Hal Ashby

Started by j_scott_stroup04, December 17, 2003, 08:47:17 PM

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modage

okay last year i saw being there, which (i'm sad to admit) i didn't 'get'.  i just didnt think it was funny.  but after reading Easy Riders... i decided to try out a few more and this week saw Last Detail, Harold and Maude and Shampoo.  i dont think i thought any were 'great', but all had interesting elements.  its funny how many things you can notice were borrowed by other filmmakers.  last detail 'lets shag ass' from royal tenenbaums.    shampoo's 'do you wanna fuck?' from jackie brown.  the opening shots of Harold and Maude i think were echoed in the beginning of the Ninth Gate.  uhhh, thats it.  he's okay. i thought the opening of Harold and Maude was brilliant, but i'm not rushing out to buy any of these.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

being there was sweet but the outtakes were stupit.
under the paving stones.

Henry Hill

BREAKING AWAY is the only film of Ashby's that I have seen. It won the Oscar for best screenplay I believe. It's a pretty good 70's teenage movie with Dennis Quaid. If you like Hal Ashby and your into sports, bicycling in particular, you should check it out.

SoNowThen

Anybody remotely interested in Ashby must see Coming Home. Being There gets more press, but CH is his masterpiece.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

Finn

Judging from A Decade Under the Influence, he was a lot like Chancy himself. He was like a free-spirit who was just happy to be making a movie.
Typical US Mother: "Remember what the MPAA says; Horrific, Deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty words."

You Never Got Me Down Ray

Has anybody seen The Landlord? It looks good, but I don't believe it's ever been released on dvd. I liked, not loved, Harold and Maude and I have yet to see Being There. It's on my list for the next time I go to dvdplanet, as well as The Last Detail.
My life has taken another turn again. The days move along with regularity, over and over. One day indistinguishable from the next. A long, continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is change.

Henry Hill

Quote from: SoNowThenAnybody remotely interested in Ashby must see Coming Home. Being There gets more press, but CH is his masterpiece.

         I didn't remember that Hal Ashby directed this film. I had to write a paper on COMING HOME for a society in film class in college. The thing that sets it apart from other Vietnam films is that it shows how the war affects the people at home as opposed to in the war.  This is a very emotional film. Anybody who is into psychology/sociology, this is definitely a film you should see. My professor says COMING HOME is the best example of anomie, or anomic suicide he has ever seen on film. I agree with SoNowThen. If you wanna become familiar with Ashby's work, see this film. Jon Voight and Jane Fonda won Best Actor/Actress respectively for COMING HOME.

Pubrick

Quote from: filmboy70My professor says COMING HOME is the best example of anomie, or anomic suicide he has ever seen on film.
whatever that means..
under the paving stones.

modage

(i had to look it up...obviously, the only person who would actually know what it meant is probably godardian).

ANOMIE
1. Social instability caused by erosion of standards and values. 2. Alienation and purposelessness experienced by a person or a class as a result of a lack of standards, values, or ideals: "We must now brace ourselves for disquisitions on peer pressure, adolescent anomie and rage"
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

soixante

Breaking Away was directed by Peter Yates, not Hal Ashby.

Coming Home is one of Ashby's best films.  Shampoo is my favorite, while Last Detail and Bound For Glory are well worth checking out.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Henry Hill

So sorry guys. I totally meant to say what Anomie had to do with the film, but I got sidetracked.   :oops:

Ghostboy

I saw Coming Home this evening...man, is it good. The path Bruce Dern's character is just devastating. His scene with John Voigt by the pool broke my heart.

I haven't seen many Ashby movies, but I really like him. Harold and Maude was forced upon me during my Goth days in high school, when I was perusing the auto ads in the paper, looking for an inexpensive hearse. I liked it a lot, although I remember thinking it bordered on the precious now and then. I saw Shampoo on a particularly smoggy day in LA last year, and absolutely loved it. Ashby's style seems very reminiscent of Altman, sort of that fly on the wall approach.

lamas

Being There is worth watching for the last scene if nothing else.  Best.  Scene.  Ever.

mutinyco

Ashby was good. You'd never know one of his films from another. They were almost kind of anonymous, yet individual. They were usually social or political -- probably a reason young people nowadays don't get him. But he had a pretty great run in the '70s. If his legacy isn't so strong it's because he died. Also he wasn't much of a visual stylist. He just told stories.
"I believe in this, and it's been tested by research: he who fucks nuns will later join the church."

-St. Joe

SHAFTR

I just watched Harold and Maude and I did not like it.  I thought the performances, music & direction were all very good.  You would think that this would be enough but I found the movie boring and the story/script was something I just didn't like.  There were 2 jokes in the entire film, ones about stealing cars and ones about faking suicide.  I didn't really start to like or care for any of the characters.  They were just eccentric, with each having their own little "i'm going to tell you a story of my past" section.  Towards the end I started to feel a little something, but I realized it was all because of the Stevens' music and Ashby's direction, and not because of the characters.

**1/2 (out of 5 stars)
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"