100 Years and Counting: Remembering the Movies, September 10 - 16

I have a proposal to make, and one distinctly more amenable (I hope) than the one Jack Nicholson is about to offer above. Every week (or if the project proves too strenuous, once a month, though I like the idea of a weekly basis better), we take a trip through the annals of film history, peeking in at what's playing in multiplexes in 2000, movie palaces in 1940, nickelodeons in 1910. I will present a still, a summary, and a bit of history (when possible) on movies which made their debut this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 years in the past. The idea is that you'll offer your own thoughts, reflections, memories, or other miscellaneous musings on the movies presented (hopefully someone whose experience stretches further back than the average blogger's will occasionally make an appearance). And that, beyond that, you'll just enjoy the stroll down memory lane.

The inspiration for this endeavor comes from an NPR show on which our host guides us through a century of music, playing the hit singles from the past in ten-year increments. I can't offer the direct experience of that radio program - films are not as readily available as records. And even if I could, the movies would be too long to render such an exercise feasible. Instead, wherever possible (and, this week at least, it proved surprisingly doable) I'll link to a trailer, clip, or other video artifact, so that it isn't all talk. This way you can get a bit of the flavor of the moment, a snapshot of cinema history so to speak. I will also include a snippet from a contemporaneous critical assessment. In the end, I'd love to hear from anyone who's seen these films - particularly the more obscure ones. I've only caught two of this week's entries so I'm all ears.

Most importantly, right now anyway, I'd like to hear from you on the project itself. Are you interested? Is this something you'd like to see more of? I don't plan on continuing the series unless it seems worthwhile, so if you like the idea, speak up (lurkers included)! Now excuse me while I rev up the DeLorean...

The Naked Spur

I don't have too much to say about The Naked Spur, given that a good deal of my reflections have already been summed up quite succinctly by Jonathan Rosenbaum - even to the point of quoting, as I had planned to, the prospector 's line (confusedly turning his shotgun from person to person: "It's gettin' so I don't know which way to point this no more!") as an appropriate summation of the film's morally ambiguous ethos. Ah, the ignominy of being scooped by a published critic (years in advance, no less!) However, I really wanted an excuse to use this picture on my blog, a picture which I found in a google search, saved with reservations (thinking well, I guess it'll work), and now somehow can't get enough of it. Something about the surprising richness of a primarily brown palette, I suppose. Though the print I saw televised was poorly maintained - discolored, faded, and wildly unbalanced from frame to frame - Anthony Mann's vision still came across.