[Borges]

I hate arguments like this. If you want 'facts' watch a documentary. It's a great film.

[Borges]

Classical Ping

[Sirius Lee]

I hate arguments like this. If you want 'facts' watch a documentary. It's a great film.

Ditto. Knowing the true history of these two composers did not detract from my enjoyment of seeing Pinto as Wolfie.

People get upset about hearing space ships fly by in Sci Fi, too. Or when cowboys have 20 shot revolvers.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

My favorite part in the movie...the one that speaks most to the difference between mediocrity and genius....and how mediocrity and authority mix together to stifle genius and excellence......is when he Mozart is told his composition has “Too many notes...take some of the notes out.”

[a fool in paradise]

#FastAndLoose

[dfwgator]

You mean he didn't look like Falco?

[Wolfie]

Glad they straightened it out for me. Any news on innaccuacies in the movie “Wings”?

[Billthedrill]

Really, anyone who knew anything about Mozart’s life knew the thing was a delightful fabrication. Fun yes, a biography, no. Bach standing on one side of God’s throne and Beethoven on the other, goes the old joke. “And where is Mozart? Sitting in His lap.”

[Mad Dawg]

I suppose it’s good to be reminded of the problems with the film as history.

I suppose it’s also good to be reminded of the problems of filet mignon as ice cream.

I identified with the Salieri character. THere are things I just can’t do. I could have started trying when I was three and worked hard until I was 60, and I still could never ever write music like Bach, or fight like Jackie Chan, or .... any number of things.

And yet, can there be a serious question that excellence is self-justifying or that beauty confronts meaninglessness and wins?

So how shall we deal with our many incapacities? What do they mean, if anything?

---

In one taxonomic scheme of sins, envy is seen as a defect, a falling-short, of love. If I loved you as I ought, I would rejoice in your gifts.

In any case, it was a fine tale, and lushly told. It never occurred to me to wonder how true it was, in some photographical or statistical sense. It was true every way I needed it to be true.

[Army Air Corps]

Bookmark

[fieldmarshaldj]

Tom Hulce as Mozart in the film is good, but it’s F. Murray Abraham as Salieri who is magnificent.

[blueunicorn6]

“The finest movie ever made about artistic creation”

Oh yeah! What about Godzilla? How many movies have they made about Mozart? One. How many movies have they made about Godzilla? Dozens.
It’s like when Godzilla fights a giant Sea Cucumber. It always brings tears to my eyes.

[MilesVeritatis]

I guess this was to be expected. Hollywood remakes old moveis. Critics rehash old critiques.

When the movie came out, everyone from musicians, historians, and even Siskel & Ebert pointed out that that much license had been taken in creating the film and especially with regard to the creation of Salieri’s obsession/antagonism. Nothing new here.

[chajin]

How about, one of the big errors is that Mozart died young?

I can't get the link to work right now, but maybe it will soon: www.astroamerica.com/mozart.html. The theory is that Nissen, Mrs. Mozart's second husband, was actually Mozart, who faked his own death in order to avoid the politics of Vienna that were about to have him killed anyway, then engaged in identity theft by "becoming" Nissen. One of the pieces of circumstantial evidence is that Nissen spends most of the rest of his life writing Mozart's bio, and let's admit it, who spends decades writing the bio of one's wife's previous husband?

[SamAdams76]

I think all films are entitled to some artistic license. Otherwise it becomes a boring documentary. The fact is, very few people have a life that would make an interesting film that people would want to spend money to see. Some dramatic tension often needs to get introduced to make the film compelling.

There are documentaries on Mozart for those who are inclined.

[BwanaNdege]

If you want 'facts' watch a documentary.

Have you watched any "Documentaries" from the History Channel lately?

These are almost as historically accurate as Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods."

(where's the photo of that wild haired guy?)

:-)

[fr_freak]

I hate arguments like this. If you want 'facts' watch a documentary. It's a great film.

If there is no need to be true to the reality, then why use historical figures at all? Why not just invent new characters, based on historical figures if you wish, and then take as much license as you care to? My objection to these historical drama pieces is that even supposedly intelligent, educated people accept them, on some level, as real, and thus have a distorted view of history. Therein lies the propaganda value of such films. If you want to destroy a country or culture, you simply make movies, plays, etc. that cast their historical figures in whichever light you want them seen.

[Obadiah]

I don’t like this article... too many notes.

[Boogieman]

When legend becomes fact, print the legend.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Does this mean Wolfie wasn't really a jerk? Good. I don't like to think of him as a jerk.

He shore could write purty.

[PGalt]

#1 My favorite movie. (a bunch of unknowns at the time) OUTSTANDING music…perfectly dovetailed to OUTSTANDING acting.

#2 Casablanca