Movie Classics that totally escape me

[Bystander]

e.g., at the moment I'm watching The Maltese Falcon, and finding it every bit as boring as 2001, A Space Oddysey. Any interest in a thread devoted to "critically acclaimed" movies that you want your money back when you see them for free in "The Nam," like Easy Rider? I did waste a perfectly good evening, "coulda" done KP, but no, I "hadda" go see Easy Rider.

 

[gleem]

So what "classics" did you enjoy?

 

[Klystron]

...at the moment I'm watching The Maltese Falcon ...

Cannot convince anyone to like a movie except The Maltese Falcon belongs in an entirely different class of flicks.

Author Samuel Dashiell Hammett, a disabled WWI veteran who enlisted again for WWII, practically created the modern detective genre. Sam Spade despises his business partner Miles Archer, both WWI combat veterans. When Archer gets murdered, Spade vows revenge on all involved. Mrs. Archer, Sam's sometime lover (decency rules do not allow me or Hammett to use military phraseology) believes Spade wasted Archer to clear the field. Sam allows her to live as long as he is sure Mrs. Archer was not involved in Archer's demise.

Enter a field of nefarious characters led by Gutmann, the Fat Man himself. Probably the Fat Man, his "torpedo" bodyguard played by Elisha Cook, and Peter Lorre's character are gay, but so what? We are all sophisticates. Even after Sam disarms the torpedo, he casually hands back the twin .45 ACP pistols then laughs when the defeated thug holds him at gunpoint again. Spade knows a simple thug would never get the drop on Archer at night, not to mention the fact that Archer was killed by a .32 caliber, a lady's purse gun perhaps?

The Falcon represents a nebulous "object of desire". Spade suffers and manipulates the police and the suspects until everyone gets what they deserve. Look at the film as a shadow of another worthless bloody war fought by common people that only aids the wealthy. Shadows, night, darkness, noir. Trust no one.

 

[symbolipoint]

e.g., at the moment I'm watching The Maltese Falcon, and finding it every bit as boring as 2001, A Space Oddysey. Any interest in a thread devoted to "critically acclaimed" movies that you want your money back when you see them for free in "The Nam," like Easy Rider? I did waste a perfectly good evening, "coulda" done KP, but no, I "hadda" go see Easy Rider.

Right now I cannot think of any, although I may have answers to the question after longer thought.

The ones you mentioned are very good, with real humanity meanings. They might require more maturity, so if you don't understand them now, you could develop some understanding later, and this understanding can increase. Liking them is not the same as understanding them, so not sure what to tell you about "boring".

 

[StatGuy2000]

e.g., at the moment I'm watching The Maltese Falcon, and finding it every bit as boring as 2001, A Space Oddysey. Any interest in a thread devoted to "critically acclaimed" movies that you want your money back when you see them for free in "The Nam," like Easy Rider? I did waste a perfectly good evening, "coulda" done KP, but no, I "hadda" go see Easy Rider.

Just because a film is a classic does not mean that those films will appeal to all viewers. It would help to know what types of films you do enjoy or have liked in the past.

Do you find yourself enjoying films from certain eras more than others -- for example, American films made in the 1970s and 1980s vs those made in the 1950s or 1960s?

Do you enjoy foreign-language films?

Do you enjoy non-American English-language films (e.g. films made in the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand)?

Do you enjoy certain genres more than others?

 

[mpresic3]

It is quite evident that the Maltese Falcon movie is a transplant from the Maltese Falcon book from England to San Francisco.

Opening scene: Humphrey Bogart is drinking tea. He is holding the tea bag in his teeth

Later he tells his client: They (the man who is married and seeing the client's sister) usually do, but not always in England.

This would be a non-sequitur unless the story is set in England.

There is definitely loss in the translation in the story between the book and the movie.

I am told this is equally true in 2001. I saw the movie in 1968, an said so what. It wasn't until 1975 when a friend said the story does not even make any sense unless you read Arthur Clarke-s book first.

 

[DaveC426913]

Citizen Kane. Often required viewing in film classes - considered one of the critically-acclaimed movies of all time.

Oh my God. Kill me.Wings of Desire.

Oh my God. I will kill myself.

 

[Bystander]

This is more in the spirit of https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/which-music-do-you-dislike-the-most.948368/ ;

So what "classics" did you enjoy?

critically acclaimed box office bombs? The Last Emperor. Critically "dissed" successes? The Jerk ; Disney flop critically non-existent chick-flicks? The Haunted Mansion. Critically acclaimed hits? Papillon. Critically ignored chick-flicks that are hits? 9 to 5, Roxanne, All of Me. Critically poo-pooed action, all of Eastwood's (minus The Beguiled, don't think I'll watch The Mule either) and Schwarzenegger's and Lee Marvin's and Statham's ... Critically ignored kiddie flicks, Casper.

 

[Torbert]

"The Wizard of Oz", "Gone With the Wind", these just were not my genre, I can see the reasons they are called classics but that does not make them watchable by me. "2001" I rented and turned off after twenty minutes and returned it unfinished. Yes, I have read the book.

"Samuri" a six hour trilogy about Miyamoto Musashi from Japan I have watched in its entirety four times now and am ready to get the blu ray with updated subtitles. My kind of movie.
I saw "Harakiri" as a teenager on our PBS station, as an adult I own it.
"Unforgiven" a classic by Clint Eastwood is an American classic I enjoy.
I think the trend is obvious with me, others will have tastes that do not match mine.

I remember the motto of a classic rock station in my youth, "It doesn't have to be good to be a classic"
I like what I like, good and bad movies are subjective in the extreme.

 

[Michael Price]

I am told this is equally true in 2001. I saw the movie in 1968, an said so what. It wasn't until 1975 when a friend said the story does not even make any sense unless you read Arthur Clarke-s book first.

I saw 2001 in a cinema in 1971, when I was 12, and I loved it, but I distinctly recall one of the grown-ups spitting on the pavement (sidewalk) outside, saying it was the biggest load of crap he'd ever seen.
Clearly tastes are subjective! (I think I saw the film first, before I read the book.)

 

[DennisN]

Movie classics I don't enjoy:

• Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
  It is beautifully filmed and the story is quite ok, but it is simply too loooong and booooring. It is based on a short story, and in my opinion, that was not an advantage. Somebody should have written more story to the film.
• Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)
  I loved the book, but this film is even more boring than Blade Runner. Watch this and you may fall into a coma.

Movie classics I do enjoy:

• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
  Cool story, cool setting. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.
• Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
  Very weird and very funny.
• Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
  A World War I movie.
• The Sound of Music (1965, Robert Wise)
  The hills are alive with the sound of music. It is a very likable movie.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
  A spaghetti western with great story and great filming.
• Once Upon a Time in the West (196´8, Sergio Leone)
  Another spaghetti western with great story and great filming.

 

[Michael Price]

Citizen Kane. Often required viewing in film classes - considered one of the critically-acclaimed movies of all time.

Oh my God. Kill me.Wings of Desire.

Oh my God. I will kill myself.

Oh come one, even the title wings of desire screams don't watch! And you did? ☺

 

[Michael Price]

Movie classics I don't enjoy:

• Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
  It is beautifully filmed and the story is quite ok, but it is simply too loooong and booooring. It is based on a short story, and in my opinion, that was not an advantage. Somebody should have written more story to the film.
• Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)
  I loved the book, but this film is even more boring than Blade Runner. Watch this and you may fall into a coma.

Movie classics I do enjoy:

• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
  Cool story, cool setting. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.
• Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
  Very weird and very funny.
• Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
  A World War I movie.
• The Sound of Music (1965, Robert Wise)
  The hills are alive with the sound of music. It is a very likable movie.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
  A spaghetti western with great story and great filming.
• Once Upon a Time in the West (196´8, Sergio Leone)
  Another spaghetti western with great story and great filming.

Did you see the director's cut of Blade Runner? Now that is way too long. The shorter version, with the voiceover, is much better.

PS that's a great list!
I would add, Alien and ... Chronicles of Riddick.

 

[DennisN]

Did you see the director's cut of Blade Runner?

Which one of the 1000 versions of this long movie do you mean?

Blade Runner (extended), Blade Runner (extended beyond comprehension) or Blade Runner (looped to run eternally)?

Or do you mean Blade Runner (final cut), Blade Runner (no, we we're wrong, this is the final cut) or Blade Runner (no, we want more money so this is the final, final cut)?

PS that's a great list!
I would add, Alien and ... Chronicles Riddick.

Yeah, Alien is a great classic. I enjoyed Riddick too.

 

[PeroK]

e.g., at the moment I'm watching The Maltese Falcon, and finding it every bit as boring as 2001, A Space Oddysey.

I was just reading the newspaper and saw an advert for a movie:

"Mankind's only hope for survival: Brad Pitt, Ad Astra", in cinemas from Sep 18.

Jeez, give me The Maltese Falcon any day.

 

[DennisN]

I just remembered a movie which might be on my top ten list.

Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman), trailer:


Beautiful, very enjoyable and great acting. A mix of history and fiction. And I like historical dramas and classical music too .

 

[pinball1970]

Movie classics I don't enjoy:

• Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
  It is beautifully filmed and the story is quite ok, but it is simply too loooong and booooring. It is based on a short story, and in my opinion, that was not an advantage. Somebody should have written more story to the film.
• Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)
  I loved the book, but this film is even more boring than Blade Runner. Watch this and you may fall into a coma.

Movie classics I do enjoy:

• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
  Cool story, cool setting. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.
• Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
  Very weird and very funny.
• Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
  A World War I movie.
• The Sound of Music (1965, Robert Wise)
  The hills are alive with the sound of music. It is a very likable movie.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
  A spaghetti western with great story and great filming.
• Once Upon a Time in the West (196´8, Sergio Leone)
  Another spaghetti western with great story and great filming.

I up-voted for the ones you liked..
I thought Solaris was excellent, slow moving but a real feeling of dread all the way through.
I saw Bladerunner in the 80s, not at the pictures unfortunately. How can you not like Rutger hauer’s character?
I like all versions, it a visually stark vision of our future with a beautiful Vangelis backdrop to take you through it.

 

[pinball1970]

I started usual suspects twice and did not get through it either time, I got a little bored then lost.Everyone tells me it is a great film.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I watched CaddyShack last year and remember it being so dreadful.

 

[DennisN]

I saw Bladerunner in the 80s, not at the pictures unfortunately. How can you not like Rutger hauer’s character?

I did like his character, and the others. I find the movie just a bit too long. Like one and a half hours too long . It would be great as a short movie. As a sidenote, I was an assistant to Hauer on a SF convention once. I was careful to keep my opinions on Blade Runner to myself .

Edit: By the way, Rutger Hauer passed away recently.

Edit 2: I just remembered there was some kind of special viewing of the movie during the convention, I don't remember exactly what it was, maybe Hauer did an introductory talk before they would show the movie, or something. But I was too tired and went to bed instead .

I like all versions, it a visually stark vision of our future with a beautiful Vangelis backdrop to take you through it.

Visually it is a very fine movie and the music is very good and suggestive, I think.

 

[cobalt124]

e.g., at the moment I'm watching The Maltese Falcon, and finding it every bit as boring as 2001, A Space Oddysey. Any interest in a thread devoted to "critically acclaimed" movies that you want your money back when you see them for free in "The Nam," like Easy Rider? I did waste a perfectly good evening, "coulda" done KP, but no, I "hadda" go see Easy Rider.

Agree with you on Easy Rider.

Citizen Kane. Often required viewing in film classes - considered one of the critically-acclaimed movies of all time.

Oh my God. Kill me.Wings of Desire.

Oh my God. I will kill myself.

Never understood why Citizen Kane was judged one of the greatest, (except for the notoriety at the time). I failed to see it once (fell asleep). Wings of Desire Sounds bad.

"The Wizard of Oz"...

Watched it last weekend. I believe its the 80th anniversary of its release. Still watchable IMO, hasn't dated like so many films.

...Movie classics I do enjoy:

• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
  Cool story, cool setting. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.
• Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
  Very weird and very funny.
• Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
  A World War I movie.
• The Sound of Music (1965, Robert Wise)
  The hills are alive with the sound of music. It is a very likable movie.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
  A spaghetti western with great story and great filming.
• Once Upon a Time in the West (196´8, Sergio Leone)
  Another spaghetti western with great story and great filming.

plus The Big Country, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, High Noon, the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

...Visually it is a very fine movie and the music is very good and suggestive, I think.

Supposedly the view of Los Angeles was inspired by the view of industrial Teesside in the North East of England as Ridley Scott was a student in the area.

 

[DennisN]

plus The Big Country, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, High Noon, the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Yeah, I like Close Encounters and High Noon too. I haven't seen The Big Country, so I will check it out!

 

[Torbert]

Some movies are mentioned in more posts, responding to comments on their merits.
Similar controversy likewise caused many of the older classics to become classics. Times change and the movies get dated, but in context they were relevant and much discussed.

Speaking of dated movies, "Bladerunner" is mentioned often, pro, con, and sarcasm. Puts it towards being a classic. If true AI duplicates organic brains, can it become the Buddha? Or will it have a soul? Classic questions.
confession:
I own all four versions and have a origami unicorn on my windowsill.

 

[DennisN]

Speaking of dated movies, "Bladerunner" is mentioned often, pro, con, and sarcasm. Puts it towards being a classic

For me, I just like to joke around a bit . And I am probably in a minority with regards to Bladerunner. I do agree it is a classic SF movie, along with Alien, Close Encounters and 2001. I don't remember what I thought about 2001, but I do remember it was a pretty slow movie.

Also, just like with music, taste is utterly subjective.

 

[PeroK]

Never understood why Citizen Kane was judged one of the greatest, (except for the notoriety at the time). I failed to see it once (fell asleep).

Well, I'll stand up for Citizen Kane. Among its strong points are its cinematic innovation, vision and bravado. And also its political depth and maturity.

High Noon, which I think is a good film, is black and white. Gary Cooper's character (Will Kane, there's a a coincidence!) is totally good and Frank Miller is totally bad.

But, is Charles Foster Kane a hero, a villain or a tragic figure?

Even today, try to find a film with the subtlety and realism of the Kane character.

The screenplay is superb. And there must be a dozen truly memorable scenes.

The scene where his ex-wife is interviewed - a washed up night club singer - and the way the camera pans in through the skylight. What more do you want from a film?

Maybe cinema never was suited to serious, mature political or social comment. That's why we have Spider Man III and Kane is considered boring because it doesn't have a superhero or a comic book villain.

 

[pinball1970]

I watched CaddyShack last year and remember it being so dreadful.

One of the most ridiculous films I have been made to watch. I complained all the way through it.

 

[Klystron]

I will bite again -- take the bait? -- on movies derived from science-fiction (SF), "Solaris" and "Bladerunner". I agree with most of the above comments.

One regret from growing up outside the Iron Curtain was that we only received driblets of Stanislaw Lem's prodigious output. I only learned Lem was Polish, not Russian, from Isaac Asimov. I have seen three astounding cinema versions of his novel "Solaris", all solid beautiful flicks. Kubrick based the scene in 2001 where Floyd meets Russian friends on the dacha scenes from "Solaris". The novel and Russian language movies make clear that 'Solaristics' and the group memory are allegories for Marxism, Communism and life as Ashkenaz in the USSR.

Philip Dick was the principle local SF author where I grew up in Northern California. I read each new novel as it arrived at Cupertino or Sunnyvale libraries. Like Lem, Dick wrote about authority and society, knowledge and existence, and the effects of technology on humanity.

"Bladerunner" seems a composite of characters from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", situations from "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said!" coupled with the surreal de-coupling of "Ubik". A shame PKD did not live to see the many movies developed from his stories and his profound influence on the genre.

Along with Rutger Hauer, please remember the late Edward James Olmos playing the origami bending humanist policeman character lifted from "Flow My Tears...".

 

[DennisN]

"Bladerunner" seems a composite of characters from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", situations from "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said!" coupled with the surreal de-coupling of "Ubik".

Personally I see some similarities between the movie Bladerunner and the classic novel "Frankenstein", which I really like. In Frankenstein, a creature is created who comes back and makes demands on the creator (Victor Frankenstein) and later...

Spoiler

...the creature makes threats and ends up killing Victor's wife. Later Victor goes on a hunt for the creature which ends at the North Pole.

 

[Janus]

• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
  Cool story, cool setting. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.

I had pretty much the opposite reaction. Somehow never saw it for years (Though I always seemed to find it while flipping channels just in time to see that last famous scene.) . Finally saw it all the way through and felt let down. It just didn't seem to hold up to all the praise I heard about it.

Maybe that was the problem, my expectations had been built up so high, that the actual film was bound to fall short.
Another example was the Eddie Murphy movie "48 hrs". My wife's sister and her husband raved about it. So, my wife and I rented it. Both of our reactions were: "Meh".

"Classic" movies I have enjoyed include
"The African Queen"
"Singing in the Rain"(even though generally musicals aren't my thing.)
"It's a Wonderful Life". ( Though admittedly, my enthusiasm has waned due to over-exposure)

 

[Bystander]

"Gone With the Wind",

"Frankly, Scarlet, ...," first curse word, first marathon length color, first male to female slap(?), and a bunch of other "firsts;" but, I've never contemplated "bucket-listing" it.

Movie classics I do enjoy:

• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
  Cool story, cool setting. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.
  Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
  Very weird and very funny.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
  A spaghetti western with great story and great filming.
  Once Upon a Time in the West (196´8, Sergio Leone)
  Another spaghetti western with great story and great filming.

• Can't argue here.

Which one of the 1000 versions of this long movie do you mean?
Blade Runner (extended), Blade Runner (extended beyond comprehension) or Blade Runner (looped to run eternally)?
Or do you mean Blade Runner (final cut), Blade Runner (no, we we're wrong, this is the final cut) or Blade Runner (no, we want more money so this is the final, final cut)?

about 2001, but I do remember it was a pretty slow movie.

Also, just like with music, taste is utterly subjective.

Had it ended with the apes and the antelope thigh bone, be a nice "short" to anthologize into Twilight Zone, or something similar.

One of the most ridiculous films I have been made to watch.

Bill Murray is even harder to gag down than Chevy.

Another example was the Eddie Murphy movie "48 hrs". My wife's sister and her husband raved about it. So, my wife and I rented it. Both of our reactions were: "Meh".

..., and if I were to recommend to you that Another 48 Hours would change your take on it? Eddie Murphy can be worse than Bill Murray, little like pimento stuffed olives, if you can't stand the taste, don't waste your time trying to develop the taste.