Ahh the very young... what could THEY possibly know! So, throwing out the video game (which I suspect it pretty darn good) and the TV documentary, the Marlon Brando IMDB-8.0 collection includes:
(9.20) - The Godfather (1972) (8.60) - Apocalypse Now (1979) (8.40) - On the Waterfront (1954) (8.10) - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Which, seems to me a pretty good list! Seems like an excellent set of recommendations to introduce a youngster to Brando. Are you suggesting that there is another gem on his resume? Perhaps 1992 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau! As for the skewness of the data, perhaps, but maybe not. I do think that the younger crowd (29 and below), in general, uniformly rate movies higher (perhaps 1 point higher). This should not matter (in relative ranking) as long as their participation is uniform in the movies you are comparing (e.g., I suspect that the breakdown of voters' ages for Cary Grant films is relatively consistent). However, I do believe that the breakdown is NOT uniform across all films -- as younger (higher voting) see and subsequently rate more new films than older films. Not to mention old people are smart enough to avoid films made specifically for younger audiences. So, by this theory, the ratings of modern films would (and I think do) excede ratings of older films in IMDB. But! That should not be a problem when looking at filmographies of stars (unless they have had and continue to have extremely long careers). This problem should not really be noticible except when creating Top 250 lists across all films -- a list which IMDB has and is clearly skewed modern (but great nevertheless)! However, IMDB does provide Top 50 by Decade and Genre which I suspect are more useful. You can look at the demographic breakdown of the votes (select the link next to the User Rating) determine which category you fall into and see if your perception is way out of line. Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zeev Drach" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, January 6, 2011 6:17:39 AM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? Evan, Even though at the very end of your post you go along with my contention, there are a couple of points in what you said that I am uneasy with: First of, my suggestion was NOT to pick your favorite, because of skewed perception. Secondly, I thought that doin' it in your mind will avoid making the whole thing an "exact science", because my number 3 is just something I picked out off the cuff. I won't swear to it. Lastly, and that is the most important, who gives those IMDB ratings, and what the heck are they worth? I don't exactly know, but I suspect not a heck of a lot. Case in point, of all Brando's great contribution to the world of motion pictures, 6 received an above 8.00 rating. But wait a minute, in the #3 spot is The Godfather-the VIDEO GAME!!, in the #5 spot is that "great" 2001 TV documentary starring Michael Jackson, and the first runner up in the #7 spot is "Roots: The Next Generation". See what I'm getting at? Clearly, those ratings are compiled by a computer based on popular voting which happen to be mostly the very young audience. Not wrong, but very skewed. Zeev -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 12:08 AM To: Zeev Drach Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? Don't trust you mind -- this is the age of the internet. Pick a star, find them in IMDB, and look at their film credits sorted by rating. If you assume (like I do) that anything rated 8 or above is a truly great film, I think you will be surprised at what you find. My favorite star has always been James Stewart and to his credit: (8.70) - It's a Wonderful Life (1946) (8.70) - Rear Window (1954) (8.60) - Vertigo (1958) (8.40) - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) (8.10) - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) (8.10) - Rope (1948) (8.10) - The Philadelphia Story (1940) (8.10) - Anatomy of a Murder (1959) (8.10) - Harvey (1950) (8.09) - The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Not to mention nearly another 30 (WOW!) respectable films rated 7 or higher. However, I think that he is the exception -- and I suspect that your number (3) is dead on! Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zeev Drach" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 4:20:44 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? I have long held to the idea that if a big-name actor has 3 truly great films to his/her credit, then he/she is doing very well. I know, it doesn’t sound like much but if you play this game, pick at random a big star(not your favorite though, because then you’re not objective) and go over in your mind through his achievements, you’d soon realize that it’s not easy to come up with 5 truly great movies spread out over an entire career. That would be the domain of the true superstars! And there aren’t many of those. From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Halegua Comic Art Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 4:49 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? Clark Gable is known for 2-3 films today (for the most part) GWTW It Happened One Night the Misfits (because of Marilyn) otherwise, he is entirely forgotten and that is a shame as he was a fine actor At 01:46 PM 1/5/2011, Dave Rosen wrote:  For some of these stars (James Dean in particular) some of the lobbies and 8x10s (at least color 8x10s, where they exist) are much better than any of the posters of any format for their movies. Ultimately, as time passes, collectors age, trends and fashions change, many former "icons" will only be known for one or two of their films, while others will cease to be "icons" altogether, joining the vanished stars of the silent era. And the process is probably helped along by the lack of attractive movie paper on them. It's sad to watch this happen, especially with a star the calibre of Brando, who was (and to a large extent remains) a very influential movie actor. But that's just the way it is... Dave Posteropolis Vintage Movie Posters http://www.posteropolis.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Neil Jaworski To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? i agree with Zeev and it's interesting that Brando, Clift and Dean were each served by terrible US campaigns for all their major films: A Place In The Sun, From Here To Eternity, Suddenly Last Summer, On The Waterfront, Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One, I Confess, Rebel, Giant, East Of Eden.... all pretty awful campaigns and so none of these actors has a single US poster that truly shows them at their peak. clift looks only so-so on the uninspired A Place In The Sun 1sh. a better image is The Heiress 3sh (on the 1sh he's largely hidden as per I Confess and much of his other paper). was clift too pretty for public consumption? the best clift portrait must actually be the one on his section of The Young Lions 1sh (although ruining things on this poster is brando who looks more like derren nesbitt). james dean posters, including rebel, I find very meh. who designed the East Of Eden campaign? a monkey who's acquired production stills, scissors, cataracts and a vendetta by the looks of things. it's a wonder these guys became icons at all. this wouldn't have been allowed to happen in the 1930/40s.... n --- On Wed, 5/1/11, Zeev Drach <[email protected]> wrote: From: Zeev Drach <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, 5 January, 2011, 19:58 Dave, You are so right about the “softness†of most of Brando’s paper, sadly however, this is true for most of the big names of the 40’s and 50’s. Who the heck collects Gregory Peck as an actor(as opposed to a couple of titles in which he’s in) these day? Or Spencer Tracy, or Anthony Quinn, Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, or even Clark Gable? And the list goes on and on. They’re all giants, we’d all agree, but the number collectors who care about them is dwindling fast. Marlon Brando, I think, could’ve been(and one day might still be) an exception, because he was an icon while still alive. The added problem with Brando paper, and now I’m getting back to the original topic, is that the design of the posters, even and especially for his key titles, is so poor and uninspiring. You can go over them one by one, Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One, On the Waterfront, and others, and you won’t find even ONE(!) decent design. Sorry for going on like this, but that’s obviously a touchy subject with me.. ;-) Zeev From: MoPo List [ mailto:[email protected] ] On Behalf Of Dave Rosen Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 1:15 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? I agree. Rarity aside, it's all about taste, personal interest and, ultimately, how many collectors want it and how far they are willing to go to get it. Yes, this poster is goofy-looking. Yes, the market for Brando material outside of Waterfront and Streetcar is a little soft. However, that aside, I have a number of motorcycle enthusiasts among my clients, as I'm sure do many other dealers. They like their bikes and they like anything to do with bikes, including anything to do with biker movies. This was the first biker movie but it was released with very little paper that actually shows motorcycles! That reason alone would probably be enough to drive a number of collectors to want this poster...badly. They don't have to be fans of Brando or even good poster art. As to whether it would reach the appraisal estimate, only an auction could determine that. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Evans To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 12:58 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? Think that goofiness will be a plus for some, got a lot of kitsch appeal. Though the irony may wear thin. On 5 Jan 2011, at 17:40, Kirby McDaniel wrote: Hi, Zeev et al I'm not a collector at all; I'm a seller. I collect other things like recordings and cookbooks. Who knew? The recovery of any unknown poster is interesting, particularly for a title like THE WILD ONE. Your DRAGSTRIP RIOT comment is very perceptive -- obviously this poster was copied from that very wonderful image. In RIOT, however, the overall design of the poster, its context and and the kinetics of the moment depicted make the wrench-brandishing exciting and menacing, whereas in the Brando poster it's merely goofy. Please know that I'm not disparaging Rudy's evaluation of the poster. He could be quite correct. With something that has not been seen, especially for an iconic figure like Brando, one could expect some kind of brisk performance at auction. One might sell for $3500. But how would five or six sell? Would the price hold up as has been demonstrable for, say, DRAGSTRIP RIOT? Kirby Kirby McDaniel MovieArt Original Film Posters P.O. Box 4419 Austin TX 78765-4419 512 479 6680 www.movieart.net mobile 512 589 5112 On Jan 5, 2011, at 10:23 AM, Zeev Drach wrote: Kirby, I’m guessing you’re not a Brando collector, otherwise I can’t see how you could dismiss this find so easily. You are right, the realistic accuracy of the design would not matter to Brando fans and collectors (and I am one of them) in this case. I mean, the discovery of a Brando poster, for one of his key roles, that features art that (almost?) no one has ever seen before is a major find, in my opinion. I think all collectors with even a passing interest in Brando would be floored by this poster. As to the question “who rides a motorcycle like that?†I refer you to Dragstrip Riot(1958) http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_poster/dragstrip_riot_1958.htm from where the image was most certainly lifted. I’m not familiar with the design of the Hot Blood insert. Is it different from the standard Wild One insert? Zeev From: MoPo List [ mailto:[email protected] ] On Behalf Of Kirby McDaniel Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 11:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Wild One R60 40x60 - Anyone ever see one? Thanks for posting this. I did not see my esteemed colleague Mr. Franchi on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW with this undeniably rare reissue 40x60, so I am interested to read this post. Rare it may be, and perhaps some Brando completist would pay the estimate, but if the design of this poster were to count at all, the film would be entitled THE WEIRD ONE. Who rides a motorcycle like that? Waving a wrench about! Ludicrous! And where is the locale? Is this in the film? They look like they're riding thru the set of CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. Ugly! Give me one of the nice lobbies and I'll call that the prettiest poster on the film. Or the HOT BLOOD insert. My two centavos. Kirby McDaniel www.movieart.net On Jan 4, 2011, at 9:15 PM, Dave Rosen wrote: Just watched this online. It's Rudy's appraisal of a Wild One 40x60 from last night's Antiques Roadshow. Never saw one of these before. Might be the best US paper for the movie. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/201003A12.html Dave Posteropolis Vintage Movie Posters http://www.posteropolis.com/ Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. 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