Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[mlrg]

The Rose (1979) - Mark Rydell

2/10

Hated it. Just 2h15 minutes of screaming, yelling and some singing (probabbly the best parts). Bettle Middler is the ultimate example of overacting

[Sabin]

Cape Fear (Thompson) - 6.5/10

There is something primal in Mitchum's performance. It's fascinating how in prison this sexual predator has been educated such that he can better stalk his prey. Cape Fear believes there is no place in the civilized world for this man regardless of whatever conclusion boring ol' Gregory Peck draws. Parts of it have aged badly and as a depiction of one man challenging another's ethos it comes up stale (Man, is the stuff with Peck boring in this film!), but as a physical study of a leopard rapist, it's pretty cool.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Yates) - 9/10

I was maybe a 10/10 until the end. I don't know what this movie was marketed as. The bank robbery scenes feel like an intentional drag, as is more of the movie. But it's rooted in Mitchum's glorious world-weary. This film has one balls-out brilliant opening scene where Eddie gives Jackie the rundown in a coffee shop at the beginning, and it ballasts the rest of the film. Eddie is almost selfish in his rationalizations to get out of jail. It's like he doesn't realize that the more he tries to clamor out, the further he sinks. Mitchum's performance is brilliant in how it gets you to root for Eddie until you realize how barren his hand really is. It ends with a sad whimper and I wanted more. But it's a good movie.

[Okri]

Interesting. I adore the play (and much of Shaffer's writing). I find the film adaptations considerably lacking (and I'm including the much lauded Amadeus here). I think it's too reductive to label it simply "the crazies have the answers," though I say this having only read, not seen, the play.

But yeah - the movie sucks.

[Mister Tee]

Second note: though no one here seems to care, the actress was also nude in this late scene, which sold the play to some of us.

In the film version she is played by Jenny Agutter who is very moving and sympathetic....also fully nude during the scene in the stable. She won a well deserved BAFTA award and should have been nominated for an Oscar instead of Leslie Browne (for The Turning Point).

If you were a regular movie-goer during the 70s and 80s, you had to make an effort NOT to see Agutter naked. (Not that I'm complaining)

Good actress, as you say. She was on MI:5 for a while, as well.

[Big Magilla]

Roberta Maxwell played the girl on stage.

[Reza]

Second note: though no one here seems to care, the actress was also nude in this late scene, which sold the play to some of us.

In the film version she is played by Jenny Agutter who is very moving and sympathetic....also fully nude during the scene in the stable. She won a well deserved BAFTA award and should have been nominated for an Oscar instead of Leslie Browne (for The Turning Point).



Edited By Reza on 1253394769

[Reza]

The play, which opened in 1974, espoused the then-popular nonsense about crazy/disturbed people being the world's truly sane creatures, but some of us even back then knew this to be superficial hogwash and the play to be meretricious junk. John Dexter's stylized staging (the opposite of the clunkmeister Lumet) and the well-hung Peter Firth's nakedness helped turned the play into a senasation, But when it was revived last season, the critics this time around picked up on its triteness.

Wonder if Firth was initially chosen for the part because he was well hung?

Oh come on. Peter Firth was/is a brilliant actor. He has a long list of credits going back to the early 70s.

Tony nominated (as lead) for the Broadway version of Equus opposite Anthony Hopkins, he won a Bafta as well as a richly deserved Oscar nomination for the film version, starred opposite Ann-Margret in the title role in Joseph Andrews and Natassia Kinski in Tess, replaced Tim Curry in the title role of Amadeus on Broadway opposite Ian McKellen and turned down the lead in Caligula (which went to Malcolm McDowell), all in the span of just a few years. A character actor now, he's often still the best actor in anything he chooses to do.

Brilliant he may be elsewhere but in Equus I found him very annoying. And I'm sorry but his dick was a major distraction.....one lost major plot points along the way thanks to his dangling appendage.

[Mister Tee]

I agree that the stage Equus was wildly overpraised. I also concur that Dexter's staging at least made it a palpable theatrical event, as compared to Lumet's ham-handedness. I don't concur with Damien's full-career dismissal of Lumet, but at this point in his life -- with The Wiz to immediately follow -- he was completely out of his depth. What he did to Burton -- who seemed a perfect choice for the Hopkins-originated role -- was cruel: emphasizing ever elocutionary tic. (A friend of mine had, like many that year, considered Burton the Oscar favorite, until he saw clips on the Your Choice for the Oscars show a few days prior to the awards; he pronounced himself "horrified" by what Burton was doing)

Two notes about the nude scenes: onstage, there was considerably less of it. The on-horseback scenes in the first act were done with Firth clothed; it was only in the late stable sequence that he, in the words a female friend of mine used then, dropped trou. Second note: though no one here seems to care, the actress was also nude in this late scene, which sold the play to some of us.

Peter Firth turned out to be a pretty husky old guy; on MI-5, he's about the shape of Brian Cox.

[FilmFan720]

Gah. That's 2 of 3 Sondheim films I've seen and 2 of 3 that have been absolute trash.

The film version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum isn't that good either but it's eons better than the mess they made of A Little Night Music.

See Bergman's original Smiles of a Summer Night.

The film version of ...Forum is wonderfully entertaining, but you have to take it with the grain of salt that it isn't a good adaptation. Lester has a wonderful sensibility with the film, and it does have a wonderful comedic ensemble, but bears little resemblance to the stage musical and only has 2 or 3 songs in it I think.

[Big Magilla]

Equus (Sidney Lumet, 1977) 4/10

I really did not get this overly hysterical story. Can someone please explain to me why this was a critically acclaimed hit play? To me the only reason for it's sensastion is the fact that the main protagonist walks around nude. Not sure if that was the case on stage but here Peter Firth gets to show himself for long periods of time. In addition the scene of the slashings, which are graphically depicted in the film, could be a second reason for its popularity....although I believe on stage the horses are made of wire or cardboard so the stabbing scene could hardly be graphic.

The play, which opened in 1974, espoused the then-popular nonsense about crazy/disturbed people being the world's truly sane creatures, but some of us even back then knew this to be superficial hogwash and the play to be meretricious junk. John Dexter's stylized staging (the opposite of the clunkmeister Lumet) and the well-hung Peter Firth's nakedness helped turned the play into a senasation, But when it was revived last season, the critics this time around picked up on its triteness.

Wonder if Firth was initially chosen for the part because he was well hung?

Oh come on. Peter Firth was/is a brilliant actor. He has a long list of credits going back to the early 70s.

Tony nominated (as lead) for the Broadway version of Equus opposite Anthony Hopkins, he won a Bafta as well as a richly deserved Oscar nomination for the film version, starred opposite Ann-Margret in the title role in Joseph Andrews and Natassia Kinski in Tess, replaced Tim Curry in the title role of Amadeus on Broadway opposite Ian McKellen and turned down the lead in Caligula (which went to Malcolm McDowell), all in the span of just a few years. A character actor now, he's often still the best actor in anything he chooses to do.

[anonymous1980]

Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson) - 9.5/10

I blindbought the barebones DVD in Singapore. It's pretty much worth it.



Edited By anonymous on 1253358217

[Reza]

Equus (Sidney Lumet, 1977) 4/10

I really did not get this overly hysterical story. Can someone please explain to me why this was a critically acclaimed hit play? To me the only reason for it's sensastion is the fact that the main protagonist walks around nude. Not sure if that was the case on stage but here Peter Firth gets to show himself for long periods of time. In addition the scene of the slashings, which are graphically depicted in the film, could be a second reason for its popularity....although I believe on stage the horses are made of wire or cardboard so the stabbing scene could hardly be graphic.

The play, which opened in 1974, espoused the then-popular nonsense about crazy/disturbed people being the world's truly sane creatures, but some of us even back then knew this to be superficial hogwash and the play to be meretricious junk. John Dexter's stylized staging (the opposite of the clunkmeister Lumet) and the well-hung Peter Firth's nakedness helped turned the play into a senasation, But when it was revived last season, the critics this time around picked up on its triteness.

Wonder if Firth was initially chosen for the part because he was well hung?

[Damien]

Equus (Sidney Lumet, 1977) 4/10

I really did not get this overly hysterical story. Can someone please explain to me why this was a critically acclaimed hit play? To me the only reason for it's sensastion is the fact that the main protagonist walks around nude. Not sure if that was the case on stage but here Peter Firth gets to show himself for long periods of time. In addition the scene of the slashings, which are graphically depicted in the film, could be a second reason for its popularity....although I believe on stage the horses are made of wire or cardboard so the stabbing scene could hardly be graphic.

The play, which opened in 1974, espoused the then-popular nonsense about crazy/disturbed people being the world's truly sane creatures, but some of us even back then knew this to be superficial hogwash and the play to be meretricious junk. John Dexter's stylized staging (the opposite of the clunkmeister Lumet) and the well-hung Peter Firth's nakedness helped turned the play into a senasation, But when it was revived last season, the critics this time around picked up on its triteness.

[Reza]

Equus (Sidney Lumet, 1977) 4/10

I really did not get this overly hysterical story. Can someone please explain to me why this was a critically acclaimed hit play? To me the only reason for it's sensastion is the fact that the main protagonist walks around nude. Not sure if that was the case on stage but here Peter Firth gets to show himself for long periods of time. In addition the scene of the slashings, which are graphically depicted in the film, could be a second reason for its popularity....although I believe on stage the horses are made of wire or cardboard so the stabbing scene could hardly be graphic.

Burton is good but really not helped on screen because of all the closeups. Not a particularly good looking man even when young, here he looks hideous in close-up....years of drinking and partying clearly show on his face. As always his voice remains a great asset. Firth, I found annoying with his constantly half open mouth. Jenny Agutter is excellent and deservedly won a BAFTA for her performance. There is good support by Joan Plowright, Colin Blakely, Harry Andrews and Eileen Atkins.

[Big Magilla]

Gah. That's 2 of 3 Sondheim films I've seen and 2 of 3 that have been absolute trash.

The film version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum isn't that good either but it's eons better than the mess they made of A Little Night Music.

See Bergman's original Smiles of a Summer Night.