Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

2nd favorite TT blind buy is probably another Jeff Bridges title, The Fabulous Baker Boys. Loved the piano bar scene of Seattle, seeing real life brothers play screen brothers (making up for missing out on The Long Riders), and the firecracker that was young Michelle Pfeiffer.

If only somebody would give us Bad Company...

And finally, since we're talking about little-seen TT gems, I finally got around to The Secret of Santa Vittoria. oildude wrote an ebullient review when it was on the cusp of selling out, and I pounced on it. Charming little comedy that also works as a dramatic counterpart to something like The Train, with a small Italian village under the "leadership" of a bumbling but affable citizen-cum-mayor, Anthony Quinn, who conspire to save their heritage from marauding Germans by stashing a million bottles of wine in the tunnels of a cave. Fun, heartfelt movie that looks great on Blu-ray, was really happy I grabbed this before it went.

Jeff Bridges also shines in Twilight Time's release of Fat City.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by RedHarvest

Jeff Bridges also shines in Twilight Time's release of Fat City.

I went with Indicator's release of that but you're right, he does.

Ditto Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, but I'm probably going to sell that and pick up Kino's new 4k release down the line.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I think I'm finally going to pick up Cutter's Way. It'll be a blind buy. I'm a major Jeff Bridges fan. I'm so grateful to TT for releasing The Fabulous Baker Boys. Man I LOVE that film! I also picked up their release for Fat City. Great film but boy is it ever depressing.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I went with Indicator's release of that but you're right, he does.

Ditto Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, but I'm probably going to sell that and pick up Kino's new 4k release down the line.

Just did that myself: sold off my TT copy of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and picked up the Kino, which has a beautiful new 4K transfer.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I think I'm finally going to pick up Cutter's Way. It'll be a blind buy. I'm a major Jeff Bridges fan. I'm so grateful to TT for releasing The Fabulous Baker Boys. Man I LOVE that film! I also picked up their release for Fat City. Great film but boy is it ever depressing.

I'll think you'll be very happy with Cutter's Way, especially if you like 70s-80s neo-noir.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I think I'm finally going to pick up Cutter's Way. It'll be a blind buy. I'm a major Jeff Bridges fan. I'm so grateful to TT for releasing The Fabulous Baker Boys. Man I LOVE that film! I also picked up their release for Fat City. Great film but boy is it ever depressing.

Yes! Fat City! I love Fat City! I tell so many people to go out and watch it!

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by RedHarvest

I'll think you'll be very happy with Cutter's Way, especially if you like 70s-80s neo-noir.

I love it! I just placed my order a little bit ago!

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I think I'm finally going to pick up Cutter's Way. It'll be a blind buy. I'm a major Jeff Bridges fan. I'm so grateful to TT for releasing The Fabulous Baker Boys. Man I LOVE that film! I also picked up their release for Fat City. Great film but boy is it ever depressing.

Seeing as we are talking about blind buys, Fat City was one of my favourite examples from Twilight Time.

[4000dvds2many]

Originally Posted by bruceames

Regarding The Member of the Wedding, I liked it for the most part, especially the last 30 minutes or so. But for me, the constant whining by Harris for most of the movie was really annoying. Seemed to be overacting just a tad as well, which grated on me even more.

Julie Harris was always primarily a stage actress. I think she was still learning in her early films how to rein it in for screen acting.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Seeing as we are talking about blind buys, Fat City was one of my favourite examples from Twilight Time.

Yeah that was a blind buy for me as well that ended up being one of my best. Fat City has some of the best and most realistic acting I've ever seen which is one of the reasons it packed such a punch for me.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by SDCinerama

The stated positions that they're on pause. More info to come.
So everyone should buy a ton of disc to motivate them to roar back to life.

Twilight Time is one of my favorite labels. It would be a shame to see them close up shop. I've bought a number of titles over the years, and have purchased a number of titles during the last few sales in order to show my support. Here's hoping they undergo a successful re-organization, and come back stronger than ever as a business in 2020!

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I'm eternally grateful to TT for Chilly Scenes of Winter and Cutter's Way for exposing me to the range of talent of John Heard. For most of my movie-watching life he was, as I'm sure he was with so many others, merely just the "dad in Home Alone".

These two movies showed what a raw and immense talent he was in his young days...it's too bad he seemed to level off and never really ascended to greater heights.

And I'll echo what others here have said, Cutter's Way is probably heads and shoulders my favorite blind buy from this company. If they do go under, it'll be jewels like this for which I'll remember them by.

Chilly Scenes of Winter is a "cinematic diamond in the rough" IMO. I enjoyed John Heard's staring role in the film, as well as Mary Beth Hurt's role (who is adorable in the film). I always though the film perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-to-late 70s very well. If you like the film, the novel is even better, it's much more dark humored than the film adaptation. I enjoyed "Cutter's Way" but I'm not enough of a fan of the film to own it, but John Heard and Jeff Bridges were great in the film and the accolades surrounding it are well deserved.

[Jobla]

Two other fine John Heard performances are in BETWEEN THE LINES and HEART BEAT (as Jack Kerouac). BETWEEN THE LINES is on Blu-ray, but HEART BEAT is only available as a Warner Archive MOD.

For me, John Heard ruled the 80's, with those films and CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER/HEAD OVER HEELS and CUTTER'S WAY/CUTTER AND BONE.

By the time he appeared in AFTER HOURS, he had gained a lot of weight. But he subsequently slimmed down and almost reestablished himself as a leading man in DECEIVED.

[SeanJoyce]

Had a Bronson twofer night, hosted by TT.

The Stone Killer, frankly, sucked...lethargic and barely comprehensible, this is a far cry from other notable 70s cop flicks and it's one of Bronson's most mailed-in performances. This one's more than likely getting tossed on the "for sale" pile.

From Noon Till Three, however, was a true delight...whimsical and charming, this was such an about-face for the usually-stoic Bronson and tonally fits nicely next to Farwell, Friend and Red Sun. Gorgeous cinematography from Lucien Ballard, score by the always-reliable Elmer Bernstein, and hands-down Jill Ireland's best performance, I recommend any fans of Bronson and/or westerns pick this up at its current low price.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Two other fine John Heard performances are in BETWEEN THE LINES and HEART BEAT (as Jack Kerouac). BETWEEN THE LINES is on Blu-ray, but HEART BEAT is only available as a Warner Archive MOD.

For me, John Heard ruled the 80's, with those films and CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER/HEAD OVER HEELS and CUTTER'S WAY/CUTTER AND BONE.

By the time he appeared in AFTER HOURS, he had gained a lot of weight. But he subsequently slimmed down and almost reestablished himself as a leading man in DECEIVED.

Not just an acclaimed dramatic actor, don't forget his absolutely hilarious performance in the middling, but often very funny, comedy from 1996, MY FELLOW AMERICANS. He totally steals the movie from Jack Lemmon, James Garner and Dan Akroyd, not an easy task.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by 4000dvds2many

Julie Harris was always primarily a stage actress. I think she was still learning in her early films how to rein it in for screen acting.

While Harris's performance in The Member of the Wedding may not have aged well according to modern tastes, she was nominated for an Academy Award for it. I haven't seen it in years (it's somewhere on my to-be-watched pile) but I remember enjoying her in it. Her character was meant to be a whiny pain-in-the-ass. I also thought she did an acceptable, if not altogether convincing job of portraying a 12 year-old. I think she was 26 at the time, and those kind of age differences are much harder to pull off on film than on the stage.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Her character was meant to be a whiny pain-in-the-ass.

That's really all she played.

[senseabove]

There are other acting styles than the modern, post-60s Method-influenced style of internal psychology, and prior styles seen in film being called overacting is a common criticism (one all too commonly leveled at performances by women). That other legitimate styles exist is implicitly acknowledged in the idea that there are different ways of acting for stage and for screen, and that it is "wrong" to act in a movie as one would on the stage. While there may be different technical features—projection, over-enunciation, etc.—appropriate for the stage but not the microphone and camera, the emotional and physical style commonly described (pejoratively) as "stagey" is merely a different way of acting, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to record with a movie camera. Dismissing Harris' performance as "whiny" is missing much of the point, and if it's not "convincing," I have to ask if it's reasonable to expect anyone involved in the movie believed a 26-year-old playing a 12-year-old on camera would be convincing. If you can imagine the answer would be no... then perhaps neither Harris nor Zinneman were aiming for "convincing" and "believable."

Realism isn't the aim of all art, and The Member of the Wedding is a story told almost entirely from the heightened, internalized view of the character Harris is portraying: an adolescent on the cusp of puberty going through multiple emotional tragedies, both minor (social ostracism) and major (parental neglect, death). As I'm sure everyone who has ever been one is aware, adolescents experiencing even major emotional trauma are known to be perfectly level-headed, rational, and reasonable in their actions.

I can't help but imagine this is one of those performances that if it were in another language and subtitled, a lot of folks would be much more receptive to it...

[bruceames]

I really like her in East of Eden. Too bad she didn't get discovered earlier (or maybe she was but she didn't want to go to Hollywood until later), as she typically played roles much younger than she was.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by senseabove

I can't help but imagine this is one of those performances that if it were in another language and subtitled, a lot of folks would be much more receptive to it...

That would be definitely the case here, at least for me.