Then and Now: Film Retrospective

Then and Now: 

Movie Blogfest

The greatest films stand the test of time, speaking to us in different ways at various life stages.  Is there a movie that was a part of your life when you were younger that you see differently now?  Like fine wine, has it improved with age or did it die in the bottle?  Has maturity brought you new insights you missed in your youth?  We want to know all about it!

Join us for "Then and Now," a bloghop hosted by The Armchair Squid, Suze, Nicki Elson and Nancy Mock.  Tell us about a movie you loved when you were younger but have come to see differently over time - for better or for worse.    Please visit the Squid's blog for the participant list.

Worse Than I Thought

 Film poster Plan 9 from Outer Space (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        My favorite film genre in my earliest years was science fiction.  I especially loved the creatures mutated by atomic energy and other toxins.  When I first saw Plan 9 From Outer Space I was blown away.   This was such a cool story with great characters.  In my memory this became a sci-fi gold standard for me.  After seeing this film in about 1960 it was decades before I was able to find it on video and relive the cinematic experience of this memorable film.

         By this time I had read many accounts of how this film was "the worst film ever made".   How could this film that had impacted me so greatly be held in such contempt?   I had to find out for myself.  I rented the video and made the sad discovery.  The film was really really bad.

         Fortunately some good came of this low point in film history.  It inspired the great Tim Burton film Ed Wood.  If you have not seen this film yet by all means you should--it is excellent.   I don't advise Plan 9 From Outer Space unless you are really out for some punishment.

A Film That Has Held Up Well

         
           When I was growing up in the 1950's and early 60's, the threat of nuclear annihilation continually hung over us.   I had a perverse fascination with this concept so I naturally enjoyed seeing the films that came out about this subject.  There were quite a few of them.   My favorite and the one that stuck with me the most was Stanley Kramer's 1959 film On the Beach.

          I first saw this film at the drive-in theater with my parents when I was about nine years old.  It was scary in a really-could-happen sort of way that monster movies never delivered.  When it eventually was available on video I was able to see this film again and it didn't disappoint.  I've now seen it a few times since and have the DVD in my collection.  The other night I carefully watched the film again.  To me this is such a great film.  

           On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic film which depicts the last survivors of a global nuclear conflagration hanging on in Australia.  Everyone knows the end will soon reach them in the form of the creeping radiation in the atmosphere.  The remaining population hangs on as they endure shortages of gasoline and food.   After an American nuclear submarine arrives on the scene, a decision is made to send the crew to search for other areas that are theorized to be still habitable and to investigate mysterious signals that are being broadcast from somewhere on the Southern California coast.

          These days I'm not sure this film would hold the interest of many kids like it did me so many years ago.  For that matter I don't think a lot of adults would tolerate it.  For one thing the film is in appropriately somber black and white.  The pacing is slow with a lot of dialog.  There are minimal special effects.  No gore even though we know there must be plenty of bodies somewhere in the California cities the sub crew checks out.  There's no bad language--nothing lost by that.   And no sex even though the intimations are made that sex is on some of their minds.   It's a film that would probably get a PG rating due to the mature theme.

         It's too bad that more films of this quality aren't still made.  The message of the film impacted me as a kid and the film held my interest.   Now when I see it, I'm still impacted and enthralled by this film.  On the Beach is in my estimation a truly great film.

          Have you seen the original 1959 version of On the Beach?   What do you think of the slow paced black and white films of the 1940's and 50's?    What films can you think of that are worse than Plan 9 from Outer Space?

 

     

        Join me this coming Sunday June 15 for another Battle of the Bands.  No classical music this week.  Just two good versions of one great song.   

Related articles

• Ed Wood 1994 Movie Review
• The Ed Wood Effect
• Charlton Heston - the Post-Apocalyptic God
• Badass Exclusive: Images From Post-Apocalyptic THE ROVER!

Did somebody really say that?: Top Ten Horror/Science Fiction Movie Quotes Blogfest

 Today I'm participating in Jeremy iZombie's and Ellie Garratt's Top Ten Horror/Science Fiction Movie Quotes Blogfest .

Here is my mission and I chose to accept it:

Quote your top ten most memorable lines from your favourite horror and science fiction movies. Do ten of each or make your top ten a mix of both. It’s up to you.

    I'm going to do a mix of ten.  I'm terrible at remembering things like this so I'm going to have to think of some of the movies I really liked and see if I can Google some quotes.  Ellie said I could do that and that's what made me sign up.  Here are my lines:

1.   "They're coming to get you, Barbara."   Night of the Living Dead (1968)  This one I was able to remember on my own.  A favorite line I used to use to scare my kids.

2.   "Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future."   
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1958).   This is only the first line.  I can't quote the entire script here.  It's full of great quotes.  The film was directed by the great Ed Wood, the genius of mediocrity.

3.  "Quick, get her to a doctor. And send the clowns in."     Circus of Horrors (1960)   Okay already, it's a circus movie for gosh sakes!

4.   "It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people."    Soylent Green (1973)  No-o-o-o!  Not that!

5.   "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"   Planet of the Apes (1968)  Charlton Heston  was such a badass in a whole string of science fiction films in the late 60s and early 70s.

6.  Dr. Gavin:  No - it's still alive. But it's changed into a - well, is it a plant or an animal?

     Hank Green: It's both?
     Dr. Gavin: It's a giant protozoa!
     The Horror of Party Beach (1964)  This movie is really bad.  It's just an excuse to put a bunch of young people in bathing suits add in some motorcycle action and feature a surf rock band.  The monster is ridiculous and so is the script.


7.   "There's nothing like eating under the open sky... even if it is radioactive."    Panic in the Year Zero! (1962)   Ah yes, the all-American family having a picnic after nuclear destruction.  


8.    "I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going."   2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)   Now tell me, anyone who's seen this movie, don't you sometimes hear HAL's voice in your head?   Or is it just me?

9.   "They gave me an expandable sarong... Army ingenuity!"   The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)  After a certain point you just can't find things to wear in the big and tall department.

10.  "I was continuing to shrink, to become... what? The infinitesimal? What was I? Still a human being? Or was I the man of the future? If there were other bursts of radiation, other clouds drifting across seas and continents, would other beings follow me into this vast new world? So close - the infinitesimal and the infinite. But suddenly, I knew they were really the two ends of the same concept. The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet - like the closing of a gigantic circle. I looked up, as if somehow I would grasp the heavens. The universe, worlds beyond number, God's silver tapestry spread across the night. And in that moment, I knew the answer to the riddle of the infinite. I had thought in terms of man's own limited dimension. I had presumed upon nature. That existence begins and ends in man's conception, not nature's. And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing. My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something, too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist!"     The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).    This is one of my all time favorite movie quotes from a movie I truly love.   It's a long one, but as it was in the movie it's an appropriate quote to use in closing.


             Have you seen any of these movies?   Do you have a favorite line from a horror or science fiction movie?
            


..

Bad Movies-- Not Like In Bad, But Not Very Good

          When I'm talking about bad movies in this article, I'm not necessarily referring to rated X, or evil, or morally offensive, although it could also be any or all of those.  I'm talking about that genre of movie that is sometimes referred to as "so bad that it's good".  These "bad movies" are the ones that become standards by which we measure how bad a movie can be.

          One of my favorite good movies of all time is ED WOOD with Johnny Depp and Martin Landau, who won an Oscar in this film for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi.  This film is a bio-pic based on the life of bad filmmaker Ed Wood, who has been often referred to as the worst filmmaker of all time. The film ED WOOD is one of the best films about optimism ever made. If you have not seen this film, I would highly recommend it for the acting and story. The film certainly paints a far brighter picture of the character of the real life Ed Wood, but in essence I think Tim Burton, the director, accurately captured the spirit of the early years of this bad film director.

         Ed Wood the director made a lot of bad movies.  As far as I know he never made a good movie,  but his movies were so bad that he has earned a place in cinema history.  The most well-known film that Wood made is certainly the science fiction absurdity PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.  I recall seeing this as a child back in the late 50s and being quite frightened. The movie impressed me so at the time that it stayed with me for many years, but I never saw it again until the 90's. Watching the film as an adult I realized how absurd  and unrealistic were the acting, dialogue, and special effects. This is why the film has achieved cult status.  If you've never seen this movie and you like campy, 50s sci-fi, then you might get a kick out of PLAN 9.  This is not my recommendation, I'm just saying some of you might get a kick out of it.

            What has made me think about Ed Wood is a film that I saw recently called THE ROOM.  I had read an article in the Los Angeles Times about this film and became curious. The Times story told about how this film had achieved cult status and was playing to sell-out midnight movie audiences. The article went on to compare the status of the film to ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW , a schlocky rock musical from the mid 70s. Most people are now familiar with ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW but if you're not the film has been playing to midnight movie audiences for over 30 years now. It is not so much of a movie that you would go to see as it is an event that you dress in costume for and you participate along with the film when you are in the audience. If you watch it at home you're not going to have the same experience as you would when seeing it with an audience.  You really have to attend a showing to get the full effect, but if you're like me it shows past your bedtime.  If you have never been to a showing of ROCKY HORROR , and can stay up that late and enjoy utter wackiness then you might like to check it out.

             Now comparing THE ROOM, which was first released in 2003, to ROCKY HORROR I do not understand.  Maybe it's a new generation thing.  The schlock-rock musical is a fun fest where you can dance, sing, and act along with intentionally hokey dialogue.  THE ROOM was originally intended to be serious. After it was released some critics were calling it the worst movie ever made.  Wikipedia states that at it's premiere "people in the theater began laughing at the film within the first ten minutes, and by the end, some of the crowd were "rolling around" and "crying with laughter"." 

           Tommy Wiseau was the star of the film and also wrote the screenplay, produced,  and directed it as well.  He states that everything he did in the film was done intentionally, however his attempts certainly did not come out as he planned.  He was attempting to make a Tennessee Williams style drama filmed ala David Lynch.  Unintentionally he ended up with an absurd film with which a certain segment of movie audience became endeared.  So after having read the Times article I felt compelled to see this movie for myself, especially being a big David Lynch fan.  I won't say it's the worst movie I have ever seen by a long shot, but it's pretty bad.  The dialogue and acting are pretty laughable and the story is rather peculiar to say the least. I guess I'm glad I watched it to satisfy my curiosity about what I'd read. I would not recommend it to anyone unless they were a fan of bad movie-making.

           I'm not sure what it is about camp, schlock, and bad movies, but some people just love them.  And I guess it's especially more fun when you're in a crowd and everybody's laughing and having fun with it.  I don't know how Tommy Wiseau really feels about the reception to his film, but I guess he's thankful that he's making money with it and apparently has been pretty good-natured about the whole thing.

          If you've seen THE ROOM what did you think of it?  Do you like to see bad movies?  What particularly bad movies have you seen and what made them so bad?  How do you think you would feel if you created a work that you deemed very serious and instead it was received with such ridicule that it gained notoriety?  If you have to pick one, what's more important to you: the status of your work or the money you make from it?

          One final note--at the beginning of November I stated that I was hoping to gain 100 followers by the end of the month.  At last count I had 57.  After a little over two months of blogging, I guess that's really not too bad.  I'm not displeased with the count at all and I am quite thankful for all those who have signed on to follow this blog.  And if you don't follow yet then how's about you clicking on that little ole follower button there on the right?