BAB Firsts (Doug's 1st 5X to Love Post): 5 Films to Love

This post was originally published on July 27 2009

I'd like to start a revolving series of posts where Karen and I shoot your way our opinions of multi-media pop culture. Today I'll start with five movies I really, really like -- they won't necessarily be my "top 5 of all time" or anything like that. But these are movies I'll stop and watch when I see them on the telly, or even fire up the DVD player with them on occasion. So, in no particular order...

1. Planet of the Apes, 1968.

I've previously discussed not only this film, but the entire franchise (though not in exhaustive detail -- you can see my musings here: http://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/2009/06/get-your-hands-off-me-you-damned-dirty.html). As I commented at the end of the aforementioned post, I caught a few of these films last weekend on the Fox Movie Channel; I also spied the Tim Burton remake on FX just last evening. I started to watch it, and while there is much to love about it (time has been kind in regard to special effects, make-up, etc.), the general story and execution just doesn't do it for me. I think, although grossly different from Pierre Boulle's novel, that the folks at 20th Century Fox created a classic, a masterpiece, back in '68. Heston's melodramatics, Roddy McDowell's coolness, and the emotional acting of Kim Hunter really carry the story -- a morality play in a time when apocalypse in one form or another was (or maybe should have been) on the movie-going public's minds. As I said earlier, Planet of the Apes had a tremendous sense of adventure and even scariness for me as a child that is still there, but to which has been added a sense of appreciation for the larger stereotypes, social mores, and general ecological warnings that have jumped to meet my adult mind.

2. Logan's Run, 1976.

I think I first saw this on network television in the late '70's, although it could have been a bit earlier on HBO. I've only seen the film all the way through once, but have often caught bits and pieces on the various cable movie channels. What I remember is that sense of futuristic wonder at the cityscape and the terror of the premise that everyone had to die at the age of 30. When I first saw the movie, that didn't seem so bad; at the ripe old age of 43, however...

I recall that Michael York as Logan-5 was just studly enough to carry his part, and his range of emotions was strong. Jenny Agutter was of course beautiful as the VERY scantily-clad Jessica-6, as was Farrah Fawcett (lord, how I loved Charlie's Angels!!) as Holly. The scenes in Washington DC evoked the ending of Planet of the Apes, and further cemented in my mind that we all could be going to hell sooner than later.

3. Jaws, 1975

Wow. I don't even care to swim all that much and this movie scared me to death. Perhaps my lasting memory of the movie comes from a trip to Florida when I was 12; trust me, I didn't venture too far out into the ocean! As the film was huge that summer of '75, the various companies that bring book orders into the schools filled it up with books about sharks, shark attacks, ocean adventures, etc. I bought a book called Sharks: Attacks on Man. I read it until the pages came out. I recall that there were some photos in that book, mostly of chewed-up surfboards and people with mouth-shaped stitches on their sides and appendages -- ugh...

Steven Spielberg just did a fantastic job with this film. The characterization is wonderful, and the suspense created by the score is virtually without peer. Think how long it is until you see the shark -- but you know, you just know that it is a beast to be reckoned with. Spielberg got more out of a few notes on a piano... The film also has its memorable one-liners, and my favorite is Martin Brody's subtle announcement that, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

4. The Empire Strikes Back, 1980.

A few weeks ago Karen wrote of her love of Star Trek. For whatever reason, and I don't have a good excuse to offer, I never got into Star Trek. I can't figure out why -- it was syndicated on television when I was a kid, and while I loved reruns of Batman, Wild Wild West, and the various Japanese imports like Ultra Man and Space Giants, I never watched too much Star Trek. However, when Star Wars Episode Four: A New Hope came out I was hooked!!

The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite in the 6-film Star Wars franchise. From the opening scene with the AT-AT Walkers to the ending scenes on the Cloud City, the film is just a whirlwind of amazing sets, new machines and characters, and growing characterization. George Lucas really made the Star Wars Universe with this film. He showed that his story was an incredibly dense tale that really did occupy a galaxy far, far away. The film ended with a feeling of darkness that left this young viewer yearning for the next installment. Three years would be a long time to wait!

Just as a last note -- I am one who really didn't care for the additional footage that Lucas added to his first trilogy of films when they first were pressed onto DVDs. I felt in some way that it was unfair to those who'd seen the movies at the theater, and although they were released theatrically in their updated versions, it still just smacked of money-grubbing. They should have left it alone -- it certainly wasn't broke!

5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the "funnest" films I've ever seen! The chemistry between Paul Newman and Robert Redford is out of sight -- the banter, the physical acting, their facial expressions are just perfect. I know I've heard, as you perhaps have as well, that other actors at one time considered included Steve McQueen and Jack Lemmon. I think they made the right choices.

I think my favorite scene in the film is the battle to see who will become leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang -- just classic Newman! Of course the last scene is great, too -- that on-screen chemistry lasted 'til the end.

So that's five for now -- and I haven't even gotten to Rollerball, Animal House, or Caddyshack!

Discuss: Steven Spielberg

Karen: What's your opinion of this prolific film-maker?

Karen: Personally, I love Jaws, and I really liked his TV movie, Duel, long before I even knew who Spielberg was. But I felt Close Encounters started well and copped out at the end, and ET was pure schmaltz. He seems to lean towards saccharine endings. But then, I can't deny his brilliance as a story teller, either. What do you think? Are you a fan? Or is he on your "no watch" list?

Weird Wednesdays: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

“It’s the same kind of story
That seems to come down from long ago
Two friends having coffee together
When something flies by their window
It might be on that lawn
Which is wide, at least half of a playing field
Because there’s no explaining what your imagination
Can make you see and feel”

“Hypnotized” by Fleetwood Mac

Although the term “flying saucer” was coined back in 1947, the 1970s were a booming time of UFO activity –at least, a lot of people were seeing strange things in the sky. Maybe because so many social mores were easing, people may have felt more inclined to report such unusual experiences. A person wasn’t automatically assumed to be a drunk or crazy because they claimed to have seen a flying saucer. Certainly, the subject of UFOs, ancient astronauts, and even encounters with alien beings had become part of the popular culture. It was not unusual to see aliens depicted in comic books, television shows, and movies.

Of all the 1970s media depictions of UFOs and alien beings, certainly the most prominent would have been the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind by film-maker Steven Spielberg. This big-budget movie, released in 1977 – the same year as Star Wars – was accurate in many details regarding supposed sightings of UFOs. It approached the subject with two storylines that eventually intertwined, one about investigators seeking out clues to the UFO mystery, and the other about ordinary people whose sightings have dramatically altered their lives. Spielberg was nominated for Best Director by the Academy Awards for the film, and it did win the award for Best Cinematography.

The early encounters with the UFOs are almost directly pulled from the news reports of the day. When lineman Roy Neary (played by Richard Dreyfuss) encounters a multi-colored craft at a dark, deserted railroad crossing, his truck’s engine dies, and nearby metal mailboxes begin to shudder. Suddenly, his entire cab seems to experience a moment of zero gravity, as objects go flying about! He looks out of his window right into the brilliant light flooding the area, and later develops a sunburn. But as soon as the UFO departs, all returns to normal, and his engine re-starts.

This sort of scene was described by many people who claimed to have encounters with UFOs, so Spielberg (who also wrote the film) obviously did his homework. His attention to detail is also evident in the way the UFOs are presented: they are of varying shapes and sizes, all with multiple colored lights, and capable of performing amazing aerial acrobatics. Again, this is all consistent with eyewitness accounts of the time.

But the film falters at the end, when the aliens make contact with a group of government scientists. As is typical with so many Spielberg films, we get a very saccharine happy ending slapped on. The aliens come down, return people they’d kidnapped (in some cases, decades prior), and then take on board their ship a group of willing volunteers. The head alien smiles at everyone and all is sweetness and light.


This is dramatically different than most reports of alien encounters up to that time. Possibly the most famous early 70s encounter was that of Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker in Pascagoula, Mississippi in 1973. The two men were fishing one evening when they claimed that a UFO set down near the river and three creatures emerged. The beings seemed to glide rather than walk, and they had a distinctly inhuman appearance. Hickson claimed that they were given some sort of medical exam on the ship and then released (for more info on the case, see the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascagoula_Abduction).

The real take home point of this is that whatever these men think happened to them, it terrified them. It was not a happy experience! The same can be said for most people who claimed to meet aliens. But Spielberg can’t help himself – he has to give us that happy ending, no matter what. This is, after all, the man who gave us the drippy E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Decades later, he would make a very different film about aliens: a remake of the classic War of the Worlds. But even with this film, with its invading aliens and massive destruction, our hero at the end returns home to find that his missing son is alive and well, despite disappearing in the middle of a warzone!

Close Encounters is an interesting film, well worth seeing if you have an interest in the UFO phenomenon. Just ignore the sweet little aliens at the end!