McCabe & Mrs. Miller

You might assume that having written a western film, I like them or know something about them. I don't. I wrote one because I don't like them. There are some that I have seen that I like, and many more that I am going to watch that I think I will like, but I hate traditional, American western movies (I say American to distinguish from spaghetti westerns). I don't really know why - I mean, I do, but not in an easy to sum up sort of way. They just don't work for me. And then, tonight I watched McCabe & Mrs. Miller, directed by Robert Altman in 1971. It is American, and it is a western, but it is not typical. It pretty much has the opposite plot of what most western films have. It doesn't feel like it has all the things I hate about westerns. I don't really relate to or understand John Wayne sort of characters, so I really liked this movie. I feel like to explain why this movie is so unconventional for a western, I have to spoil the end, so read the next paragraph at your own risk.

Bonnie and Clyde

I'm not feeling so well today, I feel like I'm fighting off a cold, which is a possibility. My boyfriend is sickly, so I blame him. Or maybe I just had a bit too much fun last night - my friend and I watched Furry Vengeance followed by The Human Centipede, which explains what sort of mood we were in. Either way, with a hot mug of throat coat tea (surprisingly delicious) next me to me, I want to keep this a little short and easy, so I can get back to relaxing.

Today I watched Bonnie and Clyde, directed by Arthur Penn in 1967. It was, if I remember anything from college, the first film from the "New Hollywood" movement. This was an American film movement that includes movies like The Graduate, Easy Rider, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, and Midnight Cowboy. These movies were unlike anything that had existed in Hollywood previously. Audiences were growing bored of historical epics and musicals, and younger people were watching more foreign movies to quench their thirsts. It was shocking when Bonnie and Clyde came out - it got a lot of negative critical reviews. But younger audiences loved it. It spoke to them - they liked the shocking violence and disaffected characters that they could relate to.