I recently saw ‘Don’t Look Now’ (1973). Good picture, a little slow perhaps by today’s standards but worthy of any movie enjoyer’s time! So this movie was shot in Venice. Venice itself being an already beautiful spot to film even today. The way we get to look in a time capsule of Venice in the 70s makes the movie that much better!
People in the 70s could not in fact appreciate it the same way we do now. Concurrently we also can’t do it for today’s movies. Some movies can only be truly appreciated over time is what I believe. This matter can be expressed in both the movie’s message or, as I did, its cinematography. Hence my question now to you.
My vote goes to trading places, because it had both aged incredibly well (a tale of class solidarity against evil eugenics-peddling billionaires), and incredibly poorly (a story about nondiscrimination with that damn train scene right in the middle).
I’d also like yo mention RoboCop and American Psycho because their satirization of American hyper capitalism has only gotten more accurate. It really is depressing that we have the exact same social issues that we did in the 80s.
I’m trying to get the young lads at work (early 20s) to watch movies like Trading Places. All they want to watch is Fast n Furious.
Careful my guy. If you haven’t seen it in a while, Dan Akroyd does blackface. I think overall the movie has a positive message that fits in well today, but how they delivered that message only really hits if you’re a white guy from a couple decades back.
Was his blackface appropriate? It’s been so long since I saw that movie. There are certain circumstances where it is appropriate to wear blackface.
I’d say no. It is a bit gag, and Dan Akroyd is pretending to be a Jamaican stoner. Nothing stuck out to me as being intentionally hateful or shitty, just…really unfortunate taste.
Given the context of the rest of the film, I think it mainly comes from ignorance. I suspect that a writer’s room in 80s Hollywood wasn’t super diverse.