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Who am I to resist a meme? Or Robert Redford?
The meme part: When you see this, make a post in your journal or in a community. It can be anything: a crosspost something you've posted on Tumblr, a few words about the last thing you read/watched, or just a "Hi, how is everyone?" Then go read your f-list and leave at least one comment.
(I cannot now find the Tumblr post with the anti-anxiety shark, but if you feel bad about not actually doing the meme despite having seen the thing, feel free to consider that the anti-anxiety shark has swum past and relieved you of the burden to do anything about it.)
Anyway! Thanks to the #hydratrashparty chat's ongoing collective Robert Redford breakdown, I made myself a list of Robert Redford Movies I Haven't Seen Yet. I think it was a list of twelve when I started, and I have watched three and added one, so I'm still at ten. Uh, and because I am a giant nerd I am watching them in chronological order, so any recommendations for pre-1972 Robert Redford movies I haven't seen yet will have to go to the end of the line or something. Still on the list:
The Way We Were
The Sting
Three Days of the Condor
All the President's Men
Brubaker
The Natural
Out of Africa
Sneakers
Indecent Proposal
The Horse Whisperer
(Other Robert Redford movies that are not on the list because I have already seen them: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Up Close and Personal (shut up I was in high school it was super romantic), and, of course, Spy Game.) (And of course of course, CA: TWS)
Already watched:
Barefoot in the Park (1967) - someone on trash chat complained about being bored with this one, but they also complained against Up Close and Personal, so I figured, hey! Maybe it's just that it's a rom-com! I like rom-coms sometimes! And Robert Redford is so incredibly young and pretty in it!
Ahahahaha OH GOD. o.O Here's my actual favorite scene from the movie and also my feeling about the whole movie especially Redford's face in the second GIF (that's main character Paul and his mother-in-law Ethel, reacting to the general hijinks of Paul's wife). I watched a lot of screwball comedies in the general Doris Day/Rock Hudson area as a kid, so I thought I could totally handle 60s screwball comedy, but I was not prepared for the 60s version of the manic pixie dream girl (or the way the storyline totally affirmed the straitlaced guy instead of the manic pixie dream girl, which seemed correct because she was NOT A WELL PERSON but is not at all what I was expecting from the cover image I saw or my general understanding of manic pixie dream girl plots in general).
Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - I 100% watched this because Ben Browder talked about it in what I vaguely recall as a positive way in the actor commentary on the disastrous "Jeremiah Crichton" episode of Farscape. I wasn't paying as much attention as a frequently-silent wilderness movie from 1972 probably called for--I think it's maybe, although obviously not at the same cinematic level, a bit like Lawrence of Arabia, where you really have to strap in and go with the experience without multitasking because just looking up when people talk is not going to do the job.
Anyway, it seemed like the 1972 precursor to Dances with Wolves, and I spent a lot of it squinting at the screen and trying to figure out if it was more or less racist in its portrayal of Native Americans than I would have expected. (Less? I think? Sort of?) Also I was for some reason not expecting it to turn out as grim as it did, so that was just startling.
The Candidate (1972) - SO I HAVE FOUND THE (NEXT) GUY I WANT TO SLASH TJ HAMMOND WITH AND IT IS BILL MCKAY, FORTY YEARS ON FROM THIS MOVIE WHEN HE'S A SEVENTH-TERM SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA AND TJ IS ABOUT TO GET DRAGGED INTO HIS MOM'S NEXT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. :D :D :D
Anyway, this is a delightfully modern-feeling movie about the machinery of a major political campaign, and the way the idealistic and genuinely progressive Bill gets sucked into it and processed for general consumption. Also I got COMPLETELY DISTRACTED by how far Robert Redford's sleeves were rolled up in the first scene he's in. Like, a solid two inches above the elbow. I think other things were happening right then but I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT.
The thing that made me go "...I guess I blame 1972?" the hardest was actually this tiny visual thread, almost totally unreferenced in dialogue, that indicates that Paul is sleeping with a woman who is... working on his campaign? volunteer? groupie? something? He's married, more or less happily, he seems like a decent guy, but there is also just the totally-unremarked-on scene where he's late for a meeting and walks out of his hotel room after this woman who is not his wife, and... absolutely nothing comes of that. I CANNOT EVEN FIGURE OUT WHY IT WAS THERE. I think it was a sign of his inevitable corruption by The Campaign, but it was touched on so lightly--maybe it seemed more earthshattering in 1972 and just having him walk out of the hotel room was enough to have the audience go Oh Noes He Is Lost To Decency.
(I cannot now find the Tumblr post with the anti-anxiety shark, but if you feel bad about not actually doing the meme despite having seen the thing, feel free to consider that the anti-anxiety shark has swum past and relieved you of the burden to do anything about it.)
Anyway! Thanks to the #hydratrashparty chat's ongoing collective Robert Redford breakdown, I made myself a list of Robert Redford Movies I Haven't Seen Yet. I think it was a list of twelve when I started, and I have watched three and added one, so I'm still at ten. Uh, and because I am a giant nerd I am watching them in chronological order, so any recommendations for pre-1972 Robert Redford movies I haven't seen yet will have to go to the end of the line or something. Still on the list:
The Way We Were
The Sting
Three Days of the Condor
All the President's Men
Brubaker
The Natural
Out of Africa
Sneakers
Indecent Proposal
The Horse Whisperer
(Other Robert Redford movies that are not on the list because I have already seen them: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Up Close and Personal (shut up I was in high school it was super romantic), and, of course, Spy Game.) (And of course of course, CA: TWS)
Already watched:
Barefoot in the Park (1967) - someone on trash chat complained about being bored with this one, but they also complained against Up Close and Personal, so I figured, hey! Maybe it's just that it's a rom-com! I like rom-coms sometimes! And Robert Redford is so incredibly young and pretty in it!
Ahahahaha OH GOD. o.O Here's my actual favorite scene from the movie and also my feeling about the whole movie especially Redford's face in the second GIF (that's main character Paul and his mother-in-law Ethel, reacting to the general hijinks of Paul's wife). I watched a lot of screwball comedies in the general Doris Day/Rock Hudson area as a kid, so I thought I could totally handle 60s screwball comedy, but I was not prepared for the 60s version of the manic pixie dream girl (or the way the storyline totally affirmed the straitlaced guy instead of the manic pixie dream girl, which seemed correct because she was NOT A WELL PERSON but is not at all what I was expecting from the cover image I saw or my general understanding of manic pixie dream girl plots in general).
Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - I 100% watched this because Ben Browder talked about it in what I vaguely recall as a positive way in the actor commentary on the disastrous "Jeremiah Crichton" episode of Farscape. I wasn't paying as much attention as a frequently-silent wilderness movie from 1972 probably called for--I think it's maybe, although obviously not at the same cinematic level, a bit like Lawrence of Arabia, where you really have to strap in and go with the experience without multitasking because just looking up when people talk is not going to do the job.
Anyway, it seemed like the 1972 precursor to Dances with Wolves, and I spent a lot of it squinting at the screen and trying to figure out if it was more or less racist in its portrayal of Native Americans than I would have expected. (Less? I think? Sort of?) Also I was for some reason not expecting it to turn out as grim as it did, so that was just startling.
The Candidate (1972) - SO I HAVE FOUND THE (NEXT) GUY I WANT TO SLASH TJ HAMMOND WITH AND IT IS BILL MCKAY, FORTY YEARS ON FROM THIS MOVIE WHEN HE'S A SEVENTH-TERM SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA AND TJ IS ABOUT TO GET DRAGGED INTO HIS MOM'S NEXT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. :D :D :D
Anyway, this is a delightfully modern-feeling movie about the machinery of a major political campaign, and the way the idealistic and genuinely progressive Bill gets sucked into it and processed for general consumption. Also I got COMPLETELY DISTRACTED by how far Robert Redford's sleeves were rolled up in the first scene he's in. Like, a solid two inches above the elbow. I think other things were happening right then but I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT.
The thing that made me go "...I guess I blame 1972?" the hardest was actually this tiny visual thread, almost totally unreferenced in dialogue, that indicates that Paul is sleeping with a woman who is... working on his campaign? volunteer? groupie? something? He's married, more or less happily, he seems like a decent guy, but there is also just the totally-unremarked-on scene where he's late for a meeting and walks out of his hotel room after this woman who is not his wife, and... absolutely nothing comes of that. I CANNOT EVEN FIGURE OUT WHY IT WAS THERE. I think it was a sign of his inevitable corruption by The Campaign, but it was touched on so lightly--maybe it seemed more earthshattering in 1972 and just having him walk out of the hotel room was enough to have the audience go Oh Noes He Is Lost To Decency.
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But I really opened the comment tab to say Sneakers! Eee! I think of it the way other people seem to think of Ferris Beuller's Day Off (which always left me cold). Specific lines get quoted around my house even today and it's been years since we watched it. It doesn't age beautifully, unsurprising for a movie with a technology based plotline, but really, it's not about the plot. It's about the characters anyway.
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Also, All the President's Men is another classic. The book is even better.
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Actually, speaking of movies (and maybe subconsciously influenced by your post) I have been thinking about making a resolution to watch the 100 best movies this year. Granted, that means a movie every three days, which is far beyond my capacities, but it's kind of a fun goal: even if I don't make it to 100, I'll catch up on a bunch of pop culture I've missed.
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I'd like to second An Unfinished Life.
I also know that there is a movie called Downhill Racer where young Redford does Olympic skiing. Seeing as Sebastian Stan portrayed a skier in Hot Fuzz, my mind immediately suggests that TJ Hammond could discover sports therapy and take up skiing to reorient his past-times and get to recovery... and either meet Senator McKay, skiing enthusiast, or some seasoned ski veteran / coach...
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Nah, Bill doesn't want to be president--a career in the Senate is bad enough, and the last term or two he's been thinking of retiring anyway. He's only determined to run one more time after he and TJ get together to prove he can win while in a relationship with TJ, honestly. And his relationship with TJ pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of anyone else's plans to talk him into running, which I think both Bill and TJ regard as a feature, not a bug, of their relationship. That said, I really do want TJ interacting with one or more of Bills' ex-wives and/or ex-lovers and/or HIS CHILDREN. Because inevitably he has one or two around somewhere....
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(I cannot help thinking of Bill McKay as a kind of fanon!Nate Fick in a historical AU fast-forward into the future, so. Feelings.)
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(Among other things, Bill and TJ are both the kind of fixtures on the DC political scene who require no introduction to each other--Bill is part of the Democratic establishment sphere in which TJ's parents have been moving since before he was born, and Bill McKay and Bud Hammond have campaigned together at various times; they're not friends by any stretch, but Bill, you know, made sure to learn which twin was which and tousled TJ's hair when he was a little kid (remembering that Tommy was the one who would look up with a smile at hair-tousling, while Dougie would give a stiffly correct turn of lips and smooth his hair back down neatly at the first opportunity).)
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(Sneakers is also awesome, and the cast is A+
You've got all these awesome things to look forward to, darn it!
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Um, I mean - obviously you should watch whatever takes your fancy (but The Sting first)
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I can't remember if you're a Leverage fan or not. If so, you should adore the movie, since both took hefty inspiration from The Big Con by David Maurer -- which is a whole separate awesome story. Basically, this linguist Maurer was studying the language of criminal subcultures and wound up making friends with a lot of his subjects, who told him many many stories. After writing up his linguistic research, he wrote The Big Con, which is a thorough, detailed, enjoyable rundown of the methods and language used by cons. He primarily talks about how the 'big cons' or long cons worked, and mostly from the golden age of the 1920s, but there's also rundowns of short cons and the terminology, plus tons of first-hand stories from his interviews. It's so awesome, and The Sting took the material and ran with it. Definitely one of my favorite movies, and definitely deserves to be watched unspoiled the first time.
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And of course you want to put Bill McKay and TJ together. OF COURSE. :-D
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And, I HAVE A TYPE, OKAY. A PAIRING TYPE. THING. YES. :D