Name a Movie That Inspired You......

[Regular 8 Freak]

Without a doubt it was Cool Hand Luke. I love that film. I can probably do the lines word for word.

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[fandini]

Endless Summer.

It is not my favorite movie but I would have to say it has had a big effect on how I live my life.

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Dan

[Alex]

Endless Summer, when I hear that title, I think of a Brooke Shields movie. (I'm assumming she wasn't in it)

What was the gist of the movie.


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Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited September 28, 2001).]

[MovieStuff]

Oh, man! Endless Summer is a Kodachrome love fest!

It's about the best documentary even made, in my opinion. It's about two surfers in the 60's that go around the world for a year chasing the summer season. The film was shot all on 16mm Kodachrome in pristine places where commercial tourism had not yet reached. The running commentary is a hoot and the photography is top notch all the way through. I can't swim for beans but I want to go surf every time I watch that movie. Wow. Wow.

My point of inspiration was the '32 version of King Kong. Pure fantasy and a fun story. It was the "Star Wars" of that time where they pushed the technical envelope to the limits. It is probably the only black and white classic film that has been colorized that I don't mind. I think they would have shot on color if it had been practical, so adding color after the fact seems only natural.

More contempary films for me are humanistic in nature. "Searching for Bobby Fisher" comes to mind. Perfect storytelling and a flawless script. "The Right Stuff" and "Outlaw Josey Wales" are two Phillip Kaufman films that I think are just terrific. I find myself sitting down to watch them if I happen upon them during the day. And, finally, "Once Upon a Time in the West" in which Henry Fonda plays the baddest guy around (he kicks the crutches our from under a polio victim). Oh, I'm sorry, I lie; one more - "Warlock", also with Henry Fonda, in which he plays a hired gunslinger cleaning up a town of the title name. What makes this different is that, true to books on the old west I have, he is SO fast that he rarely has to fire his gun. His opponents are still reaching for theirs! Okay, okay, one more: "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Classic western. I like westerns. Star Wars was a western in many ways, I think.

Roger

[Alex]

Roger, you just reminded me...High Noon.

I heard they added the clock as an afterthought. Some afterthought!

Did the movie inspire me?

It blew my mind witnessing the townspeople rationalize not helping the one man responsible for bringing their town back from the brink of uninhabitability to a prospering, safe place.

What did I learn from that movie.....hmmmmm.

Perhaps that Gary Cooper saw the big picture.

And in the end, it is a rare moment when anyone gets to see the big picture.

High Noon also shows just how unattainable getting a group of people to agree on what the bigger picture is can be.

Gary Cooper's actions were based on a higher good without religious fanaticism.

A pretty awesome message.

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Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited September 29, 2001).]

[robert moseley]

For me the movie is Shane. I first saw this film in 1969 and I still see new things in it. Behind the film is enormously complex thought and understanding of humanity but expressed through the medium of an apparently simple story by a director in complete control of every aspect of the film.
Is the family relationship strong and enduring or is it shown to have weaknesses and shortcomings? Does the film advocate the use of violence or does it show the fruitlessness of violence? Is the ending triumphal or bleak? To understand the extrordinary ability of George Stevens, just compare the performance of Alan Ladd in this film with his performance in all his other films.

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[chas_ucla]

For me it would be that French film that came out recently..."Baise Moi" [sp?]

It showed that when you get f****d over by the system, the best thing to do is to have indescrimate sex with strangers...then kill them if things get too complicated or if they bother you.

An absolutely beautiful movie in every respect. I'd like to think my life has been changed for the better by watching it.

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[Dominic3]

A great Gary Cooper film is "The Fountainhead" with Patricia Neal, directed by King Vidor (from Ayn Rand's novel of the same name). A great film which illustrates that compromise or "selling out" of one's values is both unnecessary and philosophically immoral.

I can't think of any others that inspire me philosophically, but artistically the following spring to mind, "Metropolis" and "Seigfried" by Fritz Lang, "The Last Emporer" by Bernado Bertolucci, "Medea" by Pasolini,"Barry Lyndon" by Kubrick , "Caravaggio" by Derek Jarman, "Once upon a time in the west" by Sergio Leone, "1492" by Ridley Scott. I also liked the film "Chocolat" nominated this year.

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[chas_ucla]

"The Fountainhead"???
Yecch. Great book...but I felt the movie suffered from bad casting...
I like your other choices...

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[Alex]

Brubaker with Robert Redford.

Redford had the unenviable task of being a prison warden who fought for his own principles of what was right for the prisoners.

When the "Establishment' offers to meet him half-way, he refuses, and I believe everything goes back to the ultra barbaric way before he was ever warden.

A situation where holding on to your own principles harms those you are trying to help....yech!

Did it inspire me, no.

But it was a powerful message nonetheless....

Perhaps this topic should be called "Powerful Messages from Movies that you remember....

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Alex