Movies and TV Shows That are Great

[Ternaugh]

 

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

"You brought our baby into a knife fight?"

"It was a fair fight. Two of them, two of us...."

 

"Look. We had a deal: you commit a felony , I go."

[death tribble]

Thunderbirds (1964-66)

A puppet show that has some of the most iconic models ever seen in the Thunderbird craft. International Rescue is an organisation that exists to save people from potential (or certain) death while shunning the media and any sort of reward financial or otherwise. Thunderbird 1 does the reconnaissance and co-ordinates the rescue while Thunderbird 2 brings the rescue equipment. Thunderbird 3 can go into space and takes a replacement astronaut to Thunderbird 5 which is a  space station monitoring communications traffic. Thunderbird 4 is a small submarine used for underwater rescues..The Thunderbirds are piloted or manned by members of the Tracy family. Scott Tracy was voiced by Shane Rimmer who appeared in several James Bond films most notably The Spy Who Loved Me where he was the American submarine commander. The organisation also had a London agent who travelled in a pink Rolls Royce which had a machine gun hidden in the radiator grill.

The series had one of the best openings starting with a countdown showing off the Thunderbird craft and then showing what was going to happen in the upcoming episode. Avoid the live action 2004 film like the plague

[BoloOfEarth]

I'm drawing a blank on the name (and my Google-fu isn't working), but there was a movie where a witch doctor is supposed to cure the sick daughter of the head of the village but is failing, so he prays to the heavens for a *real* doctor.  And then a bunch of extremely (laughably so) unlikely events occur to bring a medical doctor (and I believe his ex-wife) to the village.  I think I saw this back in the 1980s or maybe early 1990s.  If anybody knows what this is called, I'd appreciate it.  While not "great" cinema, it was (at least as I recall across the yawning abyss of a few decades) a fun movie. 

[Cassandra]

3 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

I'm drawing a blank on the name (and my Google-fu isn't working), but there was a movie where a witch doctor is supposed to cure the sick daughter of the head of the village but is failing, so he prays to the heavens for a *real* doctor.  And then a bunch of extremely (laughably so) unlikely events occur to bring a medical doctor (and I believe his ex-wife) to the village.  I think I saw this back in the 1980s or maybe early 1990s.  If anybody knows what this is called, I'd appreciate it.  While not "great" cinema, it was (at least as I recall across the yawning abyss of a few decades) a fun movie. 

 

Miracles (1986) starring Teri Garr and Tom Conti.
 

[Bazza]

On 10/17/2019 at 7:24 PM, Bazza said:

The Outsiders. Just perfect. 

 

The Outsiders (1983), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. 

 

Based on the novel by S E Hinton, The Outsiders is a coming of age story set in Tusla, Oklahoma, between two rival teen gangs, the Greasers and the Socs.  The story told is from the perspective of orphan Ponyboy Curtis, a Greaser who lives with his two older brothers Sodapop and Darrel. Most of the cast then were unknown, but now are stars: C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, and Diane Lane. Ralph Macchio would star a year later in The Karate Kid, and later that year Tom Cruise would shoot to fame in Risky Business (1983).

In 2005, the film was rereleased with a directors cut as "the complete novel" to make it more faithful to the novel. As well as an additional 22 minus, including inserting deleted scenes, this edition also changed the original score for a period appropriate soundtrack.  

[Michael Hopcroft]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)

 

Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.

 

In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.

 

I cannot recommend this highly enough.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Speaking of Holmes --

 

The Seven-Percent Solution (1984)

 

A complete re-imagining of "The Final Problem". Holmes has been harassing an innocent mathematics professor and becoming increasingly paranoid. For Dr. Watson, the problem seems obvious: Holmes' cocaine habit has become full-fledged addiction and is making him paranoid. The great detective would not live very much longer if he kept this up, so Watson and Mycroft Holmes concocts a scheme to take Holmes to Vienna where he knows of a practitioner who can help him -- perhaps the only one who can.

 

That provider is Dr. Sigmund Freud. And once they arrived Holmes must confront his problem once and for all. during that period, he also comes to the aid of an actress in the power of an Austrian nobleman with sordid ambitions.

 

The acting is uniformly excellent: Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Watson, Alan Arkin as Freud, and near-cameos by Laurence Olivier and Charles Gray.

 

There is a heartbreaking scene that seems to have been cut from home video releases in which Watson and Freud discover that Holmes had been hiding cocaine bottles (cocaine was still legal in most of Europe) in his violin case is place of the instrument. Later in the film Freud finds Holmes another violin, and the detective plays it for the Freud family to their great delight.

[Michael Hopcroft]

On 10/19/2019 at 6:08 AM, death tribble said:

King Kong (1933)

 

Without this monster movie there might not have been other ones.

A filmmaker goes to the mysterious Skull Island and finds a giant gorilla who he captures and brings to New York to exhibit. Kong escapes and goes on the rampage in New York before succumbing to gunfire from airplanes and falls to his death from the top of the Empire State Building. The only person most of the public know in the cast is Fay Wray. It is interesting watching the video version rather than the censored version you get on TV as Kong eats people, strips Wray and when in New York casually tosses aside women who are not Wray to their deaths. The film has stop motion from Willis O'Brien and he manages to generate real pathos as Kong is dying and losing the girl to the hero.   

Carl Denham is very much the picture of Hollywood megalomania -- and hubris. No wonder the story appealed to Peter Jackson, who is himself a picture of megalomania and hubris.

[Cassandra]

By Dawn's Early Light (1990)

 

The crew of a B-52 Bomber lead by Powers Booth and Rebecca De Mornay finds itself in the middle of World War Three when the Soviet Union launches a nuclear attack by accident.  Meanwhile The President (Martin Landau) goes missing after his chopper crashes because of a nearby nuclear explosion, and the unstable Secretary of the Interior becomes President (Darren McGavin) and  gets some bad advice from a fanatical Colonel (Rip Torn).

 

Based on the book Trinity's Child by William Prochnau the movie follows the plot but is more streamlined and avoids the books leaden satire.  One odd coincidence has the President in the book woken up after falling asleep while watching Martin Landau on Mission Impossible, which may had been a bit of stunt casting in having the actor play the President in the movie.

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Carl Denham is very much the picture of Hollywood megalomania -- and hubris. No wonder the story appealed to Peter Jackson, who is himself a picture of megalomania and hubris.

 

 

Carl Denham's fast-talking movie producer character became so iconic, any time someone starts talking like him everyone immediately recognizes the character, even if they've never seen the original King Kong.

[Pariah]

Carried over from the Dungeon draft thread, today's nomination for a television show that is great is Wipeout. 

 

The premise is simple: Start with 24 intrepid souls and run them through a multi-stage obstacle course in front of a TV camera. Offer each day's winner $50,000. Add lots of intimidating, amusing, and sometimes nigh-impossible obstacles. Eliminate half the contestants each round. (24 → 12 → 6 → 3)  Have two guys in the booth--one an experienced ESPN anchor and one a noted stand-up comedian--and one beautiful lady on the ground report and comment on the contestants and their inevitable pratfalls. Sprinkle the commentary liberally with pop-culture references, lame puns, amusing nicknames, and snappy banter, leaning heavily on the fourth wall at all times. Feed the audience a nonstop stream of fall, spills, tumbles, and high-impact collisions with padded blunt objects, complete with instant replays (frequently in slow-motion) and liberal doses of gentle mockery. Crown each night's champion and then sign off with the words, "Good night...and big balls." Lather, rinse, repeat (often literally).

 

A less-batguano-insane re-imagining of Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC), which is itself an English-language repackaging of Takeshi's Castle, Wipeout is a delight for adults and children alike. It's kind of like the old Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner cartoons, but with real people. Co-hosts John Anderson and John Henson keep the zingers coming hard and fast, and Jill Wagner provides sideline commentary (although, in my humble opinion, Vanessa Lachey was much more entertaining...and cuter). The course itself is as important a character as the three co-hosts, with each episode providing a slightly different group of obstacles than the one before. The opening round (the "Qualifier") is designed specifically to spill every contestant; maybe once in every 10 episodes will we see someone get through without getting dumped in the mud and/or dropped into the pool. The final round (the "Wipeout Zone") is a high-drama final course of 3-5 obstacles specifically designed to test the endurance of contestants who have already spent all day getting dumped, smacked, dropped, and generally mistreated. Whoever finishes first in "The Zone" has definitely earned their $50K.

 

The show ran from 2008-2014, although reruns can still be found on cable occasionally.

[mattingly]

6 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

The Seven-Percent Solution (1984)

 

My favorite Holmes film!

 

Pairing Holmes and Freud was a great idea to begin with, and Arkin really made it sing.

 

 

[BoloOfEarth]

12 hours ago, mattingly said:

 

My favorite Holmes film!

 

Pairing Holmes and Freud was a great idea to begin with, and Arkin really made it sing.

 

 

 

Wait... it was a musical?!

[mattingly]

For Arkin singing, you need to check out The Return of Captain invincible.

It also features Christopher Lee.

He also sings.

Songs written by Richard "Riff Raff" O'Brien.

 

[Greywind]

Singing? Sean Connery, Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

[Cassandra]

3 hours ago, mattingly said:

For Arkin singing, you need to check out The Return of Captain invincible.

It also features Christopher Lee.

He also sings.

Songs written by Richard "Riff Raff" O'Brien.

 

 

I loved Christopher Lee singing the name of all the drinks.

 

And the Mr. Midnight song was the best.

[Tjack]

2 hours ago, Cassandra said:

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

Bullet in the Head (1990)

 

In his Hong King days, John Woo was an extremely influential director for the way he was able to blend violence and poetry. The Killer and Once a Thief are true classics. But this was the movie where he really made his mark, and it is truly unfortunate that so few North Americans have seen it.

 

In the late 1960s, three young Hong Kong hoods on the bottom rung of the criminal ladder are sent out on a smuggling run delivering unspecified contraband to Saigon. Needless to say, everything goes south and the cargo is lost. This leads the unfortunate hoods on an odyssey through wartime Vietnam, where they must deal with arrogant Yankees, corrupt Saigon crime syndicates, and the madness of the Viet Cong. Along way one of the men develops a sort of conscience, while another loses what little sense of morality he had.

 

Asian perspectives on the Vietnam War are rarely seen in North America.  Americans like to think of the war as their tragedy. Yes, almost 289,000 "Allied" forces lost their lives, but of these only about 58,000 of them were Americans. There were an estimated 444,000 "enemy" deaths and more than 600,000 civilians were killed. That doesn't include the massive suffering inflicted by the Hanoi government on defeated South Vietnam. It was very much an Asian war, most of it fought by Asians. I don't think Americans  like to be seen as they are seen by the peoples who fought with them (and were then left to their fate) very much.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Gojira(1954)- Though this is considered the prototype for all the "kaiju" films that followed(which really isn't true...1961's Mothra is a much more representative prototype of the Japanese kaiju film), it really is a masterpiece of cinema. More than just a metaphor for the atom bomb, the film is representative of war itself and of the difference even one person can make. It's all played straight...and....seen in its original Japanese form...is one of the most thoughtful and influential films of all time. The documentary style directing, black and white cinematography, and brooding powerful music all help to create a film that still impresses even today.

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

Gojira(1954)- Though this is considered the prototype for all the "kaiju" films that followed(which really isn't true...1961's Mothra is a much more representative prototype of the Japanese kaiju film), it really is a masterpiece of cinema. More than just a metaphor for the atom bomb, the film is representative of war itself and of the difference even one person can make. It's all played straight...and....seen in its original Japanese form...is one of the most thoughtful and influential films of all time. The documentary style directing, black and white cinematography, and brooding powerful music all help to create a film that still impresses even today.

 

https://archive.org/details/GODZILLA1954JapaneseVersionHD

[death tribble]

13 hours ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

Gojira(1954)- Though this is considered the prototype for all the "kaiju" films that followed(which really isn't true...1961's Mothra is a much more representative prototype of the Japanese kaiju film), it really is a masterpiece of cinema. More than just a metaphor for the atom bomb, the film is representative of war itself and of the difference even one person can make. It's all played straight...and....seen in its original Japanese form...is one of the most thoughtful and influential films of all time. The documentary style directing, black and white cinematography, and brooding powerful music all help to create a film that still impresses even today.

I have seen the original and American adaptation of the original where Raymond Burr is added. The film is referenced reverently by later films in the series and the actor who played Dr Serizawa turned up in sequels in different roles after sacrificing himself to stop the monster in the original. It deservedly belongs in this thread.

[death tribble]

Dr Who from 1970 to 1981

This covers the tenures of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

Pertwee was a comedy actor but played the role straight as a very heroic figure as Dr Who went colour for the first time (the two films notwithstanding). He played the role for five years and had three assistants, Liz Smith, Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith. The three middle years 71 to 73 where Jo Grant played by Katy Manning was the assistant produced some of the best stories. This included the introduction of the planet Peladon and the Ice Warriors as good guys, the introduction of the Master played by Roger Delgado as a renegade Time Lord, the reappearance of the Silurians in this case marine versions the Sea Devils, two Dalek stories (Day of the Daleks and Planet of the Daleks), giant maggots in a Welsh mine and William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton appearing in the show as the Doctor when the renegade Time Lord Omega threatens all.

Most of the run was earthbound with the Dr stranded on Earth by his own people The Time Lords and this caused some complaint. The Doctor was backed by UNIT and the Brigadier in particular.

Tom Baker took over the role in 1975 (28th December 1974 but that is 75 as makes no difference) and is the actor with the longest run as the character. Starting with Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, his other companions were Leela, Romana, K9, Adric and technically Nyssa and Tegan. The earlier episodes are better and include arguably the best Dr Who story of them all Genesis of the Daleks where we finally find out the how and why of the Daleks creation. The Sontarans make their second and third appearances, the Cyberman return, the enemies of the Sontarans are introduced, the Doctor returns to Gallifrey and more Time Lord history is explored (Brain of Morbius, Image of the Fendahl, Seeds of Doom and State of Decay). The Brigadier makes his last appearance for some years in Terror of the Zygons which allows him to finally find an alien enemy who can be shot with a gun and be killed.

The show got some of its highest ratings with the introduction of Leela played by Louise Jameson. The costume was what swayed a lot of people or so it is claimed.

 

Yes this is a very personal choice. I was five in Pertwee's first season and 16 in Baker's last so it covered formative years.

[Lord Liaden]

Pertwee's eccentric James Bondish take on the Doctor was fun (Venusian Aikido for the win!)   but Tom Baker was the Doctor I began watching regularly, and will always be the one I'm most fond of. His character was a unique scientific swashbuckler, full of humor and panache. Everybody loves the hero who wins, and wins with such style.

[csyphrett]

Tom Baker was the first Doctor who basically was like "Is this a world destroying device? I love me some world destroying devices. What does this button do? Oopsie daisy."

CES

[Christopher R Taylor]

Taxi and Barney Miller still hold up really well.  So does Rockford Files, obviously