FWIW the use of “place” to bamboozle the mark and make them think it was at least partly their fault they lost all their money is taken directly from Maurer’s The Big Con (like so much else if the movie as referenced up thread by @DPRK). Maurer was a linguistics professor who started studying the argot of con men but got enough material from them to write the book. So this is straight from the horse’s mouth stuff. Albeit the horse is a con artist. In any case, the book is well worth your time.
I noticed that too, especially in the scene where he responds gruffly to Redford’s character, saying something like, “Don’t give me your lip, kid!” Doyle Lonnegan and his men are observing both, and he says it as part of the con. It’s like his eyes light up in that brief scene.
Me too, and that worked for Top Gun: Maverick as well.
It’s Hollywood, not a documentary, and so I give some leeway and roll with it.
Not a plot hole per se, but Ray Walston’s intelligence gathering borders on psychic powers. He not only found out that Linneman cheats at cards, but he knows what brand of deck will be used, and he knows that Langerhans cheats by forcing a 4 of a Kind on his opponent while giving himself a better set of 4.
Which is also risky. Gondorff pulled 4 jacks from out of his sleeve. If Lonagan’s 5th card happened to have also been a jack (or any of the cards he had discarded) …the jig is up.
Yeah, but he can’t paint an office for shit.
This is probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a movie.
Terminator 2 holds up completely. I think the first one does, too, but there are some sequences in T2 that are better than things we see today.
My entry is “All the President’s Men”.
I try to watch it every year or so. I just watched it a few weeks ago and I could sit through it again with rapt attention right this minute.
mmm
I’m with you on point 2, and I would include the black gloved bodyguard. None of their actions make sense without knowing more about Hookers plans and schedule than they possibly can.
Point 1 I’m not so sure. They’re in a different town, there’s no reason for Lonnegan to share anything about the Shaw operation with his day to day operators. The hit team traced him from Joliet to Chicago and lost him after that, maybe they’ve got a name and a generic description, Chicago’s a big town with lots of transients.
I think the bigger plot hole is that Lonnegan doesn’t research Shaw’s operation, doesn’t check with any of his underworld connections that Shaw is a legitimate booky.
Side question, in the opening sequence, at Luther’s appt, his wife mentions the Up and Down Broadway was her and Luther’s best gig, they didn’t make a lot at it, but it wasn’t so touchy. Anybody know what this con is? I can’t find it online.
Bull Durham occurs to me a candidate. True it’s only 35 years old, but it’s still funny, touching, and wise. I also feel like the sexuality holds up pretty well, there’s some raunchiness, but agency and consent are respected. At least it seems that way to me, I’m open to being challenged on that last bit.
“Hells Angels” was released in 1930. I saw it at the Strand theater in Alameda CA in 1947. That was only 17 years after release and we considered it an old movie even then. The Strand had a sign painted on the outside wall:
Strand Theater
Talking Pictures
At age 90+ “Hells Angels” is still a great movie if you see a good quality copy. The
bomber sequence is unique. There are detailed shots of operating a WW1 era open cockpit bomber. They really blow up a bunch of farm buildings. No special effects.
One I saw recently and feel it still holds up rather well is The Gumball Rally (1976). It has some moments that are definitely dated, but the sounds of the cars, and the overall feel of it is still fun to watch today. While not a classic in the same way that The Sting is, which I also like, it is something that I have to trouble watching nor sharing with younger friends and family.
//i\\
Good call!
I just watched it yesterday for the first time in about 24 years and I have to admit, “Yep, that’s a gripping and very good movie.”
Holds up completely.
One of my favorites from those times. I haven’t seen it in years. Perhaps it’s time.
I’m thinking the same.
Whatsa behinda me isa not important!
I love that line. So much panache as he tosses the rear-view mirror over his shoulder.
Me too. I’ll quote it from time to time. Raúl Juliá (RIP) as that Italian driver, he was perfectly cast in that role. Besides that, I love his Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona cabriolet. One of my favorite cars.
Another line from that movie that I like (although I’ll never quote it!): “If you can catch me, you can have me.” (and I love her car too, the 911 turbo cabriolet)
The part I liked was the two women drivers who would show some cleavage when they were pulled over and get out of the ticket – until they got to Arizona and the DPS officer was also a woman.
The funny thing is most of the ordinary women at the mall today are showing more cleavage than those babes bribed the cops with in the '70s. Those were professionally cute cleavages, but in terms of shear volume and headcount, we’re totally living in a Golden Age right now.
Another from the Gumball Rally:
The scene where the cops are set up on an overpass with a radar gun. Roscoe, the detective who has been chasing the racers since New York City is sure he’s got them now–they’ll go blasting down the highway, as they’ve done since then.
But no, they’ve been tipped off somehow, and drive nicely and sedately down the road, even waving at Roscoe and the cops. “Fifty-five miles an hour, Roscoe,” says the cop with the radar gun.
Roscoe looks up into the sky. The camera shows a cloudy sky. “Why me, God,” he asks. “Why me?”
“'Cause you’re an asshole, Roscoe.” Roscoe looks confused–was God really calling him an asshole? No it was just another cop.
One of my favourite scenes in the movie, and it makes me laugh every time.