It was incredibly difficult to not to pick one of my favorite films for this project, such as A Clockwork Orange, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and Jaws. However, I went out of my comfort zone and picked a genre of film I’ve never become familiar with- Western. The 1974 film Blazing Saddles was a hilarious frontier/Wild West twist about road worker named Bart, played by Cleavon Little, becoming part of character Hedley Lamarr’s (Harvey Korman) evil plan to out-run the small town of Rock Ridge by appointing an African American sheriff to the massly single-minded small town of racist’s. With the plan to destroy the town to make way for a new railroad, Lamarr is convinced that they town would be so appalled that they wouldn’t stand having an …show more content…
There were a number of scenes where Bart would begin talking directly into the camera, as if he were having a conversation with the viewer. I enjoyed this interaction because it made me feel a lot more connected to his character and the current actions going on in these particular scenes, as if I was there. With this interaction, I was really able to grasp his charm and western personality that went along with his character that never seemed to break. During the final scene in the film, a big brawl between the townspeople and the bad guys, resulting in the having the group directly travel off of the set into the studios and streets of Warren Brothers. Though this scene was HILARIOUS, Little still did not break his performance as Bart and I found it to be quite believable. When picking this film, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect or if I would enjoy it. However, the film literally kept me laughing the whole time through and I found the overall theme to be especially clever. Cleavon Little character in Blazing Saddles was definitely a believable performance for me because he stayed true to his Wild West sheriff self from beginning to end, even during the scenes that traveled off the set through the Warren Brothers Studios. Little provided _, _ and _ to his character that made the film easily
Howard Hawkes' 1948 Red River will serve as our example of the western model.The opening credits rise literally out of the landscape, and we're told in the opening narration that this is a story of the landscape, in that it recounts the first major cattle drive along the Chisholm trail from Texas to Abeline, Kansas.In the 1st scene we see a vastly open prairie with a small wagon train almost lost in its expanse.We discover immediately that Dunson (John Wayne) is leaving the wagon train to strike out on his own.The signature trait of Dunson is the first of the western hero's trademarks: once he's made up his mind, "nothing anyone says or does can change it"; despite the entreaties of the wagon master and his putative girlfriend, Dunson sets out south with only his friend, Tom Groot (played by Walter Brennan).
The Stagecoach, a critically acclaimed film, which follows the adventures of a group of unlikely and unfortunate passengers escaping from the brutality of Geronimo’s Apache warriors, established the precedent of the classic Western movie, containing crucial Western archetypical elements such as Ringo the Kid that has hardly changed today. Furthermore, Stagecoach espoused social issues of the time by including passengers of varied social status and standing and emphasizing on such interactions that cross the rigidly defined and impermeable social divides at the time. The iconic movie was produced during the transition between silent films and films with spoken dialogue, and the remnants of the former film style are conspicuous throughout the film. Although explicit and spoken plot was crucial for the storyline, non-verbal communication offered implicit cues to attentive audience members. Dallas was coerced onto the stagecoach, shamed and disgraced as a prostitute, which immediately put her underneath the likes of Ms. Mallory.
...the best for me was the use of voice. The way Miles used it made me see right into the character. When a person talks you can understand a lot about them. Where they grew up what kind of education they have acquired and what kind of family life they might have had. What didn't work for me was the emotional truth. I had a hard time believing that Seymour may or may not of had a hard life. A person who may have been out cast from social situations would not act out like Seymour did. Although it does not take any thought to murder someone a plant would have a hard time changing my value system in order for it to survive. Seymour would or should have felt less at ease with himself after the first victim was feed to the plant. The performance as a whole was good and I would like to see it again.
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
poster typically has the white cowboy large, presented front and center, with the antagonists and co-stars all behind him. An iconic western, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, has a poster picturing the white cowboy alone. Clint Eastwood stands there tall, stoic, and singular. Typical of most other westerns, the white cowboy is the center of attention. Here, however, there are two non-white figures presented: Bart, the Black cowboy, and a large Native American chief. This movie poster has the same style as other westerns with the color and layout, but is unique in the fact that a black man is presented where a white man would normally be dominating. Once again, this makes a statement about racial improvements. Previously having a black man at
In 1939 John Ford masterminded a classical western film by the name of Stagecoach. This film has the integrity of a fine work of art. Being that it could be considered a work of art, the impression left on a viewing audience could differ relying on the audience's demographics. However, it is conceivable to all audiences that Ford delivers a cast of characters that are built on stereotypes and perceptions conjured from 'B' westerns that preceded this film's time. Each character is introduced to the audience in a stereotypical genre, as the film progresses, these stereotypes are broken down and the characters become more humanized. This is apparent with a handful of characters being portrayed better than others. One can investigate each individual character to correlate such a pattern. The characters are, in no particular order: Curly, Hatfield, Gatewood, Peacock, the stagecoach driver, Dallas, Lady Mallory, and of course Ringo.
The Bad and The Beautiful (1952) and State and Main (2000) are films within films that unmask Hollywood Cinema as a dream factory and expose the grotesque, veneer hidden by the luxury of stars. The Bad and the Beautiful, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is a black and white film narrated in flashback form. The films theatrical nature requires more close-ups than wide-screen shots to capture the character’s psychological turmoil. For example, Fred and Jonathan’s car ride is captured in a close-up to signify their friendship; however their relationship deteriorates after Jonathan’s deceit. While the camera zooms out, Fred stands alone motionless. Here, Fred is captured from a distance at eye-level and he becomes ostracized by the film industry and
The authentic country twang of Frankie Laine in the title sequence gives Blazing Saddles the appearance of a classic Western, but within the first few minutes, the satirical nature of the film makes itself abundantly clear. The opening scene of Blazing Saddles communicates the setting and the character archetypes, both as they appear on the surface and as they will manifest throughout the film. Though the film explores this dynamic in greater depth later on, this scene establishes that the crafty underdog protagonist around which Westerns revolve is not one of the white men, and does not receive universal love and appreciation. “‘Black’ Bart,” central character and eventual
The humor in Blazing saddles dates back to the 70's type of satire that was used. The jokes that were made in blazing saddles would definitely be problematic in today's sensitive audience. Jokes for example calling people the N word for fun can cause issues today , while back in the 70's it was okay to say it all the time. Senseless humor like the sign that said "Knock on barb wire first to come in", was so ridiculous that it made it funny. One good example that showed how dated the humor was, is when Mr. Hedley wanted a way to get rid of the people of Rock Ridge. The conversation between Mr. Hedley and a railroad official had a funny joke that started off with "we'll kill the first born child of every household ow wait that's too Jewish".
The film Sunset Boulevard, presented in 1950 is a black and white film. The film is about Norma Desmond an old actress, who has issues accepting that she is becoming old. The main actor in the film is Gloria Swanson, who plays Norma Desmond, an older woman who believes she is still young. Desmond is not content with the fact that Hollywood has replaced her with younger actresses. The next actor Nancy Olson, plays Betty Schaffer who falls in love with Gillis despite being engaged to his friend. The third actor is William Holden who plays as Joe Gillis, who has financial problems and decides to turn himself into a gigolo to earn money. The dilemma with Joe is he does not want Betty to know about his job because he knows he might lose Betty as
Bernstein, Matthew. “The Classical Hollywood Western Par Excellence.” Film Analysis: A Norton Reader. Eds. Jeffrey Geiger and R.L. Rutsky. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2nd edition, 2013. 298-318.
... He really sold the part and did the part justice. Furthermore in the beginning of the flashback I had no idea who the main character was, but Christian developed the character subtly yet effectively.
The movie I chose to analyze for historical accuracy was War Horse. This movie was set in the First World War, starting in Britain but the story also explored France and Germany during this time period as well. Three scenes will be analyzed: the trench warfare scene between the British and the Germans, the scene where the British soldiers were gassed, and the scene where the British were getting patched up and nursed. War Horse does well to stick to the historical accuracy of what happened during the First World War due to the fact that the three scenes that I have chosen to analyze are not embellished and are close to what really happened.
1980. Warner Bros. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Music by Wendy Carlos and Rcachel Elkind. Cinematography by John Alcott. Editing by Ray Lovejoy. With Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd.
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’