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Announcing my first write-off: “The Billy Wilder centennial write-off”!!!May 26 '06 (Updated Jun 23 '06) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line A celebration of the art of Billy Wilder: One of the most accomplished directors of all time.
Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was one of the most productive and acclaimed filmmakers of all time. He was extraordinary not just for the number of classics he made (Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole/The Big Carnival, Stalag 17, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, etc) but for the number of genres that he covered as well. He ranged from comedy to drama to film noir to social commentary with seeming ease. His movies are often acclaimed nowadays for how well they have held up over time, mainly because of the strong characterizations and non-sentimental (Sometimes very cynical) depictions of human nature and events. With seven Academy Awards (One being the Thalberg tribute award), an AFI lifetime achievement award and four movies on the AFI’s 100 greatest American movies, he’s also got the acclaim of major organizations. Anyway, the centennial of Wilder’s birth is on June 22 of this year. In honor of this master filmmaker’s contributions to the world, I feel that a write-off honoring him would be most appropriate. Thus, I officially announce THE BILLY WILDER CENTENNIAL WRITE OFF!!! Ground rules: - Pretty straight forward: A review must be either of a). A Billy Wilder movie, b). A documentary about Wilder or c). A book either written by or about Wilder (A script or book that analyzes one of his movies is fine, too). - To join the write off, just simply post a comment or send an e-mail to me stating such (A number of individuals will have e-mails sent to them inviting them to join). - I encourage diversity for this write off. Although I cannot help it if five people do reviews of, say, The Apartment, I would not be too enthusiastic about it either. If you see that a movie or other product has already been covered by a couple of write-off entries, then try looking for another related product before sending your final review. - Speaking of final reviews, send them in to me via e-mail or as a comment on this review: The URL link will do just fine. I’ll update this when I can with the new reviews. - Entries were originally due on June 22, 2006, which would have been Wilder’s 100th birthday, but I've decided to keep them open (See below for more details) Also, if anybody knows of a similar write-off that is being done, please let me know. I don’t want to be seen as a copy cat or something like that. Thanks for reading, and have fun! [Update: June 23, 2006: I've decided to continue the write-off going beyond the orginally scheduled date. This is mainly because I did not inform enough people in advance of it. Heck, I haven't even done an entry for it yet! So if you still want to contribute, please do so. More info to come.] Contributions: Mauvaise Graine by Stephen Murray Five Graves to Cairo by Macresarf1  |
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