Unpopular Opinions

[cpcathy]

I haven't seen it, or any of Scorsese's other movies (not into gangster films), but the one Scorsese movie I did see was The Age of Innocence, which was the most boring film I've ever had the misfortune of watching.  I was so bored it became painful to remain sitting in the theater.  Turns out, the friend I was with (who is a fan of Scorsese's other work) felt exactly the same; if only one of us had had the guts to say it to the other during the film, we could've spared ourselves at least a portion of that torture.

 

 

Age of Innocence and Little Women have caused me to believe that Winona Ryder is a terrible actress, especially in period pieces.

[Bruinsfan]

If those aren't up to the task on their own, Coppola's Dracula will seal the deal.

[proserpina65]

Age of Innocence and Little Women have caused me to believe that Winona Ryder is a terrible actress, especially in period pieces.

I thought she was really good in Heathers, but totally agree with you about her in period pieces.  She is just too modern an actress.

[Julia]

I would have loved to have seen Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer switch roles in that movie. I think Winona Ryder would have been better suited to the passive-but-beautiful character, and Michelle Pfeiffer would have played the hell out of the sweet thing who turned out to be the evil genius of the movie.

[Kel Varnsen]

Here is one. I like the Planes movies. I watched Planes Fire and Rescue with the kids on the weekend, and sure it is not the same caliber as Toy Story, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. It was fun and had a good message for kids and had some funny pop culture references.

[UYI]

I love Mermaids, which has Winona Ryder in it and took place 1963-64, which sort of makes it a period piece, I guess.

 

Not sure if it's a UO or not, but anyone else love that movie? 

[Dandesun]

If those aren't up to the task on their own, Coppola's Dracula will seal the deal.

 

Oh God. Dracula. And, remember, it was Bram Stoker's Dracula at that. My friend called it 'My Left Tit' which cracked me up and was also absolutely apropos as anytime a woman seemed to succumb to the vampire sexyness, a boob popped out. I often use that movie as an example of why I try not to read books before seeing the movie because compared to the book, I found the movie utterly ridiculous.

 

But it's also a weak example as I really don't think going in not having freshly read the book would have made it any better.

 

Keanu Reeves was absolutely terrible in that film. Winona Ryder wasn't much better. Gary Oldman is always good but I had to sit through too much of his eternal fucking love for Mina and it was just... ugh. UGH! I would have preferred the majority of the movie to be Oldman and Hopkins chewing the scenery at each other to what it ended up being.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I love Mermaids, which has Winona Ryder in it and took place 1963-64, which sort of makes it a period piece, I guess.

 

Not sure if it's a UO or not, but anyone else love that movie? 

 

I do! Cher's deadpan delivery of, "Charlotte, we're Jewish." cracks me up every time.

[Wiendish Fitch]

UO that only a film geek such as myself would care about:

 

I think Bluebeard's Eighth Wife is one of Ernst Lubitsch's most unsung movies, and I don't get the bad rap it gets. I think it's hilarious, and Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper just sparkle together. 

[harrie]

UO that only a film geek such as myself would care about:

 

I think Bluebeard's Eighth Wife is one of Ernst Lubitsch's most unsung movies, and I don't get the bad rap it gets. I think it's hilarious, and Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper just sparkle together. 

 

Oh my.  I love Lubitsch.  I love Colbert. I love Gary Cooper. Geez, Billy Wilder was a writer on it.  And yet I've not seen this film.  Must hunt it down and watch it. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

Oh my.  I love Lubitsch.  I love Colbert. I love Gary Cooper. Geez, Billy Wilder was a writer on it.  And yet I've not seen this film.  Must hunt it down and watch it. 

 

I hope you like it! It has a wonderfully offbeat "Meet Cute", and side-splitting banter.

[ChaseMCP]

A while back someone mentioned James Dean and I'll take it a step further - Marilyn Monroe. Sure, her life was tragic and it's terrible that it ended so soon but I never saw why out of all of classic Hollywood, she (and James Dean) are remembered the most. Her acting didnt impress me and there are so many other actors from the time that deserve that deserve the love more than her, in my opinion.

[Vixenstud]

I can top that, Chase....Some Like It Hot was beyond boring, I couldn't last fifteen minutes.  Never understood the appeal of that woman.

 

I also never got the hoo-ha over Katharine Hepburn....while Spencer Tracy was a prick for catting about in his marriage, this arrogant trick never seemed to have any remorse for fucking another man's husband.  Plus, her films were boring as hell and the preachiness of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner drove me nuts.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I also think Marilyn Monroe is criminally overrated, and the ongoing deification of her kind of nauseating. An ardent fan of hers told me that she felt bad for Monroe, and wished she could have "been her friend and helped her through her problems". I think Judy Garland, Vivien Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Gail Russell, and Gene Tierney needed friends much more than Monroe did, but no one seems to care about them.

 

And, sweet juggling John the Baptist, enough with the onslaught of Monroe biographies!! I swear we must get 10-20 new Monroe biographies a year (meanwhile, I have found all of two biographies of Myrna Loy, a woman who outclasses Monroe in every respect)! The woman has been dead for over 50 years, we are not going to learn a single new thing about her! Trust me on this!

 

Screw Some Like it Hot, I think The Apartment has the greatest final line in a Billy Wilder movie ever (with Sunset Boulevard nipping at its heels).

Edited February 27, 2015 by Wiendish Fitch

[harrie]

I can top that, Chase....Some Like It Hot was beyond boring, I couldn't last fifteen minutes.  Never understood the appeal of that woman.

 

I also never got the hoo-ha over Katharine Hepburn....while Spencer Tracy was a prick for catting about in his marriage, this arrogant trick never seemed to have any remorse for fucking another man's husband.  Plus, her films were boring as hell and the preachiness of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner drove me nuts.

 

A number of accounts of the Tracy-Hepburn relationship maintain that there was no fucking involved.  Not saying Tracy wasn't unfaithful, not saying Hepburn wasn't a party to Tracy's being unfaithful -- but a number of witnesses, friends of both of them, and so-called authorities maintain that the relationship wasn't particularly physical. 

[JustaPerson]

I was never a fan of Hepburn and Tracy as a pair in the movies, either. I much preferred Hepburn and Cary Grant.

[ruby24]

A number of accounts of the Tracy-Hepburn relationship maintain that there was no fucking involved.  Not saying Tracy wasn't unfaithful, not saying Hepburn wasn't a party to Tracy's being unfaithful -- but a number of witnesses, friends of both of them, and so-called authorities maintain that the relationship wasn't particularly physical. 

I've heard that too- that's a bit strange, isn't it? For a 27 year relationship not to have been physical...so what were they, just friends? Or is there truth to the rumors about him being gay and her being a lesbian?

[UYI]

 

 

And, sweet juggling John the Baptist, enough with the onslaught of Monroe biographies!! I swear we must get 10-20 new Monroe biographies a year (meanwhile, I have found all of two biographies of Myrna Loy, a woman who outclasses Monroe in every respect)! The woman has been dead for over 50 years, we are not going to learn a single new thing about her! Trust me on this!

 

 

 

THIS, right here, is what made me like your post. There are SO many biographies out there on her, that I would have no idea where to start if I wanted to actually read one of them (well, okay, a few things she wrote have been released, so there's that). I have yet to see any of her movies, but the fact that people STILL try to come out with rumors about her all these years later just makes me sick, not to mention that it becomes tiring. I love biographies of celebrities, but given everything we do know about her life that is, in fact, true, it just feels like needless exploitation at this point.

 

That said, I DID buy the book Joe & Marilyn, about her relationship with Joe DiMaggio, a few months ago. Maybe it was because it dealt with only one particular part of her life--specifically, a part of her life with a person who deliberately never spoke about her in public after her death to avoid exploiting her memory--that it somehow felt different to me, and I AM interested in reading about their relationship. So, that (along with My Week With Marilyn--I might read that someday) is my exception, I guess. 

Edited February 27, 2015 by UYI

[Athena]

I've heard that too- that's a bit strange, isn't it? For a 27 year relationship not to have been physical...so what were they, just friends? Or is there truth to the rumors about him being gay and her being a lesbian?

 

They may have been asexual or sex just wasn't a big part of their relationship. You can have romance without sex or even much of a physical component. There were a lot of issues at play not just his marriage. They both worked a lot, lived separately for most of their relationship, and avoided being seen with each other especially all of the 1950s. Tracy was an alcoholic as well.

[Julia]

Hepburn was also far from the woman who Tracy brought an end to his fidelity with, or even the most serious for him (he reportedly offered to leave his wife for Loretta Young, who despite being a serial third party - the 'niece' she raised was her daughter with Clark Gable - decided she was too Catholic to marry a divorced man). The list of other women he dallied with during Hepburn's tenure was also pretty long.

[Vixenstud]

Very interesting posts, guys....still, KH was IMO extremely arrogant and I couldn't stand her.

 

 

[GreekGeek]

 

 

I also never got the hoo-ha over Katharine Hepburn....while Spencer Tracy was a prick for catting about in his marriage, this arrogant trick never seemed to have any remorse for fucking another man's husband.  Plus, her films were boring as hell and the preachiness of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner drove me nuts.

There are some Hepburn movies I like. I always thought Sylvia Scarlett was underrated. It has Hepburn in male drag as a teenage boy. I haven't seen a lot of Tracy and Hepburn movies, but I really liked Pat and Mike.

 

What I don't buy is the idea that Hepburn was a feminist. She may have been one in her youth, but as she aged she became more and more traditional: "Oh, these silly girls, don't they know they can't have it all?" She was ahead of her time in the 1930's, but the times caught up with her and then some.

[Julia]

There are some Hepburn movies I like. I always thought Sylvia Scarlett was underrated. It has Hepburn in male drag as a teenage boy. I haven't seen a lot of Tracy and Hepburn movies, but I really liked Pat and Mike.

 

What I don't buy is the idea that Hepburn was a feminist. She may have been one in her youth, but as she aged she became more and more traditional: "Oh, these silly girls, don't they know they can't have it all?" She was ahead of her time in the 1930's, but the times caught up with her and then some.

Actually, she agreed with you about that. She said she had a really bad power imbalance in her relationships with men, and she thought she was a lousy feminist role model.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I was deeply disappointed with Friday Night Lights and Billy Bob Thornton's portrayal of the coach.  The TV show, from moment one, was far superior.

 

The biggest problem was only seeing the studly Boobie in one dimension until it was way past time to attempt to make him human in the film.  He was pure caricature for far too long.  

 

Thornton's coach was too inconsistently laconic.  I'll be darned, to this day, if I can discern that character's core.  The coach in the book, and as portrayed on the TV show, was deeply conflicted in how the players were used and tossed out as needed, yet how freaking intensely he was driven to win football games.   I never got the feeling that BBT cared about that aspect.  His deal was to show the coach as Nixonian:  Smart and supremely wary/jaded by everyone outside his circle.  The only "belief" was in self-survival.

 

Easily among the most disappointing films I have ever eagerly anticipated.

[SallyAlbright]

At this point, I believe Winter's Bone was a fluke.

Jennifer Lawrence isn't the amazing actress most think she is.

 

THIS. I think she's fine, seems like a nice enough person, but I'm still waiting to "get it." She seems like way too much hype at this point, and every film she has lined up just seems like more Oscar bait, making me afraid I'm going to be very very sick of her soon.

I'd agree with that. I've actually seen most of her movies since then, and I've come to the conclusion that she's got two notes as an actress- really loud (as in, I'm just going to shout my lines, which is something David O. Russell loves of all his casts), or stoic. Staring straight ahead, with an ocassional shout. Her utter blankness in the X-Men movies made me realize this.

 

Also, her hosting stint on SNL made me notice that too- she was really, really bad. Not that everyone can host live sketch comedy, I realize that, but being unable to do anything except stare straight at the teleprompter and flounder was surprising to me at the time. With how great Emma Stone had been, suddenly I realized she had more range. Being good at comedy does not mean screaming your dialogue, except in a David Russell movie. But being loud often means you take over the screen and other people notice you more than the others, which is how I think people have been snowed on her.

 

Absolutely! I was so excited to see her in both American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, because I'd heard absolute raves. Imagine my disappointment when all she did was scream and do her big crazy eyes in both films. And then you have stoic, unblinking, cold stare "toughness" as seen in XMen and The Hunger Games. I've yet to find her believable as a romantic interest and was also shocked at how bad she was on SNL. I also agree that Emma Stone has more range.

[ruby24]

THIS. I think she's fine, seems like a nice enough person, but I'm still waiting to "get it." She seems like way too much hype at this point, and every film she has lined up just seems like more Oscar bait, making me afraid I'm going to be very very sick of her soon.

 

Absolutely! I was so excited to see her in both American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, because I'd heard absolute raves. Imagine my disappointment when all she did was scream and do her big crazy eyes in both films. And then you have stoic, unblinking, cold stare "toughness" as seen in XMen and The Hunger Games. I've yet to find her believable as a romantic interest and was also shocked at how bad she was on SNL. I also agree that Emma Stone has more range.

 

Yeah, and my big problem is that I don't see the "charisma" of people who've become beloved movie stars in the past, like for example Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock. They were themselves on screen and I could see what it was about their own personality that made people like them. I don't see that here. I think that's coming from her personality offscreen (which to me is just obnoxious and dumb, sorry).

 

I also think you're totally right on the chemistry thing, I have not seen her have any chemistry at all with another actor, romantic or otherwise. Again, unlike Emma Stone, who does have sort of a natural charisma that rubs off on her interactions with other actors (Andrew Garfield obviously, but also with the cast in Easy A, even with Jonah Hill in Superbad).

 

Jennifer Lawrence talks "at" people in her movies, not to them. I think she's gotten very, very lucky, and the luck has come from David O. Russell and hs love of people shouting and screaming. I'm concerned now and almost willing to bet that we're going to get a lot of blank, hard staring when Hunger Games is over and she branches out to other kinds of movies besides Russell's.

[cpcathy]

Though reading this thread and others elsewhere, my UO is that I really like The King's Speech, and I think it deserved Best Picture. Geoffrey Rush's performance is wonderful.

[Julia]

Though reading this thread and others elsewhere, my UO is that I really like The King's Speech, and I think it deserved Best Picture. Geoffrey Rush's performance is wonderful.

 

I was watching that too. I guess the first time I missed all the marvellous actors they had playing the secondary characters. I totally missed that the prissy man talking to the Prince about his brother's mistress and her ways was Anthony Andrews. He's changed a bit.

 

I thought Helena Bonham Carter was tolerable, and I generally don't watch movies she's in because she's in them, so that's more of a compliment than it sounds like.

[SallyAlbright]

Though reading this thread and others elsewhere, my UO is that I really like The King's Speech, and I think it deserved Best Picture. Geoffrey Rush's performance is wonderful.

I love The King's Speech :) It just made me happy and sometimes its nice not to be devastated when you leave the theater. Plus, Colin Firth is the most adorable man to ever live, and I agree that Geoffrey Rush was fantastic.

[caracas1914]

I think Judy Garland's performance in " A star is born" encompasses some of the "worst" of her acting tics and for the most part is way unbearable for me to watch.  I mean I like "the man that got away" but that's about it.

[wanderingstar]

David O. Russell and hs love of people shouting and screaming.

 

I know this wasn't the main focus of your post, ruby24, but I wanted to respond with a big YESSSS! to this part. This is the main reason I can't stand Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Gillian Rosh

[ribboninthesky1]

I recently watched the 2014 version of Robocop.  It wasn't so much a remake as an update, but I thought it was a better film than the original.  I expected a silly little action film, but was surprised at the philosophical bent surrounding violence, technology, national security, and what it means to be human. Robocop 1987 was good for its time, but I've never thought of it as timeless.  It's dated.  

 

And this leads me into another UPO: I'm not inherently against remakes because I do believe many (contemporary) films are relevant for the time period in which they're set.  But that doesn't make them universal or timeless.  A remake can be well done if the producers are thoughtful about it.  Of course, how often that happens is a matter of perspective and debate.   

[caracas1914]

I always thought the 1976 remake of King Kong was campy good fun, with Jessica Lange serving a delicious comic turn. Of course it can't touch the original, but what it was, from the Twin Towers to evil Oil company, Idealistic Jeff Bridges, has quirky flourishes of its 70's vibe.

Far better then the Peter Jackson try in 2005.

Edited March 7, 2015 by caracas1914

[dusang]

I always thought the 1976 remake of King Kong was campy good fun, with Jessica Lange serving a delicious comic turn. Of course it can't touch the original, but what it was, from the Twin Towers to evil Oil company, Idealistic Jeff Bridges, has quirky flourishes of its 70's vibe.

Far better then the Peter Jackson try in 2005.

 

I've never seen the earlier King Kongs and I won't argue that Jackson's was a great film but I do remember being stunned at the technical achievement of King Kong.  He was so real, I loved him like my cats.

[proserpina65]

I've never seen the earlier King Kongs and I won't argue that Jackson's was a great film but I do remember being stunned at the technical achievement of King Kong.  He was so real, I loved him like my cats.

Maybe it's because I've seen the earlier versions, but I actually found Jackson's Kong less real despite the advance in effects.  Probably because of the effects he used, actually.

[Blergh]

I think Judy Garland's performance in " A star is born" encompasses some of the "worst" of her acting tics and for the most part is way unbearable for me to watch.  I mean I like "the man that got away" but that's about it.

 The irony is that both Garland and the originator Janet Gaynor were on the  last legs of their movie careers when playing the title ingenue.  Yes, they'd perform in other venues for sometime thereafter but their movie careers were just about done.

 

 

        As long as we're doing classic movies here. One thing that shocked me even  considering the times was how in "Casablanca" they had Ingrid Bergman's character Ilsa be needlessly racist IMO ! Why do I say that?  Because when she introduced the piano player Sam to her husband Victor Laslo, she pointed him  out as 'that boy' -despite him being decades her senior and the fact that she otherwise had been perfectly amenable to him before and after her encounter with him at Rick's Place. Now, I know it was somewhat commonplace for folks to call African-American men over 18 'boys' in those days. However; I asked my father [who has close relatives in 'the Old Country' not too far from where Ilsa was supposed to be from] and he said that even back then Europeans of that particular area weren't always  above using other unfair terms for non-Europeans but they would have NOT termed older African- American men as 'boys' . Ilsa was supposed to have been a sympathetic character so I'm wondering if the writers threw that in to appease the Southern U S market or if they [the writers themselves] simply couldn't imagine another non African- American NOT referring to an African- American  older man as 'boy'.  Yes, I admit that it took quite a few viewings of this otherwise amazing movie for me to pick this up but it somewhat soured the movie for me.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Blergh

[Julia]

Well, Ilsa wasn't much more than beautiful, though, was she? She behaved shabbily to both Victor and Rick (although of the two, leaving Rick standing at a train station with no explanation is less messed up than being willing to leave her husband to the tender mercies of the nazis because she just can't fight her feelings any more), and for all we ever saw of her the only things she didn't fail at were partying, wearing clothes and attaching men. 

[harrie]

I don't think the Epsteins (the writers) pandered to the South, because in another scene Rick pointedly remarks to Sr. Ferrari that he doesn't buy and sell human beings - the human being in questions being Sam.

 

I honestly  believe it was just a matter of the times being what they were, and the terminology that was used then. Plus, Ilsa may have been introduced to the term by Rick himself and just doesn't know better. Doesn't mean I like it, doesn't mean I don't cringe whenever Ilsa says it -- but according to my mother, born in 1923, that's largely the way things were at the time. 

 

Just my take.

[Miss Dee]

My UO: Although it was universally panned, I adore the Harrison Ford/Julia Ormond remake of Sabrina. So much so that if I ever have a little girl I'm calling her Sabrina. I get the complaints; I just don't give a shit.

[methodwriter85]

Chloe Sevigny agrees with those who don't find J-Law all that great.

 

I generally enjoy John Hughes, but wow, Some Kind of Wonderful was AWFUL. The only thing it had going for it was Mary Stuart Masterson having some serious chemistry with Eric Stoltz. Lea Thompson is attractive but it's hard to buy her as this sexy, drop-dead gorgeous girl of her high school because her attractiveness has such a warm maternal earthiness to it,  Eric Stoltz is boring as hell (he gets interesting in the 90's but not at this point), and Keith from One Tree Hill is basically doing a bad impression of Stef from Pretty In Pink. It's like John Hughes took the plot of Pretty in Pink, switched Andie and Ducky's genders, made the female "Blaine" character a poor faux-rich phony, and didn't allow the new Stef to have any kind of layers or depth or even the ability to defend himself in a fight. The rich kids were even more caricatures in Some Kind of Wonderful as they were in Pretty In Pink.

 

I think it's telling that this was the last high school teen movie John Hughes did. He had run out of ideas about how to tell a teenaged story.

 

No wonder Molly Ringwald wanted nothing to do with it.

 

Also, I've said this before, but I've never wanted Ducky with Andie.

Edited March 11, 2015 by methodwriter85

[JustaPerson]

I never understood the whole Stef/Andie ship in Pretty in Pink. In their last interaction together, I genuinely thought he was going to snap and attack her at any moment. And she and Duckie were nothing more than friends for me.

[Julia]

You know, I think it's kind of heartwarming that Chloe Sevigny found the time to tear away from her Brown Bunny memorabilia and all those scrapbooks from the decades when she was obsessively attending the opening of every envelope in Manhattan to warn us about vulgarity in our wannabe actresses.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Julia

[magicdog]

It's like John Hughes took the plot of Pretty in Pink, switched Andie and Ducky's genders, made the female "Blaine" character a poor faux-rich phony, and didn't allow the new Stef to have any kind of layers or depth or even the ability to defend himself in a fight. The rich kids were even more caricatures in Some Kind of Wonderful as they were in Pretty In Pink.

 

 

 

You pretty much nailed it.  It's been reported in interviews that SKOW was a rewrite of PIP - except the ending changed so that the "Ducky" got to win. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

You know, I think it's kind of heartwarming that Chloe Sevigny found the time to tear away from her Brown Bunny memorabilia and all those scrapbooks from the decades when she was obsessively attending the opening of every envelope in Manhattan to warn us about vulgarity in our wannabe actresses.

 

Heh, aw, leave Chloe alone. If David O. Russell had seen her in Big Love instead of watching Winter's Bone, he might have just as randomly decided to make her his 'It' girl instead.

 

With that said, I don't agree with her about Jennifer Lawrence, and I think that in general the reaction to her success is kind of ridic. Had she not been cast as Katniss Everdeen, she wouldn't have drawn as much attention - or as much flack - as she has, and now that Russell has decided he likes working with her, she's at Anne Hathaway levels of being disliked by some people. Imagine if she'd been cast in Fifty Shades of Grey instead of poor Dakota Johnson. The internet would have caught fire.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Cobalt Stargazer

[Julia]

Yeah, well. You've gotta admit, though, that there's Bette Midler trashing Madonna for being too bawdy levels of wow, seriously? going on (yes, bizarrely, that did happen).

[methodwriter85]

You know, I think it's kind of heartwarming that Chloe Sevigny found the time to tear away from her Brown Bunny memorabilia and all those scrapbooks from the decades when she was obsessively attending the opening of every envelope in Manhattan to warn us about vulgarity in our wannabe actresses.

 

I think she's saying that J-Law comes off as crass in real life, not as her movie persona.

 

It did make me remember when she was the IT-Girl back in the 90's and everywhere. 

[ribboninthesky1]

Speaking of John Hughes - I neither loved nor hated his films.  They had no cultural significance in my coming-of-age years.

[Julia]

I think she's saying that J-Law comes off as crass in real life, not as her movie persona.

 

It did make me remember when she was the IT-Girl back in the 90's and everywhere. 

 

Yeah, but FWIW (and keep in mind, I'm not just a geezer, I'm a geezer who spent between 1963 and 1984 in downtown Manhattan, so my threshhold level for self-promoting hipsters is exceptionally low), if creating your public persona involves flinging yourself at photographers nightly wearing cunning outfits made out of a pillow cover, a thong, and a pair of chaps made out of thrift shop fishing boots, you'd probably want to err on the side of caution and not play the propriety card when you're hating on someone who committed the ultimate sin of being more successful than you are. 

[Dandesun]

The Belmont scene in Secretariat is one that drives me batty. Now, I'm a horse nut so I have a particular fondness for this race... but it seems like they stretched certain things out and the announcing they had in the movie is absolutely nothing compared to Chick Anderson's call during the actual race. I know that in Miracle they redubbed a lot of Al Michaels' calls for the USA/USSR game but they came to the conclusion that they could not redo the 'Do you believe in miracles?!' because it wasn't going to match up to the original.

 

Chick Anderson's 'And Secretariat is widening now... he is moving like a tremendous machine!' and everything that follows is a man calling a race he is watching and cannot believe he is seeing. And while I really don't care for the Bible quote and the choir singing as Secretariat coming around the final turn... what really gets me is that the most impressive shot is the one from the grandstand that played on TV. The sheer distance between Secretariat and the rest of the horses is mind-blowing. They used actual footage when they put the Preakness in the movie, which was a good move, because I cannot fathom how they would have shot a horse sweeping past the whole field in one move. I just wish they had done something similar for the Belmont. I really don't think they captured what happened there.

 

Any time anyone talks about that movie I say 'find the race on You Tube -- it's a bit fuzzy and it's not exactly high definition but it doesn't need to be. Just watch it.'

Edited March 12, 2015 by Dandesun

[ribboninthesky1]

Julia, your Chloe Sevigny posts have been highly entertaining.  Tell us how you really feel!