Where are we going?
Filmphilia Exclusive
By: SCT
The plane has just departed and with it, our hearts. Darkness envelopes the airport. A man, sadly, watches as the woman he loves disappears into the night sky. He has just risked everything for her. A police captain approaches. They talk a bit. He will not press charges. And with that, one of the most memorable lines ever spoken is delivered, "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
We all of course, remember Casablanca, one of the greatest films ever made. While Humphrey Bogart spoke those last few words, I wonder if he realized the impact it would have on the medium? The year was 1942 and that movie fueled the fire caused by a magnificent film the year before, Citizen Kane, casting Hollywood deep into what I call the Golden Era, which began in 1939 with Gone With the Wind and ended in 1980 with Raging Bull. During that period, we were graced with films like The Grapes of Wrath, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Rio Bravo, Rebel Without a Cause, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Rear Window, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey The Graduate, Goldfinger, 8 1/2, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Taxi Driver, and that's only naming a few. These movies had magnificent, beautiful stories with rich and memorable dialogue.
Today, we are bombarded with adaptions, one liners, explosions, cliche love triangles, CGI, CGI, and more CGI. A movie can have a terrible story with plebeian dialogue just as long as the CGI is good and the explosions are big. Rarely, a film will shed those attributes.
Is this what the audience wants? Where are we going? What do you enjoy most about a movie? And are those characteristics still alive in today's cinema?
Is this what the audience wants? Where are we going? What do you enjoy most about a movie? And are those characteristics still alive in today's cinema?
