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

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

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Bryan

    Bryan Starman Jr.

    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    It seems that it's becoming slowly less stigmatizing for well-known actresses to do nude scenes.
     
  2. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    This is an excellent point. Not only is this show about the birth of porn as a thriving industry in NYC, it also coincidentally depicts the beginnings of disco. That would make a great series.
     
    ralphb likes this.
  3. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Just finally watched the first episode Really engaging and the 90
    minutes flew by. It feels like Citizen Kane compared to Vinyl, which I found unwatchable. I dug Deuce - why is it called that, btw?
     
    Mazzy, profholt82 and vince like this.
  4. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    I think the Deuce refers to the district/precinct, the 2-0, the story's taking place in.
     
  5. NickCarraway

    NickCarraway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gastonia, NC
    "The Deuce" was the contemporaneous nickname for West 42nd Street, specifically Broadway (Times Square) to 9th Avenue.
     
    Bender Rodriguez and lschwart like this.
  6. NickCarraway

    NickCarraway Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gastonia, NC
    Times Square is in the 14th precinct, as is reflected accurately in the show.
     
    Bender Rodriguez likes this.
  7. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    Exactly. In NYC slang, 42nd Street was called "Forty Deuce", then shortened by many to just "the Deuce".
     
  8. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    My understanding is that a lot of the hookers would actually live with their pimps.

    A GREAT book about this time and place is "Tales of Times Square" by Josh Alan Friedman
     
    ralphb and sberger like this.
  9. Scotian

    Scotian Amnesia Hazed

    In cards the deuce is slang for the two so in addition to the place, it could be referencing the twins as well.
     
    Bender Rodriguez and Dayfold like this.
  10. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    just marathoned this in the last two days. love it, especially the music (done right) the grittiness (pretty sure I stayed at that hotel franco is living in....back before tripadvisor), the acting has been great and fun to see the Wire people popping up all over.
     
  11. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    This show definitely brings the grit, unlike few other shows. And they don't shy away from anything. The blase attitude of porn director Harvey (again, I can't believe this is David Krumholtz), as he's guiding Candy through her scene is hilarious ("I can see I'm going to be looping dialog later.") Yet it has it's paradoxes: I don't think I've seen such sympathetic portrayals of pimps and gangsters (Rudy is so magnanimous!) on TV ever. And about that scene: what are the odds we see an HIV positive Candy next season? Only two eppies left!
     
  12. sberger

    sberger Dream Baby Dream

    Not unless the series is planning on jumping ahead several years. It takes place in the early 70's.
     
  13. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Eh, there are so many more interesting stories to be told about that era than pimps and prostitutes. For instance, porn films could get away with showing hardcore sex if it had "redeeming social value"...so there were people with masters degrees and doctorates slumming by writing learned verbiage for films and magazines about the social and political ramifications of the acts presented on the screen, or presenting it as educational material for married couples.
     
  14. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    I think that's actually the plan.
     
  15. Dayfold

    Dayfold Forum Resident

    I did a little cheer when I realised it was 'Omar' in the van.
     
  16. Dayfold

    Dayfold Forum Resident

    Sounds like a dull premise for a show to me.
     
  17. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    It's more interesting than a show where every single male involved in the production or consumption of porn is a fat, sweaty perv. That was the amazing thing about Boogie Nights, that this was a family. A dysfunctional one, granted, but a family never the less. I binge watched the show and it is annoyingly moralistic.

    Again, watch some interviews with porn actresses of that era - Georgina Spelvin, Veronica Hart, Annie Sprinkle, Candida Royale - and get their side. I really do think a series that showed what it was like would be more entertaining.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2017
  18. Dayfold

    Dayfold Forum Resident

    I'm struggling to understand where you're coming from with your comments about this show. You seem to have been on a downer about it from the beginning because it's not depicting the fun-time porn industry that you think it should. I've just watched the first four episodes and there are only a handful of scenes that make any reference to the nascent porn industry; so far the story has been predominantly about street-life prostitution. I agree, Boogie Nights was a great film but what has it got to do with this show?
     
  19. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Because it's both lurid and moralistic. Nobody can have sex for money without suffering for it in some way. It's right out of the most fevered imaginings of a tent revival preacher, but they want to have it both ways by showing naked people.
     
  20. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    Gotta say Chris, I'm in agreement with Dayfold. You've done nothing but rag on this show since it's premiered. Going on and on about yr utopian experiences with yr porn star friends. When I don't like a show I might say something negative ONCE, and than I move on, why would I want to waste my time consistently coming back to a thread just to crap all over it? Don't you find it a bore? I know I do.
     
  21. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

    Love the show. Question on the Curtis Mayfield theme: is this a remix? Listen to the echo on "We're all gonna go...go...go...go..." I've always heard that echo much sloppier, as "gonna go...gonna go...gonna go..." I prefer the show version.
     
  22. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    that's what a lot of the last two episodes have been about
     
  23. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Watched episode 3 last night which Franco directed and thought it the weakest of the first 3. Fell into the trap of each scene lasting 30 seconds then cutting which drives me. I hope that doesn’t continue for the rest of the run.
     
  24. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    I didn't notice that the scenes were quite that short, but it is a signature of these David Simon series that there are lots and lots of very short unrelated scenes in every episode in order to move the many separate plot lines along. That's been the case in Deuce as it was in Treme and The Wire.
     
    GentleSenator and chacha like this.
  25. Yeaha good dozen plus Years before HIV kicked in.
     
    marcb and gary191265 like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine