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Came back to comment (Reply to this comment)
by Lark729_89
I just watched Breakfast At Tiffany's and The Goodbye Girl again...probably for the 4th time each. These are classics that can be watched again and again and one never tires of them...kind of like your reviews here on epinions.
As always you are good at what you do and writing on epinions is probably one in a million.
Thanks Howard.
My Best...
Carol
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Mar 04 '12
7:33 pm PST
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Re: Re: !!! (Reply to this comment)
by macresarf1
Nipping back here, Howard.
All I can do, in the face of your argument, is to quote Curtiz himself on his mode of work: "The next time I send a dumbsonofab*tch to do something, I go myself!"
No one has ever offered a more succinct definition of an "auteur."
All the best.
[Macresarf1]
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Jun 15 '04
4:49 pm PDT
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Incredible list and review (Reply to this comment)
by mike.holmes
Several of these movies are among my favorites and your overall review is one of the best I've seen in a long time. Thanks for the memories.
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Jun 06 '04
4:29 pm PDT
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Re: !!! (Reply to this comment)
by Howard_Creech
Hi Macresarf1,
Thanks for stopping by. I enjoy discussing film history. During Hollywood’s golden age studio honchos dictated budget, shooting schedule, script, what sets and locations could be used, and which actors would appear in which roles, so it required a very tough and driven visionary to impose his individual signature on the finished film.
Historically (as the single creative artist who most clearly leaves the mark of his personality upon a finished film) the auteur’s work must exhibit consistent stylistic themes, a personal aesthetic vision, and a clearly defined worldview---the works of the auteur are imprinted with the unique artistic vision of their creator and are as distinctive as the creations of any other artist. Simply put this means that the auteur should always be judged on a cohesive and definitive body of work, rather than a single film. Prime examples of directors who meet the definition of auteur are Howard Hawks, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, and Orson Welles.
Clearly, the misunderstanding was the fault of my film history professors. I didn’t study the auteur theory in France in the fifties, I learned about it in the U.S. in the seventies. The foremost American proponent of the auteur theory, Andrew Sarris said in his landmark book ---The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968 -- that Michael Curtiz was, “the most amiable of Warners' technicians" and he went on to describe Casablanca as "the most decisive exception to the auteur theory….only the happiest of happy accidents."
Howard
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May 12 '04
10:15 am PDT
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You left out my favorite.... (Reply to this comment)
by colonialpara
SOMEWHERE IN TIME, the little sleeper from 1980 that starred Christopher Reeve and the lovely Jane Seymour.
Panned by critics and missed by millions, it has developed cult-like status and has its own very active fan club called INSITE (International Network of Somewhere In Time Enthusiasts).
Have you seen it?
Improbable? Yes. But still my favorite romantic movies of ALL time.
Paul
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May 10 '04
12:10 pm PDT
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!!! (Reply to this comment)
by macresarf1
Dear Howard: I certainly approve of many of your selections, especially out of the way ones, like ROBIN AND MARIAN.
I think, however, that you misunderstand the Auteur Theory, as it was originally formulated in Cahiers du Cinema. These French critics, seeing for the first time a wealth of Hollywood studio movies in the backlog after World War II, would did indeed pick Curtiz as an auteur precisely because he was a studio "hack" who rose above the limitations imposed on his work by, in this case, Warner Brothers. In another instance, thinking of more strictly "romantic directors," Douglas Sirk, for the same reason, was called an auteur. They put their stylistic mark and invested their sensibility in any picture handed to them, no matter what it was. (It helped, in the eyes of the French critics, that many of these studio "auteurs had come from the European film studios of the 1920's and 1930's.)
Later, of course, many of these same critics, such as Trauffaut and Chabrol, established themselves as auteurs, in an independent sense, and Hollywood directors like Hawks, Welles, and Vidor attempted to do likewise.
Excellent capsule reviews.
[Macresarf1]
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May 10 '04
12:08 pm PDT
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Just wanted to chime in and say................. (Reply to this comment)
by popsrocks
.....great list!!!
I enjoyed going down memory lane and I've decided to get these and other movies out so that my daughters can watch them.
Good stuff!
Phil
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May 10 '04
5:03 am PDT
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Great (Reply to this comment)
by George_Chabot,  in Movies
list, Howard. My compliments on your good taste and ability to encapsulate the various flavors.
George
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Apr 29 '04
8:28 am PDT
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*grin* (Reply to this comment)
by anderclayton
Well...
I have seen all of these except your #1 slot! I will have to check that one out. I can't say that I agree with all of your choices (Cary Grant isn't a fav of mine and I didn't care for Last of the Mohicans at all) but it is a pretty good list.
Ander
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Apr 26 '04
4:25 pm PDT
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Hollywood (Reply to this comment)
by grandgram
just doesn't make movies like these any more. What a shame! Good selection.
Letta
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Apr 26 '04
3:21 pm PDT
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what a list.... (Reply to this comment)
by doglover
Yes, you have an outstanding list here. I have to at least suggest to you that "Gone With the Wind" and "Titanic" should at least get some honorable mention. But they do have an element of "chick flick" to them. ;-)
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Apr 26 '04
3:01 pm PDT
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Interesting to note how often... (Reply to this comment)
by NFP
...(and appropriately) the Hepburns, Katherine and Audrey, appear high on the list.
Equally interesting to note the absence of one listing featuring Katherine Hepbrun and longtime flame Spencer Tracy. I'd think George Cukor's 1949 classic of the two facing off against each other as opposing attorneys in "Adam's Rib" might qualify in this category, as could any number of others featuring Tracy and Hepburn, most notably including "Woman of the Year" by George Stevens in 1942... I believe that was their first appearance together, in this case as feuding newspaper columnists who marry.
Good one regardless, Howard.
nick
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Apr 26 '04
2:18 pm PDT
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excellent choices (Reply to this comment)
by jankp
Seen all but Starman and Robin and Marian. Shame on me for the last since I did a tribute to Audrey. What's with not acknowledging Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday?? Thanks for a very enjoyable essay.
Jan
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Apr 26 '04
12:38 pm PDT
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It doesn't surprise me (Reply to this comment)
by ifif1938
that you are a romantic at heart..:)
I loved these selections, each and every one of them..
Cheers,
Barbara
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Apr 26 '04
10:57 am PDT
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Howard! (Reply to this comment)
by ruby950
What a great selection of movies! They just don't come any more classic than Breakfast At Tiffany's!
Loved this!
My best,
Deborah~
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Apr 26 '04
10:30 am PDT
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Hey Howard! (Reply to this comment)
by captaind
Some great choices here, particularly the b/w films you chose!
Nice one!
CaptainD
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Apr 26 '04
10:22 am PDT
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Re: I've seen (Reply to this comment)
by mridula
And I have not seen even one! What are my chances??
Mridula
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Apr 26 '04
5:13 am PDT
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I've seen (Reply to this comment)
by Horswispr
only four of the ones you discuss. Does that make me a non-romantic?
--Horse
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Apr 26 '04
12:06 am PDT
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