PulpFiction1975

Movies thrown into the past

What movies do you enjoy imagining being cast/filmed in the past?  Or by a different director?  For example, what would you think of a Fight Club from 1955, starring Montgomery Clift (as Ed Norton) and James Dean (as Brad Pitt).  Maybe it would focus on war veterans who don't know what to do with their aggression anymore.    

Re: Other movies thrown into the past

Re: Other movies thrown into the past

I think Paul has hit on something more interesting.  On a related note, I've been thinking about sci-fi, and what, if anything, held its place in the imaginations of our ancestors.  What was the first sci-fi film?  And was it an original story or a filmed story by Wells or Verne?  Could Frankenstein be the first sci-fi story? 

Anyway, consider this:  there was a time before space was "the final frontier."  What kind of xenophobic fantasies would have been filmed by Europeans as their explorers proceeded to chart Africa, or the "New World"?   Specific question:  why wasn't Shackleton's 1914 journey to the South Pole reimagined by a contemporary as an encounter with super-evolved yeti-people?  Do you know of any early sci-fi films like this?

THE MATRIX:  If filmed in the mid-to-late 60's, Neo and his pals would escape from a metaphorical matrix/prison by dropping LSD.  Agent Smith et al. wouldn't necessarily have to be supernatural, they could just be "the brain police," to quote Frank Zappa.  Or they could also be a metaphorical representation of The Man.    

Re: Other movies thrown into the past

Re: Other movies thrown into the past

Despite its flaws, the original Sin City (1959) is not easily forgotten by the several dozen American viewers lucky enough to have seen it.   

Conceived of by Frank Sinatra as an opportunity for the Rat Pack to hang out and drink while getting paid for it, young Japanese director Seijun Suzuki had a considerably different vision for the project.

Beautifully photographed and intricately structured, the only real drawback to the film--and it's a doozy--is the acting.  Sinatra appears to be sleepwalking through the lead role of Hartigan, and Peter Lawford actually hiccups during one of Dwight's monologues (how Suzuki could have missed this, no one knows).  On the other hand, Joey Bishop is solid as the corrupt detective Jackie Boy, and Sammy Davis Jr. is a knock-out as Roark Jr./That Yellow Rat Fink.  Who knew he had it in him?  Also notable is Timothy Carey, who was hand-picked by Suzuki to play the brutish killer Marv.    

There are several theories about why Sin City, though completed, was never actually released by Warner Bros.  Although the film is more violent than anything made previously (the body count wasn't surpassed until 1969's The Wild Bunch), censorship probably wasn't the reason Warner Bros. kept it in the vault.  Timothy Carey wrote in his 1987 memoir Paths of Anonymity, "Suzuki was perpetually frustrated with the Rat Pack's lack of effort, especially Sinatra's.  He would berate Sinatra for minutes at a time, without stopping for the translator to catch up, screaming till his voice went hoarse, while Frank just smoked his cigarette.  In his eyes, blue hatred."  Other actors confirmed that Sinatra nursed a personal vendetta against Suzuki, and was probably behind the squelching of Sin City's release--and the de facto blacklisting of the director in Hollywood.  

Carey also reports that Suzuki tried to replace Sinatra with Lee Marvin, but the other principal actors vowed they would all leave the project if the Chairman was let go.  It's a pity; the casting change would have made this already impressive film truly amazing. 

Interesting side note:  in 1987 the Warner Bros. Studios vault was broken into, but the only thing stolen was the existing print of Sin City.  In its place was left a note which read "The Grandchildren of Seijun Suzuki" in Japanese.  Since then there have been rumors of Japanese filmhouses showing a subtitled version of a Frank Sinatra film called "Tokyo no mon"--"Flesh Tokyo"!  Frank Miller hasn't yet commented on the matter, and during interviews will avoid any question involving Sinatra, Suzuki, or his grandchildren.            

Huxley the orangutan: scourge or blessing?

You've heard origin stories about the criminally insane baby orangutan known as Huxley. The following account cannot be substantiated, but it is the most widely attested tale we have.

Was Leslie Nielsen responsible for unleashing this monster on the world? Who is really responsible for casting 500 typewriting primates as Shakespeare in the 1999 spoof Lusty Lusty Shakespeare? Nielsen declines to comment on his motivation, and it's unclear whether he'd already purchased baby Huxley from a Moroccan merchant. If he had, it's likely that the idea for casting 500 primates came  from Huxley himself. Authorities have noted that this would be a convenient way to organize a small, personal primate army.

From the start, Huxley showed a rather frightening facility with the English language. "At first the other monkeys just typed," commented one trainer, "but Huxley wrote." Eventually, after Huxley coached them, the other primates began to write coherent sentences as well.

Under Huxley's tutelage, the other primates began to use other complex tools (like vending machines and electric razors) with rapidly increasing ability. It was during this period that Huxley began to show increasingly violent and sexist behavior--hence the production switched out his straight razor for an electric one. (For some reason Huxley liked to shave off his only distinguishing mark, a white tuft of fur on his upper lip.)

On the day that Lusty Lusty Shakespeare shooting came to a wrap (April 16th, 1998), the primates escaped from their trailers and rode away in stolen vehicles. Just how they achieved this escape is still not completely known, but the escape would've provided a logistical nightmare for the planner. Only Huxley could have been responsible.

It was a "monkey with a big fake handlebar mustache" that pulled Leslie Nielsen from his Mercedes that day.  By the time a nearby security guard subdued the furious Huxley with his taser, Nielsen had lost several pints of blood.  "I didn't think he was going to make it," the guard said.  "I was so concerned with getting help for Mr. Nielsen that I hadn't realized Huxley got in the Mercedes." The vehicle was found months later, seven hundred miles away, sunk to the bottom of a lake. Enigmatically, the trunk was filled with ear candles and noseplugs.

Huxley and his underground gang of sentient primates has since been charged with several dozen felonies, ranging from the mundane (robbery of an MC Sports) to the bizarre (making the Statue of Liberty disappear for 45 minutes). Is there any connection? Only one thing is certain: wherever Huxley is sighted, mayhem inevitably follows. Is it only a coincidence that the stores he robs turn out to be drug fronts?

The search for Lil' Sap is now worldwide. There have been sightings of an orangutan sipping espresso in Venice, bungee-jumping in New Zealand, and pilfering hardware from a Home Depot in Oklahoma.

If you see Huxley, or have any information as to the whereabouts/plans of him or his gang, please post it in this group. And God help us all while they're on the loose.