What makes a movie a classic film? Is it the age of the picture, its relative popularity; does it have to be one particular genre or is it a genre unto itself? Do critics determine what is or isn't classic or is it the movie lovers? Do you have to take film appreciation courses to be able to identify whether or not a movie is classic? We will try to answer those questions for you as we introduce the first review in a new series we're calling, Raving Classics.
Answers:
You don't have to take any film classes to be able to identify a classic. We took some of those classes and can assure you they were a giant waste of time.
Classics don't belong to any one genre or any one time - they cross all of them. Films released this year could be classics and virtually any type of film might be considered classic - even some documentaries (Capra's "Why we Fight" is a good example).
You don't need critics to tell what is a classic, but they can help you find them if you haven't already discovered them on your own.
Classic Criteria: Here are some guidelines that might be used to help assess whether a film is worthy of being called "Classic."
It's fun to watch.
It never gets old - you watch it over and over again and still appreciate it.
It makes you feel something, or think something new, interesting or otherwise thrilling.
A classic often gets remade, but the remakes to a real classic never measure up to the original (which is perhaps why no one has tried a remake of Gone with the Wind).
A classic has memorable moments that stay with you and often these become cultural guideposts or pillars that help to define an age.
So there you have it; our criteria for a classic film. With that we will now review our first Raving Classic - just in time for the onset of cold weather but not too long after Halloween. We're reviewing one of our favorite movies ever - John Carpenter's, The Thing.
Things heat up in the coldest place in the world... Poster art for The Thing
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) is all about atmosphere - it takes us to the end of the world and strands us there with a handful of bearded and ultimately desperate men (this is definitely not a chick flick). The film's understated soundtrack evokes Jaws but at a much deeper level - helping to establish a sense of foreboding that builds steadily as we drive deeper into the mystery and paranoia that ensues. As you may know this film is itself a remake of a 1951 film and has been remade again recently (2011), which makes it a bit unusual as classics go in that the second one hit the jackpot while the first and third tries missed badly.
CPR was never the same after this scene from "The Thing"
John Carpenter's The Thing succeeded where the others failed for a number of reasons:
An excellent ensemble cast with a very strong performances by the lead Kurt Russell and his sort of nemesis, Keith David (who can now be seen in Cloud Atlas).
A very neatly wrapped storyline - it wasn't complicated by any means - but seemed perfectly believable. We're dropped right into the situation and accept it instantly.
The tension of this film is palpable. Even after watching it more than 10 times it's still there - and the question of whether or not you can trust the folks around you allows us to drop into a temporary paranoid fantasy without having to stay too long (unlike the X-Files).
No One Gets Out Alive - How cool is that? No obvious sequels with the same cast anyway.
The Big Question - This film doesn't answer the big question - what happens next and that makes the movie even more menacing. The 2011 remake actually represents a sort of prequel with a focus on the Norwegian team that dug up the monster so we've still never found out what happened when the rescue team returns to the American Research station.
The Battle between McCready and the Monsters was Epic - This guy was cool, the hat, the Whiskey and the wits to take on the toughest bastards in the galaxy.
Groundbreaking Special Effects - This movie came well before the advent of computer animation. These monsters were handcrafted with lots of love and still look convincing today. Who can ever forget the slime dogs and spider-head guy? Unlike many monster, alien or horror flicks, these effects truly advance the plot and ensure the believability of the premise. They are among us and they are not nice...
McCready encounters a dead Norwegian (segue to 2011 remake)
The characters in The Thing seem like a very ordinary bunch of men placed in an extraordinary situation which unfolds before their eyes very rapidly. The situation makes them question who exactly their co-workers are in a more profound way than most of us will ever do. And keep in mind, the first two versions of the Thing were still very much Cold War metaphors - placing them both in cold locales was like having your cake and eating it too. Being paranoid and scared can be a lot of fun, so next time it starts snowing out, turn the lights down low and watch the 1982 version of The Thing.
A really great trailer, but that's to be expected.
Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews™ - All Rights Reserved
The other day someone asked me what my favorite movie of all time was, without hesitation I answered back “Blade Runner.” While I think Artificial Intelligence is a distant second, Blade Runner will likely continue to hold its first place ranking for the foreseeable future. So why do folks like me still obsess over this movie, after all it is now nearly 30 years old (that’s frightening to admit by the way as 1982 is the year I graduated High School)?
For me, this film represents everything that a movie can be – a synergy of art and entertainment, a visual banquet and a symphony. The story is simple, the characters are complex, the direction is flawless and the performances are memorable. This was the movie that introduced us to Edward James Olmos, Sean Young and Rutger Hauer; it gave Harrison Ford a depth that we hadn’t seen before. Blade Runner also provided us with what I still believe is the single best soundtrack in motion picture history, scored and performed by Vangelis. The soundtrack was so powerful that it literally became one with movie, narrating it in emotional overtones which transcended the music. I still listen to that soundtrack to this day and it never, ever gets old.
Both the music of Blade Runner & Sean Young were beyond compare...
Blade Runner sets a mood, builds its own universe and then draws you in bit by bit. Even though it is Science Fiction, it felt like a combination of reality + film noir. There are some scenes that simply stood out for being visually unforgettable. One example that comes to mind is where Dr. Tyrell opens the patio of his penthouse suite and we see the sun streaming in to fill the luxurious surroundings. Director Ridley Scott used a variation of the same scene nearly 20 years later when filming Gladiator. Between Ridley and his brother Tony, the brothers Scott have directed or produced the majority of my top ten film favorites of all-time. These guys instinctively understand cinema, what works, what looks good, what compels us to experience movies rather than merely watch them.
The story told in Blade Runner also plays an important role in making it a classic. Like the Matrix, Blade Runner tackles a fundamental philosophical paradox and makes us question what is humanity; what does it mean to be human, to be real. And it confronts this dilemma without ever referring it directly. In other words, it makes us think and read between the lines to grasp the full scope of what is actually unfolding before us. This is not to say that the Scott brothers don’t know how to employ action, they surely do; but they prefer the Mozart version over say Jerry Bruckheimer’s Salieri. In a Scott film, action can and does further the plot without turning it into roadkill. And the parting message of the film is as true today as it ever was, the final truth about one’s humanity is usually most apparent when we are closest to losing it.
The performances in Blade Runner were nothing short of iconic. From Leo, to Joanna Cassidy’s Snake Dancer, to the Eye Doctor to J.F. Sebastian and the intellectually cruel Dr. Tyrell – the characters simply came alive. Sean Young really stole the show though – her picture even ended up on the Vangelis “Themes” soundtrack cover. She took the film noir replicant temptress and made her believable – both vulnerable and passionate, one of the great female leads of all time. In this movie she harnessed Marilyn Monroe level star power, it’s too bad Hollywood never gave her chance to repeat this type of performance.
Here are some interesting deleted scenes from Blade Runner
At the Tyrell Corporation, we have a slogan; “More Human than Human.” Even the dialog from Blade Runner has become iconic, with White Zombie turning this line into what is now a classic hard rock song in the 1990’s. I don’t think anyone ever could or perhaps ever should make a sequel to this movie – it is almost inevitable that fans of the original would be disappointed.
A true classic can stand the test of time all on its own.
The Raving Reviews Blog is dedicated to the convergence of popular and critical review of the motion picture art - that and taking a sometimes irreverent view of popular culture.
