"I've never seen Star Wars" - unwatched classic films...

[jayne lee wilson]

I haven't seen many of the films other people seem to have seen. Certainly not Star Wars or anything like that. Never been interested.

I do have one or two favourite films, though. The Railway Children comes top, or perhaps ties with Brief Encounter. I've now seen some children's films like Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz and Sound of Music. When I was about ten I was crazy about The Red Shoes, one of the very few films I was allowed to see - now, I'm not impressed. I saw Bambi for the first time very recently when it was on television, and thought it was all right until Bambi grew up and met the female of the species, a typically loathsome Disney eyelash-fluttering 'woman'. Usually, Disney's vulgarisation of literature repels me (think Alice in Wondeland, Peter Pan, Winnie-the Pooh), but I've never read Bambi, so I don't know what he did to it.

Oh, and I liked the film of My Fair Lady.

What, you thought Bambi was "alright" ...?! You mean you weren't in tearful pieces on the carpet when Bambi's mother gets shot? When the poor little thing cries "Muh..ther!...Muuuh...ther!" ever more bleatingly & tearfully in the grey and the snow, lost in the padded silence, and when his father looms above him & says "your mother can't be with you anymore"...

A whole generation of kids had their souls destroyed in the local Odeon by that moment...
I still find it almost unbearable even in anticipation...

(And give me Close Encounters over Brief Encounter any day...)

[johncorrigan]

An article in last Saturday's Guardian on Blade Runner calls it 'one of the most visually stunning films ever made', and one of the greatest ever science fiction films. What do others think who've seen it? - I haven't.

In my top ten - atmospheric Vangelis soundtrack and terrific performances, in particular Hauer and Ford - seen it lots of times and will watch it again.

[johncorrigan]

a typically loathsome Disney eyelash-fluttering 'woman'. Usually, Disney's vulgarisation of literature repels me (think Alice in Wondeland, Peter Pan, Winnie-the Pooh), but I've never read Bambi, so I don't know what he did to it.

Oh, and I liked the film of My Fair Lady.

There's a bit eyelash fluttering at the end of Disney's 'Jungle Book', Mary, the worst bit in the film, but the rest is so great I've always forgiven it - 'come on Baggy, get with the Beat'...one of the great last lines of a film...also in my top 10 films. I like My Fair Lady too - 'On the Street where you live' is one of the greats.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Disney's vulgarisation of literature repels me

... and as for what he did with Beethoven ...

[Nick Armstrong]

... and as for what he did with Beethoven ...

... although not as bad as what Ken Russell did with Mahler...

[Roehre]

... although not as bad as what Ken Russell did with Mahler...

eeerrrrrr......perhaps

[doversoul1]

All Steven Spielberg’s films except Duel. One film I have been meaning to watch but have not yet manage is Becket.

[johncorrigan]

All Steven Spielberg’s films except Duel. One film I have been meaning to watch but have not yet manage is Becket.

Never seen 'Jaws' but loved it's predecessor the aforementioned and wonderful 'Duel'. That is one tense film!

[Nick Armstrong]

the aforementioned and wonderful 'Duel'. That is one tense film!

Downhill for Spielberg ever since, imho!

[teamsaint]

Downhill for Spielberg ever since, imho!

Nicely articulated.

[Nick Armstrong]

Nicely articulated.

[Petrushka]

As something of a cinema-phobe I doubt if I've seen more than a couple or three of the films mentioned in this entire thread. Mind, the 'Sound of Music' is one of them but in mitigation it was in the hot summer of 1976 with a couple of girlfriends and I'd have seen anything with them.

I've also seen 'Night of the Generals', Cali, and yes it is terrific. I saw it in the cinema when it first came out in 1967. If you can, try to get hold of the book by Han Helmut Kirst. I'm something of a Kirst fan, have been for years and have all of his books that have been translated into English (masterfully done by J. Maxwell Brownjohn). Kirst's book, 'The Wolves' (also known as 'The Fox of Maulen') would make a brilliant film or TV series, a thought I've held for over 45 years.

[Barbirollians]

The Godfather - all parts
Citizen Kane
Bambi ( my father was very upset by that film as a child and put me right off ! )

Favourite disney film - the marvellous Bedknobs and Broomsticks .

[jayne lee wilson]

Downhill for Spielberg ever since, imho!

Oh you are men of stones...

You were never in floods at the end of ET? "Come"..."Stay"... "Ouch". Or the wonderful soaring theme when the bicycles take off?
ET dead under the glass, and then "ET Phone Hooaame!"

Never gasped at the first appearance of the mother ship in Close Encounters, after the long breathless anticipation, and - that profound deep rumbling vibration as it approaches, throwing the whole of Devil Rock into its shadow?

Never thrilled to the helicopter's approach to the island in Jurassic Park with the great trumpet theme, then the faces of Neill and Dern in the jeep, before we see Brachiosaurus striding along to a gravely beautiful string melody? And the best bit of all near the end - when the T.Rex crashes through the glass dome to grab the raptors and (inadvertently) save the humans - that trumpet tune rings out triumphantly again, the first time we've heard it since the island approach. T.Rex is the true hero, subverting the usual American Myth of slaying the monster, subjugating nature...

The battered exhausted humans leave the island to the dinosaurs, accompanied by... the Brachiosaurus theme, first pp on piano, then swelling out in the orchestra. The Pelicans - those dinosaur successors - fly serenely past. The best of Jurassic Park is just perfect cinema.

[Richard Tarleton]

Oh you are men of stones...

You were never in floods at the end of ET? "Come"..."Stay"... "Ouch". Or the wonderful soaring theme when the bicycles take off?
ET dead under the glass, and then "ET Phone Hooaame!"

Never gasped at the first appearance of the mother ship in Close Encounters, after the long breathless anticipation, and - that profound deep rumbling vibration as it approaches, throwing the whole of Devil Rock into its shadow?

Yesss! That (in Close Encounters) is one of the great big-screen moments - you had to see (and feel) it on the big screen....

And enough of this Spielberg-bashing, what about the Indiana Jones films, especially nos 1 and 3 - they're brilliant action cinema. Bunuel they ain't, but they are Saturday entertainment at its very best. Spielberg is one of the great action directors, along with Ridley Scott, James Cameron.....

posted by Mary Chambers Usually, Disney's vulgarisation of literature repels me

Me too, Mary.