Classic
Just an absolute classic of the 60's, with so many "names" in it. Of course, seeing the tragic Elizabeth Hartman, is the clincher to declaring this movie as one of the 60's best.
shareCouldn't agree more, a true gem. Too bad it remains so relatively obscure.
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>>>Go die.>>>
I did see a broadcast of this movie back in 1994 on the A&E channel (back before it became nothing but a repository of reality TV) and before that, on a local TV station out of Buffalo, New York that's now a Fox network affiliate.
share"Arts & Entertainment" ha ha ha ha ha!
shareI saw this again for maybe the fifth time or so, on TCM yesterday, and, man, do I love this film. The film is dated, but I don't consider "dated" a criticism; it speaks of its time, and I like that very much.
Plus, I thought the filmmaking was marvelous and fresh. Say, for example, Barbara Darling's go-go dancing scene. The cinematography -- and the editing! -- of that scene *should* come off as sixties kitsch or camp... but it very much doesn't, because it's so well- (and excitingly-) executed. The sequence feels like Underground Film technique brought effectively, seductively to larger-scale filmmaking (altho, of course, this film was not exactly an epic, but, neither was it a rooftop shoot).
A really, really funny script, too.
The whole film is such a good-spirited and lively embodiment of a time when both film and youth society was going thru an awkward but quirky and expansive "phase" -- and celebrating it.
And, damn, that cast. (I've got to give top honors to Hartman, tho; I think she's just unforgettable in this.) What a cast, and, what, practically all of them are gone now? I can't be sad while I'm watching this film -- but, afterwards, I do admit that it stays with me, and then I start thinking about all these great actors dead, and it gets to me...
Matthew
Beautiful post, Matthew.
This is the 1st time I've seen it. Even though it is "dated", it feels fresh, light, quirky & very Sixties. Shares elements of The Graduate & Harold and Maude. An amazing cast and an early FFC. Great scenes of Central Park, smutty Times Square & Greenwich Village.
bon,
Thanx! Yeah, it's a great "New York" movie (not *quite* up there with The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, but, then, what is?) -- at least to the eyes of an outsider. As someone who's never been to NY, and now will never know the "true" Times Square (R.I.P.), I'm so grateful that some film managed to capture it in all its squalid glory.
Peter Kastner was one of the many who auditioned for the lead in The Graduate, and, under the strict condition that Bud Cort had never been born, he might've made an interesting Harold!
Matthew
Matthew,
I love the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. IMO, Midnight Cowboy gives a true depiction of how disgusting old Times Square was. I don't like Times Sq today, it's too commercial, but at least I don't feel like I need a tetanus shot just to walk thru it!
For a light film, YABBN has a lot of depth: The smart, fast script, the quirky characters & eminent the cast, plus, of course FFC.
Don't blame you for saying that. :)
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