The following essays have been revised so that each (1) use the correct category, (2) use a featured image, and (3) state the main point in the first paragraph.
The Great Race (1965) was a very unique, conventional film that cultivated a love of old classic cars, travel, and physical comedy. This cultivation and love comes from the story of old cars that were modified to race around the world while doing extraordinary things. The start of the race is in New York City and ends in Paris. The movie follows two rivals, the Great Leslie and Professor Fate as they experience different cultures and places as they race toward Paris. This movie aided and developed my humor as it utilized an assortment of comedy from physical comedy, tongue and cheek, as well as smart comedy that used double entendres and idioms. As rewatching this movie over the years, more jokes that would otherwise be hidden would appear.
After much research into the history of the film, The Great Race turned out to be the outcome of the best of two previous films created by the same director, Blake Edwards. Blake Edwards made two colossal comedy hits to make this film: The Pink Panther (1963) and A Shot in the Dark (1964). With notable stars for time such as Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Natalie Wood, the result was a 2-hour-40-minute slapstick comedy that was nominated for two Academy Awards: one for music and film editing and the other for sound. It also won an award for best sound effects. To dedicate this film, Blake Edwards dedicated it to Laurel and Hardy, two of the most well known comedians in film history for their comedies from 1921 and 1950. Here is more on The Great Race.
Although thought to initially receive negative reviews, The Great Race quickly became a massive success at being ranked at number five on the highest grossing movies of 1965. For this rank, the movie made $25 million at the box-office and only cost $12 Million to make. This budget surpassed Stanley Kramer’s three hour long comedy, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). To mark such a success, Blake Edwards had the focus of the advertising on the comedy, particularly the "Greatest Pie Fight Ever". The popularity of the actors was used to ensure a return investment by each of their portrayals of the characters: Tony Curtis as the Great Leslie; a brave and courageous ladies man and Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate; a clever and scheming villain. At the time the movie came out, people were affected by their proximity to theaters, showtimes, lackluster reviews and other big hit movies that were coming out at the time similar to Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago. After five weeks in theaters, The Great Race started to offer 22 shows per week in order to accommodate families. Here are some interesting things from the time this film came out. Now, decades after its release, The Great Race is now officially considered a classic. Critics' reviews are more positive and highlight the slapstick comedy.
The historical information provided context as to the social climate the movie was established in and why not too many people know about it today. This movie has been a favorite of mine since the first time watching it at nine years of age. At this age, no concept of what it took to make a movie, so the reason to watch it was because it was enjoyable and funny to watch. Here is one of the most classic parts in it. After rewatching it, my appreciation for this movie increased because it used new technology for several effects in a timeless manner that didn’t make the film look older. A great example of this are the flying scenes which used several different techniques including a blue screen.
Now movies that use CGI look older than they are because CGI makes the effects look cheap and unconvincing. Usually, stories aren’t as original as they once were because most films today are based on books or an adaption of a previous film. It truly is a rarity to see an original film with an original story in the theater. This adds authenticity to The Great Race as its story is loosely based on the 1902 race around the world. All characters, plot, and design are all original and have never been seen before the film came out. By growing up with this film, the interests that came from the influence of this movie pertaining to things of the past in similar fashion to the time this film takes place. Some of those things span my interest in classic cars to architecture. Amongst other films, The Great Race is the film that has me come back to other great films of the past that have all solidified the opinion that the old classic films are the greatest gems that are, luckily, accessible to watch and rewatch.
The film for this week's review is called “Troop Beverly Hills” (1989) and it is one of my favorite films because of the unique comedy it offers and an original story loosely based on the experiences of one of its producers, Ava Ostern Fries, as a girl scout member. This film portrays the side of Beverly Hills we think about when one says “Beverly Hills” places them in a highly unusual scenario of them having to go out and conquer the wilderness. As you probably imagine, this is quite the spectacle that makes this movie such a classic comedy. When the film was made, it cost Sony Pictures International Entertainment $18 million to make and only brought in a little over $7 million.
This failure was most likely due to the critic’s negative reviews of the film when it was released. These negative reviews have all stayed consistent because the film “proves to be an uphill, downhill trek” Rotten Tomatoes. However, there are positive reviews from blogs that mostly claim the film was relatable and funny even to this day. The negative reviews mainly focus on the characters as stereotyping the people of Beverly Hills while the positive reviews take a closer look at the story and values the film emanates as the characters never gave up something they wanted to do. As the bloggers tend to be more fair to the film and enjoy it, the consensus should be that it is a fun comedy that has a good lesson; all who have a goal just needs the willingness to accomplish it.
During the time the film was made, a shift was happening in show business as the 1989 “Batman” came out along with the first season of “The Simpsons.” These films were massive hits with “Batman” becoming the number one film of 1989 while “The Simpsons” is now on its 34th season and counting and is one of the longest running shows. This means that 1989 was a great year for entertainment, so the cause of “Troop Beverly Hills” failure was the marketing and reviews.
The costumes and overall look of the film screamed 1980s Beverly Hills because most of the costumes were so over the top that one couldn’t help but laugh from the appearance of one of those. The film utilizes the costumes to make the character’s taste obvious and clear as the main character, in one scene, alters her uniform to be more comfortable for her. This scene then exemplifies how her, Beverly Hills attitude contrasts with the traditional and strict girl scout leadership. This isn’t used often, if at all, by any other film that I know of and it is very effective at showing the culture clash while making several great jokes in one.
As the film wasn’t a hit, it fashioned itself a cult following over the years. It was until a few years ago that a sequel was in the works. This does mean that the film has gained not only popularity, but the financial backing that trusts that a sequel will be a success and wise investment as well. The culture in the film aligns with three of Hofstede’s elements of culture: Masculinity, High Uncertainty Avoidance, and Collectivism. As seen throughout the film, Masculinity rules the culture of the Beverly Hills Girl Scouts as all of them see jewelry, fashion, and other material objects among the most important things in life. This is seen with the amount of jewelry, dresses, and money they possess. Their High Uncertainty Avoidance originates from their lack of experience outdoors as ruffing it in the wilderness actually means one hotel room with nine girls at the Beverly Hotel. In the film, the characters learn to get over their luxuries to achieve their goals. The film shows the character’s Collectivism as the girl scouts form a close bond to one another and grow friendships, but is also seen as the main character has close ties to her personal tailor and hairstylist. This culture can be seen in many parts of the world, the country that lines up with this culture the most is Guatemala because both share two areas of Hoftede’s model: Collectivism and High Uncertainty Avoidance. If the film were to transfer to my cultural values outlined by Hofstede’s model, the film would have to alter Masculinity to Femininity as well as Collectivism to Individualism. The result would most likely be a story about a group of girl scouts, who are not really friends, attempting to work together to accomplish their goals with an ease in nature that would make the film less interesting. “Troop Beverly Hills” (1989) nevertheless captures a realism as the characters all overcome their greatest fear; the wilderness. Which is an internationally understood concept.
“Troop Beverly Hills” (1989) is a conventional film that was made to make Sony Pictures International Entertainment lots of money, which failed. By getting popular stars such as Shelley Long from “Cheers” (1982-1993) to play the lead role, Phyllis Nefler. Being a conventional film, “Troop Beverly Hills” (1989) has a very simple story that wraps up neatly before the ending. The overall story along with its style are unique to it, it does have a resemblance of style to “The Money Pit” (1986) because of the character’s reactions to things happening in different scenes. Other than that one instance, the story is very original and, at some points, clever. That is what makes it a comedy classic of the 1980s.
The film review this week is for the film, “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) because it is such a classic film to many. After watching this film for the first time, the history of these criminals comes to life with the same adventure and excitement felt with the real story. This film offers an unusual retelling of the story about the lives of the most famous bandits in American history. The story covers from the moment Bonnie and Clyde met to the point they were caught. When this film came out, it made $50,700,000 and took $2.5 million to create. With these numbers, it’s no wonder why this film was a massive success to Warner Bros. Pictures. Many movies and TV shows are similar to “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) including “Hidden Figures” (2016) because of how the historical events and conversations are written for an audience that is unacquainted with the historical material. The way in which these movies write in these facts is to create conversations and utilize realistic newspapers and photographs to educate the audience on the subject matter. However, this means that the conversations are more than likely historically inaccurate, but there is no great way to work around this issue. Especially when the events took place decades before the film was written. Now let's take a dive into the history of the film and use these facts to determine if the film was conventional.
When critics reviewed the film, they were far from impressed, Variety claimed it to have “conflicting moods, racing from crime to comedy.” However, today when critics reviewed this film, they say that the film has a “punch whose power continues to reverberate through thrillers decades later” (Rotten Tomatoes). Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus best leads the audience's perspective today than Variety’s claim over fifty-five years ago due to most audiences considering the film a classic.
During the release of “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967), the nation was in chaos due to riots over, primarily, the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. The photo above displays one of the most famous Vietnam War riots; The Pentagon Riot of October 21, 1967. This particular protest highlights the political and economic stance of the people at this time as the protestors wanted “to get national visibility for the anti-war movement” (U.S. Marshals Service). The protestors goal was to show that they didn’t support the Vietnam War because of the amount of money and resources being sent to fight in it. The photo below is another example of the political and economic stance of the people because of the injustice of the treatment of different races led to “the systematic denial of employment opportunities by white-owned businesses” (Britannica). This denial led to specific ethnicities, specifically African Americans, gaining little money through work even when granted a job. This unstable time could have led to people wanting to go to the theater even if the movies received poor reviews. Which could be why “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) was such a massive success.
The film carries two prominent feelings throughout: the first of which is a soft, warm feeling with comedic undertones which explore the main characters’ personal lives. The second feeling is a dramatic exhibition of the fighting the characters did. These two feelings allow the audience to get emotionally attached to the main characters as the main characters struggle with the idea that they will never have a normal life. Bonnie particularly struggles with this idea as seen when she turns to poetry. Her most famous poem “The Story of Bonnie and Clyde” was used in the film to perfectly replicate her feelings for her lifestyle. In this clip, Bonnie feels as though their destiny has been written for them to die because the Law always wins. This is foreshadowing the ending as Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed at the end of the film. Not many movies kill off the main characters, but this one made sure that their death tied into the feeling Bonnie had when reading her own poem. Her poem gives an insight into their lives as struggling gang members and how they are really kind-hearted people stuck in the life of crime. This is how the movie connects the audience to Bonnie and Clyde. Although highly criticized at first, the music gives the film a hillbilly feeling to aid in the idea that Bonnie and Clyde were always in an unstable lifestyle from their source of money and transportation. The music shines best when used whenever Bonnie and Clyde flee a battle with police because those scenes especially show how delicate their lifestyle is. These scenes draw our attention to the film simply because most of them start suddenly and last for quite a few minutes and all utilize different geographical features from a stream to a meadow.
As the film is based in 1930s America during the Great Depression, this film had the responsibility to represent struggling Americans as accurately as possible because when the film premiered, only about thirty years had passed since the actual events the film is based on took place. This meant the film had to be specific to the events and align with the 1930s culture because many of the people who lived in the 1930s were around to see the film in theaters. According to Hofstde’s cultural model, the culture of America in the 1930s included collectivism, indulgence, and femininity. These dimensions are apparent in the attitude of the 1930s as the families always stayed together (collectivism), many people did things that made their life more fun (indulgence), and people cared for one another more than money (femininity). All of these dimensions are shown in the relationship between Bonnie and Clyde: their group always ended up staying together, they did all the things that were fun, and they all cared more about each other than the money they stole. This dynamic is seen all around the world because it is truly a family dynamic rather than a coworker dynamic. This makes the characters even more relatable around the world as the audience would see the character’s close-knit bond to each other. With this in mind, even if the dimensions given by Hofstede changed to be my family’s dimensions. There would be no change to the dynamics between the characters because the dimensions are the same. This highlights just how relatable Bonnie and Clyde are from the film to family dynamics today.
“Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) was an unusually successful, but unconventional film based on real events and people. The characters in the film were portrayed by some stars of Hollywood such as Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.The story is clear from the start as to what is happening as the beginning features real photos of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow along with captions describing who they are at a cursory glance. Then, the details emerge as soon as the film properly begins. The ending of the film ties itself together just as neatly as it can with all pieces included in the conclusion to the film. The film was similar to Netflix’s “The Crown” (2016-2023) with the way in which it handled the conversations between characters whilst wrapping the real events of the story in a manner that is close to historically accurate and gives the audience context to the events similarly to the poem mentioned earlier. That is unquestionably what makes “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) a brilliant film.
Blazing Saddles (1974) is a hit comedic take of much older western films with an unusual twist. In the story, a town must learn to treat their new African-American Sheriff (Cleavon Little) with respect and admiration as he is the only person who is willing to stand up to the local gangs. Although simple, this story shaped the way the 1970s are now received as a type of healing and bonding from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement that has never been seen before. This is a plausible reason why it was a major success with $119.5 million made. For reference, it cost Warner Brothers $2.6 million to create this film. Blazing Saddles (1974) was a hit film because of three major components: the critical reception, the historical events, and the style.
The critical reception of the film all had high ratings, but most criticized the storyline as most of the story and humor “doesn't have a lot of classy polish and its structure is a total mess” (Ebert, 1974). Although highly criticized, the critics gave the film similar ratings at about four out of five stars. Even today IMDB gave the film a similar rating of 7.7/10. It is no surprise why people would go see the film with those ratings. On a personal note, the film is rather humorous, but lacks a solid ending. Toward the ending of the film, it transitions to being at the Warner Brothers backlot for no obvious reason. After a few scenes of the characters running about in Hollywood, the film switches back just in time for the classic ‘riding off into the sunset’ scene. As you could imagine, this ending is confusing to say the least. This only adds to the lack of structure of the film and it leaves the audience on a confused note.
Some of the historical events that took place during the production and release of this film include the resignation of President Nixon amid the Watergate Scandal and ABBA’s win at the Eurovision Song contest. Both of these events shaped a decade as Gerald Ford came into office and ABBA’s international legacy was successfully launched. However, to fully understand the intention of Blazing Saddles (1974), we must look back on the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. This movement created a small bridge into equal rights for all, but this bridge had to expand to fully be accepted and normalized. In fact, some plantations in the south remained in place until the early 1960s due to the descendants of the enslaved being held there by debt, so it makes sense that this normalization process would influence movies. As movies influence culture, Blazing Saddles (1974) aimed to use comedy to highlight how pointless racism is. As seen in the first clip below, once the townspeople started to realize that the Sheriff is helping, their opinion of him changed to be more accepting and respectful towards him. Although it took the townspeople a long time to adjust, it took Jim (Gene Wilder) nearly seconds to accept and respect the new Sheriff in the second clip below. This difference in acceptance and respect could be interpreted and seen as the good guys of the film, Bart the Sheriff and Jim, never use racial slurs while the bad guys of the film use racial slurs most often. All the while, the townspeople transition to almost never use such slurs and insults. According to The Guardian, the frequent use of the racial slurs, particularly the N-word, made Burton Gilliam “so ashamed to use the word that he apologized to the star, Cleavon Little, who reminded him of its villainous context in the script.”
1st clip https://youtu.be/mjU03P_6nbQ?si=Mh522oCE72bmo3XP
2nd clip https://youtu.be/LNTw3x40I0o?si=IvyGsSQRZD6Er-az
The film has a very unique style that makes the audience feel at odds whether to laugh or not. For example, the townspeople would create awkward situations with their reactions and use of racial slurs. Given all of such scenes have a humorous undertone, one really can’t help but laugh. However, it feels wrong to do so. One such scene is in the clip below. This clip is one of the best scenes in the film because of the quiet, awkward situation created by the townspeople's reaction to the near appearance of the Sheriff. The quiet nature drives one’s attention to the sudden outbursts of racial slurs and gasps from the townspeople. This particular clip is the base reaction to contrast with how the townspeople get acclimated to the Sheriff. This is in stark contrast to the early westerns which this film was based on. The massage of the film can clearly be heard in the title song provided in the second clip below.
1st clip https://youtu.be/IZT7xLjxuhs?si=YY41Hbp3aGLP4cch
2nd clip https://youtu.be/hzRmp-O496Y?si=ip-bA_vMDH9f1M6P
During the production of Blazing Saddles (1974), the director, Mel Brooks, was working on another film that had a similar style called Young Frankenstein (1974) which featured many of the same actors including Gene Wilder and Madiline Kahn. Other stars such as Harvery Korman and Liam Dunn all were well known through their other films and TV shows from The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972) to the Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978). As the story was new and unfamiliar, it makes sense for Warner Brothers to capitalize on such stars of the film industry. That was a major factor as to why the film was a massive success.
5. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) is an action adventure film based in the wildly successful Indiana Jones franchise. The film utilized a large budget of $28 million to take the audience to a new place in Asia that saw Indiana Jones save millions of kidnapped children and dismantle a death cult’s grip on nearby villages. This unique story required the directional lead of Steven Spielberg to fill it with the action and charm as the first Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost Ark (1981). Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom would be a prequel to the first to navigate one of Indiana Jones’s older adventures with his companions Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and Short Round (Ke Huy Quan).
Many critics praised the film for offering “the most impressive achievements in the whole history of Raiders and Bond-style thrillers” (Roger Ebert Review). Therefore, it is no surprise why the film earned $333,080,271 at the box office. Now, forty years after its’ release, the film still offers the same excitement felt from the first day in theaters. Nowadays, the Indiana Jones franchise is criticized for cultural appropriation that has been seen such as Indiana’s goal to put artifacts from other cultures in a museum. However, as Screen Rant points out, Temple of Doom is the only Indiana Jones film to return an artifact to the rightful owners rather than a museum. No matter what the case, the film offers an adventure to a unique culture that is no more than escapism.
The culture at the time of the film’s release can be seen in two events: the first is Ronald Reagan’s U.S. Presidential Election win, and Micheal Jackson being in the news. Ronald Reagan’s landslide win comes to show the political stature as Reagan only lost one state. This victory for Reagan had him at “525 electoral votes to (his opponent) Mondale’s 13” (Britannica). His anty-communism stance in politics is what voters were looking for with the unstable situation with Russia. Possibly the best example for pop culture in 1984 was Micheal Jackson in the news because “His every move made news” (Billboard). In early January that year, Micheal Jackson was in the news for the famous Pepsi Commercial Accident that had him receive second and third degree burns as seen in the video below. This didn’t help him in the press as he later wrote a song called “Leave Me Alone” which is the video above. In the “Leave Me Alone" video, it clearly shows newspapers pertaining to all the news on him throughout the years as he is fed up with the press. These events highlight the culture of the 1980s in pop culture and in politics.
The entire film is filled with a rather intense style that rushes from one action-packed scene to the next. This brisk pace is seen throughout the entire film, however a couple of scenes stand out in this pace. These two scenes that stand out are the rope bridge scene and the mine cart chase because both have aspects that look as though they were taken out of a cartoon. The rope Bridge scene is the perfect example of the unbearable tension before the action takes place. This isn’t all that unique, but the way the characters, primarily Indiana and Willie, interact and argue with one another throughout the scene is truly what makes it fantastic to watch. Another excellent scene is the mine cart scene because of the unique way all of the characters fight between separate cars. Not to mention the visuals of the lava under the track that gives the entire scene a wonderful orange glow. This imagery can only be described as something exclusively from a cartoon or video game. The movement of the cars is really what holds one’s attention to the scene because of the speed at which the cars are moving.
Rope Bridge Scene: https://youtu.be/nPGxSotEa-c?si=Rnwjn5Ky5Swr8Ixs
Mine Cart Chase Scene: https://youtu.be/hVGl1d8hRBI?si=EOslw31_FId1rQQ8
The film is more conventional than unconventional because it is a sequel to a hit movie that came out just a few years earlier, it has some big actors in it, and it was directed by a a big name director. The entire film was made to make as much money as possible and keep the franchise going. The end wraps up as neatly as possible while allowing the freedom to add another sequel to the franchise. The style has been used in numerous TV shows and films such as The Goonies (1985) and some episodes of Inspector Gadget (1982-2023). You could say that the Indiana Jones franchise inspired all of those stories. That is what makes Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) a classic.
6. Terminator + Chainsaw Massacre
The Terminator (1984) is a technologically advanced film that takes the audience into a world of time travel and assassins. This film greatly improved numerous special effects and film techniques which have since been used in many other films since it was made. Due to the film’s unique story, the special effects, and the emotions portrayed the film launched a critically acclaimed franchise that, similar to the Terminator, refuses to die. The reasons for this are found in the film’s story, the tones the film has, and the time the film came out.
The story of the film is rather unique as no previous film utilized such a mix of action and time travel. As peculiar as it sounds, The Terminator only had a budget of 6.4 million dollars which isn’t that large of a budget, especially for a film with this production size. Therefore, it only makes sense for the writers to use special effects that don’t cost too much such as stop motion models. One such model can be seen in the clip above. These low cost effects allow the budget to be used for very expensive effects similar to the below. As all of the effects are quite convincing, it makes the film look much more real than one would expect. In contrast, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) had an even lower budget and, to be honest, had even less convincing effects which made the film not as scary as some may say. The Terminator used its budget wisely to deliver the best possible experience.
As the majority of the film focuses on the violence the Terminator (Arnold Shwarzennegger) is causing in order to assassinate Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton), it only is logical for there to be soft, tender moments throughout the film that make the audience relate and connect to the characters. When compared to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), there are really no soft moments to give the audience that connection. However, it uses the terror and gore of the experience of Sarah Hardesty to make that connection, yet one feels more sorry for her than a genuine connection as one doesn’t know much about her by the end of the film. In fact, one doesn’t even know if she had the drive to catch the killers who tortured her. Meanwhile, Terminator established Sarah Conner as a fearful person and, by the end of the film, she became a much braver person who clearly has the same, nurturing personality.
The historic events that took place during the making and release of The Terminator (1984) included a direct competition with another film that was utilizing cutting edge special effects for the time, Ghostbusters (1984). Terminator simply had to rely on its story and special effects to market against Ghostbusters. However, both films were resounding hits because Ghostbusters targeted a younger audience than Terminator. When compared to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre didn’t need to be a success due to its low budget.
Once in theaters, The Terminator became a resounding success with the critics and the audience agreeing that it is one of the greats. With such reviews, it comes to no surprise that the film became a massive success with the box office nearly hitting 80 million dollars worldwide. For reference, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre made 26.5 million dollars
at the box office. However, both films went on to launch successful franchises that are still making many new films from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) to Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). However, it is clear which of the two franchises is more successful as the Terminator franchise has always been massive hits since the first while The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise were much smaller hits.
The Terminator is one of the greatest films to be released due to the emotional connection, story, and special effects used that all made it look and feel real. This film was one of the biggest critically acclaimed films of the time which gave it the momentum it needed to become a massively treasured franchise. This film not only used its budget efficiently, but it produced some of the best effects that brought a popularity in use of such effects, particularly stop motion in the 1990s. Such an influential film does not come around often, therefore it is a true treasure of a film that created the best visuals, the best story, and the best emotions that have all made the film a modern classic that resonates with the modern viewer just as much as the original audience. This was one of the best films to watch as it was truly enjoyable from the beginning to the end.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Essay
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a very unique film that takes a rather remarkable dive into the day of an unfortunate chain of events that left five people dead and one survivor whilst displaying the mind of killers. This film greatly pushed the boundaries of goriful things allowed to be shown in the theaters. When compared to the modern slasher film, the film isn’t considered to contain that much gore, yet it still manages to frighten many who watch it these days due to the low budget, story, and the effects used.
The budget of the film is the primary reason for the look and style of the film. This is because the budget added many constraints of what the writers could do for the action and gore in the film. The way they worked around the 140 thousand dollar budget by creating a documentary-style atmosphere that made the events in the film look much more realistic. Another excellent way they worked around the budget was by having entire scenes dedicated to the sick mind of the killers as seen in the clip above of the infamous dinner sequence. In this sequence, the killers are taunting and terrorizing one of the victims while howling like coyotes of the night. Although the clip doesn’t provide the entire scene, the scene takes up several minutes that some may consider to be wasteful time as not much buildup or suspense takes place. However, the scene takes its time to allow the audience to see the full extent of the killers’ psychotic mind as they begin to laugh with joyful glee at her screams for help. When compared to the way Terminator handles its budget, it becomes obvious that most of the budget went towards the set of the killers’ house. Meanwhile, Terminator’s budget was spent on the effects that make the story convincing such as the scene of Terminator repairing himself.
As the beginning mentions, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre focuses on the murders of five people that started from a chance meeting. The scene above is when all the characters first meet the Hitchhiker. As the Hitchhiker shares what he does it becomes obvious that the Hitchhiker is mentally ill and disturbed. The conversation continues with the characters being disgusted by his nature as he decides to cut his own hand with a pocket knife from one of the characters. The entire conversation in the scene does an excellent job foreshadowing the killers’ connection with the hitchhiker as the hitchhiker mentions his family and his home life. This is the only meaningful conversation in the film as all the other conversations are about what to do next, not about the characters' lives as individuals. One doesn’t know much about the character’s lives, especially the surviving character. It is as though the characters were thrown into the film just so they get killed, most of them don’t even have last names such as Pam, Jerry, and Kirk. They simply don’t have that connection that Terminator has because Terminator takes the time to develop the characters through numerous meaningful conversations in a tender tone that makes them relatable. The characters in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are put in place to die like lambs at the slaughter.
During the creation of this film, the United States was in a crisis. The Watergate Scandal saw the first president’s resignation along with an infamous tornado outbreak throughout the Great Plains. These major events give way to a glimpse at the political and economic characteristics of 1974. The tornado outbreak was an extraordinarily rare occurrence that destroyed hundreds of miles of homes across several states. This devastation brought on a new technological mission to prevent so many lives from being lost as “modernized systems ensured more rapid detection of storms and led to the modern era of delivering timely forecasts and warnings to the public” (NOAA). However, these events didn’t have an impact on the film’s success because of the budget put in place. When compared with Terminator’s time and events, Terminator had to be a success because the investment in the film was large enough to cause concern over its competition, namely Ghostbuster.
When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released into theaters, it became a massive hit as it made 26.5 million dollar compared to its 140 thousand dollar budget. With such a hit, it is no wonder why this film launched a well known horror franchise that has been scaring millions of people ever since its inception. Compared to Terminator, the Terminator franchise is much more enjoyed by the audience and critics alike for the story and effects it has. In either case, both franchises are widely successful and have stood the test of time.
Although The Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn’t the best film, it offers one of the greatest looks inside the sadistic minds of murderers. Its odd approach to tension with pure quiet and sudden death is what makes it good. However, it faces inexcusable plot holes as the ending doesn’t say or show if the killers were ever caught and, in the clip above, what happened to the semi driver. These thoughts could have been resolved by the film, but are not even addressed as issues. Another such flaw is the name of the film as only one victim died from a chainsaw, the majority are hammers. In any case, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was a rather unique film that is beloved for its strange approach to achieving frights.
What is the point of the film Pleasantville? Pleasantville (1998) is a film about two siblings, who get transported to another world that resembles a community from a 1950s sitcom. Once there, the siblings bring their knowledge of their home world to this sitcom world. As they do so, the people in the sitcom world begin to change as they learn about the outside world. When this happens, the people change from black/white to color. However, the people do not change at the same time because each person is on their own path to self discovery and enrichment. Usually, this takes a person to develop an interest or hobby such as painting, but in some cases it takes behavioral changes such as confidence or truthfulness to reach full color. Just as long as that person finds themselves is when they will turn to color. This review will take a look at the film and take a dive into historic events, arguments, reviews, and how it compares to other films.
With the story in the film in mind, it is clear that the film seems rather unconventional. However, the fact that it had a cast of widely known stars such as Jeff Daniels and Don Knotts. As well as rising stars such as Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon. Surprisingly, this film was not the only film to make characters learn about themselves and their world. The Truman Show came out the same year as Pleasantville and follows a man discovering that his world is a lie as it is actually a reality show. With these films following similar plots, it could be said that both films are conventional. Even though both films are offbeat, both used effects that made the stories convincing, and both had some well known names in the cast. The films were marketed differently, made a different amount of money, and had different runtimes in the theaters. Pleasantville was only in theaters for a few weeks instead of The Truman Show’s months in theater. However, Pleasantville did make money for that short time and was well received. Robert Ebert is a great example of how the film was received as “one of the year's best and most original films.” With this information, we can conclude that Pleasantville was simply an artistic, conventional film that wasn’t successful at the box office.
Pleasantville’s story aimed not to alienate people, but rather to teach people how emotion and change can have a major impact on a town. Although it is extreme in demonstrating this with its rather obvious basis being the 1960s cultural shift, it demonstrates its point quite beautifully with its use of color. Color is a major component to the film’s story as the change from black and white to color is what makes the community’s leaders panic. This use of color is artistically done in a way that contributes to the story. Not only that, but the way color is used is quite technologically genius because, as seen in the clip below, David (Tobey Maguire) is putting black and white make-up on, now colored, Betty (Joan Allen). This is one of the most impactful scenes because of the use of color. It makes one look at themselves when they go out in public because these days are a time of reflection as social media pushes us to make ourselves look as beautiful as possible. As Reese Witherspoon states in her interview about the film above, “white middle class, suburban America which was portrayed as perfect families; two kids, two parents, one dog, nice house, picket fence.” This wasn’t accurate to the real 1950s as there were a lot of issues between civil rights and segregation. In the film, to avoid excluding groups of people, color was used to show the characters becoming human. Meaning that it is okay to make mistakes, learn, and grow to be better people rather than already being perfect.
There have been very interesting arguments pushed forward about the film from how the film shows us that a shift in the dominant part of society needs to happen to how the film relates to religious text. “Fear as Desire: Pleasantville Film Analysis” on Medium shows how the film is an example that “individuals that are discriminated against are seen as monsters for disrupting the dominant’s preset social categories.” Meanwhile, the book, Mediating Religion’s chapter named “Paradise Lost, or Paradise Learned?: Sin and Salvation in Pleasantville” discusses how the film has religious subtext that resembles the most famous part of The Bible, the Fall with the council member’s view being that their town is falling apart from the cultural change. The article states that the film’s “(at times) overt religious connotations (indeed, this may actually have deterred many people from seeing it)” (Deacy, 201). The film’s plot doesn’t seem to be completely religious as the daughter introduces sex into the sitcom world as her first move. Then, as Robert Ebert's review explains, she “shares information about masturbation with her mother.” This action is clearly not supported by any Biblical text, so the film isn’t as religious as described. However, in the scene below, David (Tobey Maguire) fully becomes heroic and helps his sitcom world mother, Betty (Joan Allen), out of a verbally abusive, targeted attack on her for the fact that she is embracing her colored look. Although not overt, this scene is a great example of one of those biblical messages in the film because the Bible encourages heroism and the fact that this behavior is what made David turn to color.
During the time the film came out, The Truman Show came out and Bill Clinton was in the process of being impeached. These events show that there was a culture for finding the truth with The Truman Show being about finding the truth and Bill Clinton’s case being the process for finding the truth. As History.com states “the Starr Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power.” This showcases what happens when a president “publicly denied the allegations, saying, ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.’” Years after Pleasantville premiered, another film set out to change film technology forever. Avatar premiered in 2009, but took about a decade to make because of the ambitious use of technology. Similar to Pleasantville, Avatar changed the film industry because of its use of technology. Both films tell great, timeless stories that have required great innovations in technology just to make them. For this fact, these films will never be forgotten and will stand as a testament of storytelling and innovation.
