Rudy.
It really is a great film, and not just a great sports film.
Big question about a big film. Without giving too many spoilers, it’s a grand satire on society, the nature of personal identity in the modern world, the tension between perceptions of masculinity and sensitivity, and attitudes towards terrorism and totalitarianism. It’s simultaneously funny, eerie and downright disturbing.
It also features Helena Bonham-Carter’s tits.
The Shawshank Redemption. I had no interest in watching a “prison movie”.
OK, put me down for two copies.
The Apartment, with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray as the heavy.
One of those films whose “classic” status had been rammed down my throat for so long, I was sick of hearing about it. And the breezy, happy go lucky pose of the two leads on the cover made me think it was just some light-hearted romance.
Rented it one night because I’d already rented pretty much everything else at my small local mom-and-pop video store.
It’s at least as classic as they say. A dark, somewhat sinister look at people trying to make their way through the mundane wrongness in the world, with a well-earned ending.
I think she only has one…
Edit: one copy of her breasts, not one breast. In case that wasn’t clear.
I flipped to Pulp Fiction during the part where Vincent and Jules were talking about cheeseburgers and couldn’t stop watching.
Hate to rain on your parade but that scene was done using CGI.
I had a friend who worked as a projectionist as a summer job. He said that there was a sneak preview of some film, and he invited me and another friend to go see it. He didn’t remember the name, something about a chest…
Anyway, it was the most amazing experience. From the start to the finish, a balls-to-the-wall unexpected adventure. Completely took me by surprise.
The film?
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The preview was 2 weeks before it opened nationally.
I idly stumbled across Breaker Morant airing on HBO 20-some years ago and was riveted. A great adventure and court-martial drama, an insightful character study… and some good jokes. Has a lot of important things to say about counterinsurgency and war crimes nowadays, too. Still a favorite of mine - highly recommended!
This film must have been seriously un-hyped and un-advertised when it was first released. It came out when I was 11 and I remember my dad wanting to take the whole family to see it and I was thoroughly unenthused.
Dad: C’mon. We’re all going to see this ‘Raiders’ movie.
Me: What’s it about?
Dad: Some archeologists searching for the Ark of the Covenant.
Me: What’s the Ark of the Covenant?
Dad: The box that has the 10 commandment stones in it.
Me Thinking: (Oh great, a biography about biblical archeologists)
Me: Why are we seeing this again?
Dad: Some guy at work said it was good.
Me: Fine, whatever, let’s go.
Needless to say as an 11 year-old kid I was completely blown away.
Though they did apply some optical distortion, that is really her (and it’s certainly not the only film you can see her that way, either).
I think that scene is about ten seconds into the film, so you didn’t miss much.
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
A friend and I got shut out of a free preview. I had heard that “Pan’s” was a good movie, but it looked like another (CGI-fest) fantasy movie. So I was somewhat skeptical, but we decided to check it out. It did have fantasy elements to it, but nothing like I expected. I don’t know that I’ve seen a movie that combined depressing with uplifting in such a way. Not for everyone, but I certainly thought it was great.
Titanic.
I really was not interested in seeing this film, as it looked like a cheesey romance starring the teen idol pretty boy of the month. I also have a bit of a phobia about being trapped underwater, and to top it off, I didn’t think any film could beat A Night To Remember.
But they showed it on HD movies a week or two ago, and I was riveted the whole time. It was well done, I thought, story-wise, and of course the ship/sinking scenes were unbeatable. And I now have a grudging respect for Leonardo DiCaprio. I already liked Kate Winslet from Heavenly Creatures and Sense And Sensibility, so I didn’t need to be sold on her. I also liked seeing the actress who played “Strawberry Alice”, the head whore from Unforgiven, in her role as Winslet’s mom.
So now I like Titanic. Go figure.
The Color Purple- just reading the back of the box depressed me for a week, so I didn’t see it until it was on TV a few years later. Now one of my favorite films (though the author dismisses it).
Field of Dreams- I can’t stand Kevin Costner, so I was surprised how good this was when I saw it on TV. (Robin Hood he’s not, but a midwestern corn farmer or a Civil War vet living with Sioux are the two roles he can play.)
Lesser known great films I saw by accident:
Princess Caraboo- based on a true story about a 19th century “mystery islander” who took English society by storm, it looked like a total Lifetime Chickflick but was really good. (I won’t spoil the ending, but that’s especially good.)
Creator - a 10-20 years ahead of its time movie about a geneticist (Peter O’Toole) obsessed with cloning his dead wife (whose cells he saved) that I saw first on afternoon TV and then rented the movie. Excellent overlooked film. (I later read the book- very little resemblance.)
Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel - The Story of the Weeping Camel.
A Mongolian nomad family own a baby camel that won’t suckle. That’s pretty much it.
Can you imagine trying to pitch this in Hollywood? “It’s like Bambi meets ET, er… and, like, Saving Private Ryan. Except - get this - it’s made by Germans using nomadic non-actors. In a country hardly anyone’s ever been to. With subtitles.”
Seriously though, it’s absolutely wonderful, entertaining, moving, but funny too.
Don’t worry, I saw it about ten times already.
I did miss one of the best openings in film though.
The Green Street Hooligans You just can’t make Elijah Wood tough so I never bothered to rent it. A girl I was trying to get with recommended it so I saw it and was impressed.
ooh! ooh! The Princess Bride.
I judged it solely on its name, which sounds exactly like something I would despise. 20 years later I saw it on TV and amidst the rollicking good fun wondered what it was called… and felt pretty stupid.