I've been wondering if it's possible there will ever be another film maker to reach the height of dubious fame Edward D. Wood, Jr. achieved (postmortem)?
Children of the 1960s had fewer television stations and more eclectic programming. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE one of the fastest movies to go from the theater to television? Probably due to efforts to recoup money invested into the film. Horror hosts on TV were still going strong so PLAN 9 received a lot of exposure.
When it came to the Medveds' "Golden Turkey Awards" voting there was little interest in the balloting. Some of the nominees were off-the-wall. The only categories that stuck in people's minds were "Worst Director of All-Time" and "Worst Movie of All-Time". And even then it was only the winners which had an impact: Ed Wood and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.
Many contend, myself included, that there are far worst directors and movies out there. But the conditions are not the same.
Is it possible for Ed Wood's infamous throne to be usurped in the future?
Scott
MOTAZ Art (http://www.motazart.com)
The scenes are fun, but Ed Wood's dialogue was to much. How did he write such stuff. My few questions are:
Did he do it on purpose?
If so did he realise how weird it sounded?
Was he in a hurry?
Criswell didn't seem to mind. (now he must be the most unique personality in film, ever) If only I could write as good as Ed Wood. Johnny Depps characterization of Ed Wood was great. The enthusiasm he portrayed was really something else. Shear genius on the parts of both Ed Wood the filmmaker and Johnny Depp the actor.
No one could ever wear an Angora sweater the way Ed could.
I always looked at him and Corman with the same eye. And Wynorski, who openly admits to using stock footage to patch up his films like paper and scotch tape.
PS: I have no see King Dinosaur, but heard it sucked so bad, a b movie fan would not even be able to sit through it. Is this true? I'd figure you'd seen it.
I'm not sure it's possible- there aren't really any movies that are "So Bad They're Good" anymore. The last one I can think of was Kung Pow: Enter The Fist, and that was DELIBERATELY bad, and also very, very, very funny!
There can never be another Ed Wood. Only a person with a stupid mind, stupid, stupid!!! could think that ;)
And yes, Kung Pow kicked ass for the Lord.
Brother R
I luv dolma wrote:> > > PS: I have not seen King Dinosaur, but heard it sucked so bad, a> b movie fan would not even be able to sit through it. Is this> true? I'd figure you'd seen it.>
It's my favorite low-budget movie! Everyone is wired differently. A movie that took me years to watch all the way through was INVASION OF THE STAR CREATURES (1962). It kept putting me to sleep.
KING DINOSAUR is just over an hour long and obviously made with little money over the course of a few days. Damn ambitious plot to undertake for the budget. The women fair slightly better than the animals in the abuse department. Really a unique time capsule when white males dominated the world. It could never be made today. It's pretty much a reptile snuff film.
Scott
MOTAZ Art (http://www.motazart.com)
Colt M1991A1 wrote:> I'm not sure it's possible- there aren't really any movies that> are "So Bad They're Good" anymore.>
They're out there. Just a lot harder to find. Either budgets are so huge the goofiness is shellacked over with special effects or the movie pokes fun at itself as a defense against criticism (what I term the "dumbing down" of exploitation movies).
Scott
MOTAZ Art (http://www.motazart.com)
I don't think there can be....it's a lot harder to break into movies than it was back then, and the network of exploitation filmaking that Wood worked in doesn't exist anymore. There aren't as many available venues for films as there once were...no drive-ins, and most theaters just show big studio stuff or a few indies here and there.
Also, I'm not sure that people are quite so willing to just watch anything as an excuse to get out of the house on a Saturday Night! TV wasn't prevalent outside the US until well into the 1960s, so a Saturday Night At The Movies was a big event in most parts of the world until comparatively recently.
In other words, even Plan Nine From Outer Space (which isn't actually that bad- Glen or Glenda is much, much worse IMHO) would have seemed better than sitting at home, listening to The Wireless and generally being bored to audiences c.1954.
Of course now, with the Internet, Computers/PlayStations/XBOXes, TV, Cable/Satellite channels, DVDs, and so on, people have considerably more choice over how to spend their leisure time (and hard earned cash!), so something like Plan Nine/Glen or Glenda/Surf Nazis Must Die! isn't going to be tolerated by the vast majority of peasants, uh, I mean average people...
Even those 1970s Blaxploitation Movies (Cleopatra Jones, Shaft! etc) and Chop Socky Movies (Too many to even begin to mention) were bad in the 1970s, but people KNEW that (according to everyone I've spoken to who was there at the time). It was part of the fun, apparently (among other things, I'm reliably informed...)
To put it another way, if you had a Double Feature of Plan Nine From Outer Space followed by, say, Independence Day, I guarantee you that at least 60% of the Audience would leave during Plan Nine and demand their money back.
Worse, most movies attempting the "So Bad They're Good" thing deliberately usually just end up being crap (ie pretty much anything shown on SBS early on Sunday Morning). Aside from Kung Pow: Enter The Fist, the only other exception to this rule I can think of is Orgasmo, which is quite possibly the third funniest movie of all time (behind The Big Lebowski and Kung Pow: Enter The Fist). We may have to accept that the Golden Days of Enjoyable Bad Movies are behind us...
ANDY MILLIGAN'S movies are about as close to Ed Wood's badness as you are likely to find.
I glad to see someone else appreciates this movie. I think it is the lost treasure of the Coen brother's films. "The Dude abides!"
Colt M1991A1 wrote:> Also, I'm not sure that people are quite so willing to just> watch anything as an excuse to get out of the house on a> Saturday Night! TV wasn't prevalent outside the US until well> into the 1960s, so a Saturday Night At The Movies was a big> event in most parts of the world until comparatively recently.> > In other words, even Plan Nine From Outer Space (which isn't> actually that bad- Glen or Glenda is much, much worse IMHO)> would have seemed better than sitting at home, listening to The> Wireless and generally being bored to audiences c.1954.> >
From all accounts I've read PLAN 9 didn't run in too many theaters. The exposure came from television. Kind of like the way cheesy sex movies were seen on the USA network in the 1980s. The scene with the "Devil" in GLEN OR GLENDA actually reminded me of Fritz Lang. It was a very surreal and interestingly lit section. Not what you'd expect from Wood stories.
Many people didn't think there would ever be a Christmas movie that would replace IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. As a matter of fact, WONDERFUL LIFE and PLAN 9 are parallel in their cult status. WONDERFUL LIFE tanked at the box office and critics didn't like it. It wasn't until it ran year after year on television that it became a "classic". Everything was fine until a loophole in the public domain status was found (I believe the musical score was copyrighted). After it became costly for TV stations to run the movie, a replacement was found. Enter A CHRISTMAS STORY.
I'm one of the lucky ones to be able to say I saw A CHRISTMAS STORY at the theater upon it's initial release.
Scott
MOTAZ Art (http://www.motazart.com)
From all accounts, yes, Wood did write in a hurry. I saw an interview with one of his friends once, who said Wood would often write his screenplays while carrying on conversations, and never stop typing.
Andy Milligans dialogue dosn't come close to Ed Wood material.
This here story that I'm about to unfold took place in a town called Los Angeles. And sometimes, there's a man. A man for whom this is his time and place. Sometimes, there's a man...well, he fits right into his time and place. Sometimes, there's a man... Dang, lost my train of thought there. ;)
Odd how that quote can equally apply to both Ed Wood and Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski...
Yes--his name is Tim Burton. He is the modern equivilant Ed Wood
But Tim Burton is an accomplished Hollywood director.
Probably the closest thing might be someone who makes direct-to-video movies
but never breaks into the mainstream. I'm sure there are a few people like that out there...someone has to be making all of those movies at the video store that I've never heard of!