Wednesday, December 24, 1975

Battleship Potemkin released 50 years ago today

Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin)

Released: December 24, 1925

Studio: Mosfilm

Genre: silent/foreign

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: Sergei M. Eisenstein

Screenwriting: Nina Agadzhanova

Starring: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy, Grigoriy Aleksandrov

Review:

Battleship Potemkin is “unabashed socialist propaganda” ^CL “and looking back after more than 70 years there’s something cold, academic, even manipulative about the meticulous compositions, schematic characterizations and complex choreography of massed movement.” ^T95

However, it stands as “a double-barreled Soviet classic” ^PM that “remains a timeless blueprint for modern technique.” ^PM Director Sergei Eisenstein pioneered editing and narrative devices, such as montages, that have become “pillars of cinema.” ^CL

It is “basically…one of the first action movies of all time,” ^CL re-creating, “in documentary style…the key events of the failed 1905 Kronstadt revolution against Tsarist oppression.” ^T95 Soldiers on the Battleship Potemkin “revolted against their officers who expected the men to eat spoiled food.” ^CL The people then followed suit, fighting back against the government forces. “Unlike many staples of film history classes, this one has the power to grip any audience.” ^LM

Critic Leonard Maltin goes so far as to describe the scene on the Odessa Steps “possibly the most famous movie scene of all time.” ^LM While that’s a big claim, director Brian De Palma liked the scene enough to replicate it in his 1987 movie The Untouchables.

Sources:

^CL Collider.com (1/7/2021). “100 Essential Movies Every Serious Film Fan Should See” by Matt Goldberg
^LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century”
^PM Premiere Magazine (Oct. 1998). “100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made”
^T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films”

Accolades:

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Eras:

Oscars:

Wins: NA (pre-Oscars)

Nominations: NA (pre-Oscars)

Hall of Fames:

Lists:

Experts’ Picks:

Genre Lists:

First posted 5/31/2025.

Wednesday, November 19, 1975

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest released

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Released: November 19, 1975

Studio: United Artists

Genre: drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 112.00 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 503.03 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Milos Forman

Screenwriting: Bo Goldman, Lawrence Hauben

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif, Will Sampson, Michael Berryman

Review:

The story, based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey, is “a compelling, socially-conscious portrait of mental institution patients pitted against a tyrannical, sinister head nurse.” ^FS Jack Nicholson is Randle P. McMurphy, “a free-spirited, ebullient, rebellious convict [who] feigns insanity to avoid a jail sentence” ^FS for statutory rape.

He “sparks new life in the downtrodden inmates, giving them purpose and self-worth.” ^A07 “His heroic, crazed struggles against oppression, conformity and the manipulative, authoritarian nurse symbolize the rebellious ‘60s era.” ^FS However, he “must call on all his emotional resources to stay sane.” ^VD “He is taken down and pays the ultimate price for his messianic, outrageous non-conformity with a zombie-producing lobotomy. The strong and silent Indian (Sampson) that he has befriended relieves his pitiful misery.” ^FS

“Art and life entwined in this film…While a mental institution served as the foundation of the story, cast and crew worked with extras and supporting crew members who were actually patients at the Oregon State Mental Hospital.” ^MSN “One of the best films ever made, with endless classic scenes.” ^VD