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vranger's Replies
Actually, he's 100% correct, which you could have verified in 20 seconds.
The "somehow" is that it inspired them to use tools.
This isn't just a movie. It's a novel by Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most revered of sci-fi authors, and nominally the inventor of the telecommunications satellite. Many of us had read the novel before we saw the movie. So there was no mystery for us.
Most younger viewers don't realize that this was one of only a handful of space travel movies with high-end special effects to that time. While watching the shuttle approach the space station to the strains of the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz may bore current viewers, we in the theater in 1969 had literally never seen anything like it before. It was awe inspiring.
And once you get to HAL, only a tunnel-visioned action junkie could fail to appreciate the tension and the drama.
No reason for anyone to give you crap. The first movie was funny, and the OP is nothing but a troll.
"boring as hell"
You only say that because you are a child. The movie set new standards for special effects, and audiences of the day were in awe. The sequence with HAL was riveting and tense.
Pep - Checking out your other comments, your only purpose on the site seems to be trolling and pimping your worthless youtube trash. LOL
I've never been "traumatized" by a movie. There are several movies I've seen that I thought were excellent movies, but were so intense I feel no need to experience that again. Some examples are "Sling Blade", "The Dark Knight", and "Saving Private Ryan".
Possibly some horror/slasher flicks would come to mind for some people, but I've never had any interest in those. A few monster movies is about as far as I go in that area.
No, Markle was in reality a minor character. If she'd never have been there, the show would have been just as successful, and no one would have known the difference.
"At Long Last Love" had a dynamite cast. Burt was at the top of his game, and Kahn was in the middle of her great series of films with Mel Brooks. Sheppard's introduction led to other good roles and her run on Moonlighting several years later. John Hillerman was an occasional TV guest star and character actor, but in a few years showed off his wonderful talent on Magnum PI. Eileen Brennan always stood out in her roles, and Duilio Del Prete was popular in Europe.
ALLL gets a bad rap in some quarters because musicals had lost their shine by the 70s. Most popular musicals of the late 50s and 60s were big budget events. ALLL paid tribute to the era in the 30s and 40s where musicals were about as common as westerns, and didn't have to be based on a major broadway hit to find an audience.
I can't say I ever noticed it whatsoever.
It almost certainly came from Amazon. A few months later they also discontinued all Amazon Forums.
Both decisions were short-sighted, and almost certainly have cost both sites traffic. But in particular, I regretted the loss of so MUCH information in the IMDB boards. I was greatly relieved to find them preserved here.
Actually, Starship Troopers had no (or little) focus on a "queen". It was a brain bug that was focused on.
As a lifelong Heinlein fan who has read Starship Troopers several times, I just don't see Aliens as in ANY way close. Heck, the Starship Troopers movie wasn't even close. LOL
You can make up dicey allusions all you want to (Both SST the novel and Aliens the movie had HUMANS!!!) but that doesn't cut it.
The whole "drop capsule as birth" thing is nonsense. Heinlein wrote plenty of "plot as lesson", but he didn't write symbolism of that nature. If Heinlein had something to tell you, he made it pretty plain.
On Good Times, Jimmy Walker's father was killed off.
James Garner was killed off on Nichols. Nichols was not a sitcom, but it was an hour-long show with a humorous side. The character was to be replaced by his brother (also Garner), but the show was canceled.
Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men.
This doesn't count the times it happened because the actor died. (John Ritter, Nick Colasante, for example).
I understand your point, but you're just not being accurate. In most of the films, the stories were compelling. "Follow that Dream" would have been a terrific comedy without a single song in it, as would our agreed upon "Girl Happy". ;-) "Girl Happy" was essentially "Where the Boys Are" without the pathos. I don't intend to contradict my earlier statement though, I think they're all better for having the songs.
You'd be right on "Viva Las Vegas", probably the closest to your music video impression.
"Was Elvis looked down upon for being Southern?"
In short, No.
At least not by the public at large. They flocked to his movies and bought his records by the millions. He easily sold out anywhere he chose to perform live.
Luckily there aren't that many ignorant bigots around the USA. I know bigots tend to be vocal, but they aren't the majority. By the same token, people in the South don't look down on Yankees as much as you'd suppose. ;-)
Very few of Elvis' movies were "crappy". Mostly they were 60s style romantic comedy with Elvis music thrown in. Most are very watchable, and a few are among my favorites. There was no need for Elvis to achieve high levels of drama, and it would have been a waste of everyone's time. Elvis' value to a film are his songs.
Anyone who could watch films like "Follow that Dream", "Viva Las Vegas", "Clambake", "Blue Hawaii", or even "Girl Happy" and not enjoy them, I'd feel sad for. ;-) We showed a few to my granddaughter last year. She knew little about Elvis, and nothing about his movies. She became an immediate fan and wanted more. :-)
Elvis movies weren't a unique phenomenon, but they were rare. Most music stars who were tried out for a film or two flopped and died. Stars like Crosby, Sinatra, and Presley were exceptions to the norm. And while Elvis wasn't the actor that Crosby and Sinatra became, he wasn't bad. His dialogue is seldom wooden, and he mostly sells his role.
I view his films as a treat. Except for the very few where they tried for straight drama, even the worst of Elvis films ("Kissin' Cousins", "Harem Scarem", "Tickle Me") have musical performances which include great songs.
It seems like a lot of criticism here about Aliens was that it wasn't a remake of Alien (which itself was derivative of a 50s sci-fi/horror flick where a monster snuck on a spaceship returning from Mars). When they decided on Aliens, they weren't catering to tastes 30+ years in the future. They didn't want to remake the first movie, so they did something completely different, with characters who could (conceivably) fight back. It was a good idea and it sold tickets ... just what it was supposed to do.
As far as personal tastes go, I'm not a horror fan whatsoever. Most horror films are the nothing but the same story with different window dressing and things that pop out to say Boo (and possibly kill someone in a disgusting manner). My only interest was to see who the survivor(s) would be, and that wasn't enough to keep me interested for long.
I did like Alien, but it isn't a movie I find myself drawn to for repeated viewings. Aliens, on the other hand, I've seen a few times over the years. I held nothing but disgust for Aliens 3, and I'm not drawn to a repeat viewing of ANY of the other Alien series, either. I barely mustered the interest to watch Prometheus, and afterward regretted that impulse.
There aren't many series that hold up over a sequence of films, especially since the writers make it up as they go. We see too many films where plotting was obviously "wouldn't this scene be cool" -- instead of actually working on a terrific story. The contributor who posted the "post first weekend" ticket sales underscored this point. Except for a devoted core, the series became tired to most movie fans.
I've been as big a sci-fi fan as you can be since about the age of 8, and that's a long time now. There is too much trash like Prometheus, and not enough thoughtfully plotted sci-fi like Interstellar or The Martian. And that could be the difference in my outlook versus some of the comments previously left in the thread. I'm a sci-fi fan, not a horror fan.
Patricia Neal had suffered a stroke that almost killed her. She had to learn everything again, including just how to walk and talk. Everything she did after that is simply amazing.
Well, I found that one of the compilation movies "The Spy with the Perfect Cover" is available on Youtube. It's about 90 minutes, and includes the series wrap up.