolves around Murakami tracking the "stray dog" pickpocket to get back his gun. The experienced older policeman who keeps him within the law is played by Takashi Shimura (another of Kurosawa's 'stock players'. Portrayed the leader of "The Seven Samurai").


"Ikiru" (1952)
Takashi Shimura plays an aging bureaucrat who is dying of stomach cancer and realizes that his life has no meaning. At first he tries to find meaning by going on 'lost weekend' with a young writer.He also spends time with a young woman who quit working in the same govt. dept. as him. She shows him around the spots that the young people go to. When the wild tokyo nightlife still leaves him feeling empty he decides to fight the very bureaucracy that he once was a part of. For the lounge members who like to swing dance check out the wild Tokyo nightclub scenes. The dancefloor is probably the most crowded one ever filmed. This is a beautiful and moving film. You may need to keep the handkerchief nearby.



I'd like to add some great silent films:

Lon Chaney is one of the greatest film actors in american movies. Check out these titles:


"The Unknown" (1927) Chaney plays Alonzo the armless
"The Unholy Three" (1925)Chaney plays .... Professor Echo, the ventriloquist, aka Mrs. 'Granny' O'Grady
"He Who Gets Slapped" (1924) With Norma Shearer
"The Hunchback of Notra Dame" (1923) .... Quasimodo

Best regards, Sefton

Sefton,

I just purchased 'Le Samourai' over the weekend, but haven't watched it yet...very much looking forward to it.

 

[DanielJones]

Michael Keeton in "Johnny Dangerously". Sure you can't take it seriously. But what the heck, they have some good lines in there!!!

Take care

Brody

Some good quotable lines in that one.

Danny Vermin: "You shouldn't grab me, Johnny. My mother grabbed me once... ONCE!"
"You shouldn't hang me on a hook, Johnny. My father hung me on a hook once. Once!"

Ma Kelly: "The Lower East Side. This really sucks."
"Oh, shut up! Stop acting like some fag choir boy!"

Cheers!

Dan

 

[zeus36]

Someone mentioned Gene Wilder so I'll list:


The World's Greatest Lover (check out Valentio's duds)

Young Frankenstein (nice smoking jacket)

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Journey to the Center of the Earth (awesome inkwell made from a ram's skull)

Murder By Death

Old Tarzan flicks

Dick Tracey

Superman serials with George Reeves

 

[Sefton]

Sefton,

I just purchased 'Le Samourai' over the weekend, but haven't watched it yet...very much looking forward to it.

I hope you enjoy it. It is one of my favorite films. Here is another film which will likely be of interest to Lounge members; Wim Wender's 1982 biography of Dashiell Hammett.

Best regards, Sefton

 

[airfrogusmc]

For those of you that have not yet seen "Good Night and Good Luck" do so while you can see it on the big screen. Its beautiful to look at. Theres nothing like seeing a well photographed film on the big screen especially if its filmed in B&W.

 

[magneto]

I don't think anyone has mentioned The Lady Eve with the gorgeous and talented Barbara Stanwyck, yet...she really is underrated as an actress who can pull off the comic and dramatic effortlessly...and the early 40s outfits are breathtaking (and her costume changes are fun to watch, being significant to the story).

Anyone else like Lady from Shanghai on its own merits? (aside from the whole Orson Welles/Rita Hayworth thing...) They sure made SF Chinatown look unrecognizably good in those brief glimpses. Another historical neighborhood gone to run-down trash-ridden pot. :rage:

 

[Sefton]

More French Noir...

"Le Doulos" (roughly, 'the finger man') 1962, Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Violent,stylish and tragic. In beautiful Black and White.

As of this writing it is only available in the U.S. on VHS. The tape is watchable but subtitles are difficult to read sometimes. The English DVD is the way to go if you have an all region DVD player.

 

[airfrogusmc]

French New Wave

Truffaut's The 400 Blows...1959

 

[Sefton]

Truffaut's The 400 Blows...1959

That's a wonderful film. I think that is the movie that is credited with having cinema's very first 'freeze frame'. Truffaut's "Jules and Jim" is also a fine film.

Another favorite filmmaker is Jean-Luc Goddard. "Une femme est une femme"/"A Woman is a Woman" (1961), "Le Mepris"/"Contempt" (1963) starring Bridgit Bardot and Jack Palance.

Also recommended is: "Bande a part"/"Band of Outsiders" (1964) and "Alphaville,une etrange aventure de Lemmy Caution"/ "Alphaville a strange adventure of Lemmy Caution (1965).

Goddard like Melville has an encyclopedic knowledge of film and true passion for making movies. Many of his films have a strong extreme left political viewpoint. Depending on your own outlook you may find his works to be either insightful and unique or merely shop worn Marxism... I personally don't agree much with his political views but I love the art and lyricism that he conveys at his best. The politics become more important and the films less enjoyable to me after about 1965 although there are some gems after that point.

"Alphaville" is a science fiction film noir based on a series of french detective films. A strange and funny film. In "Contempt" you get Bardot in all her glory (and several stages of partial and complete undress...) and Jack Palance as the ultimate blow hard,sleezy movie producer.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Sefton you've listed all very good films and I agree that from I donno 58 or so into 63/64 was when it really worked.

 

[Mycroft]

Citizen Kane
The Treasure of Seira Madres

 

[Slate Shannon]

And some Italian neorealism

If you can handle a mildly depressing film, check out "Umberto D". It's about a retired civil servant and his small dog trying to survive on his insufficient pension in post-war Italy. It's a wonderfully made film, as he struggles to make ends meet with his canine companion in a cold and heartless society. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that, yes, it always brings tears to my eyes. Excellent cinema.

 

[Senator Jack]

check out "Umberto D".

This film is BRILLIANT. Great pick, Slate. I just watched Il Posto last month, a 1960 Italian film about a boy trying to get his first job at THE COMPANY. If you haven't seen it, rent the DVD and then be sure to watch the one hour tv movie that accompanies it. It's from the same director and is equally wonderful.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Baron Kurtz]

"Alphaville" is a science fiction film noir based on a series of french detective films. A strange and funny film.

Strange, funny ... and fantastic! My wife made me watch it about a year ago. Must see it again.

I have another, since we seem to be going down the noir line. There was a british tv series in the 80s (sorry, not golden era but there is a reason to bring it up) called The Singing Detective. I believe there was also a movie but i'm told that was a diabolical travesty upon the original.

Anyway, if anyone gets the chance to see the original tv series, do so. It's wonderful. It's about a noir writer who's bedridden in hospital suffering from a severe bout of psoriasis. Alot of the show is based in his mind in the forties and his character - the singing detective - who is a jazz singer and private detective par excellence. Really, truly a magnificent show.

bk

 

[falcodriver]

On a more upbeat movie note, "a man and a woman" is first class. Just grows on you each time you see it. Another timeless jewel is "cinema paradiso", in particular the shorter 'U.S' version. Both should be seen with original language, and english subtitles. Great stuff. IMO

Duane