Tag Archives: john ford
Superhero Flicks Are Not Our New Westerns
Recently, WB announced their slate of superhero movies through 2019, perpetuating this ridiculous genre for another endless cycle. A lot of very smart people have been persistent in drawing an analogy about this, saying that for its longevity and frivolity, the superhero genre is the new western. As a lover of westerns and a hater of superhero movies, I gotta step in here.
I get the facile rationale—both are ‘low’ genres that occupy a disproportionately large space in the cinematic marketplace; both are marketed at American adolescent boys; both are concerned with matters of good and evil solved through third act duels. But in the words of Matt Zoller Seitz: “Where’s Ford and Leone?”
Posted in All Posts, John's Essays
Tagged a man alone, arrow, arrow tv show, bonanza, captain america 2, el cid, fury of achilles, genghis khan, gotham, gotham tv show, henry hathaway, how i met your mother, huge fregonese, hulk, james gunn, john ford, john wayne, king of kings, man with no name, matt zoller seitz, new western, ray milland, roy rogers, sergio leone, super, superhero movies, superhero movies new western, superhero western, superman, superman returns, sword & sandal, sword & sandals, sword and sandal movies, sword and sandals, the raid, to the last man, wagon train, where's ford and leone
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Smug Film Podcast Episode #3 – Movies That Got Us Into Movies (4/21/14)
1:15:47 | View on iTunes | Download Mp3
On this episode, I am joined by fellow Smug Film contributors John D’Amico and Jenna Ipcar. We discuss the movies that got us into movies, and were our gateway into obsession. As always, we go on tangents along the way, take a quick break for a movie joke by comedian Anthony Kapfer, and then close the show with questions from our mailbag.
If you have a question for the show, leave it in the comments or email us at Podcast@SmugFilm.com.
If you enjoy the podcast, be sure to subscribe on iTunes, and leave a rating and a comment on there as well. Doing this helps us immensely as far as our ranking on there, which is what allows people to be able to discover us. Word of mouth is always best of all though, so spread the word!
Movie Stuff Referenced in this Episode:
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Posted in All Posts, Podcast Episodes
Tagged 2001, 2001 a space odyssey, 29 days later, a clockwork orange, a hard day's night, alan mehrez, albert magnoli, alfred hitchcock, aliens, altered states, anthony kapfer, anthony kapfer comedian, apollo 13, back to the future, batman, batman begins, batman tv show, battlestar galactica, big, blake edwards, bloodsport 2, bloodsport ii, blow, blue velvet, breakfast at tiffany's, breakfast on pluto, brian depalma, bryan singer, buckaroo banzai, casablanca, christian nyby, christopher nolan, chuck russell, cody clarke, commando, danny boyle, david cronenberg, dawn of the dead, dawson's creek, death wish, detour, disco pigs, do the right thing, don hartman, don siegel, donnie darko, ed wood, edgar g. ulmer, edgar wright, eric rohmer, ernest b schoedsack, ethan coen, fargo, ferris bueller's day off, film joke, film jokes, film podcast, forrest gump, francis ford coppola, frank oz, geoff murphy, george romero, going home, groundhog day, hal ashby, handbuilt city, handbuiltcity.org, harold and maude, harold ramis, herbert b. leonard, holiday affair, howard hawks, irvin s. yeaworth, irvin s. yeaworth jr., james bridges, james cameron, jaws, jenna ipcar, joe vs. the volcano, joel coen, john badham, john carney, john damico, john ford, john g. avildsen, john hughes, john patrick shanley, joseph kosinski, jurassic park, ken loach, ken russell, king kong, kirsten sheridan, krzysztof kieslowski, kurt neumann, lee unkrich, lost, lost highway, magnolia, manhunter, mark l. lester, marnie, merian c. cooper, miami vice, michael curtiz, michael mann, mike's murder, movie joke, movie jokes, movie podcast, mystery science theater 3000, nashville, neil jordan, network, night of the living dead, o brother where art thou, o' brother, on the edge, paul thomas anderson, pauline at the beach, pee wee's big adventure, peewee's big adventure, peggy sue got married, penelope spheeris, penny marshall, peter yates, plan 9 from outer space, podcast, podcast ad, podcast advertising, princess bride, pulp fiction, purple rain, quentin tarantino, raising arizona, rambo, rambo; first blood part ii, red eye, ricahrd lester, richard donner, richard kelly, rob reiner, robert altman, robert zemeckis, rocky, ron howard, rushmore, saved by the bell, saving private ryan, scarface, seinfeld, shaun of the dead, sidney lumet, smug film, smug film podcast, smugfilm, smugfilm podcast, spike lee, sponsor a podcast, stand by me, stanley kubrick, star trek, stephen lisberger, steven spielberg, sunshine, ted demme, ted kotcheff, the adventures of buckaroo banzai across the 8th dimension, the big lebowski, the birds, the blob, the blob remake, the boondock saints, the breakfast club, the decalogue, the fly, the fly remake, the friends of eddie coyle, the goonies, the handbuilt city, the lone ranger, the princess bride, the terminator, the thing from another world, the usual suspects, the wind that shakes the barley, the wonder years, thief, tim burton, toy story 3, tron, tron legacy, troy duffy, under siege 2, under siege 2: dark territory, upstream, upstream john ford, w.d. richter, wargames, wayne's world, wes anderson, wes craven, what about bob, where art thou?, who framed roger rabbit, zack snyder
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Advice Column #9 (6/14/13)
I see so many clueless directors putting female characters whose only job is to BE female. I would like a list of movies with strong female characters that are not defined by their gender. And no cheesy role reversal things where the woman has the traditional male qualities. Just some nice films (or raw horrifying ones) where the woman or women are just real people. And don’t say Joy Luck Club cause I already know about it. That was extremely good at what it was. – Michael H.
Editor’s Note (12/4/14): We no longer answer movie questions through our advice column. We answer them in the mailbag segment of our podcast. Send them to Cody@SmugFilm.com and we will answer on the show!
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Posted in Advice, All Posts
Tagged abbey linclon, ali fear eats the soul, aliens, all i desire, all that heaven allows, allison janney, amy adams, baby face, bring it on, chantal akerman, christopher strong, clarice starling, cody clarke, daisies, dardenne brothers, deadwood, dick, douglas sirk, drop dead gorgeous, evangeline lilly, fargo, gabrielle union, grapes of wrath, hedy lamarr, howard hawks, imitation of life, jackie brown, je tu il elle, jean-pierre dardenne, jeanne dielman, jeanne dielman 23 quai du commerce 1080 bruzelles, john damico, john ford, johnny guitar, joy luck club, julianne moore, katharine hepburn, kim dickens, kirsten dunst, last summer, lost, luc dardenne, lynda carter, ma joad, mary tyler moore show, michelle williams, movie advice, movie advice column, news from home, night nurse, nothing but a man, pam grier, psycho, rendezvous d'anna, rosetta, safe, smug film, smugfilm, strong female characters, strong female protagonist, the furies, the pursuit of happyness, the strange woman, the thing, treme, will smith, wonder woman
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An Interview with B-Movie Filmmaker Jack Perez
You might not have heard of Jack Perez, or his many aliases, but you’ve probably heard of his work. Jack directed Wild Things 2 for TriStar and the pilot for the popular cult TV show Xena: Warrior Princess. His film Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus is a staple of the B-movie resurgence of the last decade.
Jack has one of the rarest jobs on earth—he’s a working director in Hollywood. The DGA represents just over 14,000 directors. They say in SAG about 5% of the union is working—I’d probably halve that when talking about the DGA. And remember, for every one of those 14,000 there is literally thousands upon thousands of people dying to get in. Directing is an elusive job, everybody knows a director makes a movie but almost nobody—lay people and cinephiles alike—really have any idea about what the job actually entails.
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Posted in All Posts, Greg's Interviews
Tagged akira kurosawa, alfred hitchcock, godzilla, godzilla vs king kong, grumpy old men, hard target, hearts of darkness, hercules the legendary journeys, it came from beneath the sea, jack perez, jack perez filmmaker, jack perez interview, john ford, john frankenheimer, john huston, martin scorsese, mega shark vs giant octopus, megashark vs giant octopus, notorious, orson welles, plan 9 from outer space, sam peckinpah, the flintstones, the godfather part 2, the godfather: part ii, tristar, vera cruz, wild things 2, xena warrior princess, zm productions
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Shane: The Most Western Western
Shane (1953)
Directed by George Stevens
Screenplay by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Additional Dialogue by Jack Sher
Based on the novel by Jack Schaefer
My great fear—and sadly this is true—is the possibility, however remote, that I’ll get sucked through time into a distant and shattered future where I’ll be forced to rebuild human civilization. Digging through our fallen society’s vast underground archives, I alone would have to bridge eons of cultural distance and reintroduce art to a numbed world.
Where do you begin? How do you introduce someone to rock and roll? What captures the essence of the form? What is the most rock and roll album? Sticky Fingers? Born To Run? Rubber Soul? I could never decide. What is the most modernist novel? What is the most Shakespearian of Shakespeare’s plays? What is the most sitcom sitcom? It’s a series of Sophie’s choices, each more stressful than the last.
But in this complicated world, one thing is clear:
Shane is the most western western.
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Posted in All Posts, John's Reviews
Tagged a.b. guthrie jr., anthony mann, best western, best western movie, brandon de wilde, casablanca, cavalry trilogy, forbidden planet, george stevens, gunfighter, high noon, hud, jack schaefer, jack sher, jacques tourneur, jimmy stewart, joey starrett, john ford, man from del rio, mccabe and mrs. miller, my darling clementine, naked spur, rio grande, rubber soul, shakespeare, shane, shane movie, shane movie review, sticky fingers, the gunfighter, the naked spur, the ox-bow incident, the searchers, thunder road, wichita, wyatt earp
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