Hey thanks for that documentary. I’ll be watching that first.
Excellent documentary. Fascinating.
I could not help but compare Michael Cimino in some ways to Chris Roberts with “Star Citizen” and his obsessiveness and stubbornness in retaining complete control of his project at any cost. And also in time and money consumed and public response during production.
Not what I’d call a good movie, but Irreconcilable Differences, starring Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Long and Drew Barrymore, has a brief, but funny parody of the making of Heaven’s Gate. “Get the flies back!”
Definitely see it. It is a bit long and rambling, but it is not the terrible movie of its reputation. The things that made it terrible in cinematic terms are all on the other side of the camera: It cost way too much, it took way too long to make, it was an exercise in lack of control on the part of the director, etc.
I mean, you’ve got Walken and Kristofferson and Hurt and Huppert and Waterston and Bridges. Good performances, beautiful cinematography. And you don’t have to sit in a theater for four hours straight to experience it.
You are trying to encourage him to see it, right? :)
Oh, man, I haven’t thought of that movie in decades. My parents rented the VHS for me and my sister because it had that little girl from ET and (the TV version of) Firestarter. While most of Irreconcilable Differences went over my head, I think that was one of the first behind-the-scenes Hollywood movies I’d ever seen. Not counting The Muppet Movie and the episode of Muppet Babies where Miss Piggy proclaims that the difference between a producer role and a director role is that producers fire directors.
I watched The Conversation this weekend. I’d only seen some brief scenes from it before in film appreciation class years ago, where they concentrated on the audio. Having now seen the movie, the audio in this movie really deserve major kudos. I just love the claustrophobic feel of this movie. Almost every shot is a close-up of someone’s face that feels almost too close. And the audio does so much heavy-lifting in the feel of the movie as well.
Overall it made me realize that maybe Independent movies from different eras all have a different feel to them that reflects that era of movie-making. There’s certainly a feel to Taxi Driver and The Conversation, and other 70s movies that is unique.
I’d also note that after watching this movie, I now know that motel/hotel rooms in America were already standardized to what we see today, right down to the toilet paper holders and the little bed-side tables with the bibles in the drawer. Apparently that hasn’t changed in the last 50 years.
Honestly, I’m surprised that given the quality of this movie, that it’s not more famous. Outside of that film class, I had never heard of this movie. I know several people recommended it to me in this thread, but as far as pop culture awareness, I’d say this movie ranks pretty low in the national consciousness. That’s a shame. It should be up there with the likes of The French Connection at least, as I felt The Conversation is the much better Gene Hackman movie.
This is a great novel. We read it in an English class I took, and right after that we watched the movie. The script really does a superb job in capturing the mood and emotions of the novel.
That movie made me feel so uncomfortable, which I suppose it working as intended.
Just watched Three Days of the Condor, which I now realise I have been getting confused in a three-way with Day of the Jackal and Thirteen Days.
Overall it was OK, but it was so very 70s, particularly the rather icky three-hour Stockholm Syndrome romance.
You listened to the Criterion-cast a few days ago, didn’t you?
I’m actually in the mood to see Marathon Man and The Parallax View after that.
I did not, actually. I’m not even aware of it. I’m not sure what prompted it, to be honest. Maybe the Cold War movie thread, or maybe it just got promoted to me on the Cinema Paradiso site. I had somehow managed not to watch it before, so I figured I should.
Coincidentally I almost chose 3 Days of the Condor the other day too, when I was browsing Kanopy. But then I chose the Conversation.
Since the Bruins are in the Cup you should watch Friends of Eddie Coyle.
Man, I absolutely love The Conversation, Coppola’s best movie in my opinion. Even if I find its paranoia a bit quaint - hey guys, remember when spying on someone took a bit of craft?
You’d probably enjoy it. Last episode.
Agree. And it fulfills my Cindy Williams crush quotient.
Meeeeow!
Which one was Cindy Williams? One of the subjects of the Conversation? Or was she the one from the Surveillance convention who came back with the group?
Rrrrrrrow! Boo Boo Kitty!!!
Ok, Cindy Williams crush quotient fulfilled for this week.
Looker was a lot of fun - loved that movie. Susan Dey too!