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May 23 2008
It's an interesting fact that many movies that are very popular immediately after their release fade into obscurity while other films that are not appreciated in their time become regarded as classics by later generations. For example, Citizen Kane is now considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time by cinema buffs, but it was a box office flop back in 1941. There are other movies that were excellently made and should have attained classic status but failed to do so for some reason. Often, they provide the most delightful surprises when you come acoss them on television or on DVD. Here are three of my favorite "failed classics":
Twelve O'clock High
I'm not referring to the 1980s television series (which was a conventional flag waver) but to the original 1949 film starring Gregory Peck. The movie is set during the early days of World War 2 when the US Army Air Corps was first attempting daylight bombing raids on Germany and was taking a brutal pounding from the Luftwaffe. Peck plays General Savage who is assigned to take command of a bomber group that has almost zero morale after suffering horrendous losses. Savage believes that the former commander was too soft on his men and he kicks the flyers mercilessly to get them back into shape while driving himself even harder. Ironically, he improves their discipline while failing to notice that he has come to care about his troops and is crumbling emotionally himself. Spliced with actual aerial combat footage, this movie is one of the best studies ever made of people coping with terrible stress.
Silent Running
Made in 1979, this film imagines a future where the last trees and plants on Earth have been put into a museum aboard a space station, so that people can pay to gawk at them. Bruce Dern is one of the curators and perhaps the last person alive who mourns what has been lost. When he learns that the museum will be shut down and the trees destroyed to cut costs, Dern goes berserk, kills the other curators and takes the station into deep space. He has saved his precious trees, but learns that a man can go mad from loneliness out in the Big Empty. This movie drips with an elegiac sadness for what Man has done to Nature.
Thief
This 1981 film stars a young James Caan as a burglar who is at the top of his game. He's so good that the local mob boss wants Caan to work for him, but the proud burglar insists that he always works alone. The mobster begins to lean on Caan to make him change his mind, but Caan shrugs this off at first. He has a very Zen view of life, saying, "I realized that, when you don't care any more, then you're free." Unwisely, the mob boss goes too far by killing Caan's best friend and terrorizing his pregnant wife. After that, things turn ugly. Though shot in colour, Thief is a great film noir that happens almost entirely at night and has some great suspense scenes. For some reason, it has never received the recognition it deserves.
What about you? Can you think of any films that should be regarded as classics but aren't? I'd be interested to know your thoughts.
George
P.S. Please visit my website at: www.checkmatefiction.com
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Posted by gjcondon on 2008-05-23 10:25:50 | Rating: | Views: 77
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