The Wicker Man on UK TV Now (14 Mar 04)

Subject: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 09:55 PM

as above, channel 4.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 03:41 AM

Pretty mediocre, apart from Brit Eckland in the nip.
eric

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 05:46 AM

Missed it but a brilliant film....got the DVD directors cut so I will watch it later!!

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: GUEST,Jim clark london.england
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 06:11 AM

The CD soundtracks realy nice too..

Jim

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 07:21 AM

I have been to most of the Scottish islands, and I have to say that some of the attempts to depict island life in this film are a little fanciful.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 08:36 AM

I've always thought this film vastly over-rated, although I do watch it whenever possible for comedy value. The mishmash of folk customs and vague witchery (Padstow Oss, rapper dancing, naked maidens dancing round fires etc) is a complete joke, and the music is mostly awful. Ever heard a less convincing pastiche of a traditional song than "The Landlord's Daughter" (sung in West Country accents although we're supposed to be in the Hebrides!). Admittedly it was on a double bill with "Don't Look Now"(now that IS really scary)the first time I saw it so it probably suffered by comparison, but repeated viewings have so far failed to find any merit in it.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 08:39 AM

Brian: that ludicrous mishmash of drivel is, I'm afraid, why I love the film so much. The music is so awful it becomes genuinely creepy. And. let's face it, what's wrong with naked maidens? let's not be prudish about these things.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 09:00 AM

A friend of mine had her unfortunate "How do you feel..." interview with a bystanding relative following a major disaster enshrined in a BBC training video on "how not to..."

The Wicker Man was far, far worse than I had been led to believe, and the music truly dreadful. It should earn a place then at film schools as a dire warning to budding movie makers.

Other than that it ought to be banned forthwith from future transmission lest anyone be conned into thinking this is what our tradition is about. God knows, we have a bad enough public image already.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: Bohdran Killer
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 10:00 AM

Curiously Christopher Lee is reported as saying this was the finest film he ever made.
Killer

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: red max
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 10:15 AM

He said it was the "best scripted film" he'd ever made, which I guess isn't quite the same thing. The direction is widely acknowledged to be poor, but this film has a huge allure for me. The first time I saw it I thought the music was awful, and really couldn't decide if the movie itself was equally bad. Something compelled me to watch it again, and gradually I fell under its spell and now I like Paul Giovanni's score very much

I know there are many faults with The Wicker Man, but if you're prepared to forgive its flaws it can be hugely enjoyable. The above criticisms are fair enough, I suppose, but why do folkies always seem so damn curmudgeonly? To quote the wisdom of Grandpa Simpson: "The Good Lord lets us grow old for a reason - to gain
the wisdom to find fault in everything he's made!"

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 11:26 PM

The film was a Hammer Studios production - it was never supposed to be a great film and those people who slam it for being unrealistic or a mish mash of stuff, or incorrect accents or whatever don't get what the fans of the movie see in it.

It's a great movie - for it's genre - light horror made cheaply. It's campy and fun to watch. It's so different that U.S. B-movies and that's a wonderful thing too. I have the DVD and invite friends over once a year or so to see it. I usually throw another Hammer film into the evening as well. Can't do without getting my Cushing fix. My best friend - who also loves Peter wound up being diagnosed with Cushing's Syndrome 9 years ago (she's better after the operation she needed) It took a long time for doctors to figure out what she had. When they did - we looked at each other and laughed - confused the hell out of the doctors.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: GUEST,cookieless Blackcatter
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 11:27 PM

Sorry - that last post is from me - I'm house sitting for friends.

Blackcatter

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: mouldy
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 02:58 AM

I quite like watching it to spot the familiar locations - I go on holiday near some of the places used. What I find quite amusing is that the cavemouth used is "Ninian's Cave" on Whithorn, and is actually a site of Christian pilgrimage since mediaeval days, as it is the place St. Ninian went to meditate from his nearby monastery!

Gets watched by my daughter quite a lot (we too have the director's cut DVD) as she is off to do film studies/english lit at university this year. Apparently a body double was used for the rear views of Ms Ekland dancing naked!

Andrea

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: greg stephens
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 03:01 AM

Blackcatter: I wasnt slamming it for being unrealistic. That was a joke.I love the film to bits.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 07:43 AM

Last year being the 30th anniversary of the film's release, it was shown at the Pagan Federation's international conference in London - along with talks from the Produce and Editor.
Great fun - and to watch it in cinema format on a big screen in a room full of cheering Pagans was a riot!
Dáithí

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 09:07 AM

The traditions shown may be unrealistic and fanciful but Lord Summerisle explains this. The inhabitants took to paganism to bolster a previous Lord Summerisles experiments in agriculture. Given the period they would have found a mish-mash of antiquarian folklore to choose from.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: fretless
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 04:23 PM

I'm with Brian Peters: watch it whenever possible for comedy value. One year I even used a screen shot of the final scene for my Happy Solstice cards ("Wishing you all the traditional joys of the Solstice season").

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: Blackcatter
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 08:53 PM

Greg - didn't mean to imply that I was referring to you in my post. I wasn't referring to anyone - just listing a bunch of things I've heard here and over the years about why people dislike the movie.

Glad you like it.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now.
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 17 Mar 04 - 12:39 PM

the best bit, is right at the end, where they burn the policeman to death, i think that bit is really funny.

Subject: RE: The Wicker Man on UK TV Now (14 Mar 04)
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 22 Mar 04 - 09:19 AM

Cookieless Blackcatter: The fact that it "was never supposed to be a great film" doesn't excuse the people who keep trying to tell us that it WAS, and waste money making TV docs to convince us of the fact, whilst making sensational suggestions that the movie was in some way accursed.

Manitas: Hmm, interesting point. So Lord Summerisle had been rifling through the archives at the Vaughan Williams Library for some traditional customs to pastiche? I shall tread more carefully next time I go there.

Greg: Nothing wrong with naked maidens at the appropriate time and place, but we won't go there, eh?

I didn't want to admit to any redeeming features in my first posting, but actually Edward Woodward isn't bad in it......
Brian