Showing posts with label top 100 movies all time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top 100 movies all time. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Today in Movie History (1969): The Wild Bunch released

The Wild Bunch


Released: June 18, 1969


Studio: Warner Bros.


Genre: western/action


Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 11.0 Worldwide: ?


Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: 35.26

Directing: Sam Peckinpah


Screenwriting: Walon Green, Sam Peckinpah, Roy N. Sickner


Starring: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien



Review:

“For the first half-century of cinema’s existence, the Western was the medium’s defining genre, in America at least. But hundreds of movies — plus primetime television series like Bonanza and Gunsmoke – wore it out, until Sam Peckinpah gave things a New Hollywood kick.” VY

“Peckinpah completely rewrites John Ford’s Western mythology – by looking at the passing of the Old West from the point of view of the marginalized outlaws rather than the law-abiding settlers.” T95 “Acting, dialogue, direction, score, photography, and especially editing are world class; an authentic American classic.” LM

“All-stars Ernest Borgnine, William Holden, and Robert Ryan deliver stunning performances as outlaws past their prime” ST who still cling “to codes of honor, loyalty, and courage.” FS They “want to pull one final heist before retiring” A98 but meet their demise when they are attacked by “relentless bounty hunters…at the US-Mexico border in 1913.” A07

“The film about men trying to contend with the ever-evolving world around them caused a stir for its raw depictions of survival and what was then considered gratuitous violence.” ST It “is a savagely beautiful spectacle, Lucien Ballard’s superb cinematography complementing Peckinpah’s darkly elegiac vision.” T95 It has been hailed as “one of the best films ever made and instrumental in its introduction of slow-motion violence.” VD It “became Peckinpah’s calling card after the success of this Western masterpiece.” A07 That and “Lou Lombardo’s editing are considered milestones in the Western genre.” A98


Sources:

Awards/Honors/Lists:


Oscars:

Wins: 0

Nominations: 2 (Best Story and Screenplay, Best Original Score)


Dave’s Movie Database Lists:


Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists:


Awards:


Other Lists/Honors:


Experts’ Picks:


First posted 2/25/2025.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Today in Movies (1963): 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo)

8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo)


Released: January 2, 1963


Studio: Cineriz (Italy), Columbia Films S.A. (France)


Genre: comedy/foreign


Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 0.098 Worldwide: 0.201


Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: -- Worldwide: 0.68

Directing: Federico Fellini


Screenwriting: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, Brunello Rondi


Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Rossela Falk, Barbara Steele



Review:

“After achieving international acclaim with increasingly expressionistic portraits of the world as he saw it — from the simple circus performers of “La Strada” to the decadent Roman nightlife of “La Dolce Vita” — Italian maestro Federico Fellini lost confidence in his capacity to create. Instead of giving up, he channeled that artistic despair into his most uninhibited triumph: a freewheeling and shamelessly autobiographical movie about a philandering filmmaker’s crippling case of directile dysfunction, full to bursting with past mistresses, childhood memories and psychoanalytic symbology. From the opening anxiety dream, in which Marcello Mastroianni (as Fellini’s self-flattering/flagellating stand-in) claws his way out of a traffic jam, to the climactic rondelet around the rocket set, the blocked director found surrealistic inspiration in his subconscious.” VY


Sources:

Awards/Honors/Lists:


Oscars:

Wins: 2 (Best Foreign Language Film, Best Costume Design)

Nominations: 5 (Best Director, Best Writing, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration)


Dave’s Movie Database Lists:


Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists:


Awards:


Other Lists/Honors:


Experts’ Picks:


First posted 2/24/2025.