masterpiece


Losey's The Go-Between is one of the greatest films ever made. Heartbreaking story, top notch performances by everybody, specially Bates and Guard, wonderful score by Michel Legrand, challenging script by Harold Pinter. It won the Palme d'or at the Cannes film festival in 1971. It is a shame this movie isn't on DVD. It needs to be highly reevaluated.

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Guard does this film. Incredible acting from such a young boy.

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Hugs...

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I totaly agree. I am suprised at the sad, and very bad films that are put to DVD. This is one of the best films. I saw it as a child and it has stuck in my mind all these years. I did see it at a film festival in New York and people were looking to buy it on DVD and could only find old worn VHS copies on Ebay for a stupid amount of money. I bid on a Still in wraping VHS and it went of over $100.00. I lost the bid!

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I remember it, very good and touching film.

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I said to someone yesterday that this movie was Atonement.
But sincere. Agree?

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I agree. And I love Julie Christie.

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Nice. Thanks. And Julie Christie: Did any actrees have "it" more than her?
I don't think so.
She's "it".

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it's true "Atonement" bears a strong ressemblance to "The Go_between". But it didn't leave me on theverge of tears like the Losey film did.

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Losey really gets across the tears and joys of love. But yet he’s not credited for that. Not enough in my estimation. His last movie before he died or one that he was working on (from what I’ve heard) was going to be Patrick White’s VOSS an Epic romance; but true, like this movie. Grand book. He would have nailed it.

Also: You are the OSS:117 fan aren't you??!! Variety had a review about the sequel. Sounds just as funny if not better!

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For all of you who have claimed that this is one of the best films ever made you must realize that that statement positions you in one of the smallest minorities imaginable. Got anything to back up yr statements??

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[deleted]

Werner_is_sober_now-

Most people have no thoughts. Don't worry about them. Thanks for sticking up for me, that's nice. And rare.

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What nonsense is this?

you must realize that that statement positions you in one of the smallest minorities imaginable.
And...? Who the hell cares? If I'm the only person in the world that thinks a film is among the greatest films ever made, my opinion is still perfectly legitimate.

Besides, you either underestimate the popularity of this film or your imagination seems to be extremely limited if you consider fans of this film among the "smallest minorities imaginable." Those who consider, say, Munchen-Berlin Wanderung or Limite or Der Kongress Tanzt or The Sun in a Net or Ingeborg Holm or Utamaro and His Women among the greatest ever made would be in a much smaller minority. That is to say, The Go-Between is relatively mainstream in comparison to those films (and those are relatively mainstream compared to certain other films, etc. etc. ad infinitum.) Incidentally, I do consider every single one of those films among the greatest ever made. In spite of the fact that that puts me in that dreaded group of a small minority!!!!1!!!!11!

I do love those who use a film's (perceived) obscurity to bludgeon those who give it acclaim - "This can't be a great film - it's obscure!" It takes a special sort of mind to express disbelief or astonishment that someone could like something that doesn't fit into the canon. People around the world have been making films for more than 100 years - it kind of doesn't seem too unlikely that some great films have unjustly fallen under the radar.

As for this specific film's reputation:

For the record, The Go-Between won what is arguably the most prestigious film prize in the world - the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'or. It's director, though not usually listed among the very greatest auteurs of the world, is regularly credited with directing several great films, including this one and The Servant. It also ranks on the lists of the 100 greatest British films put out by the BFI and Time Out, and the "greatest ever movies" lists put out by Leslie Halliwell, the New York Times, and the IMDb's own Classic Films Board. When it came out, it received very positive reviews from a wide array of critics from across the world.

I say that all not to prove that it's one of the greatest movies ever made - surely we all realize that such a statement is completely subjective - but merely to show that high opinions of it are hardly as uncommon as you seem to imagine. No, it's not as famous as 8 1/2 or The Third Man, but neither is it as obscure as you seem to think.

To put it another way, your perception of its obscurity does not match up to the reality of the situation. The group of those who consider it one of the greatest films is not as small as you think. (But even if it were... Once again, why does that matter?)
Got anything to back up yr statements??
Sure, but why do you think you deserve to hear them? Some people love it, and that's enough - it is possible to "back up" an opinion, but it's kind of silly to doubt the legitimacy of a stated opinion unless you have a good reason for doing so (and no, "not many people love it!" isn't a good reason.)

For the record, some of the elements of the film (which I watched shortly after finishing the book) that stood out to me:

-The score by Legrand
-the cinematography which perfectly captured the "fairy tale destroyed" and "paradise lost" nature of the story (a story which also reflects the changes occurring in the world during the film's setting at the very beginning of the twentieth century)
-the elegant script by the legendary playwright Harold Pinter that perfectly establishes and expounds upon the novel's central themes, including that of a young person trying to understand their place in society and the world and trying to operate in an adult world that they don't fully understand
-the understated yet vivid direction by Losey
-the universally great performances (including one of the great child performances)
-the resonance of the epilogue the reveals our inability to ever fully understand the full consequences of our actions - just as we can't fully understand all the implications of our present actions, we also can't fully understand when looking back at the "foreign country" of the past
-etc., etc.

What else would you like to know? Did you even make it this far, or are you still caught up in wonderment at the idea that I could possibly think that Der Kongress Tanzt is one of the greatest movies ever made? After all, my preference for it must put me in the smallest of all possible minorities!!!

I suppose on a clear day you can see the class struggle from here

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You are absolutely correct - an excellent film with excellent acting and beautiful scenery. It is of course now out on DVD, at any rate here in the UK. Dominic Guard acts the part so well (he can also be seen in PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK). I have no hesitation in giving this movie 9 marks out of 10.

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An Englishman Abroad (1983)

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A film I'd wanted and waited to see for years (missed the VHS, and there's no Region 1 DVD), until it finally turned up on Turner Classic Movies two or three years ago - to my great surprise, despite Christie, Bates and Leighton, I just didn't care much for it at all.

But I love the book and am currently re-reading it.

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."

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