Weekend Movie Marathon: 2/6 - 2/8

[Jon]

I can top that: I've never seen Casablanca or Gone With the Wind and don't intend to ever doing so. :p

You know how conservative I can be on reviews.

Casablanca is really a good film. Forget all the hype that you hear about this and other supposed classics like Citizen Kane, it is an enjoyable movie despite the cardigan wearing pipe-smoking movie buffs who always want to disect it and explain with a load of bollox why it is a masterpiece. It is just a good movie to me.

(Jon quickly takes his cardie off)   

I wear my cardie with pride, goddamit! However you've hit on an excellent point and I may I direct you to my recent review, found in my Oscar marathon thread? 

Citizen Kane is a classic masterpiece of the highest order, but the important thing to realise about Casablanca is that it was never intended to be such a film. It's at heart a well written genre movie and if fate hadn't stepped in, it would have been no better or worse than the sort of regular films released in the Fox Film Noir series. The bloody script wasn't even finished even by at least halfway.

I love all movies, but I don't think I'm a pretentious cardie wearing boor. If a supposed classic doesn't float my boat, I move on. I like to analyse where appropriate and that's why I love Casablanca. There's nothing to analyse! It works, brilliantly well, and all the better that it confounds the scoresheet. Apparently Ingrid Bergman was always bemused that the film she put the least faith in came out so far ahead of everything else she did. Of all the films I've reviewed so far in that marathon (and for a while yet) it's the most watchable and timeless.

[Rich]

I can top that: I've never seen Casablanca or Gone With the Wind and don't intend to ever doing so. :p

You know how conservative I can be on reviews.

Casablanca is really a good film. Forget all the hype that you hear about this and other supposed classics like Citizen Kane, it is an enjoyable movie despite the cardigan wearing pipe-smoking movie buffs who always want to disect it and explain with a load of bollox why it is a masterpiece. It is just a good movie to me.

(Jon quickly takes his cardie off)   

I wear my cardie with pride, goddamit! However you've hit on an excellent point and I may I direct you to my recent review, found in my Oscar marathon thread? 

Citizen Kane is a classic masterpiece of the highest order, but the important thing to realise about Casablanca is that it was never intended to be such a film. It's at heart a well written genre movie and if fate hadn't stepped in, it would have been no better or worse than the sort of regular films released in the Fox Film Noir series. The bloody script wasn't even finished even by at least halfway.

I love all movies, but I don't think I'm a pretentious cardie wearing boor. If a supposed classic doesn't float my boat, I move on. I like to analyse where appropriate and that's why I love Casablanca. There's nothing to analyse! It works, brilliantly well, and all the better that it confounds the scoresheet. Apparently Ingrid Bergman was always bemused that the film she put the least faith in came out so far ahead of everything else she did. Of all the films I've reviewed so far in that marathon (and for a while yet) it's the most watchable and timeless.

You are not a boor (despite the cardie) I was pulling your leg.

I am going to give Citizen Kane one more chance. On previous viewings i have been totally underwhelmed, perhaps because it has been so over-hyped?

[DJ Doena]

The problem is the sentence "It's a classic. Every movie fan has to see it!". I've tried that with a few of these classics (e.g. The Godfather) and was bored to death.

So my ground rule is: If the movie is from before my birth year I must have seen it at least once (on TV, by accident) to render at least a faint interest.

These are the movies from before 1977 that I own:

Title	Original Title	Country of Origin	Production Year
Dumbo	Dumbo	United States	1941
The Seven Samurai	Shichinin no samurai	Japan	1954
Yojimbo the Bodyguard	Yojimbo	Japan	1961
Treasure of Silver Lake	Der Schatz im Silbersee	Germany	1962
Winnetou the Warrior	Winnetou I	Germany	1963
Mary Poppins	Mary Poppins	United States	1964
Frontier Hellcat	Unter Geiern	Germany	1964
Winnetou: Last of the Renegades	Winnetou II	Germany	1964
Shatterhand	Old Shatterhand	Germany	1964
A Fistful of Dollars	Per un pugno di dollari	Italy	1964
Winnetou: The Desperado Trail	Winnetou III	Germany	1965
Rampage at Apache Wells	Der Ölprinz	Germany	1965
Flaming Frontier	Old Surehand	Germany	1965
For a Few Dollars More	Per qualche dollaro in più	Italy	1965
Half-Breed	Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi	Germany	1966
The Sons of Great Bear	Die Söhne der großen Bärin	Germany	1966
Winnetou: Thunder at the Border	Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand	Germany	1966
Asterix the Gaul	Astérix le Gaulois	France	1967
God Forgives... I Don't!	Dio perdona... Io no!		1967
Chingachgook - Die große Schlange	Chingachgook - Die große Schlange	Germany	1967
Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death	Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten	Germany	1968
Asterix and Cleopatra	Astérix et Cléopâtre	France	1968
My Name Is Trinity	Lo chiamavano Trinità	Italy	1969
M*A*S*H	M*A*S*H	United States	1970
Tora! Tora! Tora!	Tora! Tora! Tora!	United States	1970
Blackie the Pirate	Il corsaro nero	Italy	1971
Trinity Is Still My Name!	...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità	Italy	1971
All the Way Boys	Più forte, ragazzi!	Italy	1972
Tecumseh	Tecumseh	Germany	1972
Man of the East	E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico	Italy	1972
The Godfather	The Godfather	United States	1972
Watch Out, We're Mad	Altrimenti ci arrabbiamo	Italy	1973
Apachen	Apachen	Germany	1973
Three Nuts for Cinderella	Tri orísky pro Popelku	Czech Republic	1973
My Name Is Nobody	Il mio nome e' Nessuno	Italy	1973
Ulzana	Ulzana	Germany	1974
The Godfather: Part II	The Godfather: Part II	United States	1974
Turn the Other Cheek	Porgi l'altra guancia	Italy	1974
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	United States	1975
The Rocky Horror Picture Show	The Rocky Horror Picture Show	United States	1975
A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot	Un Genio, due compari, un pollo	Italy	1975
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix	Les Douze travaux d'Astérix	France	1976
Crime Busters	I due superpiedi quasi piatti	Italy	1976
Rocky	Rocky	United States	1976
Logan's Run	Logan's Run	United States	1976

Blind buys were: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I disliked: The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[Jon]

Looking at that list, Karsten, I'd say you'd probably enjoy Casablanca. Perhaps not blown away, but it's a good, optimistic, do-the-right-thing story, well-told, with a straightforward plot and a great cast of characters. In that sense I can see similarities with Seven Samurai of all things, but definitely not with The Godfather, which you have to work at and has a much darker message buried in it. If you can't be bothered to dig or fail to like the message (it is about criminals after all) then The Godfather is the worst film ever made, not the best.

You also have to work at Citizen Kane! Richie, first time I saw it, I thought it was good, but couldn't see what the fuss was about. Third time was during a film studies course (where everyone was required to have patches on their elbows!) and it clicked. Then I found it heartbreaking and brilliant. I have seen very few American films since that can match just how clever I think that screenplay is. You may still not like it, but consider this:

When you watch it again, just think about whose point of view the story is from. It's split into segments as the reporter from the start interviews different people associated with Kane. We strictly what he sees (in fact we never see his face). We can only know what he is also learning and we can only piece it together as he does. Until one key point at which it is impossible that the reporter is privy to it as well. It is a scene for the viewer and it's very different, relating to the snowglobe at the beginning. It gives us key information to make sure the very last scene makes sense to us, while all the characters have given up. They have failed to see or consider the human element.