Trivia note - Ebert review??
Critic Roger Ebert praised the film tremendously, selecting it as one of his 10 best films of 1976.
This alleged review isn't on Ebert's web site - does it exist? share
Ebert praised the movie on his TV show. Click here to see it on Rene Daalder's site - http://projects.renedaalder.com/#41654/Massacre-at-Central-High.
Like you, I checked his web page but found no review of it. My guess is that he's never written an article on the movie. Keep in mind that while it did become a cult classic, it did not get wide theatrical distribution.
Now that I'm a film maker myself, I want very much to get in on the remake that's been mentioned on here!
Also, while I've never seen an Ebert review of MACH, I have found some very interesting writings of the movie, which is a great testament to the movie being much better than its title. Long before seeing the movie, I was surprised to see that a movie with such a title actually got a lot of good reviews.
My opinions of Ebert's reviews have varied widely over the years but I almost always enojy reading his reviews, even when I disagree with them. And though he and I both like MACH, I find it interesting that I've never heard a similar interpretation of the movie to his. Most people, such as me, consider it to be a political statement.
Thanks for the link. Ebert obviously liked the film more than I did.
shareYou're very welcome for the link. Of those who see MACH, more like it than not, and I like it very much. But I know it's not a movie for everyone. Its dark and generally pessimistic tone don't make for pleasant watching. And the technical deficiences are pretty obvious. And not all of the performances are stellar, though I think Derrel Maury and Andrew Stevens are both very good and Derrel's unusual facial features make him even more effective in his role.
Some people, though, dislike the movie for the wrong reasons. They make the mistake of taking it too literally and thus miss the point. If you take the movie literally, the movie is ridiculous, but if you look at it symobically, it's very intellectual.
I preferred Heathers ... much more entertaining.
share"Heathers" is better, but I do like this.
As for Ebert, he's kind of weird guy. He's kind of an uptight, mainstream critic like his late partner Gene Siskel, but then he has some interesting idiosyncratic opinions on some movies. For instance, he really liked this movie, the original "Halloween", and "Last House on the Left"(?!). Yet he was (originally) offended by "Night of the Living Dead", and he and Siskel launched this big misguided campaign in the early 80's against "Halloween" imitators like "Friday, the 13th" and "Last House" imitators like "I Spit on your Grave" (ironically, those two actually made THAT repellent sleazefest famous).
The whole idea was these movies were supposedly an attack on "liberated women" or something. I just thought those movies were trying to discourage teenagers from having sex (and from my memories of being a teenager in the 80's, it didn't really seem to have worked anyway).
Anyway, Ebert actually came and spoke in a film noir class I took in college, and he still comes every year to the World Affairs Conference at my alma mater. He had throat cancer and has to use a computer to talk now. He's definitely a flaming hypocrite, but I've kinda grown to like the guy.
And of course Ebert also wrote the script for several movies by softcore director Russ Meyer.
shareI remember the show where Siskel and Ebert focused on these films. They said these films focused more on punishing liberated women more than teen men AND women from having sex. They couldn't have known this but during that broadcast, a commercial was shown for just that kind of film!
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
http://siskelandebert.org/video/WWRX85B78W48/Roger-Ebert%E2%80%99s-Rev iew-of-Massacre-At-Central-High
shareIt seems that NY Times critic Vincent Canby saw the film during a 1980 re-release and listed it as one of his 20 favorite films for that year. Perhaps someone got him mixed up with Ebert?
shareEbert openly listed "Massacre at Central High" as one of his so-called Guilty Pleasures so no one got him mixed up with Vincent Canby. Here's the Sneak Previews episode where Roger commends the movie (jump to the 14:20 mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXOxhyO_k04
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