Last Epiphany For Wise Man: Earth Stands Still

[molly bloom]

Director of science fiction classic 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' and 'The Curse Of The Cat People' and of 'West Side Story' and of the superb ghost story, 'The Haunting' , Robert Wise earned himself four Oscars, and was at the helm of a dazzling variety of films.

Robert Wise, film director, editor and producer: born Winchester, Indiana 10 September 1914; twice married (one son, one stepdaughter); died Los Angeles 14 September 2005.

Though best known for his two enormously successful musicals The Sound of Music and West Side Story, the four-time Oscar-winner Robert Wise directed classic films in several genres, including sci-fi (The Day the Earth Stood Still), mystery (The Curse of the Cat People), horror (The Haunting) and soap opera (Until They Sail). Starting his film career as an editor (notably on Orson Welles's Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons), he first worked as a director on low-budget "B" movies produced by Val Lewton. "I always want my films to have a comment to make," he said:

However, the comment should be made by the story itself, the development of the plot and the interplay of the characters, without having the characters say it in so many words.

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article312953.ece

I don't think I've enjoyed so many films in so many different genres by one director- and one who worked with the likes of Orson Welles, Val Lewton and Bernard Herrman and a host of distinguished actors.

He also gave us the very fetching sight of Persis Khambatta with a shaven head in 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture'- something for Ted S. to cheer about at length....

[chequita guevara]

Wow. We need more directors like him.

[Ming]

He was one of the best directors... RIP

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Wow. We need more directors like him.

You mean.................dead? Honestly Che, what have these folks ever done to you?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
... what have these folks ever done to you?

I dunno. Star Trek I maybe. T'was gawd awful.

On the other hand...

The Day the Earth Stood Still

[Verto]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


I dunno. Star Trek I maybe. T'was gawd awful.

On the other hand...

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Have you seen the Director's Edition of it? If not, do not pass judgement!

[Nostromo]

The first two Star Trek movies were the best, IMO. The other ones were pure, undiluted crap.

[Verto]

Originally posted by nostromo
The first two Star Trek movies were the best, IMO. The other ones were pure, undiluted crap.

I agree with you that Wrath of Kahn was the best. However, IMO, the second best was ST VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Star Trek:TMP (Dir. Edition) is a vastly improved version over the original theatrical release which was a hurried, sloppy mess that Robert Wise was finally able to mold into something closer to his dream within the past few years. It is the 3rd or 4th, depending on how I feel about The Voyage Home at the time.

Star Trek V is a great movie in that it really resembles a TOS episode, and would have benefited from Shatner being able to do a real Director's Edition to make up for the shoddy special effects team he had to settle with at the time. Star Trek III is just very hard for me to watch, except for the scenes involving the Enterprise. Terrible characters, terrible handling of what was a good core plot...5.5/10.

Wow, I'm a nerd.

[monolith94]

I've paid my respects on the film discussion board, and I pay my respects again, now.

I'd like to encourage you all to go out and see perhaps his greatest and most certainly most overlooked film, The Set-Up. It's amazing. Thoughts I wrote down from when I watched it, months ago:

There's an elegance of style to The Set-Up that makes it essential viewing for any cinema fan. It has the grace and purity of true cinema; it has economical storytelling. There are tracking shots, pans, still camera shots, all carefully coordinated so that nothing feels off, everything moves smoothly. The editing of this film is simply brilliant - there's not a weak transition in the whole thing, that I found.

Do not think, however, that this makes the film flat. The plot of the Set-Up is very dynamic. It all starts out a little standard, as we see just a bunch of people, hanging around outside the boxing arena. They head in, sit down, etc. Eventually the camera floats up to a domestic scene - in an apartment a couple, our protagonists, argue over whether our hero should continue to box. This is the core tension at the heart of the movie. In a modern film, the conflict would be between our boxing hero and generic evil boxer #2. We have an oppenent, but he's not particularly slimy - the conflict is psychological and emotional. In a sense, it's dramatic, rather than just a cheap showdown.

The build-up to the set-up is quite sensational. We wait in the room right along with our hero, and as the other boxers come back - some winners, some losers, the tension builds. The film is Howard Hawksian in its easy of storytelling, in things like this. Finally, there's just a fantastic sequence with our hero's girlfriend in the park, and she comes to a bridge that trains pass by underneath. The scene recalls Kalatazov's fantastic "The Cranes Are Flying", which came 8 years later. Coincidentally, they both have the same imdb rating, and about the same number of votes. Odd, how time is the great equalizer, no? In anycase, this film doesn't QUITE have the same level of cinematography of that film, but it comes close. The story is less of a downer, though, so that's nice. Although it wouldn't be fair to call the ending of this film "happy" - it's actually quite incredibly satisfying in its resolution. Whatever happened to movies with satisfying endings???

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
You mean.................dead? Honestly Che, what have these folks ever done to you?

[Mr. Harley]

Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!

[Mr. Harley]

Memorable Quotes from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Klaatu: Your choice is simple. Join us and live in peace or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.

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Klaatu: I'm worried about Gort. I'm afraid of what he might do, if anything ahould happen to me.
Helen: Gort? But he's a robot. Without you, what could he do?
Klaatu: There's no limit to what he could do. He could destroy the Earth.

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Mr. Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable.
Klaatu: I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
Mr. Harley: I'm afraid my people haven't. I'm very sorry… I wish it were otherwise.

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Klaatu: We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill.

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Klaatu: I won't resort to threats, Mr. Harley. I merely tell you the future of your planet is at stake.

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Klaatu: In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first signs of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk.

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Helen: Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!

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Barnhardt: Have you tested this theory?
Klaatu: I find it works well enough to get me from one planet to another.

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Army physician: [about Klaatu] He was very nice about it, but he made me feel like a third-class witch doctor.

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Helen: I thought you were...
Klaatu: I was.

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Helen: What about the rest of the world?
Tom: I don't care about the rest of the world!
[Seeing her shocked expression]
Tom: You'll feel different when you read about me in the papers.
Helen: I feel different now.

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Klaatu: We do not claim to have achieved perfection, but we have a system, and it works.

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Barnhardt: Tell me, Hilda, does all this frighten you? Does it make you feel insecure?
Hilda: Yes sir, it certainly does.
Barnhardt: That's good, Hilda; I'm glad.

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Klaatu: I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet. But if threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.

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Klaatu: You have faith, Professor Barnhardt?
Barnhardt: It isn't faith that makes good science Mr. Klaatu, it's curiosity. Sit down, please. There are several thousand questions I'd like to ask you.

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Barnhardt: One thing Mr. Klaatu, Suppose this group should reject your proposals. What is the alternative?
Klaatu: I'm afraid there is no alternative. In such a case, the planet Earth would have to be... eliminated
Barnhardt: Such power exists?
Klaatu: I assure you, such power exists.

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Klaatu: I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason.

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Klaatu: There must be security for all, or no one is secure. This does not mean giving up any freedom, except the freedom to act irresponsibly.

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Bit Man: They're here!! They're here!! They've landed!! Over on the mall! They've landed!!

Courtesy IMDB.