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Letting the Connery Ball Sack Thread quietly disappear into oblivion.
I remember seeing the movie First Run in 1974 on the Big Cinedome Screen in San Jose California, where I grew up. There was a scene where someone found a book of THE WIZARD OF OZ, but for some reason it was cut in half at the binding. And they decided to keep the half that said ZARD OZ. The left side of the binding read : The WI of ("of" was under The WI) The right side of the binding read: ZARD OZ and "OZ" was under the ZARD
I'm trying remember now, what it had to do with story. I can't.
I just remember there were no Munchkins in ZARDOZ or any Wicked Witches. I think my cousin who I went to see it with just told me the movie was for people who liked to smoke pot and it really didn't mean anything. It was just a movie to go see and get high. I now sort of recall that it smelled funny in that theater and it wasn't the smell of a Marlboro. Dang. Back when you could smoke in a Theater.
In all seriousness from someone like myself who always watches John Boorman's bizarre masterpiece stone cold sober, Arthur Frayn is a behind-the-scenes trickster character who is "pulling the strings" and manipulating the situation just as the Wizard did in the Emerald City ( not to be confused with Boorman's Emerald Forest!) - Frayn had encouraged Connery's Brute to learn to read which led him to The Wizard of Oz which in turn helped Connery understand the truth behind everything - this leads to the violent resolution of the stalemate status quo re The Eternals.
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V'GER wants to have 6 with ZARDOZ. String concatenation and lexicographical ordering does miraculous things. The wonders of genetic mutation and gene splicing.
Re the nonstop popularity of STARS TREK and WARS and cookie-cutter superhero movies and other similar shiny boys' adventure science fiction films, I think I'm the only one who prefers pretentious, allegorical, dodgy-FX sf like ZARDOZ, QUINTET, SOYLENT GREEN, etc. to the new stuff. (I do like the BLADE RUNNER films though - they seem to actually be about something.)
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I remember loving Excalibur very much, watching it multiple times, and so looked at other Boorman films. I remember Zardoz coming out but have never got around to watching it. It's reputation is poor. One day I must make the attempt. His Exorcist film was panned too wasn't it?
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I remember loving Excalibur very much, watching it multiple times, and so looked at other Boorman films. I remember Zardoz coming out but have never got around to watching it. It's reputation is poor. One day I must make the attempt. His Exorcist film was panned too wasn't it?
Yes, Exorcist II: The Heretic is frustratingly wrong. It doesn't help that original Exorcist author William Peter Blatty had nothing to do with it, that it focused on Linda Blair's character whose story was already concluded in Exorcist I, that the bad dubbing and Ennio Morricone's generally inappropriate score made the film sound like a cheesy B-grade European import, and that post-production rendered the contrived story all the more inane.
I have an interview with Boorman where he expresses what he tried to do - he had a lot of intriguing notions, and the movie itself has some memorable images and an embryonic good starting point for its story, but it just doesn't work. It's certainly worth a view for Boorman followers though.
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I remember loving Excalibur very much, watching it multiple times, and so looked at other Boorman films. I remember Zardoz coming out but have never got around to watching it. It's reputation is poor. One day I must make the attempt. His Exorcist film was panned too wasn't it?
Yes, Exorcist II: The Heretic is frustratingly wrong. It doesn't help that original Exorcist author William Peter Blatty had nothing to do with it, that it focused on Linda Blair's character whose story was already concluded in Exorcist I, that the bad dubbing and Ennio Morricone's generally inappropriate score made the film sound like a cheesy B-grade European import, and that post-production rendered the contrived story all the more inane.
I have an interview with Boorman where he expresses what he tried to do - he had a lot of intriguing notions, and the movie itself has some memorable images and an embryonic good starting point for its story, but it just doesn't work. It's certainly worth a view for Boorman followers though.
After all that I must give it a go. I love a car crash! Lol.
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Posted: |
Sep 20, 2020 - 12:59 PM
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By: |
dogplant
(Member)
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Q: There was a scene where someone found a book of THE WIZARD OF OZ... I'm trying remember now, what it had to do with story...
A: Arthur Frayn is a behind-the-scenes trickster character who is "pulling the strings" ....
As Mark explained, that's pretty much it, Zoob.
In April 2015, the lovely Nick Redman asked Jeff Bond and I to do a retrospective commentary about "Zardoz" for his Twilight Time Blu-ray release. It was a bit of a curve ball, but Jeff and I had done previous commentaries for Nick, and we'd recently written a book together. So we both jumped in.
The Twilight Time disc was then followed, six months later, by the U.K. Arrow Films Blu-ray, which included talking heads with Boorman and six of his production staff. But before that appeared, I prepared for our voice-recording by doing my own research, and I tracked down Boorman's special effects supervisor Gerry Johnston to ask him some questions which I'd always been curious about. It was great fun digging into the history of the film, finding out how they made the big floating heads, matte paintings and hologram projections. And it was a privilege to go on record relaying my own commentary with Nick and Jeff. I'd had a love-hate relationship with the film. I did not get it at all on first viewing but, after a friend encouraged me to take another look, I grew very fond of it. The biggest thrill for me, just after we recorded our commentary, Nick introduced me to John Boorman at an LA screening of "Queen and Country," reportedly his last film.
"Zardoz" is still regarded as a wackadoodle cult movie, more famous for its wardrobe. But it's a highly inventive film, with some beautiful photography, ingenious sleight of hand, and a singular rumination on some thought-provoking themes – elitism, brutality, sexuality, sensuality, ageism, mysticism, spirituality and politics – and it has a wicked sense of humor about all of the above.
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Posted: |
Sep 20, 2020 - 2:30 PM
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By: |
Zooba
(Member)
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Q: There was a scene where someone found a book of THE WIZARD OF OZ... I'm trying remember now, what it had to do with story...
A: Arthur Frayn is a behind-the-scenes trickster character who is "pulling the strings" ....
As Mark explained, that's pretty much it, Zoob.
In April 2015, the lovely Nick Redman asked Jeff Bond and I to do a retrospective commentary about "Zardoz" for his Twilight Time Blu-ray release. It was a bit of a curve ball, but Jeff and I had done previous commentaries for Nick, and we'd recently written a book together. So we both jumped in.
The Twilight Time disc was then followed, six months later, by the U.K. Arrow Films Blu-ray, which included talking heads with Boorman and six of his production staff. But before that appeared, I prepared for our voice-recording by doing my own research, and I tracked down Boorman's special effects supervisor Gerry Johnston to ask him some questions which I'd always been curious about. It was great fun digging into the history of the film, finding out how they made the big floating heads, matte paintings and hologram projections. And it was a privilege to go on record relaying my own commentary with Nick and Jeff. I'd had a love-hate relationship with the film. I did not get it at all on first viewing but, after a friend encouraged me to take another look, I grew very fond of it. The biggest thrill for me, just after we recorded our commentary, Nick introduced me to John Boorman at an LA screening of "Queen and Country," reportedly his last film.
"Zardoz" is still regarded as a wackadoodle cult movie, more famous for its wardrobe. But it's a highly inventive film, with some beautiful photography, ingenious sleight of hand, and a singular rumination on some thought-provoking themes – elitism, brutality, sexuality, sensuality, ageism, mysticism, spirituality and politics – and it has a wicked sense of humor about all of the above.
How cool for you to be on the Commentary of the Twilight Time release. Would love to hear it, but I missed it and it's now going for hundreds of dollars on ebay. Thanks for sharing dogplant!
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Generally speaking, anything optical is going to stand out as opposed to on-location physical effects. It's been a while since seeing the flying 'head' shots, but I think they probably came off better than a lot of other things from the film just from 'startle' effect alone. During the Nostromo/refinery shots from Alien, they got away with 'optical murder' by by-passing optical printing when they carefully demarcated the film frame and only re-exposed areas where the miniatures didn't venture. When you look back you can see where the stars are and where they are not where the split in the frame occurs. Obviously, they couldn't do that on Zardoz because the Head had to obscure daylight illuminated surfaces.
I do believe you can see the reflection of an automobile in the clouds during one of the floating Zardoz head shots.
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In April 2015, the lovely Nick Redman asked Jeff Bond and I to do a retrospective commentary about "Zardoz" for his Twilight Time Blu-ray release.
Let's remove Jeff from the above for just one moment. It leaves the sentence In April 2015, the lovely Nick Redman asked I to do a retrospective commentary about "Zardoz" for his Twilight Time Blu-ray release.
I'm sure you get it.
The gun is good.
The penis is bad.
The grammar is essential.
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