Unpopular movie opinions...

[Widebrim]

Frankly, on occasion, I'm glad for some of the commentary before and after a movie. However, you're right, more often than not, it does get to be rather trite........especially when there's no hidden meaning in a particular movie, and they go off on a tangent trying to find one. But then again, that's Hollywood........

Most Golden Era movies which do have "messages," present them clearly enough for a discerning viewer to pick up on (e.g., Force of Evil, Try and Get Me!, Crossfire, etc.). Yet some movies contain underlying messages which do benefit from some commentary, especially those made during HUAC's investigations, when it become unpopular (and damaging to one's career) to blame capitalism/the war/poverty for crime and other social ills. Sometimes these messages are supported by something as "simple" as a camera angle, or a lighting technique, which the casual viewer might not pick up on. I agree, though, that some critics look for hidden meanings in every flick of the hand or piece of under-the-breath dialogue that they see/hear, and that this detracts rather than adds to one's appreciation of the film...

 

[Widebrim]

So, for me anyway, what Dr. Joseph Q. Filmdegree. PhD, ME, LLC thinks about what the Oedipal subtext in "White Heat" says about the mounting anxieties of postwar masculinity is -- yeah, sure, whatever.

Yeah, film "critics" have had a field day with that parent/child relationship...

Yet an interesting take on White Heat, and the symbolism contained in it, was offered by John Howard Lawson, one of the "Hollywood Ten," after he viewed the film in prison:

"The prison audience--and this is probably true of any audience--associated the fictitious character with Cagney's reputation. The spectators saw him as an attractive symbol of toughness, defending himself against a cruel and irrational society; at least, [inmates] said, 'he has the guts to stand up and fight back!'...This emphasis on the individual's total depravity in a depraved society rejects the possibility of rational social cooperation...Man is doomed to prowl alone, a beast in the jungle." (Taken from Dark City, by Eddie Muller.) Citing Cagney as "an attractive symbol of toughness" may be a bit much for those outside the institution to swallow, but at least it shows how that segment of society viewed the movie and it's "message"...

 

[Lincsong]

There's also the subtext in White Heat about "Big Brother", remember the homing device on those G-Men's Mercury?

 

[Widebrim]

^^I think you've got something there, Lincsong...

 

[Lincsong]

Russ Meyer?

[video=youtube;2XdYcyuikcU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XdYcyuikcU&feature=related[/video]

 

[jamespowers]

[video=youtube;2XdYcyuikcU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XdYcyuikcU&feature=related[/video]

Too bad he was pretty bad off there near the end.

 

[Lincsong]

You're just a fan of Vixen.

 

[jamespowers]

You're just a fan of Vixen.

What is Vixen?

 

[Lincsong]

What is Vixen?

You know you moron. Don't play stupid. Your favorite Russ Meyer film.

 

[jamespowers]

You know you moron. Don't play stupid. Your favorite Russ Meyer film.

The morn would be you. I have never seen one of his movies all the way through. None of his films are worth going out of your way to see. They stink.

 

[Lincsong]

The morn would be you. I have never seen one of his movies all the way through. None of his films are worth going out of your way to see. They stink.

You know you liked Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

 

[jamespowers]

You know you liked Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

You seem to know all the movies. Are you sure you aren't a fanboy?
His work is at best soft core porn. It stinks.

 

[Lincsong]

You seem to know all the movies. Are you sure you aren't a fanboy?
His work is at best soft core porn. It stinks.

That's why you enjoyed Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill

 

[bunnyb.gal]

Aah, Russ, one of my guilty pleasures...well, not so guilty, really. Gimme Vixen over that Nouvelle Vague cee-rap any day!

 

[jamespowers]

I saw a small amount of that one on Tv years ago. I had to turn it off. It was just senseless and wierd.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

On US tv??? Sure it wasn't senseless because it had been censored beyond recognition?

 

[jamespowers]

On US tv??? Sure it wasn't senseless because it had been censored beyond recognition?

It was on TV---cable TV.

 

[rue]

You're just a fan of Vixen.

Vixen James? Tell me it's not true :eeek:

 

[Lincsong]

Vixen James? Tell me it's not true :eeek:

He'll deny it.

 

[rue]

He'll deny it.

The trailer was so bad (so 70s) I couldn't put it on here, for fear I'd get kicked off for subjecting anyone else to it lol