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Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: You know what I want to watch. Play it!

Published: June 3, 2012 1 minute 13 comments

Aj
Funniest part of today's Arlo & Janis is that I didn't place it from the first bit of dialogue, but I read it with the accent anyway. Which is to say, yeah, I got it from the start, but only back in the reptilian portion of the brain, back in the longterm storage bins.

It took a moment to transfer the file to the front of my brain. Then they all came, including the rest that require an accent, like "Vat vatch? Such vatch!" and "Because, Yvonne, I luff you!" and the part where Knute Rockne's father quietly identifies himself to Victor Laszlo: "Berger. Norvegian."

Yes, I could watch "Casablanca" with the sound turned off. In fact, I've watched it with the picture turned off: I put it on audiotape and used to play it on long road trips. It's not a terribly visual film, and, if you've seen it a kabillion times, you only need the words.

I tried that with "Marat/Sade," which is also more dialogue than action, but the problem is that "Marat/Sade" — like "My Dinner with Andre" — requires too much conscious attention. We actually studied "Marat/Sade" in my freshman English class when it was new.

It's brilliant, but it's not a recreational film. It's homework.

Today's A&J ties into a conversation we had at the dogpark the other day, which was about movies you watch every time they're on TV even though you've seen them a million times before.

There was an episode of "Cheers" in which — in just that spirit — the gang decamped to someone's house to watch "The Magnificent Seven," and I'd agree that one belongs on the list.

What else?

"The Godfather." And maybe "II." (We won't link, or even mention, III, which, if it were possible to UNwatch a movie, I would pay to do.)

"Annie Hall." Dead sharks. Such small portions. The lobster scene(s). A spider the size of a Buick. Riding with her brother. The classroom. The only word for this movie is transplendent — It's transplendent!

"Jules and Jim." I might be alone here, but, even though my French is mostly good for finding bathrooms and ordering coffee, I no longer need the subtitles for this one. "Il faut prononcer 'DJim' comme en anglais. 'Zheem' ne lui ressemble pas."

Ditto with "Chloe in the Afternoon," though Rohmer gets into that "more like homework" zone. At least it's incredibly entertaining homework.

"Pulp Fiction," except that, even on cable, only the premium channels have the cojones to show it uncut. (Readers outside the US just said, "What? Really?" Yeah, really.)

"Midway." Even Charlton Heston can't ruin this film. "Tora Tora Tora" is a better film, but requires more attention. Depends on your mood, I think. 

"High Noon." Yup. 

"The Best Years of Our Lives." Another one I can watch with the sound off. The Greatest Generation with the sentimental myths and crap stripped away, which makes them loom much, much larger in my eyes. 

"The Philadelphia Story." You may want to swap in "Some Like It Hot" or "All About Eve" for this one. Or maybe keep them all and add "Adam's Rib," "Born Yesterday" and "Libeled Lady." There's no such thing as too much wit and good writing.

The comments are open — what's on your list?

 

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Comments 13

  1. “The Treasure of Sierra Madre”,”True Grit” and “Arsenic and Old Lace”.My son loved the first three “Star Wars” movies.Through his repeated viewings,I have the dialogue down pat for all three.Thank God,Lucas never made any other Star Wars movies.

  2. “Chloe” is probably my favorite Rohmer. An interesting aside is that the original title “L’amour l’après-midi” doesn’t mention Chloe’s name, and might be translated more like “Love in the Afternoon”. However, one likely reason it wasn’t released under that title is that there was already an American movie with that title, released in 1957, directed by Billy Wilder.

  3. I once listened to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in French, without the picture. (Don’t ask why.) I could still tell what was going on. Their later pictures were a lot glossier, with much larger budgets, but I think that one was their best.

  4. Forest Gump for me. I get to re-live all the historical/political mileposts of my childhood.

  5. “Gone With the Wind” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” for doing whole scenes(“They’re MY portieres now!”is always fun, the more out of context the better, because there is always somebody who knows what you mean). And I quote long passages from “Bang the Drum Slowly” every chance I get in a baseball discussion.(but that’s the book, not the movie or TV special)
    My favorite/quotable Tracy and Hepburn movie is Desk Set: “Corfu SHALL not ring tonight!”
    “Sit down, Peg, and rest your hands and face.”

  6. “Shawshank Redemption”: I’ve stumbled across it a dozen times in progress on TV and watched it through every time. I truly don’t think I’ve ever seen its first 15 minutes.
    The first (really first) “Star Wars.” “Holy Grail,” “Life of Brian,” “Young Frankenstein.” “Back to the Future III” (I like the first two just fine, but only the third one traps me, don’t know why). The first time I saw Buster Keaton’s “The General” I didn’t even know what it was and was instantly entranced; it’s now one of my personal Top Five Favorite Films.
    Fun topic!

  7. “Bringing Up Baby”, “Monty Python & the Holy Grail”, “Casablanca”, “Sleeper”, “Manhattan”, “Radio Days”, “Frankenstein”, “Dracula”,”The Searchers” and almost all of the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott Westerns.

  8. “All The President’s Men”, and my favorite film of all, “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

  9. “Princess Bride” “The Great Race” “Blazing Saddles” “Young Frankenstein” and yes, Godfathers I and II, but never III

  10. In addition to many of the ones mentioned, a couple of war movies for me: Patton and Stalag 17.
    And, any Marx Brothers or W.C. Fields.

  11. Lots of movies that could be on the list, several that almost were, some that never would have made the cut.
    There are some movies that are very close, except for extended scenes I don’t need to see again — like Butch riding around on the bicycle to “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”
    That whole “montage” fad was strange, though the really odd fad of the time was using split screens and boxes, which the Czechs did very effectively but which quickly became tiresome. “Charly” used it — and “Charly” could have been on the list, but mostly because I saw it with a girl I really loved and should never ever have broken up with. Watching the movie again isn’t gonna bring THAT moment back.
    Funny how many movies have that kind of tangential association permanently attached …

  12. We once watched – fortunately not for the first time – “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in English, with French subtitles, in a small theater in Paris. It turns out that French, although the less compact language, can be read more quickly than English can be spoken; every punch line was drowned out by laughter that began before it was delivered!

  13. I saw “Cat Ballou” in Copenhagen with just the opposite effect — laughter following and just a beat off the gag. Which is interesting in that I’m sure a large portion of the audience was perfectly fluent in English but, hey, if the subtitles are there …

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