# After twenty years, I saw the movie I'd been looking for. How was it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 28, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538 "2021-09-28T19:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/41 "2021-09-29T23:17:12Z")
The microsecond in between when Kathleen Byron says “I love you” to David Farrar and he shuts her down, you can see him weighing the hot sex vs psycho consequences. Brought a lot of plausibility to the scene with just an acting tic. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/42 "2021-09-29T23:48:14Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > In general, if an old movie is obscure and hard to find, the odds are because it just wasn’t a very good movie. To quote Theodore Sturgeon “ninety percent of everything is crap”. That might be odds-on correct, but I could give you a long, long list of movies that came and went leaving barely a trace, which you’d have little hope of finding now in any form, and which I loved. But I won’t because that’s a whole other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/43 "2021-09-30T00:07:15Z")
I finally got around to watching _The Sting_ a couple of years ago, over forty years after its release. I had high expectations. It had been a box office hit and had won a Best Picture Oscar. It was by the same people who made _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ and I love that movie. But I was disappointed. It wasn’t a horrible movie but it was average. It makes me think William Goldman was probably the key factor in _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/44 "2021-09-30T00:23:07Z")
I’ve never watched “Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid”, but I first watched “The Sting” about 35 years ago, and have rewatched it every time I had the opportunity (it often runs on TV). I think it’s a brilliant film, great chemistry between Newman and Redford, and I like how it makes the spectator feel that you’re in on the sting, but then everything turns out differently. One of my favorite movies. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/45 "2021-09-30T01:47:02Z")
**It Conquered the World: Directed by Roger Corman. With Peter Graves, Beverly Garland, Lee Van Cleef, Sally Fraser. A well meaning scientist guides an alien monster to Earth from Venus,** Wait - that looks like Zontar the Thing from Venus. Same monster, same plot - I’m confused - how could two Space Alien movies be so similar? Unless… **it really did happen!** ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/46 "2021-09-30T02:11:25Z")
The book was so much better, it was more about the thinking - inside the head - of the housewife, at a certain time. It was a very nice portrait of a NYC that is no more, when middle class people could actually live there. The lady was married to a pretentious snob and social climber - who scorned the lowly middle class life. Onward and upward, NOTHING but the best! In desperation, she had an affair with a cad…Very mild compared to today, I Loved the book. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/47 "2021-09-30T02:22:57Z")
Black Narcissus. I’ve seen this more times than I can count, on Turner Classic Movies, where it turns up at least twice a year! 😮 I just have old-fashioned cable tv, no hoodoo or voodoo or anything…it’s available at every public library, too, AFAIK ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/48 "2021-09-30T02:24:00Z")
He was a wise man in Black Narcissus - with the psycho ex-nun clambering down to see him in her Ugg boots!.. ‘do not stik ur dik in tha crazy’. not a recent invention! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/50 "2021-09-30T02:24:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Zulu The Zulu warriors doing their warm-up for doing battle was worth the price of the movie, IMO. You can imagine being on the other side of that battle and hearing these ferocious fighters chanting about how they’re going to slaughter you. Very authentic, and raised the hairs on my neck. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/51 "2021-09-30T02:26:28Z")
Turner Classic Movies airs it about once a year. I’ve seen it several times, and I personally think it’s really good. The music is great, too. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/52 "2021-09-30T02:30:46Z")
No, I’ve never cared for “2001” either. My dad took my brother and me to see it when it was re-released in the late 1970s (we were probably about 10 and 13) and we didn’t get it then. I’ve seen it since, and nope, didn’t get it then, either. I did like the “Skype” scene at the beginning where the dad talks to his daughter on the video phone, and the the Bell Telephone logo pops up with the fee. MAD’s version was called “201 Minutes Of Space Idiocy.” ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/53 "2021-09-30T09:46:52Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Decades ago, Siskel & Ebert raved and raved about the gospel documentary “ **Say Amen, Somebody** ”… > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Turner Classic Movies airs it about once a year. I’ve seen it several times, and I personally think it’s really good. The music is great, too. I actually have it recorded, sitting in my DVR queue. Watching it will be as easy as clicking a button. I have no excuse. mmm ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/54 "2021-10-02T01:54:49Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I had for years been intrigued by the Anthony Quinn movie The Savage Innocents. Anthony Quinn plays an Eskimo (Inuit) in it. > … > It was unwatchable. I had to stop half way through. Their depiction of Inuit life was racist, insulting, paternalistic and downright awful. I remember seeing that as a kid. The one scene I remember (correct me if I’m wrong) > **Spoilered** > > His wife has a baby and he discovers, “It has no teeth.” He thinks it was cursed because of something he (Quinn) had done and wants to set it out on an ice floe or something. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/55 "2021-10-02T02:26:40Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The Zulu warriors doing their warm-up for doing battle was worth the price of the movie, IMO. You can imagine being on the other side of that battle and hearing these ferocious fighters chanting about how they’re going to slaughter you. For me it was the quote: **Pvt. Cole** : Why is it us? Why us? **Colour Sergeant Bourne** : Because we’re here, lad. Nobody else. Just us. It was Michael Caine’s introduction to American audiences. When he was approached he said, “I can’t play an officer! I have a Cockney accent!” Stanley Baker told him it didn’t matter. Finally, _History Buffs_ has a [19-minute video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VygWpmwBO8M) covering the history of Roarke’s Drift and how authentic the movie might be. It was Nick Hodges’ first episode and he said watching the movie when young started his love of history. A bit of the chant you mention is shown at 9:30. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/56 "2021-10-02T13:44:20Z")
Nearly 20 years from the time I saw the trailer for _Endless Summer_. I finally watched it on video and it’s one of the two dozen Western movies I keep on my watch list. _Blow-Up_ was my very first Beta videocassette movie in 1981. I’d seen it on TV before then, but the photographer frolicking with the models scene was always cut down. Arguably, I didn’t really _see_ the movie until the mid-'80’s when it released letterboxed on Laserdisc. Along with _Easy Rider_, these movies embody my mystical dream of a '60’s that never really was. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/57 "2021-10-02T14:19:02Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It was Michael Caine’s introduction to American audiences. When he was approached he said, “I can’t play an officer! I have a Cockney accent!” Stanley Baker told him it didn’t matter. In an interview, Caine said the hardest part of that film was, as a young actor, trying to figure out what to do with his hands. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/58 "2021-10-02T16:58:25Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Nearly 20 years from the time I saw the trailer for _Endless Summer_ . I finally watched it on video and it’s one of the two dozen Western movies I keep on my watch list But that’s a surfer movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/59 "2021-10-04T17:13:57Z")
just wanna chime and and say that thanks to this thread I learned about “Nothing Lasts Forever” and subsequently tracked it down and gave it a watch. I kinda liked it. Daffy, sweet picture that feels like David Lynch on MDMA. Lots of great and sometimes surprising cameos. I can easily see why MGM buried it, though; the audience for extended Eddie Fisher and Imogene Coca bits wasn’t a hot demographic in 1984. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/60 "2021-10-04T17:50:00Z")
When I was in high school (30 years ago), we had a video marathon, and were running out of time. So we watched the fast-forwarded version of Alien and Aliens. Somebody, who had seen both movies fast-forwarded to the scary parts. I finally saw Alien last week. The parts I hadn’t seen dragged a bit. Might have been better I had never seen the parts I did. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538/61 "2021-10-04T18:07:29Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > When I was a kid I was really pumped about seeing Freejack. It had cyberpunk, race car driving, time travel, blowing shit up real good, Mick Jagger manning an APC and Anthony Hopkins, who was fresh off of Silence of the Lambs. My teenage self thought this flick had it all. But, the movie never made it to the theater in my town, and I never got around to renting it on VHS. Years later I looked for it on Netflix, but it was listed as “unavailable.” > > Anyway, in 2017 (8 years after the far-off year of 2009 in which the movie takes place) I found a DVD of it for sale at a used book store for two bucks, and I decided to pick up. > > After watching it, I thought to myself, “How can any movie with Mick Jagger and Anthony Hopkins as the bad guys be so boring?” I mean, I wasn’t expecting it to be great, but I figured it would at least be entertaining schlock, and it didn’t even rise to that level. **Freejack** was based on _Immortality Inc_., a novel by Robert Sheckley that was Hugo nominated (under its original title, _Time Killer_). I’d read the novel – I have read a lot of Sheckley’s stuff – and thought it could be an interesting film. Especially with a cast like that. Unfortunately, Sheckley hasn’t been well served by TV and the movies. If they adapt a story directly they always botch it. What usually seems to happen is that they steal his idea and don’t give him credit. **The Tenth Victim** , **Freejack** , **Condorman** , the “Watchbird” episode on **Masters of Science Fiction**. You wouldn’t think they could screw these up. But they did. As for ripoffs, I’ve argued here that _The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ ripped off _Dimension of Miracles_. Sheckley himself thought that _The Running Man_ ripped off _The Prize of Peril_. And I’ve frequently maintained that the bulk of the original _Total Recall_ derives not from Philip K. Dick’s short story (which they exhaust in the first 20 minutes or so), but from Sheckley’s _The Status Civilization._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-twenty-years-i-saw-the-movie-id-been-looking-for-how-was-it/951538.md?page=4)