Mmm, hmm. This has already been stated in previous posts. I mentioned Oz only as a footnote, not as a prime example.
In light of this mod note, I’ll withdraw my question and since Dseid has apparently chosen to let the matter drop, I’ll do so as well.
There was a Sophie’s Choice reference in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
(Season 1 episode 14, 2008)
Ah, there is a set of Streisand fans who’ll gladly watch or buy anything she does. I have an aunt in that set. When I saw ASiB, it struck me as a Streisand vanity project. I can’t figure out why Kristofferson allowed himself to be in that. Maybe they threw a lot of money at him and promised him some good roles later on down the road?
** popped into my head but mostly because I still hear people saying they need a “Silkwood shower” (after seeing something really bad on YouTube, say), and some of these people were not even born when that movie came out, so where are they getting that?
(I thought it was a great movie, and I think it holds up–but who sees it?)
Maybe the best data source for this thread is the Amazon sales rankings. Wizard of Oz is actually ahead of Star Wars trilogy, #98 versus #136, but I only mentioned it as a footnote. Dumb & Dumber is, as we all know, retaining its luster at #466. Grease, who someone else cited as a forgotten movie with little debate, is at #602. Airplane! the comedy ranks #2,663 which is quite good for such an old movie.
My list that I made before looking at the Amazon sales rank was actually not as terrible as subsequent posters have claimed:
Titanic #1952 a significantly low rank for the movie with the second top grossing box office
Jerry Maguire #9,979 yep, that’s low for a relatively new movie, no matter how you slice it
Liar Liar #8,506 yep, Jim Carrey will be remembered for D&D, Truman Show, Grinch more than this TBS syndication movie (although I should note that I do like it)
Bad News Bears #8,035 not terrible for an old classic, but hasn’t held against other blockbusters of the time such as Airplane!
Jaws #3,470 actually fairly strong rank for its age, but not as highly ranked as 2001 Space Odyssey #2,339 which was mentioned without dispute, and certainly hasn’t retained its blockbuster status in the pocket books of the unwashed masses
Star is Born (1976) #4,855 clearly lost in the shuffle compared to others of the period such as Grease
Here’s where I stand corrected:
Sixth Sense #1,272 obviously still retains strong interest
American Graffiti #2,366 not bad at all, about the same as Airplane! and better than season 1 of Happy Days #6, 276
Rocky #7,332 low rank but due to being sold in a box set with other Rocky movies and apparently that box set sells like pancakes
I haven’t seen my abdominals in years. Maybe I should start eating more Reese’s Pieces.
Nice bit of analysis added, thanks!
Ain’t no straw man. I see older movies al the time like that when I’m shopping. I seek them out, in fact. Really old ones have a tendency to make their way into bins precisely because they’re not as well known, although the actors in them might not be.
And these aren’t weird and rare versions, like the pre-Huston versions of Maltese Falcon that are pretty obscure. The 1954 version is, to a lot of folks – not just film cognoscenti (although possibly older folks) THE version of the film. The Streisand/Kristofferson version is a Johnny-come-lately.
And, as you’re admitting that Streisand is well known (although your singling out Yentl as the thing everybody vweould know her from seems really weird to me. Me, I’d probably be tempted to put Yentl into the “made a splash but is noew relatively forgotten” category), what’s the point?
He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor; what should he have done instead that year?
Streisand hired Kristofferson because Colonel Parker would not let Elvis Presley do it.
I wonder how many male actors are willing to be second fiddle. When Judy Garland and her husband Vincent Minelli did the 1954 version, they wanted Cary Grant. But he ultimately declined so they got the lesser known James Mason to play the fading male role.
Haven’t seen any of that stuff in 30 years, so I’d be hard put to recommend any of it now. Sorry about that!
You’re right that that phrase lives on, but the survival of one phrase doesn’t mean the movie itself lives on in people’s recollections.
Don’t agree with this one (I’m assuming it is not a woosh ).
2001 is widely seen as the seminal hard science fiction movie, and the recent Interstellar is loaded with homages to it. Indeed, just this weekend, I saw a major exhibit on Kubrick, which features images from 2001 as the advertising:
http://www.tiff.net/cinematheque/stanley-kubrick-a-cinematic-odyssey
There are constant references to the imagery of the film – the Simpsons opening a couple of weeks ago included one. That damned monolith will live on forever.
The music is just as distinctive. Who ever referred to Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra before its opening was made famous by 2001? And Cameron’s Aliens pays direct homage to 2001 by using Gayne’s Ballet Suite (the music Dave Bowman jogs around the Jupiter centrifuge to) in the opening of the film, where Ripley’s escapr craft drifts along to the same music.
Pretty solid list there… I’d quibble a bit with Forrest Gump as I think that’s still culturally resonant, but I know knocking it as compared to other contenders from that year is de rigeur.
I’ll add for consideration another from the period you walked through — Broadcast News. Huge litany of awards, now almost entirely irrelevant.
And interesting because it’s not JUST that the technology of a newsroom in the early 80s is ancient history to anyone today — the movie Network predates it and should still be mandatory viewing. I think more that it’s just one of those signs of how vapid and navel-gazing we were in the 80s.
Benji! God, Benji. I hadn’t even thought of Benji in so long… remember Benji the Hunted?
It isn’t; hasn’t been for years. BUT… walk into pretty much any casino, and you’ll find a slew of Wizard of Oz themed slot machines. It definitely hasn’t left public consciousness.
My first name is Benjamin and I was 13 the year that movie came out. Guess what my nickname was throughout 8th and 9th grades. :mad:
You could be right about Yentl, but I think Star Is Born (1976) qualifies. I lived through the time period in question, and Streisand was one of the top echelon movie stars, you have to admit not so much now although still recognized. As for the straw man, criticizing my assumed comment on the Garland film without first verifying that I was referring to it.