Getting Away from Things That Get Bad: The ILX Road-Movie Poll Results Thread

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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. Stalker
105 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. Badlands
114 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

xp

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 - 30
Walkabout - 25
Easy Rider - 25
The Straight Story - 20
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 15
Dead Man - 8
Paris, Texas - 8
Stagecoach 8
Two-Lane Blacktop - 8
Wild Strawberries - 7
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure - 6
The Brave Little Toaster - 5
Badlands - 4
Leningrad Cowboys Go America - 4
Planes, Trains and Automobiles - 3
Lost in America - 3
Alice in the Cities - 3
The Sugarland Express - 3
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 3
Down by Law - 2
Rain Man - 2
Taste of Cherry - 2
Smokey and the Bandit - 2
The Wages of Fear - 2
Slow 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 También
The Grapes of Wrath
Lost in America
Paper Moon
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Wild Strawberries
The Wizard of Oz
The Last Detail
Five Easy Pieces
The Wages of Fear
Bonnie and Clyde
National Lampoon's Vacation
Thelma and Louise
Sideways

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

Stroszek
Stalker
The passenger
Aguirre the wrath of god
Weekend
Midnight run
Five easy pieces
Two-lane blacktop
Badlands
Taste of cherry
L'avventura
Walkabout
Kill list
Gallivant
Radio on
No country for old men
The wages of fear
American honey
Duel
Sightseers
Certified copy
Wanda
Paris, 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 - 20
American Honey - 20
Paris, Texas - 20
Wild Strawberries - 15
Wendy & Lucy - 15
Stalker - 15
Five Easy Pieces - 15
Inside Llewyn Davis - 15
L’Avventura - 15
Badlands - 15
Messidor - 5
Stranger than Paradise - 5
Children of Men - 5
Aguirre, The Wrath of God - 5
No Country for Old Men - 5
La Strada - 5
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - 1
Embrace of the Serpent - 1
Branded to Kill - 1
Mad Max: Fury Road - 1
Fitzcarraldo - 1

devvvine, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:46 (seven years ago) link

Mine:

Stalker - 40
The Milky Way - 20
Walkabout - 20
Wanda - 20
Weekend - 20
Aguirre, the Wrath of God - 5
El Topo - 5
Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! - 5
Breathless (À bout de souffle) - 5
Easy Rider - 5
Midnight Cowboy - 5
Nebraska - 5
Carnival of Souls - 5
Sightseers - 5
Bonnie and Clyde - 5
Vanishing Point - 5
The Straight Story - 5
Y Tu Mamá También - 5 <---- not actually the right film b/c I am an idiot
Zabriskie Point - 5
The Hitch-Hiker - 5
Stroszek - 1
Paper Moon - 1
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 1
Stand by Me - 1
Kill 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


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