Hal Ashby

[tpfkabi]

After watching H&M, I looked up Ashby to see if any other of his films were playing soon. The Landlord came up first. From the TCM intro, I learned that Ashby started as an editor and this really shows. It's been too long since I've seen Being There, but I noticed that both The Landlord and H&M have scenes where a nurse or doctor is walking down a hall, but Ashby edits it so that several scenes play out during this "super long" walk and finally finish when the person reaches the camera.

I love the shot towards the beginning where Bridges is running with the plant and the camera is set way back so that Bridges is small at the top of the frame and the camera is static and holds while the tiny Bridges runs from the right to the left side of the screen.

[tpfkabi]

finally got my order on the H&M vinyl.

man the packaging is superb. i think Cameron Crowe is responsible for putting this out - Vinyl Films is linked from his website.

gatefold. one side has a color 36 pg booklet with photos and interviews, then two full sized posters - one for the film and one for Cat Stevens. then the other side has the lp and then a seperate 7" with alternate versions of two songs. inside the 7" is a slip of paper with Cat's handwritten lyrics for the two songs - two songs were given specifically to the film, the rest were on his prior 2(?) albums.

if i was into reselling vinyl/ebay, i imagine these will go up seeing as there are only 2500 and there is no CD release - there never was a vinyl release at the time (or since) the film came out either.

[squints]

After watching a documentary about Slavoj Zizek where in one scene he excitedly purchases a copy of Being There from a little video store I decided to grab BT from my video store having never seen it. It really knocked me out. I fucking love this movie. The one thing i was thinking of the entire time i was watching it was how (are you listening pube?) Bad Boy Bubby almost seems like some sort of twisted remake of it and I really like that idea. The end is fantastic and after re-reading this thread I really want to see Coming Home and, from soixante's praise, Shampoo. It's always nice to stumble across a director that's somehow always seemed to evade my attention.

[MacGuffin]

Hal Ashby gets four-day salute
Peter Bart, Cameron Crowe to host
Source: Variety

A four-day salute to helmer Hal Ashby kicks off Thursday at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills with a screening of a new print of the cult classic "Harold and Maude."

Variety VP and editorial director Peter Bart and filmmaker Cameron Crowe host the opening-night program, with guests including Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Diablo Cody, Jeff Berg, Jon Voight and Haskell Wexler.

The number of industry figures expressing their support for the tribute "reflects the impact Ashby has had on generations of filmmakers," said Bart, who was VP of production at Paramount when the film was made.

Crowe released Cat Stevens' previously unreleased soundtrack for "Harold and Maude" on vinyl last year.

Also screening in the series are Ashby's "Shampoo," "The Landlord," "The Last Detail," "Coming Home" and "Being There."

[SiliasRuby]

I have a special place in my heart for Hal Ashby and all that comes with it. I haven't seen 'Being there' in a long time and I just revisted 'Harold and Maude' and 'Shampoo' last night. I have yet to see 'Coming Home' but its next on my queue, after 'Mikey and Nicky' and two kurasawa films that I have now.

[socketlevel]

I have a special place in my heart for Hal Ashby and all that comes with it. I haven't seen 'Being there' in a long time and I just revisted 'Harold and Maude' and 'Shampoo' last night. I have yet to see 'Coming Home' but its next on my queue, after 'Mikey and Nicky' and two kurasawa films that I have now.

i feel the same way, i love being there, almost to the point of a sickness.  his sensibility was ahead of the time, seems like a lot of comedies from wes anderson to alexander payne owe a lot to Ashby.  i've actually never seen shampoo, thanks for reminding me i'm going to write it down so i don't forget to pick it up next time i'm renting.  the only film i didn't really like of his was the last detail, one that i just recently revisited.

[SiliasRuby]

I have a special place in my heart for Hal Ashby and all that comes with it. I haven't seen 'Being there' in a long time and I just revisted 'Harold and Maude' and 'Shampoo' last night. I have yet to see 'Coming Home' but its next on my queue, after 'Mikey and Nicky' and two kurasawa films that I have now.

i feel the same way, i love being there, almost to the point of a sickness.  his sensibility was ahead of the time, seems like a lot of comedies from wes anderson to alexander payne owe a lot to Ashby.  i've actually never seen shampoo, thanks for reminding me i'm going to write it down so i don't forget to pick it up next time i'm renting.  the only film i didn't really like of his was the last detail, one that i just recently revisited.

Any specific reason you didn't like 'the last detail'? It's hard edged but it works for me.

[socketlevel]

nothing easily defined, it just doesn't work for me.  i don't see the humor or the point of it...

maybe i'm missing the frame of reference surrounding when it came out.  like it was a-typical in an anti-vietnam way or something, the kinda thing written in the new yorker upon it's release.  or maybe there was something in attitude and tone that was never seen before that just doesn't work now.   you know, like asking a 15 year old to be impressed with the french connection's car chase, they'd think it sucks by today's standards.  when i watch harold and maude or being there i feel they're kinda timeless and special.

i think it's kinda low budget in a way i don't like low budget films too.  it seems to play out in wide shots which doesn't work for the piece, something that being there does as well but with better intent.  in the last detail the wide shots detach me from the characters when i feel i shouldn't be.

sorry i'm not giving you a good answer, cuz i guess i don't have one.  it doesn't work in the way that mediocre movies don't work, and i really wanted to like it.  it just seems like the kind of first indie movie by a director that didn't really go anywhere after it came out... staring jack nicholson lol

i'm sure considering how much i love ashby i'll go back to it in a few years, maybe then it'll click... cuz hell i didn't get the pinkerton album by weezer until 10 years after it came out.  you never never know.

sadly ashby died too early, he was doing his best stuff near the end imo.

[socketlevel]

ok so i rented shampoo, thanks again for reminding me Silas, and though i don't love it i do think it's a solid film.  there is a nice balance between the humor and some tender moments.  I'd give it a 6.5/10, which is 0.5 less than what it takes for me to "officially" recommend it.  so i guess to people that are already Ashby fans or wanna get into Ashby, then I'd say it's one you should see for sure.

i got my imdb fanboy creep on it as the credits were rolling and noticed that Warren Beatty co-wrote it (with Robert Towne, big-ups chinatown)... which got me thinking.  if you took out the hair dresser angle and made the character more successful, less misfortunate, and not so taking life day by day, i bet it plays off almost autobiographical to Warren Beaty's actual life.  It's well known he was THE slut of holywood, probably jumping from bed to bed as much as his character does in this film.  I'm sure he also has his regrets, as we come to see mirrored in the film.  but just like his character, his lifestyle ultimately gave him a huge reputation, and not the good kind. 

For example, as you all may already know "you're so vain" by Carlie Simon was supposedly written about Mr. Beatty.  Sing it in your head, it's a pretty cold and frank tune  

Another piece of trivia from imdb (I've gone total gossip mode):

"Carrie Fisher said she was cast in the role mainly through family connections. She said when Warren Beatty ran lines with her, he did it while eating. She said the whole thing for her was a lark. She also admitted years later in an article she wrote for Rolling Stone magazine that star Beatty unsuccessfully propositioned her."

now you gotta understand that at the time he was dating Julie Christie.  who, after watching this movie, you'll probably agree is Smoking Hot in 1975 (argueably still smoking hot - as far as Gilfs go).  So here is a guy making a film about a dude that sleeps around a lot, probably modeled after his own life to some extent, and the moral of the film (kinda) is that it comes back at you like a karmic heart attack.  Yet he's propositioning the unknown actor (Carrie Fisher in her first ever on screen role) who was 18 maybe 19 if my math is good.  by the way he's almost 40 at this point.  It's like even while trying to teach the error of his ways, he can't help but get his groove on.  like shit, I'd be happy going home to Julie's bed every night.  Warren fucking Beatty... lol the living irony and life imitating art imitating life... is so awesome it puts a smile on my face.

[SiliasRuby]

and now he is a hollywood recluse living with only one woman, his wife, annette benning.

[socketlevel]

and now he is a hollywood recluse living with only one woman, his wife, annette benning.

i hope you're right, for her sake.

[SiliasRuby]

and now he is a hollywood recluse living with only one woman, his wife, annette benning.

i hope you're right, for her sake.

I AM!....hehe...bleh.

[tpfkabi]

(yes, i check up on 5 Films on RT every once in a while and came across both of these mentions)

Fred Durst likes 'em too 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/education_of_charlie_banks/news/1829652/five_favorite_films_with_fred_durst

I love Harold and Maude. [Hal Ashby's] amazing. His characters, just the way he tells his story, the way he lets them breathe, the way he makes them so real. There's just something about it I identify with. All his choices seem to speak to me.


RT: One of the things I really liked about Charlie Banks was the way you integrated the music into it, and Harold and Maude seems to have that sort of thing too. It doesn't overwhelm what's going on on the screen, and it's not telegraphing the action.


FD: It sort of becomes a character in the film. It's sort of vital to the whole experience, but it doesn't take you out of the movie; it just enhances the experience, and telegraphing things I don't really believe in so much. Sometimes when it's just part of the process and that's what makes the movie fun, but not in the case of Charlie Banks. You know, if I had Cat Stevens in my hands, it would have been amazing. Charlie Banks, man, you should have heard the music before the studio bought it and took out all the music and made me replace most of it. You should have heard the original. Oh my God, I just felt so good about it. I mean, still, I love it; a lot of the original themes like Mick's theme [hums song]. But some of the source stuff that was timeless and classic, but they just didn't want to pay for it. I still love it, but I just thought it was better before they made me replace it. I mean, you know where they go, "Hey, we have $10,000 in music budget." You go, "Whoa, well that's definitely gonna be impossible." I'll call these publishers myself, I'll pull any favor I can, but we need a little more than that. But, you know, when it still has the music, the character, and Charlie Banks is still there, and it's the feel and overall tone and tension of those vibrations, I still think it works for it. The movie, personally, is a little long to me. I wish they would have let me finish editing it; I would have taken out 10, maybe 12, 15 minutes of it.

=============================================
and Dave Eggers/Sam Mendes

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/away_we_go/news/1829135/five_favorite_films_with_dave_eggers_and_vendela_vida

Dave Eggers: We're going to be doing this on the fly. We might start with The Landlord.

Vendela Vida: Hal Ashby film.

DE: And we might have [a] half Hal Ashby list because he was our main hero when we were writing this movie.

VV: We watched The Landlord together. It was sent to us by Sam Mendes before Away We Go was being filmed. We had told Sam about our love of Hal Ashby and some of his other films, and Sam was also an Ashby fan. That was kind of our common entry point, and the reason we knew we were in such good hands with Sam as director was because he was seeing the same references we were [seeing] and had the same idea for the look and feel of the movie. He sent us The Landlord and we watched it together and we loved it. The color and the tone, and the fact that it was a real movie taking place in a real specific time.

DE: [Anything in Ashby's] body of work is always recognizably him, but it's pretty elastic. Like Being There is very different than Shampoo in a lot of ways. There's a little bit of the surreal that can enter in, but at the same time, they're very grounded and very of their time, and have a certain gritty feel to them. They're not so clean. There's a naturalism there that he marries with some very bold moves and even magical realism.

[The Landlord] is this movie that not too many people have seen, didn't have a big release originally, and it's hard to find on DVD, and doesn't have the reputation of Harold and Maude and Coming Home. But I kind of think it might be his best movie. Maybe it's just because it's so screamingly brave in a lot of ways, and it hits so many issues. There's so few American movies that touch on class, and this just comes straight at you like a train, talking about class issues, race.

[It's about] this young man who's born into privilege, struggling with his place. "He is to the manor born," you know? He has money in his blood, and he can afford to go buy a building where people are living. Just a young man, Beau Bridges, and it's probably my favorite thing I've ever seen Beau Bridges do, too. It's sort of startling to see him in this role as the golden boy, and you can almost see Jeff Bridges playing it, too. And the fact that this white guy, automatically, just by the color of his skin and the place he was born and the family he was born into, has the ability to be responsible for the lives of all of these far less fortunate or privileged people. [He struggles] with that sense of responsibility and [tries] to reject it and give up that control, but [also] do right by these people. I don't know, it's so complex.

But [Ashby's] not afraid to have some very broad comic moments. You know, there's a few people who can do it since. Like Alexander Payne or David O. Russell, a few other people whose work you can see owe a lot to Ashby.

[SiliasRuby]

'Coming Home' was extremely powerful. It moved me to tears tonight and I have a huge headache and I'm a little drunk and I'm really angry. Possibly more later.

[SiliasRuby]

'Coming Home', is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen and one of the most emotional. I was worried about the subject matter (war veterans severly injured in the war) it was going to be a complete downer and while it had those heavy, weighty moments, it had just as much slight sad humor thats in all Hal Ashby's movies. It may be his best but its not my favorite. That goes to 'Shampoo'. I'm still so happy that I have netflix to get this because I would never find this at Blockbuster. Oh and Jane Fonda is still hot in this film.