How Serious Are You About Movies?
Call for Recommendations
I’m finding that the narrative quality of movies from 15-30 years ago is superior to what we have today. And rediscovering and rewatching them can often be just as good as seeing them for the first time.
I hadn't thought of the movie Gallipoli for at least twenty years until I wrote my post on Churchill.
My wife and I watched it Saturday night without multi-tasking or dozing, pretty much the highest praise I can offer.
Gallipoli
Peter Weir’s beautiful and heartbreaking story of two Australian youths sent to fight in an awful battle in an awful war. Much of the movie is lighthearted and joyous and set in Australia and Egypt, with gorgeous scenery as the background for the development of a great friendship.
It all seems so remote from the war. Which makes the last part all the more wrenching.
Call for Your Recommendations in the Comments
You can recommend any movie of course, but I’m really looking for ones that are not obvious and may have slipped most of our minds.
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This is great! I love a lot of the older movies. So many of the new ones aren’t that good. Recently I discovered that YouTube has all kinds of old movies. Yes, there are ads, but they aren’t long, and you can usually skip them after 5 seconds.
My husband and I watched one recently that was quite good: Lone Star (Rotten Tomatoes description): In the Texas border town of Frontera, Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) digs up the past when he finds an old skull in the desert. As he traces the murder of Sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) 40 years earlier, Deeds' investigation points toward his late father, the much-loved Deputy Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey). Ignoring warnings not to delve any deeper, Sam rekindles a romance with his high school sweetheart while bringing up old tensions in the town and exposing secrets long put to rest.
Hi, David. My goodness do I feel lucky. I popped over to your Substack only to find your latest posting with the best title ever. 😊
I rewatched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid this weekend (it was the first viewing for the husband) and boy oh boy, it was SPECTACULAR. A deconstructed western with William Goldman-tier humor and whole lot of boyish ruggedness. Most excellent. And it has, IMHO, one of the best film endings in movie history while simultaneously being one of the sweetest endings in movie history. Seriously, (knowing the ending) I almost cried at how tender and comforting they were with each other. SO GOOD. Newman and Redford are the best.