moviegourmet

This Tuesday, TCM is showing A Man Called Horse (1970).

Modern viewers will recognize most of the plot of Avatar herein.  In the early 19^th century, Richard Harris is captured by American Indians and becomes assimilated into their culture.  Harris’ initiation into the tribe is one of cinema’s most cringe-worthy moments.  The film still stands up well  today.

A Man Called Horse fits into the subgenre of Westerns that are sympathetic to Native Americans, including  Little Big Man (1970), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Dances With Wolves (1990).   The trend became pronounced with Cheyenne Autumn in 1964 and has stayed healthy through the recent retelling of the Pocahontas story in The New Land.

Of course, even a worthy movie subgenre has its cliches.  Why is it that when the white guy encounters a native girl   –  It’s always the chief’s beautiful, unattached, nubile daughter?

Date Night has been released in France as Crazy Night.  As to the American concept of Date Night, I suspect that the French cannot imagine a planet, let alone a country, where going out to dine with your spouse is a big deal.

Also, we know know that a movie with Steve Carell and Tina Fey is going to be funny.  Note how the French movie poster makes this a little more obvious.

There were no Raisinettes, Milk Duds or (my favorite) Hot Tamales.  But there was a candy section that contained scores of bulk candies.  You could get either Hagen-Daasz or Ben and Jerry’s.  here are some shots of the movie food.

I recently went to the movies in Paris, the world’s greatest movie town.  I bypassed the most famous movie palaces and hit the multiplex – the 20 screen UGC at Les Halles.

The French show American movies in version originale (V.O.), which means in their original English with French subtitles.  The multiplexes were showing Iron-Man 2, Kick-Ass, Green Zone, Greenberg, Alice in Wonderland and I Love You, New York. The metro was full of posters for Iron Man 2, Robin Hood and the latest Freddy horror movie.  And Russell Crowe was shilling the upcoming Robin Hood on French infotainment TV shows.

There was a ticket window with humans and also automatic ticket vending machines.

The large theater drew in about 75 viewers for a Monday 2 PM show of Iron Man 2.  The audience sat silently before the film, and then fled the theater rapidly during the closing credits.

Iron Man 2 got lots of laughs from the French crowd, especially when Sam Rockwell was completely baffled by some questions in French and bumbled away cluelessly.  However, the French speakers didn’t seem to get how funny Samuel L. Jackson is, because so much of his humor is in his inflection. “Cheerleaders” was subtitled as “les pompomgirls“.