"The Deuce" - HBO Series with James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Tone, Jul 17, 2017.

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  1. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    I really liked the first episode.
     
  2. 93curr

    93curr Senior Member

    I mostly liked it; interesting but nothing revelatory yet. Can't say there was anything I hadn't seen before - it seemed to mostly cover well-worn early-70s territory (was "kicks" really a popular slang term for shoes that far back? would John Waters's name really be on a marquee?) and I guess they're waiting to bring in the pornography aspect until later in the season? But I have enough faith in Simon to expect things to develop forthwith; he's earned my trust.
     
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  3. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    My wife balked at that, too!
     
    junk likes this.
  4. RK2249

    RK2249 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Jersey
    It was ok so far.
     
  5. NickCarraway

    NickCarraway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gastonia, NC
    James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) uses "kicks" as a term for shoes. The OED has a pair of 1930s quotations from tramps' slang, followed by John Henrik Clarke's Harlem U.S.A. the story of a city within a city (1964) and a 1973 Black World magazine.
     
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  6. Dayfold

    Dayfold Forum Resident

    I've enjoyed everything David Simon has done so far: The Corner; The Wire; Generation Kill; Treme; Show Me A Hero, all exceptionally good telly I say. I'll be renewing my Now TV sub when this (and the new Curb!) starts showing in the UK later this month.
     
  7. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Love that "Down By Law" shot on your avatar!
     
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  8. conjotter

    conjotter Forum Resident

    David Simon isn't known for pulling his punches.

    What were you expecting, Pretty Woman?

     
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  9. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA

    Kicks as slang for shoes is more than a 100 years old. But kicks as COMMON slang for sneakers is relatively recent...Certainly to my memory no older than sometime in the 80s.
     
  10. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    No, but check out some interviews with people who were working in porn in that era. Most of them were struggling straight actors, not prostitutes. Georgina Spelvin had been in Pajama Game on Broadway, Ron Jeremy was in Godspell.

    It sounds like the writer has a his set view of the New York porn era, and history is not going to influence it in any way.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2017
  11. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    I don't know, it seems to me that saying porn stars were 'struggling straight actors' sounds similar to strippers claiming to be college students. Where as I'm sure both statements may have factual roots, the truth is/was, they are what they are. Any attempt to glamorize the 42nd St. sexmarket would be a lie. There was nothing noble or glamorous about it. This wasn't Hugh Hefner's fantasy world, it was Larry Goldstein & Screw. I know there are actors who did porn prior to 'making it', but to think ALL porn stars are frustrated movie or Broadway actors is silly.
     
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  12. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    I'm talking about the early New York era. It all changed when it moved to California. Here's an interview with Georgina Spelvin, who starred in "The Devil In Miss Jones". Her stories about that era are a whole lot more entertaining than the unrelenting grimness of the pilot:



    Again, I knew people from that era. A family friend was one of the stars of "The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue" and she was a frustrated straight actress. Before home video, you could reasonably believe that you could do porn, it would play in a theater, and it would be gone in two weeks.
     
  13. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    I'm passing on this show because I just can't watch James Franco in anything.
     
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  14. NickCarraway

    NickCarraway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gastonia, NC
    More like "would a film released in March 1969 still be playing at Times Square?"
     
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  15. NickCarraway

    NickCarraway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gastonia, NC
    Well, the premiere didn't show any porn yet. I'm pretty sure the "seasoned" prostitutes - Candy, "Thunder Thighs", Ashley, Darlene - aren't likely to be looped into the film industry arcs. That'll be Lori (has "new-in-town" stamped on her forehead but knows exactly what she's getting into) and Abby (the English major who "chooses not (yet) to objectify herself").
     
  16. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    Wouldn't be surprising. As a native NYer who spent too much time in Times Square, especially in the 1980s, the theaters on 42nd Street would often be playing films a few years old, especially at the bottom half of a double bill. If you go on-line, anfd look at the entertainment section of the NY Times from say, the 1960s, you'll see films (usually huge hits and Oscar winners) still in theaters that had opened years earlier. I guess they did that before the advent of home video
     
  17. PonceDeLeroy

    PonceDeLeroy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland
    Simon says this is about unchecked capitalism and misogyny. Heard him say that in an interview with Charlie Rose.
     
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  18. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    I don't know about the others, but Candy will. Maggie Gyllenhaal has talked in interviews about how her character plays a prostitute who ends up directing porn films.
     
  19. Gary7704

    Gary7704 Chasing that sound….

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Back in the days when NYC had charecter.
     
  20. NickCarraway

    NickCarraway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gastonia, NC
    Yeah, I get misty-eyed about the blackout, Son of Sam and my dad getting mugged. But hey, we had Reggie Bars.
     
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  21. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Like I said in a previous post;
    The show brought back quite a few 'smells' from my childhood!
    Funny how just one shot of a show can make your 'nasal' memory come back!
     
  22. Gary7704

    Gary7704 Chasing that sound….

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Yeah, I was mugged back then as well, but still would take the preachers shouting their preachings, the prostitues, the peep shows, the graffiti, the dirt, etc.
    over what it has become today.
     
  23. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    I like his acting, and he has a great butt.
     
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  24. David Egan

    David Egan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oakland CA
    Some of these people did some acting. Some of them were pretty good actors, especially when you keep in mind they rarely had more than one take. There was also prostitution. Sharon Mitchell recalls that dating mobsters was expected of her. Sharon did a lot of drugs and had some harrowing experiences but she was tough and survived. Some of them answered an ad and found themselves with a new job, others were sex freaks bent on taking everything to the edge. There is no one story to be told and a worthwhile series will tell a variety of stories. I was wondering if Brain Girl was going to be kicked out of NYU but it looks like she made her own decision that the straight life is a bore. Other characters seem to have ceded control of there own lives already.

    Any entertainment based on a real event or era should be thought of as a point on a circle. "The Reality" is a point at the center of the circle. But you are on the circle viewing it from one perspective. A good entertainment (or non-fiction book) can manage more than one perspective. But not 360. There is always another viewpoint. Endless debates over how it really was and whether The Deuce is The Truth don't interest me much. The question is: does this fiction offer enough interesting perspectives on the elusive reality of a bygone era to entertain and provoke further exploration? Based on the pilot and the talent involved it's looks promising.
     
    lschwart likes this.
  25. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Haven't seen this yet. Is it more appealing than Vinyl? I found that really ugly and awful.
     
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