"A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives." -- Wikipedia
"They were drifters and searchers and they looked for something. The journey was a state of mind for them...In a road movie you really go into the adventure, you go into the unknown, and you are faced with the unknown." -- Wim Wenders
"You know, it’s funny--you come to someplace new, and everything looks just the same." -- Eddie, Stranger Than Paradise
http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/title_zps2cg1tklc.jpg
I just wanted to get this opened up--I’m not going to start until tomorrow, sometime close to noon. Twenty voters listed 157 different films. Two films, including the winner, showed up on half the ballots. There’s a film in the Top 10 with four votes, and a film with five votes that finished 67th. Travels with Anna finished 51st, just outside the countdown, and I’m not sure if it exists--is it the same thing as The Art of Travel?
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 02:42 (seven years ago) link
Les rendez-vous d'Anna/The Meetings of Anna: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078152/
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 02:52 (seven years ago) link
Okay...Google kept taking me to The Art of Travel.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 03:01 (seven years ago) link
50. Children of Men27 points/3 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/50-children.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:17 (seven years ago) link
Lol missed the vote
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:23 (seven years ago) link
I'll post two or three before work starts today, another five-ten during the day, and finish the first 20 when I get home. Sporadic, I know.
I've only seen Children of Men once, on DVD. I didn't really connect with it, but I understand why people do; I do have that connection with Michael Radford's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which has the same washed-out look. As a road film, I can see that.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:25 (seven years ago) link
A true road-movie character--aimless, ducking in and out of life--would miss the vote, so that okay.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:28 (seven years ago) link
it's a fine film but I wouldn't file it under road movies - I get why you could, but it's not platonically the right form
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:35 (seven years ago) link
I missed this too.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:39 (seven years ago) link
49. Thelma & Louise28 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/49-thelma.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 12:01 (seven years ago) link
I wanted to get a still of them line-dancing but couldn't. I remember a fair amount of commentary on this when I came out...I think it held up pretty well when I went back to it a few years later.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 12:02 (seven years ago) link
"when it came out"--I've Kevin Kline'd myself!
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 12:03 (seven years ago) link
I love how T&L still angries up the blood of all the right misogynists
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 12:48 (seven years ago) link
48. Sideways28 points/7 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/48-sideways.jpg
"Angries up the blood"--Satchel Paige!
Sideways got as many or more votes than four films in the Top 10. Nebraska, which finished 67th, received 5 votes. The points for the two Payne films went like this: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 8. I think I voted for both myself. They're liked, just not passionately.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 13:02 (seven years ago) link
Or, they're hated.
― insidious assymetrical weapons (Eric H.), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 13:09 (seven years ago) link
By some people, sure. To state the obvious, not by the people who voted for them here.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 13:16 (seven years ago) link
Voted for this. Balances humor and melancholic truth on middle age and friendships/loneliness and habit gone bad.
Need to see Nebraska.
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 13:49 (seven years ago) link
Aw, shame about Nebraska. I said this on another thread but while the rest of Payne's ouevre doesn't move me (I don't hate any of the ones I've seen, I just don't care about them), Nebraska completely won me over. But I went for the option of giving loads of points to my top five, so everything else suffered with small points.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 14:25 (seven years ago) link
47. The Sugarland Express29 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/47-sugarland.jpg
I liked Nebraska fine (better than the album, I think). Been meaning to watch it again.
As I've said many times, my favourite Spielberg film, also my favourite of Goldie Hawn's (would take her over Gena Rowlads for the Academy Award that year...not even nominated). Twenty-five when he made it, I think.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 15:31 (seven years ago) link
The first #1 vote is coming up. I assigned #1s to 14 of the 20 ballots, where there was a clear ranking. With the other six, there would be a group of films at the top with the most points--I wasn't sure if the first one listed was #1 or not. I broke ties by most voters.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 15:34 (seven years ago) link
45. (tie) No Country for Old Men30 points/5 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/45-country.jpg
45. (tie) Alice in the Cities30 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/45-alice.jpg
Busy day at work--I'll finish up to #31 when I get home.
Love both these films.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 17:39 (seven years ago) link
No Country and Children both made my ballot at the 'oh yeah i guess this kind of is a road movie' tier.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 18:01 (seven years ago) link
44. Old Joy32 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/44-joy.jpg
Squeeze in one before I head home. I think three of the images are screenshots of my own; wish I'd learned how simple this was a long time ago.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 19:49 (seven years ago) link
I don't know how many of these films fall into the love-it-or-hate-it category, but this one would be near the top of that list. I loved it, helped immensely by the Yo La Tengo soundtrack; absent that, very doubtful.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 19:50 (seven years ago) link
43. The Passenger33 points/3 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/43-passenger.jpg
I'd have to check, but I think Nicholson handily accumulated the most acting points for this poll. He personifies roadiness.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 21:40 (seven years ago) link
Wanted to watch this one but didn't get round to it. In fact, I've only seen two of the list so far, hence me not commenting much, sorry!
― emil.y, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 21:44 (seven years ago) link
I've seen The Passenger two or three times. For me, kind of a slog, although I like the Michael Snow-influence final shot. Maria Schneider is such a '70s icon.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 21:48 (seven years ago) link
Someone will make a documentary about her at some point.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 21:51 (seven years ago) link
42. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia33 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/42-alfredo.jpg
I'll be honest, this one had me giggling the one time I saw it--the conversations with the head. Maybe that's the intended reaction, I don't know. I was probably influenced by its inclusion in that first Harry Medved book. Greil Marcus mentioned it recently:
"Alfredo Garcia is one of a kind--hypnotic, fatalistic, cruel, hard to take, impossible to forget."
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 21:58 (seven years ago) link
need to rewatch this, remember really liking it but not much else.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:01 (seven years ago) link
41. Aguirre, the Wrath of God36 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/41-aguirre.jpg
Sorry to say I've never seen this. I've had a DVD on the shelf for a couple of years, but I'll only see it for the first time if it's in a theatre. It screened here a few months ago--I know that whatever it was that prevented me from going was something I couldn't duck out of.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:10 (seven years ago) link
39. (tie) Midnight Cowboy37 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/39-midnight.jpg
39. (tie) Dead Man37 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/39-dead.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:24 (seven years ago) link
I still waver a bit on the idea of Midnight Cowboy as a road film, so I put it somewhere in the middle of my ballot, below films I'd rank lower if I were just listing favourites. I tried to balance the two: "How much do I like this film?" with "How well does it capture what I think a road movie is?"
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:27 (seven years ago) link
I like Dead Man, although it took a second try. I remember some interesting millennial commentary on it at the time.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:35 (seven years ago) link
Never seen the Dead Man but the soundtrack is road movie as hell.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:41 (seven years ago) link
Oh yay, two of mine - Aguirre and Midnight Cowboy.
I tried to balance the two: "How much do I like this film?" with "How well does it capture what I think a road movie is?"
Yeah, this was my approach too, and I also bumped down Midnight Cowboy because of it. Though I'm sure you'd get some people thinking a lot of my top votes are not really 'classic style' road movies and so I shouldn't talk - even though I respect the American car movie as the Platonic version of a road movie I think 'expansive philosophical journey films' are my preferred angle to take. Aguirre for instance, I felt completely sure about including as a road movie, but as I wasn't able to give it a re-watch it fell out of my top five, and I'm kind of regretting that now.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:42 (seven years ago) link
I want a road, but I don't need a car--tractor, bus, by foot, they're all good.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:46 (seven years ago) link
In my own life, I have more peace of mind when I'm driving (around dusk, no traffic) that at any other time.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:50 (seven years ago) link
Aguirre, Alfredo Garcia and Dead Man are incredible (although I didn't vote for Aguirre). The rape in Alfredo Garcia is v unpleasant and the one thing that really bugs me about the film. the rest is k-lassic.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:52 (seven years ago) link
https://templinbrand.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/aguirre.png
good example of a trope key to the genre: the characters pass by something bizarre or unexplainable but make no comment on it.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:53 (seven years ago) link
haha yes
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:57 (seven years ago) link
Great image, don't recognize it.
No one nominated The Wild Bunch...That has a some road-film in it, no? (I did put up a post early expressing skepticism as to whether most any western is inherently a road film, and that this would then turn into a greatest western poll.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 22:58 (seven years ago) link
36. (tie) Vagabond38 points/4 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/36-vagabond.jpg
36. (tie) Down by Law38 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/36-law.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:00 (seven years ago) link
xp it's a shot from Aguirre.
Realised Hell or High Water should have been nominated as well.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:00 (seven years ago) link
Haven't seen Down by Law, which is strange in view of much I love Stranger Than Paradise. Maybe Excitable Italian Man has kept me away. The thing I remember about Vagabond is thinking that the ending may have partly inspired Twin Peaks.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:09 (seven years ago) link
"how much"
Benigni is fine in the movie. Perhaps assisted by the other characters treating him as the inconvenient annoyance that he is
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:12 (seven years ago) link
I have a lifetime grudge against the man for stealing Nick Nolte's Academy Award.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:15 (seven years ago) link
Oh yes, definitely. Also made me lol @ RPG memory where I was GMing and made the characters drive past a Jurassic Park minigolf for literally no reason (this is probably only funny to me).
I did think about nominating Wise Blood as there's a lot of driving, but he doesn't ever actually manage to go anywhere. The line "a man doesn't need to be justified if he's got a good car" is A++ material for the poll, though.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:18 (seven years ago) link
35. Sullivan’s Travels39 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/35-sullivan.jpg
I want to finish this up before 8:00...Thought this was great the one time I saw it years ago--clearly the blueprint for Bill Forsyth's great Comfort and Joy. Veronica Lake...sigh.
Wise Blood's another one I've got revisit.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:21 (seven years ago) link
I'm in typos-every-other-word mode.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:22 (seven years ago) link
Was thinking about A Good Man is Hard to Find as stuff in other mediums that would fit.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:27 (seven years ago) link
I remember reading a short story that I think was Flannery O'Connor--a mom and her adult son on a bus, arguing the whole way. It's not that, is it?
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:30 (seven years ago) link
34. Inside Llewyn Davis40 points/3 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/34-llewyn.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:31 (seven years ago) link
xp that's Everything That Rises Must Converge.
Love Llewyn <3
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:33 (seven years ago) link
Woah, didn't realize that we started this!
Catching up: Thelma and Louise and Sideways both came in towards the end of my ballot. The former might of ranked a little higher had I seen it more recently, and the latter I had already designated as the last film on my ballot because I see it as something as a thematic bookend to my #1 film (but more on that later, hopefully).
Aguirre, Children of Men and No Country For Old Men are all movies I love, but they didn't fit my own personal criterial for a road movie for one reason or another. I like Sullivan's Travels well enough, but didn't vote for it.
Need to see all the others.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:34 (seven years ago) link
As for Llewyn, I still haven't really warmed to it after a couple of re-watches in which I was expecting to do just that, but I'll likely give it another whirl some time down the, er, road.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:36 (seven years ago) link
(xpost) Right--memorable story.
Great film, although the explicitly road-film 20 minutes is my least favourite part.
Just checked your list--I haven't seen your #1, but the Sideways connection is intriguing.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:38 (seven years ago) link
32. Goin’ Down the Road42 points/3 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/32-goin.jpg
Too many Canadians voting in this poll...The woman in the still, Sheila White, died within a year or two of Goin' Down the Road's release. If you ever see it, whatever you think of the film itself, you will never forget her or the one scene she's in.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:41 (seven years ago) link
Not enough road for me, but I adore it. And yes, that scene is absolutely gorgeous and haunting.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:42 (seven years ago) link
missed 33?
― devvvine, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:46 (seven years ago) link
33. Kings of the Road40 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/33-kings.jpg
Oops--you're right! Too anxious to get to Goin' Down the Road.
I had this pretty high. I think it's almost too self-conscious about its roadiness--Wenders clearly set out to make the definitive road film--but so many great moments and images.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:51 (seven years ago) link
31. Pierrot le Fou42 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/31-pierrot.jpg
One of four directors to place three films, I think.
I'll resume tomorrow with #30-11. Same sporadic posting schedule during the day.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 23:57 (seven years ago) link
Nicholson's commentary track on The Passenger DVD is a model of intelligence. He shuts up when necessary, and can discuss shots and dissolves.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 May 2017 00:03 (seven years ago) link
He also sounds like he's getting over the flu.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 May 2017 00:34 (seven years ago) link
I didn't realize we had to designate a #1, and I gave equal high points to three films, so let the record show Kings of the Road had at least one #1. I thought it would place higher.
― nickn, Thursday, 18 May 2017 00:42 (seven years ago) link
That was an easy fix the way I set up images.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 00:50 (seven years ago) link
If anyone else meant for something to be #1 and I didn't count it as such, let me know and I'll drop a revised image in there.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 00:55 (seven years ago) link
Um...I also missed #38 yesterday.
38. Into the Night38 points/2 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/38-night.jpg
Good thing I meticulously set up a chart the night before, with everything that needed to be cut-and-paste all set ahead of time, including the image links. That way there'd be no foul-ups. (Other than skipping two spots, the results have been correct.)
This was the hardest image for me to figure out. I haven't seen the film, and I don't really have any sense of it. And a search didn't turn up anything that striking.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 11:40 (seven years ago) link
Here's #50-31:50. Children of Men49. Thelma and Louise48. Sideways47. The Sugarland Express45. (tie) No Country for Old Men Alice in the Cities44. Old Joy43. The Passenger42. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia41. Aguirre, the Wrath of God39. (tie) Midnight Cowboy Dead Man38. Into the Night36. (tie) Down by Law Vagabond35. Sullivan’s Travels34. Inside Llewyn Davis33. Kings of the Road32. Goin' Down the Road31. Pierrot le Fou
50. Children of Men49. Thelma and Louise48. Sideways47. The Sugarland Express45. (tie) No Country for Old Men Alice in the Cities44. Old Joy43. The Passenger42. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia41. Aguirre, the Wrath of God39. (tie) Midnight Cowboy Dead Man38. Into the Night36. (tie) Down by Law Vagabond35. Sullivan’s Travels34. Inside Llewyn Davis33. Kings of the Road32. Goin' Down the Road31. Pierrot le Fou
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 11:50 (seven years ago) link
30. It Happened One Night42 points/6 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/30-happened.jpg
I think it's been 40 years since I saw this--likely on Elwy Yost's show (Canada's venerable Robert Osborne-type movie host) in the late '70s. Don't remember much except the most famous scene (which I tried to avoid for the image).
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 12:15 (seven years ago) link
29. Sightseers43 points/4 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/29-sightseers.jpg
Hadn't even heard of this film until this poll--looked into ordering it, but a little pricey on Amazon.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 12:45 (seven years ago) link
28. The Wizard of Oz43 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/28-wizard.jpg
Before my own munchkins arrive...I have seen this one.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 13:06 (seven years ago) link
Sightseers was another of mine - basically Nuts In May as serial killers.
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 14:50 (seven years ago) link
if I'd voted I'd have put It Happened One Night very near the top, it invented so much
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:05 (seven years ago) link
and is brilliant, not giving out marks just for being early
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:06 (seven years ago) link
27. Vanishing Point44 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/27-vanishing.jpg
Bought the DVD many years ago...I don't why, I just haven't been that keen on watching it.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:28 (seven years ago) link
Ok who was the other Into the Night voter
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:39 (seven years ago) link
Sightseers is good but may actually be my least favoritr Jump/Wheatley movie
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 15:40 (seven years ago) link
Vanishing Point also a winner in the "action narrated/directed by radio DJ" poll.
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:14 (seven years ago) link
I can't fathom Into the Night as a road movie. Or a good movie.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:20 (seven years ago) link
It Happened One Night is one that I meant to rewatch for this poll, and I probably would have voted for it if I did.
Vanishing Point is another blind spot for me. Isn't that the one with the "tossing the homos out of the car" though?
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:21 (seven years ago) link
love that description of Sightseers, Emily. didn't make my list, but even lesser Jump/Wheatley is great in my book.
Was unaware of Goin' Down the Road, but will search out, been enjoying Michel Brault and Jutra recently.
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:27 (seven years ago) link
26. The Milky Way45 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/26-milky.jpg
Like Fellini, not for me.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:28 (seven years ago) link
25. The Last Detail47 points/6 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/25-detail.jpg
I'm not sure if I'd have it in my Top 20 American films for the decade, yet it's pretty much perfect.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:44 (seven years ago) link
The highest rated Jack on my ballot.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:46 (seven years ago) link
Glad I managed to re-watch the Milky Way before voting, it's a fascinating and beautiful piece and wound up in my top five.
I don't remember this! I gave it points based on what I did remember from when I last saw it as a teen, and that sense of epic expanse and nihilistic speeding.
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:47 (seven years ago) link
I only know VP from the scene that's excerpted in The Celluloid Closet (if I'm thinking of the right film, that is)
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:49 (seven years ago) link
film consists entirely of driving around LA at night running into wacky characters/situations
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:50 (seven years ago) link
I think that scene's pretty notorious--shows up in The Celluloid Closet. (The same scene is basically in Mean Streets.)
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:50 (seven years ago) link
Well, I feel a bit gross about myself now. I mean, I know some of my favourites are problematic but at least I remember and note their problems, but here I just idly tossed off a vote for something without any reflection.
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:53 (seven years ago) link
Don't feel gross. I don't even remember the similar scene in Mean Streets.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:54 (seven years ago) link
(not that I voted for MS in this poll of course, but I like it)
I don't remember the VP scene in question at all.
So much questionable shit in the 70s lol
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 16:57 (seven years ago) link
23. (tie) Stranger Than Paradise49 points/7 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/23-paradise.jpg
23. (tie) Wild Strawberries49 points/7 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/23-strawberries.jpg
Let me post this tie, and that'll be it till I get home later.
It's been quite a while since I saw Wild Strawberries; I like how the bickering couple is borrowed by Five Easy Pieces. (Great parody by Woody in...Love and Death?) Stranger Than Paradise is one of my decade favourites. Would have been neat if it had been the veener.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:02 (seven years ago) link
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko)
Yes, but they get tossed because they pull a gun on Kowalski. (definite homophobia in the lead up, though)
― nickn, Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:07 (seven years ago) link
https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-82fd3e9d5a4677642c69ff33082fafa5-c
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:08 (seven years ago) link
mostly blanks tho
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:10 (seven years ago) link
That's it. I'm not excusing it, but you could spend a week picking out similar transgressions in '70s American films. Besides the times, that was a really self-styled macho group of directors--Altman, Peckinpah, Eastwood, Walter Hill, etc. Not all of them, but a high percentage. Probably comparable to the '50s abstract expressionist painters.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:11 (seven years ago) link
huh that's an interesting parallel
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:14 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I wasn't at all saying "lets burn Vanishing Point, or anything. I get that a lot of the films of this era were characterized by some combination of a masculinist homophobia (and misogyny) and a general not-qutie-thereness on queer issues. And it isn't like there aren't moments in this body of films that trouble this: the kooky yet non-stereotypical lesbian couple in Five Easy Pieces, the observation of a happy gay couple in The Last Detail (ridiculed by one character, but defended by the film's most sympathetic one), and probably several others that I can't remember right now.
Then there is the homoeroticism that has been read into "buddy" films like Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (which I haven't seen). So, yeah, I'm probably doing a disservice to Vanishing Point by mentioning this, but it has been tainted for me by the Celluloid Closet clip being the only thing that I knew about it for many years.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Thursday, 18 May 2017 17:22 (seven years ago) link
Relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVXIK1xCRpY
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 May 2017 18:23 (seven years ago) link
^^Should note: Video has spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen Vanishing Point.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 May 2017 18:30 (seven years ago) link
22. The Wages of Fear51 points/7 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/22-wages.jpg
I'll carry on to #11 over the next couple of hours. I'm trying my best to take the world's mind off Washington.
Another one I saw so long ago (along with Diabolique, on the aforementioned Elwy Yost's show), I don't remember anything. I saw the re-release of Sorcerer three or four years ago and thought it was okay.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 22:25 (seven years ago) link
21. Breathless54 points/4 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/21-breathless.jpg
There's a great close-up of the gun just before they murder the guy; couldn't find it online...First time I saw this, in 1979, it was on some contraption at a campus library that played cartridges that were twice the size of a VHS cassette.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 22:47 (seven years ago) link
Breathless feels like more of a car movie than a road movie, not sure how I'd define the distinction though.
― devvvine, Thursday, 18 May 2017 22:56 (seven years ago) link
I've never seen most of these Euro films that are placing. I am an ignorant savage I guess
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 22:57 (seven years ago) link
I mean I've seen Aguirre and Wild Strawberries but Godard and the Italian neo-realists like Antonioni never appealed to me
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 22:58 (seven years ago) link
― devvvine, Thursday, May 18, 2017 11:56 PM (yesterday)
Actually, I would probably agree with this (still voted for it tho').
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:05 (seven years ago) link
I think road-movie and car-movie is a meaningful distinction (obviously with lots of overlap.)
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:11 (seven years ago) link
yeah Christine is not a road movie, for ex.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:12 (seven years ago) link
20. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 56 points/6 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/20-brother.jpg
Surprised this finished so high. I think it's okay.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:12 (seven years ago) link
Will fix that date posthaste...
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:13 (seven years ago) link
19. American Honey58 points/4 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/19-honey.jpg
Still think about this periodically; will see it again next time it shows up in a theatre. I think it'd make a great double-bill with Boyhood, although I'm not sure I could explain that.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:27 (seven years ago) link
YUP
(one of my top votes)
― devvvine, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:28 (seven years ago) link
Hate leaving Sasha Lane out of the image, but I used up the best one in the previous thread. The one above is the second screen-shot of my own.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:30 (seven years ago) link
18. La Strada60 points/5 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/18-strada.jpg
I've seen it. Long ago. Remember nothing.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:44 (seven years ago) link
It's great altho tbh I prefer Nights of Cabiria
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:45 (seven years ago) link
Haven't seen that. Of the five or six Fellinis I've seen, La Dolce Vita is the only one I want to see again.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:55 (seven years ago) link
17. Wendy and Lucy62 points/6 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/17-wendy.jpg
Love this. I don't think her three since have come close, although Certain Women finally gets an opening here next week, and I expect it will look great on a big screen. Took me about twenty tries before I stopped referring to this as Wendy and Lisa.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:57 (seven years ago) link
You're being a bit hard on yourself, Οὖτις, saying you've not seen much of the Euro stuff when you've watched Herzog and Bergman and Fellini! I obviously have a Euro bias but I haven't seen a lot of these films either, and am trying hard not to point the finger of disgusting savagery and filmic naïveté at myself.
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:57 (seven years ago) link
xpost lol, clemenza, going through the list I wondered what 'this film about Wendy & Lisa' was, multiple times.
― emil.y, Thursday, 18 May 2017 23:58 (seven years ago) link
Just a beautiful film, have been putting off watching this for years and had to read the ending first as well.
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:03 (seven years ago) link
It's outtakes from the Purple Rain tour, with random backseat shots of Michelle Williams mixed in.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:04 (seven years ago) link
Spoiler alert.
16. Two-Lane Blacktop62 points/7 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/16-blacktop.jpg
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:06 (seven years ago) link
Lol
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:08 (seven years ago) link
Yay! for Wages and Brother, both of which I voted for. Boo for the first hour of American Honey, which I got through about an hour of before abandoning (it was during a stressful time of my life; I probably would have watched the whole thing at any other time, though I highly doubt that I would have liked it).
Need to see La Strada, and I guess I need to see Wendy and Lucy as well, though it never looked that interesting to me.
Breathless is not a road film.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 00:08 (seven years ago) link
Sorry for the redundancies in my above post. Too much wine with dinner.
I haven't seen 2LB either, though it is the film that I often confuse with Vanishing Point.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 00:09 (seven years ago) link
15. Something Wild63 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/15-wild.jpg
This was really lagging for the first half of the ballots; picked up towards the end and finished about where I thought it would, maybe a little lower. Missed my own ballot, but not by much.
The complete surprise of Two-Lane Blacktop's last minute remains one the best dumbfounding experiences I've ever had in a movie theatre. (It and Vanishing Point and Drive, He Said have always existed alongside each other in my mind, although I still haven't seen the other two.)
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:16 (seven years ago) link
A shameful blindspot. Particularly in light of recent events.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 00:19 (seven years ago) link
Ray Liotta's terrifying in it. Not even sure if I made the connection to his character here when Goodfellas came out.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:22 (seven years ago) link
14. Wanda64 points/6 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/14-wanda.jpg
"Goddamn it, it was 'Wanda, Wander.'""It was 'Wonder, Wanda.'""'Wanda, Wander'! 'Wanda, Wander'!""'Wonder, Wanda.'""What difference does it make? It was a hit!"
(Henry Gibson and Barbara Baxley in Nashville.)
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:27 (seven years ago) link
Would love to read a book on the making of this.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:28 (seven years ago) link
Well, yep. Only saw it for the first time during nominations but it went straight into my top five. Barbara Loden is amazing.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:33 (seven years ago) link
She made two more shorts, both 1975, and nothing else till her death in 1980 (age 48). Married Kazan in 1968, was still with him when she died. I got some of the background when I saw someone introduce this a couple of years ago, but what a story.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:37 (seven years ago) link
13. Paris, Texas64 points/8 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/13-paris.jpg
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:41 (seven years ago) link
As good as it gets when Ry Cooder's playing and they're driving at night. Some of the last third loses me.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:42 (seven years ago) link
Two more I need to see. I PVR'd Wanda a while ago and must have accidentally erased it.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 00:44 (seven years ago) link
12. Weekend67 points/6 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/12-weekend.jpg
There's a road, and there are cars.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:47 (seven years ago) link
Another one I've never seen, but I'm right in the middle of reading Laura Mulvey on Godard, so I'm gearing up for a big JLC catch-up soon.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 00:49 (seven years ago) link
Paris was another one of my top votes, love it.
also hoping this gets some kind of uk release: http://variety.com/2017/film/festivals/lucky-sxsw-film-review-1202008227/
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:50 (seven years ago) link
John Carroll Lynch, wow. His parts in Fargo and Zodiac make for one of the most schizophrenic pairings I can think of.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 00:53 (seven years ago) link
xpI remember seeing a DVD of Wanda in a Tower Records when they were doing their going out of business sale, and I thought if a waited a few more days it'll be cheaper, but when I went back it was gone. They also had a Ross McElwee box set I planned to do the same with, also gone.
― nickn, Friday, 19 May 2017 01:01 (seven years ago) link
11. Five Easy Pieces67 points/9 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/11-easy.jpg
Perfect place to end for today. I had it fifth on my ballot, but any one of my top five could have been #1. I realize that part of why I think of this as a road movie actually has to do with the first paragraph of Stanley Kauffmann's review, reprinted in Living Images:
Two months ago I was driving down through the Grand Tetons and gave a lift to a young man. He turned out to be a Ph.D. candidate from an eastern university who had just finished his course work and couldn't get up enough interest to write his dissertation. The whole process had turned futile on him. He had come out to Wyoming to get a job with his hands; he didn't know how long it would be before he went back. Perhaps never.
I thought of him when I saw Five Easy Pieces.
I'm conflating an anecdote in a review with the film itself, but that opening has always stayed with me. In my mind, the part of me that wishes I were Bobby Dupea has this whole separate life that bears little resemblance to the one I actually lead.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 01:07 (seven years ago) link
Weekend or The Freewheelin' Jean Luc Godard is the bratty inversion of the genre i think, kind of a big fuck you to the romance of the car and the road, but it still manages to be soaked with the romance of the car and the road. i love how at this point onwards in his career JLG pushes boredom as a formal quality and still fills up on beautiful shot-framing. plus the notorious tracking shot near the beginning is everything that a road movie ought to be and kids really love it if you make them sit and watch it all in class. think i'm just back in a phase where he chimes with my shitty mood, wd've made this my own number 1 i think.
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Friday, 19 May 2017 06:06 (seven years ago) link
oh and that song the female protagonist sings periodically sticks in my head all day
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Friday, 19 May 2017 06:07 (seven years ago) link
I come at Weekend from two angles: the experience of watching it, and conceptually. I've seen it four or five times: sequences and images that stay with you forever, also boredom and impatience and befuddlement. It's not one of my favourite films, or even one of my favourite Godards.
Conceptually, though, everything NV says and more--as one person's response to 1968 (something that clearly starts building in his work as the decade goes along, all of it coalescing in Weekend), there aren't many films I hold in higher esteem.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 11:28 (seven years ago) link
10. Lost in America68 points/8 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/10-lost.jpg
"Why are you treating me like an animal?""I'll explain it to you later."
If that makes you inexplicably smile, you're on this film's unique wavelength.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 11:31 (seven years ago) link
It'll be scattershot, but I've got to finish this during the day. I promise you the most downbeat, anti-climactic Top 10 ever.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 11:38 (seven years ago) link
downbeat and anti-climactic are key notes of the true road movie
― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Friday, 19 May 2017 11:41 (seven years ago) link
think 4 Mad Max films in the top 10 or just 3?
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 19 May 2017 11:41 (seven years ago) link
Weekend is far and away my favourite Godard of the ones I've seen, btw.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 11:52 (seven years ago) link
9. L’Avventura69 points/5 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/9-lavventura.jpg
There's no film I've tried harder to connect with. Seven or eight times I've gone back to it (unlike, say, 8-1/2, which I realized after a couple of tries was of a temperament far from my own). L’Avventura isn't. But I come up short every time.
(My favourite Godard is one of My Life to Live, Band of Outsiders, or Masculin Féminin. But I realize he had to get all of the Truffaut that flits in and out of those films out of his system before he could make Weekend.)
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 11:58 (seven years ago) link
8. Stroszek72 points/7 votes/two #1s
http://phildellio.tripod.com/8-stroszek.jpg
I wrote about the music in this after re-watching it last week. I find Herzog himself a little cartoonish in his recent documentaries--find it hard to put together his persona there with this film.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:25 (seven years ago) link
(Sorry for rushing this along...I've got to get most of this finished before 9:00.)
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:26 (seven years ago) link
Would have been my no. 1 on a straight ballot, the last act is just unforgettable and it also includes the funniest jump cut in history.
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:33 (seven years ago) link
Trying to think of which jump-cut you mean...That auctioneer's amazing. Was surprised to see Errol Morris's name in the opening credits.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:37 (seven years ago) link
Stroszek is probably my favorite Herzog movie
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:38 (seven years ago) link
xp The cut from Strozsek gazing out at where his house used to be to him and in the car with the old man holding a rifle. Just the most perfectly comic/tragic ending to what came before.
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:42 (seven years ago) link
to him in the car*
The old guy kills me. There was a short film they were playing throughout Toronto's Hot Docs this year that I'm pretty sure was inspired by the old guy's research project on "animal magnetism."
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:47 (seven years ago) link
7. Y Tu Mamá También73 points/8 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/7-tambien.jpg
Haven't seen this. I have it home, so I'll look after that shortly.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:48 (seven years ago) link
...That auctioneer's amazing
you might be interested in this... a number of people appearing in it also show up in stroszek including the auctioneer and the banker dude.
― no lime tangier, Friday, 19 May 2017 12:56 (seven years ago) link
Thanks, that looks great--will download it tonight.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 13:02 (seven years ago) link
6. The Straight Story82 points/8 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/6-straight.jpg
I've got to duck out for a couple of hours. This was my #1. I'm sure there are comparable examples if I gave it some thought, but the most anomalous film I can think of in anyone's filmography.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 13:04 (seven years ago) link
i reeeeeally hated Y Tu Mamá También
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 19 May 2017 14:38 (seven years ago) link
Me too
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 14:57 (seven years ago) link
Fuuuuuuuuck guys. I have this thing, consistently, where I confuse Y Tu Mama Tambien with another film (I believe the film I confuse it with is A Ma Soeur because they're both foreign language titles with family members in them?). I voted for it. I've never seen it. Sorry I completely goddamn fucked up my ballot.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:12 (seven years ago) link
5. Easy Rider82 points/10 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/5-easy.jpg
Sorry--two-hour assembly. Wouldn't worry about it, Emily, it would have been high anyway.
Probably the only film countdown we've had where one film in the Top 10 references another one in the Top 10.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:16 (seven years ago) link
I like this okay. Some incredible cinematography, love the use of "Wasn't Born to Follow." Some of it, obviously, a little dated. Still haven't seen The Last Movie, although I saw Kit Carson's making-of documentary last year.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:23 (seven years ago) link
If it had finished first, I might have been tempted to say "We blew it."
4. Walkabout93 points/7 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/4-walkabout.jpg
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:35 (seven years ago) link
honestly my favorite scene in Easy Rider is the opening scene w Spector
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:36 (seven years ago) link
so many things I've never even heard of placing
mostly all the ones that start w/ the letter "W" - Wanda, Weekend, Walkabout
Forgot about Spector--great casting.
Have you seen Wild Strawberries or Wizard of Oz, The?
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:41 (seven years ago) link
Yay, Walkabout. I wondered if people were gonna be 'not road movie enough' about that one. Completely excellent in every way.
Also Easy Rider deserves to be so high even if it is dated and a clichéd film to like etc, because part of the reason it is those things is that it is one of the Platonic ideals of the whole road movie concept.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:42 (seven years ago) link
Fun fact - three fifths of my top five began with W. And yes, it was those three.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:43 (seven years ago) link
Also the Milky Way, which has one of its words beginning with W.
well yeah
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 15:44 (seven years ago) link
respect
http://torrentking.eu/covers/movies/79/69/0027969.jpg
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 19 May 2017 15:49 (seven years ago) link
3. Bonnie and Clyde98 points/9 votes/one #1
http://phildellio.tripod.com/3-bonnie.jpg
Just kidding, Οὖτις.
Again wavering on this as a road film--not sure if being chased is qualitatively a different kind of film--but I voted for it. (Surprised that neither They Live by Night nor Thieves Like Us got a vote.) Alice's Restaurant sounds more roady, but I haven't seen it.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:09 (seven years ago) link
Alice's Restaurant is another one where I don't think they actually leave town...?
Bonnie & Clyde has them going cross-country picking up/meeting people and robbing banks and getting into trouble, I think it definitely qualifies. Great screen cap too btw
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:13 (seven years ago) link
I was really disappointed in Thieves Like Us when I finally got around to it.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:14 (seven years ago) link
Bonnie & Clyde is definitely a road movie!
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:16 (seven years ago) link
I don't know--I kept running into references to Alice's Restaurant as a road film. (From Ebert's original review: "Alice's Restaurant is at its best when Arlo is on the road, going to college, hitchhiking, playing his guitar, getting drafted, taking his Army physical, going to see his friends Ray and Alice and things like that.")
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:17 (seven years ago) link
Thieves Like Us is not high on my Altman list either. Kael's review is great, makes me wish I loved it.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
Huh granted I haven't seen it in 20 years but I don't remember a lot of being on the road (I do remember the draft/army physical stuff and him playing his guitar duh. also something about everybody living in a church and a junkie that dies)
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:20 (seven years ago) link
2. Stalker105 points/4 votes/two #1s
http://phildellio.tripod.com/2-stalker.jpg
My other L'Avventura. I've tried, and I will try again. Obvious still, I know, but the one moment I unequivocally love. All the online stills are as dingy as the film...which I realize is intentional. Wins the enthusiasm vote going away.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:26 (seven years ago) link
No film conveys cockeyed, unbridled enthusiasm like Stalker.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:27 (seven years ago) link
Not entirely sure it's a road movie because so much of the journey is restrictive but voted for it anyway. Is definitely a masterpiece though.
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:29 (seven years ago) link
Kael's review is great, makes me wish I loved it.
That's how I feel about Bonnie & Clyde.
― jmm, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:32 (seven years ago) link
gtfo w Stalker
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:33 (seven years ago) link
so Badlands, huh?
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:33 (seven years ago) link
seeing Stalker on the big screen for the first time next week :D
bit of a stretch to call it a road movie though, yeah.
also i don't think Bonnie & Clyde is that great, but it's been years.
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:36 (seven years ago) link
YTMT was my #1. Had Lost in America really high up too, so yay for those. Curious what the YTMT haters hate about it so much. The ending?
More on the arbitrary nature of what counts: I like Bonnie and Clyde, Stroszek and Walkabout about equally as movies, but only the former counted as a road movie for me.
I remember liking Easy Rider well enough when I finally saw it years ago, but its another one that needs a rewatch.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 16:38 (seven years ago) link
This list has given me a bunch of movies to check out. I didn't vote, but suspect I would have put It Happened One Night at the top.
― jmm, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:40 (seven years ago) link
Shit missed the countdown! There wasn't a link in the voting thread so I completely forgot about it. Would have voted Stalker high up but it didn't feel like a road film. Glad Badlands will take it. Sightseers was my number one. It's the only Wheatley I like and I love it completely. Need to see Lost In America and Goin' Down the Road.
― gospodin simmel, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:44 (seven years ago) link
Stalker was my number one and I gave it the maximum points I could. It might not have much in the way of cars, but to me it is definitely a road movie. My criteria for "what is a road movie" went something like:
* Is a journey the main narrative device in the film? Is the end point of that journey either unknown, futile, or non-existent?* Is the landscape and its changing/unchanging nature a main feature of the film? Is it vast?* Do the characters have existential crises? Are they unsure or afraid of being-in-the-world?* Does the exterior echo/reflect/distort the interior? (aka the pathetic fallacy clause.) Does the movement through geographic location have an analogue in the instability of the self?
Things that don't meet all of those criteria may still be a road movie, but those things were the most important elements for me.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:45 (seven years ago) link
I hated the contrivance of YTMT, the heavy-handed allegorical stuff, the treatment of sexuality, p much all of it
xp
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:47 (seven years ago) link
shit, just realized I should've voted for "Roadie"
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 16:48 (seven years ago) link
1. Badlands114 points/10 votes
http://phildellio.tripod.com/1-badlands.jpg
Didn't vote for it, but good #1. It overtook Stalker on the last couple of ballots. Which I was glad of--not that Stalker wouldn't be an interesting #1, but I always prefer many voters/modest vote-totals to few voters/major-points.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:02 (seven years ago) link
forgot to vote for this but it's great
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:03 (seven years ago) link
a good winner, thanks for doing this clemenza!
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:05 (seven years ago) link
Fair enough. I figure that if YTMT's use of allegory and treatment of sexuality don't work for you, the whole thing is pretty much lost. I'm not even sure I could defend it much beyond saying that the things you didn't like about it are the things that I liked.
I have heard the film's treatment of queerness challenged as homophobic, which I don't agree with (a film that is about homophobia is different than a film that embraces homophobia) but it certainly isn't clear cut enough to be undebatable.
Mostly, I put it at #1 (over, say, The Grapes of Wrath or Lost in America or something) because its just the movie that hit all of my own personal road movie sweet spots the hardest.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:06 (seven years ago) link
Watched Badlands long enough ago that I've retained very little memory of it, but I do remember it not doing much for me. Rinse and repeat for pretty much every other Malick I've seen, though (which is everything up until Tree of Life).
Great poll, though! Lots I need to watch. Thanks clem!
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:07 (seven years ago) link
Badlands probably woulda been my #1 if I voted.
Pretty much a perfect film. Beautiful, haunting, savage, hilarious, uniquely strange. Wish Malick could've given us more than two films in the 70s.
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:08 (seven years ago) link
Being "whatever" about Badlands is crazy to me.
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:09 (seven years ago) link
maybe Morbz has different objections to YTMT idk. I did find its treatment of the homoeroticism kind of offensive, the build up to this big moment of OMG TWO MEN ARE KISSING ONSCREEN was just ridiculous
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:09 (seven years ago) link
I made a Letterboxd list. I've seen 24/50.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:10 (seven years ago) link
Emil.y, I was the other #1 for Stalker for exactly the reasons you laid out. Hi 5!
― 20-lol pileup (WilliamC), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:10 (seven years ago) link
Never change ilx, this is a really great list
Didn't get around to voting, wonder if my vote would've been enough to get a dumb & dumber or pt&a sitting next to these films where they belong
― in a soylent whey (wins), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:11 (seven years ago) link
still want to know who the other Into the Night voter was lol
― Οὖτις, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:11 (seven years ago) link
Clemenza, thanks for running this poll -- fun to ponder, fun to vote, fun to watch the results.
― 20-lol pileup (WilliamC), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:11 (seven years ago) link
I should mention re: Badlands that I was like 17 when I saw it, ditto Days of Heaven. The two 70s Malicks are the only two of his I feel at all compelled to give another shot, so I'll get to them. Maybe they'll open up the rest of his filmography to me?
wins: I had PT&A pretty high on my ballot!
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:13 (seven years ago) link
Definitely give those two another shot. Even though you see the roots of latter day Malick in them (well, mostly in DoH), they're different animals.
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:14 (seven years ago) link
High five back atcha, WmC!
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:22 (seven years ago) link
Also I have pretty much the same thing as cryptosicko wrt Badlands - saw it when I was around 17, don't recall it having a major impression on me, have disliked all other Malick films I've seen so I didn't prioritise giving it a rewatch.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
I know PT&A will be something obvious but all I can read right now is "Paul Thomas & Anderson".
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:27 (seven years ago) link
OH DUH, Planes, Trains... - I didn't vote for it but I do have a soft spot.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:28 (seven years ago) link
Badlands is interesting, but not one I really treasure. I've always felt a detachment from its fantasy.
― jmm, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:29 (seven years ago) link
i guess i will admit when i first saw Badlands in my late teens i thought it was just decent, but really fell in love with it on rewatch a few years later. has grown in stature with each successive viewing.
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:35 (seven years ago) link
basically saying if you saw this at 17 and thought "whatever" you are missing out
― circa1916, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:36 (seven years ago) link
parents teachers and association
― in a soylent whey (wins), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:36 (seven years ago) link
My first allegiance was to the platonic ideal of the road movie rather than great film, period, so there are a few that couldn't show up on any other list (Leningrad Cowboys), but here's my ballot and points.
Stalker - 30Walkabout - 25Easy Rider - 25The Straight Story - 20O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 15 Dead Man - 8Paris, Texas - 8 Stagecoach 8Two-Lane Blacktop - 8 Wild Strawberries - 7Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure - 6The Brave Little Toaster - 5Badlands - 4 Leningrad Cowboys Go America - 4Planes, Trains and Automobiles - 3 Lost in America - 3 Alice in the Cities - 3The Sugarland Express - 3Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 3 Down by Law - 2Rain Man - 2Taste of Cherry - 2Smokey and the Bandit - 2The Wages of Fear - 2Slow West -2
― 20-lol pileup (WilliamC), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:40 (seven years ago) link
Thanks for voting, everyone. Really enjoyed looking around for the images (sizing them and whatnot is a lot of work, for sure). I'll put the full list and a few extra stats up later...And my own ballot, which I don't have here.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 17:53 (seven years ago) link
still want to know who the other Into the Night voter was lol― Οὖτις
The other person had it in his/her Top 5, each film getting 20 points. I'll leave it up to whomever to post if he/she wants to.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:06 (seven years ago) link
Thanks for the Letterboxd list, cryptosicko. I've seen 44, although again, a handful so long ago they may as well not even count.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:19 (seven years ago) link
My 15:
Y Tu Mamá TambiénThe Grapes of WrathLost in AmericaPaper MoonPlanes, Trains and AutomobilesO Brother, Where Art Thou?Wild StrawberriesThe Wizard of OzThe Last DetailFive Easy PiecesThe Wages of FearBonnie and ClydeNational Lampoon's VacationThelma and LouiseSideways
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 18:21 (seven years ago) link
Funny that After Hours didn't place but Into The Night did after the discussion at the top. I like AH but it doesn't qualify enough for me and I haven't seen ITN.
― nickn, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:31 (seven years ago) link
Here's mine
StroszekStalkerThe passengerAguirre the wrath of godWeekendMidnight runFive easy piecesTwo-lane blacktopBadlandsTaste of cherryL'avventura WalkaboutKill list Gallivant Radio onNo country for old menThe wages of fearAmerican honeyDuelSightseersCertified copy WandaParis, Texas Planes trains and automobiles Twentynine palms
Didn't contribute anything beyond a ballot but looking forward to checking out some of the list, Goin Down the Road is on Youtube I notice
Sad Midnight Run didn't make it. That being an 18 is v lol 80s
― i know kore-eda (or something), Friday, 19 May 2017 18:41 (seven years ago) link
Stroszek - 20American Honey - 20Paris, Texas - 20Wild Strawberries - 15Wendy & Lucy - 15Stalker - 15Five Easy Pieces - 15Inside Llewyn Davis - 15L’Avventura - 15Badlands - 15Messidor - 5Stranger than Paradise - 5Children of Men - 5Aguirre, The Wrath of God - 5No Country for Old Men - 5La Strada - 5Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - 1Embrace of the Serpent - 1Branded to Kill - 1Mad Max: Fury Road - 1Fitzcarraldo - 1
― devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:46 (seven years ago) link
Mine:
Stalker - 40The Milky Way - 20Walkabout - 20Wanda - 20Weekend - 20Aguirre, the Wrath of God - 5El Topo - 5Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! - 5Breathless (À bout de souffle) - 5Easy Rider - 5Midnight Cowboy - 5Nebraska - 5Carnival of Souls - 5Sightseers - 5Bonnie and Clyde - 5Vanishing Point - 5The Straight Story - 5Y Tu Mamá También - 5 <---- not actually the right film b/c I am an idiotZabriskie Point - 5The Hitch-Hiker - 5Stroszek - 1Paper Moon - 1O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 1Stand by Me - 1Kill List - 1
I would've like to have more of an arc to my points distribution but my maths is bad so I just went with one of clemenza's suggestions of blocks of the same points for a load of them.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:54 (seven years ago) link
*liked
Stranger Than ParadiseBreathless (1960)La StradaL’AvventuraWithnail and ISomething WildCorridor of FacesThe Trip (2010)BadlandsParis, TexasSullivan's TravelsThe Milky WayAlice Doesn’t Live Here AnymoreDrugstore CowboySidewaysEasy RiderLost in AmericaKings of the RoadStagecoachPierrot le FouLeningrad Cowboys Go AmericaFlirting with DisasterThe Wages of FearHarry and TontoBonnie and Clyde
Also thought about voting for: Stalker, La Nuit de Varennes, Palm Beach Story, Buffalo ‘66 (but, ugh, gallo), Wild Strawberries, Scarecrow, Aguirre, Ride the High Country, It Happened One Night.
Didn't think about Walkabout, but that likely would have bumped its way in.
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:57 (seven years ago) link
Oh, I didn't vote, but Stalker is possibly the best movie ever so
― ban violent jinks (imago), Friday, 19 May 2017 19:06 (seven years ago) link
I did not vote but had I voted stranger than paradise and Wendy & Lucy would've got some big bumps up the ladder
― Clay, Friday, 19 May 2017 19:11 (seven years ago) link
My ballot:
Vagabond / 30Sullivan's Travels / 16Two Lane Blacktop / 11Pierrot le Fou / 11Paris, Texas / 10La Strada / 10It Happened One Night / 10Je Tu Il Elle / 6Stranger than Paradise / 6Withnail & I / 6The Straight Story / 6Alice in the Cities / 6Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert / 6The Wizard of Oz / 6My Own Private Idaho / 6Repo Man / 6Stroszek / 6The Last Detail / 6Weekend / 6Five Easy Pieces / 6Dead Man / 6 Les rendez-vous d'Anna / 6 Wanda / 6Y Tu Mama Tambien / 3Easy Rider / 3
― one way street, Friday, 19 May 2017 19:15 (seven years ago) link
I bashed this out in five minutes just before the deadline on a day where I'd lived a mini-road movie in rural Texas
20 Point Films:
Two-Lane BlacktopSomething WildI Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You*Travels With AnnaPierrot le fou
5 Point Films:
Easy RiderVanishing PointPaper MoonWrong MoveAlice In The CitiesParis, TexasThe Last DetailLa stradaFive Easy PiecesStranger Than ParadiseY tu mama tambienBring Me The Head of Alfredo GarciaThe Straight StoryPlanes, Trains, and AutomobilesHarry and TontoLost In AmericaJe Tu Il ElleThe Sugarland ExpressTwo For The RoadWeekend
*My go for broke passion vote. A Brazilian movie from 2009 that I saw (twice!) at a festival, on paper this looks like a boilerplate quirky road pic: a recently divorced geologist is sent out for an environmental impact research study Re:the building of a canal, which he semi-derails by going on a lengthy bender. What sets it apart is the execution. The whole thing is presented as a collage of home movies, faux-found footage, and POV shots, with most of the dialog being log entries read in voiceover by the unseen protagonist, a mixed bag of travelog descriptions of what's happening, memories of his wife, and fragments of the study he's supposed to be conducting. One of the best films I've ever seen on the function of memory, and a refreshingly successful genre de/reconstruction.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 19 May 2017 19:19 (seven years ago) link
Oh, nice that you were the #1 for Vagabond, ows - I'd love to see it, partly because as of now I've only watched one Agnes Varda film, but also I usually trust your taste in things.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 19:22 (seven years ago) link
didn't vote, but would probly have included this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXGXOeBw8ZQ
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 19 May 2017 19:32 (seven years ago) link
Thanks, emil.y: for the same reason, yr ballot reminds me how much I need to finally see Walkabout.
Xp
― one way street, Friday, 19 May 2017 19:36 (seven years ago) link
Also, thanks for running this poll, clemenza! Since you mentioned being interested in reading more about Wanda, it might be worth looking at Nathalie Léger's Suite for Barbara Loden, an excerpt from which is available here:
https://www.theparisreview.org/letters-essays/6820/barbara-wanda-nathalie-leger
I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You**My go for broke passion vote. A Brazilian movie from 2009 that I saw (twice!) at a festival, on paper this looks like a boilerplate quirky road pic: a recently divorced geologist is sent out for an environmental impact research study Re:the building of a canal, which he semi-derails by going on a lengthy bender. What sets it apart is the execution. The whole thing is presented as a collage of home movies, faux-found footage, and POV shots, with most of the dialog being log entries read in voiceover by the unseen protagonist, a mixed bag of travelog descriptions of what's happening, memories of his wife, and fragments of the study he's supposed to be conducting. One of the best films I've ever seen on the function of memory, and a refreshingly successful genre de/reconstruction.
This sounds brilliant, btw.
― emil.y, Friday, 19 May 2017 19:47 (seven years ago) link
Sad Midnight Run didn't make it.
I really wanted to rewatch it for the poll, but couldn't find it anywhere. Haven't seen it since it whenever it was last in regular rotation on cable.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 19 May 2017 19:47 (seven years ago) link
http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/wanda_zpsxcrjmeyg.pnghttp://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/badlands_zpsyo4g7clj.jpg
Maybe road films are primarily about the secret contempt women harbor for the men they find themselves stuck in cars with.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 20:00 (seven years ago) link
1. The Straight Story – 232. The Sugarland Express – 203. Lost in America – 184. Goin’ Down the Road – 165. Five Easy Pieces – 136. Wendy and Lucy – 127. Stranger Than Paradise – 118. Kings of the Road – 109. American Honey – 910. Paris, Texas – 811. Midnight Cowboy – 712. Alice in the Cities – 6 13. Stroszek – 614. Wanda – 615. Jesus’ Son – 516. Almost Famous – 517. Aloha, Bobby and Rose – 418. Old Joy – 419. Bonnie and Clyde – 420. Sideways – 321. Lolita – 322. The Last Detail – 223. Harry and Tonto – 224. Nebraska – 225. Gerry – 1
I thought Jesus’ Son might sneak into the top 40 or 50. I'll post the full list shortly.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 22:33 (seven years ago) link
Am I the only one who voted for Into The Wild and Sherman's March? I expected the former to make the 20s or 30s rank.
― nickn, Friday, 19 May 2017 22:52 (seven years ago) link
ctrl+f dumb and dumber "Not found" ノಠ_ಠノ
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 19 May 2017 22:58 (seven years ago) link
Nick: each had you plus one other vote. Nothing for Dumb and Dumber.
I'm heading out right now, so I won't have the full list till later--sorry.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 23:05 (seven years ago) link
Shout Factory TV, of all places, has a ton of Herzog films free to watch — I'll try to catch Stroszek sometime soon.
― 20-lol pileup (WilliamC), Friday, 19 May 2017 23:07 (seven years ago) link
Seriously, the print (if that's the right word) on YouTube is perfect.
― clemenza, Friday, 19 May 2017 23:08 (seven years ago) link
My list. I judged based on having seen it (duh, but this eliminated a lot of them), how much I liked it (also duh, but qualified by how much it affected me at the time, so Vanishing Point, which I saw as a 14-year old, got a boost), and how "roady" it was. Several films I had seen and loved but couldn't remember what made them road movie worthy (L'Avventura), or disagreed with that status (Midnight Cowboy, Alice's Restaurant, Drugstore Cowboy).
Bless the Beasts I saw in high school, so is a sentimental YA favorite, and Crystal Fairy I watched on cable at random and was impressed by, though it's not a better movie than any of my lower-ranked movies. I just think it's very roady, and needs more publicity.
24 films, 200 points.
20 Kings of the Road (my #1, though not noted as such in my ballot)20 Vanishing Point20 Walkabout
15 Into the Wild15 Sherman’s March15 Two-Lane Blacktop
8 Badlands8 Bless the Beasts and Children8 Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus8 Detour8 Easy Rider
5 Duel5 Lost in America5 Old Joy5 Stranger Than Paradise5 The Passenger5 Two for the Road5 Wanda5 Wendy and Lucy
3 Buffalo ‘663 Freeway3 Electra Glide in Blue3 Five Easy Pieces3 The Milky Way
― nickn, Saturday, 20 May 2017 03:05 (seven years ago) link
1. Badlands (114 points/10 votes)2. Stalker (105/4)3. Bonnie and Clyde (98/9)4. Walkabout (93/7)5. Easy Rider (82/10)6. The Straight Story (82/8)7. Y Tu Mamá También (73/8)8. Stroszek (72/7)9. L’Avventura (69/5)10. Lost In America (68/8)11. Five Easy Pieces (67/9)12. Weekend (67/6)13. Paris, Texas (64/8)14. Wanda (64/6)15. Something Wild (63/5)16. Two-Lane Blacktop (62/7)17. Wendy and Lucy (62/6)18. La Strada (60/5)19. American Honey (58/4)20. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (56/6)21. Breathless (54/4)22. The Wages of Fear (51/7)23. Stranger Than Paradise (49/7) Wild Strawberries (49/7)25. The Last Detail (47/6)26. The Milky Way (45/4)27. Vanishing Point (44/5)28. The Wizard of Oz (43/5)29. Sightseers (43/4)30. It Happened One Night (42/6)31. Pierrot le Fou (42/5)32. Goin’ Down the Road (42/3)33. Kings of the Road (40/4)34. Inside Llewyn Davis (40/3)35. Sullivan’s Travels (39/4)36. Down by Law (38/4) Vagabond (38/4)38. Into the Night (38/2)39. Dead Man (37/4) Midnight Cowboy (37/4)41. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (36/4)42. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (33/5)43. The Passenger (33/3)44. Old Joy (32/4)45. Alice in the Cities (30/5) No Country for Old Men (30/5)47. The Sugarland Express (29/4)48. Sideways (28/7)49. Thelma and Louise (28/4)50. Children of Men (27/3)------------------------------------------------------------------51. Travels with Anna (26/2)52. The Bird People in China (25/1)53. Drugstore Cowboy (24/3)54. The Muppet Movie (24/2)55. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (21/4)56. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (21/3) The Grapes of Wrath (21/3)58. Broken Flowers (21/1) Going Places (21/1)60. Taste of Cherry (20/3)61. Into the Wild (20/2) Sherman's March (20/2) The Road Warrior (20/2)64. I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You (20/1)65. Midnight Run (19/2)66. Roadside Prophets (19/1)67. Nebraska (18/5)68. Paper Moon (18/3)69. Stand by Me (17/3)70. Almost Famous (16/3) El Topo (16/3)72. Death Proof (16/2) Mad Max: Fury Road (16/2)74. Festival Express (15/2)75. Goodbye Pork Pie (15/1)76. Scarecrow (14/2) Stagecoach (14/2)78. Repo Man (13/2)79. Entertainment (13/1)80. The Darjeeling Limited (12/1) Traffic (12/1)82. Harry and Tonto (11/3) Freeway (11/3)84. Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (11/2) Detour (11/2) Hair (11/2) Je Tu Il Elle (11/2) Withnail & I (11/2)89. 12 Monkeys (10/2) Adventures in Babysitting (10/2) Jesus’ Son (10/2) The Brave Little Toaster (10/2) Two for the Road (10/2)94. Corridor of Faces (10/1) El Norte (10/1) Güeros (10/1) Man Push Cart (10/1) The Night of the Hunter (10/1) The Trip (10/1) True Romance (10/1) Until the End of the World (10/1)102. Duel (9/1)103. Electra Glide in Blue (8/2) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (8/2) Fitzcarraldo (8/2) Leningrad Cowboys Go America (8/2) National Lampoon’s Vacation (8/2)108. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (8/1) Bless the Beasts and the Children (8/1) Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (8/1) Natural Born Killers (8/1)112. Certified Copy (7/2) Kill List (7/2) Rain Man (7/2)115. Smoke Signals (7/1)116. Gerry (6/2) It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (6/2) Slow West (6/2)119. Gallivant (6/1) My Own Private Idaho (6/1)121. Borat (5/2) Lolita (5/2)123. Beavis and Butt-head Do America (5/1) Carnival of Souls (5/1) Collateral (5/1) Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (5/1) Follow That Bird (5/1) Highway 61 (5/1) Kikujiro (5/1) Life of Pi (5/1) Messidor (5/1) Radio On (5/1) Raising Arizona (5/1) Road to Singapore (5/1) Road Trip (5/1) The Hitch-Hiker (5/1) Under the Skin (5/1) Zabriskie Point (5/1) Wrong Move (5/1)140. Aloha, Bobby and Rose (4/1) Flirting with Disaster (4/1) Hideous Kinky (4/1) Landscape in the Mist (4/1) Simple Men (4/1) The Getaway (4/1) They Drive by Night (4/1)147. Buffalo '66 (3/1) The Sure Thing (3/1)149. Journey to Italy (2/1) Little Miss Sunshine (2/1) Smokey and the Bandit (2/1) Starman (2/1)153. Branded to Kill (1/1) Embrace of the Serpent (1/1) Magical Mystery Tour (1/1) The Blues Brother (1/1) Twentynine Palms (1/1)
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 May 2017 05:03 (seven years ago) link
Enthusiasm (two or more votes):
1. Stalker (26.25 points/vote)2. Into the Night (19.00)3. American Honey (14.50)4. Goin' Down the Road (14.00)5. L'Avventura (13.80)6. Breathless (13.50)7. Inside Llewyn Davis (13.33)8. Walkabout (13.29)9. Travels with Anna (13.00)10. Something Wild (12.60)
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 May 2017 05:14 (seven years ago) link
Too lazy to do directors. I know Wenders led with five of his films getting votes, and I think Jarmusch, Godard, and the Coens all had three. Pretty sure Nicholson led actors--four lead roles, one supporting--unless there's someone who was in all five Wenders.
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 May 2017 05:22 (seven years ago) link
Wenders - 5
Jarmusch - 4
Godard - 3Coens - 3Gus Van Sant - 3Antonioni - 3Herzog - 3
Go to bed, dummy.
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 May 2017 05:33 (seven years ago) link
I see Duel has 9 points but only one voter. I voted for it but I only gave it 5 points.
― nickn, Saturday, 20 May 2017 05:42 (seven years ago) link
I see or something also had it in his/her list.
― nickn, Saturday, 20 May 2017 05:45 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, that should say 9/2--you gave it 5, someone else 4. The points and the placement are right, though.
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 May 2017 11:32 (seven years ago) link
Since you mentioned being interested in reading more about Wanda, it might be worth looking at Nathalie Léger's Suite for Barbara Loden
Thanks--ordered a copy from Abe.
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 May 2017 14:31 (seven years ago) link
Second viewing of Certain Women, this time in a theatre. Felt about the same--great movie, wish I felt more strongly about it. It did really come through this time how much of a road movie it is. Lots of drivin', on four wheels and on four legs. Best shot is of Michelle Williams after they leave the guy with all the sandstone, everything reflected in the passenger window as she and her husband mildly argue. Can't find it online.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/films/2017/03/02/JS121527482_Handout-small_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpiVx42joSuAkZ0bE9ijUnGH28ZiNHzwg9svuZLxrn1U.jpg
― clemenza, Thursday, 1 June 2017 04:23 (seven years ago) link
Went to a rep screening (sort of--they played the Criterion disc) of Something Wild tonight, first time I've seen it in 25 years at least. Liked it fine then and still do, although I like Married to the Mob even more.
Total road-movie material, with many requisite shots of rolling scenery. The darker, Ray Liotta section of the film was longer than I remembered. Affinities I felt with Blue Velvet at the time were still there. I'm sure the film has something to do with the Reagan moment, but seeing as I don't have any feel for that, the connection escapes me. I've seen Demme criticized for his weird treatment of African-Americans, but I think there's a basic generosity there.
So much music. There are only three or four things that really stood out for me, though. The one appearance of the Troggs is great, with Daniels sprawled all over the front seat and an overhead shot, timed to the music, as they pull out of frame. Beyond the reunion, there's some actual Feelies music--something really good from The Good Earth--as they're driving along. And Sister Carol.
― clemenza, Thursday, 6 July 2017 04:24 (seven years ago) link
Prompted by that ugly first post, I just looked around a bit and Photobucket is now asking you to pay $399 a year for third-party hosting.
Will get on that right away, Photobucket.
― clemenza, Thursday, 6 July 2017 04:32 (seven years ago) link
(xpost) "Slipping (Into Something)," my favourite song on The Good Earth.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90772/Something-Wild/music.html
― clemenza, Thursday, 6 July 2017 13:22 (seven years ago) link
TCM has The Rain People, Harry and Tonto, and Lost in America tonight; taking a wild guess that the theme is road movies .
― clemenza, Saturday, 19 September 2020 01:40 (four years ago) link
I wish they were showing Joseph Strick’s Road Movie (1974), which is brilliant and has never had a video release in its proper aspect ratio
― beamish13, Saturday, 19 September 2020 01:44 (four years ago) link
This poll was great. I have now seen Vagabond and would definitely have voted for it.
― emil.y, Saturday, 19 September 2020 02:33 (four years ago) link
I remember liking <i>Fandago</i> when I was in high school. Yeah, it's Costner, but it's a good road movie.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 19 September 2020 02:42 (four years ago) link
Fandango is wonderful. One of Costner’s best performances. I’m very fond of the USC thesis film it was born from as well, Proof (1981)
― beamish13, Saturday, 19 September 2020 02:49 (four years ago) link