Gabriel: You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit. Now Im not some grungy wannabe filmmaker thats searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something. No, its easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as prose. No, Im talking about the lack of realism. Realism; not a pervasive element in todays modern American cinematic vision. Take Dog Day Afternoon, for example. Arguably Pacinos best work, short of Scarface and Godfather Part 1, of course. Masterpiece of directing, easily Lumets best. The cinematography, the acting, the screenplay, all top-notch. But... they didnt push the envelope. Now what if in Dog Day, Sonny wanted to get away with it, REALLY wanted to get away with it? What if - now heres the tricky part - what if he started killing hostages right away? No mercy, no quarter. Meet our demands or the pretty blonde in the bellbottoms gets it the back of the head. Bam, splat! What, still no bus? Come on! How many innocent victims splattered across a window would it take to have the city reverse its policy on hostage situations? And this is 1976; theres no CNN, theres no CNBC, theres no internet! Now fast forward to today, present time, same situation. How quickly would the modern media make a frenzy over this? In a matter of hours, itd be biggest story from Boston to Budapest! Ten hostages die, twenty, thirty; bam bam, right after another, all caught in high-def, computer-enhanced, color corrected. You can practically taste the brain matter. All for what? A bus, a plane? A couple of million dollars thats federally insured? I dont think so. Just a thought. I mean, its not within the realm of conventional cinema... but what if?
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:22:11 +0000
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