Sure Wish they could make Decent Films Today. (The kind you can see again and again)
924087
Amazing video(s)! Not as deep and detailed as the book & goes off script quite a bit, BUT in some ways more enjoyable, as the pace is fairy even although it does lag from time to time.
I would highly recommend this version over the American made movie. Also do read the trilogy and come back to the video after. For me I think it's my favorite "crime drama", & Lizabeth is my all time fav heroine! Herr Fuc&ing Bloomquest also my hero & ultimate ladies man......way cooler in the books...... You have to guess at all the ladies he's bedding in the movie..... Hint: most of them......
2829030
That's how I rate movies, they've become so bad these days that I tend to stick with "non wastes of time".  If your a good war movie fan, this is not one to miss.
2170447
I saw this many years ago and it is still enjoyable. The way it is done, leaves something for the imagination. This is not as graphic as the films that are out now.
50634
These are movies that I like to watch again and again.  I am fascinated watching both of these movies often.
916207
Such an underrated movie. I would like to see more.
2135763
I've always been fond of unsuccessful movies, I dont' know why. Maybe because, unconsciously, I see the beauty of the film that could have been shot instead. Take&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Behold-a-Pale-Horse/dp/B00070HK2E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Behold a Pale Horse</a>&nbsp;for instance. When you see it, you can already feel the nostalgy that will emanate from Zinnemann's last movie&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Five-Days-One-Summer/dp/B000HL27XA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Five Days One Summer</a>&nbsp;shot 18 years later, you can also foresee in the final scene of the shooting, the great last scene of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Day-of-the-Jackal/dp/0783226853/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Day of the Jackal</a>. I also love the idea that underlies&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Behold-a-Pale-Horse/dp/B00070HK2E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Behold a Pale Horse</a>&nbsp;that is the final return to the Mother, to the Mother Country. Now, as a whole, the film didn't work for me. Perhaps, it will for you. Already forgotten.
1340512
As far as movies in this genre goes, this is really a good one. While the music in the film and some of the styles dates it as an older one, it stands the test of time. The acting is good and without going overboard on "heavy" it does have enough to engage the senses in other ways. This movie is weighty on coming of age sensuality, as well as the bond between family members, which at times can be both light hearted and tense. The small town setting lives larger than one would expect and is a more progressive one too. If this film was re-done for today, they wouldn't have had to do much to make it translate, especially if they threw in current events or political messaging, which is so popular in todays movies. But that would ruin it. This film does suspend time a little and lets you appreciate it for what it is...a simple but beautifully rendered production with fab actors, many whom you will recognize as successful industry actors today. This is not a film for young children, but would be OK for older teens or others who can appreciate the script and the acting.
2407944
For me this is just one of those movies I could watch any old day, and laugh all over again even though I know exactly what's going to happen.  I overlook its flaws, that the movie is dated in certain ways.  Not a "great" movie you'll be discussing in your history of American cinema course, just a really really fun one.

Yes there are "pause button moments" if you watch it with kids - one child insults another child's favorite superhero by calling him a "homo" and no one in the movie objects to that kind of insult. It's amazing to think that only back in 1987, not that long ago, people talked this way.  But the movie is rated PG-13 so with older kids, it's an opportunity to discuss how rapidly and in such a positive direction the world has changed.  And really that moment is not essential to the movie.

In the bigger picture, during the course of their adventures the characters let go of some prejudices they had at the beginning of the evening, and learn to see people as individuals rather than stereotypes.
4659538
This is a film about modern China. It is essentially four stories told one after the other that are linked, but they are not inextricably linked like say the plot of `Amores Perros'. Also they are all about acts of violence - that being the common denominator. The portmanteau approach is one that needs careful crafting and to a great extent there is evidence of that here from director Zhangke Jia - who brought us `Still Life'.

The first story for me was possibly the strongest involving localised corruption, naked greed and all the trappings of needing to `save face'. We also have a nice dose of righteous retribution. Other stories involve a drifter, a brothel and also a fair bit of animal cruelty. There is not a lot on show here to advertise modern China as a must go to destination. That said it is very well acted, beautifully shot and clearly well directed. It runs to 130 minutes and I did feel it could have been shorter, but that might be just me. It is Cantonese, Mandarin and a bit of English with ok sub titles.

Hard to say I liked this ne, there was so much nastiness and cruelty, but that was the point of the film and at time the observational quality of the film(s) makes it feel like a documentary and at others it is clearly contrived. So a mixed bag on offer here but still a worthy effort and if you like modern Chinese films then you could do a lot worse than this.
911076
This is a really lovely film. I remember liking it when it first came out (I was about 12 years old) and I still like it today. Some of the dialogue feels stilted -- perhaps Louis Malle could not write convincingly in a working class idiom. But let that go and watch the story unfold... and enjoy.
3022588
On one hand, I really appreciated the videos shot almost a hundred years ago, as well as the historical films from the 1930s and 1940s. This is a nice representative sampler, but I was wishing for more. In light of how 3D movies are more numerous today, it was fascinating to watch the advances and the experimenation that brought us to where we are today. This Bluray may only appeal to a small group of people interested in the history of 3D film development in the 20th century, but it is worth having in your library to show friends that train ride from the 1940s or how Washington,DC looked in the 1920s. The film trailers from the 1950s show how quaint the sales pitch was and how far we've come since then.
311635
Like a few other reviews, it's a "feel good" movie, and it is.  Like "Trick" or "Broken Hearts Club" without the porn subject matter it makes me wish there were more movies like it and with older stars portraying long successful relationships (without the Aids issue).  Movies are influential in our lives and they are role models that give us hope or what some dreams can grow into, and we definitely need more "happy endings".
1453048
I remember full supporting programmes in cinemas. And have a great fondness for second feature films. Even some of those I cringed at at the time. Many can now be enjoyed. However there were also those little films that were skipped. Missed by arriving after they had played. Staying instead longer at home. Or calling into a cafe,coffee bar or pub.
This is such a film. With the below parr picture and sound quality. Do what I should have done. Pass.
4385290
As another reviewer notes, this film IS dated. It deals with the in-fighting among a group of junkies being filmed by a documentary filmmaker and his assistant, who are gradually drawn into the action themselves, until the moment where the aloof, arrogant filmmaker is compelled to pick up the needle himself... Based on a Living Theatre play, THE CONNECTION does a wonderful job turning this core material into the stuff of self-reflexive cinema, dispensing with any sense that it was written for another media. It's a critique of a position not much advocated these days anyhow -- the cinema verite supposition that film can objectively document reality -- and calls for artists to become committed, to assume responsibility for the role they play, for their own subjective biases, etc. That's a moral concern that puts it, for me, on the shelf more with DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY than SHADOWS (which that other reviewer compared it to), but let's ignore that for the time being. Suffice it to say that it's a concern OF THE TIME. No one asks questions nowadays about what film is or should be, or talks about the commitment of the artist, though, uh, perhaps they SHOULD. But yes, then -- the movie is dated. The other count on which the film can be said to be dated is the portrayal of junkies themselves -- the characters in this film behave more like they stepped out of a beat poet's imagination than a NYC slum, are far more articulate and introspective than most real junkies are likely to get, even artsy ones. All that said, I think this is a stunning movie, which, while speaking from a given time and perspective, manages to do some very thought-provoking things. It's a shame it's not more widely used in cinema courses and such; in terms of works that question cinema, and seek to challenge a too-easy acceptance of how the world is constructed by film, THE CONNECTION is as interesting as REAR WINDOW, PEEPING TOM, or any other classics of film-about-film, partially because it foregrounds it's theme much more explicitly (the junkies give the filmmaker ample criticism about his attitude). And YES, the jazz is good, but, in my book, it's secondary.
647856
One of the 'Per Request' recent releases by the major studios, who have finally realized there is good money to be made from digging into their treasure trove of forgotten films.

Hardcore cinephiles have spent years, no, decades, walking into the darkest corners of the collectibles world; dealing with the opportunistic predators that populate it and paying nose-bleed prices for video that is barely recognizable: Skittering, pan-n-scan, washed out colors, audio scratches, bad tracking; basically the crummiest early video recordings from the 1970s and 1980s repeatedly copied over and over and over and over. Enduring all of that garbage in order to watch a film that never received a post-theatrical commercial release.

The advent of DVD burners turning out One-Disc-For-One-Paying-Customer has been the blessed key that released all of us from those foul sewer pits - and I'm terribly grateful.

I'm amazed to read some complain that the prices are too high. Well, then you haven't been where I've been, heard what I've heard, and seen what I've seen. Twenty-something bucks is reasonable. I admit, it's not pocket change, but then you haven't spoken to some of these so-called dealers who demand $40-$60-$80 or more for their "has-never-been-released" piles of 1970s and 80s home video rips or the cleverer 8mm/16mm film repro guys who manage to obtain rare material from the 1920s-30s. You haven't had to knuckle under to these creeps, so you don't know how lucky you are at twenty-something a pop. Damn lucky.

Sorry, but this is an important moment in the history of films and I want to savor every minute of it. <g>

'Gambit' is one of these very special movies. Starring Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine and the always enjoyable Herbert Lom, this production takes us on a humorous heist adventure in what was then the very exotic worlds of Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Caine plays Harry Dean, a short con specialist who has spied himself a very valuable bauble. The trick here is the man who owns it is a billionaire industrialist with resources and access to the most advanced security money can buy. Keep in mind that in 1966 the concept of a 'billionaire' would be the same as saying "That guy owns the moon". It was both bizarre and off-putting, since the concept of ultra wealthy typically meant you were a 'millionaire'. The b-word term itself was only used to describe economies of entire countries, not a single person.

So, how to obtain said bauble? Best known and oldest distraction in the grifter handbook: A beautiful woman. But this is no regular mark. Lom's character is wise, intelligent and very cautious. The distraction has to be something special. And Ol' Harry has found that special girl. Working in a cheap Hong Kong dancehall is Ms. Nicole Chang - aka the truly stunning Shirley MacLaine.

And why this particular woman? Because she's the very image of the billionaire's late wife and the ultimate bait for Harry's hook.

The plan: Accidentally bump into billionaire, attract same and quietly allow them time alone. Then cat burglar his way to the bauble and voila' - everyone is rich.

What made this so darn funny is the set-up, the first twenty minutes of the movie. Just when you think you're watching Harry's ludicrous plan going off without a hitch - it being almost too easy - you realize it actually is. It's revealed that he has yet to initiate contact with Nicole (a fun adventure in and of itself) and that everything seen up to that point had been his fanciful fantasy.

Real life isn't like that. And you know what happens to all best laid plans, things never go as expected do they? <g>

An extremely enjoyable film for heist fans. And more so for heist fans that love a romantic-comedy-adventure. Very much in the vein of '<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/How-to-Steal-a-Million/dp/B0002B15YM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">How to Steal a Million</a>'. Maybe even better in some ways, 'Gambit' is that good.
3870384
I love this type of movie,  and the ones presented here have fine image quality and audio that is crisp and clear. The packaging, which I tend to nit-pick, is a lot of fun. These just are not the greatest films, and I really wanted to love Colossus of Rhodes, a story about one of the 7 Wonders of the World. There are great location scenes done for real with Greek ships and vast ports, and some very epic shots of the towering Colossus (battle scenes atop gigantic 20-story tall bronze stature are worth the price of admission -- they do not seem to be effects shots even though they must be!) while the music, plot and acting are all exactly what you'd expect (Rory Calhoun does seem to be a bit distracted, maybe its just the way he is); the thing is, I wanted something more substantial somehow from this movie in particular.  Of the other two, Land of the Pharaohs has a scintillating theme of a wicked young woman using body and brains to murder her way to the top of Egyptian royalty. Just not quite substantial enough; it could have been a Perry Mason episode had it not been for the imaginative subplot of the engineers figuring out hgow to seal the tomb of the pharoah with gigantic blocks dropping into chambers and tunnels with sifting sand elevators. Add Dimitri Tiomkin's music which is dazzling, it all helps to achieve my 4 stars. Then there's the third film, The Prodigal. This biblical tale is done timidly, a pokey plot and white bread acting drags.  You can't review what they did not do, only on what they did do and they did give it a good shot with shiny new presentation and good quality image and audio, all of which these all are. Pharoahs is the most fun, Colossus most impressive, Prodigal most dull.
606347
Maybe you should make it a movie that is how good it was. I am so happy how you made it you should make a second one