Younger generation
I love this movie and I was born in '91. I think it should be re-released for a younger generation. Some people are really missing out.
"Stay. Stay with me."
-Daredevil
I totally agree.
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MovieChat Forums > The Greatest Show on Earth Discussion > Younger generation
Speaking of "Younger Generation"...Any reason a 6-year-old couldn't watch this? I recorded it last week and we planned to watch it tonight, but my online guide (though calling it "family-friendly") mentions a killer clown? Would like to know more about this bit! Thank you!
"Good night, Vienna, city of a million something-or-others..."
All right, we watched it last night. The only part I would say was not good for a kid to see is when the car is on the train tracks and the second train hits it. Though my son was not paying enough attention to the early parts of the movie, and he was very confused when the cop put the cuffs on Buttons. So I tried to explain it, but I think he was still baffled.
"Good night, Vienna, city of a million something-or-others..."
***SPOILER WARNING***
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The 'Killer Clown' was Buttons, a character portrayed by a then unknown actor named James Stewart. He was a former doctor on the lam from the police for euthenating a termanlly-ill patient, and was wanted for murder. He joined the Big Top and became Buttons the Clown, but never took off his make for fear of being recognized. We was later exonerated of the charges.
Whaaaaatttt? Buttons was "..portrayed by a then unknown actor named James Stewart"??? Sorry, bigdas, but by the time "The Greatest Show on Earth" came along, Stewart had over FORTY films under his belt ... including some little things like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "The Shop Around the Corner," "The Philadelphia Story," "It's A Wonderful Life," Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope," "Winchester '73," and "Harvey."
You *do* know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings, yes?
You *do* know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings, yes?
Bwahaha! Greatest line ever!
"Hello, Melchett! Still worshipping God? Last I heard, he'd started worshipping ME!" share
You need a history lesson on James Stewart......
shareMonkey, you said a mouth full. Great movies are like great books and great plays. Just because it's old doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot to offer.
Long life and Peace.
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I'm 23 and I love this movie. I find some of the parade scenes and circus acts a bit too long, but the moments that are more character based are really great. I discovered this movie when it was aired in the UK on channel 5 one Sunday afternoon...I think the special effects used in the train crash scene are really impressive for the era that the movie was made it.
shareAlthough this is frequently dismissed, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH actually still plays quite well-many younger people just aren't as familiar with the circus as generations past and seeing it up close in this film is quite impressive. Interestingly, I think the biggest reason this film gets unfairly trashed so much is because A)it won a Best Picture oscar in a year that there were other, more worthy contenders (which is not uncommon), and B) it was directed by DeMille, who (like Spielberg) today, was so astronomically successful in everything he did it builds up alot of resentment from those who don't experience that kind of hard work and payoff.
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I think the young kids of today should watch this type of film - pure notsalgia for us oldens though
shareJames Stewart was not unknown in 1952! And Buttons wasn't exonerated either was he?
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Poor younger generation. The Greatest Show on Earth is terrible not because it a circus picture but because of the corny script, strange boring, cliched characters ( Stewart's Buttons is the exception) and general awfulness of the whole enterprise. I have seen it recently and still hate it. High Noon,however, is as tense and complex as ever.
shareThis movie is a great movie!!! that is all i have to say about that.
btw: High noon sucks.
I'm tired of living, and scared of dying.
Seeing Lou Jacobs and Emmett Kelly make this a jewel along with the rest of the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Baily troop. Lou and Emmett were the clown's clown. They even showed Lou coming out in that tiny car he had and no one could fijure out how he got into it and out of it. Lou had very elastic joints.
shareYoung people would find it too slow.
shareI thought it was corny and lame when I saw it on TV as a little kid in the 1970s. Watching it on blu-ray the other day, I might as well have been watching it for the first time, I remembered almost nothing from when I first saw it. It was still undeniably corny as hell, but I enjoyed it a lot more now as an old fart.
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