The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[changeyourstars8]

Believe it or not, I saw that movie for the first time today. I know, I know, I'm behind.

Haven't seen too many Westerns yet-- I don't remember what the first one I ever saw was, but it had John Wayne in it. The scene was him coming up to this woman's house (I think she was a widow) and she was of course wary of a strange guy on her property, and he looked her over and sneered, "Don't flatter yourself." At which point I delivered a ten-minute lecture to my father about exactly how much of a sleaze the supposed 'hero' of the movie was and then left the room.

The remake of 3:10 to Yuma convinced me that no, not all Westerns are necessarily Like That. So today Chris and I borrowed A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. We rented High Plains Drifter, which seemed to be the next part in the series. Loved the first three, but then the fourth one opened with Female Stereotype #42 saying nasty things to the Eastwood character until he snaps that she needs to be taught a lesson, and so he drags her into a barn and rapes her while this creepy guy from town watches and grins (of course, by the end of it she's stopped cursing at him and struggling, because we all know that even when women say no, they really want it!).

Chris: *turning off DVD* "Soooo, what do we want to watch instead?"

I check imdb so I can make sure to never ever rent anything else that guy did the screenplay for, and one of the first comments I saw about the movie was, "Well I don't know why people are calling it rape, she was obviously looking for attention and--"

Me: "Self, you cannot psychically make people explode through the computer. Unfortunately."

So now we're watching Pinky and the Brain, because it's unlikely to raise my blood pressure and Kaylee likes dancing to the theme song.

In other news-- dinner was chicken with tomatoes and feta cheese, and lunch yesterday was homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (white cheddar and bacon). I think I like this whole learning-to-cook thing. :-)

Comments

[finniscs.livejournal.com]

oh man dinner sounds great but the grilled cheese with cheddar and bacon??? wow. I want one now!!! :-)

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

I can email you the recipe!

[neintales.livejournal.com]

I never could get through GOod Bad, and Ugly.

Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More I vaguely remember watching on multiple occassions and loving as a child as ULTRA CHEESY. And I liked Shane (both the movie and the book).

The only western I've seen and actively LIKED as an older person was Tombstone. I suspect I would still like Shane, too.

And mind you, I am a huge fan of Louis L'Amor books to this day, and in my youth devoured the blood & thunder that is J.T. Edson too. (Now I am mildly embarrassed over How Seriously I took Edson's stuff.)

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen Shane or Tombstone yet, but will add them to my list!

I thought about getting into Louis L'Amour, but then I saw how. freaking. many. there were. lol Maybe someday.

[neintales.livejournal.com]

There's not toooo many, really! I have pretty much the entire collection and it's only a tad bigger than my Pratchett one. I think. =)

[neintales.livejournal.com]

Also.. since I have not been reading your LJ long and you have the kidlet reaching the 'oo likes movement on screen!' stage... have you seen much Japanese animation? 'Cuz you strike me as the type who might like some Ghibli things and also a few of the films I adore by Satoshi Kon....

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

I've seen one anime movie over at a friend's house-- oh man, now of course I can't remember the name of it. But it had a girl with reddish hair and she had this flying-squirrelish animal for a pet that was entirely too cute.

[neintales.livejournal.com]

That'd be Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind, a Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki film, more than likely =)

I tend to start folks out on Ghibli stuff when I'm introducing them to anime ^^ It's basically shit Disney WISHES it had thought of first. (And is currently released in the US mostly by Disney). They are family-style animation that kidlet will prooobably love once she starts to truly pay attention.

Other Ghibli films to check out:
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away
Castle in the Sky
Porco Rosso
Howl's Moving Castle (Can't remember if this one was OFFICIAL Ghibli, I think it was Miyazaki's son directing)

And Satoshi Kon... well his most famousish movie is one called A Perfect Blue, which I cannot watch all the way through as it deals with obsession, psychosis, stalking, rape, etc. in a really suspenseful/nutbar way. BUT other movies of his that I absolutely ADORE:

Tokyo Godfathers (My favorite Christmas movie EVAR, despite my not being overly fond of Christmas)
Millenium Actress
Paprika (Though this one is ALSO very adultish themed and psychotic as it deals with dreams becoming reality. NOT kidlet safe.)

Yes. I am an anime freak (though a bit behind the times) =)

[neintales.livejournal.com]

D'oh, forgot one more Ghibli one:
Princess Mononoke though of the lot of them it's the most actively violent and mature in content so probably not kid-safe until Kaylee reaches a more mature age. (Nausicaa I also think may be a bit scary/sad for kids who reach that stage of 'can understand death, but not totally understand it'.

But for the most part, the Ghibli stuff is great all the way from "ooo moving colors on screen" to "starting to actively understand what is going on" stages, as well as very adult friendly =)

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'll look these up on amazon and add to the wish list some more. *S* Thanks!

((and yeah, Nausicaa, that was it!))

[rosevaughn.livejournal.com]

You know...I have plenty of anime you can borrow...

(you've also seen Read or Die and Ghost in the Shell)

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. LOL Read or Die was cute. Also, I do love the title (wonder why. *s*)

[that-evening.livejournal.com]

I hear ya about certain westerns - I grew up in a family that adores westerns, so I've seen many. Personally the John Wayne movie I love best is not a full-on western. The one I loved, and still sit down and watch everytime its on TV, is The Searchers, though the young female character annoys me greatly by being such a female stereotype. Still, the movie itself I really enjoyed.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen The Searchers . . . might catch it one of these days when my John Wayne Tolerance Level is feeling high. lol

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

I hate John Wayne and all that he stands for.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

*nods* Dad convinced me to watch a different one of his later on, telling me that it wasn't a Western, it was more of a romantic comedy and I'd probably enjoy it. The movie?

The Quiet Man. Of "and here's a stick to beat the lovely lady" fame. :-P

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and then there's "McLintock!"

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

High Plains Drifter is not part of the Dollars Trilogy. What'd you think of those three movies, though?

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that!

I thought the trilogy was a lot of fun. Going to pick it up sometime later, and I'm also going to have to check into more Lee Van Cleef movies, because I really liked him in both the parts he played. I loved how they had a lot of the cast come back in different roles (though it made for a bit of confusion at the start of the second-- Chris was like, "Wait a second; I thought we just saw Ramon die." :-))

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Lee Van Cleef is pretty awesome.