Am I a complete film buff fraud? (1 Viewer)

[Matt<>Broon]

You're as buff as you need to be to fit in my friend.

George's list would be a great start to anyone interested in classic film, don't let him get all modest and tell you it isn't.

One thing I would add is a personal recommendation for Casablanca. Wait for the 2 disc SE by all means but you really should see it as soon as you feel up to it. It's excellent!

Of course it's one of my favourite films of all time so I would say that.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

George's list (with the erratum of Casablanca) is a good place to start. And do check out the HTF corrections to the AFI 100 over in the Movies forum; the list is much superior to AFI's. Then you can work on the foreign films.

Even though it seems like a daunting task to get up to speed, just think how lucky you are to live in the video age. When I was 20, you either had to catch these films on a 3 AM airing on one of the THREE television stations, or live near a repertory theater or a campus film society in order to see them; seeing the classics was a much more haphazard process (unless you were at UCLA film school or something similar). And we walked barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways.... Many is the film I only read about and never dreamed of seeing (and now I own most of them!)

 

[BarryR]

I'll put in a plug for vintage comedy teams: Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Marx Bros. etc. And musicals. Try and see Busby Berkeley musicals such as GOLDDIGGERS OF 1935, FOOTLIGHT PARADE, DAMES etc. And, oh yeah, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. A must.

 

[Nate Anderson]

Don't beat yourself up over it Scott, you have a good body of film viewing there. There will always be movies that others have seen that you haven't...it's inevitable and impossible to see every film ever made without giving up anything even vaugely resembling a social life.

 

[Jack Briggs]

It makes me feel good to read Scott's post. How rare is it for so many young people of his age to feel and say they feel so inadequate? Wisdom comes with admitting ignorance. He knows there is much to be seen and apparently is going to work on that.

So refreshing from the occasional twentysomething or teenager who posts here bragging about not being interested in any film made before Star Wars or whatever.

Think of all the wonderful films that await you, Scott. You're on the right path!

 

[David Rogers]

One does not have to watch every piece of film that has come prior to ones own birth into the world in order to be properly considered a film buff.

You simply add the word "modern" film buff, or "topical" film buff. Make it clear if someone wants to ring you there are tastes and interests you have, and you've focused on those. You are not required to watch every silent film, every western, every old horror flick, etc... just to be a film buff.

Do you understand the references people make to many of these unwatched films?

Have you researched them any, know things about the actors, the directors, etc.. ?

Do you know the stories of some of these films, and can ruminate briefly upon them?

Movies are about fun. There's no gd test. If you watch a lot of movies, and your friends call you a film buff, then you are one.

If some jerk down the street is 30years older and has been watching films longer than you, and thus has gotten around to seeing nearly EVERYTHING, period, and he looks down his nose at you, ignore him. Better yet, tell him off. Tell him to get a life and leave you to yours. Tell him films are about one thing and one thing only.

FUN.

 

[Kevin M]

YOU HAVEN'T SEEN PIRANHA 2???

Why..you...You fraud!

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Think of it this way, Scott -- you have a lot to look forward to!

Amen.

My suggestion as a way to tackle this stuff is to find a writer or actor or director whose work you're into and then go on a spree and try to see everything they've done, or as much as you can.

My only exposure to Billy Wilder had been The Seven Year Itch, which I had enjoyed, but then one night I was up late and caught the first half of The Apartment on late night TV. I fell asleep, and cursed myself the next day for not taping it because I so desperately needed to see what happened. So I called my local LaserDisc store and ordered it, and my love affair with the films of Billy Wilder was born. I gobbled up as much of his work as I could, and a couple of years ago when Conversations With Wilder by Cameron Crowe came out, I stood in line to buy the book the day it hit the stores. I haven't seen all of his films yet, but I count myself as a fan.

This has happened to me with more than one filmmaker. I suggest that you let it happen to you, too.

 

[Scott D S]

My suggestion as a way to tackle this stuff is to find a writer or actor or director whose work you're into and then go on a spree and try to see everything they've done, or as much as you can.

I'm working my way through Woody Allen. I've actually read 2 books (a bio and Allen on Allen with Stig Bjorkman) and I've seen all his films minus three. I'm also a self-appointed Kevin Smith scholar and, much to my FSU film teacher's chagrin, I wrote a 90 page paper on him although most of it was excerpts from the Smith interview in the book My First Film (a must read).

 

[Lew Crippen]

I'm actually surprised at the number of people who ask about foreign films (mostly older folks).

I think that some of the most exciting filmmaking right now is coming out of the Far East and Iran (and to a degree Spain and Latin America). There are some others on this forum who feel the same way about Eastern Europe.

Of course I’m one of the ‘older folk’.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

This is a GREAT thread.

Scott, I think your very posting of this question is proof positive that you're a bona-fide movie buff. To have seen that many quality films at 20 years old should make you feel proud, not inadequate in any way.

Plus like someone said above: think of all the amazing movies you have yet to enjoy. By this point you should have the largest Netflix rental queue in the universe!

And anyone who includes Nick Meyer's Time After Time on their 'great films' list clearly knows something about movies.

Now I'm off to add some titles to my own rental queue because I really AM a fraud.

 

[Brad Porter]

There are some gross-out gags...

You could go that route, but it's been done (I would say overdone).

You might want to watch the following films for examples of unrequited love / "quests for that special someone" films that I think work very well and present a more timeless package than the American Pie formula:

Love Potion No. 9
The Pallbearer
Lucas
Angus
Rushmore
Almost Famous

Best of luck!

Brad

 

[Tyler Ruggeri]

Based on your list of what you haven't seen, here's a few tips:

Westerns: Try High Noon, Red River, and Unforgiven.
Fox Classics: All About Eve is an absolute must.
Silents: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu are great fun. Birth of a Nation is one of those movies that you kind of "have to see" but won't get much out of and won't be interested in, at least not until the fascinatingly racist last hour.
Universal horror: Frankenstein and Dracula.
Hitchcock: Early Hitch like Spellbound and Rebecca is key. Suspicion is worth checking out too.
Fellini: Absolutely 8 1/2.
Truffaut: I appreciate 400 Blows but I'm not a huge fan. Jules and Jim is heartbreaking though, and one of his best.
Jimmy Stewart: He's great in Hitchcock's Rope, and also the great romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story.
John Wayne: Again, Red River.
Billy Wilder: The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, and Sunset Boulevard, without a doubt.
Bergman: I'm a huge Bergman nut, so just see everything by him. He's truly one of the best filmmakers the medium has ever seen. For a start, try The Seventh Seal or Cries and Whispers, or perhaps sample the Faith Trilogy (The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly, and Winter Light).
Bogart: To echo everyone else, Casablanca. Also The Maltese Falcon and the Big Sleep.
Katharine Hepburn: The Philadelphia Story (as mentioned before), The African Queen, and the Lion in Winter.
Audrey Hepburn: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, Charade, and Sabrina.
Preston Sturges: Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve are two of the most wonderful films you will ever see.
David Lean: I personally prefer the earlier, British Lean works as opposed to his Hollywood stuff. Brief Encounter, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations are all musts.
John Sturges: You've seen the two best so you probably don't need to do a lot of updating there.
Scorsese: The Age of Innocence, After Hours, Casino, Raging Bull.

I know that's a hell of a list. Don't give up and best of luck to you! You seem to have the drive to get what you want, and a film education is, if anything else, very rewarding and a lot of fun.

Tyler Ruggeri

 

[Seth Paxton]

Scott, I would first start with George's advice on films. It gives you a easy to handle list that could be done in just a few months and move you quite a way down the film buff line.

Second I would strongly recommend plenty of sampling of films from different eras, countries, genres, etc. just to at least grasp where everyone was coming from, as well as just how far back many of these "new" ideas come from.

My personal recommendation would be to start your silent viewings off in 2 areas - Keaton/Chaplin comedies, either The General or even Sherlock Jr for Keaton, and Modern Times or City Lights for Chaplin (though others prefer Gold Rush). If you want to start off easy then rent one of Chaplin's shorts DVDs instead and just watch one or two of those 10-15 minute flicks. Keeps you from tackling too much right away.

The other area would be the German expressionists, and here is why. It's because you will see very advanced cinematography, art direction, story ideas, special effects and direction, probably more than you might have realized existed even in the teens and 20's.

Try either Metropolis (Fritz Lang) or Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene) or Nosferatu or Faust (Murnau). These are films that might surprise you with how advanced filmmaking was at the time. Plus its interesting to see just how influential these guys were not only on each other, but on Hollywood. Watch Nosferatu and Faust, then watch the Hollywood version of Dracula and you will see where a lot of the images came from.


One last bit of advice on the silent films, give it time. I have found that the more I watch and study the more I really start to feel drawn even to the films I first watched merely as an exercise. I haven't mentioned stuff like Passion of Joan of Ark or the Russian Montage artists (Battleship Potempkin for example), but they are also great. Its just that you need to start someplace and comedy and SF/horror might be more accessible as entertainment as you adjust to the silent era styles.

 

[Zenas]

You're doing fine, Scott. Sometimes I think what makes someone a film buff is whether they can appreciate all films for what they are, rather than sticking to one or two very specific genres or styles of film. I believe it's our love of the medium and what it can do that make us film buffs, rather than having seen a gigantic number of films. So, keep watching the movies you love, and don't ever say no to any new ones! You'll feel like the film buff you are in no time... hehe...

 

[Doug D]

Man, when I was 20, I hadn't seen crap! I've seen about 250 movies a year since 1996, concentrating on the "canon" more and more every year, and I STILL have huge holes - the more you learn, the more you realize is out there. (Haven't seen any Pasolini, Ophuls, Lubitsch, von Sternberg, von Stroheim, Sirk, Flaherty ...)

My advice - don't worry about it. You've got a lifetime to watch everything, hopefully. There's no film buff card out there that anyone inspects, and if somebody has a problem that you haven't seen a movie, it's their problem, not yours.

As far as filmmaking goes, again, I hadn't even started when I was 20. I got interested in 1996, and just shot my first substantial short last year. All too often our culture glorifies youthful success as the only worthwhile thing, but for my money I wish more filmmakers would take some time to live life before diving into making movies out there. It's a big world out there, and learning more about it - whether through travel, schooling, unorthodox jobs, whatever - can only inform your writing more, and ideally lead you to something that hasn't been shown on screen before.

(Hopefully none of this sounds condescending - I don't mean it to.)

And here's ten foreign films that I recommend for you to watch (all available on DVD, though not necessarily at Best Buy):
THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
CHUNGKING EXPRESS
YI YI
PIERROT LE FOU
AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD
WILD STRAWBERRIES
Z
THE SEVEN SAMURAI
THE GRAND ILLUSION
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC

Or just join the Sight and Sound thread and work away at that! Lotsa good viewing there.

 

[Scott D S]

You could go that route, but it's been done (I would say overdone).

I think such gags can be very funny in the right context. Basically, without giving anything away (or getting banned for graphic langauge), everything that happens in the film can actually happen and it usually involves the characters being caught in an embarrasingly compromising situation. There are no fancy "revenge schemes" or anything mean-spirited like that.

 

[Rob P S]

The only person you need to answer to is yourself. As long as you're happy with the films you've seen and you see only what you truly want to see, don't worry about impressing other people. That's not to say you shouldn't ask for suggestions, just that you're not a terrible person if you don't see Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, etc. It's your living room, after all. I love It's a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, and Yours, Mine, and Ours, but otherwise I'm not interested in watching pre-1970 movies.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I don't even know who some of those people are on the original list.

 

[Seth--L]

Interesting thread.

Being a fraud or not depends on the setting. In some of my film classes its assumed that everyone has seen the major works by directors like Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, Hitchcock, Scorsese, Godard, Kurosawa, Brakhage, Kubrick, Allen and Ford. Discussions are so much more interesting when you're able to make comparisons, especially when talking about world cinema and genre theory.

I think it is important for anyone that claims to be film buff to realize that the Hollywood commercial narrative isn't the only type of film and most valid.