Posted on 09/03/2006 9:16:47 PM PDT by sonsofliberty2000
Caine is right. I gave up watching movies on a regular basis about ten years ago. Every now and then a good flick comes out, but it's very rare. Virtually all of todays filmmakers are diehard libs who are careful to inject tons of lib propaganda and otherwise pretentious pc drivel in their wretched works.
Michael...talk about banal films...where you a little light in the checking account when you did JAWS 4???
You too have obviously noticed that with all the so-called "freedom" filmmakers have today, their works are mostly stunted, shallow, and juvenile. Working within imposed restrictions, like supposedly what was regnant before the sixties, produced far better films than todays throwaway junk flicks. Old moviemakers had to rely on good plots and character development rather than profanity, nudity, and special effects. Again the old rule applies: because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.
It also doesn't help that there seems to be no place for maturity in movies these days. I'm tired of the endless stream of movies starring unknown actors and actresses who just got out of high school.
I watched "Magnificent Seven" for the umpteenth time the other day, and watched the commentary section. It's truly an amazing film with a paucity of dialogue---perfectly written. Some of the most important dialogue scenes that define the characters are spoken by the Mexicans.
Actually, this is Caine's great strength. He works all the time---and it's the actor who improves the scripts, so it's no wonder that so many of the films he's in, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "Zulu," "Educating Rita," could have been mediocre with other actors. He and James Woods, IMHO, are two of the greatest living actors BECAUSE they will work in anything and try to make it better.
In "Magnificent Seven," which I just watched again, the commentary of Walter Mirisch, the producer, said that ALL the brass thought Horst Bucholz would steal the movie, when in fact it was James Coburn (aside from the obvious stars, Brenner and McQueen) who only had seven lines, who stole the movie.
Caine is a great actor because he WORKS, and not every piece of work is a masterpiece. Bogart did crap, too.
"I thought Second Hand Lions was an excellent film"
Great movie. Loved him & Robert Duvall...still can't stand Haley Joel Osmet, but with those two in it, it was great!
"Get 'em Hub"
"Caine is correct but it would have more impact from someone who didn't star in 'Bewitched'"
Hey, he still has to pay the bills...
Michael Caine starred in many trite, commonplace movies concerning the military all his career. Further he had a starring role in the following regrettable releases: Blame It On Rio, Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, and Victory (which combined war cliches, prison cliches, Yanks vs. Brits cliches, and sports cliches).
Michael Caine's comments are akin to Elvis saying there was too much drug abuse in the music industry.
Yeah, I'm always amused at the folks who say, they don't make them like they used to. True, there were some classics, but most were banal, just like today's films. There are some good movies being made nowadays, you just have to be choosy.
"We deal in lead, friend"
and at the end: "We lost. We always lose."
Don't forget, the studios had an iron hand in who was in movies in the old days. They used their latest ingenues, just as the young things are used today.
Your comment on the supposed "Golden Age" of film reminds me that for every classic film in the era there were 1000 B-movies, serial adventures, and badly acted Bible flicks that were beyond cliche.
There are 100s if not 1000s of classics in the modern era: Off the top of my head The Godfather, A Few Good Men, Unforgiven, The Shining, etc..
IMO, Caines is telling stories out of class.
Graham Greene would be redacted these days.
"Another truly appalling bad film he headlined was "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"."
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I object! "Beyond the Poseiden Adventure" may have been B-grade overall, but there was a great goofy chemistry between his character and Sally Field's {"I shot one! I shot one!... Well shoot another!") and a quiet affection between him and Karl Malden as his dying pardner in crime.
Great leading role in Get Carter. Just saw it for the first time this weekend.
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