Hollywood tiptoes around terror

ny daily news ^ | 7/18/05 | john leo

[durasell]

I'm not a big Coppola fan. I'm one of only two or three living people who think that the Godfather was just so-so. Scocese I always thought was hit and miss, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed The Aviator.

In my experience, study and opinion, I've always found movie makers who didn't arrive on the set fresh out of film school always had a creative edge. John Huston comes to mind -- he grew up in a show biz family, but did some living before he stepped behind the camera. James Cameron also did some living and it shows in his movies. And yes, I confess to liking Titanic.

These guys -- and I put Spielberg in with them -- are more academics than artists.

[Borges]

Spielberg didn't go to film school! He was a natural. Roger Corman and Jerry Lewis saw that in him as early as the 60s. The latter showed Spielberg's 1968 short film 'Amblin' at his USC film class and was very impressed. Contrary to all the snide comments about him over the years, Jerry Lewis knows a lot about film making. Coppola and Scorsese were academics both have Master's Degrees and Scorsese has taught at the college level. I love Titanic too. Don't be ashamed! I stand by my assertion that it was an homage to D.W. Griffith and silent melodramas. The Godfather II was better then its predecessor.

[durasell]

If Jerry Lewis is such a cinematic genius, when are we gonna see the world premier of the Day the Clown Cried?

Spielberg may not have the academic credentials, but he's got that academic heart. Actually, it's a "film head" heart. Empire of the Sun is the only movie of his that I thought was good, but I attribute that more to J.G. Ballard than Spielberg.

What's the old line that was knocking around about the time AI came out -- Spielberg always sees the glass as half full. Kubrick sees it as smashed and ground in the audience's face.

[Borges]

Schindler's List is a much more prickly film then its given credit for. It's certainly not 'bad'. And Duel and Jaws were well-nigh perfect. If you want to see pessimism check out The Sugarland Express. Did you know he offered the part of General Stillwell in '1941' to John Wayne who turned it down because he thought the script was anti-American? It's a shame because that would have been a cool way for him to go out.

[durasell]

Actually, Sugarland Express wasn't bad. I have to give you that. Duel was a "gimmick" film. If you watched it with half attention you'd confuse it with Hitchcock on a bad day. Jaws was okay, but I was a big Roy Scheider fan. Here's some RS trivia -- after he did All That Jazz, he couldn't get out of the Bob Fosse character for months. I actually half blame Fosse for driving Eric Roberts nuts.

[Jackknife]

[Sybeck1]

It's a buck o' five....

[Borges]

Scheider is apparently very ill these days. He has Lukemia. Hope he recovers. Duel was a gimmick done as well as it could be. It's virtuso stuff from a 24 year old.

[Sybeck1]

[durasell]

I heard that about RS. That's too bad, he was a good actor that never got his due. I've seen everything he was in with the exception of Sorcerer, which was an apparent re-make of Wages of Fear.

Wasn't Duel a "Movie of the Week?" Be interesting to see how many people came out of that...now all the directors come out of commercials and music videos.

[Borges]

It was indeed and received a theatrical release in Europe. There are some cynics who claim he's never improved on it. Or even 'Columbo: Murder by The Book' which he also directed along with the Joan Crawford segment of the pilot of 'Night Gallery' in 1969. Apparently Crawford told a production exec that he was going to be the biggest director of all time. There was an entire generation of directors that came out of TV in the 50s. Franklin J' Schaffner, Sidney Lumet, Delbert Mann, George Roy Hill. In the early 60s William Friedkin directed an episode of Alfred Htichcock presents where the Master chastised him for not wearing a tie! Hitchcock believed that directors should wear a suit and tie.

[durasell]

Robert Altman started off on the TV show The Millionaire --where the rich guy would give a million bucks to some poor shnook.

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[Borges]

Actually Altman started out writing radio scripts and magazine stories. One of them got made into a movie (1948's Bodyguard). He went on to industrial films and proceeded to TV from there.

[durasell]

Wow. Okay. You're a stickler...

So, where did Russ Meyer start?

[Borges]

Making films for the Army! He served under Patton.

[durasell]

He was also the still photog on the set of Giant.

[kx9088]

I thought the villians were Nazi-wanna bes trying to push the Arian Nation bit. They even referred to themselves as "conservatives" at one point (the movie, not the book}.

[billnaz]

Yes, I was just being slightly sarcastic in my reference to blond blue-eyed Norwegians.