It's a solid group of films, but they pretty much stuck to the standard "great movies" list. Not many risky choices, which would have made it more interesting.
I have a personal grudge against North by Northwest and I think its screenplay is awful, but that's the only one on the list that truly annoys me. There are some other selections I find strange, like Back to the Future. I love the movie but I'm not sure its screenplay was its strength. All in all, it's a decent list, not too controversial.
-------------------- Ummm....I don't know what this means....but a giant iceberg just winked at me. Posts: 20122 | From: Terminal Dogma | Registered: Oct 1999
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Typical list. Left to interpretation. 90% of those films can be shifted around 50 rankings or so.
I guess the only criteria would be timelessness?!?
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quote:Originally posted by Obi-Wan Cannoli: How did the kangaroos get back to Australia when the flood was over? Did they swim? How did they reach the Middle East in the first place?
quote:Originally posted by DML: I'd like to hear your thoughts on why you thought North by Northwest had a bad script.
All they did was think up some cool set pieces and then cobble them together haphazardly into a story. Lehman openly admits it. He says that Hitchcock mentioned that he always wanted to do a murder at the UN and an action scene on Mt Rushmore. So he just conjured up something to try and link them together.
NBNW is the forerunner of every stupid action/thriller today. Get some name actors, come up with some cool action scenes and make up any random convenient plot that will lead your character where you need him to go (i.e. the big set pieces). There's no sense behind any of it. It baffles me why people consider it a classic. The dialogue is terrible, especially between Grant and Eva Marie, and that too is a forerunner of all the crappy but obligatory girl subplots in bad movies today.
I generally love Hitchcock (Rebecca and Rear Window are among my favorite all-time movies), but yeah, I pretty much loathe this one. It's what Jerry Bruckheimer would have made if he was working then.
-------------------- Ummm....I don't know what this means....but a giant iceberg just winked at me. Posts: 20122 | From: Terminal Dogma | Registered: Oct 1999
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I actually have to agree. I still like the film, but it is by no means a benchmark/landmark in screenplay quality.
This was Hitchcock's Saving Private Ryan. Preeminant modern director's holier than thou/I am the man and I can do no wrong/everything I touch and do is gold so love me and give me awards because I am the man attempt at DESIGNING an Oscar winning affair.
NBNW was Hitchcock's mainstream/"it" actor of the moment project, that is forever referenced by film schools because of one or two very cool seminal film moments in the history of motion pictures (the crop scene).
Overrated. Screenplay had no bearing for this movie.
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quote:Originally posted by Obi-Wan Cannoli: How did the kangaroos get back to Australia when the flood was over? Did they swim? How did they reach the Middle East in the first place?
quote:Originally posted by Mandard: There are some other selections I find strange, like Back to the Future.
The WGA considering...Back to the Future...one of the greatest screenplays must be pure insanity at work.
Posts: 9000 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Shakespeare in Love (never deserved its Academy Award, doesn't deserve to be on the list, definently not as high as they have it)
Butch Cassidy bla bla bla was way too high
Back to the Future = WTF? I love the movie, but share the same sentiment layed about above
Nice to see Sideways get some recognition
-------------------- "What's so great about discovery? Its a violent, penetrative act that scars. Discovery...what you call discovery I call the rape of the natural world," -Ian Malcom Posts: 3087 | From: iowa | Registered: Apr 2001
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I think Shakespeare in Love is a GREAT movie.
Also, I LOVE this list. I love seeing Pulp Fiction high up on these lists. LA Confidential, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, The Shawshank Redemtion, Memento these are some of my favorite movies ever.
I think its strange that LotR didn't make it though.
-------------------- Read My Film Snob Reviews -------------- crysmabob: why must everyone be dumb crysmabob: case in point: nightly.net Posts: 13694 | From: LA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Tank, you know I love you bro, but NBNW (screenplay-wise) is seriously overrated compared to the likes of Notorious, Rope, or HELL, even Psycho, as far as plot point build up, climax and execution?!?!?
That was the Masters' fill the seats/excess/Hollywood shlock vehicle!
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quote:Originally posted by Obi-Wan Cannoli: How did the kangaroos get back to Australia when the flood was over? Did they swim? How did they reach the Middle East in the first place?
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Not too bad of a list (Back to the Future aside). I do wish that the art of comedy would be more appreciated. Particularly the wacky brand (Airplane!, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, etc.).
Oddly enough, though, two or their top 3 comedies appear to have men in drag
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Comedies never get the proper credit they deserve. Hollywood and film buffs will always consider drama to be the more important genre becuase it makes them feel more important.
-------------------- On election day, I will be esentially doing the same thing you folks are doing, except that when I'm finished masturbating I'm gonna have a little more to show for it. Posts: 1611 | From: My Father's Penis | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Blade Runner: Oh come on man.
Tank, you know I love you bro, but NBNW (screenplay-wise) is seriously overrated compared to the likes of Notorious, Rope, or HELL, even Psycho, as far as plot point build up, climax and execution?!?!?
That was the Masters' fill the seats/excess/Hollywood shlock vehicle!
I just have a huge soft spot for Hitchcock, and most of the things Mandy pointed out I sort of throw to suspension of disbelief and time-context as to when the movie was made. But I agree it may not stand up as well as most of his other films.
-------------------- Read My Film Snob Reviews -------------- crysmabob: why must everyone be dumb crysmabob: case in point: nightly.net Posts: 13694 | From: LA | Registered: Jun 1999
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^ What abou Vertigo, Tank? I finally saw that one recently and I incredibly disappointed.
-------------------- On election day, I will be esentially doing the same thing you folks are doing, except that when I'm finished masturbating I'm gonna have a little more to show for it. Posts: 1611 | From: My Father's Penis | Registered: Dec 2004
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Maybe it's me, but I really like the pacing andd dialog of older movies. I know a ton of people who just don't get them or have patience for them because the style of narrative in films has changed so much.
-------------------- Read My Film Snob Reviews -------------- crysmabob: why must everyone be dumb crysmabob: case in point: nightly.net Posts: 13694 | From: LA | Registered: Jun 1999
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I'm a HUGE old film buff. But I have to admit that North by Northwest didn't do much for me.
It wasn't bad, just wasn't that great (for me).
Anyway, we all DO know that no list is definitive, right? It's all just opinions.
And I'd be very curious to know for sure that all of the screenplays have been read by all the voters, too.
Also, what was the critera? I mean, there's thousands of brilliant screenplays that haven't been and won't ever be produced. Or brilliant screenplays that got jacked in their filming, too. I wonder if that was taken into consideration.
-------------------- Read My Film Snob Reviews -------------- crysmabob: why must everyone be dumb crysmabob: case in point: nightly.net Posts: 13694 | From: LA | Registered: Jun 1999
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-------------------- Read My Film Snob Reviews -------------- crysmabob: why must everyone be dumb crysmabob: case in point: nightly.net Posts: 13694 | From: LA | Registered: Jun 1999
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I have no problem with Vertigo. I didn't love it as much as some of his others but it was a quality film.
-------------------- Ummm....I don't know what this means....but a giant iceberg just winked at me. Posts: 20122 | From: Terminal Dogma | Registered: Oct 1999
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^I guess that's what I was getting at. I didn't think it was nearly as good as other Hitchcock films and I was wondering what you guys thought.
-------------------- On election day, I will be esentially doing the same thing you folks are doing, except that when I'm finished masturbating I'm gonna have a little more to show for it. Posts: 1611 | From: My Father's Penis | Registered: Dec 2004
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Not bad. Glad to see Network in the top 10. That might be my favorite screenplay. And Charlie Kaufman's screenplays are justly on the list as well.
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