My favorite thing about the Coens is their outright worship of Dashiell Hammett, something I share with them, and Miller’s Crossing is the only decent Hammett adaptation outside of The Maltese Falcon.
Lebowski
Miller’s Crossing
Fargo
No Country for Old Men
Blood Simple
The Man Who Wasn’t There
O Brother
…
They’re all good, except for Crimewave and The Ladykillers.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I still giggle at the Waffle Hut scene. I’m not proud of myself.
I saw again the other day. It’s a good movie. No where near top ten. On the Coens I liked No Country for Old Men, Miller’s Crossing and I always loved Raising Arizona. But what do they say? Not much. No Country was their best film.
I should love it - the Raimis and the Coens working together, and starring Bruce Campbell?
It’s like it was designed for me. And yet, it’s at the bottom of the list.
Not really, we idolize this guy but look at the films. The acting is terrible. Most of these actors sound like they are on a stage, not a movie set. The dialogue is stilted, over enunciated and ridiculous.
Just watch this scene from a modern perspective. Any director who shot a scene like this now would be mocked and ridiculed, or this would be a parody.
His movies did not age well.
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Yeah, comic book characters and gratuitous cursing is great!
Oh baloney.
Hitchcock is worshipped and copied by real directors.
That’s the wrong lens to view Hitchcock. Every single film director of note acknowledges his influence, and as far as acting is concerned he was at his creative apex when Hollywood was transitioning from “classical” to method acting. There’s a reason why older films appear to have such exaggerated mannerisms in all performances - it was the acting style of the time.
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None of those people knew the smell of gas?
Stupid scene. A man, that is some bad acting in the diner.
“I think you’re EEEVVVILLL!!!”
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He had as many bad movies as he had decent ones. He was an abusive man who tormented his female leads and was a genuinely bad guy. He sexually abused Tippi Hendren, she rebuked and rejected him so he tortured her throughout the Birds and Marnie.
Orson Welles, a great director, said it best.
“I’ve never understood the cult of Hitchcock. Particularly the late American movies … Egotism and laziness. And they’re all lit like television shows … I saw one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen the other night [ Rear Window ] … Complete insensitivity to what a story about voyeurism could be. I’ll tell you what is astonishing. To discover that Jimmy Stewart can be a bad actor … Even Grace Kelly is better than Jimmy, who’s overacting.”
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No question that he was a terrible human being. But much of that work still stands today. You’re only hinting at the tip of the iceberg at his conduct too - comparisons to Weinstein in this NPR article:
What possibly stands in “Dial M for Murder”?
Or, perhaps a better example, “Strangers on a Train”?
It was Russian gas. And the Birds were Russian.
The townspeople were CA liberals.
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If you knew Alfred Hitchcock you would know how ridiculous the Tippi Hedren freakout was. The crew on the Birds denied any of it was real.
He hired her because she was a weirdo. He saw her in a Shampoo Ad. He saw her wild eyes and was perfect for the Birds and Marnie. She was in fact, perfect for both films.
It was an enjoyable bad movie, but bad none the less.
God that was a terrible film…
Orson Welles hated most everyone’s films, including John Ford, Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, Bergman, Elia Kazan and others, you name it. Whether he really meant these attacks is questionable. He liked to shock.
This is all based on “lost tapes.”. (If the tape is real,) he hated Lawrence Oliver, Kathryn Hepburn, Jimmy Stewert, Betty Davis and most everyone. Welles made a great film and few good films than faded. His technical camera work, with the long extended dolly shot in Touch of Evil, was praised for good reason.
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That guy had serious chops, no doubt. Smart fellow.
Marnie? It’s one of Hitchcock’s masterpieces that had mixed reviews and later became revered.
He made films I didn’t care for, but they were all interesting.
North by Northwest, The Birds, Marnie, Vertigo, were my favorites.
