Blaise (imported) wrote: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:58 am The final of Kagemusha stuns me every time I see it. The scene where the shadow warrior is forced from the castle moves me just as much.

To have the crook run out and rally the troops is just heartbreaking. I hope you have a good color print because the battle scenes are amazing in color. I have a friend who trains horses who screamed and yelled at the screen (we were in my house thankfully) about the difficulties of filming the battle scene with all the dead and dying on it.

(People who never saw this movie gotta think we are crazy describing things like this)

On the Waterfront; Singing in the Rain; Hiroshima Mon Amore, Dear John (Swedish film circa 1970, Seven Samuri, Magneficient Seven, La Strada, Ed Wood, Twelve Angry Men, The Man With No Name, The Sting, The Sun Downers, The Uninvited, Wizard of Oz, The Barkleys of Broadway (just the dancing sequences) The Pirate (dancing only) The Third Man, Silent Movie,

To Be or Not To Be (either version) and Night At The Opera.

I always liked "Phantom of the Opera"

Do ya recon that it was the pretty girl or the BIG organ?



A-1

Dave,

Seeing Arabesque is a priority. Thank you for the reference and description.

Veterinarians drugged the horses at the end of Kagemusha. Actors and extras lie with them. That scene amazes me both for its technical difficulty and aesthetic effect. I have the Criterion Edition DVD of the film.

We've been pretty serious on this subject, Katrina et al., So it's nice to lighten up a tad. Any movie with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum or Henry Fonda suits me. Wayne for his testosterone driven roles; Mitchum for his tough guy against the grain of society's roles, and Fonda for his absolute believablity.

Dave,

Blaise (imported) wrote: Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:41 pm Veterinarians drugged the horses at the end of Kagemusha. Actors and extras lie with them. That scene amazes me both for its technical difficulty and aesthetic effect.

My horse trainer friends tell me that the effect of anestheitic drugs on horses is unpredictable. They are just as like to wake and bolt as act gentle. AND to put actors up against and nearly under the drugged horses while playing dead was asking for one to be crushed or trampled. They said the god of movies and hte god of horses were nice to them that day. This was the judgement of guys who have been training horses all their lives.

The scene was a masterstroke of devastation and sorrow.

The only other Kurasawa scene that remains in my mind like that one is the when the Emperor in RAN leaves the burning castle and takes the long walk down the flaming stairs.

Some directors and producers make movies nowadays that depend on just one good sequence and Kurasawa creates scene after scen of unsurpassed beauty and emotion.

I loved Robert Mitchum in Thunder Road and Night of the Hunter, John Wayne especially in The Searchers, and Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West. Mitchum had the power of sheer threat, Wayne sheer rage, and Fonda sheer evil.

The modulation of John Wayne’s performance in The Searchers is one of several factors that make the film a masterpiece. Of course, Mr. Wayne was great in most of his films. He played a morally ambiguous role in Reap the Wild Wind. Apparently, his peers never forgot how Wayne shirked military service. Like Frank Sinatra, Mr. Wayne seemed to have to play excessively macho characters to make up for his moral failure. That is sad, because, like Mr. Sinatra, Mr Wayne was a gifted actor.

Who could forget Mitchum in the original Cape Fear or his good guy appearance in the later version of that story? Compare Robert De Niro with Mitchum.

I liked Mr. Fonda in all of his roles. Heck, I loved him in Spencer's Mountain.

docs (imported) wrote: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:31 pm We've been pretty serious on this subject, Katrina et al., So it's nice to lighten up a tad. Any movie with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum or Henry Fonda suits me. Wayne for his testosterone driven roles; Mitchum for his tough guy against the grain of society's roles, and Fonda for his absolute believablity.

The High and the Mighty was just released and AMC played it along with the B&W Island in the Sky - both good movies. They've been copied so much and updated with lots of action, but these two versions stand up for their acting and the strength of the characters.

There is lots of fun and enjoyable John Wayne movies out there.

On a public radio program, someone commented on travel customs portrayed in The High and the Mighty . The commentary reminded us how much flying was. "Do you remember," the interviewer asked, "when people dress up for flights?" I do, I do.

During the four and a half years that I lived in Portland, Oregon, I made two trips to Seattle. During the second trip, we saw a John Wayne movie set in Seattle. I think most of the film was shot outside our motel. Mr. Wayne was then an old man, but somehow the movie worked--almost.

Kurasawa could shoot a scene where it seemed that nothing happened until you watched the subtle differences between two characters simply posed on opposite sides of the screen. We could have a discussion simply on his work.

My Flickr profile lists these as favorite movies:

1.) The Third Man,

2.) Shadow of a Doubt,

3.) Jules and Jim,

4.) Wings of Desire,

5.) Paris, Texas,

6.) Play It as It Lays,

7.) Memory of Justice, and

8.True Confessions.

I do not necessarily consider these as best movies, but I enjoy each of these. I simply rattled off the titles. However, each of these movies is good to watch. Some are rarely mentioned on lists of favorite or best movies. My best friend, my wife, my father, and favorite movie critic (at the time) all detested Jules and Jim. My father introduced me to True Confessions. Both my former wife and he appreciated Paris, Texas. I cannot find a listing for Memory of Justice. Play It as It Lays seems to have disappeared from DVD or VHS editions. Criterion Editions has recently released Jules and Jim in a new edition. One can find the other films on my Flickr list.

Some fun flicks are:

1.) The Hunger

2.) What about Bob?

3.) Stand By Me

4.) A Little Romance

5.) The Little Prince

My top 10 movie picks are "Asian Anal Sluts" volumes 1 through 10.

Other than that, I'd say:

1) Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, especially "Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More"

2) "Kill Bill Vol. 1"

3) "Pulp Fiction"

4) "Alien"

5) "Planet of The Apes"

6) "Full Metal Jacket"

7) "Some Like It Hot" (Jack Lemmon)

8) "Apocalypse Now"

9) "House of Flying Daggers"

10) "Charlie's Angels" -- really, I rewatched this recently and it is really almost perfectly directed for mix of excitement, fun, sexiness, and comedy.