RE: "Classic Films" that are actually utter rubbish.

Easy Rider, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest in fact anything played by that one dimensional, poor excuse for an actor nick jackolson. Plays the same role in every film, how he has won oscars never ceases to amaze me.

I'll agree that the wedding scene from the The Deer Hunter runs a bit long, and that Reservoir Dogs starts slowly, but ultimately both are pretty compelling movies. I'm disappointed in some of you.

I love Shawshank, but I could see where it falls short as well. It has some great acting, a great plot, some memorable lines, and a good representation of male friendship. I watch it every time it's on television.

But yea, it's not as legendary as some of the films mentioned. The story is great, but many other more detailed elements of film-making are nothing exceptional.

I believe film and television ages horribly compared to other art forms. Let's say the Rolling Stones never released Sticky Fingers. A current artist records the album exactly as we all know it and releases the record in 2011. I say the album is an instant classic and mega hit. I think it is still great compared to the classic albums being released today.

The same can't be said for TV or film in my opinion. The original Bob Newhart Show, MASH, Citizen Kane or Star Wars may have been great when they were released, but I think all would absolutely bomb (if they were released exactly as they were filmed) in 2011.

its a wonderfully awful movie wrote:

[quote]armchair historian wrote:

The same can't be said for TV or film in my opinion. The original Bob Newhart Show, MASH, Citizen Kane or Star Wars may have been great when they were released, but I think all would absolutely bomb (if they were released exactly as they were filmed) in 2011.

I think that "His Girl Friday" (1940) would do well if it came out today. I think that if something is "great" because it had a good story, good acting, etc., then it will probably hold up well, but if it is considered "great" because it was some sort of technical breakthrough, then it probably won't.

mrprofessor wrote:

Citizen Kane...had to watch it for a film class, I honestly couldn't watch it, horrible movie, extremely boring,

Totally agreed.

the shinning wrote:

Easy Rider, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest in fact anything played by that one dimensional, poor excuse for an actor nick jackolson. Plays the same role in every film, how he has won oscars never ceases to amaze me.

You've obviously never seen Chinatown, the greatest film noir of all-time. Watch it, and tell me if you think Nicholson is still one dimensional.

I don't think those kinds of generalizations can be made. There is for example, no film about veterans adjusting to the postwar life anywhere nearly as good as "The Best Years of Our Lives," and that's more than 60 years old by now. I'd be surprised if anyone found it boring.

Wejo, delete this thread. Only Eugene, Oregon is Track Town USA. F U C K movies and everything made by Los Angeles. L.A. is full of a bunch of meat beaters and pervs.

Johnny Carson is still better than any modern T.V. host. A New Hope is significantly better than The Phantom Menace. As someone else said, anything that impressed simply because it was visually appealing at the time is probably not going to have staying power, but a great story never gets old.

Someone said they never met someone who liked 'The Abyss.' I've never seen the movie, but the novelization by Orson Scott Card was great.

depends when you grew up wrote:

brilliant metal guitarist of the Yngwie Malmsteen variety. He said that if his friend had been alive in the 60's he would have been considered the greatest guitarist of all time.

"Brilliant guitarist of the Yngwie Malmsteen variety"? Is that like being a very talented onanist? Is that like having a very good collection of smut dvds or something?

My guess is that "brilliant" guy would have been an annoying curiosity in the 60s. People would certainly hate someone who could ape all of Hendrix's technique even better than Hendrix but with none of his art. You could say the same thing about Robert Fripp or Jimmy Paige or even Eddie Van Halen who could actually play well in a good song (at least early on in his career).

Nice critique! +1 for insight.

Johnny Carson was a closet homo and did it with half his male guests. He had a 40 year homo love affair with Ed McMahon.

The attention span of your average contributor to this thread is too low to appreciate older films. They are much slower. 'Jaws' was the first real mass market film of the new era to emphasize speed (Raiders of the Lost Ark was much faster and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom brought us to the contemporary mode of constant jump cuts, constant action without meaning), yet Jaws today seems characteristic of those 1970s American films today, being filled by long, slow, conversational scenes and only a few action scenes. The Deer Hunter is a great film, like Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now, and many others condemned on this thread, because like the others it is a film of ideas, social significance, personal impact and transformation, and contains many stunning images. But they do not move like bam, bam, bam.

tyed wrote:

A movie that I personally find puzzling is "Shawshank Redemption." Many consider it a true classic. I think it was a good movie--not "utter rubbish"--but by no means an all-time great.

I'm watching it right now. I think it's a fantastic movie and one of the few flicks I can watch fairly often.

Although, I must say, even I wonder why sometimes.

Cannes Snooze Festival wrote:

Is Apocalypse Now a classic (1979)? If so that gets my vote. One great scene with Robert Duvall in the midst of hours (seemingly) of tedious crap with several more hours (seemingly) of Brando mumbling about something or other at the end.

I'd have to agree. To boot...let's make it LONGER.

LOL!

Every Spielberg movie I've ever seen has sucked. E.T. -- sucked. AI -- sucked. The list goes on.

The Birds -- creepy movie.

I have found that I like a lot of the old western movies.

meh wrote:

Oh ragazzo wrote:

Clockwork Orange. Does nothing for me.

Could not agree more.

Have you read the book, then you will agree even more. They tried to add some comic touches and despite great casting for the lead completely screwed it up. If ever there was a film need remaking it is this but I don't know if many are keen because of the subject.

I love French/Italian films but agree with the op on La Dolci Vita. Some would say it shows the vacancy of that type of life, I would say it shows it too well. Carting that statue around is hardly subtle either

Anything stanley kubrick basically sucks f-ing balls:

The Shining

Clockwork Orange

Full Metal jacket

2010 space oddesey

etc. etc.