| Author | Message | ||
     Seanmcd (Seanmcd) Username: Seanmcd Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.153.164.70 |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11286585 Now we most definitely ARE next, Kevin! 96, Jeez! I hope I last that long. Rest in Peace. | ||
| Darren O. Godfrey (Darren_o_godfrey) Username: Darren_o_godfrey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 207.200.116.133 |
A bit eerie. Just watched him in the Twilight Zone episode "Long Live Walter Jameson" a couple nights ago. He'll be missed. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Oh, no. Shit. I loved McCarthy, he was a wonderful actor. From the seminal, sublime Invasion of the Body Snatchers right through to the crazy delights of Innerspace. Darren - funnily enough I watched that episdoe about three weeks ago. And just that episode. I didn't realize he was that old. R.I.P. and God Bless to a great actor with true versatility. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
This really is saddening news... his howling, wild-eyed run from car to car at the end of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' [where the film should have stopped dead imo] is the single scariest sequence in cinema history - the look in his eyes, after everything that has gone before, is the very essence of mind-shredding terror! His poignant cameo appearance in the fantastic 70s remake/sequel was also an inspired moment of cinematic terror that created a delicious frisson of the horrors to come. Just wonderful!! Another familiar face who enriched my youth is no more...  | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.132.139.164 |
I believe Don Siegal intended the film to end at that point, Stevie. It was the studio that insisted on the more upbeat wraparound story. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
But if you take his cameo in the Kaufman reworking, which is really a continuation expanded to an urban setting, then this seems to give the Siegel masterpiece it's original ending, only 25 years on. Bewildering to think that Kaufman's film was met with a lot of negativity in some quarters because of its setting. Personally, I thought it was a natural and logical choice. Kaufman's film is sublime, a great interpretation, that is intelligent, subtle and possesses an ending that Siegel clearly approved of, hence his cameo in the film as a cab driver. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
John, I was aware of the controversy surrounding the ending of the original but even in that form Siegel's film is the greatest and most terrifying sci-fi/horror movie that has ever been made imo. Kaufman's sequel (as I insist on calling it) was a stunning achievement in how it broadened out the original vision. Two of my all-time favourite movies I could never grow tired of rewatching. The two later versions are pants! Some day I must read Finney's original novel. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Abel Ferrera's version may not be the best but it's better than pants. It has IMO the most scary sequence of all versions in it - "There's...no one....like....you...left" - and how often do you get to see a 6 year old dropped out of a helicopter sans parachute? | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Steve - buddy, I agree with Weber regarding Ferra's version. While not in the same league as the other two, it's a decent movie, and again gives the ideas broader scope to breathe; a return to a more claustrophobic setting, an army base replete with blank faced soldiers...who can tell the difference. Also it boasts a great (all too brief) turn from Forest Whittaker. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Ferrara's version was misguided in its military setting, which I found unnecessarily alienating and that hampered the feeling of creeping dread I got from the first two films. There were a few good moments but the whole, and in particular the final descent into action movie pyrotechnics, was dreadfully disappointing, coming from such a great director, imo. While the sooner the recent ham-fisted version is consigned to the dustbin of history the better! | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Steve - I half agree with most of what you say are its faults, especially about the descent into action. YET, I love the final scene as they are being waved down, not knowing if they have made it safely, or if the invasion has been completed while they were escaping. I haven't seen the new version, but from what I've heard I don't want to. |