Console
best movie i've ever seen.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
edwagreen
I'd like to know why the motion picture academy felt that Rupert Crosse deserved an Oscar nomination in the supporting category for this 1968 film? There was nothing to him as a black member of a Mississippi family in 1905. If anything, acting honors should have gone to Mitch Vogel, as the young boy caught up in the mayhem that pursues when Steve McQueen and Crosse persuade the young man to take to them to Memphis to a house of ill repute.The film, which is the typical coming of age movie, even for the period, tells the adventures that they encounter on their way and at Memphis.There is plenty of racism. Ruth White as the head of the brothel? Come on. She, who was so good, as Rod Steiger's first victim in "No Way to Treat a Lady," is as sexy as an old prune.Will Geer shines as an understanding grandfather,and Burgess Meredith recounts the story as the man the Vogel character was as a young boy. Vogel gave a very sensitive, restrained performance.
deacon_blues-3
Having read the novel itself, I can confidently say that this film is as faithful an adaptation as one could expect. Given the nature of Faulkner's prose and the average length of a feature film, I really don't know how one could hold out for anything better. The basic storyline is fully represented, and the amount of license taken is quite trivial. This is probably Faulkner's only attempt at a real comedy, and that is what this film reproduces. Purists may disagree, but I have no sympathy for them. They are the architects of their own frustrations. I would caution families, however, that the PG-13 rating is fully warranted, and I would not deem it appropriate for my own children when they were below that age. Car stealing, lying to family, whore mongering, and gambling on horses are not good examples of conduct, and although the story teaches a valid lesson about growing up, I do not think that most children under 13 need to be exposed to much of it. Better that they, like the 11-year-old Lucius, retain their innocence unless they are precocious enough to understand the consequences of such behavior, which many adult-age children today still are not.
moonspinner55
William Faulkner's story about an eleven-year old boy in Jefferson, Mississippi at the turn-of-the-century who tells his kin a string of lies in order to go on a stolen holiday with his father's handyman and a half-black relative. They travel into sinful Memphis, Tennessee in a yellow Winton Flyer, and initially their misadventures have the mud-spattered feel of an early-'60s Disney movie. Originally billed as rollicking family entertainment (though rated 'M' for mature), things take an odd, disquieting turn with an extended trip to a cathouse, where the kid's guardian (Steve McQueen) tussles with his favorite prostitute, who wants to go legit and get married (there's also a bloody fight between two youngsters that seems to come out of nowhere). Director Mark Rydell feasts on picturesque sunsets and auto-ride sing-a-longs, but he's got a penchant for vulgarity that undermines the comedy. It seems no one here wanted to make a strictly pictorial piece of scrapbook nostalgia, so the film ends up failing as both an American tall tale and as a boy-grows-up-fast character study. McQueen has some good, feisty scenes, but his character is rather hapless, and a Steve McQueen who does little but react to others is an automatic disappointment. The chief interests (the hazy, early-morning ambiance and cinematography, the quaint Winton Flyer which gets traded for a racehorse) nearly salvage the rest of the production, which was reportedly troubled after McQueen and director Rydell butted heads. The star later claimed this was a personal favorite of his films, but it is terribly uneven, occasionally perplexing and often sick-making. *1/2 from ****
ccthemovieman-1
This turned out to be a very nice story, almost an old-fashioned type of film, based on an old William Faulkner novel.The only difference between this an an earlier classic movie of this nature was a bit of profanity, but it was 1969 and that stuff was now allowed in films. However, there wasn't a lot of it and the characters are decent people, anything but profane. However, the main character, played by Steve McQueen, wasn't exactly the best role model, teaching his young son how to lie and then taking him to a "house of ill repute." Other than that, he's a good guy and the film does end on a high note as the young boy (played well by Mitch Vogel) learns a hard lesson about lying.I haven't seen this film in awhile but I remember the wonderful yellow automobile in here. Wow, what a beautiful car. There is an interesting horse race in here, too, with a different twist to it.In all, a nice movie with good messages in the last half hour after what looked like a film that was a shaky morally. There's some nice photography in here, too. This film is decent enough for one viewing but probably not to purchase for multiple screenings.
