Expert: Mel - 2/21/2008

Question
Hello Sir,
Though, I already have submitted my sincere thanks to the main page for your instant reply; still I wish to say here that your definition of a good film is quite an eye-opening. I mean, here in India, in a study curriculum “To Understand Movie/Theatre” we are to attend many such instances where before (or sometimes after) the main movie in auditorium the spoke-person of the club (Film-Club I mean) ordinarily gives a kind of “Introductory” lecture (say, of five minutes to seven minutes depending on the importance of the movie.) He/She might have given the impression of what is a “Cult Movie”. I don’t say The Grissom Gang is fit to have a seat among “cult” segment, but as I said earlier in my note that there are some senior members who were using this adjective while discussing (among themselves) topic of cult movies. There was mention of “Taxi Driver” (I have seen this Robert De Nero classic), “Deliverance” (sorry no idea…), “The Killers” (with Lee Marvin and may be Angie Dickinson?...not seen); “Cotton Club (from that big shot Francis-Ford Coppola); “Die Hard” (Bruce Willis…who else?); even someone mentioned “Sugarland Express” of wonderboy Spielberg (I have seen this pretty one for pretty Goldie Hawn….I am sure yours wouldn’t be a different opinion for this one.)
Hope these movies fall under segment of Good Ones…though not great ones…..aren’t they?
Raj


Answer
Hello Raj,

I am inclined to view films first and foremost as an entertainment form and not as a form of art, which is what a lot of the aficionados would like us to believe. Of course, there is an "art" to making films, but if it doesn't entertain, then it has not served its purpose.

As I said before, I believe films can generally be listed as "good", "bad" or "indifferent". But we are all capable of looking at films in our own individual ways and what I would consider "good" might come under the heading of "bad" for you. Neither of us would be absolutely right, nor wrong. It's all a question of taste.

I should also have said that some can also be labelled as "great". And I think these films are inclined to stand out from the rest and, for one reason or another, we would all have some agreement about them. I would list films such as "Stagecoach", "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", "Shane", "Singin' In The Rain", "Spartacus", "The Searchers", "Don't Look Now", "Zulu", "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" and "Carousel" as great films. Films that I can watch over and over again and still find them as fresh as when I first saw them.

Just below the "great films" would come the "excellent". This is the upper layer of the "good" category and would include such films as "Calamity Jane", "Tunes Of Glory", "Cool Hand Luke", "Play Misty For Me", "Sullivan's Travels", "I Married A Witch", "Angels With Dirty Faces", "Red River", "The Ladykillers" and all the Ealing Comedies. The list is endless and I could go on forever.....and I haven't even mentioned Laurel & Hardy, or the great films from France, Italy, Russia, India and Japan.

Even when we get down to the "bad" and "indifferent", I still feel that these films should be watched with a certain amount of respect and not just dismissed out of hand. I'm quite sure that the director, writers and actors of a "bad" film" didn't set out to make it so. They set out to make it as good as they could. Unfortunately, their good wasn't as good as somebody else's may have been.

But, at the end of the day, it all comes down to personal choice, and I don't believe that anyone (meaning critics and film aficionados etc..) have the right to tell anyone else what they should watch and enjoy..........that is down to the individual!

I'll finish now before I ramble on too much.

Cheers.........Mel.


P.S. I don't know an awful lot about Indian Cinema, but I am a great admirer of Ashwarya Rai, a truly striking woman. But what was she doing in that very "indifferent" film "The Last Legion"? I really enjoyed "Kandukondain Kandukondain".