Watch more of Ebert's "The Great Movies"

Not really done, just relocating…..

As Aleem has noted, it’s more convenient to keep track of these films on the List of Bests.

Phenomenal performances that re-envision Truman Capote’s novel of the same name. Of most interest to me is how completely Robert Blake seems to inhabit the character of Perry Smith, without being nearly as charismatic as I imagined the novel’s Perry; Blake realizes his own Perry, paying homage to Truman’s character without being overly beholden to it. (I’m not sure about the real-life Perry Smith. Several explicit psychoanalytic scenes, some complete with nightmarish circus music, strangely add to the film.

Overall, I’d say this is one of the few adaptations I’ve seen that holds its own with the source text, neither being too derivative of the material nor too loosely taken.

Worth seeing is the trailer for the film, on the DVD. It makes a claim for authenticity that is almost eerie.

I caught this film on cable, and knew it was high time I watched it. After all, at the time of its release, Bonnie and Clyde was the locus for controversy because of its anti-establishment ethos, its violence, and its then-shocking conclusion. Most critics, with the notable exception of Roger Ebert, panned the film. But it was extraordinarily popular with the public, especially members of the youth culture: berets became a big fashion seller; the soundtrack hit the top of the charts; and the film was eventually rereleased and earned 10 Ocscar nominations and earning 2 (one for Parsons, the other for cinematographer Burnett Guffey). Eventually, Bonnie and Clyde was hailed as a landmark film which heralded in the era of contemporary film and contributed to the demise of the Hays Production Code.

I’d seen clips of Bonnie and Clyde before, but I never watched the film from beginning to end. Having done so, I now understand Warren Beatty’s appeal. It’s not that I find him particularly attractive, but he’s certainly charismatic in the role of Clyde Barrow. I was less impressed with Faye Dunaway who, although she’s certainly beautiful, seemed out of her range. (And I really enjoyed her performance in Chinatown.) It’s hard to describe: I felt Dunaway’s performance worked for the role of Bonnie Parker, but her effort was discernable and a bit distracting. The rest of the cast-including Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Michael Pollard, Denver Pyle, and Gene Wilder in his first film role-were superb.

What strikes me most about the film was how it updated the gangster genre in such a way that it managed to be both nostalgic for classic films (say, in its depiction of Depression-Era America) and sensationalistic (say, in how it fetishized violence). The film also participated in the emergence of the cinematic anti-hero, adding a nice twist with the addition of female anti-hero/gangsters. It’s because of Bonnie and Clyde that films like Natural Born Killers feel both familiar and plausible.

I will admit that because I’ve seen its descendents, though, Bonnie and Clyde occasionally feels less provocative or innovative than it really is. It feels, as I note about NBK above, familiar. Trust me when I say that this film shifted our cinematic landscape and for that reason, if for no other, it is worth watching.

Wow. I just got to see this silent film tonight during my city’s 32nd Annual Silent Movie Night. The 1974 print of the film, which admittedly wasn’t in great shape, was accompanied by live music played on a Wurlitzer organ. The film was shown in a historic theater, to a sold-out crowd which ranged in age from around 8 to 80. I feel lucky to have had this opportunity.

It’s really a masterpiece, still engaging as both a melodrama and a horror film. Although directed proficiently by Rupert Julian, it is Lon Chaney’s performance as the Phantom which has become so iconic. Chaney’s many faces, both physically and emotionally, kept me and the rest of the audience rapt. (Chaney, by the way, is also unforgettable as Quasimodo in the 1923 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)

It wasn’t until I saw the film that I realized just how derivative Andrew Lloyd Webber’s pop-opera is—or, if you’re feeling generous, just how much of an homage the opera is to the film. I also suspect Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! might be paying tribute to the film with the song, “Come What May.”

One last note: if you’ve never seen a silent film accompanied by live music, do so! It really inflects your movie-going experience. I’ve have the privilege of seeing many films this way, including Chaplin and Keaton shorts and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. I attend such movie-going experiences whenever I get the chance, and I never regret it.

Well, I saw this film…it’s one of those films that I’ve seen extended sequences of, so it was a bit distracting to watch. Certainly, Bernardo Bertolucci is a talented director, the cinematography is evocative, the music haunting, and Brando occupies the cinematic space in ways most actors can only dream of.

Still, I was left oddly unmoved by this film. Perhaps that is because its arthouse-cinema aesthetic of sexuality feels a bit too familiar to me. I intellectually understand Bertolucci’s choices, and can appreciate them, but Last Tango failed to resonate with me emotionally. I do wonder, though, whether the film would have had more impact for me if I’d seen it when I was younger, say in my early 20s.

Setting aside my lack of emotional engagement, Last Tango is a fine film and one worth seeing (if for no other reason than the way Bertolucci conveys a decidedly unglamorous Paris).

I’ve just finished watching this film by director Vittorio De Sica, who also made The Bicycle Thief. It’s a truly touching film, a description I don’t offer lightly, and a stunning example of Italian Neo-Realist cinema.

An overview of the film from the DVD: Shot on location with a cast of nonprofessional actors (this is one attribute of neorealism), Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece follows Umberto D, an elderly pensioner, as he struggles to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic boom _(another attribute). _Alone except for his dog, Filke, Umberto strives to maintain his dignity while trying to surve in a city where traditional human kindness seems to have lost out to the forces of modernization (a common trope). Umberto’s simple quest to fulfill the most fundamental human needs-food, shelter, companionship-is one of the most hearbreaking stories ever filmed an an essential classic of world cinema. (I concur.)

Of course, this does not begin to cover what makes the film memorable, but it does offer a tantalizing summary. Let me just say that Umberto’s attempts to maintain his essential humanity in a world which is becoming more callous, one where he is increasingly invisible because of his age and economic class (the latter being another concern of neorealism), is difficult to watch. Scene after scene shows Umberto trying to reach out to others in his time of need, only to be rebuffed. There are fewer light moments than in The Bicycle Thief, which is not exactly a light comedy, and the end is as painful. (Indeed, I found it difficult to watch.) Yet there’s also a touch of hope in the film, one which is as beautiful as the cinematography.

One last word: some critics have leveled the charge of sentimentality at Umberto D. I disagree. I watch a lot of films, and I have very little patience with sentimentality (though I enjoy a good, classic melodrama). Whenever I feel its presence, I immediately adopt a critical stance. For this film, I did not do so. What’s more, I never felt the need to do so.

Watch this film. To paraphrase a line from a mediocre movie, “It will make you want to be a better person.”

...because I really need to be working right now.

If you like books, and better yet, books about movies, you might like Steven Schneider’s 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. I received this as a present a few months, and everyone I was with all had a good time going through the book, reading the entries, and comparing notes.

I’ve starting marking all the movies I’ve seen in the margins, noting time and place and occasion (if appropriate). It’s like a scrapbook that someone’s started for me…all I have to do is actually have the pleasure of seeing the movies.

Figured out I’m horribly behind on foreign films…though that doesn’t surprise me, I do need to address it. Thank goodness for Netflix.

Ebert’s Great Movies
1) The Big Red One (1980)
2) 12 Angry Men (1957)
3) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
4) The 400 Blows (1959)
5) 8 1/2 (1963)
6) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
7) After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
8) The Age of Innocence (1993)
9) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
10) Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
11) Alien (1979)
12) All About Eve (1950)
13) Amadeus (1984)
14) Amarcord (1974)
15) Annie Hall (1977)
16) The Apartment (1960)
17) Apocalypse Now (1979)
18) The Apu Trilogy (1959)
19) Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
20) The Band Wagon (1953)
21) The Bank Dick (1940)
22) The Battle of Algiers (1967)
23) The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
24) Beat the Devil (1954)
25) Beauty and the Beast (1946)
26) Being There (1979)
27) Belle de Jour (1967)
28) The Bicycle Thief (1949)
29) The Big Heat (1953)
30) The Big Sleep (1946)
31) The Birth of a Nation (1915)
32) Blowup (1966)
33) The Blue Kite (1993)
34) Bob le Flambeur (1955)
35) Body Heat (1981)
36) Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
37) Breathless (1960)
38) Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
39) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
40) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
41) Broken Blossoms (1919)
42) Casablanca (1942)
43) Children of Paradise (1945)
44) Chinatown (1974)
45) A Christmas Story (1983)
46) Citizen Kane (1941)
47) City Lights (1931)
48) The Color Purple (1985)
49) The Conversation (1974)
50) Cries and Whispers (1972)
51) Day for Night (1973)
52) Days of Heaven (1978)
53) The Decalogue (1988)
54) Detour (1945)
55) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
56) Do the Right Thing (1989)
57) Don’t Look Now (1974)
58) Double Indemnity (1944)
59) Dr. Strangelove (1964)
60) Dracula (1931)
61) Duck Soup (1933)
62) E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)-
63) The Earrings of Madame de… (1953)
64) Easy Rider (1969)
65) El Norte (1983)
66) The Exterminating Angel (1962)
67) The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
68) Fanny and Alexander (1983)
69) Fargo (1996)
70) Faust (1926)
71) The Films of Buster Keaton (1923)
72) The Firemen’s Ball (1968)
73) Fitzcarraldo (1982)
74) Five Easy Pieces (1970)
75) Floating Weeds (1959)
76) Gates of Heaven (1978)
77) The General (1927)
78) The Godfather (1972)
79) Goldfinger (1964)
80) Gone With the Wind (1939)
81) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
82) GoodFellas (1991)
83) Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
84) Grand Illusion (1937)
85) The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
86) Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
87) Great Expectations (1946)
88) Greed (1925)
89) Groundhog Day (1993)
90) A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
91) Hoop Dreams (1994)
92) House of Games (1987)
93) Howards End (1992)
94) The Hustler (1961)
95) Ikiru (1952)
96) In Cold Blood (1967)
97) It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
98) Jaws (1975)
99) JFK (1991)
100) Jules and Jim (1961)
101) Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
102) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
103) King Kong (1933)
104) L’Atalante (1934)
105) L’Avventura (1960)
106) La Dolce Vita (1960)
107) The Lady Eve (1941)
108) The Last Laugh (1924)
109) The Last Picture Show (1971)
110) Last Tango in Paris (1972)
111) Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
112) Late Spring (1972)
113) Laura (1944)
114) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
115) Le Boucher / The Butcher (2003)
116) Le Samourai (1967)
117) Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
118) Leolo (1993)
119) The Leopard (1963)
120) The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
121) M (1931)
122) The Maltese Falcon (1941)
123) The Man Who Laughs (1928)
124) The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
125) Manhattan (1979)
126) The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
127) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
128) Mean Streets (1973)
129) Metropolis (1926)
130) Mon Oncle (1958)
131) Moonstruck (1987)
132) Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
133) The Music Room (1958)
134) My Darling Clementine (1946)
135) My Dinner With Andre (1981)
136) My Life to Live / Vivre sa Vie (1963)
137) My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
138) Nashville (1975)
139) Network (1976)
140) The Night of the Hunter (1955)
141) Nights of Cabiria (1957)
142) Nosferatu (1922)
143) Notorious (1946)
144) On the Waterfront (1954)
145) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
146) Orpheus (1949)
147) Out of the Past (1947)
148) Pandora’s Box (1928)
149) Paris, Texas (1984)
150) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
151) Paths of Glory (1957)
152) Patton (1970)
153) Peeping Tom (1960)
154) Persona (1966)
155) The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
156) Pickpocket (1959)
157) Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
158) Pinocchio (1940)
159) Pixote (1981)
160) Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
161) Playtime (1967)
162) The Producers (1968)
163) Psycho (1960)
164) Pulp Fiction (1994)
165) Raging Bull (1980)
166) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
167) Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
168) Ran (1985)
169) Rashomon (1950)
170) Rear Window (1954)
171) Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
172) Red River (1948)
173) The Red Shoes (1948)
174) Rififi (1954)
175) The Right Stuff (1983)
176) Romeo and Juliet (1968)
177) The Rules of the Game (1939)
178) Safety Last (1923)
179) Santa Sangre (1989)
180) Saturday Night Fever (1977)
181) Say Anything (1989)
182) Scarface (1983)
183) The Scarlet Empress (1934)
184) Schindler’s List (1993)
185) The Searchers (1956)
186) The Seven Samurai (1954)
187) The Seventh Seal (1957)
188) Shane (1953)
189) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
190) The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
191) Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
192) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
193) Solaris (1972)
194) Some Like It Hot (1959)
195) Star Wars (1977)
196) Strangers on a Train (1951)
197) Stroszek (1977)
198) A Sunday in the Country (1984)
199) Sunrise (1928)
200) Sunset Boulevard (1950)
201) The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
202) Swing Time (1936)
203) A Tale of Winter (1992)
204) Taxi Driver (1976)
205) The Terrorist (2000)
206) The Thin Man (1934)
207) The Third Man (1949)
208) This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
209) Three Colors Trilogy (1994)
210) Three Women (1977)
211) Tokyo Story (1953)
212) Touch of Evil (1958)
213) Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
214) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
215) Trouble in Paradise (1932)
216) Ugetsu (1953)
217) Umberto D (1952)
218) Un Chien Andalou (1928)
219) Unforgiven (1992)
220) The Up Documentaries (1985)
221) Vertigo (1958)
222) Victim (1961)
223) Walkabout (1971)
224) West Side Story (1961)
225) The Wild Bunch (1969)
226) Wings of Desire (1988)
227) The Wizard of Oz (1939)
228) Woman in the Dunes (1964)
229) A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
230) A Woman’s Tale (1992)
231) Woodstock (1970)
232) Written on the Wind (1956)
233) Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
234) A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984)
235) Yellow Submarine (1968)
236) Yojimbo (1961)

Okay, Aleem convinced me that I do have time to watch more films this semester. Thanks to the invite, I’m going to start with Ebert’s Great Movies LIST

I’ll have to do a count on my totals and find out how many I need to knock off. I was quite delighted to see The Thin Man (1934) on the list, though. I just watched it this weekend because I always wanted to see Nick & Nora Charles in action. (It’s a detective-comedy hybrid.) The film is a delight & it made me want a martini!

Update: I just counted. I’ve seen 95 of the films, not counting partial screenings or familiarity with famous scenes. I’ll be rewatching some of them over the course of the next semester…they’re well worth it.