MovieChat Forums > This Sporting Life (1963) Discussion > How about the fact that this movie is ju...

How about the fact that this movie is just WAYYY TOO LONG???

posted 12 years ago by BG43214
5 replies | jump to latest

Saw it when it first came out and kind of liked it; just was not sure....Now seeing it again on TCM I realize it's just plain TOO DARN LONG....

It should not have taken all that time to tell this basically simple story....I suspect that the director just wanted to make sure everyone would know it was HIS movie and that he could damn well what he pleased, which is often the case with young, new directors!!

And I'm a little pissed at the so-called 'homeoerotic' undertones...was "Dad" a repressed older gay man? or what?

I think too many people, esp. here in the USA, tend to make every little thing 'gay' when it may not be that way at all..

and yes, I did enjoy the 'butt shots'......which at the time was rather startling for us American audiences!!! But it did add some 'authenticity' to the locker room scenes, unlike our manicured, towel-wearing only guys in locker room scenes that we have in our films......although in recent years they are starting to show a little more skin!!!

So all in all, I'd like to have this film and some editing equipment, and I bet you within a month I could have a nice, tight, wonderful movie!! and not waste so much of an audience's time!!! lol

And I did see a little bit of the 'Brando" influence, but you can't blame Harris or the director for that; perhaps they both felt it was just the way his character acted; he was a sports star, after all; how did you expect him to act? like an accountant, or the mailman??????????

[–] nephihaha 12 years ago

"And I did see a little bit of the 'Brando" influence, but you can't blame Harris or the director for that; perhaps they both felt it was just the way his character acted; he was a sports star, after all; how did you expect him to act? like an accountant, or the mailman?????????? "

There was a clip of a British interview of Harris on BBC4 recently. He was discussing Brando. Basically the upshot was that while Harris admired Brando greatly as an actor, he couldn't stand him personally. At one point in the interview, he parodies Brando's acting style, it's hilarious!

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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!

[–] Clemencedane 12 years ago

I sometimes found myself wondering how Richard Burton would have played it. It seems almost a companion piece to Look Back in Anger.

I don't think the homoeroticism was imagined. It wasn't a big part of the film, but it was there. In a way, I was thinking how much less uptight straight men were then that they could wrestle in the tub and not even worry anyone would think they were gay. Men could be physical with each other without that crossing their minds. Now to me it seems like straight young men are paranoid about even the slightest contact with other men, let alone wrestling naked in the tub.

[–] derekbd1966 11 years ago

Saying this movie is too long is NOT a fact it's your opinion.

The film is what it is, IMO neither too long or too short. Almost perfect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Derekbd

[–] karnevilelp 9 years ago

I watched this last night, it has the same problem that Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man! does for me: scenes go on way too long, there's stuff that's needlessly repeated --look, I got it the first two times that Harris flops on a bed looking angry and lost, let's move on-- and in this movie, the scenes in the dance hall and the pubs drag on. It could easily have lost 30 minutes and not been any worse for it. Plus, I got really tired of Harris' Brando-in-A Streetcar Named Desire imitations, he's a better actor than that, no need to so blatantly copy.

As for the gay subtext that so annoys the OP, Lindsay Anderson was a closeted homosexual who fell in love with Richard Harris (and later Malcolm McDowell, who he directed in 3 movies), why not have him splash around in a bath?  I never got the idea that Dad was gay, just a lonely old man who wanted some reflected glory. The creepy team executive who put his hand on his knee in the car, that's filmed and edited to make it obvious that he's hitting on him. Gosh! Gay or bisexual men who hang around hot straight guys, why I never! Oh wait..........

I gave this a 6/10, mainly for the rugby scenes, of which there were far too few of.

[–] 9 years ago

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