Hello
readers,
As
promised, Between the Seats, after keeping things nice and easy with
'end of the year' lists and capsule reviews for about a week during
the holiday break, is about to resume business as per usual, meaning
tons of marathons to exploring various genres, directors and actors.
To
kickoff 2012, we have chosen to familiarize ourselves with a very
special time and studio in American cinema. It was the late 1960s and
very early 1970s when a young, talented and outspoken group of
directors, writers and actors came together to form what was known as
BBS Productions. Their filmmaking style differed from much of what
came out of Hollywood, and even though they were privy to a decent
amount of funds to create their works, the resulting products felt
counter-cultural in comparison to the general cinematic landscape of
the time. People whose names are now synonymous with great movies,
like Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich and Dennis Hopper to name few,
started their careers in earnest with these unique pieces of American
cinema.
The
picture above, representing the cover artwork of the recent Criterion
Collection Blu-ray set, tells you all you need to know about which
movies the marathon will concern itself with. Many, if not all of
these movies are unfamiliar to many self-described film buffs,
including yours truly, who, in the case of at least a couple of
titles, had only heard of them for the very first time upon the set's
release. The marathon will have as its title BBS Productions Presents. We hope you join Between the Seats over the next few weeks
in watching, or possibly re-watching these under-seen classics and
joining in with some wise words in the comments section at the end
of each review.
As
always, thanks for visiting!
Posts
6 comments:
Awesome! I wanted to get that box set for Xmas but my dumbass sister and her husband instead gave me a $50 gift card from Landmark Theatre that I couldn't use since it's too far away from me. I ended up getting nothing for Xmas.
BTW, did you know that Drive, He Said features un-credited writing from Terrence Malick?
@Sorry to hear about that. As the saying goes, 'it's the thought that counts!'
No, I was unaware of a Terence Malick credit on that film, most likely because that is one of the film's I was unfamiliar with upon the set's release! There are plenty of tid bits of information about uncredited writings efforts on tons of movies. Wouldn't surprise me if Malick worked on something associated with the BBS, especially early in his career when he made films that were more akin to BBS stuff (kind of).
The Last Picture is currently streaming on Netflix Canada so I will have to try and give it a look soon. It is one of those films that I have heard great things about but never really felt compelled to seek it out. Will definitely have to change that this year.
@CS: Come one, come all!
Actually, how is Netflix? Is it worth a subscription?
Heard of all, but only saw Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture good films both, the last one particularly resounding I think...I feel the need to revisit it now.
I would recommend trying Netflix Canada's 30 day free trial to see if it fits your need. While it may not have the most current titles, it has a strong selection of classic, foreign, indie and television shows. For the $8 price tag, I am getting my money's worth.
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