To quote/paraphrase Rolling Stone’s coverage of the Oscars that year: “The B. Picture went to a movie that featured a man who was everything Hollywood isn’t: Tan, thin, and moral.”
I too had recorded Gandhi from TCM a couple weeks ago and just got around to watching it last week. It probably moved me more on a second viewing after all these years, but it took awhile to find the time to watch it again.
Another movie I just recorded was Amadeus and I’ll need to find another block of time.
I don’t want to watch Schindler’s List or Saving Private Ryan again though.
I’m lucky to live in a great city like Chicago, where we get the chance to see great films like Citizen Kane and Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen for which they were created. Both use every inch of the screen and the theatrical experience, and I don’t believe any home viewer gets the full impact of either film, no matter how good their TV set.
I haven’t seen Schindler’s List yet. I probably wont until (if) it hits Netflix instant view.
I’ve seen most of the ones listed in this thread except for, coincidentally, Gandhi. I’ll put that at the top of my list for ‘next.’
Just watched Blade Runner for the first time the other night on AMC.
Finally sat down and watched Titanic after years of hearing people tell me that its was either the greatest romance ever or a total waste of film. My opinion came down somewhere in between. Too long by probably 45 minutes (most of them running up and down flooded corridors), no noticable chemistry bewteen the leads, laughable dialogue, and breathtaking sets, costumes and special effects.
Interesting. To me, Saving Private Ryan is a movie I can (and have) watch several times. As sad as many scenes are (“My liver! My liver! Mom…mom” “Tell me I’ve been a good man…that I’ve lived a good life”) at its core its a spectacularly rendered war movie, which has moments of humor, irony and camaraderie sprinkled throughout. It kind of balances out all the horrorific elements of the film (to me).
Schindler’s List is a holocaust movie that’s just so damn grim, although the ultimate message of the movie is hope and for “one good man doing something in the face of evil” but some of the scenes where Jewish prisoners are just wantonly shot in the head for no good reason, the abject mindless cruelty that is portrayed by Nazis against their prisoners is just so hard to watch.
I’m a big fan of westerns and I’ve seen most of the classics. I love Sergio Leones’ “man with no name” trilogy (culminating with The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly).
I’ve never seen Once Upon A Time In The West. 
(nor, for that matter, have I seen Once Upon A Time in America)
When I watched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, I was very impressed by Leone’s style. It has all of those long, quiet scenes that are so tense.
When I saw North By Northwest as a 30-something I was so excited to be viewing such a classic for the first time. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I haven’t seen Ghandi since it came out, and now that you mention it, I’d love to see it again.
I think I’ve seen just about ever film mentioned here (except some of the early pre-Hayes films mentioned), and I’d just like to second the notion that Requiem for a Dream is really, truly a movie I don’t want to see again.
As of the last time I looked, that was actually the only film in IMDb’s top 25 I hadn’t seen.
Well that ain’t gonna happen. I’m not even slightly interested in the film, otherwise I would have watched it before now. But it’s a classic that I have been encouraged to watch, so what the hell, it was a cheap DVD.
I saw Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time recently and I thought it was great. The atmosphere the film creates is amazing. Would definitely watch it again. Loved the combination of the cinematography, desolate landscapes, windy soundtrack and mournful music. Definitely worth a watch.
I, a lifelong geek, finally just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I had heard that it was a must-see for geeks everywhere, but the description sounded pretty boring.
It was better than I expected.
Be aware that TCM cut at least one entire scene to spare young eyes from boobies. It was kind of a poignant scene, too.
I haven’t seen Gandhi in a while, but it still reigns first in my mind as the worst casting decision ever. I have nothing personal against Candace Bergen, but when she showed up halfway through the movie, it was like someone dumped a bucket of cold water on me, and screamed, “This is just a movie!” Up to then, I was totally immersed.
Yup, if you like music video pacing, it’s not the movie for you. But if you love great scenery and great music, you’re in for a treat. And IMO Claudia Cardinale never looked better.
My wife spent the day at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center watching all 9 1/2 hours of Shoah, a film about the Holocaust so depressing that makes Schindler’s List look positively cheerful.
Why? She played Margaret Bourke-White, who was an American woman who photographed Gandhi. Maybe Candace Bergen didn’t look exactly like her (picture here), but I don’t see how she was out of place.
It’s got nothing to do with her acting, or her resemblance or lack of it to the character, of whom I had no prior knowledge (but since you linked to her picture, I now know that Bourke-White had dark hair, which makes it even worse). Bergen was just too recognizable as a movie star. It wasn’t that important a role, so they could have gotten any of a number of character actresses to play the part, and kept the audience thinking it was watching a documentary. For me, at least, having this blonde goddess turn up just yanked me out of the immersion.
It’s not so much anything she did wrong, it’s just that you can’t look at her without thinking she’s a movie star. Before she was on the screen, I felt like I was watching real life. After, I felt like I was watching a movie.