Films

[Otto]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ghetta Life" <ghetta_outta at hotmail.com>
To: <malignd at yahoo.com>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: Films


>
> >From: Malignd <malignd at yahoo.com>
> >
> >Easy Rider has many moments of Peter Fonda saying (straight-faced) things
> >like "he's just doing his own thing in his own time," or "I'm getting my
> >thing together."
>
> They (writers, directors & actors) were young and living in a time and
> culture where such discourse was normal.  Criticizing the dialog in Easy
> Rider from a perspective over 30 years later is unfair.  At the time it
> broke new ground in film making, even if it now seems trite.  It still
> deserves respect.
>
> Ghetta
>

I mostly agree to you in this, Ghetta, but I also partly share Malignd's
reservations about "Easy Rider" judged from today's point of view. I've seen
the movie "again" about ten years ago and really have wondered what had made
it so special (not only for me) in the seventies. What I've kept in mind
from the second time was Fonda's "We blew it!" which has proven to me that
parts of the "movement" have been self-critical of selfishness and greed
from an early stage on. The second time I saw it I liked the "unhappy"
ending -- nothing good can come out of a story beginning with a big cocaine
deal. Listen to the lyrics of "The Pusher"* the movie starts with.

But now is the time of the DVD, and everythings easily and cheaply to get
just around the corner. Maybe I should watch it again. I've seen "Woodstock"
on DVD recently. Nice. But they're all really "cultural artefacts" now,
still worth being collected in public libraries and private collections.

Otto

*by the way -- great American music on that cd, Dave. Not one weak song. I
still prefer it to France Gall as I did back then:
http://www.radiobremen.de/tv/beatclub/