Can the "average" modern movie goer fairly evaluate Citizen Kane?
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zargmatt-73661 — 10 years ago(October 09, 2015 05:14 PM)
How odd to view ones self as having high enough intelligence to watch Citizen Kane and then make comments on IMDB about the experience, and yet low enough intelligence that to even make an attempt to understand it is beyond ones capability. I am baffled.
But I do love me some Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. I can't fault you on that. -
amyghost — 10 years ago(October 11, 2015 06:07 AM)
Re: Can the 'average' modern movie goer fairly evaluate Citizen Kane?
image for user MrsElleryQueen1976
by MrsElleryQueen1976 19 hours ago (Sat Oct 10 2015 11:44:14) Flag | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2004
I think that those who praise Citizen Kane to high heavens should be required to say which other pre-1970 films they have seen. In fact, they should be asked to prove that they have actually seen Citizen Kane.Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen LMAO at that statement, and anyone who knows your history on these boards will understand why. -
zargmatt-73661 — 10 years ago(October 13, 2015 07:08 PM)
Well, considering that I grew up watching classic films and old B movies with my father, I'd have to produce a very long list. How about I list just a few of my favorite pre-1970s films?
- All of the Marx Bros. movies, but especially Horse Feathers ('30s) which reminds me of YOU. As Groucho Marx sang, "Your proposition may be very good, but whatever it is I'm against it." LOL!
- Most of Kubricks old classics including Paths of Glory (with Kirk Douglas!), Lolita, Spartacus (I AM SPARTACUS), 2001: A Space Odyssey (I've read the book, as well), and Dr. Strangelove with Peter Sellers as the president of the United States, the British solider, and as Dr. Strangelove himself! Dr. Strangelove may even be my favorite film of all time.
- And speaking of Peter Sellers, how could anyone not love the original Pink Panther? Are you crazy thinking anyone could not name beloved films that predate the arbitrary value you set as some sort of measuring stick? Really very odd
- George A. Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead came out in 1968, even if I prefer Dan O'Bannon's Return of the Living Dead. What can I say? I really like the '70s and early '80s.
- All but one or two of Alfred Hitchcock's movies were made before 1970. When I was making student films in high school and college, I watched nearly all of his movies for inspiration, including his silent films. Too numerous to list for you (and really I dislike you for the meaningless challenge) one movie that stands out to me from 1929 called Blackmail in which the female killer (how rare) slowly becomes deranged as the movie progresses. After some time all she can hear in a conversation is the word 'knife' and when she looks outside the shop displays all say knife instead of their respective words. Such a memorable early film by Hitchcock (I several box sets of his movies) maybe you haven't seen the movie? Here's a glimpse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvlyQaJbJgs
- While reminiscing on Hitchcock I remembered something that we're all missing in the modern days: Cary Grant. I love this man's movies. North By Northwest, Arsenic and Old Lace, Charade, An Affair to Remember must I go on?
- Speaking of Charade. Someone else we're all missing: Audrey Hepburn! My god, the suspenseful Wait Until Dark about a blind woman who is terrorized that movie gives me goosebumps Just like Cary Grant, I don't need to go through with the chore of listing out all of the great films she was in.
- Let's go back to the '30s and discuss the formation of one of you beloved Looney Tunes characters: Bugs Bunny. It Happened One Night starring none other than the dashing Clark Gable. This movie is a contender for my favorite movie of all time, mostly because I like films about people traveling the countryside and getting into quirky slapstick situations. Without Gable, there would be no carrot munching Bug Bunny. And likely no Dumb and Dumber (a silly '90s movie).
- And speaking of the director Frank Capra, what would any Christmas be like without the box office failure, syndication revived It's a Wonderful Life? True story: The movie did so poorly that it fell into public domain and was snatched up to become our Christmas classic. Similarly, a post-1970s Bob Clark movie was another box offce failure revived in syndication, becoming an alternative (perhaps revisionist) Christmas classic. My challenge: Which movie am I talking about?
- Bob Clark may be known for his '70s and early '80s college slasher Black Christmas, Christmas Story, and teen sex comedy Porky's, but he also made a movie in the '60s which I very much enjoy called She-Man, about a man on estogen blackmailed by a trans woman. I really like this movie, but I also like dressing up in women's clothing.
- Which brings me to Ed Wood. LOL! I can't say I like Glen and Glenda or Plan 9 from Outer Space, but the are terrible movies worth watching. Also the subject of one of Tim Burton's few great works of cinema. (Burton's overrated, but he did add to the line up of Christmas classics.)
- Gone with the Wind Clark Gable again; Vivien Leigh. I love this movie. Who could not love it? More cinematic genius.
- I was trying to remember who I'd forgotten: Humphrey Bogart!!! Casablanca, The African Queen, Treasure of Sierra Madre, and another contender for my all time favorite movie, failing from the '40s: The Maltese Falcon, playing Sam Spade. I absolutely LOVE private dick movies and this one set the stage AND set the bar, which I dare day has not been surpassed. Except for perhaps in the realm of comic books and choose your adventure video game series Sam & Max, and the adventure game icon Tex Murphy, which pays homage to all of our favorite gumshoes Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.
- My mind is running wild at the moment, and there are FAR TOO MANY classics before 1970 to list film noir gems Kiss Me Deadly and Double Indemnity, another Dashiell Hammet movie called The Thin Man OH, and H
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zargmatt-73661 — 10 years ago(October 13, 2015 07:20 PM)
As it's easy to leave off great films: Sergio Leone made most of his great works of cinema before 1970. Including his Fist Full of Dollars trilogy starring Clint Eastwood and Once Upon a Time in the West, starring Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda.
Holy cow, Henry Fonda is sooooo good as the villain in Once Upon a Time in the West. His cold blue eyes starring daggers into you.
And Charles Bronson's harmonica theme. Chills -
zargmatt-73661 — 10 years ago(October 13, 2015 07:29 PM)
Oh, and 'that'll be the day' I forget John Wayne classics such as The Searchers (John Ford), The Shootist (Co-starring our own Ronnie Howard and directed by Don Siegal another one of Clint Eastwood's mentors along with Sergio Leone) and The Quiet Man, also directed by the heavy weight himself, John Ford. I just love that epic fight at the end of the Quiet Man where they punch each other senseless, busting up half the town. Such a great movie.
Funny thing I noticed in one of the Dollar Trilogy movies (I forget which one), Clint Eastwood uses John Wayne's line "that'll be the day". Made me laugh so hard. I watched most of John Wayne's classic films before ever setting sight on the Eastwood revisionist western films. -
MsELLERYqueen2 — 10 years ago(October 19, 2015 12:28 AM)
Terrific. Lots of great choices listed. So why is it necessary to think that
Citizen Kane
is the greatest film ever when there are so many other good classics out there?
As for me, I'm very fond of mysteries from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Also film noir from the 40s and early 50s. Lots of great comedies came out in the sixties. I'm not a huge fan of 1970s films. I prefer TV shows from that decade. I even enjoy the occasional "important" film, like
All About Eve
and
The Best Years of Our Lives
.
To me,
Citizen Kane
will never have the same relevance as an episode of
You Can't Do That on Television
.Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen -
amyghost — 9 years ago(December 10, 2016 06:58 AM)
Re: Terrific.
image for user MsELLERYqueen2
by MsELLERYqueen2 1 day ago (Thu Dec 8 2016 12:07:46)
IMDb member since June 2004
I only understand Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. My intelligence doesn't stretch much further than that.Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen = Keep saying that and people will start believing it. 50 Is The New Cutoff Age. -
Jwink72 — 10 years ago(October 10, 2015 01:37 PM)
Mrs queen is a hipster. She hates CK only because its popular among critics and top lists. And she loves to hate it everyday and every chance she gets on IMDb.
Don't give her the time of day, let her waste her life if she wants.
But don't, by any means, ask her to give any reasonable explanation as to why CK deserves hate, or doesn't deserve praise. Don't insult her intelligence. -
Jwink72 — 10 years ago(October 10, 2015 04:54 PM)
That's fine, wonderful.
But I think it's childish and pitiful to return to a board time after time to spend half your life talking about a film you don't like.
Contribute at least something other than how annoyed you are by fans. You may want to get the film banned (not saying you do), but at least contribute why you do. Don't you have films you love you can discuss, or other threads on IMDb? I have nothing against people who don't like it, but you have a strange obsession and it gets annoying. There's a word for people who continue to talk about how you don't like a film, contributing nothing except annoying fans. It's on the tip of my tongue, I think it starts with a t. -
MsELLERYqueen2 — 10 years ago(October 10, 2015 06:12 PM)
shrug
I've been called a troll plenty of times on the CFB (classic film board). Sticks and stones.
Now I'm off to watch episodes of
Sesame Street, Mr. Dressup,
and
The Friendly Giant
. I'm still trying to understand the finer points of the plots of these shows.Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen -
amyghost — 10 years ago(October 11, 2015 06:09 AM)
Re: I just didn't like it. Period.
image for user MrsElleryQueen1976
by MrsElleryQueen1976 12 hours ago (Sat Oct 10 2015 18:12:03) Flag | Reply |
IMDb member since June 2004
shrug
I've been called a troll plenty of times on the CFB (classic film board). Sticks and stones.
Now I'm off to watch episodes of Sesame Street, Mr. Dressup, and The Friendly Giant. I'm still trying to understand the finer points of the plots of these shows.Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen You've been called one because you are one. Witness your repeated behavior on the Citizen Kane board, and your frequent performances on the Classic Film Board. And as for your project, give it up. It's doomed from the outset. -
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zargmatt-73661 — 10 years ago(October 13, 2015 07:16 PM)
God must be an idiot for challenging people to name movies they enjoy before 1970. Eras don't define greatness. Great films define eras! I can't think of a single decade without great directors and great films. I don't think oldness or newness is good enough to define art. But it certainly is good enough for some people: PERIOD. snicker