After Boxer's little sojourn to Chickory, I have my doubts that we will ever see her again as hostess of MCW. So Milk River Madman will have to indefinitely continue hosting the Movie Clip Wednesday Meme where everyone picks a clip from their favorite movies based on a weekly theme. This week's theme is BEST BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE. Now when I think of black and white movies, I always think of movies pre-1960. And although rare and artsy-fartsy for the most part, there are some descent modern day black and white movies. So for this theme I'm going to go old school and new school.
One of my favorite black and white flicks is Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho. He could have done this in color but I think going black and white makes this a far scary movie and to prove he could make a good, low-budget film. And of course the shower scene is the most famous and doing it in black and white allowed him to use chocolate syrup for the blood in the bath tub, which he felt looked better and I agree.
My newer black and white (with some colorization) is 2005's Sin City. Frank Miller brought his graphic novels (comic books) to life with a four story vignette. I love this movie and I think it would have been terrible if done all in color. The best scene is with Mickey Rourke as Marv in The Hard Goodbye. Say what you will about Rourke but he absolutely nailed this character. Marv is one of the coolest bad asses you'll ever see on the big screen.
Warning and spoiler alert, it's a little long and very graphic.
I'm hoping we get a good mix of old and new black and whites over at the Madman 's today. And I'm not talking about milkshakes.
11 comments:
I had a great response written and then it was eaten by Blogger. Oh well. It went on and on about how great it was that all you had to do was mention Norman Bates and everyone knows what you are talking about. Classic classic stuff! I'll have a post up soon if my auto-post thingie works right!
Great choices both. I totally spaced "Sin City" and have never watched "Psycho" but the clips are great. What makes you think the "enough time" comment was directed at you? hahahaha. It's all good. Need someone to make me keep it together. Have a thought for having guest picks to mix it up and keep this going for Boxer. I'll spring in on y'all tomorrow.
Always "copy" your comments, kids, or the dreaded 503 error may eat them !!!
Heff, my old boss back home used to say "never throw anything away until you've made a copy of it first."
Good evening Buzz Kill,
You asked me why I prefer black and white. Your post illustrates it well. Hitchcock's work in Psycho was masterful. Whereas the Sin City clip, seems to be gore for the sake of gore. In my opinion, much more explicit than needs to be.
Hope you had a good clip day.
Heff: A wise statement indeed.
Psycho is a bona fide classic and truly, truly scary. Sin City was also good; I like Bruce Willis in it best :o)
Speaking of Mickey Rourke i almost went with Rumble FIsh where he played the motorcycle boy. his best i think. and a beautiful stylish movie. but PSYCHO is the masterpiece. Even the tension of her merely driving with the stolen money and her mind racing was big anxiety. the shower is huge. did you know hitchcock drew out his scenes before filming -very graphic - like your other choice, sin city.
Im participating this week. my entry is Here
Both great picks. Thank God for MCW because you'd never post, eh? :-)
Pam
This is definitely an iconic film made better by the fact that it's in B&W. But Hitchcock said he did it because there were so many bad B&W "B" movies at the time that were doing good that he wanted to make a low budget B&W that was actually good.
Madman
You need to see Sin City for the Jessica Alba pole dance. And Psycho, you just need to see once in your life. And you're doing a good job as host and I understand tight schedules (boy, do I). I really need a good 3 days to get my shit together for these posts.
Heff/Madman
You kids get off my front lawn!
Karl
I guess it's all about personal preference. I like gore (not the Al type though).
Moi
Psycho seems a little cliche today but it's because it set the standard that so many horror flicks follow. I try to keep that in mind when I watch it. I'm surprised you didn't like Sin City for Clive Owen. Rourke (and of course, Jessica Alba) did it for me.
K9
Psycho is definitely one of the best horror thrillers of all time. And Rourke is an under-rated actor. He gets a bad rap because he's crazy. Steroids I think. Did you see him in the Wrestler and how big he got.
Boxer
Would everyone here with a wife, 2 kids, sports, music lessons, CCD and boy scout schedules PLEASE RAISE THEIR HANDS! That's what I thought. I actually have a post in the works. I'm just waiting to see if the Mrs has pictures (oooohhh, what could it be).
What ever'body said about Psycho--an of course it would never have been the amazin ' film it wuz had it been shot in color.
But the Sin City? uh...why does ya' cuddle up to this stuff? What is I missin'?
Happy MCW
( btw, does the boys learn in CCD of today's significance? Battle of Lepanto?)
Aunty
I find Sin City different and interesting. Maybe it's a guy thing but I think Moi and Chicky were good with it.
I honestly had to look up the Battle of Lepanto. No, CCD just teaches basic bible stuff in preparation for first communion and confirmation. The Boy may actually learn about this in his AP European History class.
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