1. AIRPLANE! (1980)
2. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
3. THE BARGAIN (1914)
4. CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
5. ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
6. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
7. THE EXORCIST (1973)
8. THE FRONT PAGE (1931)
9. GREY GARDENS (1976)
10. I AM JOAQUIN (1969)
11. IT'S A GIFT (1934)
12. LET THERE BE LIGHT (1946)
13. LONESOME (1928)
14. MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)
15. MALCOLM X (1992)
16. MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971)
17. NEWARK ATHLETE (1891)
18. OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE (1969)
19. THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
20. PRESERVATION OF THE SIGN LANGUAGE (1913)
21. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
22. STUDY OF A RIVER (1996)
23. TARANTELLA (1940)
24. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
25. A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET (1906)
List the ones you've seen in the order of their what you think is their cultural/historical/aesthetic significance. Here's mine:
1. It's a Gift
2. Grey Gardens
3. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
4. Saturday Night Fever
5. THX 1138
6. All the President's Men
The first 2 on my list have long been high on my personal list of favorite moves. The 3d one is also on my list of favorite movies, but not so high.
There are movies of significance, and movies you want to see again. The Pink Panther, Airplane, The Empire Strikes Back, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I have seen repeatedly. McCabe and Mrs Miller was a fine movie but there's not much there in the way of jokes or affirmation about the human comedy.
Can someone tell me how a purposely bluffled (muffled and blurred) soundtrack - Altman's supposed significant innovation - does anything but lend confusion to those who are trying to make - oh what squares - sense of his films?
1. The Pink Panther 2. Airplane! 3. All the President's Men 4. Saturday Night Fever 5. The Exorcist
"The Pink Panther" is in my top ten of favorite movies.
"Airplane!" still makes me laugh. Although kids find "Airplane!" funny today, the movie is much better if one has seen "Airport" and remembers the Jacqueline Bisset character. (Costumes by Edith Head!)
"Airplane!" "All the President's Men," "Saturday Night Fever" (and a not-on-the-list movie, "Manhattan") are memorable because I saw them in the company of good dates.
"The Exorcist" is notable only because the first time I tried to see it, I stood in line for the Chicago premier with my brother and his fiancé, and we couldn't get into the theatre because the tickets sold out. My parents were upset that my brother had tried to take me to see that movie; they thought it was inappropriate for my age (I was fifteen).
They've got to be kidding. Airplane! was very imaginative, but "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."? McCabe, All the President's, Empire, and Saturday Night probably are board members' faves and that's how they got there -President's and McCabe being good Lefty choices.
Front Page is a good Lemmon-Matthau remake, but no more. I wonder if Pink Panther made it because Blake Edwards just died?
PS I think Irene's line about the company of good dates might explain a lot.
I've only seen five. Airplane! is my favorite of those. Damn funny. Irene is right, if you've seen Airport, Airplane! is even funnier. But, my kids laugh at Airplane! and love it.
1. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) with the American Hockey Team’s miracle victory set the stage for the Reagan Revival 2. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)—Signified the end of the ’60s and ‘70s culture. The nadir of the American Experience 3. MALCOLM X (1992) 4. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) 5. THE EXORCIST (1973) 6. AIRPLANE! (1980) 7. THE BARGAIN (1914) 8. CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
No Impact 5. ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967) 19. THE PINK PANTHER (1964) 22. STUDY OF A RIVER (1996) 23. TARANTELLA (1940) 25. A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET (1906)
I see that Save The Tiger is not on the list. Of course not, it didn't say the right things and even dared to whisper the wrong things. Oh well, onwards and upwards with the marxists in government - I Am Joaquin; Let There Be Light; Make Way For Tomorrow - who, with my taxes, make caca on America.
6. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) 1. AIRPLANE! (1980) 7. THE EXORCIST (1973) 2. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) 21. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977) (Maybe I saw this. At least parts of it).
I have been reading a book on military psychology and would really like to see Let There be Light. I don’t really agree with this list, but maybe it’s a generational thing.
In order of my preference for seeing one on TV (unedited) in the next week.
AIRPLANE! (1980) -never fails to make me laugh and don't call me Shirley SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977) -I grew up in an Italian town and the f*#king every other word was very familiar to me THE EXORCIST (1973) -I like the "non-vomiting" parts the best. I admit I like Max Von Sidow ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) -What can I say, I'm a 70's guy. I come home from school and watched the Watergate hearings. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) -except for Billy Dee Williams. And I still can't figure out how R2D2 maneuvered through the swamp MALCOLM X (1992) -just for Denzel. THE PINK PANTHER (1964) -not as funny as it once felt to me. MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971) -I like Robert Altman but this isn't my favorite of his A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) -sweet ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967) -have only seen part of it. Yeah, its slow
You don't have to take Airplane! seriously, but it launched a whole series of films by Zucker-Abrams-Zucker, along with a host of imitators, which are still going strong after 30 years. Surely that's significant?
Airplane!, but not Hot Shots Part Deux? Surely if they include the film that started a trend, they should also include the culmination and pinnacle, right?
1. Airplane! 2. Saturday Night Fever 3. The Pink Panther 4. It's a Gift. 5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The 3 comedies, because they spawned a long period of nearly everyone in the genre being influenced by them. In the case of Airplane!, after 30 years, the effect is still going strong.
Saturday Night Fever because it carried a global phenomenon to be bigger and wider than it ever was, and despite all the claims of old rock 'n roll purists that disco is dead - no, actually disco transformed into techno and still has a massive global impact at any club that does dance.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because it was of a time that it reflected on well, a film superbly made, and a timeless flick.
The Empire Strikes Back was a big bucks sequel. Consider it like Wrath of Khan without the skill and delicious villain lines that sequel sported...a profitable film that proved the viability of a multi-film franchise. No more.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller was Altman dreck. After MASH he was thought to do no foul, but he was overrated. All the Presidents Men and Malcom X are just historical hagiography. But yes, Denzel was better then than he is now, and Al Pacino has been phoning it in for over a decade...likes SHOUTING!!
List the ones you've seen in the order of their what you think is their cultural/historical/aesthetic significance. Here's mine:
Am I the only one shocked by the idea that Ann has seen neither Airplane! nor Empire Strkes Back?
Didn't know that was even possible.
(Considering Ann posted a scene from one of the Airplane films to mark the passing of Leslie Nielsen a month ago, I'm assuming this to be an oversight.)
I haven't seen a lot of those - like most people the newer ones mostly. None of them really on my personal greats list. So here's my nominations for films that apparently aren't on the registry and didn't even make this list. Thanks for asking.
The Dentist - Another W.C. Fields classic; I think this is the funniest Fields I know of but I haven't yet seen It's a Gift.
Room for One More - Cary Grant and Betsy Drake starred, they were married in real-life; also watch this sweet little comedy and then imagine how Betsy Drake later turned Cary Grant on to acid.
Auntie Mame - Rosalind Russell was amazing in His Girl Friday (better film than The Front Page btw) but here she's at the true height of her powers.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs - The title alone should protect this adaptation of Wm. Inge play. Great cast, R. Preston, D. McGuire, Eve Arden, apparently all but forgotten.
Life with Father - Gad! William Powell is the best!
I would hope these three make it eventually as well: Next Stop Greenwich Village Come Back Little Sheeba The Caine Mutiny
The popular votes for the National Film Registry are handled differently than "Dancing with the Stars" votes.
Perhaps that's because this government groups' primary mission is "film preservation".
Yeah, OK, right...Someone just might believe that.
So which of these films on the list do you suppose weren't going to be preserved by the major Hollywood studios that created them and made big bucks from them?
Oh, for fuck's sake - "The Pink Panther?" If there is a more patently unfunny "funny" movie than that, I have not seen it. The script is limp, the cinematography first-year school at best and Sellers is a stumblefooted clown, his Charlie Chaplin-by-way-of Harry Langdon naif Clouseau a one-note joke that goes on much too long, just like the movie - and, in fact, like just about all of Edwards' movies. TPP is one of those 'intellectual comedies' people trot out as a fave to hide the fact that they get much more enjoyment out of "The Blues Brothers" or "Blazing Saddles."
"Airplane" is the equivalent of being stuck in a closet with Buddy Hackett, being constantly hit over the head with a slapstick, but at least it never pretended to be any more than that.
The rest of the movies are the dregs of the collapse of the studio system, the motion picture equivalent of a crap-filled toilet. Except for "The Bargain," but I suppose the voters felt they had to give William S. Hart something, even if nobody remembers him anymore.
More toward Westerns, mysteries, historical stuff.
'Gladiator' wasn't too bad because they got a good many of the historical touches right. Most gladiator movies (or that God-awful thing HBO did about Rome (even the Latin was wrong)) are about as real as 'Troy' or, for that matter, 'Meet The Spartans'.
It is strange to consider the arc of George Lucas' career.
The first three feature-length movies he directed were THX1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars. All of them brilliant in their own way. The next three films he directed were Phanton Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. All of them were absolutely horrible.
I suppose you can't argue with his financial success, but I can't help but wonder what he could have produced if he focused more on storytelling and less on selling action figures.
I'm officially starting a petition here to get Meade to get Althouse to watch Airplane. I will not stop until this travesty has been rectified.
Put my name on it. The only movie I've ever seen where my sides literally ached afterward from laughing so hard. I knew the commenters here were an intelligent and astute group.
The East Fresno Film Festival? Oh, Seven, you wound me. . .
Anyway, count me in on getting Althouse to watch "Airplane." It's a funny movie, and I happen to like it very much. I'm just saying that it is what it is, and shouldn't be considered any more "significant" than, say, "Night Nurse" or "The Naked Witch."
But I stand by my slap at "Panther." An awful, tedious, unfunny movie.
Christopher -- I am with you on The Pink Panther. Crap. Good theme song, though.
As Rev pointed out, any movie that people are still quoting 30 years later, and that spawned an entire industry worth billions is culturally significant.
Another note: Airplane is on cable a lot and when you watch it, you'll note that the movie is parodying a lot of movies that are all much less famous than Airplane now.
I agree that Meade and Althouse should sit down and watch Airplane!. It's got a Wisconsin connection, after all.
I am also still amused by Airplane!. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop smoking. Surely you can't be serious. The Red Zone is for parking only. I can't quite quote it like old MASH TV episodes (Oak? Nope, it's oak), but ...
"A Trip Down Market Street" is one of the most memorable pieces of film I have ever seen. I suppose the classifiers will say it's one of the first great documentaries, or something like that. To me it's just plain fascinating.
It spans generations so well. I saw it in a theater with my sister (an air traffic controller) when it was released and we were warned to "be quiet" during the movie!
My youngest son-in-law and I can carry on a conversation quite well paraphrasing quotes from the movie. Why his wife rolls her eyes as we do so, I haven't a clue.
As a cultural influence, I think the movie is at least partially responsible for the flatlining of the popularity of the name "Shirley".
http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Shirley
But, it wouldn't have been so funny if the name weren't close to flatlining anyway...
Airplane! is probably my favorite movie. Close behind it is Toy Story, Hunt for Red October, and A Few Good Men.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was just as lovable and poignant as the book on which it was based. James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell and Peggy Ann Garner were the absolute embodiment of the characters in the novel. A lot of the credit must go to Elia Kazan. It was his directorial debut, and he got all the actors to hit way above their weight. James Dunn, like the Johnny Nolan character he played, was a genial, sentimental drunk, and he really nailed the part. He won an Oscar for the role, and then fell back into obscurity......I'm glad to see that so many remember this movie fondly. It is very rare that a movie can so capture the spirit of the novel on which it is based. There doing another remake of The Great Gatsby, and you know they'll just screw it up again.
The movie that turned a million future journalism majors into rebels w/o a cause. Was made to watch it in high school and college. Rates the highest because I still watch it and enjoy it. In fact, I only really enjoyed when they stopped forcing me to watch it.
Favorite exchange:
Hoffman: "It's hard to believe that something's wrong in some of those little houses.
Redford: "No, it isn't."
7. THE EXORCIST (1973)
I relate this to the vaguely remembered era during my childhood in which the groundskeepers would occasionally find a Goat's Head waiting for them on the suburban Golf Course. Though he was safely incarcerated, on the playground we all thought Charles Manson was still running loose in the hills and would kill and eat us should be wander too far away from home. Even though it had Catholic underpinnings, it still caught the beginnings of the 70s cultural movement towards the occult, ESP, etc. which slowly sanitized and monetized over the decades into - well - Rielle Hunter.
21. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
Neck and neck w/ the Exorcist, but I just don't like this one even though I'm supposed to appreciate Travolta in an ironic way. However it was likely the goto date/fuck movie for the parents of the current cast of Jersey Shore - so it has paid genetic cultural dividends.
So which of these films on the list do you suppose weren't going to be preserved by the major Hollywood studios that created them and made big bucks from them?
Let there be light. It's an Army documentary on PTSD after WWII. I actually looked for this on netflix and they dont' have it, but apparently they have it on you tube, so I"ll watch it there. That is a film that I think needs to be "preserved".
On the Town - They've got so many crappy musicals on their list, how can they leave off this Gene Kelly classic?
A Day at the Races - They've got two Marx brothers movies, that's not enough, sorry.
Shall We Dance Fred Astaire was a genius. This is the best Astaire/Rogers film. West Side Story? Saturday Night Fever? Jailhouse Rock? Oh my God.
Fort Apache - You want to explain to me how they omit John Ford's cavalry trilogy? This is arguably Ford's greatest film. And it's historical significance can't be denied. This omission alone makes me want to punch somebody.
The Navigator - Buster Keaton's biggest success and his funniest movie. Andy Hardy? Shirley Temple? Tarzan? Flash Gordon? Ugh.
The Palm Beach Story Preston Sturges is on the list twice, I think. Not enough! Sorry!
Rio Bravo The Howard Hawks omissions kill me.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Poltergeist
A lot of Disney omissions. 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, Dumbo, The Little Mermaid, Bambi. How can you leave off fucking Bambi?
What's almost as annoying is the PC inclusions. Daughters of the Dust, Chan is Missing, Carmen Jones, The Hitch-Hiker. Michael Jackson's Thriller video(!), Indian documentary, Indian documentary, Indian documentary. I Am Joaquin. (3.3 over at IMDB. Seven people have seen it, apparently. But let's put it in a vault somewhere). Plot keywords: "identity" and "chicano". Great.
Click here to enter Amazon through the Althouse Portal.
Amazon
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Support this blog with PayPal
Make a 1-time donation or set up a monthly donation of any amount you choose:
Posts
56 comments:
There are movies of significance, and movies you want to see again. The Pink Panther, Airplane, The Empire Strikes Back, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I have seen repeatedly. McCabe and Mrs Miller was a fine movie but there's not much there in the way of jokes or affirmation about the human comedy.
Can someone tell me how a purposely bluffled (muffled and blurred) soundtrack - Altman's supposed significant innovation - does anything but lend confusion to those who are trying to make - oh what squares - sense of his films?
1. The Pink Panther
2. Airplane!
3. All the President's Men
4. Saturday Night Fever
5. The Exorcist
"The Pink Panther" is in my top ten of favorite
movies.
"Airplane!" still makes me laugh. Although kids find "Airplane!" funny today, the movie is much better if one has seen "Airport" and remembers the Jacqueline Bisset character. (Costumes by Edith Head!)
"Airplane!" "All the President's Men," "Saturday Night Fever" (and a not-on-the-list movie, "Manhattan") are memorable because I saw them in the company of good dates.
"The Exorcist" is notable only because the first time I tried to see it, I stood in line for the Chicago premier with my brother and his fiancé, and we couldn't get into the theatre because the tickets sold out. My parents were upset that my brother had tried to take me to see that movie; they thought it was inappropriate for my age (I was fifteen).
They've got to be kidding. Airplane! was very imaginative, but "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."? McCabe, All the President's, Empire, and Saturday Night probably are board members' faves and that's how they got there -President's and McCabe being good Lefty choices.
Front Page is a good Lemmon-Matthau remake, but no more. I wonder if Pink Panther made it because Blake Edwards just died?
PS I think Irene's line about the company of good dates might explain a lot.
A movie is a great thing to do on a first date.
;-)
I've only seen five. Airplane! is my favorite of those. Damn funny. Irene is right, if you've seen Airport, Airplane! is even funnier. But, my kids laugh at Airplane! and love it.
1. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) with the American Hockey Team’s miracle victory set the stage for the Reagan Revival
2. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)—Signified the end of the ’60s and ‘70s culture. The nadir of the American Experience
3. MALCOLM X (1992)
4. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
5. THE EXORCIST (1973)
6. AIRPLANE! (1980)
7. THE BARGAIN (1914)
8. CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
No Impact
5. ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
19. THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
22. STUDY OF A RIVER (1996)
23. TARANTELLA (1940)
25. A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET (1906)
6,5,2,7,…
None 1, 21
Without THX 1138 4EB no American Graffiti, No Stars War no Jedi´s Revenge
I see that Save The Tiger is not on the list. Of course not, it didn't say the right things and even dared to whisper the wrong things. Oh well, onwards and upwards with the marxists in government - I Am Joaquin; Let There Be Light; Make Way For Tomorrow - who, with my taxes, make caca on America.
6. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
1. AIRPLANE! (1980)
7. THE EXORCIST (1973)
2. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
21. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977) (Maybe I saw this. At least parts of it).
I have been reading a book on military psychology and would really like to see Let There be Light. I don’t really agree with this list, but maybe it’s a generational thing.
THX had to be one of the most boring antiseptic Sci fi movies ever made. It was so boring, I thought it was directed by Kubrick (SLAM!)
Looks like edutcher picked the wrong day to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
wv - lettess. Lettess all now quote Airplane!
Donna B. said...
Looks like edutcher picked the wrong day to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
That would be most of the time; I go my own way, Ma'am
"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" was a readable book and an entertaining movie - superbly cast. Not "great", but worth watching.
In order of my preference for seeing one on TV (unedited) in the next week.
AIRPLANE! (1980)
-never fails to make me laugh and don't call me Shirley
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
-I grew up in an Italian town and the f*#king every other word was very familiar to me
THE EXORCIST (1973)
-I like the "non-vomiting" parts the best. I admit I like Max Von Sidow
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
-What can I say, I'm a 70's guy. I come home from school and watched the Watergate hearings.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
-except for Billy Dee Williams. And I still can't figure out how R2D2 maneuvered through the swamp
MALCOLM X (1992)
-just for Denzel.
THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
-not as funny as it once felt to me.
MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971)
-I like Robert Altman but this isn't my favorite of his
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
-sweet
ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
-have only seen part of it. Yeah, its slow
You don't have to take Airplane! seriously, but it launched a whole series of films by Zucker-Abrams-Zucker, along with a host of imitators, which are still going strong after 30 years. Surely that's significant?
No it's not, and don't call me Shirley!
Airplane!, but not Hot Shots Part Deux? Surely if they include the film that started a trend, they should also include the culmination and pinnacle, right?
wv: biarfbxg
Something you might need on an Airplane!
Malcolm X ? What about Malcolm's I - IX?
Maybe I am a Philistine, but I think that The Return of the Pink Panther is a lot more funny than:
The Pink Panther, Casino Royale or A Shot In the Dark All of which blend into one in my mind.
1. Airplane!
2. Saturday Night Fever
3. The Pink Panther
4. It's a Gift.
5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The 3 comedies, because they spawned a long period of nearly everyone in the genre being influenced by them. In the case of Airplane!, after 30 years, the effect is still going strong.
Saturday Night Fever because it carried a global phenomenon to be bigger and wider than it ever was, and despite all the claims of old rock 'n roll purists that disco is dead - no, actually disco transformed into techno and still has a massive global impact at any club that does dance.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because it was of a time that it reflected on well, a film superbly made, and a timeless flick.
The Empire Strikes Back was a big bucks sequel. Consider it like Wrath of Khan without the skill and delicious villain lines that sequel sported...a profitable film that proved the viability of a multi-film franchise. No more.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller was Altman dreck. After MASH he was thought to do no foul, but he was overrated.
All the Presidents Men and Malcom X are just historical hagiography. But yes, Denzel was better then than he is now, and Al Pacino has been phoning it in for over a decade...likes SHOUTING!!
List the ones you've seen in the order of their what you think is their cultural/historical/aesthetic significance. Here's mine:
Am I the only one shocked by the idea that Ann has seen neither Airplane! nor Empire Strkes Back?
Didn't know that was even possible.
(Considering Ann posted a scene from one of the Airplane films to mark the passing of Leslie Nielsen a month ago, I'm assuming this to be an oversight.)
BJK :Am I the only one shocked by the idea that Ann has seen neither Airplane! nor Empire Strkes Back?
It's like she's illiterate.
are you kidding me!!!!!
a list without-
What About Bob?
A Day at the Circus
El-Dorado
Roadhouse
Napolean Dynamite
who the hell are these people?
I haven't seen a lot of those - like most people the newer ones mostly. None of them really on my personal greats list. So here's my nominations for films that apparently aren't on the registry and didn't even make this list. Thanks for asking.
The Dentist - Another W.C. Fields classic; I think this is the funniest Fields I know of but I haven't yet seen It's a Gift.
Room for One More - Cary Grant and Betsy Drake starred, they were married in real-life; also watch this sweet little comedy and then imagine how Betsy Drake later turned Cary Grant on to acid.
Auntie Mame - Rosalind Russell was amazing in His Girl Friday (better film than The Front Page btw) but here she's at the true height of her powers.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs - The title alone should protect this adaptation of Wm. Inge play. Great cast, R. Preston, D. McGuire, Eve Arden, apparently all but forgotten.
Life with Father - Gad! William Powell is the best!
I would hope these three make it eventually as well:
Next Stop Greenwich Village
Come Back Little Sheeba
The Caine Mutiny
I have seen 12 of those films -
Four will hold up well.
1. A Trip Down Market Street
2. It's A Gift
3. Grey Gardens
4. Airplane!
Less likely are:
The Pink Panther
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
All The President's Men
The Exorcist
Malcolm X
THX 1138
Empire Strikes Back
Saturday Night Fever
McCabe has real aesthetic value and I suppose some others will be interesting in the cultural context. Just my opinion.
The popular votes for the National Film Registry are handled differently than "Dancing with the Stars" votes.
Perhaps that's because this government groups' primary mission is "film preservation".
Yeah, OK, right...Someone just might believe that.
So which of these films on the list do you suppose weren't going to be preserved by the major Hollywood studios that created them and made big bucks from them?
My God, woman. You've never seen Airplane? Surely you are joking.
Yeah, Airplane is still my favorite movie of all time and one of the truly outstanding comedies in history.
Donna B wrote:
Looks like edutcher picked the wrong day to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
And to stop sniffing glue.
The only glue I ever smelled was in sticking back together Leftists' minds.
edutcher, do you like movies about gladiators?
Oh, for fuck's sake - "The Pink Panther?" If there is a more patently unfunny "funny" movie than that, I have not seen it. The script is limp, the cinematography first-year school at best and Sellers is a stumblefooted clown, his Charlie Chaplin-by-way-of Harry Langdon naif Clouseau a one-note joke that goes on much too long, just like the movie - and, in fact, like just about all of Edwards' movies. TPP is one of those 'intellectual comedies' people trot out as a fave to hide the fact that they get much more enjoyment out of "The Blues Brothers" or "Blazing Saddles."
"Airplane" is the equivalent of being stuck in a closet with Buddy Hackett, being constantly hit over the head with a slapstick, but at least it never pretended to be any more than that.
The rest of the movies are the dregs of the collapse of the studio system, the motion picture equivalent of a crap-filled toilet. Except for "The Bargain," but I suppose the voters felt they had to give William S. Hart something, even if nobody remembers him anymore.
Christopher's movie was recently awarded the honorarium of "entrant" in the East Fresno Film Festival.
I'm officially starting a petition here to get Meade to get Althouse to watch Airplane. I will not stop until this travesty has been rectified.
Seven Machos said...
edutcher, do you like movies about gladiators?
More toward Westerns, mysteries, historical stuff.
'Gladiator' wasn't too bad because they got a good many of the historical touches right. Most gladiator movies (or that God-awful thing HBO did about Rome (even the Latin was wrong)) are about as real as 'Troy' or, for that matter, 'Meet The Spartans'.
Elaine: A hospital? What is it?
Dr. Rumack: It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.
I hear this quote frequently still: Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Did that movie have a great cast or what?!
It is strange to consider the arc of George Lucas' career.
The first three feature-length movies he directed were THX1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars. All of them brilliant in their own way. The next three films he directed were Phanton Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. All of them were absolutely horrible.
I suppose you can't argue with his financial success, but I can't help but wonder what he could have produced if he focused more on storytelling and less on selling action figures.
I'm officially starting a petition here to get Meade to get Althouse to watch Airplane. I will not stop until this travesty has been rectified.
Put my name on it. The only movie I've ever seen where my sides literally ached afterward from laughing so hard. I knew the commenters here were an intelligent and astute group.
They've got to be kidding. Airplane! was very imaginative, but "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."?
Of course it is culturally significant. People still quote it to each other 30 years after its release.
I've only seen 9 out of the 25 listed there..
Old movies just don't hold my attention.
Meade: I just want you to know: we're all counting on you.
Rev -- The only Star Wars film that's any good is The Empire Strikes Back.
Star Wars and Smokey and the Bandit were released on the same weekend. I'll take Smokey and the Bandit any day.
BTW - I believe Easy A (2010) is blog plunderable.
I know, plunderable is not a word.
The East Fresno Film Festival? Oh, Seven, you wound me. . .
Anyway, count me in on getting Althouse to watch "Airplane." It's a funny movie, and I happen to like it very much. I'm just saying that it is what it is, and shouldn't be considered any more "significant" than, say, "Night Nurse" or "The Naked Witch."
But I stand by my slap at "Panther." An awful, tedious, unfunny movie.
Empire Strikes Back is by far the best of the three in that trilogy. The other two don't even come close.
Whether it's good or not, Airplane is one people need to see just to be culturally literate because it's referenced all the time.
Christopher -- I am with you on The Pink Panther. Crap. Good theme song, though.
As Rev pointed out, any movie that people are still quoting 30 years later, and that spawned an entire industry worth billions is culturally significant.
Another note: Airplane is on cable a lot and when you watch it, you'll note that the movie is parodying a lot of movies that are all much less famous than Airplane now.
Finally, this.
I agree that Meade and Althouse should sit down and watch Airplane!. It's got a Wisconsin connection, after all.
I am also still amused by Airplane!. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop smoking. Surely you can't be serious. The Red Zone is for parking only. I can't quite quote it like old MASH TV episodes (Oak? Nope, it's oak), but ...
"A Trip Down Market Street" is one of the most memorable pieces of film I have ever seen. I suppose the classifiers will say it's one of the first great documentaries, or something like that. To me it's just plain fascinating.
edutcher - have you seen Airplane!?
It spans generations so well. I saw it in a theater with my sister (an air traffic controller) when it was released and we were warned to "be quiet" during the movie!
My youngest son-in-law and I can carry on a conversation quite well paraphrasing quotes from the movie. Why his wife rolls her eyes as we do so, I haven't a clue.
As a cultural influence, I think the movie is at least partially responsible for the flatlining of the popularity of the name "Shirley".
http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Shirley
But, it wouldn't have been so funny if the name weren't close to flatlining anyway...
Airplane! is probably my favorite movie. Close behind it is Toy Story, Hunt for Red October, and A Few Good Men.
Yeah... so I'm not a normal woman. Whatever!!
Come on. How many people have seen and care about:
-All the Presidents Men.
-The Exorcist
-McCabe and Mrs. Miller
-Malcolm X
-The Pink Panther
-Saturday Night Fever (!)
What no "Grease","Kramer vs. Kramer", or "Irma La Douce"? However, on the plus side:
AIRPLANE! (1980)
IT'S A GIFT (1934)
LET THERE BE LIGHT (1946)
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was just as lovable and poignant as the book on which it was based. James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell and Peggy Ann Garner were the absolute embodiment of the characters in the novel. A lot of the credit must go to Elia Kazan. It was his directorial debut, and he got all the actors to hit way above their weight. James Dunn, like the Johnny Nolan character he played, was a genial, sentimental drunk, and he really nailed the part. He won an Oscar for the role, and then fell back into obscurity......I'm glad to see that so many remember this movie fondly. It is very rare that a movie can so capture the spirit of the novel on which it is based. There doing another remake of The Great Gatsby, and you know they'll just screw it up again.
2. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
The movie that turned a million future journalism majors into rebels w/o a cause. Was made to watch it in high school and college. Rates the highest because I still watch it and enjoy it. In fact, I only really enjoyed when they stopped forcing me to watch it.
Favorite exchange:
Hoffman: "It's hard to believe that something's wrong in some of those little houses.
Redford: "No, it isn't."
7. THE EXORCIST (1973)
I relate this to the vaguely remembered era during my childhood in which the groundskeepers would occasionally find a Goat's Head waiting for them on the suburban Golf Course. Though he was safely incarcerated, on the playground we all thought Charles Manson was still running loose in the hills and would kill and eat us should be wander too far away from home. Even though it had Catholic underpinnings, it still caught the beginnings of the 70s cultural movement towards the occult, ESP, etc. which slowly sanitized and monetized over the decades into - well - Rielle Hunter.
21. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
Neck and neck w/ the Exorcist, but I just don't like this one even though I'm supposed to appreciate Travolta in an ironic way. However it was likely the goto date/fuck movie for the parents of the current cast of Jersey Shore - so it has paid genetic cultural dividends.
6. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
Might rate higher if it were the first one.
So which of these films on the list do you suppose weren't going to be preserved by the major Hollywood studios that created them and made big bucks from them?
Let there be light. It's an Army documentary on PTSD after WWII. I actually looked for this on netflix and they dont' have it, but apparently they have it on you tube, so I"ll watch it there. That is a film that I think needs to be "preserved".
The Red Zone is for parking only.
Don't give me that "Red Zone" shit, you just want me to have an abortion.
Here's the master list.
http://www.loc.gov/film/titles.html
Some really insane omissions:
On the Town - They've got so many crappy musicals on their list, how can they leave off this Gene Kelly classic?
A Day at the Races - They've got two Marx brothers movies, that's not enough, sorry.
Shall We Dance Fred Astaire was a genius. This is the best Astaire/Rogers film. West Side Story? Saturday Night Fever? Jailhouse Rock? Oh my God.
Fort Apache - You want to explain to me how they omit John Ford's cavalry trilogy? This is arguably Ford's greatest film. And it's historical significance can't be denied. This omission alone makes me want to punch somebody.
The Navigator - Buster Keaton's biggest success and his funniest movie. Andy Hardy? Shirley Temple? Tarzan? Flash Gordon? Ugh.
The Palm Beach Story Preston Sturges is on the list twice, I think. Not enough! Sorry!
Rio Bravo The Howard Hawks omissions kill me.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Poltergeist
A lot of Disney omissions. 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, Dumbo, The Little Mermaid, Bambi. How can you leave off fucking Bambi?
What's almost as annoying is the PC inclusions. Daughters of the Dust, Chan is Missing, Carmen Jones, The Hitch-Hiker. Michael Jackson's Thriller video(!), Indian documentary, Indian documentary, Indian documentary. I Am Joaquin. (3.3 over at IMDB. Seven people have seen it, apparently. But let's put it in a vault somewhere). Plot keywords: "identity" and "chicano". Great.
Post a Comment