Is it just me or has anyone else felt as though they've just wasted hours of their lives on this terribly bad movie.I always watch a movie to the end but this one was so painful that I could hardly stay awake. It is bland, dull and just totally uninteresting. I have seen films that are about red indians and the fighting that went on but this one was terrible definitely Hoffman's worst movie!
shareSo, this was the first great Western I've seen. Ever. And it's not just for the satire in it or the fact I like films that seem to be about the counterculture.
I like this film mainly because of the way things were organized. How Jack acts like a prodigal son to Old Lodge Skins - going to the decadent American world and going back to the idyllic, peaceful-but-not-for-long Indian realm - really amazes me.
They don't make films like this anymore, I can tell you that.
as a non american when i saw this movie i was horrified . i thought it must be a soviet production. its really most anti american movie i have ever seen. cheer for democracy in u.s
shareNot anti-American: it's anti-hypocrisy, anti-racism, anti-imperialism. It's no more anti-American than Mark Twain, who was anti-hypocrisy, anti-racism, and anti-imperialism. "As a non American" you should familiarize yourself with the great American traditions of democratic criticism, social reform, and parody before you call LBM anti-American.
shareWait wait wait... Social reform? United Sates are a nation of social reforms?
Yo gotta be kidding. The liberalism is so strong in United States that the Public services have almost no possibility of social reforms. That's why The United States were unable to prevent the recent crisis. You know why countries like France, or Germany resisted ? Because they actually have social protection, health care system, market regulation.
Wow... I'm really off topic.
"Wachu lookin' at, fool? Buy the goddamn book!" -Gary Coleman in Postal 2
OP, it happens to be one of my favorite films. I think it might be Hoffman's best performance. I cite it to my middle school theatre arts students as one of the greatest examples of acting, and encourage them to view it if they get a chance.
It is a fact. from my experience, that young people generally don't like old movies. Every year, before I show my kids some Chaplin or Keaton, I go through a long explanation on the technology available at the time and ask the kids to give this 15-20 minute flick a chance before they denounce it as boring. The denunciation, before I figured out that I needed to prepare them for it, usually was stated before the credits had passed. Being old, mid-50's, and dealing with 12-14 year-olds I realize that these kids have grown up in a different world than I did and their expectations of filmic quality is much different than mine. I like explosions and wild sfx too but I feel that too often these elements are substituted for good story-telling, quality acting, subtlety, or genuine humor.
I'm curious, you have stated a few times that you like old movies. If it's not an imposition would you mind listing a few "old" films that you do like.
As I said earlier, I love this movie, but I realize that part of that comes from the time of my life when I first saw it and also what was going on in the world at the time it was made.
Meh, if people think this is not some kind of masterpiece (which it isn't really) then let them and don't try to lecture them by telling the stories of how the world of film was in the old days.
Just as much as a film being old doesn't mean it's bad, a film being old doesn't mean it has to be any good either.
6/10, bash me please.
It is most assuredly JUST YOU
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Thank you, Comic Book Guy.
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
This film had a big impact on me. I saw it in 1971 when I was a freshman in college and can even remember the theater ... and where I sat in the theater!
Having grown up on John Ford's westerns, which I also like, it was really refreshing to see the old story told in an entirely new way. The great acting and the clever mix of comedy and tragedy in the same story were groundbreaking.
It came out at a time when Americans were open to new ideas. Not like today when people are told how to think.
Anyway, I fell in love with West, moved to Montana from the east coast and now I live about an hour from Virginia City, Mont., where the town scenes of LBM were filmed. I've visited the Little Big Horn battlefield many times and been to the site of the No. 10 Saloon in Deadwood.
..."worst movie ever" with "red indians"? man -that tells us all we need to know about you, l-g: a shallow, distracted critic.
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I'd find it easier to believe you, KM, if "True Grit" weren't up for an Oscar this year, like "No Country for Old Men" and "Unforgiven" were not very long ago some time back. The western (a form that usually leaves me yawning) is a genre that will never vanish -wax and wane, maybe, but never vanish.
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No, you're right. This ranks among the bigger wastes of cinematic effort. I admire you for sticking it out 'til the end! I couldn't.
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Not the worst movie ever. But a disappointment when compared to Thomas Berger's great book it is based on. The book is an epic description of the old West, with a sometimes joking attitude towards the conventions of Western novels (and films), but tongue firmly in cheek. The movie's story, on the other hand, is very much abridged, simplified and modified, attempts of humor are heavy-handed, and even John Hammond's guitar and harmonica score feels inappropriate. Read Berger's novel first, watch the film afterwards if you feel you have to. I do like Jeff Corey's performance as Wild Bill Hickok.
shareIf you really want to know what this movie was about, READ the NOVEL. The book was much better. And I am not a big book reader. It kept a teenage boy's interest all summer.
As it happened, I read the novel that summer in high school in the late 70's. Then my English teacher showed us the movie and had us do a report on the movie. I compared the book to the movie, rating the book as the better product.
I love them both. I have the movie on tape. And I still have the book.
As far as anything in the art world goes. Like they used to say "to each his own" (taste that is). And maybe LISTEN to an old person once in awhile.
As Grandfather said "It is a good day to die". An old human being saying.
[Grandfather, who has laid himself down to die, wakes up]
Old Lodge Skins: Am I still in this world?
Jack Crabb: Yes, Grandfather.
Old Lodge Skins: [groans] I was afraid of that. Well, sometimes the magic works. Sometimes, it doesn't[Grandfather, who has laid himself down to die, wakes up]
Old Lodge Skins: Am I still in this world?
Jack Crabb: Yes, Grandfather.
Old Lodge Skins: [groans] I was afraid of that. Well, sometimes the MAGIC WORKS. Sometimes, it doesn't.
From the human being,
Bright Pony crossing the sky.