This has come up before but my answer is always the same. "Platoon" in 1986 and "Natural Born Killers" in 1994. Haven't paid to see an Oliver Stone film since. Meanwhile, the only film I "fell asleep" through was Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King" from 2003. It won 11 Oscars and Best Picture but I couldn't hang with it. I went back a few days later. Not grueling but I felt it won because they had to give to him. Scorsese's "Hugo" from 2011 was another snooze-fest for me. I went with a childhood buddy to see that who trusts my film instincts - and afterward he was trying to be nice and said the film had great special effects. I said, "Knock it off. It was boring. He should stick to crime movies because it's the only genre he excels at." - d.
________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of Bruce Hershenson <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2023 5:38 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: What was the most grueling high rated movie you have watched? I think I have you all topped! In the 1970s I was a major international film fan, and I traveled far and wide to see films that would never play where I lived (no video yet, of course). An example is that in 1981 or so I traveled to Los Angeles for a day and a night to see the restored 1927 Napoleon with a full orchestra (conducted by Coppola's father) and it was one of the best experiences of my life. So in 1983 a theater in Philadephia announced that they would show the uncut 3 hour 22 minute Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles I had read about this movie, and it sounded terrible, but some critics had highly praised it, so I convinced a fellow film buff to go with me. "Grueling" is a good word to describe watching, but a better one would be "excrutiating". But my friend kept saying, "Surely it will get more interesting", so we stayed to the end, but it never did. If I was told I had 3 hours and 22 minutes left to live, I would choose to re-watch this movie, because then it would feel like years had gone by! [https://s-install.avcdn.net/ipm/preview/icons/icon-envelope-tick-green-avg-v1.png?trnonsuspmrk=1&trfcallwremmrk=1]<http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Virus-free.www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> On Sun, Jul 16, 2023 at 3:49 PM Rick Payne <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: "Grueling" might not be the word for the film itself, but the experience certainly was. It's 1968; I'm 13 and living in central Kansas. Forry Ackerman's Famous Monsters magazine has fostered my infatuation with the great Lon Chaney but I've never seen one of his films. Lo, the heavens open and I learn that a local college will be running "Hunchback of Notre Dame." My dad finally agrees to drop me off at the college for the 8 pm showing and I'm to call him when it's over. Unfortunately, they are showing an 8mm print on 400 foot reels using a single projector. After every reel, they turn on the lights and rewind before showing the next one. Naturally, old splices periodically fail and the film breaks or burns multiple times. Each incident requires immediate repair; lights on; another delay. The Hunchback will take about 3 1/2 hours to run. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the finish. You see, I didn't realize that "Hunchback" was to be the second feature of the night ... after "Birth of a Nation." Dad showed up around 1 in the morning, mad as a hornet that I hadn't called. Well, the film wasn't over! The judge refused to let me off on that technicality and it would be a couple more years before I saw the rest of the film. On Sunday, July 16, 2023 at 10:38:11 AM EDT, Tony Calvert <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I just had to check a print of "A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT." It seemed to drag on forever. I like good character studies, but this seemed to never end. The only good thing is that it was a shorter version, the bad part is the collection has 2 more prints. If I ever hear a fog horn I will go into a deep depression. 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.
