In 1880s Australia, after young Jim Craig’s father dies, Jim takes a job at the Harrison cattle ranch, where he is forced to become a man.
Thoughts:
The scene near the end of The Man from Snowy River, where Jim, Tom Burlinson, rides his horse down the mountain, always fills me with excitement. I can’t help but grin at the screen while he rides after the wild horses. I love it. After years of re-watches, that feeling is always there. I hope it never goes away.
A few factoids on The Man from Snowy River, it’s based on a poem by Banjo Paterson, an Australian poet. It was the highest-grossing Australian film until Crocodile Dundee came out. My last one, the Craig family home, was actually built in Clear Hills and remains there. It burned down in a brush fire in 2006 but was rebuilt.
The film has a sweet romance, but the main story is Jim becoming a man. He’s inexperienced in life and sheltered in a way. Through the movie, he learns that he can stand firm in his morals and ideals. It’s really sweet.
Also, there are tons of shots of beautiful horses. It’s a gorgeous movie. The scenery almost makes me want to overcome my intense fear of all the spiders in Australia so that I can visit.
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler‘s Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
Thoughts:
Did you know that Marian, Karen Allen, was fifteen years old when Indiana, Harrison Ford, originally had a relationship with her? Did you know that Lucas originally pitched the idea as her being 11 or 12? He went back and forth with Spielberg and Kasdan about her age, saying that it would be amusing if she were young and that fifteen would be right on the edge. Meaning, anything older wouldn’t be fun. We know all this was said because, of course, it was all recorded.
Anyway, ignoring the statutory rape, this is a great adventure movie. Something is always happening. Shit’s being blown up, there’s a bullwhip, someone with an eye patch, Nazis…
Yeah, see, I’m having a hard time moving past the rape. I realize it’s not in the actual movie, and it’s basically just a couple of throw away lines and a conversation before the script was even written, but it’s still out there. How could anyone think that was “interesting?” It makes me think even less of Lucas and now Spielberg too.
“Things were different back then. They didn’t know better.”
It was written in the fucking late 70s. Pretty sure a twelve or fifteen-year-old fucking someone at least ten years older than them was vile, not to mention illegal, back then too.
It’s just one of those gross details that I wish I’d never looked up because I’m having a hard time moving past it. Knowing it also made me pay closer attention to Indy’s interactions with Marion, and he is just a massive dick all around to her. If it’s between saving her or saving the ark, it’s always the ark. He barely even pretends to hesitate. What’s more, since I know the ending, I know nothing he does even matters. The Nazis still get the ark and do precisely what they would have done if he hadn’t kept trying to take it. This means they all would have had their faces melted off, and that was pretty hilarious to see.
I feel conflicted over the movie now. If I take that away, it’s awesome. As I said, explosions, a funny scene where someone brings a sword to a gunfight, and so much more. There’s a reason the Wikipedia article says one of the greatest movies of all time repeatedly. It’s really good. As long as I can forget one “little” detail.
After the Rebels are brutally overpowered by the Empire on the ice planet Hoth, Luke Skywalker begins Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued by Darth Vader and a bounty hunter named Boba Fett all over the galaxy.
Thoughts:
There is nothing new I can say about Star Wars. Everything that can be said has been said over and over. I have multiple making of books to prove it. At this point, each of the first six Star Wars movies should have the most extensive Wikipedia entries out there.
During this re-watch, I flipped through my copy of The Making of Empires Strikes Back the Definitive Story by J. W. Rinzler. It’s a massive book with tons of information. For example, did you know that Leigh Brackett wrote the first draft of the movie? She was the first woman to be shortlisted for a Hugo award. She was called the queen of Space Opera. So it makes sense that Lucas would hire her to work on the script. Unfortunately, after submitting the first draft, she was admitted into the hospital and shortly died from cancer. Unlike Lucas’ wife’s involvement in A New Hope, I’d heard of Brackett before, but she was always mentioned with derision. Yeah, sure, she wrote the first draft, but Lucas hated it and rewrote everything.
Since I’d just written my A New Hope blog post, my mind was on the women behind the scenes, so I decided to flip through the making of book and see what they had to say about Brackett. Thankfully, there’s an index, and I ended up finding seven mentions of her. It was quick enough to read them, and I was immediately disappointed. It says that she had a long meeting with Lucas and there was mentioned a 51-page typed transcript of their initial plot conversation, but that only Lucas’ side was recorded. Next, there was a quoted conversation from Kasdan that talked about how Brackett had missed what it was to be George in her draft. The book says that her draft was faithful to everything Lucas and she had talked about. However, the dialogue and action weren’t right.
That’s fair. It was the first draft, and Lucas is notorious for being shit at direction. He tells you vaguely what he wants, expects you to do your thing, then he tells you what he liked. Except that Brackett never got to that point because she was hospitalized. That’s when Lucas jumped in to write it. Even though he hates writing scripts, he seems to complain about that a lot, actually. Yet, he’d done that for every movie up till that point.
The last mention of Brackett is Lucas saying that she should be given credit for writing the story.
“I didn’t like the first script, but I gave Leigh credit because I liked her a lot,” Lucas says. “She was sick at the time she wrote it and she really tried her best.”
It’s fascinating how much I can enjoy something that someone has created, yet know that if I were ever to meet the creator, I would absolutely hate them.
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire’s world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
Thoughts:
I remember the first time I watched A New Hope. I was ten. My dad bought me and my sister the Star Wars Trilogy box set on VHS for Christmas that year. It was one of those gifts that parents give their kids, but they’re really for the parents. I’d never heard of Star Wars and hadn’t experienced much, if any sci-fi, at that point. I was ambivalent about the gift, but my dad was so excited about it he put it in the VCR, and we watched.
Star Wars became a huge part of my life at that point. I re-watched those VHS tapes, so many times it was a miracle they weren’t destroyed. I scrimped and saved my birthday and Christmas money to buy the entire Young Jedi Knights series. I was ten, keep in mind, so I didn’t read many of the typical expanded universe novels. I loved The Courtship of Princess Leia. I would check out Star Wars DK books from the library and pour over them. I talked with my girlfriends about Star Wars all the time too. I had other obsessions and interests, but Star Wars was one that has stuck with me my entire life.
I no longer have those VHS copies, I no longer have a VCR for that matter, so I watched my Blu-ray copy. All of the Star Wars movies are available on Disney+, though if anyone wants to watch them. I love the visual quality with the Blu-ray, but I hateeeeeee so many of the added things. Since I watched my original copies so often, every time a new addition pops up, it’s jarring. I do like the sharpening of the lightsaber colors and a few other things. Why did Lucas have to add all those creatures, though? That Jabba scene? Also, Han shot first. It’s ridiculous that it was changed. I hope Disney decides to release the trilogy I watched because I will be there day one to purchase.
Relatively recently, when I was listening to the Forgotten Women of Genre podcast, I learned just how significant a role that George Lucas’s wife at the time, Marcia Lucas, had in A New Hope. I truly believe, after reading more into it, the film would not have been nearly as good or have the cultural impact it has today without her contribution. Yet, I’d only ever heard about her in passing. It says a lot about George Lucas that he didn’t do more to showcase just how much she’d contributed. She edited the film. She made sure that Han Solo’s appearance at the end was perfect. She contributed to the emotional impact of the movie. She deserves so much recognition for her work.
By the way, Forgotten Women of Genre by Syfy Wire is such a fantastic podcast. All the episodes are well researched, and if it doesn’t make you angry about the treatment of women in genre, then you have no empathy at all.
I have a theory that when a lot of men become successful, they aren’t argued with and told no often enough. They get too big for their britches, basically. George Lucas had people arguing with him over stuff in the original trilogy all the time. Especially A New Hope, but I doubt he had that kind of push back on any movies following them. I enjoyed the prequels, but if he’d been told no and had more push back, they could have been better. It’s just a theory, though. *Cough* James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Quinton Tarrantino*Cough*
Darth Vader and Obi Wan’s fight scene is such a huge contrast to the prequel fights that it’s almost funny. Two old men fighting, except that in Rogue One, Vader destroyed people like they were bugs. The original thought behind lightsabers was that they were like a two-handed broadsword. This sounds fun, but when you can make sword fights like what’s in the prequels, it just hinders you. I don’t know if there’s ever been a good in-world explanation of the change, but it’s easy enough to overlook. After all, Star Wars is a space opera. It’s about space wizards, which we definitely need more of in entertainment.
A quick recap, I compiled a list of all of my movies organized by release year. Using that list, I’m re-watching every movie I own.
I knocked out the 30s through the 60s relatively quickly. I was reminded why I own several of these movies and particularly enjoyed re-watching It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Which has me thinking I should look into more Frank Capra movies. I’ve seen several Jimmy Stewart movies, though I don’t own many. However, I can’t say the same about Capra. I love the themes of those two movies, so I’m curious to look into his catalog.
I’ve only got one more movie in the 70s, Star Wars: A New Hope. Then the real meaty decades begin. I have roughly forty movies from the 80s, and the list grows with each further decade. Some of my favorite movies are coming up in this next decade. Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Man From Snowy River, Back to the Future, and Clue the Movie, to name a few.
When I can, I’ve been trying to stream movies with my friends. That’s not always possible because of DRM, but also, not many friends are fans of musicals like I am. Watching movies alone is fun, but watching them with friends, even from a distance, really adds to the enjoyment.
Anyone reading my posts may have noticed that I’m not posting reviews of the movies. I’m trying to limit it to my thoughts, which have become tidbits that I find interesting about the history. I’m also going to try and add more of a personal commentary. Even after all these years, I find it difficult to explain why I love something, but maybe by focusing more on my thoughts on the films instead of a “review,” it will be clearer.
Dynamite Review 