When released, they are considered brilliant, original, daring, or a crowd-pleaser, but now, with the test of time applied to these films, they have been revealed to be just a little bit less than originally thought. Society could've moved on, making the movies assumptions squirmfully embarrassing... the film is too dated, too much a product of the age that it was filmed... over time, what was once considered cool is just embarrassing.
Some well-considered films that, imho, have not aged well, include:
ET: The Extra-Terrestial: Loved it in 1982, was shocked at how treacly and "movie-of-the-week"ish it actually was in 2002. Oh, parts of it work (ET getting bombed, Gertie) but the rest? Yech.
The Bridge Over the River Kwai: A film made today, even an historical film, based upon British mechanical and work-ethic superiority over the Japanese would be damned hard to pull off, and sure as hell wouldn't be made in the style of Kwai, where Lean's own assumption of this basic "fact" permeates every frame of the film. The world has changed too much to make this film much more than a very well-made anachronism.
West Side Story: Perhaps its just me, but this flashy, colorful story about dancing Latino gangs looks and sounds so 1962 that I can't get over it. Include the fact that I was not raised upon the Broadway tradition, and you can understand why I find the entire movie alternatingly laughably silly or a bore. If this film were released as a major, original effort today audiences would just stare slack-jawed, dumbfounded at what they were witnessing. Of all the movies I've seen (well, all the "major" non-MST3K movies that is), this is the one that has me scratching my head the most and asking Did people really buy into this crap?
What films do you think haven't stood the test of time?
Some well-considered films that, imho, have not aged well, include:
ET: The Extra-Terrestial: Loved it in 1982, was shocked at how treacly and "movie-of-the-week"ish it actually was in 2002. Oh, parts of it work (ET getting bombed, Gertie) but the rest? Yech.
The Bridge Over the River Kwai: A film made today, even an historical film, based upon British mechanical and work-ethic superiority over the Japanese would be damned hard to pull off, and sure as hell wouldn't be made in the style of Kwai, where Lean's own assumption of this basic "fact" permeates every frame of the film. The world has changed too much to make this film much more than a very well-made anachronism.
West Side Story: Perhaps its just me, but this flashy, colorful story about dancing Latino gangs looks and sounds so 1962 that I can't get over it. Include the fact that I was not raised upon the Broadway tradition, and you can understand why I find the entire movie alternatingly laughably silly or a bore. If this film were released as a major, original effort today audiences would just stare slack-jawed, dumbfounded at what they were witnessing. Of all the movies I've seen (well, all the "major" non-MST3K movies that is), this is the one that has me scratching my head the most and asking Did people really buy into this crap?
What films do you think haven't stood the test of time?
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