What are your "Stop and Drop" movies?

[HadleyH1]

The least intelectual blah...blah in a movie

I tend to like!

 

[HadleyH1]

I do not like mental or verbal "diarrhea" at all!

But that's just me!

 

[HadleyH1]

That's hard to say in terms of numbers, but in terms of studio output, there is very little in current circulation of the 1930s Paramount or Universal product, both of which are owned by NBC Universal. Pretty much the only pictures from this package that show up anywhere are the Paramount Marx Brothers, Maurice Chevalier, and Bing Crosby pictures, and the Universal horror films. That leaves a *lot* of good stuff that hasn't really been shown much since the end of syndicated local-TV movie packages in the 1980s. I saw a lot of thirties Paramount stuff on "The Movie Loft" on channel 38 out of Boston in the 70s and 80s and they were making the most sophisticated musicals and comedies of the period, and it's a shame this stuff isn't more well known. The Universal output of the thirties was a mixed bag -- there was a lot of low-budget melodramas and formula comedies coming out of the studio, but occasionally there was a gem. But pretty much the only non-horror 1930s Universal pictures that seem to show up anywhere are "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Show Boat," "My Man Godfrey," and the W. C. Fields pictures. Everything else has been out of circulation at least since the 60s, if it ever circulated much at all.

There are also very few pre-1937 Fox pictures around. Part of this is due to the fact that much of that output was wiped out in a vault fire in 1937, but even those features that have survived have seen very very little distribution in recent decades. For that matter, 20th Century Fox films other than the Shirley Temple pictures, the Tyrone Power action films, and the Alice Faye musicals don't seem to show up much anywhere, even on the "Fox Movie Channel." The rights to the Fox package were owned for a long time by National Telefilm Associates, which distributed the films to local TV, but that operation was swallowed up in a series of mergers from the 70s forward, and I've got no idea who owns the TV rights to these films now, whether Fox itself or somebody else. Fox films of the late thirties had a very bright, snappy quality similar to that of Warner Bros, due perhaps to the presence of Mr. Zanuck, and it's a shame they're no longer widely shown.

Every once in a while TCM licenses Paramount, Universal, or Fox films for special screenings, but you don't see them as much as you did a few years ago due to, I guess, their shift toward more modern product.

Aside from major studio product, there's tons of Poverty Row/independent/states rights films from the Era that never show up anywhere anymore -- these were once a mainstay of low-budget local TV and down-market cable channels, but they usually got dumped as soon as something classier became available. Lots of these kinds of films were cheap westerns, melodramas, and mysteries, but occasionally you'd find something ambitious featuring somebody you recognized, working out of their element for whatever reason. I've always wanted to host a low-budget local-cable show featuring these types of pictures, but whenever I propose it people look at me funny.

ok

 

[Worf]

One of mine on at 8 EST. "The 8th Wonder of the World!!!!!" Going toe to toe with "The State of the Union". Interesting!

Worf

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The following were literally Stop and Drop only because I had seen them while passing through the electronics department of Costco, Target or Sam's Club. It took me about a week to watch the whole thing because I would catch parts of it on different days.

Avatar
Forrest Gump
Pearl Harbor

 

[Seb Lucas]

I do not like mental or verbal "diarrhea" at all!

But that's just me!

Not sure I follow you. Do you mean you don't like a lot of dialogue in movies or are you referring to something else?

Personally I like furious flashes of dialogue in movies - I find it hard to walk away from Peter Finch in full rhapsodic mania on the ethical quagmire that is (or was) network television in that great American movie: Network. His bellicose rants remain inspiring and largely accurate.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Network" is my pick for the best movie of the '70s, a decade replete with "best movies" of one sort or another. Paddy Chayefsky was a brilliant writer and a brilliant man, and this picture was the capper of a great career. Whenever I hear Peter Finch doing his "mad as hell" bit, or when Ned Beatty is telling him what it's really all about, I'm in awe.

I could have done without the sappy William Holden-Faye Dunaway subplot, but I guess even a work of genius needs a few intervals where the audience can feel safe going out for popcorn.

 

[HadleyH1]

Not sure I follow you. Do you mean you don't like a lot of dialogue in movies or are you referring to something else?

Personally I like furious flashes of dialogue in movies - I find it hard to walk away from Peter Finch in full rhapsodic mania on the ethical quagmire that is (or was) network television in that great American movie: Network. His bellicose rants remain inspiring and largely accurate.

Of course I like dialogue, I'm not suggesting we go back to the Silent Era but you must admit that a lot of what passes for dialogue in many current movies is just rubbish and certainly verbal diarrhea.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Of course I like dialogue, I'm not suggesting we go back to the Silent Era but you must admit that a lot of what passes for dialogue in many current movies is just rubbish and certainly verbal diarrhea.

You mean like where every other word is the F-Bomb?

 

[redlinerobert]

Along with some of the movies mentioned, like Casablanca, 12 Angry Men, Maltese Falcon, Vertigo, I really like Andy Garcia's "Modigliani."

 

[Seb Lucas]

Of course I like dialogue, I'm not suggesting we go back to the Silent Era but you must admit that a lot of what passes for dialogue in many current movies is just rubbish and certainly verbal diarrhea.

I'n not much of a movie goer these days so I can't rightly say. My issue with most contemporary films of the past 10 years that I have seen has been the lack of, or banal nature of much dialogue. They may as well be Silent Era productions since we learn very little from the character's utterances.

 

[redlinerobert]

it seems like 90% of the movies coming out in the theater have something or other to do with a super hero. Who watches these films?

 

[Seb Lucas]

it seems like 90% of the movies coming out in the theater have something or other to do with a super hero. Who watches these films?

Millions of folk - they are mega popular but I don't enjoy this type of CGI based product myself. The elements are always the same. Dialogue that's a series of jokes and "witty" come backs, a plot propelled by the activities of a generic megalomaniac and in the end any dispute forthcoming can only be resolved through violence (generally an extravaganza of predictable special effects). It's pretty kitsch and there's nothing much to nourish me as a viewer.

I've sat through a few of them in recent times but I find myself composing shopping lists and wondering what other people are doing. Maybe I had my fill of people flying through the air around exploding buildings back when Superman Two was released. There are people who seemingly can't get enough the superhero concept and others who (like me) try to avoid them.

 

[redlinerobert]

Most new films don't interest me. There are a few though. I find myself watching TCM most nights.

 

[HadleyH1]

You mean like where every other word is the F-Bomb?

No, I don't mean that at all.

I don't mind that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Last superhero movie I saw was "Wonder Woman" last summer, which I enjoyed very much because it actually seemed like it had something to say. The superhero stuff I can't stand is the stuff that's ground out to keep a "franchise" going, like re-booting "Spider Man" over and over again, because it's obvious they have nothing to really add to the concept -- they're just pumping them out like a giant CGI sausage to keep the fanboys happy.

There are still some good superhero movies waiting to be made. When they finally get around to doing "Ma Hunkel -- The Red Tornado" I can positively guarantee that I will be first in line. If I'm not actually playing the role myself.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'n not much of a movie goer these days so I can't rightly say. My issue with most contemporary films of the past 10 years that I have seen has been the lack of, or banal nature of much dialogue. They may as well be Silent Era productions since we learn very little from the character's utterances.

Whatever you do, stay away from "mumblecore."

 

[belfastboy]

Watched Citizen Cain last night after maybe a 40 year gap. I must say and am surprised as not a fan of classics it held up really well and think it deserves all the accolades. Will watch again before another 40 pass by.

 

[Bugguy]

Lawrence of Arabia
Grease
Hatari
Alien - original
Mash
Catch-22

Any one of them will put the brakes on most trips.

 

[Fading Fast]

Watched Citizen Cain last night after maybe a 40 year gap. I must say and am surprised as not a fan of classics it held up really well and think it deserves all the accolades. Will watch again before another 40 pass by.

I like and appreciate this movie more with each subsequent viewing. I had heard it was "The Greatest Movie Ever Made" before I saw it the first time and, to be honest, was disappointed with it (hard to live up TGMEM standard) and stayed away from it for many years after that. Then, years ago I saw it again with no expectations and really enjoyed it. I've seen it a few times since and, now, fully get it.