Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Member |
I have considered Turner Classic Movies to be my favorite movie channel and I looked forward to Robert Osbornes commentary on the films and his interviews. Now that he is gone, my enjoyment of TCM has dropped drastically. It began with lots of commentary by the hosts about the House Unamerican Activities Commission of the 1950s and the blacklisting of people who refused to cooperate with HUAC. A facet of film history worthy of mention, but I felt it was run into the ground. But TCM has gone fully Woke now with a programming segment that will run every Thursday this month called Reframed. The "hosts" (and of course its done virtually) are holding up a number of classic films to the social justice spotlight and pointing out all the racist and triggering content they contain. Examples: Gone With the Wind - Racism, stereotypes and its portrayal of slaves. The Searchers - Waynes character is "overtly racist" and the Indians are stereotyped. The Childrens Hour - Characters who may be gay are subject to guilt and shame. Gunga Din - A "colonialist fantasy" and lots of yakking about Sam Jaffes role. If you want to see the whole list of films that will be put to the SJW sword, they are listed on the TCM website. I have zero interest in seeing classic films subjected to wokeness and the "Hosts" attempt to educate me on their flaws are unwanted and irrelevant to me. Just shut up and show the movies, TCM! Maybe I should have posted this as a rant! End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | ||
|
Member |
Stanley Kubrick is rolling over in his grave. This woke bs is so bad, that Dave Chapelle quit touring for quite a while. Someone in the audience would get offended at some joke and lose their shit. Chris Rock no longer will play college campuses, same reason given. This deal is nuts. Porky’s was on one of my movie channels a month or so ago. I couldn’t believe it. I thought for sure movies like that would be banned. What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone | |||
|
| Peace through superior firepower  |
Yes, the changes in TCM are a real pet peeve of mine. Regarding The Searchers- TCM is broadcasting it tonight as part of their apology tour. It was last broadcast very recenty, January 16th. Ben Mankiewicz seems obsessed with virtue-signalling to us his disgust with the character of Ethan Edwards in the film, going so far as to suggest an alternate ending to the film- Martin Pauley kills Ethan Edwars and rescues Debbie. The balls on this mook! JOHN FORD, you slobbering cretin!! John Ford! Widely held by many- including me- as the greatest of the American film directors, and possibly the greatest of all time, from anywhere. You're not fit to lick the soles of Ford's shoes, errand boy. You're nepotism at its worst, Ben. The only reason you hold the postition you do with TCM is because of things your dead relatives did in the entertainment industry. N-e-p-o-t-i-s-m, son. Humble yourself before the likes of John Ford and keep your asinine fantasies to yourself. Now, having gotten that off my chest, I will say that on balance, Mankiewicz's remarks on the 1/16 broadcast were somewhat surprsing to me, with Mankiewicz saying that it took him years but now, he "gets" the film. No, you don't. You're thinking that you're showing everyone how objective you are. Only the clueless and the uninformed are buying it. You're fixated on "JOHN WAYNE'S CHARACTER IS A RACIST!!" and you know nothing else of this film. Robert Osborne would be embarrassed for you. When I first got a VCR back in the 1980s, one of the first things I did was seek out a copy of The Searchers. I could stop and start the film at will, y'see, and with this ability, I did a shot-by-shot analysis of The Searchers. I wrote all of it down in a notebook. Since that time, I have seen this film untold nubers of time- scores of times, easily. I know how the shots of the film are composed, how the camera moves and when it moves, and whether the move is a pan, a zoom or a push. (No zooms in this film, of course. Few pans. A couple of dramatic push-ins to scenes. Painterly compositions, with Ford and his cameraman taking advantage of the wider screen of VistaVision to portray the land, and good use of widescreen in interiors shots as well.) This is one of the most pleasing-to-the-eye films ever made.. I know this film. All of it, and I am sick of people who are supposed to be knowledgeable and mature about the craft of film-making acting like self-righteous highschoolers. Whan you have this much exposure to a film, you know it like the back of your hand. When you watch tonight and see the TCM hosts furrowing their brows and shaking their heads or making excuses for John Ford and John Wayne, see if they say even one single word about the remarks made by Vera Miles, in the role of Laurie Jorgensen. What does Laurie Jorgensen say, sitting there in her wedding dress, talking to Martin Pauley. If they truly knew this film and if they were truly concerned- not wth virtue-signalling, but with a genuine concern for the message of the film- the remarks made by Vera Miles would be front and center, for those remarks are harsher than what Wayne's character says in the film. Besides, anyone who doesn't understand that you cannot project present-day values and artworks of the past is not worth bothering with. You'll never make them understand how preposterous it is for them to expect artists of the past to have projected themselves into some unknown future, and to write for that future audience and not for the audience of their own world. Utterly ridiculous. These people are blinded by their sanctimony. Oh, and by the way, all this angst about these films, with Gone With the Wind being prime among them- yeah, pop quiz for you trivia hounds- what was the very first film aired by TCM on its inaugural broadcast? Yep, you guessed it. If these posturing phonies were truly concerned about the messges of films such as GWTW and The Searchers, then, they would no longer air them. But that's not gonna happen, because $$. GWTW is 4 hours of prime programming. They are not going to stop airing it, hence all the dancing around with the excuses. And all of that makes these people seem like what they are- hypocrites. Pure phonies. I have a lot more to say about The Searchers and its "message"  Let's first see what the hosts of the apology tour have to say tonight.____________________________________________________ "I am your retribution." - Donald Trump, speech at CPAC, March 4, 2023 | |||
|
| Member |
They are apparently going to put Stagecoach to the SJW sword later tonight, too. I cant bring myself to watch this stupidity.  End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
|
Member |
"Nepotism" or "White Privilege"? Maybe he ought to just admit the later and exit, stage left?  "I'm not fluent in the language of violence, but I know enough to get around in places where it's spoken." | |||
|
Member |
In regard to the Indians in The Searchers being stereotyped, I’ve been reading through the book, Empire of the Summer Moon. It details the history of the Comanche tribe. It would seem to me that the movie got more right about that particular tribe than most of that era did, and it probably wasn’t nearly harsh enough. The Comanche were absolutely brutal, not just to whites, but to most other Indians as well. It really wasn’t until the Texans and the now famous Rangers came along, with equal brutality, that put an eventual end to it. But you know...That kind of stuff ain’t pretty and doesn’t jive with the leftist dogma of the day, so you had better not mention it. I don’t have the knowledge or background to be able to appreciate it like Para is able to, but The Searchers is a phenomenal film that is every bit as watchable now as it was when it came out. I cannot stand the thought of these leftist denigrating it. They just have to try and ruin everything it would seem. Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 | |||
|
| Peace through superior firepower |
Yeah, I don't even know where to begin with TCM's attitude. The event in the film which drives the plot is a raid by Commanches on the settlement of Aaron Edwards, brother of Ethan Edwards, who is portrayed by John Wayne. In the raid, the Commanches murder Aaron Edwards, his wife Martha, and their son, Ben. The film strongly suggests that Martha Edwards was mutilated, since Ethan will not let Martin Pauley look at her body in the cabin. The Commanches then burn the settlement and kidnap the two Edwards girls- Lucy, who is a teenager, and Debbie, who's about nine years old. When Ethan and other settlers form a posse, they pick up the trail of the Commanches. They notice that two of the Commanches split off from the raiding party and went into a narrow canyon. Ethan investigates, and when he comes back, he's greatly unnerved, really rattled. Shortly in the film, we learn that he found Lucy in the canyon, dead and naked and it is suggested that Lucy had been mutilated as well. "What do you want me to do?! Draw you a picture?! Spell it out?! Don't ever ask me!! Long as you live, don't ever ask me more!" This leaves only the child Debbie alive and in captivity. After seeing what the indians I said indians did to his family, and how they treated the females, just what do you think was in Ethan's mind every day he was tracking the native band who had stolen her? If Ethan had killed her, it would have been a mercy killing in his eyes. He's seen what the Commanches they can do. For God's sake, is this not sufficient motivation? An unprovoked and utterly savage attack that destroyed his family. BUT, what does Ethan actually do when he catches the girl, with no one else close by? Hello? Now, as I mentioned earlier, none of the people criticizing Wayne's character in the film ever seem to mention Vera Miles. It doesn't take a detective to find it. Just watch the film. Hell, I lifted this straight from IMDB: Laurie Jorgensen: [Martin is preparing to join a raid against the Indians and rescue Debbie] You're not goin', not this time. Martin: Are you crazy? Laurie Jorgensen: It's too late. She's a woman grown now. Martin: But I gotta go, Laurie, I gotta fetch her home. Laurie Jorgensen: Fetch what home? The leavings of a Comanche buck, sold time and again to the highest bidder, with savage brats of her own? Martin: Laurie, shut your mouth. Laurie Jorgensen: Do you know what Ethan will do if he has a chance? He'll put a bullet in her brain. [pause] Laurie Jorgensen: I tell you, Martha would want him to. Martin: Only if I'm dead. This exchange takes place with Miles looking virginal in a white wedding dress, but what she says in that instant is worse than what Wayne's character says. He does say to Martin Pauley "She's been livin' with a buck!" after their first contact with the girl, but this is not the same as saying that she has "savage brats" and that she's been "sold time and again to the highest bidder." Why no mention of this? Why? There's so much more to be said with regards to the remarks Mankiewicz and Malone made last night (Muller punted), but damn, these people are lost causes. | |||
|
| Member |
I have always hated introductions telling what I am going to see and how I should feel about a film. Eddie Muller keeps it to a minimum. I enjoyed seeing Odds Against Tommorrow and I am glad they did not sanitize the comments of Robert Ryan towards Sidney Poitier. | |||
|
| Member |
Muller is the only "Host" I can stand. I think he only goes woke when he has to interact with the other three. End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
|
| 186,000 miles per second. It's the law. |
"Besides, anyone who doesn't understand that you cannot project present-day values and artworks of the past is not worth bothering with. You'll never make them understand how preposterous it is for them to expect artists of the past to have projected themselves into some unknown future, and to write for that future audience and not for the audience of their own world. Utterly ridiculous. These people are blinded by their sanctimony." Thats it in a nutshell. Couldn't say it any better. | |||
|
| Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle  |
My daughters always roll their eyes at me when I pause him and then offer my interpretation and how he is so busy signaling he forgot the most important part. The Movie. TCM needs to stop sipping their rather expensive righteous wine and get back to good story telling. And in my own moment of shame, I do not own The Searchers. I cannot explain this lapse, I have seen the movie so many times it has never occurred to me to purchase it. Since no apparent original masters with Vista Vision exist, the best we are likely to get is the Blu Ray render. This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it. -Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Joshua Painter Played by Senator Fred Thompson | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
© SIGforum 2024