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Post by rick on Dec 13, 2017 7:02:24 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Dec 13, 2017 9:44:05 GMT -5
Really great list (although one might look at TITANIC's inclusion askance).
The irony of Spike Lee's documentary 4 LITTLE GIRLS being included is inescapable, given that it is about those four young black girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963; that the prosecutor who put the KKK goons responsible for it in jail is one Doug Jones; and that the very same Doug Jones is now going to the U.S. Senate.
GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT is fairly powerful stuff for the time it was released (1947, just two years after the end of World War II), and given a certain amount of gravitas by having Gregory Peck in there in one of his first of many great roles.
SPARTACUS is more than your standard-issue sword-and-sandal epic, thanks to Kirk Douglas' performance in the title role; the fact that the once-blacklisted Dalton Trumbo was the screenwriter (thus destroying the Blacklist forever); and that Stanley Kubrick (replacing Anthony Mann in the director's chair at Douglas' behest) made it into something truly spectacular.
GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER is also a hugely worthy addition, with Spencer Tracy in his last film role, and Sidney Poitier appearing in one of his most important ones.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 15:56:29 GMT -5
Some notable films, but lots of questionable entries also..
Die Hard was a standard action film which spawned lots of copy cat imitators... not a classic to me.
Gentleman's Agreement attempted to look at a problem which still persists today, a worthwhile effort.
La Bamba was well done, but still a somewhat standard biopic.
Memento had a unique style but could be accused of gimmickry.
Spartacus is quite worthy - a biblical epic for thinking people.
Superman may be among the best of the superhero films, but still a live action comic book.
Titanic is questionable, as Erik noted. For a MUCH better film on the Titanic disaster check out A Night to Remember.
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Post by erik on Dec 13, 2017 18:17:32 GMT -5
Quote by robertaxel re. DIE HARD's inclusion:
I would agree very much that it did spawn a lot of copycat imitators (SPEED is among the best), but there is an amusing story behind the film.
The film's director John McTiernan suggested to Michael Kamen, who composed the film's unusually majestic (for an action film, at least) orchestral score, to insert the "Ode To Joy" of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Kamen was a little bit outraged at first, telling McTiernan, "I will make mincemeat out of (Richard) Wagner and (Richard) Strauss for you, but why Beethoven?!" McTiernan suggested it as an homage to Stanley Kubrick, specifically the use of Beethoven in that director's ultra-controversial 1971 film A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
And there is a fair amount of suspense and terror (not exactly part-and-parcel of too many action films) in the way Bruce Willis finds himself trapped in that West L.A. high rise on Christmas Eve with a mixed bag of terrorists. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece or a classic (exactly), but it does more than most (IMHO).
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