BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: Midchuck
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 12:00 PM

Little Hawk - Haven't seen that in 15 years or so, but my wife will still say to me, or I to her, "You Have Our Permission to Bugger Off,"
at regular intervals.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 01:43 PM

One movie I think they did do well. Very well indeed.

I haven't seen the Depardieu version of Cyrano de Bergerac, but I did see the 1950 José Ferrer version. Absolutely superb!

Since it was in black-and-white, the production values may not have been up to the lavishness of the Depardieu version, but the total production was a genuine masterpiece. As portrayed by Ferrer, Cyrano's spiky exterior covering the tender soul of a poet deeply in love, but tragically afraid to express himself for fear of being laughed at because he thought the size of his nose made him "ugly," is positively heart-rending at times. Poor Christian, caught up in passions beyond his understanding, is also a tragic figure, and Roxanne's growth as a human being, from a young girl dazzled by a young man's beauty to a woman who eventually understands that there are things far more important than a handsome face, also makes her a tragic figure ("I have never loved but one man in my life, and I have lost him—twice. . . ."). With all that tragedy, why do I love this play so much?

Ferrer's portrayal of Cyrano was so impressive that for three days after I first saw that movie, for some reason, the faces of the people I saw around me seemed flat and featureless. I have a videotape of the movie, which I pull out and watch from time to time.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 02:12 PM

Tam Lin - was made in to a movie by Roddie McDowell as director but was a bit of a psychadelic drug fest. Ava Gardner wasa the evil enchantress and Ian McShane was Tom Lynn. I would really like to write the screen play for a version closer to the ballad. Maybe one day I will.

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 03:05 PM

James Welch's Fools Crow as a film (if the story is followed faithfully) would sure shake things up for folks who thought Dances With Wolves was a fair depiction of the intersection of American Indians and the colonizers in the 1800s. DWW was just more of the same ol' same ol' Western, wrapped up in a slightly more convincing cast.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 03:37 PM

As movies about North American Indians go, though, DWW was pretty darned good in my opinion.

A mighty amusing and entertaining movie could be made from the book "Lame Deer - Seeker of Visions".

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: SharonA
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 04:45 PM

I find Dodie Smith's book "The 101 Dalmations" very charming, and I dearly wish that it would be given the NON-DISNEY treatment it deserves. Maybe something similar in mood to the original "Babe" movie... but definitely something faithful to the author's vision and humor. I hate what's Disney has done to it. (One pet peeve: Pongo's mate is Missus, not Perdita, for Chrissake! Perdita and her puppies were rescued and adopted by Pongo's and Missus's owners!)

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: John Hardly
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 05:20 PM

I liked Steve Martin's Cyrano. Sometimes it pays to not try too hard.

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 05:36 PM

Disney's got a lot to answer for. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Movies you WISH they would do well...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 05:53 PM

I thought "The Shipping News" was an excellent film. Like any adaptation of any novel, it didn't include everything that had been in the book, but what it did, I thought it did well.

My favorite novel, whose movie rights have been sold and resold and sold again, and about which there have have many rumors about who would take the starring role, is "A Confederacy of Dunces." They still haven't even begun making a movie out of it. Maybe it's just as well; whatever Hollywood could do would probably, in the end, be a disappointment.

I believe that the current favorite to take on the daunting role of Ignatius J. Reilly is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who might well be better for the part than either John Belushi or John Goodman, or any of the many others mentioned over the years.