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Messages - Ben Tyreen
16
« on: August 11, 2008, 10:08:24 AM »
Everyone post some well-acted Newman scenes in his movies. I'm making a short little tribute video. I'll probably include either the rain scene or Plastic Jesus from Cool Hand Luke. Not sure what to include from Hud, The Hustler, The Sting, Butch Cassidy, and all those others... help me with suggestions. Plastic Jesus for sure. How about the cliff jumping scene from Butch Cassidy? That's what a lot of people think of when that movie comes up. The other scenes that came to mind was the no-rules knife fight with Harvey Logan, that's Newman at his best, and the dynamite scene with the train car. "That should about do it." "Use enough dynamite there, Butch?"
17
« on: August 11, 2008, 10:05:25 AM »
36 Hours (1965) 8/10 WWII thriller that takes a different look at the days leading up to D-Day. James Garner is a US intelligence officer kidnapped by the Germans in the week before the invasion. Rod Taylor plays the German doctor who has put together a complex scheme to convince Garner that it is 1950 and he's suffering amnesia in hopes of him revealing where the Allied invasion will take place. Also worth mentioning, Sergeant Schultz, John Banner, had a good part as a German border guard who smuggles people into Switzerland. Take that Colonel Klink! 
18
« on: August 11, 2008, 10:01:00 AM »
I'd only seen parts of this before, but watched it all the way through this weekend for the first time. I'd recently read Jeff Shaara's WWII books which use Patton as a main character, a lot of the same things were in the book and movie. Groggy's review is dead-on, it doesn't really take sides when it comes to the personality of George Patton, it presents the good and bad and lets the viewers decide how they want to feel about the character. One of my only complaints are the battle scenes. All very well done, but because we don't know any of the soldiers taking part in the battle it loses some of the emotional effect. My favorite scene was toward the end, Patton reading the chaplain's prayer for clear weather as the final Allied advance on Bastogne begins. All of the action is at night with Patton's voiceover reading the prayer. Very cool, very powerful scene. Really liked this one. 8.5/10 
19
« on: August 08, 2008, 11:12:49 PM »
Ey Ben, so you are rather young then?
Good taste you got! That I am, at the ripe old age of 23. I was lucky enough my senior year of high school to visit Bracketville/Alamo Village where Wayne built the whole gigantic set on Happy Shahan's ranch. The whole Alamo and all of San Antonio are all still there. Walking around that place was truly one of the coolest things I've ever done, much like what I imagine walking around Sad Hill would be like or any other great movie locations. I took a ton of pictures, I'll try and post some so everybody can see how much the set has changed over the last 48 years. Last year I contributed to a great book on Wayne's THE ALAMO. It is a bit expensive but limited and packed with
rare stills & stories... I saw that book at Cinema Retro last year, mike, is it so pricy because it is a Limited Edition, or is there another reason I'm not thinking of? 
20
« on: August 08, 2008, 09:43:35 AM »
Seven Days in May (1964) 9/10 Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas head a great ensemble cast in this Cold War thriller/drama. Douglas is the aide to Lancaster's head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who believes his superior is trying to lead a military takeover of the government after the US president has brokered a treaty with the Soviet Union to disarm. One of John Frankenheimer's best.
21
« on: August 08, 2008, 09:35:58 AM »
He's a cripple with a bum leg. Weren't you paying attention, Mr. Freud? I go Rio Bravo here although I like both. Part of my objection was El Dorado is that it seems like it was filmed indoors on a set while RB has much more of an outdoor feel thanks to the location shooting in Old Tucson. Stumpy, you're priceless, and I don't know what I'd do without you.  
22
« on: August 08, 2008, 09:25:44 AM »
Yes, I understand that this DVD release is the edited version of the film but I thought it was worth getting in the mean time. Has anybody actually seen the un-edited version of the film? How much better is it? I wish MGM would release this version because I'm dying to see it. It's one of my all-time favorites, and I was lucky (dumb luck that is) enough to buy a copy of the Extended Version.....as a nine-year old, and I still have it. I used a Best Buy certificate from my birthday and picked it up, not knowing at the ripe old age of nine that there were 2 versions floating around. It's said that the reels of the extended version were left to deteriorrate so badly. As for the Extended Version, which I think is much better, some added scenes include Emil Sande's death in the church basement where the ammo/rifles are stored, a speech between Travis and Dickinson about Travis' Jeffersonian beliefs, a conversation about Fannin, scouting for Santa Anna's cattle herd, the deaths of both the Parson and Scotty, Crockett's prayer to God to keep his men safe (the best scene that was cut), Lisa Dickinson's b-day party, and a few other small additions including a slightly longer Crockett death scene. And maybe it's just me, but the 2004 version is not a remake, it's a retelling of a historical incident. It'd be like saying Son of the Morning Star is a remake of They Died With Their Boots On. Either way, the 2004 version is really good, and I still stay Billy Bob deserved a nomination for his performance as David, not Davy, Crockett. The Waynamo 10/10 Always one of my favorites The Alamo 9/10 An excellent retelling of the Alamo story that never got a fair shot in theaters. 
23
« on: August 06, 2008, 10:21:04 AM »
I've been looking forward to this one. I loved the Platoon knock-off at the beginning of the trailer with Ben Stiller taking over for Wilem Dafoe. And also, I've always liked Robert Downey JR in comedy and here as an Australian who undergoes surgery to become a black man, that has to be good. IMDB never surprises me though, tons of posts talking about how this movie is racist. I think just about everything is now. 
24
« on: August 05, 2008, 10:20:05 AM »
The Seven-Ups (1973) 7/10 Good crime drama from the 70s that takes a little while to pick up steam, but the last hour is non-stop action almost, including a great car chase. All I could think with this one is that this would be the French Connection sequel if Roy Scheider had played the lead. Also featured some of the same cast TFC.
25
« on: August 05, 2008, 10:15:07 AM »
I saw this on TCM a few summers back and enjoyed it. I liked the idea of a western murder mystery, and the cast was pretty good all around, especially Bronson and Ben Johnson. Like Peacemaker said, I remember really liking Jerry Goldsmith's score. The director, Tom Gries, had his fair share of good westerns in the late 60s and early 70s too, including Breakout, 100 Rifles, and Will Penny.
26
« on: August 01, 2008, 11:16:38 AM »
Didn't watch this last night, but I did see it a few years back on a VHS tape. Lee Marvin and Jack Palance were good, but the rest of the cast didn't make a huge impression. I do remember enjoying the scene where Marvin tries to break the horse and ends up destroying half of a town.
27
« on: August 01, 2008, 11:14:55 AM »
Instead, we got crap like Silverado . . . Uh-oh, here we go again. Where's TB? As for Posse, I liked it. I thought it was a better example of a 70s western with not a ton of gunplay, but more of a psychological edge to the proceedings. No one here is really a good guy, and Dern ends up being the most sympathetic character. Good cast but I would have developed the personalities of the men in the posse more. Bo Hopkins and Luke Askew were good, as always, but the other three were pretty vague and I didn't even hear two of the three's names until the last scene. I liked the fall Nightingale takes that you know is coming about midway through the big party, and then Dern switching things up on his posse was great. Not a perfect western, but I enjoyed it, 7.5/10.
30
« on: July 30, 2008, 10:27:41 PM »
Seems like this one causes opinions at both ends of the spectrum, and I guess I fall on the positive side. Not a great SW, but I did enjoy it. Thomas Hunter just seems out of place with his constant screaming and overacting. Dan Duryea, don't quite know what to make of this, an odd addition for sure. SPOILER So was he working for the army? SPOILER The high point was definitely Henry Silva as the pyschpathic gunslinger with a maniacal laugh. And any movie with Nicoletta Machiavelli is ok by me. The action scenes were good including the big showdown at the end in abandoned Austin although I did laugh at Duryea's "I'm right here, yellow bellies!" line. And I think Hunter may be one of the more abused spaghetti anti-heroes. All those beatings and stabbings, that tattoo scene was just wrong. I did have a question about the music by the famous Leo Nichols. It was an average score, but it's different from what I heard in The Hills Run Red trailer. Anybody know what music that is? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEeMg-4jfx4 Anyhoo, I'd give this one a 6/10. Better than a lot of second-tier spaghettis I've seen, but not great. Worth renting for sure if you're wavering.
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