I watched it again recently myself. I have to disagree about a lot of what you say. I wasn’t disappointed in the crowd scenes, but maybe because, being older when I first saw it, I didn’t misremember the sizes. I’m probably more tolerant of the slower pace of older movies (having grown up with them).
No, the thing that I found made me uneasy was the whole “colonialist” attitude. I do suspect that a couple of devoted con men could end up in control on a country (look at certain recent events, if you doubt this), but the expectation that they would easily do so seems to suggest a paternalistic attitude toward the non-European folk. And that their deeply-held religious belief turns out to be an over-reverence for and misunderstanding of a Western brotherhood organization is… condescending. I know that Huston was taking as his model films like George Stevens’ Gunga Din (also based on a couple of Kipling works), but that 1939 film was made near the end of that British colonial period, and is steeped in the same assumptions. ( Gunga Din (film) - Wikipedia )
My wife and I have raised an African-American friend’s daughter since she was a child (in a “living with aunt and uncle” way), so I get glimpses into racial issues that I wouldn’t otherwise have. She’s in her late 20s now.
A few months ago I suggested we watch Blazing Saddles together, without having thought things through very well, and as soon as the first N-word came, I looked in horror at her face to see her reaction.
She loved the movie, though she told me that until she got the whole “it’s portraying the racists as the fools they are” aspect (basically 2 minutes into the movie) the word poked at a very tender raw nerve.
The Blues Brothers has changed for me from my favorite comedy to an awesome musical focused around old-school R&B.
This was the movie that introduced me to Sam and Dave, to Donald Duck Dunn’s bass lines, to Stax Records, and so on. It is so awesome to see Ray Charles jamming out on the Fender Rhodes while random Chicago residents dance in the street. It’s great to hear Aretha Franklin belting out “Think!”
The fact that the actors were all serious musicians is what makes the movie so cool. But in the 1980s it was cool because it was a funny comedy with the most over-the-top chase scene of its time (Who can’t laugh at John Candy as a cop?)
I didn’t remember the repair part, but your declaration that making things is processing is your definition, not necessarily his (or the writers’) and definitely not mine.
Mid 80s through early 90s Schwarzenegger and Stallone films. To a lesser Van Damme, Seagal, etc etc.
Those movies must have been skillfully tapping into some kind of Cold War anxiety because any of them could have us on a high for WEEKS after viewing. Me and just about every other male I knew would endlessly relive the scenes afterward (even on minor offerings like “Tango & Cash”) and usually bolt off to a gym to pump some iron as well.
I now can’t fathom how excited we all got. I can’t watch 5 minutes of any of them now - they’re not even “bad”, just empty dead zones akin to beer commercials. (though I might say the same thing about today’s superhero movies)
Arness is only listed in the credits as the monster. Is he doing a double role as the tall scientist as well? He doesn’t show in imdb as doing that.