1955: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Sun, 10/03/2004 - 11:37
Tags:
Loved
Mister Roberts
... If you were a Navy crew on a cargo ship during WWII unfortunate enough to serve under overbearing and petty captain Jimmy Cagney, you couldn't do much better than having Henry Fonda and William Powell above you on the chain of command, and watching over you like the bestest of big brothers. How can you not love a movie where you end up admiring those guys as much as the crew? Jack Lemmon is excellent as well, and the ending will give you whiplash.Night and Fog
... The ultimate Holocaust documentary. Even though I'd seen a lot of the footage as stills, it was newly shocking to see the same scenes unfold in archival and newsreel footage. Unshakeable images, and it's stunning that a mountain of human hair can be just as upsetting as learning exactly how a corpse flops as it is bulldozed into a mass grave. The camera starts panning up this mountain of hair, and just keeps going up and up and up. You subconsciously crane your head back in anticipation of the top, and yet it still doesn't come.Really Liked
Bad Day at Black Rock
... In 1955 you would have described this as a modern western, so it's interesting to watch it now, 50 years later, as it mostly feels rooted in the old west, but with cars. I imagine Spencer Tracy's character feels like he's stepped into the bad old west as well. Great role for him, and you gotta love a movie that distinguishes between regular ol' drunk and "patriotic drunk."Diabolique
... Many have described this as "the most suspenseful movie of all time" and there's no way I'm willing to go that far. For me it was more of a two-hour buildup with a truly stupendous payoff (I also mightily loved the ambiguous denouement with the kid who lies), but much of the suspense along the way was probably diffused by the infernal Netflix blurb which reveals what would have been a delicious twist. Bastards. What kind of hack reviewer thinks its not a spoiler just because it doesn't happen at the end of the film? I wish the writer of this blurb a lingering burning and itching sensation.Rififi
... An early heist movie, and one of the best. This is not saying much, given that it's a genre I want to love but am often disappointed by, and it's not on par with Reservoir Dogs in my book, but it's really quite impressive, and of course it gladdens my heart that it resuscitated Jules Dassin's career, devastated as it was by his being blacklisted. The opening is slow, but you just need to hang in there until the famous 30-minute dialog-free heist set piece, the template for countless other cinematic heists, and one of the best. That and the resulting cascade of events is a treat, and the climactic car scene is simply riveting.Glad I Saw
The Ladykillers
... Wait a minute, you can't make an Ealing comedy in color! Having only seen Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lavender Hill Mob, color was a bit of a shock, but I quickly got over it. Another hoot, with Alec Guinness demonstrating his chameleonic streak, this time almost channelling (while leaping 30 years into the future) Crispin Glover in looking sinister yet goofy. I wish Peter Sellers was given more to do, but maybe at this point in his career he was just taking notes from Guinness so he could do his own transformations later on in his career.Marty
... Surely a wonderful romance and touching reflection on the insidious obstacles to happiness, I just had a bit of a hard time getting into it, for whatever reason. Partially it was our romantic leads, I think. Generally they were very good, but too many times one would be talking and I'd look at the one who was listening and I'd think, "boy, he/she looks bored and/or irritated." Then they'd get their next batch of lines and I'd learn they were not supposed to be emoting that. Then there were those-a Italian accents from-a the moms. And are we really supposed to believe Cousin Tommy was that upset about getting more time alone with Karen Steele? Yeah, right. :-)Night of the Hunter
... This was a very interesting movie that included several stunning scenes (especially the underwater shot which I won't describe further for fear of spoiling it). Although the biggest shock was the matronly woman's explicit commentary on sex: "I just lie there and think about my canning!" Being a bigger fan of old movies than I (although I'm gaining), you should have seen my wife's jaw hit the floor at *that* line. Mitchum's performance was quite menacing, and several of the scenes were genuinely tense. Unfortunately the whole surreal mood of the movie felt a bit campy rather than creepy for me too often (like when Mitchum frankensteinishly runs up the stairs with his arms outstretched), and that deflated much of the impact. Still a good viewing, but I would have listed it so much higher without that sense. Oh, and I'm happy to finally get the LUV/HAT Simpsons joke.Guilty Pleasures
- None Yet
Could Have Missed
- None Yet
Should Have Missed
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
... There were a few funny bits, but not really much to recommend this one. I just read that this was filmed near then end of Abbott & Costello's time together, and their chemistry was shot due to long-standing personal strife. Recommendations for a better representative A&C movie would be welcome.El Sucko Grande
- None Yet
Unranked
Lady and the Tramp
Rebel Without a Cause
The Seven Year Itch
Cloned From:
Mister Roberts is a fabulous film, I especially love Jack Lemmon's revenge on the Cap. Glad you watched it. :?)
BTW, Zip.ca is slower the glaciers receding due to global warming, Sent on Wednesday and I still haven't seen them. Good Grief. :?( <---happiness thwarted by Zip.crap.
T'ho
:?)
If they're anything like Netflix the turnaround is variable. Sometimes I get blazing service, where I send movies back on Monday and have new ones by Wednesday, and sometimes I get glacial service, where movies can take a whole week to turnaround. Usually they're closer to "blazing" for me though, so I suffer through the doldrums with some modicum of patience. If Zip.ca is similar, it might help to complain. Netflix always appears to speed up following a complaint, and I suspect they have some kind of "priority flag" they can set when they are worried about losing a customer.
Oh, and I was surprised not to find Mister Roberts on any of your "Tier" lists! Glad to hear you loved it too, though.
Really...woopsy in advance as I rush to put it on.
Ooooooo...how do I put this gently...you are blind monsieur! the evidence. :?)
T'ho
:?)
Ooops! My bad. It doesn't show up in searches because it's flagged as your favorite for that year. See here for a workaround for this problem.
Fixed, now you can search for Mister Roberts with impunity. Now I half about 100 left to go, I feel like a Grumpy in Snow White & The Seven Dwarves.
or not...considering it still doesn't come up in searches. Weird. Maybe if I hit my computer right here...
T'ho
:?)
The search index is refreshed nightly, so it should start working tomorrow. There are so many things that aren't ideal about how Listology does searches, some of them my fault. These two are SQL Server things though:
[1] the index doesn't get built in real time, and...
[2] it's possible to get SQL Server to ignore HTML, but last time I checked it was painful and difficult to coordinate through an ISP. Why it isn't automatic, I have no idea.
Thx for the expo.
This fits perfectly into my idea for a t-shirt that says "That would be just too Damn (or exploitive if you prefer) Easy". It's my world-wide disclaimer that fits into almost any man-made situation.
Don't you enjoy the way movies don't generally get discussed in your yearly overviews. Someone seems to always get going on some technical tangent. I promise to try to talk about movies from now on...honest. :?)
T'ho
:?)
Good to know, it's been 5 days now and either the postal service is "real" slow or they're...er..."bonking" with me.
T'ho
:?)
Hmm. I'm not sure if you would like any Abbott and Costello movie, Jim, but I can certainly try to maximize the odds. The movie that is usually seen as their best is Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. This is probably the safest choice for a representative A&C film. Myself, I think that's a good movie but tend to prefer The Naughty Nineties (which contains their famous Who's on First? bit), or possibly Buck Privates. I haven't seen Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, but if you weren't amused by Costello getting scared, you may want to avoid Meet Frankenstein.
If you're looking for a better Abbott and Costello movie, one of those three will probably fit the bill. Again, though, I still can't guarantee you'll like any of them. If you don't get into their over-the-top, vaudevillian, slapsticky sense of humor, I doubt any movie would do it for you.
Thanks AJ, I had separately arrived at the conclusion that the Frankenstein one might be my best bet. After all, it has Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney in it! I am a bit concerned that the movie might be too scary (believe it or not), as we hit on the idea of A&C as potential family movie night fodder. The girls did seem to enjoy their first A&C, although the mummy was a bit much for our six-year-old (believe it or not).
May I make a suggestion?
Elia Kazan's East of Eden is really a great movie with a mesmerizing James Dean.
It's not out on DVD, believe it or not.
Oh, what a pity. :(