Nancy Allen on Irvin Kirshner — Page 3

Eye Of The Needle is pantserer.

SilverWook said:

Perhaps, but it still got Kershner the Empire gig.

CatBus said:

ALSO: Where is the Buckaroo Banzai love in this thread?

*slaps forehead* I can't believe I forgot to mention that film! One of my personal favorites...

With all this talk of 80s cinema, perhaps I should bring up Poltergeist III. Nancy Allen was in that as well ...

captainsolo said:

I was referring to the rise of commercialism in film, which did occur and firmly root itself in the 80's. There were numerous handovers/buyouts/collapses in the late 60's up through and around the mid 70's primarily due to the replacing of the old guard. Of course starting with the massive unheard of box office returns of Jaws, the climate began to change dramatically. By the end of the 80's we already were in the days of independent producers who did nothing but cobble together the most exploitative product for maximized profit. Not that this is a bad thing, but there has to be at least some moderation.

I've never felt that the 80's had as many classic titles as other decades, but maybe it's just me. But the films produced then are unbelievably superior to the amount of schlock we endured for the ten years of 00's.

 I think you're idealizing the distant past a bit.

"Cleopatra" was just an epic spectacle cash-grab by the studios, mixing top stars, huge sets, and a mediocre script.

"Casablanca" was just one more movie being churned out in a workman-like fashion off the backlots. Despite it's greatness, it's original pitch was "It's like the movie Algiers!'

"The Godfather" was based on a best-seller that had been written expressly to be the most commercial crime novel Puzo could write, then handed to a director because his last name was Itallian.

And as for schlock, you do realize that the 70s gave us, "Blackenstein" "Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampire" "Death Race 2000" "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" "Night of the Lepus" "Xanadu" fifteen "Airport" movies, "Zardoz" "I Spit On Your Grave" "Caligula" and  "Shaft goes to Africa"

I think the biggest confusion about that 70s-80s transition is that the films were more glitzy than gritty, and those sort of low-budget made-in-the-streets films were made in less quantities and by less superstar directors.

Really, the notion of the 80s being the birth of high-concept is wrong, because you can apply that to a lot of the 70s films too. "Three guys hunting a shark," "a bunch of people survive an earthquake", "a girl is possessed by the devil" "a bunch of kids in a small town drive around on graduation night."

And the notion of blockbusters being born in the 80s is inaccurate too. The 70s was full of star-studded disaster movies in the first half of the decade, and fantasy epics in the second half. Airport, Earthquake, Poseidon Adventure, Airport 77, King Kong, Jaws, Superman, Star Wars, Alien, even The Exorcist which had an enormous budget. And then you had the films that had blockbuster business, if not in content, like Godfather. The transition into the early 80s is pretty seamless.

I think the biggest difference, and what gives us that 80s=commercialism feeling is the merchandising. It began with pop soundtracks, like Top Gun, and then you had video game tie-ins, cartoon shows, toys, stickers and stuff. That started in the 70s too, but other than Star Wars it was relatively few except for the odd Earthquake lunchbox or poster or stuff like that. It finally pushed the high-concept, big-budget blockbusters that you had in the 70s into new areas of commercialism, and that laid the business strategy groundwork for todays films. Especially since the movies were in generally more slick-looking, and there weren't many made-in-the-streets films, it highlights this aspect even more.

TheBoost said:

And as for schlock, you do realize that the 70s gave us, "Blackenstein" "Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampire" "Death Race 2000" "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" "Night of the Lepus" "Xanadu" fifteen "Airport" movies, "Zardoz" "I Spit On Your Grave" "Caligula" and  "Shaft goes to Africa"