rec.arts.movies.past-films

"Alric Knebel" wrote in message
news:s8m8arde9yoa$.8p1t2czejrgt$.dlg@ ...
> On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:18:10 GMT, Jim Beaver wrote:
>
>> "Alric Knebel" wrote in message
>> news:13dm1gmkp2r72d1@ ...
>>> Jim Beaver wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Alric Knebel" wrote in message
>>>> news:13dlrsgc0b73ife@ ...
>>>>
>>>>>moviePig wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>On Sep 2, 12:24 am, Garondo Marondo < ...@ > wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> /news07/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>A contemporary re-imagining of Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult hit "Bad
>>>>>>>Lieutenant" is in the works it seems says The Los Angeles Times.
>>>>>>>...
>>>>>>>Finkelstein, currently finishing up a second draft, says "... I
>>>>>>>don't know that the same sorts of things that caused us to sit up and
>>>>>>>take notice 15 years ago are necessarily gonna have the same effect
>>>>>>>now."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>What 'us'? Except for this ng and its surrounds, I'm surprised all to
>>>>>>hell to hear that BAD LIEUTENANT has any recognizability to speak
>>>>>>of... or to try to market...
>>>>>
>>>>>I, too, am surprised. I've seen that movie about three times, and it's
>>>>>a
>>>>>very good character study, and one Keitel's best performances. With
>>>>>almost constant screen time, every scene succeeded or failed based on
>>>>>how
>>>>>compelling he was. And he was constantly compelling.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Having worked on a film in one scene with Mr. Keitel, my idea of utter
>>>> unimaginable hell would be working on a film in which he had "almost
>>>> constant screen time." He's very much, as you say, a compelling actor.
>>>> But I should not think BAD LIEUTENANT was a stretch for him.
>>>>
>>>> Jim Beaver
>>>
>>> Oh, come on. He can't be that bad. That character was a completely
>>> despicable human being, with NO redeeming qualities. I mean, we've seen
>>> bad characters before, but they were cardboard villains used to move a
>>> plot along, and they performed a role for the sake of storytelling. BAD
>>> LIEUTENANT was a character study, a person fleshed out in three
>>> dimensions. By the end of it, we'd yet to discover a trait that would
>>> cause us to mourn his demise. I know there's probably a good story why
>>> you'd compare Keitel to that character, just as I know you're not the
>>> type
>>> to gossip and share such a story.
>>
>> Not so much a story. Just five weeks working with the man and, try as I
>> might, I could not find a redeeming quality to his personality. I'm sure
>> he
>> loves his mother, though.
>>
>> Jim Beaver
>
> What has that got to do with it, a stupid remark if you ask me.

What's a stupid remark? "I'm sure he loves his mother?" That's quite an
old figure of speech to suggest that no, someone isn't all bad. Walter
Scott used it about once or twice an issue in his (old?) Parade magazine Q&A
column. I suppose Harvey Keitel isn't all bad, or even close. I just never
saw anything in five weeks to suggest that he wasn't. And I looked damn
hard.

Jim Beaver