fowlerjones

What was once considered contemporary and relevant has become dated and self-serving in the age where these kind of films have their own channel on cable.

To think this piece of 70s celluloid hankie-wankie was Oscar-nominated? Imagine the academy voter who voted for this movie as best picture over The Deer Hunter. It's hard but somewhere out there, somebody voted for it. Just the fact it got the best pic nomination is nauseating enough. One of the bleaker moments in academy history, at least for the 70s. I'm glad it didn't win any Oscars.

What is Jill Clayburgh's legacy? She kept a few roles from Brenda Vaccaro. For that, I offer polite applause.

Spoiler - The irish tenor sings in uniform with his gal and his horse in the final scene. Is that why somebody called it a comedy? Hokey police drama with fits of music and unintentional laughs. If you want to riff on a B-movie ala MST3K, screen this George Reeves ditty at your next gathering.

Protagonist Sonny is chief witness to entropic decay that includes untimely death, dr. pepper, and an unlikely affair. Oh yeah, and there's the last picture show at the Royal theatre. It's a huge gigantic metaphor that screams your innocence is lost and you can't stay here even if you have no future and there is no escape from Anarene.

You can get married in Oklahoma or cross the border to Mexico for a tequila weekend but this soul-sucking Texas dust bin will pull you back every time. It's the kind of realization that might propel you into the arms of Cloris Leachman. Eileen Brennan was apparently too comely as the greasy spoon waitress. Throw in some stark black and white cinematography and an all-star cast and you have a riveting cinematic experience even if don't fancy older lovers.

Colorful personalities in the three main characters, but I have no thesis statement about the color imagery that peppered the film. There's a shot of a building in one scene where the word "COLOR" was painted in larger-than-life letters. They lingered on the shot. The film maker hit us over the head with it. But what about it? Was Willis blue and Thorton red? When Cate Blanchett's character was introduced, it was through the blue light of a refrigerator. She was shown as a red head with a blue top. Was Blanchett red and blue because she couldn't decide who she wanted to end up with? I don't know. We also saw other colors: the yellow hot rod driven by the guy with the home movie camera and the yellow dolly they used to transport some bank money. There was the pink convention of makeup saleswomen. "I've never seen so much pink in my life", said the hotel clerk. Billy-Bob's character professed that he didn't like black and white movies. By contrast, the two bank robbers wore neutral colored outfits during the heists.

A promising visual imagery premise but no payoff for me.

P.S. I love black and white movies

Extreme boredom leads to fascination. Like sands in the hourglass so is this day in the lives of several bohemians living in Austin, TX in 1990. You'll either be bored to tears or fascinated to no end.

If you've ever been to Austin, or spent a sleepy summer in a college town like Lawrence, KS or Madison, WI, then you'll appreciate the parade of pseudo-intellectuals and good-natured conspiracy theorists that provide much of the grist for the script. These offbeat characters and wonderful dialogue make this film memorable.

Remember the traumatized yacht owner in the greasy-spoon diner or the older dude with the toupee from the coffee shop? 'We've been on Mars since the 50's', he says. I loved the loser with the TV strapped to his back and the older guy who found an armed robber in his house, only to take him for a stroll and a friendly chat (about Charles Whitman). I also enjoyed the menstrual-cycle stone garden and the fortune-telling hippie chick with the black eye who was having 'a breakthrough day'. Nearly every conspiracy theory in modern pop-culture is paid lip service during the film. That's a lot of sophistry and navel gazing to be sure!

Not every character is a gem. The Madonna pap-smear girl gets more annoying with every viewing. But I recommend this film for its originality and understated comedic themes.

Much has been made of the tangent approach to the story telling. I think the technique runs out of steam about three-quarters of the way into it. In other words, it's about 20 minutes too long. Still, it's a fun movie!

I remember seeing the trailer for this film on television. It seems like they ran it alot around release time (usually during re-runs of Gomer Pyle). The producers hired baseball announcer Mel Allen to voice it. After seeing the film years later (also on TV), I can't help but think the money they paid Mel for his voice work probably constituted one of the largest production expenditures.

This movie never fooled anybody. It was conceived and produced to cash in on the wild success of "The Bad News Bears". It flopped and was nearly forgotten (except for this imdb entry).

I don't think you'll see this film on a future AFI treasure list anytime soon.

I saw this movie on HBO a couple of years after its release and really related to the characters (being 13 at the time). It's a time capsule. Anyone considering making a movie set in the 70s should view this film to garner some ideas for period detail.

Imagine my surprise when the gang from Kenny and Company, minus Kenny, turned up in "Phantasm"!

Update - 11/2006: Saw it again on DVD after 26 years and it held up well. I was impressed with Fred Myrow's music and I really enjoyed the 360 degree shot of the vet's office waiting room when they took Bob in for the final appointment. The combination of those two elements, the music and the touching content of that scene, provided the "emotional glue" (to borrow a Coscarelli phrase) of the film for me. Nobody needed to cry; the director allowed us to connect the emotional dots. Brilliant.

If I ever make a film, I hope its half as good as this one.

Sometimes the best films are those truest to themselves. There's nothing phony about this movie. It's a time capsule. It captured a cloistered, closed system from within. The results are spellbinding.

The faculty of NorthEast high school in Philadelphia are the stars. The viewer decides whether their actions are good or bad. There's certain purity at work. Is it an imperfect system? You bet it is. Do rules appear petty and draconian? Yes, they do. But there is hope inside the bubble. The faculty at NorthEast could be teachers at my high school. We have the flat-topped disciplinarian, the hip, young English teacher, the no-nonsense fashion matron, and the boring instructor with the bad teeth.

The scene with the coach and the graduate who visited while on leave from Vietnam illustrated one of the prominent themes; this environment is in a bubble insulated from community and society. In this scene, the coach made a connection between a soldier's war wound and the effect on his sports career. He was so wrapped up in his role as the school coach; he immediately applied news from the outside world to his microcosmic world inside the school grounds.

This theme was also reiterated by a boy in one of the rare scenes where students were the stars. The would-be bohemian said as much; this school is a cloistered, closed system. The bubble theme is further underscored by the sequence where three boys emerged from a space capsule simulator after 193 hours. There was much fanfare for the successful end to 'Project SPARC' including a telegram from astronaut Gordon Cooper, read with typical dragnet-style inflection by the sponsoring teacher.

In fact, several scenes feature extended recitations of written material by instructors who suffer from chronic educational ennui. There is the flat rendition of 'Casey at the Bat', the review of the typing test text, and the dreaded retelling of the "thought for the day" from the daily bulletin. A glimpse of self-awareness offered by a young English teacher was most startling. In the course of dissecting Paul Simon's poem "The Dangling Conversation", she read it aloud first, and followed with the Simon & Garfunkel song version. She told the students to listen to both versions. The poem came alive with the music. A lingering shot of the teacher showed the hope in her eyes that someone will get the message. For me, it's the best sequence in the film. If Wiseman wanted to underscore a failure of the system, it lied not with the disciplinarian tactics or heavy-handed advice dispensed by the staff, but with the inadequacy of the delivery methods used by educators.

The message turns hopeful in the last scene. A teacher reads a letter at a faculty meeting written by the former student on station in Vietnam. Tight camera work reveals the emotion of the reader, in contrast to the non expressive faces of the previous speakers. The written word provides power after all. There's hope on the part of the student to survive outside the system, hope on the part of the administrator reading the note that they do have an impact on their charges, and hope that inside a flawed machine such as the educational system, someone gets the message.

An excellent candidate for a remake. I'd like to see Chuck Heston as Sol if it happens.

I saw this in the theatres (1973) as an eight-year-old when Heston was the man, as in Planet of the Apes and Omega Man. I thought it was creepy and cool then.

I've since seen it again as an adult. It didn't hold up well over time. Rather than dwell on the production/script details that came unraveled all to quickly in retrospect, I'd rather remember what I learned as a child. The future in Soylent Green is one that might come true, though we all hope it won't. Ah, the essence of science fiction. Of course, it won't come true, at least by 2022. You have to admit that prediction about pimps wearing red blazers just hasn't panned out. Ah, the essence of free will to alter the future.

Make room, make room...for a big budget remake!

I can't say enough good things about this film. It's one of my personal top ten films of all time. One of the best things is the music by Elmer Bernstein. He was veteran film music composer; he scored over 200 films. I don't mean to ignore the great story and the on-screen performances here. Browse the other user comments for those raves. I want to zero in on the quality musical score. It really drove home the emotional impact. Bernstein captured the curiosity and fear the kids had for Boo Radley, that later became understanding and appreciation. Other films with great Bernstein scores: The Great Escape (1963), The Magnificent Seven (1960), and The Ten Commandments (1956). Hats off to you, Mister Bernstein.

Much as been written about this silent-era classic and star, Louise Brooks. A mid-80s videotape release is available (with music added). You won't find this at blockbuster, but I located a copy at my local library. Louise will blow you away. She has a timeless quality. She seems so modern, as if she actually lives today and was magically transported back to the 1920s for this film.

I originally saw this picture in "History of silent film" class in 1988 at the University of Kansas and have never forgotten it. An excellent biography of Louise is also available, written by Barry Paris. She lived in interesting times, was witness to much of the popular cultural phenomena of her day, and was poised to become a superstar herself. Of course, we know that last part didn't happen. Find out why when you read the book. It's fascinating. But I recommend you see 'Pandora' first, and discover for yourself why people still worship her more than 70 years later.

One of the best examples of the 70s crime drama genre. The subway car setting is an excellent personification of NYC in that era. It's gritty, dirty, and dangerous. Matthau is the epitome of the haggard, weary official, another 70s staple for this type of film. Excellent incidental music with a super-70s flatfoot riff that really captures the mood. Perhaps the only flaw I saw in this film were the flat, stereotyped passengers on the subway car. The hippie, the hooker, etc. Matthau's look in the movie's final scene is priceless. This film is a must-see!

Long before "The Blair Witch Project" showed Hollywood that low-budget, independent films can be entertaining, well crafted, and scary, there was "Carnival of Souls". It's part campy fun and part no-frills fright for anyone fortunate enough to catch this nearly forgotten 60's horror film. It's not nearly as scary as Blair Witch, but director Herk Harvey put together an excellent independent project that's as notable for good elements: genuine 60s atmosphere and quirky supporting players as it is for its bad elements: uneven pacing, and editing. As with any cult classic, there are small details that make the film an original. I love the shots of extras stopping to listen to the organ music. Carnival of Souls has several humorous moments, some unintentional: check out the scene where Mary almost gets run down by a van in an alley.

This film is well worth the 84 minute run time. It's great entertainment.