Ken's "Great Directors" Avatar Win-Nothing Contest

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Ken_McAlinden, Mar 6, 2003.

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  1. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Yep, The Naked Spur may be my favorite, though. It almost plays like a suffocating submarine or desert island drama while taking place in the "great outdoors". That's a neat trick. :)

    Regards,
     
  2. Gardo

    Gardo Audio Epistemologist

    Location:
    Virginia
    To my shame, I have to say I haven't seen a single Anthony Mann film. Which three would you say are the best starting place?
     
  3. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    For me, all westerns:

    WINCHESTER '73
    THE MAN FROM LARAMIE
    THE NAKED SPUR

    All excellent, not to be missed!

    ED:cool:
     
  4. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    YES. I may add all five (not sure if there were more) Westerns in the series (including Bend of the River and Far Country) should be seen, if not together, at least eventually compared. One of Cinemas great collaborations (Mann-Stewart).

    BC
     
  5. ZIPGUN99

    ZIPGUN99 Active Member

    I just showed up, heh heh. Even though Mann is best known for his "psychological" westerns, he did some way cool film noir type movies too, best seen at 3:00 in the morning on NYC's channel 9. These are not as well remembered, because they don't feature major actors.

    http://www.eskimo.com/~noir/directors/mann/index.shtml

    He was the director of "El Cid", which was a huge hit epic when I was a little kid. Martin Scorsese oversaw the restoration of the film. Oddly, I've never seen it. Another 60's epic he directed was "The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire". Big spending independent producer Samuel Bronstein would eventually go broke.

    Middletown Connecticut's own Jeanne Basinger wrote a swell appreciation of Mann's work.

    Jeanine Basinger, Anthony Mann, Boston, Twayne, 1979
    Just might be in your library, you never know.
     
  6. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    If you burn out on westerns, T-men and Raw Deal are excellent crime/noir films. Do I need to even mention that "Raw Deal" is not the 1986 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. :laugh:

    If you have seen Reservoir Dogs, you will recognize that Quentin Tarantino is definitely a fan of Mann's "Raw Deal", particularly the introduction of Raymond Burr's character.

    Regards,
     
  7. ZIPGUN99

    ZIPGUN99 Active Member

    He was also the assistant director on Preston Sturge's "Sullivan's Travels" the inspiration for "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou". I hope someday someone makes "Ants in Their Pants of 1939".
     
  8. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    They did an interesting quasi-western called "Thunder Bay" (shrimpers vs. oilmen) as well as "The Glenn Miller Story" and the cold-war propaganda piece: "Strategic Air Command".

    Regards,
     
  9. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    No more Mann

    Okay, it's been a while. Any guesses as to the latest movie director pictured in my Avatar?

    Regards,
     
  10. guy incognito

    guy incognito Senior Member

    Location:
    Mee-chigan
    Hmmmm...

    Paul Bartel?
     
  11. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Nope, keep a-guessin'.

    Regards,
     
  12. Tyler

    Tyler Senior Member

    Location:
    Hawaii
    Ummmmm.....

    Col. Sanders?

    :)
     
  13. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Okay, Mr. Smarty-pants, one more serious guess and I will drop a clue. :p

    Regards
     
  14. ZIPGUN99

    ZIPGUN99 Active Member

    he has that Hume Cronyn kind of look. I thought it was Hal Ashby maybe, but this guy is too bald. With Sergio Leone, I got faked out because he's usually shown with big giant glasses. I'm trying to think of this guy without the beard...
     
  15. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    None of those. How about a clue or two? He directed two of the most financially successful films of the 60s (both topped the US box office the year they were released), and in terms of constant dollars, he is among the highest average grossing directors of all time.

    Regards,
     
  16. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    Robert Wise?

    BC
     
  17. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Good guess, but no.

    Regards,
     
  18. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    Blake Edwards?

    BC
     
  19. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Nope.

    Another clue: His most popular films usually involved elaborate special effects.

    Regards,
     
  20. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Ray Harryhausen?

    ED:cool:
     
  21. ZIPGUN99

    ZIPGUN99 Active Member

    Robert Stevenson, director of Mary Poppins and Absent Minded Professor?
    I couldn't find a pic of him anywhere.
     
  22. Tyler

    Tyler Senior Member

    Location:
    Hawaii
    Ken,

    Thanks to you and your subliminal avatar I ended up at KFC for lunch.
     
  23. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Yes! "Mary Poppins" was the top grossing film of 1964 and "The Love Bug" was the top grosser of 1969. It's a little bit tricky, because 1969's "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" made more money overall, but a lot of it was made in 1970.

    Before beginning his long and successful relationship with Disney, Stevenson was best known as the director of the 1937 version of "King Solomon's Mines" and the 1944 version of "Jane Eyre" (starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine). He was signed to a contract by David O. Selznick in 1939 and brought from England to Hollywood just like Alfred Hitchcock. Strangely though, despite being under contract to Selznick for nearly a decade, he never made one film for Selznick's production company. He was loaned out to Fox, Universal, RKO, and Columbia at different times during this period. Aside from "Jane Eyre", other worthy, though not currently available on video, films from this period were 1941's "Back Street", 1942's "Joan of Paris", and 1947's "To the Ends of the Earth" (which involved a treasury agent's efforts to bust up an international narcotics ring).

    His Disney association began in 1957 when he directed "Johnny Tremain", "Old Yeller", and episodes of the "Zorro" TV series. His subsequent films with the company included "Darby O'Gill and the Little People", "Kidnapped", "The Absent Minded Professor", "In Search of the Castaways", "Mary Poppins", "That Darn Cat", "Blackbeard's Ghost", "The Love Bug", and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks".

    The fact that he made so many films that were so widely seen while remaining fairly anonymous can be attributed to his low-key personality, lack of interest by champions of auteurism in family entertainment, and the fact that the Disney brand tended to overshadow the creative folks involved.

    One bit of trivia for music fans is that from 1962 to 1970, he was Don Everly's father-in-law.

    Regards,
     
  24. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    This was a tough one Ken.
    A lot of fun was had though.

    BC

    PS. I knew that picture wasn't Robert Wise or Blake Edwards. But I was totally at a loss.
    Good show.
     
  25. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    What's really scary is the notion that THE LOVE BUG was the top-grossing movie of 1969. To say that's a pathetic stat would be an understatement. But then I think THE SOUND OF MUSIC is a piece of ******, and I know I'm in the minority there.

    ED:cool:
     
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