Best Movie Ever!

[lael]

4 words! The Green Mile Xclamation. . . point.
Okay 5 words then. But still!
I can't enough of that one!

 

[crazed gonzo fa]

Thanks for your help Winslow Leach.

 

[travellingpat]

Snowthy...I love The Little Rascals! I dont know if Its the best movie ever, but its definately really funny!

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Do you mean the new Little Rascals Movie?

 

[D'Snowth]

Do you mean the new Little Rascals Movie?

Um... I'm talking about the 1994 movie with Bug Hall as Alfalfa, and cameo appearances by stars like Mel Brooks, Daryl Hannah, Whoopi Goldburg, Donald Trump, et cetera.

 

[lael]

any thoughts on the new live action Underdog movie?

 

[Winslow Leach]

any thoughts on the new live action Underdog movie?

Check out "The Chipmunks Triumphant Return" thread. I think you'll get MORE than your fill about Underdog there, lol!

 

[lael]

good to know, Winslow. Thanks I'm not that interested in it to willingly venture into the lair of the chipmunks. *shivers* skurry.

 

[Winslow Leach]

good to know, Winslow. Thanks I'm not that interested in it to willingly venture into the lair of the chipmunks. *shivers* skurry.

Basically everyone there (including myself) think it's a bad idea for a live-action dog to play Underdog. Should have gone CGI like they did with Scooby, make him anthromophoric. Plus, the characters have been changed/altered so the film doesn't really resemble the cartoon.

 

[Winslow Leach]

A strange, hooded figure nervously wanders through a crowded train station. His bizarre appearance catch the attention of a group of rowdy boys, who begin to harass him. As he desperately tries to escape the taunting, the hooded figure inadvertently knocks over a small girl. An angry mob forms, and chases the man, one of them pulling off his hood, revealing an oversized head and deformed face. He is finally cornered. Terrified, the man shouts I am not an animal! I am a human being! I...am...a man! He collapses.

The above scene comes from The Elephant Man (1980), a drama based on the life of Joseph Merrick (1862-1890), a man born with a rare congenital disorder known as Proteus Syndrome, a disorder that causes skin overgrowth, atypical bone development, and tumors over half of the body. Merrick suffered from a severe case of Proteus Syndrome (not elephantiasis, as has been claimed), with large facial tumors and deformity on every inch of his body, save for his left arm. His skin had a grayish hue, "resembling" that of an elephant's. Merrick had performed in sideshows, exhibited as a "freak," before he was taken under the care of Frederick Treves, a brilliant young physician. After caring for Merrick, and helping him speak through a series of operations for his severaly deformed mouth, Treves gave Merrick a permanent home at London Hospital. There, he became a celebrity in Victorian high society, befriending actors, noblemen, the Princess of Wales and even Queen Victoria herself. Merrick would later travel (in a carriage with the blinds drawn) to various homes of important people, and was greeted as a welcome guest. Joseph Merrick died in 1890. Due to the enormous weight of his head, he could only sleep sitting up. He tried to sleep horizontally, and ended up accidentally suffocating himself. He was 27.

For a while Merrick's skeleton was exhibited at the Royal London Hospital (and no, contrary to a very popular myth/urban legend, Michael Jackson did not, nor did he attempt to buy Merrick's bones--it's just a sick rumor). Treves wrote The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences in the 1920s, bringing Merrick's story into the 20th century.

In 1979, The Elephant Man opened on Broadway, and ultimately won a Tony Award. The play blended fact and fiction, but what was probably the most remarkable aspect of the production was the fact that the actor playing Merrick doesn't wear prosthetics in his portrayal. But it is still a difficult role, as the actor must contort his body to approximate Merrick's crippling deformity. Merrick (called John instead of Joseph in the play) was originally portrayed by Philip Anglim. Later, actors such as Bruce Davison, Billy Crudup and even David Bowie would play the title role.

The play faced competition, when, around the same time, a film based on the life of Merrick was in the works. The producers of the play had nothing to do with the film, and the filmmakers had nothing to do with the play. It was simply strange timing. Looking at both today, both play and film are extremely different, both taking different approaches to Merrick's life and times.

The film version of Merrick's life was based on Frederick Treves's memoris, The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences and Ashley Montagu's The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity. It was produced by none other than Mel Brooks. The Mel Brooks of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein fame. Because Brooks wanted the public (obviously) sold on the film as a drama, he eleminated his name from the credits.

Brooks hired a radical new filmmaker, David Lynch, to helm the film. Brooks had seen Lynch's first feature, the stark, nightmarish Eraserhead (1978), and thought the young filmmaker had the chops and sensibility to bring Merrick's story to the screen. Lynch accepted, and co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren.

Cast as John (again, not Joseph) Merrick was actor John Hurt, who had recently been seen as the psychotic Caligula in the miniseries I, Claudius (1977) and as the unfortunate astronaut who has an alien burst out of his stomach in Alien (1979). The brilliant make-up was devised by Christopher Tucker, who made casts of the actual Merrick's preserved body at the Royal London Hospital. The final result is staggering, especially when one compares the original photographs of Merrick with Tucker's work. The Motion Picture Academy was so impressed, they created a new category, Best Make-Up.

Hurt is absolutely outstanding in the role. His features hidden, his speech severely slurred, his body grotesquely twisted, he delivers a true acting tour-de-force. Merrick starts out as a sideshow attraction, and ultimately attends the theatre, in white tie and tails. It's a gut-wrenching and emotionally exhausting performance. Every time I see this film, by the end I'm a blubbering mess. Within a few minutes of meeting Merrick (who is first introduced in the shadows), the viewer tends to forget his deformities, and instead cringe at the cruelties and inhumanities heaped upon him by his (fictional) sadistic, alcoholic "manager" (Freddie Jones) who treats his "property" like an animal.

Anthony Hopkins plays the sympathetic Treves, who rescues Merrick from the sideshow and gives him permanent residence in his hospital. Hopkins delivers an exceptional, humane performance, and his scenes with Merrick are warm and comforting, compared to the beatings and embarrassment John is put through earlier in the film. But is Treves another exploiter of Merrick? True, he has saved him from his former nasty life, but once Treves helps Merrick speak, and dress him in the finest clothes, inviting society into his home and hospital to visit Merrick, is he an exploiter as well, albeit a much more sympathetic, upper-class one?

The cast is made up of such veterans as John Gielgud as Carr Gomm, the Governor of the hospital, who at first believes Merrick to be an "imbecile," until he hears him reciting the 23rd Psalm. Wendy Hiller (who played Eliza Doolittle in the 1938 film of Pygmalian) plays the crusty matron of the hospital. Anne Bancroft (Brooks's wife) portrays actress Mrs. Kendall, and Hannah Gordon is Mrs. Treves, in one of the film's most powerful scenes.

After Merrick has made friends with London society, Treves has him visit his home. He leaves his wife and Merrick alone. At first Mrs. Treves is nervous by her guest, but Merrick soon puts her at ease by remarking what a lovely family she has, and by showing her a picture of his beloved mother. Merrick explains his mother abandoned him after she gave birth, but says he hopes that she would love him now, because he has made so many wonderful friends. Mrs. Treves begins to weep because of the way she initially perceived Merrick, and because of his touching words, but Merrick is able to gently calm her.

In addition to co-writing the screenplay, director Lynch also did the musical direction and sound design. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including a well-deserved one for John Hurt, but Hurt lost out to Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. The film was shot in glorious black and white by famed cinematographer Freddie Francis.

The reason why Merrick is wrongly called John instead of Joseph comes from Frederick Treves himself. Treves's memoirs were published in 1923, many years after the fact. Treves, who worked so closely with Merrick, misidentified him as "John," in his pages, and John it remained, as several books and articles written about Merrick often used Treves's book as a starting-off point of reference. Shortly after Merrick died, Carr Gomm wrote an official document, correctly identifying Merrick as "Joseph."

The Elephant Man is a powerful film. It is highly recommended, and should be watched with a box of tissues close at hand.