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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

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1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
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1960's
Key Witness
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Summer and Smoke
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The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
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Stardust
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Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
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The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
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Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Sealed Fate

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That's Variety critic and friend-of-HE Joe Leydon, a first-rate sage, who says in this trailer, "A lot of people view George Lucas as the Anti-Christ." The doc is The People vs. George Lucas, which is due in 2010. Why wasn't a doc like this out in the immediate wake of The Phantom Menace, or certainly after the casting of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker?

Some Came Running's Glenn Kenny and Onion writer Todd Hanson are also among the talking heads.

How Many Stragglers?<< previous | next >>When They Don't Win

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 13, 2009 at 8:04 AM

comment #1

Rich S. says ...

The bearded guy about halfway through makes the point I've always wondered. I always thought Lucas was going to use the money he made on Star Wars to make all these "little films" he wouldn't have been able to make otherwise. So he makes Indy, Howard the Duck and Willow, takes a decade off and then starts pumping out Star Wars stuff again. I never quite got that.

Posted by Rich S. at February 13, 2009 8:17 AM

comment #2

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

yeah, how can people not hate him? He ruined "Return of the Jedi" with those stupid Ewoks that look like teddy bears. It's hard to take that movie seriously.

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at February 13, 2009 8:32 AM

comment #3

EDouglasCS says ...

Hey!!! Isn't that the depraved pervert from Soderbergh's new movie!?!?!? (Sorry, Glenn )

Posted by EDouglasCS at February 13, 2009 8:51 AM

comment #4

Howlingman says ...

... nerds.

Posted by Howlingman at February 13, 2009 9:08 AM

comment #5

Glenn Kenny says ...

@Ed Douglas:Yeah, my film career's really gone from 0 to 60 in no time...

Posted by Glenn Kenny at February 13, 2009 9:12 AM

comment #6

Ryansi51 says ...

Rick S- what's to get? he doesn't have those "little" films in his because he's a goddamn hack. Yet he's the only one who doesn't see it, and his ego ruins potentially great films like Indy 4

Posted by Ryansi51 at February 13, 2009 10:53 AM

comment #7

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

I would probably counter (or at least temper) the "goddamn hack" label with American Graffiti and especially, THX-1138. But yeah, he doesn't seem to have the talent/ability to write small, experimental films anymore...or the motivation/confidence to make a film that will probably lose money.

Either way, at this point he's definitely paying the piper for selling his soul to Star Wars Inc.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 13, 2009 11:59 AM

comment #8

polarbear2 says ...

Indy 4 was never a "potentially great film". It was Harrison Ford and all of us in the audience trying to pretend we were all twenty years younger. It was never going to happen. We were deluding ourselves. And we continue to delude ourselves with recriminations of "If only Lucas had done this, or Spielberg hadn't done that...wah wah wah". The project should have been halted at the beginning, or at least fans' expectations should have been ut in check. We need to find new toys more appropriate to our age. If I never see another stupid Star Wars parody or tribute or reference, it will be too soon.

Posted by polarbear2 at February 13, 2009 3:32 PM

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

Jeff: I'm guessing they took so long, because, as I said before, they were hoping he was just a bit rusty with the first one. They finally realized he sucked with 'Clones.

Posted by D.Z. at February 13, 2009 4:01 PM

comment #10

MilkMan says ...

I blame George Lucas for Ron Howard, Bruce Springsteen, and the Cafe 50s on Van Nuys Blvd., where I got food poisoning from what had to be the shittiest cheeseburger ever.

And how come Spielberg doesn't get any demerits for Indy 4? He directed it. The Boy Wonder. The most visually astute cinematic storyteller of our time and space, right?

Posted by MilkMan at February 13, 2009 4:10 PM

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

Milkman: I'm guessing he gets a pass, because we'd be getting the Darabont script, if not for George.

Posted by D.Z. at February 13, 2009 4:22 PM

comment #12

MilkMan says ...

Wow. Lucas has veto power over Little Stevie? Who knew?

Posted by MilkMan at February 13, 2009 4:41 PM

comment #13

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

I imagine the Darabont script was just as bad, only in a super-schmaltzy way. If they were going supernatural, they should have just gone for broke with Shyamalan.

But the polarbear speaks the truth. Anyone who thought this was going to be better than awful-to-mediocre (depending on your tolerance for nostalgia) was completely delusional.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 13, 2009 4:51 PM

comment #14

D.Z. says ...

Kane: Actually, the Darabont script was edgy in a Temple of Doom way.

Posted by D.Z. at February 13, 2009 7:51 PM

comment #15

rr3333 says ...

Sadly, I'm not joking when I say this, but Lucas must have incriminating photos of Spielberg doing something very nasty for Steven to have Lucas participate in Indy 4.

Spielberg's still very talented, and it was Lucas who brought down Indy.

I was never deluded to think Indy 4 was going to be a classic like 'Raiders', but it surely would have been MUCH better without Lucas' and the aliens involvement.

Posted by rr3333 at February 13, 2009 8:14 PM

comment #16

Josh Massey says ...

Spielberg gets a pass because the worst parts of Crystal Skull screamed "George Lucas!" from the tops of their lungs. And also because, Terminal aside, the guy has been freakin' ON this decade.

Posted by Josh Massey at February 13, 2009 10:27 PM

comment #17

michael2112 says ...

Great - so now we get a documentary to continue the unhealthy obsession/fixation with hating on Lucas. If people could accept the Star Wars and Indy movies for what they are - pulp adventure films, and not high art, it would save us from this continuing discourse.
Lucas' last flirtation with anything with any real resonance was THX 1138 and American Graffiti. His greatest sin was making Star Wars, Empire, and Raiders, all within a four year period, when the fanboy whiners were coming of age. Great pulp movies all, with nowhere to go after but down. The film everyone should complain about the most, Jedi, was his biggest stumble. The prequel trilogy was never going to live up to the hype and expectation of fans of the original, who were now viewing his movies through older and more cynical eyes.
As for Crystal Skull, the action scenes are more inspired than anything in Last Crusade, which is only redeemed by Connery and Ford's chemistry. The goofiness of Crystal Skull was there in Temple of Doom, it's nothing new to the franchise. You either accept it in the spirit of the B-movie, pulp adventures that inspired the series or you don't. But to me, Crystal Skull has the most inspired action of the series since Temple of Doom. I think Lucas is due more than a little respect for creating Star Wars and Indy and some perspective is in order. And I'll still take Crystal Skull over just about any mindless CGI, hyper-edited 'action' movie out there.

Posted by michael2112 at February 14, 2009 12:05 AM

comment #18

Rich S. says ...

"Spielberg gets a pass because the worst parts of Crystal Skull screamed "George Lucas!" from the tops of their lungs."

Not from me, he doesn't. The worst part of Crystal Skull is Mutt and that is pure, 100%, unadulterated "Spielberg-working-out-his-daddy-issues." It worked (sort of) in Last Crusade and fails miserably in Crystal Skull.

Posted by Rich S. at February 14, 2009 4:33 AM

comment #19

Freddie Mertz says ...

I don't recall who made this point originally, but I don't want to take credit for it. What is truly amazing is how the machine continues to crank out all these "prequel sequels" when all anyone really wants is a continuation of stories about the characters we actually love, i.e. the original trilogy. If it's going to be an animated series, why on earth do you not have it take place in between/just before/just after the original three? It's not greed because doing that would be just as appealing to kids today as the clone crap and it would get far more interest from us old fogies clinging to their youths.

Posted by Freddie Mertz at February 15, 2009 7:42 AM

comment #20

Mr Bohemian says ...

Freddie Mertz ," us old fogies clinging to their youths."
I remember the talk years ago, he was going to do 4,5,6 when the tech cough up because FX that didn't exist back then to do the clone wars. Then when actors matured it was going to be 7,8,9. Before he released 1, he decide that was there was going to be just three more films. I like doing the Woody thing " I like his early films when he cared about the film viewers."

Posted by Mr Bohemian at February 15, 2009 7:46 PM