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11:03 AM Tue, Aug 28, 2007 | Permalink |
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 Robert Benton ruminates (DMN file: Mei-Chun Jau)
So last night I watched it for umpteenth time, keeping in mind the ways in which it changed the way we look at violence in the movies. As A.O. Scott argued in the New York Times a few weeks back, B&C paved the way for the mixture of savagery and humor that defines Quentin Tarantino's work; it was also the first big movie to show a bullet being fired and entering its victim in the same shot. (Of course, The Wild Bunch made this idea seem quaint just two years later). But I kept coming back to something Benton told me. What he remembers as revolutionary and unnerving is not the violence so much as the "Just folks" behavior of the characters who commit the violence. For instance, when C.W. and Blanche drive over to pick up dinner for the gang - they're eventually tailed from the chicken restaurant, leading to a bloody shoot-out - they discuss their respective religious denominations. Much earlier, Bonnie and Clyde win over a farmer by letting him shoot out the windows on the home he has just lost to the bank. (Remember, this was the Great Depression). In other words, we can like and relate to these killers. We cheer for them as they escape to the jovial bluegrass of Flatt & Scruggs. This is disturbing - and somehow ingenious. If you haven't seen the movie in a while, please revisit. In the meantime: What movie's violence got under your skin? And a more troubling question: Did you like it? |
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Comments
Posted by Pete @ 1:26 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
For some reason, the violence in "Missouri Breaks" really creeped me out. And quite possibly because of that I didn't like the movie at all.
"The Wild Bunch," however, is my all-time favorite Western and one of my favorite all-time films. I remembered when it opened in Dallas--as I recall, it played the Majestic downtown--I was there just about every day for two weeks.
Posted by Chris Vognar @ 1:30 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
I love The Wild Bunch as well. The imagery has a mythic, almost hallucinatory quality, and you won't find a better movie about the physical and symbolic end of the frontier. "If they move, kill 'em."
Posted by Kip Mooney @ 2:37 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
For me, I think it's got to be 'The Departed.' Sadly, yes, last year my knowledge of Scorsese didn't exist past his remake of 'Cape Fear,' (now I'm convinced he's one of the greatest directors of all time) but 'The Departed' was one of a few life-changing movie-going experiences. Scorsese has a gift? (I'm not quite sure what you'd call it) for making violence look realistic. This isn't James Bond where a bad guy falls over from a gunshot; there's blood and other body parts flying about, but never being too over-the-top, as opposed to say, 'Grindhouse,' which is way over-the-top and about as violent as movies get (but kind of in a good way).
Posted by Holly Warren @ 2:52 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
Just the *promise* of all the violence and torture and whathaveyou in "Reservoir Dogs" has managed to keep me from ever seeing it. So I guess that counts as definitely getting under my skin.
I remember seeing "Schindler's List" in high school for extra credit. The one thing that really stuck with me (besides a disturbing attraction to Ralph Fiennes) was a character being shot point blank. It *felt* like watching someone get shot for real.
And then there's "Se7en." I love that movie, but I still spend half of it cringing. The disturbing thing isn't even what you see. It's what your own mind conjures up from just seeing the victims.
Posted by Christy Robinson @ 3:01 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
'The Hills Have Eyes.' If a movie's going to be THAT abberant and disgusting, it could at least not suck to high holy.
Posted by Chris Vognar @ 3:02 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
If you can take Seven you'll breeze through Reservoir Dogs (which is one of the greatest male bonding movies ever). The ear scene is the only excruciating part, and even it has a macabre sense of humor about it.
Posted by Kip Mooney @ 10:43 PM Tue, Aug 28, 2007
Chris, I think you may have convinced me to stay up late and re-watch 'Reservoir Dogs' tonight. It's got such a twisted outlook on everything, but it's downright genius. "Clowns to the left of me/Jokers to the right/Here I am, stuck in the middle with you."