M Is For Montage
June 20, 2007 4:51 PM   Subscribe

 
(be gentle, this is my first time)
posted by chlorus at 5:22 PM on June 20, 2007


"Hitchcock criminals tend to be wealthy upper class citizens whom you’d never suspect, the policeman and politicians are usually the bumbling fools, the innocent are accused, and the villains get away with everything because nobody suspects them. "

Gosh, that's nothing like real life!
posted by 2sheets at 5:29 PM on June 20, 2007


You know, I find the first link really interesting because I have to ask myself "If it's so simple, why are there so many bad movies?" Example: I saw what should have been a good movie just the other night, "Ripley's Game" with John Malkovich. Highsmith + Malkovich should be good, right? But no... Why is this? Please explain.
posted by MarshallPoe at 6:02 PM on June 20, 2007


That first link is damned awesome! It's like the first time I ever heard about MacGuffins; only multiplied by a factor of ten. Cool find. Thanks Chlorus! =)
posted by ZachsMind at 6:03 PM on June 20, 2007


12 part audio (mp3) of truffaut interviewing hitchcock for what would be the source material for his defining book on the man.
posted by cazoo at 6:10 PM on June 20, 2007


I think they forgot
11. Have a very fucked up view of women.

12. A train going into a tunnel is all the denouement you'll ever need.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 6:18 PM on June 20, 2007


Very cool thread. Why doesn't anyone make movies like this any more? Though I do agree the female characters weren't very sympathetic, except in Rear Window.
posted by misha at 6:31 PM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm actually pretty tired of MacGuffins in movies and every scene having to be about emotion. Give me a movie with a little thought in it once in a while.
posted by DU at 6:36 PM on June 20, 2007


MarshallPoe - as an interesting contrast, Ebert has Ripley's Game on his list of Great Movies.

Not that I've seen it, or anything.
But the contrasting opinions make me more curious to see it.
posted by Tbola at 6:54 PM on June 20, 2007


You know, I find the first link really interesting because I have to ask myself "If it's so simple, why are there so many bad movies?" Example: I saw what should have been a good movie just the other night, "Ripley's Game" with John Malkovich. Highsmith + Malkovich should be good, right? But no... Why is this? Please explain.

That's a shame, since I read her short stories collection I've been a fan of Ms. Highsmith. The Ripley stories never interested me quite as much, but she has the gentlest hand when she builds a scene. I'd imagine there are so many bad movies because they always seem to put too much of whatever they're putting in them.

Is there a book that isn't part of the Ripliad you'd recommend? Something that resembles the contents of "Nothing that Meets the Eye?"
posted by litfit at 6:58 PM on June 20, 2007


Give me a movie with a little thought in it once in a while.

Try those Truffaut interviews upthread.

Warning: shows evidence of "a little thought".
posted by Wolof at 7:00 PM on June 20, 2007


A little thought, but with robots, lasers and chicks in unisex jumpsuits.
posted by DU at 7:05 PM on June 20, 2007


Why is this? Please explain.

Fifteen producers and their focus groups.
posted by dhammond at 8:36 PM on June 20, 2007


Ms. Highsmith wrote Strangers on a Train; Hitchcock directed the movie.

Barry Pepper played Ripley in the 2005 movie of Ripley Underground. Alain Delon played him in Plein Soleil (Full Sun; 1962), the first movie version of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Dennis Hopper played him in Der Amerikanische Freund (The American Friend; 1977), which was the first movie version of Ripley's Game.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:20 PM on June 20, 2007




I saw what should have been a good movie just the other night, "Ripley's Game" with John Malkovich.

Funny, I thought it was a great movie.


"If it's so simple, why are there so many bad movies?"

If there are cookbooks, why is there so much bad food? Knowing how to do something is not the same as knowing how to do it well.
posted by pmurray63 at 3:12 PM on June 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


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