tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post1503416767535134165..comments2024-03-26T05:01:57.793-07:00Comments on DREAMS ARE WHAT LE CINEMA IS FOR...: BARRY LYNDON 1975Ken Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-29172071514926133372022-07-17T05:14:34.982-07:002022-07-17T05:14:34.982-07:00Hi George - Given how often I've seen this mov...Hi George - Given how often I've seen this movie (and find I'm so engaged it breezes along) and how I've only watched my copy of CLEOPATRA one because it felt like it took 7 days to watch the whole thing, it's fairly startling to me to be reminded BARRY LYNDON is a mere seven minutes shorter.<br />I'm thrilled by the notion that the comments section here may have played a part in your revisiting this film for the first time in decades.<br /> You make some very interesting points, too. About how contemporary audiences are perhaps not likely to take note (at least not in the same way as '70s audiences did) of the natural lighting in the film. Also, the way the mannequin beauty of Berenson and O'Neal work in context with Kubrick's tableau visuals.<br />It sounds as though your revisit to the film was pleasant enough. After so many years I can only suppose it was in many ways like seeing it for the first time.<br />Thanks for ping-ponging around the blog as you've been. It's nice to know some of the old posts still get visitors.<br />And yes, FUNNY FACE is a movie that really should be on this blog but is nowhere to be found. One day I shall get to covering it and all with be revealed regarding its not wholly unintentional absence. <br />And thanks for the MAD Magazine laugh recalling the hilarious The Sound of Money.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-39750364595160513822022-07-16T12:37:22.093-07:002022-07-16T12:37:22.093-07:00One thing leads to another with this blog. Round ...One thing leads to another with this blog. Round and round and round she goes... and somehow I landed on BARRY LYNDON. The discussion was so interesting that I dug out my DVD (that I’ve never watched because it is only seven minutes shorter than CLEOPATRA) and viewed it again. The only other time I saw it was 1975. And I loved it then. I went with three friends. At the end of the film, two of us were sitting on the edge of our chairs, enraptured by the film. The other two were staring at the ceiling and bouncing in their seats like four year olds. When the credits ran, they did, too. <br /><br />The natural light photography was much more impressive in 1975. It was new then and it was breath taking. Today, if you didn’t know it was supposed to be special, you wouldn’t necessarily notice. That might be okay. Perhaps the newness of what we were seeing was a distraction. Through this recent viewing, I marveled at how well the story advanced even when so little was happening on the screen. At times, it is like watching a tableau vivant. ‘One Grecian Urn. Two Grecian Urns! Three Grecian Urns… and a fountain!’ to borrow from The Music Man. I want to know about how that came to be. Kubrick is credited with writing the screen play. Did he have this vision and wrote to realize it? While he was writing, did he have the ideas about how he wanted to film it? Its distinctively his. There aren’t a lot of others like BARRY LYNDON. <br /><br />He was wise to cast Ryan O’Neal and Marisa Berenson. They are both photogenic from 360 degrees, no matter the lighting or the other circumstances. And since they actually get up and do so very little, it works beautifully that they photograph so well. Miss Berenson did, from time to time, remind me of Dovima in FUNNY FACE, reading Minutemen from Mars or being directed by Fred Astaire. (No FUNNY FACE on this blog!) As Redmond Barry, Ryan O’Neal never has to take a moral stance or champion a noble cause or do anything but weasel around for his own enrichment. A perfect role for Ryan O’Neal. All the acting needed to be done is handled adroitly by the character actors. Marie Kean was tremendous, equally fine as a doting mother or the vicious manager of the estate. Lotsa range. Brava.<br /><br />The MAD Magazine image from BARRY LYNDON made me laugh. But not as much as MAD’s “The Sound of Money.” Julie on a mountain with speakers tucked here and there, “I’m not singing now, I am pre-recorded. I’m just mouthing words that I’ve sung before….” <br /><br />Thanks for unwittingly prompting me to have another go-round with BARRY LYNDON. It was a lot of time well spent. But not as much fun as CLEOPATRA. Not even as much fun as GANDHI. George W. Tushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13050905945846094987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-80934611674969370482022-06-09T02:58:47.403-07:002022-06-09T02:58:47.403-07:00That I can believe.That I can believe.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-87074415997933709752022-06-08T10:07:41.885-07:002022-06-08T10:07:41.885-07:00Not just “Barry Lyndon.” I saw “The Shining” in a...Not just “Barry Lyndon.” I saw “The Shining” in a full theatre back when it was new, and there were walkouts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-4299519134113045642021-09-21T01:54:55.085-07:002021-09-21T01:54:55.085-07:00Hi Rick
Seems like old times reading you here! Tha...Hi Rick<br />Seems like old times reading you here! Thanks for the visit. I think you might be the only person besides my sister who liked Barry Lyndon from the get-go. And it truly has help up remarkably well over the years.<br />I share your enthusiasm for Ryan O'Neal in this. You express very well what is ingenious in the casting, what gifts O'Neal is unique in bringing to the role, and the utter unimaginability (Is that even a word?) of anyone else in the role. Kubrick's clinical cool has never been put to better use, in my opinion, and the film still gets to me.<br />And that is a remarkable bit of trivia you related. I'm so impressed. These days a period film can take three years to make, cost ten times as much as LYNDON, and yet be overflowing with the most basic anachronisms. Now more than ever filmmakers need to grasp that films last and get replayed and replayed ad infinitum -"they'll never notice" should never be uttered by another director. <br />Thanks for contributing here, Rick. Much appreciated!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-24858810317150454842021-09-20T22:57:09.622-07:002021-09-20T22:57:09.622-07:00I loved "Barry Lyndon" from the get-go. ...I loved "Barry Lyndon" from the get-go. I just surrendered to the beauty as it unfolded onscreen and watched fate do what it would to Barry. Kubrick was most wise to abandon Thackeray's picaresque telling, and reset a part of the tale as tragicomedy...we didn't need another "romp" ala "Tom Jones".<br /><br />Repeated viewings just shore up my first impression re Ryan O'Neal: it's such an authentically good portrait of a man that - not unlike most elements of the film - one wonders where film and reality begin and end. I doubt even any of the usual suspects (Clift, Brando, Dean in their prime(s)) could ever make Barry Lyndon live the way O'Neal does. I shudder at the thought of Redford even being an extra in the movie!<br /><br />Some trivia: a Georgian expert scholar friend assured me that only one coach & one set of uniforms in "Barry Lyndon" weren't totally authentic to the exact year, but absolutely everything else onscreen was. <br /><br />Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14830683664085967410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-23150235687669523172021-07-01T08:31:54.608-07:002021-07-01T08:31:54.608-07:00I have a BluRay copy of A Clockwork Orange and I k...I have a BluRay copy of A Clockwork Orange and I keep telling myself I will watch it again. I'm so much older than when I first saw it, I wonder if my perceptions will be the same.<br />But Barry Lyndon still holds me spellbound, as it did you. Remaining my favorite. And I like your noting how THE FAVORITE (in Emma Stone's character) bears a similarity to Barry Lyndon.<br />Thanks for reading and commenting!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-75708600016772377452021-06-29T19:32:54.716-07:002021-06-29T19:32:54.716-07:00I adore Kubrick and this is my second favorite of ...I adore Kubrick and this is my second favorite of his films (A Clockwork Orange is my number one), as well as the movie that made me fall in love with his work. I saw 2001 at a university screening when I was 19 or so, but didn't much react to it. However, Barry Lyndon held me spellbound. I've seen it plenty times since and discover new layers every time.<br /><br />And yes, this couldn't be made as effectively today, though one modern movie that reminds me a bit of Barry Lyndon is The Favourite with Olivia Coleman and Emma Stone.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-8546633502760373162020-08-27T04:34:23.658-07:002020-08-27T04:34:23.658-07:00My motto: Be wary of the cineaste who would have y...My motto: Be wary of the cineaste who would have you believe certain films are essential. They're usually mostly essential to them.<br />Seriously, I have seen "Paths of Glory" since writing this, and while it hasn't unseated "Barry Lyndon" as my personal favorite Kubrick, "Glory" is indeed magnificent, and Menjou is wonderful.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-9887924075244445182020-08-27T04:31:03.159-07:002020-08-27T04:31:03.159-07:00Beautiful.Beautiful.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-21363599626923673732020-08-26T16:38:15.946-07:002020-08-26T16:38:15.946-07:00Have you still not seen Paths of Glory? This stri...Have you still not seen Paths of Glory? This strikes me as cinema blogger misconduct and you should be reported. Seriously, it might be Kubrick's most perfect movie. You know who's great in it? Adolphe Menjou. Seriously, he's one of the two principal heavies and its the best acting he ever did.Kipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-71246310798103694922020-03-16T01:21:27.516-07:002020-03-16T01:21:27.516-07:00Has anyone ever noticed the Gainsborough-like pain...Has anyone ever noticed the Gainsborough-like paintings on the wall of the White Room at the end of 2001?<br /><br />And to think, by way of this, what his "Napoleon" would have been.... Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-80670305936677412852015-11-17T22:04:24.126-08:002015-11-17T22:04:24.126-08:00Hi Joel
What's impressive about your comment a...Hi Joel<br />What's impressive about your comment and so many others here, is how many people have given "Barry Lyndon" a second try. I think that's awfully fair. Some movies really do hit us very differently after our initial exposure (especially in the atmosphere of hype). In later years, when revisionist thinking and follow-the-leader fandom can transform a former flop into a misunderstood classic, it can be tough to reassess a film through one's own prism and not the atmosphere of trend (like "Vertigo") <br />But it seems you have given "Barry Lyndon" a fair chance and accept that your feelings for it have remained largely unchanged. No director could ask for more!<br /><br />I still go back in my mind to how much it was love at first sight for me back in 1975, and how afterward I had to dig up all the (pan) reviews from the local papers just to reread how different our impressions of Kubrick's film were.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-67158474190434307322015-11-17T12:32:52.838-08:002015-11-17T12:32:52.838-08:00Hi Ken,
I can't say I have much fondness for ...Hi Ken,<br /><br />I can't say I have much fondness for this beyond the beauty of its production. The first time I watched it I thought it was a gorgeous ponderous white elephant with O'Neal only average in the lead. However it was re-recommended to me last year by someone who loves it passionately and since it had been well over a decade since I watched it last I decided to give it another whirl. <br /><br />I was again struck by the beauty of its design, and like you gloried in the fact that it was blissfully free of CGI, but it was just too languidly paced for me. It's not as if that is necessarily a shortcoming for me either especially in this type of film but this felt static in many places. <br /><br />That's a good observation about the role suiting O'Neal's limitations and strengths as an actor, heaven knows he has many of the former and a short supply of the latter, and I thought more of his performance on the re-watch but while he was certainly attractive and somewhat charismatic he was never riveting. Since he was the focal point of the entire production that's a heavy flaw. <br /><br />I can't see myself watching it again anytime soon but if nothing else visually it's a masterpiece with beautifully composed shot after shot. All the women but especially Marisa Berenson's wigs are awe inspiring in their construction and detail.joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-30659914222371445732015-11-16T22:19:44.790-08:002015-11-16T22:19:44.790-08:00Ha! OK, so I'll hang on to my old DVD.
Also, ...Ha! OK, so I'll hang on to my old DVD. <br />Also, excellent point you make about CGI that I tend to overlook in my own criticisms: There is indeed a difference to CGI intelligently done. I'm not such an old fuddy duddy as to be anti-CGI across the board, but I do tire of movies that look more like video games than films (Luhrman's "Gatsby", the last Spiderman film I saw).Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-57978376536337454842015-11-16T12:16:44.560-08:002015-11-16T12:16:44.560-08:00Oh, I checked out the trailer for "Van Gogh&q...Oh, I checked out the trailer for "Van Gogh" and I see what you mean....Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-56477106068901922882015-11-16T12:14:03.331-08:002015-11-16T12:14:03.331-08:00Although I own a copy of the DVD and eventually ma...Although I own a copy of the DVD and eventually made it all the way through for the sake of friends of mine who swore that I simply didn't "get" it; "Vampire Killers" has just never been to my taste. <br />Which of course is at the core of most critical discussion, personal taste- not objective quality of the film itself.<br /><br />Polanski is my favorite director, and I'm aware of the film being one of Polanski's own favorites, but "Vampire Killers" has staunchly remained the one film of his I can't abide. Most of it having to do with the humor.<br />As for when I walked out- I lasted until Tate was abducted from her bath, but somewhere not long after that, around the 9,000th pratfall, I'd had enough. That was when much ado was made of a restoration of Polanski's cut of the film hit the revival theater circuit.<br /> <br />So I keep my DVD copy around for those film school friends of mine who react as though their personal tastes under attack when I don't like a film they worship. It seems to calm them down a bit just knowing I own it.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-16447269748490750292015-11-16T07:54:24.642-08:002015-11-16T07:54:24.642-08:00Hey Ken,
That is quite the bombshell you dropped!...Hey Ken,<br /><br />That is quite the bombshell you dropped! <br /><br />The second movie I walked out of, about 7 minutes in, was Maurice Pialat's 'Van Gogh'. I went at my local art house cinema fully expecting a revival of 'Blazing Saddles' but got my times mixed up and was faced with France's then reigning champion <i>auteur</i>'s latest. I cursed my inattention but set in to watch the movie all the same since he was very acclaimed.<br /><br />Unfortunately I had forgotten that Pialat loved to work with non-actors (to better berate and belittle them is my guess since his atrocious behavior behind the camera was the stuff of legend). Faced with a wall of non-acting, ugly as sin photography and cheap as hell art direction and costuming, I left in a hurry.<br /><br />I later bought 'Blazing Saddles' on disc and it was pretty amazing.<br /><br />But 'Vampire Killers': what possessed you in hating (I'm guessing) the movie? When did you leave? It is, for my money, much more gorgeous than BL!<br /><br />And that ending is still one of the best cinematic gut punches alongside 'Time Bandits' and 'Devils On The Doorstep'.mangrovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940525631457357126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-18322145237619632942015-11-14T19:04:49.669-08:002015-11-14T19:04:49.669-08:00Hi mangrove
I recall there was talk of quite a few...Hi mangrove<br />I recall there was talk of quite a few Barry Lyndon walk-outs (at least in San Francisco) during its first run, in addition to perhaps apocryphal reports of people having to be awakened by ushers for snoring.<br /><br />You've got to let us know what the other film you walked on was! It's rare for me to walk of a movie, but I recall doing so at a revival house screening of Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers, " and when I was very young, I walked out of Ken Russell's "The Billion Dollar Brain," but that probably had to do with my expecting a james Bond-type adventure.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-49621787733443395962015-11-14T18:51:31.229-08:002015-11-14T18:51:31.229-08:00Hi Sandra
And thanks! So many of the images I chos...Hi Sandra<br />And thanks! So many of the images I chose for screencaps are the ones which I have never forgotten. And while I'm biased about Berenson as well, I truly think silent roles are thankless because people tend to think "nothing is going on" when the truth is the miracle of movies is that the camera is capable of capturing what an actor is thinking and feeling. <br />I found hers to be a very moving performance, too.<br />And thanks for casting another vote for "Paths of Glory"! I'm honestly going to HAVE to check it out now. My wish is that I discover a new favorite! Thank you very much for reading this post and commenting!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-408603028154087232015-11-14T14:14:17.160-08:002015-11-14T14:14:17.160-08:00BL is one of the two films I walked out of. Around...BL is one of the two films I walked out of. Around the 3/4 mark I just couldn't stand the too one-the-nose sardonic nature of it all, with the winking casting of O'Neal and Berenson and the mastubatory lighting.<br /><br />It had all the grace of a heard of buffalo trying to dance the <i>menuet</i> to me. I think I was especially mad that I saw it during a revival in cinemas with the critics just raving, instead of just being underwhelmed by it all on TV for free.<br /><br />Subtlety and Kubrick definitely didn't mix.mangrovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940525631457357126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-25060058630833592912015-11-14T09:23:41.599-08:002015-11-14T09:23:41.599-08:00I got chills reading your review. It's been qu...I got chills reading your review. It's been quite a few years since I saw Barry Lyndon, but some frames of it are etched in my mind like it was only yesterday. I too love Marisa Berenson's performance the best, but then I'm biased as she is perfection in my eyes. Thank you for the review - and I echo what others have said, do see Paths of Glory. It's bleak and grimy and, I'd argue, the best WWI dramatization there is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-76298238838004250672015-11-13T18:50:06.474-08:002015-11-13T18:50:06.474-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Gregoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04072841840657518591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-34650197582273056682015-11-13T18:05:16.622-08:002015-11-13T18:05:16.622-08:00Thanks for providing such a marvelously informativ...Thanks for providing such a marvelously informative breakdown of the post-WW2 surge in actors striking out on their own and taking control of their own careers. Hollywood doesn't always acknowledge it, but a great many of the more groundbreaking films from the "classic" era were made outside of the studio system.<br />Contributions like yours are of the reasons so many repeat visitors to this blog head straight for the comments section!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-64048284399081437802015-11-13T08:01:47.238-08:002015-11-13T08:01:47.238-08:00You're right, both Lancaster and Douglas start...You're right, both Lancaster and Douglas started their own production companies (Burt had Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions; Kirk had Bryna Productions, named after his mother). John Wayne also started his own company (Batjac). It was part of a post-WW2 phenomenon of star actors eschewing the studio system (where you would be under contract and have to make films the studio told you to do) and using their star power to create their own product. One of Lancaster's produced films was 'Sweet Smell of Success,' which I doubt any studio of that time would have greenlighted. It was all part of that tumultuous era of the break-up of the studio system (other contributing factors being TV, challenges to the Production Code, and the breakup of studio monopolies on theater ownership and distribution). It's probably why Douglas could produce a strongly anti-war film like 'Paths of Glory,' or produce 'Spartacus' (he was the executive producer) and hire blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo AND get him a screen credit, thus breaking the blacklist taboo. Another man who produced his own films was Otto Preminger, who made movies like 'The Moon is Blue' and 'Anatomy of a Murder' that challenged censorship. The 1950s were really quite an interesting historical era.<br /><br />I also agree with your assessment of how so many classic-era films are now hailed as masterpieces, when they're basically just good, solidly made studio products meant to entertain. I'm somewhat bemused by the auteur status granted some Hollywood directors of that era; they were basically only doing a job. The producer and studio heads had far more power in determining what a finished film looked like. That's why when Orson Welles was able to negotiate a 'hands-off' contract with RKO to make 'Citizen Kane,' his audacity produced such shock waves among the moguls; and, of course, when the film was not a financial success--due largely to the hostility of the Hearst press--Welles was never allowed such freedom again.Grand Old Movieshttp://grandoldmovies.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com