Poll

What's your favorite film by Vincente Minnelli?

Cabin in the Sky
0 (0%)
Meet Me in St. Louis
6 (17.6%)
The Clock
0 (0%)
Undercurrent
0 (0%)
The Pirate
0 (0%)
Madame Bovary
0 (0%)
Father of the Bride
1 (2.9%)
Father's Little Dividend
0 (0%)
An American in Paris
5 (14.7%)
The Bad and the Beautiful
8 (23.5%)
The Band Wagon
5 (14.7%)
The Long, Long Trailer
0 (0%)
Brigadoon
0 (0%)
The Cobweb
0 (0%)
Kismet
0 (0%)
Lust for Life
0 (0%)
Tea and Sympathy
3 (8.8%)
Designing Woman
0 (0%)
Gigi
0 (0%)
The Reluctant Debutante
0 (0%)
Some Came Running
2 (5.9%)
Home from the Hill
0 (0%)
Bells Are Ringing
0 (0%)
The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse
0 (0%)
Two Weeks in Another Town
0 (0%)
The Courtship of Eddie's Father
0 (0%)
The Sandpiper
0 (0%)
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
4 (11.8%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 33

Author Topic: Minnelli, Vincente  (Read 12042 times)

worm@work

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #40 on: January 05, 2013, 09:58:58 AM »
Two Weeks in Another Town | Minnelli | 1962

I think I like Minnelli best when he's being his least understated. Yes, it's campy and feels a bit hurriedly put together in parts and so on but I can't help but think that all of it is totally deliberate and if not that, at least completely fitting given the story at hand. The campiness practically announces itself right at the start when Kirk Douglas first arrives at the Cinecitta set. Edward G. Robinson is directing some kind of trashy international co-production financed by a guy who views filmmaking purely as a commercial venture. But then much later on the film, the film within the film gets taken over by Kirk Douglas who brings a much more auteurist view to the whole thing re-shooting scenes and throwing himself into the filmmaking process with much vigor and passion. And simultaneously Minnelli's film transforms as well, becomes more nuanced and interesting, less garish (and more beautiful) and more darkly melodramatic as the best Minnelli films I've seen tend to be. All this is brought to a head in that gorgeous climactic car ride which puts to shame even the stunning car ride in The Bad and the Beautiful, a film that's constantly referenced in this one. It's possibly one of the most incredible drunken car rides I've ever seen on film where the car itself appears drunk and more like it's flying down the streets with hardly any contact with the ground. The process of filmmaking as a way to battle one's own personal demons and go down one's personal hell <3. So so good.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2018, 01:43:28 AM by 1SO »

oneaprilday

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #41 on: January 05, 2013, 12:05:14 PM »
Well, that sounds rather fabulous.

roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #42 on: February 03, 2013, 06:22:43 PM »
The Reluctant Debutante (Vincente Minnelli, 1958)

Sandra Dee goes over to England to hang out with her dad, Rex Harrison. His new wife takes it upon herself to introduce Dee to proper society by attending a bunch of balls. Anyway, she's bored out of her mind with all the understandably boring people. And then she meets young handsome drummer. Most of my appreciation is purely formalist nonsense; his color sense in this is just incredible. But it's also just incredibly cute and funny. Rex Harrison basically spends all the parties getting drunk as CINECAST!, both of Sandra Dee's parents spend all their time wondering if she'll succumb to sexual temptation, and also Sandra Dee is just as cute as a button (the way her shoulder blades look when she's in those dresses! - wait, how old is she in this? uh...) Plus it's another in a string of Minnelli characters that struggle to fit in "a constricting social environment." Sandra Dee doesn't want to be part of that antiquated nonsense, and she certainly doesn't want her love life to be dictated by whomever her parents find a good match. She's got smarts and insights and only Italian royalty will do. These are all my dreams...
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 08:16:39 PM by 1SO »

sdedalus

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #43 on: February 03, 2013, 07:08:29 PM »
I kept thinking of Enter the Dragon, made for a weird(er) experience.
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roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #44 on: February 03, 2013, 08:05:19 PM »
You're going to have explain that one :D

sdedalus

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #45 on: February 03, 2013, 09:40:37 PM »
The love interest guy, John Saxon, stars in ENTER THE DRAGON.
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Totoro

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #46 on: September 02, 2014, 01:45:06 AM »
I often appreciate when writers have to code situations. Forces them into more creative areas, because they don't want the material to feel toned down. (One of the reasons why I like Rope.)

Really strong piece of writing. Hope I remember to read it again if/when I watch Tea and Sympathy.

I am in the minority of my film school peers that actually appreciates the limitations the code brought.  ::)

roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #47 on: October 19, 2014, 01:35:08 PM »
1. Tea and Sympathy (1956)
2. Some Came Running (1958)
3. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
4. The Band Wagon (1953)
5. The Clock (1945)
6. The Pirate (1948)
7. Cabin in the Sky (1943)
8. Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
9. The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)
10. The Reluctant Debutante (1958)
11. An American in Paris (1951)
12. Bells are Ringing (1960)
13. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
14. Gigi (1958)
15. Brigadoon (1955)
16. Father of the Bride (1950)
17. Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
18. Madame Bovary (1949)

Designing Women (1957)

1SO

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Minnelli, Vincente
« Reply #48 on: April 02, 2015, 07:25:25 PM »
1. The Bad and the Beautiful
2. An American in Paris
3. Home From the Hill

4. Father of the Bride
5. Tea and Sympathy
6. Gigi
7. Brigadoon
8. Two Weeks in Another Town

9. The Pirate
10. Cabin in the Sky
11. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
12. Meet Me in St. Louis
13. Some Came Running
14. The Clock
15. The Cobweb
16. Lust For Life
17. Undercurrent
18. Yolanda and the Thief

19. The Long, Long Trailer
20. The Band Wagon
21. Father's Little Dividend
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 08:17:12 PM by 1SO »

1SO

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Re: Director's Best: Vincente Minnelli
« Reply #49 on: April 02, 2015, 07:38:49 PM »
Home From the Hill (1960)
* * * 1/2
Is there anyone in history better at playing a Man's Man than Robert Mitchum. Drinking beer in his leather chair in his 1960 man-cave, surrounded by hunting dogs, with his foot up on a the head of a bear skin rug. It's Gaston with the conviction to back up the bravado. A neglectful father who sees his son (George Hamilton) has grown up to be a mama's boy. Now he's going to turn this kid into a man.

This is good stuff for Vincente Minnelli to weave into deconstructionist melodrama. Mitchum just has to play his rough and soulful self and everyone else collapses into tears around him. Every now and then they stand up to him and that's when things get really good. It's all a bit much, as melodrama often is, but it's pretty damn exciting too. The relationships keep twisting and twisting as they tighten in Mitchum's fist... or possibly around his neck. Mark this down as a Discovery.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2015, 07:44:21 PM by 1SO »

 

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