Karel Reisz

Obviously my initial impulse is to vote Dog Soldiers but that's tempered by it being a good while since I saw it. I think you could make a case for almost every one of these.

hmmm, this sparked controversy

I've only seen Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Morgan. Both great films, the former probably more important than the latter, though I do have a soft spot... hmm. Nah, SN&SM it is.

SN&SM is probably "most important" of his whole oeuvre but the 70s downbeat American flicks are unfairly neglected

have seen 5 of these; would probably take Who'll Stop/DS over Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but it's been awhile for most (saw FrenchLW on original release). Most curious about The Gambler, but the wait for the library's one copy is eternal.

this one guy on IMdB really doesn't like The Gambler but I remember being impressed by it, albeit when i was a Dostoevsky-toting teen who loved James Caan

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Pretty impressive for a short list. I really like Saturday Night, The Gambler, and Sweet Dreams; Who'll Stop the Rain is vintage '70s, although not as good as I was hoping it'd be; Kael was a big Everybody Wins fan--I don't remember much. Don't think I'd like Morgan...I can picture David Warner in an ape suit, so I may have seen it long ago. Sweet Dreams is probably the best of the first three, but I'll unsurprisingly go for The Gambler.

A standard musical biopic but Jessica Lange in Sweet Dreams is a peak performance.

She's fantastic--Ed Harris, too, long before he turned into George Kennedy. (P.J. Soles is even in it...no recollection.) My introduction to Patsy Cline.

Isadora and Sweet Dreams cd've been by-the-numbers biopics but both have something that lifts them above, imo.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Kael is a huge fan of Everybody Wins. Has anyone seen it?

who'll stop the rain is good & funny. the characterization is sorta sloppy & inconsistent but in a purposeful, absurd way imo. i think shoehorning the CCR title track & other songs so much into it is prob it's biggest weakness. ray sharkey & richard mazur as a pair of thugs are incredible.

is streaming on netflix, btw

his book on film editing (which is really about filmmaking in general) is amazing; the best there is.

p sure Who'll Stop was a late title change by the producers, they probably wanted the needle drops too.

the book is p famous, right? is it good? ive always been kinda hesitant re: robert stone for some reason

The French Lieutenant's Woman Criterion edition looks great, film is a partial success (last saw it 34 years ago). New interviews with Irons and Streep are first-rate, ditto vintage ones w/ Reisz, Harold Pinter, John Fowles.

to wit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AAmgz-kVIg

I quite disagree. Saw the Criterion film and the film felt even more ponderous. The time hopping kills any narrative momentum. Irons is particularly awful, especially in his last confrontation. He's right about Cronenberg teaching him to loosen up.

*Criterion film = print

i didn't like it, especially; call it a 6/10 .JI & Meryl both improved as film actors with age, for sure.