Caine hits out against today's 'banal' films

Times Online ^

[sonsofliberty2000]

FILMS made today pale against cinema classics of the past because they are so lacking in dialogue, character and plot, Sir Michael Caine told The Times yesterday.

The Oscar-winning star has lost count of the number of times he has seen films such as Casablanca, On the Waterfront and The Third Man, which he never tires of watching. Which is more, he said, than can be said for today’s “banal” films: “I can’t think of one I could see again,” he said.

Casablanca has so many memorable lines that audiences can quote, he said, citing the moment when Humphrey Bogart, as Rick, recalls the day the Germans marched into Paris. Rick tells Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa: “I remember every detail. The Germans wore grey, you wore blue.”

Sir Michael, who won Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules, asked: “Who today writes such lines?” He has now starred in more than 90 films, having got his big break in the epic production, Zulu. He found fame as Harry Palmer, the anti-hero, in the espionage thriller The Ipcress File, and went on to be showered with awards for classics such as Educating Rita, Alfie, Sleuth, and The Quiet American, in which he played The Times correspondent in Saigon.

Yesterday he spoke of having felt “quite depressed” on Saturday night after casting his eye over the Top Ten box-office hits in the US.

He said: “I was struck by how stunningly banal and formulaic it all was.”

The hits reflected Hollywood at its trashiest, with an emphasis on special effects, action and violence, he said. Singling out Beerfest, a comedy about excessive drinking, and The Worm-Eaters, a horror drama about boys who eat worms, he added: “Some of the pictures are so gross.

The film industry has a responsibility to give audiences something better, he emphasised, lamenting how the pursuit of money is stifling creativity and imagination.

Too many good films, “for people who understand dialogue”, were being sent straight to DVD or television rather than to theatrical release in the assumption that no one will want to see them, he believes.

Sir Michael was speaking before his latest film, Children of Men, received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last night.

It opens in Britain on September 22.

[Perdogg]

I guess he didn't see "Batman Begins". *eyes rolling*

[RichardW]

I can spend an hour at the local video store and not find a single film I am interested in seeing the FIRST time; much less the second time. He's right.

[vetvetdoug]

I thought Second Hand Lions was an excellent film. OTOH, I have seen Zulu about as many times as I have seen Casablanca.

[Mount Athos]

Movie I recommend to freepers is the Manchurian Candidate (the original one)

[World_Events]

he has a point, hollyweird comes up with sequel after sequel, remake after remake, movies filled to the rim with boring CGI special effects. total lack of originality.

[jazusamo]

I thought Second Hand Lions was an excellent film.

Yes it was an excellent movie, especially for a fairly recent one.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Loved Man Who Would Be King.

Right, Peachy?

[stm]

Not to mention that I'd be willing to bet Citizen Kane would be a box office flop today

[quietolong]

"

[Clintonfatigued]

Most Hollywood films are like video games or fairground rides.

Now, independent films are sometimes interesting and different. Perhaps he's seen too many films from the major studios, which are run by lawyers, public relations groups, and financial analysts.

[Lurker]

Both very good Caine films.

Duvall was great in Secondhand Lions.

L

[wildcatf4f3]

dinner at eight is my speed

[flaglady47]

"Loved Man Who Would Be King.
Right, Peachy?"

Right, a most excellent film. A keeper.

[Brimack34]

I love Caine but He did do Blame it on Rio and Jaws 3 or 4.

[Atchafalaya]

Well duh!!

[George W. Bush]

The entire movie business has changed since the supposed Golden Age of movies that Caine is bewailing.

That said, he has a certain point about the sheer formulaic productions we see now. Yet, from time to time, I see comedies or off-beat movies that would never have been made during that Golden Age of Hollywood.

I'd also point out that Caine doesn't help his case with some of the godawful roles he's played himself. How about that appearance in Miss Congeniality as the beauty pageant consultant? Maybe he was pretty good at the role. But not exactly in the Bogart tradition, eh? And he made some real turkeys too along with his good movies. I really liked him in the original The Italian Job.

Joe: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma (bristling): I am big. It's the pictures that got small.
Joe: I knew there was something wrong with them.

[Reagan Man]

Sir Michael`s remarks are right on target. Movies made in the 30`s, 40`s and 50`s [The Golden Age of Hollywood], even some movies made into the 1960`s for the most part, are a lot more entertaining then movies made since the 1970`s. Movies are all about entertainment. If a movie isn't entertaining, its not worth watching. The older movies always had a good plot, snappy dialogue, great characters.

One word describes todays movies. Boring.

[Enchante]

"Citizen Kane would be a box office flop today"

As it was in its day..... it got some nominations from the Academy (only one actual award, though) but very few in the public ever saw it in 1941-42...... though we will never know what it might have done at the box office had Wm. Randolph Hearst not carried out a largely successful campaign to kill the film - he was not able to prevent its release, but he did help to make it disappear without too much notice until it enjoyed a revival with universities, critics, and film scholars many years later.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kane2/

"Major theater chains refused to carry Citizen Kane. Hearst's campaign to discredit Welles was ruthless, skillful, and much aided by Welles himself, who had never bothered to hide his contempt for Hollywood. When Welles' name and his film were mentioned at the 1942 Academy Awards, they were booed. Nominated for nine awards, Citizen Kane lost in every category except one. (Welles shared the award for best screenplay with Herman Mankiewicz.) After the Academy's repudiation of Citizen Kane, RKO quietly retired the film to its vault."

[Atchafalaya]

"To Kill A Mocking Bird, Dr. Strangelove, Shane, Days of Wine and Roses, It's A Mad Mad Mad World, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Breaker Morant, Gallipoli, Rob Roy, ahh well Braveheart,... getting tired ya'll add...