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by Troler
Free Software fundamentally misses the point. It fails on a practical, ideological, economic, and political level. Let’s examine precisely how (in a slightly different order for the purposes of presentation).
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"I like you"
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"That's very sweet of you <...>, I like you too"
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"I mean, I don't like many people"
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Seldom do I eat the same food twice, reread a book or even rewatch a movie. Barely do I ever want to rewatch the movie as I am watching it. You did not misread, not after the ending, but during the actual viewing. If you somehow didn't read the title, the movie in question is Robert Mulligan's Summer of '42.
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I came across it when I was reading Quentin Tarantino's review of 40s nostalgia pieces. What piqued my attention was the radiating love and affection for the picture and his knack for collecting film prints ("if you haven’t seen Summer of ‘42 projected in an I.B. Technicolor 35mm film print, you haven’t seen Summer of ‘42). I set down at the middle of the night and saw something I cannot unsee. Neither did the audience in 1971, since this slice-of-romance film about horny teenagers beat Dirty Harry and even Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in the box office. To say it was impactful is an understatement.
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What was it that caught the attention of the viewers? Well, it was sex of course! Imagine this, the Sexual Revolution has swept the United States, arguing that all this restriction on sex is making people grow into perverts. The tidal shift of demographics, as brought by the Baby Boom, resulted in American cinema unshackling itself. This change is known as New Hollywood. In 1971 Robert Milligan was one of these crazy New Hollywood men. At a budget of a million (lead actress Jennifer O'Neill says it was 8 million) created relatively simple movie. Simple, yet effective. To a point where it deeply touched Kubrick ("climax of the film is quite simply one of the most devastating sequences I’ve ever witnessed (apparently Kubrick felt the same)". Do not take Tarantino's word for it, watch what Wendy is watching in The Shining
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The story follows a group of 3 ragtags Oscy (Jerry Houser), Benjie (Oliver Conant) and Hermie (Gary Grimes). All of them are a trio of lusting adolescents. They are at a stage where they want to have sex yet paternalism laws do not allow them to. Naturally that gives the same results as boiling water with the lid shut down. A good bit of the half of the movie is about teenagers being stupid bunch of horny bastards. There Hermie falls deep in love with Dorothy (Jennifer O'Neill). Hermie is 15 and Dorothy is in her 20s (the actor was 22). There is this Licorice Pizza scenario. The movie corrupts the audience into believing the relationship between a teenager and a woman is okay. WW2 is in the background: you have soldiers strolling the town, Dorothy sending her husband to France, radio broadcaster talking about the war. It is in the background... until it is not. The movie is set during 1942, it is a nostalgia piece after all. The Dorothy observed is meeting this 15 year old, while her husband is out fighting Nazis. At one point she buys flowers, keep that in your mind, it will be relevant later. For a good part of the film, the focus is on the "Terrible" trio and their quest to get laid.
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Since the budget of the film was not that high (a million), it resulted in quite simple camera arrangement. Most shots were done out-doors, resulting in less expenses on props. Since the emphasis is on the characters, the shots are done using wide lens. The movie actually becomes quite a bit darker as it progresses. I mean, literally darker. First scenes are bright, moving with life of the beach-goers. Later on you have the shabby "Terrible trio" hut, movie theater, sex during midnight. As mentioned before, it being a movie from 1971, sex in movies was still taboo. Robert Mulligan is corrupting the audience by having a scene where teenagers actually fuck during the middle of the night. None of it is displayed on the screen. It was distributed by Warner Bros. in 1971 after all.
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The music composed by Michel Legrand is nearly non-existent. It starts in the beginning, with the showcase of the important places throughout the movie and resumes only at the end. Upon the rewatch, the beginning slide-show made me tear up.
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The love between Hermie (Herman) and Dorothy (Dorothy) was, by the words of the screen writer Herman Raucher, "had effected a strange relationship". Herman, in a way is a romantic, similar to Steven Spielberg. For him love is more than just putting his sausage into girl's scissors, as did Oscar, who in character, was closer to Luc Besson with his pussy-curse. Naturally having Dorothy's husband was murdered in France, meant "she was alone on an island and drinkin’ and playing their favorite song and in walks this kid and <...> She just thought I (Herman) was him". Powered by mourning, she danced, danced with Hermie (Herman) to their favorite song and went to bed with a 15 year old kid. It was Dorothy's way of curing herself from the trauma. She was alone on island with no-one except that strange Hermie (Herman). The flowers she bought few days ago were thrown out. The vase was left empty. Not even water was present in it.
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30 years later, after the film was released, the writer received "numerous letters from women claiming to be Dorothy". One of them stood out, it had Dorothy's handwriting. The letter mentioned, she had remarried and was living in Canton, Ohio. She was intrigued what effect did she have on Herman. The letter was ended with these words: "The ghosts of that night 30 years ago are better left undisturbed."
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Tell me @BlenderDumbass , are you willing to do a psycho-sexual analysis on one horny teenager and a miserable widow?
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Fin.
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The somber tale of Summer of '42
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Summer_of_%2742_POSTER.jpg)
Troler
👁 12 💬 109
Sex and love are hard to miss on present block-busters. Even topics such as love between a child and an adult are discussed. In early 1970s and before it was hard to find films delving into such topics. A nostalgia film of that. The movie may start out light-hearted, it went deep so to make the illustrious Kubrick cry.
#Summerof42 #1942 #JenniferO'Neill #GaryGrimes #JerryHouser #RobertMulligan #HermanRaucher #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Anna 2019 is Luc Besson at war with Christopher Nolan
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/Anna_film_poster.jpg/250px-Anna_film_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 47 💬 2
Christopher Nolan was developing his spy movie Tenet for decades before its release in 2020. In 2014 Nolan already was fully in the writing process on the script. While the general public didn't know much about the project, other filmmakers, including the French director Luc Besson probably could know something about it. And so trying to beat Nolan at his own game, Besson quickly wrote and directed his own spy movie with a palindrome title: Anna.
#Anna #LucBesson #SashaLuss #ChristopherNolan #CillianMurphy #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Snake Eyes 1998 is De Palma's attempt at restoring his Hitch spirit
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8b/SnakeEyesPoster.jpg/250px-SnakeEyesPoster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 16 💬 3
Watching the opening scene of Brian De Palma's 1998 film Snake Eyes makes you realize that this motherfucker is trying very hard. We have 13 minutes of Nicolas Cage running around a very crowded set. The scene is clever with its camera, giving us multiple layers of exposition in the same time. Like there could be a TV on the foreground and Cage on the background. And they seem unrelated at first, but the scene establishes most of it's plot details right in this very shot. And then the shot ends ( 13 minutes later ) at the exact moment, the script drops the "inciting incident". De Palma is really trying hard to direct the shit out this movie.
#SnakeEyes #BrianDePalma #NicolasCage #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Dressed To Kill 1980 is a cinematic treat
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Dressed_to_kill.jpg/250px-Dressed_to_kill.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 5 💬 99
I saw an interview where Quentin Tarantino praises the 1980 Hitchcockian Bryan de Palma film Dressed to Kill. And now after actually watching it myself, I can totally understand why.
#dressedtokill #bryandepalma #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
The Eight Wonder of Cinema is King Kong 1933
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Kingkongposter.jpg)
Troler
👁 5 ❤ 1 🔄 1 💬 3
The 1933 film itself is not too special. For its time, there's a lot to laud. Comparing what Peter Jackson would do later, there's night and day. I do not mean the special effects, which are exceptional.
#KingKong #MerianCCooper #FayWray #RobertArmstrong #BruceCabot #MaxSteiner #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Together 2025 is yet another Romantic Comedy disguised as a Horror film
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Together_film_poster.jpg/250px-Together_film_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 24 ❤ 1 💬 2
I see a trend lately with films like Spontaneous where it seems like the writer / director is trying to do a romantic comedy, but knows it is not going to sell, so the movie is sold as a horror film instead. Michael Shanks's 2025 film Together starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie is another such film.
#together #horror #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #davefranco #alisonbrie
Dora and the Lost City of Gold ( 2019 ) shows that they should not have replaced Isabela Merced
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/29/Dora_and_the_Lost_City_of_Gold_poster.jpg/250px-Dora_and_the_Lost_City_of_Gold_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 12 💬 3
Between Transformers 5 and Alien Romulus Isabela Merced played Dora the Explorer in a 2019 James Bobin film Dora and the Lost City of Gold. And just because I'm starting to become a fan of Isabela Merced ( or maybe a simp, IDK ), I decided to finally take a look at this movie. And I gonna tell you that, that reboot they did in 2025 with a different actress playing Dora, is not interesting me at all, because you can't replace Merced. She is just too perfect.
#doratheexplorer #doraandthelostcityofgold #isabelamerced #film #review #movies #cartoons #cinemastodon
Piranha II 1982 taught James Cameron how not to make sequels
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Piranha_II_-_The_Spawning_%28movie_poster%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 28 💬 1
We all know that James Cameron is a master when it comes to making sequels. His films like Terminator 2, Avatar 2 and Aliens are extremely good examples of how to make a sequel right. Unlike Steven Spielberg that avoids sequels. Steven avoided doing the second Jaws movie. James Cameron goes for it and wins. Speaking of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, not only sequels from that film were produced. Rip-offs, like the 1978 Piranha by Joe Dante also were produced. Those were parody material B-movie exploitation films. And so writer / director James Cameron decided to take the project of making a sequel to that Jaws rip-off, with his 1982 Piranha II: The Spawning.
#Piranha2 #JamesCameron #horror #movies #review #film #cinemastodon
The Lunacy of Buckaroo Banzai
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Adventures_of_buckaroo_banzai.jpg/250px-Adventures_of_buckaroo_banzai.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 10 ❤ 3 💬 1
Few films come close to the shier amount of WTF moments as the 1984 W. D. Richter film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. The best way to describe this film is "WTF". Let me explain.
#BuckarooBanzai #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
What Lawrence of Arabia 1962 by David Lean is about?
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Lawrence_of_arabia_ver3_xxlg.jpg/960px-Lawrence_of_arabia_ver3_xxlg.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 22 💬 1
Steven Spielberg, who took a lot of influence from the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia by David Lean, said this is a kind of movie that would not be done these days. And he is not talking about the epic production, about the elaborate sets, and very complex sequences, that today in the age of CGI would totally be faked to one degree or another. What he is talking about is more political. Thomas Edward Lawrence was not necessarily a good guy. He murdered a lot of people, some in cold blood. As he himself states in the movie: he quite enjoyed it. And yet the film is an epic tale romanticizing this man as a sort of broken mythical hero. Which begs the question: why?
#LawrenceofArabia #DavidLean #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Citizen Kane feels like a Scorsese picture
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Citizen_Kane_poster%2C_1941_%28Style_B%2C_unrestored%29.jpg/250px-Citizen_Kane_poster%2C_1941_%28Style_B%2C_unrestored%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 9 💬 1
Orson Welles ( born in 1915 ) being a 25 - 26 year old flipped the cinematic landscape upside down with his 1941 black and white film Citizen Kane. A film that feels like a mandatory watch for anybody who is even remotely interested in cinema. People say that Citizen Kane is the best film ever made and stuff. Almost forcing that film onto people in an uncomfortable way. Making you be sure that it is some sort of experimental, black and white extravaganza that you will not understand. And that it is way too old, for today's audience, to enjoy. And that to appreciate the qualities of the film, one needs to learn some academic bullshit and pay very strong attention, to try to understand why back in 1941 critics specifically, might have liked what they saw. The thought of watching Citizen Kane feels like homework. But then you actually watch it.
#citizenkane #orsonwelles #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #martinscorsese
Mandy 2018 tries to out-do the weirdness of Only God Forgives
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Mandy_%282018_film%29.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 13 ❤ 1 💬 2
In 2019 on the Cannes film festival director Nicolas Winding Refn ( the director of the 2013 film Only God Forgives ) released episodes 4 and 5 of his ( then ) new multi-episode picture Too Old To Die Young. Episode 5 titled "The Fool" contains a car chase scene. Some argue it is one of the most romantic car chases in cinematic history. The joke is, that the car chase is set to a romantic Barry Manilow's 1974 hit "Mandy", making the juxtaposition rather hilarious in nature. But given the ass-born theory specialist that I am, I must suggest an interesting twist to this whole ordeal. During the principal photography of the first episode of Too Old To Die Young another film-maker Panos Cosmatos released a film, strangely similar in style to whatever Refn is doing. And his film was called Mandy. We can theorize that maybe Refn responded, in his strange way, recognizing the stylistic similarities, so to speak.
#mandy #nicolascage #panoscosmatos #nwr #horror #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Basic Instinct 1992 is Verhoeven trying to be De Palma who is trying to be Hitchcock
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/Basic_Instinct.png/250px-Basic_Instinct.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 14 💬 2
It is known that the best films from Alfred Hitchcock were done during the days of the code. The restrictions on nudity and graphic violence gave us iconic Hitchcockian moments like the shower scene in Psycho, where Hitch pulls of a totally kosher psycho-sexual ejaculation of ultra-violence. When the code gave way to the MPAA rating system, Hitchcock didn't really know how to react, producing mediocre films, giving way to directors like Brian De Palma who stepped into his shoes, to give us, more-modern Hitchcockian thrillers like Dressed To Kill. But by the end of the 80s, as De Palma stepped down from this Hitch-immitation role, and before Robert Zemeckis ultimately took this title with his 2000 film What Lies Beneath, there was also Paul Verhoeven and his psycho-sexual thrillers, like 1992 Basic Instinct.
#BasicInstinct #PaulVerhoeven #SharonStone #MichaelDouglas #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a middle finger to the KKK
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/O_brother_where_art_thou_ver1.jpg)
Troler
👁 20 💬 2
In 1915, David Wark Griffith done shot a mighty picture The Birth of a Nation that glorified them horse‑riddin’ Klan men. By ’37, Archie Mayo stitched together Black Legion), a film about that very group, a splintered band of the same old Klan order. When the movie showed the Klan in a harsh light— a fascist lot—the real Klan sued. Fast forward to the turn of the millennium, the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) looked back at the madness of yesteryear and the even wilder present, and thought, “Let’s get them Klan members to dance.”
#GeorgeClooney #JohnTurturro #TimBlake Nelson #CharlesDurning #MichaelBadalucco #JohnGoodman #HollyHunter #JoelCoen #EthanCoen film #review #movies #cinemastodon
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