You know how it is with those big budget epic historical movies. They come out and we all ooh and aah at the cast of thousands, the period costumes and scenery, and the running time of three hours or more. If it's long it has to be good, right? That'swhatshesaid!
Then come all the Oscars the picture inevitably wins because it is "important" and then comes the backlash and then those movies usually disappear to never be seen again. When you come across them on the TV years later you think, "Well, that was a good movie but I don't have that kind of time to invest in it again today."
What you would find if you did watch them again is that some of them hold up pretty well but some of them really suck. Titanic? Still great. Chariots Of Fire? Booooooooring. Amadeus? Awesome. The English Patient? Unwatchable. Some of the epics I never saw at the time and still haven't seen include Braveheart and Dances With Wolves so I don't know how they've held up. I suspect the Lord Of The Rings trilogy will be fine.
Recently Donna and I decided to invest 195 minutes in Gandhi, which was playing on AMC. Tip to old movie fans: Always watch them on the commercial-free channels. If Ghandi were on TBS it would have been five hours long.
For the youngsters in the blogosphere, Mohandas Gandhi was the spiritual leader of India who promoted civil disobedience to effect change in his country and elsewhere in the world. He fought racism, poverty, and against the British crown for Indian independence. So, of course, he was assassinated in 1948.
Director Richard Attenborough chose a virtual unknown for the title role, an Englishman of Indian heritage named Ben Kingsley. Both men won Academy Awards for their work. According to the AMC intro to the film, Dustin Hoffman and Anthony Hopkins were both considered to play Gandhi too. Fail!
I was really surprised while watching the movie unspool how many other notable actors are in the movie that I didn't even remember being in it.
Do you recall that Gandhi is also a Martin Sheen movie? And Candice Bergen. John Gielgud. Plus Nigel Hawthorne many years before The Madness Of King George. Do you remember a young Daniel Day-Lewis as a street thug? How about Cheers' favorite mailman John Ratzenberger driving a jeep?
It's always fun to see actors you now know in movies that came out before you knew them. I still can't get over that Seth Rogan is one of the high school kids beating up Donnie Darko in that film. Good times.
English Patient is one of the most overrated movies of all time. Only Elaine Benis spoke the truth.
Posted by: Jennifer George | August 26, 2008 at 06:14 AM
i remember ghandi when it came out but have never seen it; i will make sure to check it out.
by the way i really thought i was the only person on earth who had not seen braveheart and dancing with wolves. i feel better!
Posted by: Nicole | August 26, 2008 at 07:00 AM
I thought Bravehart was good. I'm not a Kevin Costner fan, so I didn't like Dances with Wolves, and The English Patient was horrible. I'll have to check out Ghandi. Movies are only good if you can follow it up with a holloween costume.
Posted by: Casey | August 26, 2008 at 08:00 AM
I still can't get over the fact that Cuba Gooding Jr has an Oscar....but he went full retard...you never go full retard
Posted by: db | August 26, 2008 at 08:27 AM
2 hours is about my max time to invest in a movie in one sitting. I had to watch Godfather in 4 parts. I may check out Ghandi when I have a free week.
Posted by: Chris Kiefer | August 26, 2008 at 09:07 AM
ashley tisdale is in donnie darko as well...
but i'm sure you knew that...
o_O
Posted by: athena | August 26, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Just remember this; had it not been for Gandhi we probably would actually speak to someone somewhere in America when we have an issue with our computer or other electronics instead of someone in India . For that reason alone I for one am not a fan of his and I boycotted the movie.
Posted by: Wag | August 26, 2008 at 02:04 PM
I remember my dad sitting me down to watch this movie with him when I was a kid. We talked about it a-lot afterward and it always meant a-lot to me. Its odd that I haven't watched it since. I should do so.
As for the comment by Wag, I'm totally relieved when I call tech support and get an Indian voice instead of a Texan one. I know I'm stereotyping here, but I've gotten patient and knowledgeable help from every Indian techie I've dealt with, and I've hung up without my problem unresolved every time I've spoken to Mary Sue.
Posted by: KLJ | August 26, 2008 at 05:59 PM
No, we'd still speak to Indians, they just wouldn't make any money for talking to us. And I do remember Marty Sheen in there, specifically from the part where he declares India free just on the basis that they are resisting.
I'm not so sure LOTR will hold up Bean. The books absolutely, the movie... eh.
Posted by: Vic Rattler | August 26, 2008 at 06:47 PM
I saw that you had a post titled "My Favorite Indian" and I'm only a little sad to see that it wasn't about me.
Posted by: Vicky | October 02, 2008 at 10:18 AM
I didn't see Dances With Wolves until about 15 years after its release but enjoyed it immensely. I can see skipping Braveheart, but you really ought to watch DDW.
Posted by: Kevin | January 07, 2009 at 06:50 AM