Owing to circumstances which will only ever be understood by me and the Lord, I found myself this past weekend idly watching Midway. Not the cartoon version directed by Roland Emmerich; rather, the cartoon version directed by Jack Smight.
After reading this one, I decided to sleep on it before responding. Sure, the original movie, Midway, could easily be reviewed as 'shitty' by today's standards of video entertainment. Boomers, though, loved these propagandized films of early the 70's and similarly panned the films of the 1930's for their lack of all aspects of quality, like realism, color and audio. To really buy into the production and truly enjoy that and other similar films, I believe you had to be there and grow up in that era. I do agree that Charlton Heston has never impressed me as an actor in any of his films, though.
Well to be fair enjoy it in spite of its many shortcomings. I'll give it credit for being fairly accurate with major events. But man, that subplot with Heston's son and his Japanese girlfriend is incredibly cringeworthy. I kinda watch all of Heston's scenes the way one would watch a car crash.
Reflecting a little bit I'd say the thing I miss is the way studios used to freely pump out pulpy stuff like this, some of which is really exquisite—it's hard to imagine a movie like The Taking of Pelham 123 in today's Hollywood, the remake notwithstanding. The stuff was cheap and made money and I think if you're taking a ton of shots you're gonna score some bullseyes. Whereas now everything costs a mint and when a movie fails studios have a habit of going under. It's the same economics—in my opinion—that made the 70s such a fecund decade for great music.
So yeah, I'm kinda shooting fish in a barrel here, but to be perfectly frank, I was doing the same thing they were: it was Monday night, I had absolutely nothing in mind, had just seen the film for the one millionth time, and was spinning off the top of my head. I guess I could be a little more upfront about my inexplicable love for this batty nonsense. I quote A Bridge Too Far (which was not, in fact, a particularly cheap film) practically daily. It's all part of me, and when I get started talking about it I think my self-effacing gene comes out, ha ha.
The Pentagon was involved with most of those movies of that time. For me, Midway is far from the most enjoyable of the WW2 movies of the 70's. Kelly's Heroes, Patton and a Bridge Too Far are definite favorites. The 1960's had some of the best of that era, though.
Love all three of those movies. Patton in particular. Also loved the Alistair McClain adaptations from the 60s — Where Eagles Dare especially. And The Longest Day was pretty good too, though I feel like both that one and A Bridge Too Far kinda suffer from the way the story is constantly zooming in and out from the operational level to the personal. Movies are not great vehicles for telling operational or strategic stories, or at least non-documentary movies. Too many scenes of guys standing around explaining. But at least in those two the close-up stuff is pretty good. Richard Burton's monologue in The Longest Day is really terrific, though honestly I could listen to him read tax tables.
After reading this one, I decided to sleep on it before responding. Sure, the original movie, Midway, could easily be reviewed as 'shitty' by today's standards of video entertainment. Boomers, though, loved these propagandized films of early the 70's and similarly panned the films of the 1930's for their lack of all aspects of quality, like realism, color and audio. To really buy into the production and truly enjoy that and other similar films, I believe you had to be there and grow up in that era. I do agree that Charlton Heston has never impressed me as an actor in any of his films, though.
Well to be fair enjoy it in spite of its many shortcomings. I'll give it credit for being fairly accurate with major events. But man, that subplot with Heston's son and his Japanese girlfriend is incredibly cringeworthy. I kinda watch all of Heston's scenes the way one would watch a car crash.
Reflecting a little bit I'd say the thing I miss is the way studios used to freely pump out pulpy stuff like this, some of which is really exquisite—it's hard to imagine a movie like The Taking of Pelham 123 in today's Hollywood, the remake notwithstanding. The stuff was cheap and made money and I think if you're taking a ton of shots you're gonna score some bullseyes. Whereas now everything costs a mint and when a movie fails studios have a habit of going under. It's the same economics—in my opinion—that made the 70s such a fecund decade for great music.
So yeah, I'm kinda shooting fish in a barrel here, but to be perfectly frank, I was doing the same thing they were: it was Monday night, I had absolutely nothing in mind, had just seen the film for the one millionth time, and was spinning off the top of my head. I guess I could be a little more upfront about my inexplicable love for this batty nonsense. I quote A Bridge Too Far (which was not, in fact, a particularly cheap film) practically daily. It's all part of me, and when I get started talking about it I think my self-effacing gene comes out, ha ha.
The Pentagon was involved with most of those movies of that time. For me, Midway is far from the most enjoyable of the WW2 movies of the 70's. Kelly's Heroes, Patton and a Bridge Too Far are definite favorites. The 1960's had some of the best of that era, though.
No kidding, I didn't know that.
Love all three of those movies. Patton in particular. Also loved the Alistair McClain adaptations from the 60s — Where Eagles Dare especially. And The Longest Day was pretty good too, though I feel like both that one and A Bridge Too Far kinda suffer from the way the story is constantly zooming in and out from the operational level to the personal. Movies are not great vehicles for telling operational or strategic stories, or at least non-documentary movies. Too many scenes of guys standing around explaining. But at least in those two the close-up stuff is pretty good. Richard Burton's monologue in The Longest Day is really terrific, though honestly I could listen to him read tax tables.
Well said.
I really enjoyed your blog. I was a big fan of these movies as a kid, but see them as you do now.
I secretly still enjoy them. Even the worst of them.