A lot of excellent comments extolling this movie have already been written and I will not repeat them. What is remarkable is how different some of these are in what each person sees in the movie as wonderful. So my addition is simply that:
"I BELIEVE THIS MOVIE IS A DIAMOND IN THE HISTORY OF MOVIE MAKING. IT HAS SO MANY FACETS THAT THERE ARE AN ALMOST INFINITE NUMBER OF ANGLES YOU CAN LOOK AT IT FROM AND SO MANY OF THEM ARE PERFECTLY VALID"
"AN ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT FILM"
POSTSCRIPT:
One thing there appears to be a lot of confusion about is the meaning, symbolism, and interpretation of the final scene. A lot of people who otherwise liked the movie had a problem with it. I did not.
Here is why:
"This scene is just as improbable as the rest of the movie, but it is, in fact, plausible. You must understand that one could easily appear to walk on water simply by finding a frozen pond after a good rain and venturing out on the solid ice surface but with your feet apparently on water."
I THINK THIS SCENE SUMS UP THE WHOLE MOVIE PERFECTLY - as apparently Hal Ashby accidently realized it would at the last minute. (Please refer to "How the last shot got made" by Noah Veil (dare2b@earthlink.net).)
I BELIEVE THE SCENE SAYS: IF YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH WHAT CHAUNCY DID YOU CAN PROBABLY EXPECT TO GET AWAY WITH JUST ABOUT ANYTHING - JUST BY
AND THE MOST WELL KNOWN THING WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO IS TO WALK ON WATER.
BUT IN FACT - REALLY YOU CAN - under the right, however improbable or even ridiculous circumstances. (And you don't even have to be Jesus to do it.)
"I BELIEVE THIS MOVIE IS A DIAMOND IN THE HISTORY OF MOVIE MAKING. IT HAS SO MANY FACETS THAT THERE ARE AN ALMOST INFINITE NUMBER OF ANGLES YOU CAN LOOK AT IT FROM AND SO MANY OF THEM ARE PERFECTLY VALID"
"AN ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT FILM"
POSTSCRIPT:
One thing there appears to be a lot of confusion about is the meaning, symbolism, and interpretation of the final scene. A lot of people who otherwise liked the movie had a problem with it. I did not.
Here is why:
"This scene is just as improbable as the rest of the movie, but it is, in fact, plausible. You must understand that one could easily appear to walk on water simply by finding a frozen pond after a good rain and venturing out on the solid ice surface but with your feet apparently on water."
I THINK THIS SCENE SUMS UP THE WHOLE MOVIE PERFECTLY - as apparently Hal Ashby accidently realized it would at the last minute. (Please refer to "How the last shot got made" by Noah Veil (dare2b@earthlink.net).)
I BELIEVE THE SCENE SAYS: IF YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH WHAT CHAUNCY DID YOU CAN PROBABLY EXPECT TO GET AWAY WITH JUST ABOUT ANYTHING - JUST BY
- UH - CHANCE.
AND THE MOST WELL KNOWN THING WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO IS TO WALK ON WATER.
BUT IN FACT - REALLY YOU CAN - under the right, however improbable or even ridiculous circumstances. (And you don't even have to be Jesus to do it.)