Laurel And Hardy Movie (2018)

[Reno]

It was Flash Gordon and Charlie Chaplin on Saturday morning RTE. For some reason I only remember watching them in my mum's cousins' place.

Just thought I'd chip that in as we're sharing memories of old movies. I get what people say about the youth of today - my niece won't watch a Bond flick unless it's Daniel Craig.

Reno - re: Marilyn, she gets cited a lot these days as "the star who wasn't size zero" but I was watching a bit of the Seven Year Itch with my sister over Xmas, and she said "she was tiny, no way was she a size 16". Maybe even that isn't enough to connect with the YOT.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to STAN AND OLLIE.

I'm not sure I want to evaluate Monroe in regard of current discussions about body image, but body fascism is hardly a new thing. Monroe's weight fluctuated throughout her career which in part had to do with drug and alcohol dependency issues. I doubt that is why most people under the age of 40 aren't interested in her. For them film history started with Star Wars but they won't watch most films if they are more than a decade old. Of course there are exceptions, but not a lot.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I spoke to a 30 year at work and she claimed to have never had heard of Laurel and Hardy.....

 

[Idris2002]

I'm not sure I want to evaluate Monroe in regard of current discussions about body image, but body fascism is hardly a new thing. Monroe's weight fluctuated throughout her career which in part had to do with drug and alcohol dependency issues. I doubt that is why most people under the age of 40 aren't interested in her. For them film history started with Star Wars but they won't watch most films if they are more than a decade old. Of course there are exceptions, but not a lot.

I think that's kind of what I'm saying. Possibly the only context in which Monroe's name is mentioned these days is in the context of body image, etc. As for kids not watching anything more than a decade old. I do remember my niece whinging about having to watch Casablanca ("it's soooo boring"), but naturally we disregarded her wretched outburst.

Another point is the decline of America as a global cultural hegemon. Dream of Monroe, or Dean - or just buy the poster - and you were dreaming of a certain idea of America, one to which a lot of people aspired in the old days. Wim Wenders made whole movies based on the gap between that idea and the reality, but the kids don't watch him either.

 

[D'wards]

I'm not sure I want to evaluate Monroe in regard of current discussions about body image, but body fascism is hardly a new thing. Monroe's weight fluctuated throughout her career which in part had to do with drug and alcohol dependency issues. I doubt that is why most people under the age of 40 aren't interested in her. For them film history started with Star Wars but they won't watch most films if they are more than a decade old. Of course there are exceptions, but not a lot.

The trouble I had getting under 40s colleagues to watch It's a Wonderful Life over Christmas.
One did and she absolutely loved it

 

[belboid]

Loads of people I know under forty just wont watch black and white films. I can, to some extent, sympathise. There is so much out there available to watch now, I doubt I’d have watched old B&W movies when I was younger if there had been any alternative. I’d have missed out, of course, but there is only so much time in the world. And old films (not even necessarily B&W, just most things from before Easy Rider et al brought auterism to the fore) are stylistically very different, far more mannered in a way that seems just peculiar now, if you weren’t brought up with it. As one mate put it to me when discussing our favourite films ‘yeah, but you like movies from when people couldn’t act.’

I will try and see S&O this weekend, tried last, but the times just didn’t match up with what else we were doing. I suspect I’ll agree with another mate who called it ‘the best unimaginative, totally conventional film of 2019’ but we’ll see.

 

[Reno]

I also can't blame young people for not taking to classic films. When I grew up in the 70s and 80s something like a Hitchcock movie was prime time TV. There were whole film seasons complete with documentaries to give context. I remember a massive Channel 4 season on silent movies which introduced me to many great films. You'd get an extensive education in 20th century film history by just switching on the telly. Now old films on broadcast TV are relegated to daytime during the week or very late at night. Increasing choice with cable channels and streaming services means there is ever more choice of new stuff. How are young people even going to get the encouragement to watch old films ?

I am a collector of blu-rays and in that regard it is a golden age for appreciating classic cinema. Old films come out in immaculate restorations on high definition and they look as good as on the first day they were shown. I've got a projector too, so basically I've got a repertory cinema in my living room.

 

[Sprocket.]

In the interview with Simon Mayo, John C Reilly said he was asked when he became aware of Laurel and Hardy? He said he was watching them from as early as he could remember, so he had always been aware of them.
I can echo that, my dad was a huge fan of Laurel and Hardy and they were always on the TV when being broadcast, much to the consternation of my mum. I remember their brilliant films with great affection, alongside The Little Rascals and Edgar Kennedy.
I am hoping to see Stan and Ollie soon.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

I remember Laurel & Hardy being a staple of weekend TV, possibly before or after things like Swap Shop and Saturday Superstore. The cartoon was on kids' telly. I had assumed, as a kid, that they did the voices for that too, but on reflection, probably not.
Harold Lloyd was all over weekend telly too. And things like Abbott & Costello and Scared Stiff. Loads of Westerns too. We were spoiled, in hindsight!

I don't suppose you remember a singer who used to be on a show at the end...I can't remember this name. He wore a hat with the brim turned up at the front. He used to come on looking a bit gormless but then he would sing and he was brilliant. I think his first name was Jackie?

 

[Baronage-Phase]

There was always stuff at weekends too. BBC used to fill space with old slapstick shorts and Loony Tunes, but often they wouldn't be listed, they would just appear.

During the school holidays there would be old stuff on everyday, along with Flash Gordon. I used to watch it all with my Grandad Ted.

School holidays were great.
I remember one summer we watched Star Trek every evening....and Flash Gordon.
Clearly it was a miserable summer weather wise.

 

[hash tag]

Having seen Stan and Ollie has anyone subsequently made a point in watching one of the originals? I saw Way out West soon after and some more will follow

 

[Sue]

Just saw this. What a lovely, poignant film. My Dad was a huge fan so remember seeing loads of their films as a child. Thought Steve Coogan and John C Really were excellent, as were the supporting cast.

 

[danny la rouge]

a cheap cinema ticket

the majority of people who go to the cinema
these days tend to be on the younger side.

I love film, but realised how long it is since I’ve been to the cinema when I was shocked to learn just now that £5.99 was considered a cheap ticket!

I can buy DVDs for less and watch them many times.

 

[hash tag]

Oh Danny; £5.95 wouldn't buy you a bag of popcorn in the city :The £40 cinema ticket – is any film worth the price?


"The £40 cinema ticket – is any film worth the price?"

 

[Sue]

Oh Danny; £5.95 wouldn't buy you a bag of popcorn in the city :The £40 cinema ticket – is any film worth the price?


"The £40 cinema ticket – is any film worth the price?"

Ways and means. My local cinema (London) is a fiver all day on a Tuesday if you have a library card, Prince Charles cinema in central London's a fiver during the day if you're a member (tenner a year) and also does weekly screenings for a pound. Peckhamplex is a fiver every day, Genesis cinema was less than a fiver last time I went. If you subscribe to Mubi, you get a free cinema ticket each week for a selected new movie. Depends where/when you go...

 

[danny la rouge]

Oh Danny; £5.95 wouldn't buy you a bag of popcorn in the city :The £40 cinema ticket – is any film worth the price?


"The £40 cinema ticket – is any film worth the price?"

Holy fuck! Why does anyone go?

 

[hash tag]

I didn't know this existed...real life footage of Stan and Ollie and their wives. It's from '54, so quality is not brilliant. The host said they did everything for each other, themselves, their fans.

 

[Ming]

Ways and means. My local cinema (London) is a fiver all day on a Tuesday if you have a library card, Prince Charles cinema in central London's a fiver during the day if you're a member (tenner a year) and also does weekly screenings for a pound. Peckhamplex is a fiver every day, Genesis cinema was less than a fiver last time I went. If you subscribe to Mubi, you get a free cinema ticket each week for a selected new movie. Depends where/when you go...

Prince Charles is ace. Great if you’re living in London on fuck all money.

 

[Sprocket.]

Hard boiled eggs and nuts.
After everything else that’s happened so far this year I’ve just managed to see this lovely film.
Really enjoyed it. Rufus Jones as Bernard Delfont was great casting.

 

[High Voltage]

Hard boiled eggs and nuts . . .

A classic line from a classic film

 

[Sprocket.]

A classic line from a classic film

And still enacted frequently by members of our family.

 

[hash tag]

Stan and Ollie is about to show on BBC1. What a great film.

 

[Idris2002]

I've been meaning to see it since it came out. Well worth the wait.

Would it be fair to say that most double acts are funny man/straight man, but Stan was the funny man, and Ollie was both funny man and straight man?

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

I don't suppose you remember a singer who used to be on a show at the end...I can't remember this name. He wore a hat with the brim turned up at the front. He used to come on looking a bit gormless but then he would sing and he was brilliant. I think his first name was Jackie?

Jimmy durante?

 

[Elpenor]

I watched this on a plane in Summer 2019. I’d missed it in the cinema (partner at the time said “just a boring film with old men in” and I was quite taken with it, the ending was brilliant. I rewatched it this summer and thought it was just as good as the first time.

Watched the cartoons as a kid.

 

[circleline]

Really enjoyed this film. Agree with earlier posters that performances were brilliant; could scarcely 'see' Coogan - always a testament to superb piece of acting. I remember an awful lot of L& H on telly when I was growing up ( and they never got any royalties for what seemed like endless repeats). My Dad was also a massive fan and I recall, as a know-all teenager, arguing with him that L&H just weren't funny. Had a moment of sheepish nostalgia watching this film yesterday when I did, finally, get it.

Their creaky old theme-tune will forever remind me of my Dad and I felt a proper rush of heart-warming sentiment when, in the film, the church bells in Ireland rang to the tune of L&H.

 

[stdP]

Caught this on iplayer and I'm glad I did (Stan Laurel's something of a minor hero to me). A touching little tribute to my slapstick heroes with surprisingly good physicality and obvious affection from the two leads.

The only significant criticism I have is that I found the fake jowels on Ollie/John C. Reilly a bit obviously fake and thus a little distracting.

It's caused the L&H box set to be dusted off; last night was A Chump at Oxford and The Music Box (neither of which the other half had seen and laughed like a giddy child throughout).

 

[Maltin]

I've been meaning to see it since it came out. Well worth the wait.

Would it be fair to say that most double acts are funny man/straight man, but Stan was the funny man, and Ollie was both funny man and straight man?

Aren’t most of the “straight men” funny too? While Morecambe is the more comic one, Wise is funny at times too in that role. Same with Abbott and Costello. The whole point is that the mix is funny.

 

[Idris2002]

Aren’t most of the “straight men” funny too? While Morecambe is the more comic one, Wise is funny at times too in that role. Same with Abbott and Costello. The whole point is that the mix is funny.

What I heard is that Ernie Wise never understood any of the jokes.

 

[Santino]

What I heard is that Ernie Wise never understood any of the jokes.

Seems legit.