They've mostly removed smoking from movies and TV, so it was striking that the Bob Dylan special, "Shadow Kingdom," was full of smoking — as quoted in last night's post: "a timeless twilight zone, where every single person in the tiny audience, man and woman alike, was smoking like a chimney to a degree that seemed less like period specificity and almost like comedy."
Shortly after I completed the journey through Bob Dylan's timeless twilight zone, I settled in to rewatch the 1973 Bob Altman neo-noir flick "The Long Goodbye." I don't think there is a character in all of film who's more cigarettecentric — and I've seen Bette Davis — than Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe in "The Long Goodbye":
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4 comments:
K writes:
Brings back an era.
"Strike another match,
Let's go start anew
It's all over now, Baby Blue."
Looks at today's sunrise picture.
"It's All Over New, Baby Blue" is on the set list for "Shadow Kingdom."
Lloyd writes:
"I just saw Michael Caine and Demi Moore, "Flawless" ( a reference to both the diamonds they are trying to steal, and their brilliant plan). Demi burns through a lot of cigarettes, especially once she fears getting caught in a crime. Ashtray always at hand. Even before becoming a criminal she is under pressure as the only woman in a man's world (upper management at a company like De Boers). First to arrive at the office, last to leave. Caine talks her into crime by reminding her that she has been unfairly by-passed for promotion many times. She will not get the life she wants by living by the rules. At one point she says: my mother told me that if I was smart and well-educated, men wouldn't like me; it turns out she was right. Practically using her last cigarette to light up her next one."
Tony writes:
I would say that "A Bout de Souffle" aka "Breathless" features an excessive amount of smoking. Almost to the point of distraction.
"Vinyl" features Edie Sedgewick chain-smoking throughout the film.
Breathless is entertaining, Vinyl is nearly unwatchable. It's the "I heard her call my name" of movies.
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